Frequently Asked Questions

MatGoat is management software designed specifically for BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) and mixed martial arts academies. Unlike generic gym software, MatGoat understands the unique needs of martial arts academies: belt ranking system with stripes, class attendance tracking with different modes, private technical video library, automatic student alerts, and membership management. It's built for instructors who want to spend more time on the mat and less on paperwork.

Yes. While MatGoat is optimized for BJJ and MMA academies, it also works perfectly for judo, karate, taekwondo, muay thai, and other martial arts. The belt system is fully customizable: for adults it includes white, blue, purple, brown, and black with up to 4 stripes each. For kids, we have a more detailed system with gray, yellow, orange, and green belts with their variations.

No. MatGoat is designed to be as intuitive as using your smartphone. The interface is simple, and we offer video tutorials, comprehensive documentation, and technical support to help you. Most of our users set up their academy in less than 15 minutes.

Absolutely. MatGoat adapts to academies of any size. The Basic plan (€35/month) includes up to 50 students, ideal for growing academies. Many of our clients started with 10-20 students and have grown with us.

Yes. MatGoat allows you to manage multiple academies from a single organization account. Each academy can have its own teachers, schedules, class types, and settings. Teachers can be assigned to specific academies with customized permissions.

We send you a fully configured tablet that you place at your academy entrance. Students search for their name and check in with a tap on the screen. The system automatically records date, time, and class type. You can also add quick notes about each student during check-in. You can view attendance in real-time from any device.

Pre-registration mode allows students to sign up for a class before arriving at the academy, for example from home. When they arrive, they check in on the tablet to confirm their attendance. It's useful for knowing how many students to expect in each class and managing capacity.

Yes. MatGoat distinguishes between three types of attendance: participants (counts as 1 class), observers (counts as 0.5 classes, for students who attend but don't fully train), and graduation classes (count as 3 classes). This allows more accurate tracking of each student's progress.

Yes. You have access to comprehensive reports: average attendance per student, consecutive attendance streaks, most popular classes by day and time, month-over-month comparisons, and activity scores for the last 30 days. You can also see which students have stopped coming recently.

Yes. You can add or remove students from past sessions, change status from participant to observer, or even cancel an entire session if needed. All history is recorded.

Yes. The system automatically detects when a student has a birthday within the next 2 weeks and hasn't attended recently, so you can wish them happy birthday at their next class.

MatGoat records each student's complete history: current belt, stripe, date of each promotion, previous belt, and notes. For adults we have classic BJJ belts (white, blue, purple, brown, black) with up to 4 stripes. For kids, a more detailed system with intermediate belts.

Yes. You can set class thresholds needed for each promotion. For example: 30 classes to go from white to blue, 40 from blue to purple, etc. The system will automatically alert you when a student has met the requirements and is ready for their next promotion.

You can configure your academy's graduation frequency: monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual, or custom. MatGoat will automatically calculate classes attended during each period and show you which students meet the requirements to promote.

Yes. MatGoat generates semester rankings based on attendance, with weighted scoring by class type. You can create custom ranking groups by grouping different class types (for example, fundamentals + advanced). Adult and kids rankings are calculated separately.

MatGoat automatically alerts you about: inactive students (7-30 days without attending), new students in their first week, stagnant students (over 80 classes without belt change), students who always attend as observers, payment issues, students who cancelled but keep attending, and students ready for promotion.

Yes. You can dismiss alerts temporarily (7, 14, or 30 days) or permanently. Alerts automatically reactivate if the situation changes, for example, if an inactive student returns to class.

MatGoat automatically identifies risk patterns: students who have reduced their attendance frequency, those who haven't come in a while, or those with payment issues. You receive proactive alerts so you can contact them before they quit.

You can upload videos in two ways: directly from your computer (stored securely in the cloud) or by linking YouTube videos. You can organize content in hierarchical collections (folders within folders), add tags and descriptions. Videos are private and only your students can access them.

You can create collections (like folders) and organize them hierarchically. For example: 'Guard' > 'Closed Guard' > 'Sweeps'. Each video can have tags, title, description, and date. The system generates thumbnails automatically.

Yes. Simply paste the YouTube link and MatGoat will automatically extract the video. It works with youtube.com, youtu.be, and embed links. Thumbnails are obtained automatically.

You can send targeted announcements to: all students in your academy, specific students you select, or groups by belt (for example, only blue and purple belts). Announcements are sent via email and push notification to the mobile app.

Yes. You can mark an announcement as 'requires acceptance' and the system will record which students have read and accepted it, with date and time. Useful for important communications, schedule changes, or policies.

Yes. Each student can choose whether to receive announcements by email, push notification, or disable them. They can also choose whether to appear in attendance lists visible to other students.

MatGoat integrates with Stripe to automate payments. You create subscription plans (monthly, quarterly, annual) with your desired price in euros, dollars, or Brazilian reais. Students subscribe and billing is automatic. You can also record manual payments if a student pays in cash or bank transfer.

MatGoat doesn't charge additional commissions on your student payments. You only pay Stripe's standard card processing fee. Unlike other software that adds 1-3% extra per transaction, we don't charge anything additional.

The system automatically detects failed payments and alerts you. You can see the status of each subscription (active, past due, cancelled, paused) and contact students with payment issues. It also detects students who cancelled their subscription but continue attending class.

Yes. You can create multiple plans with different prices and billing intervals. For example: monthly plan at €50, quarterly plan at €135, annual plan at €480. Each student chooses their plan and can change it whenever they want.

Yes. With any plan and a 1-year commitment, we send you a fully configured Android tablet ready to use. The tablet has a market value of €200-300. If you prefer to use your own device (tablet or phone), it's also compatible.

If you cancel before completing the year commitment, you'll need to return the tablet. If you cancel after the first year, the tablet is yours to keep.

Yes. You can assign teachers to your academy with specific permissions: view sensitive student information, manage class schedules, send invitations, manage rankings, or manage videos. You can also enable teacher PIN mode so teachers can perform administrative actions from the tablet.

You create schedules by defining: day of the week, start and end time, class type, assigned teacher, and maximum capacity (optional). You can have different class types with custom colors (fundamentals, advanced, competition, no-gi, etc.).

Yes. We can help you migrate your data from any other system (Excel, other management software, etc.). The migration service is included at no additional cost.

Yes. MatGoat allows linking children's accounts with their parents. Parents can manage their children's accounts, view their attendance and progress, and receive communications about them.

Yes. You can create events on your academy's calendar: competitions, seminars, holidays, etc. Events can span multiple days, have custom colors, and external links.

Yes. You can add private notes about any student, even during quick check-in on the tablet. Notes are saved in the student's profile for future reference.

Yes. MatGoat is available in Spanish and English. Each user can choose their preferred language in their profile.

Absolutely. MatGoat complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Your data is encrypted and stored on secure servers in Europe. Videos are stored on Amazon S3. Only you and authorized teachers have access to your academy's information.

We offer support via WhatsApp, email, and video call. Our team consists of people who understand martial arts and speak your language. Plus, you have access to video tutorials, detailed documentation, and a complete help center.

MatGoat is the only software that includes a free tablet for attendance control. Also, we don't charge extra payment commissions, we have automatic student alerts (inactive, ready for promotion, payment issues), complete belt system with graduation thresholds, and we're designed specifically for BJJ/MMA as well as other martial arts like Judo, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, etc. with features like semester rankings and participant/observer differentiation.