Since we started using MatGoat, attendance tracking runs on its own. Students check in on the tablet and I can focus on teaching.
Víctor Lozano
CIMA Jiu Jitsu
Judo software for dojo and club management
Track kyu and dan grades, register attendance by class, collect membership fees, and organize your technique videos. MatGoat fits how judo clubs actually run, from kids classes to the competition squad.
- 30-day free trial
- No credit card required
- Set up in under 15 minutes
Used by working academies
Martial arts academy owners run their daily operations with MatGoat
MatGoat started inside a BJJ academy and was built by a practitioner who understands the work behind every class. Meet the person behind the software.
The challenges of managing a Judo dojo
These are the problems judo coaches mention most often when they come to us
Complex kyu/dan grading system
Judo grades run from 6th kyu to dan ranks, with different colors and requirements by federation and age group. Tracking every judoka's grade, time in grade, and exam results on paper does not scale.
Competition preparation
Your judokas compete through the year. Coaches need to know who is ready for the next tournament, who needs more randori, and how attendance looks in the weeks before a competition.
Multiple age groups
From six-year-old beginners to veterans, each group has its own classes, its own grading path, and its own pace. A judo club is really four or five clubs sharing a mat.
Kids clubs run through parents
Most judo clubs are built on children's classes. Communication goes through parents, payments come from parents, and belt test dates need to reach parents reliably.
Fees, licenses, and grading costs
Monthly fees, annual federation licenses, insurance, and grading fees all arrive on different schedules. Collecting them by hand and reconciling a bank statement eats entire evenings.
Kata and randori are different work
A judoka preparing nage-no-kata trains differently from one drilling for shiai. Class types, attendance records, and study material need to reflect that split.
What judo club software should actually do
Judo clubs carry more administrative weight than most sports clubs of the same size. A hundred members might spread across six age groups, three grading paths, a federation license cycle, and a competition calendar that runs most of the year. The head coach usually manages all of it between classes, with a paper register and a spreadsheet that only one person understands. When that person is away, everything stalls.
Generic club software rarely helps as much as promised, because it stops at bookings and billing. Judo needs the grading layer: who holds which kyu, how long they have held it, what they need for the next exam, and whether their attendance supports the promotion. It also needs age-group structure, since a Tuesday kids class and a Thursday randori session share nothing but the mat.
MatGoat records attendance on a tablet at the entrance, split by class type, so kids classes, adult sessions, kata practice, and randori are counted separately. Each judoka's profile holds their grade history with exam dates. When grading season approaches, you review time in grade and classes attended since the last exam in seconds. If you want the full color order as a reference, we keep a guide to judo belt ranks on the blog.
The video library organizes technique by grade and category: nage-waza for one group, katame-waza and kata studies for another. Judokas review what they need at home before an exam. Payments run by direct debit with 0% commission, and federation licenses or grading fees are recorded on each profile.
Families matter in judo, so parents link their children's profiles to one account, receive announcements, and manage payments from a single login. When two siblings train in different groups, one parent sees both schedules without juggling two logins.
The rest of this page walks through the features, transparent pricing in dollars, and an honest comparison with generic gym software. The pricing page lists everything by plan.
Explore martial arts management software for multi-discipline academies
How MatGoat helps your dojo
Features designed for Judo academies
SOLUTION #1
Custom kyu/dan tracking
Configure your federation's grades from 6th kyu to dan ranks, including junior variations such as mon grades. Record exams with dates and notes, promote with one click, and keep the complete grading history of every judoka. Students and parents see the current grade and progress in the app.
Kyu, mon, and dan grades by federation
Exam dates and time in grade
Full grading history per judoka
SOLUTION #2
Attendance control with a free tablet
Judokas check in by tapping their photo on the included tablet. Attendance splits by class type, so you know who trained randori, who came to kata practice, and how often each junior actually attends. Before a grading, the class count since the last exam is already waiting for you.
SOLUTION #3
Technique videos by grade
Upload nage-waza, katame-waza, and kata videos into collections organized by grade. A yellow belt reviews breakfalls and first throws, while a brown belt preparing for shodan studies the full syllabus. Judokas see only their level or below, so preparation stays focused on the next exam.
Nage-waza, katame-waza, and kata organized by grade, visible only at the right level.
SOLUTION #4
Payments, licenses, and grading fees
Collect monthly fees by direct debit with 0% commission. Record annual federation licenses, insurance, and exam fees on each profile, and let automatic reminders handle failed receipts. Every payment stays attached to the judoka it belongs to, so end-of-year accounting starts from clean records and the treasurer's spreadsheet finally retires.
Fees, membership plans, and pending receipts in one dashboard.
SOLUTION #5
Communication that reaches parents
Send belt test dates to the kids group, competition details to the squad, or a private message to one family. Announcements arrive by email and push notification, which beats hoping a nine-year-old delivers the message.
Academy-wide announcements
Messages for specific groups
Email and push notifications
SOLUTION #6
Statistics for the whole club
See attendance by class and season, spot juniors who are fading before they quit, and check how the squad trained in the weeks before a tournament. Retention in judo is won in the quiet months, and the dashboard shows where to look. Month-by-month numbers also make the annual report to your federation or sports council much faster to prepare.
Attendance trends by group help you spot fading judokas early.
Set up your judo club in an afternoon
Four steps from spreadsheet to running club.
1
Create your account
Start the 30-day free trial with your email address. No credit card is required during the trial.
2
Import your judokas
Upload your member list from a CSV file. Profiles hold grades, contact details, and license numbers.
3
Configure grades and classes
Set up your federation's kyu and dan structure and your weekly schedule: kids, juniors, seniors, kata, randori.
4
Put the tablet at the door
When you subscribe, we ship a tablet configured for your club. Judokas tap their photo to check in, and attendance records itself from day one.
Main features
Everything you need to manage your academy
MatGoat vs generic gym software
Booking-and-billing platforms treat a judo club like a fitness studio. The grading layer is where they fall short.
| MatGoat | Generic gym software | |
|---|---|---|
| Grade tracking | Kyu, mon, and dan ranks with full history | Custom text fields at best |
| Technique videos | Private library organized by grade | Not included, or a paid add-on |
| Attendance hardware | Free tablet with check-in by class type | Usually costs extra |
| Payment commissions | 0% on all collections | Often 1% to 4% per transaction |
| Grading preparation | Time in grade and class counts in one view | Manual cross-checking |
| Family accounts | Parents manage children from one login | Varies by platform |
| Setup | Under 15 minutes with CSV import | Onboarding calls and setup fees |
| Monthly price | $40 to $60, listed publicly | Quote-based pricing is common |
Comparing specific platforms? See how MatGoat stacks up against Kicksite, Martialytics, and other alternatives.
Testimonials
What our academies say about MatGoat
The video library is great for my students. They can review techniques at home and come to class much more prepared.
Mathias Ribeiro
Mathias Ribeiro Team
We tried several platforms before and none of them fit a martial arts academy. MatGoat is built for us.
Frank
Next Level BJJ
Transparent pricing for your judo club
Two plans, both with the check-in tablet included and no payment commissions. Prices in US dollars.
Basic
For clubs with up to 50 judokas
$40 /month
- Tablet for student check-in
- Attendance history by class type
- Kyu and dan grade tracking
- Private video library for techniques and kata
- Event calendar for gradings and tournaments
- Messages to students and parents
Popular
Professional
For growing clubs, with no student limit
$60 /month
- Everything in the Basic plan
- Unlimited students
- Payment management by direct debit
- 0% commission on collections
- Priority chat support
30-day free trial · No credit card required to start · 30-day money-back guarantee · VAT not included
Judo guides and free tools
Reading and tools we maintain for judo coaches and club owners.
Judo belt order: kyu and dan ranks explained
The full color order for juniors and seniors, and the logic behind each rank.
How long it takes to earn a judo black belt
Realistic timelines to shodan and the factors that speed them up or slow them down.
Free judo belt calculator
An interactive reference for judo belt progression, free to use and share with parents.
What OSS means in jiu-jitsu and judo
The origin of the word you hear in every dojo, and when to use it.
The 10 best martial arts gym management platforms
An honest comparison of the main options, including where MatGoat fits and where it does not.
How Mathias Ribeiro Team automated attendance
A customer story about replacing manual check-ins with the tablet.
Frequently asked questions
Have other questions? Contact us
Yes. MatGoat is fully customizable. Configure grades from 6th kyu to dan ranks with the belt colors and requirements of your federation, whether that follows the IJF standard, your national body's variation, or a club-specific path for juniors. Time in grade and exam records are stored per judoka.
Every time a judoka passes an exam, you update their grade in MatGoat. The system keeps the complete history with dates and notes, so you always know how long someone has held their current grade and what they showed in previous exams. Certificates and federation paperwork can be referenced through custom fields.
Yes. Add custom fields for license numbers, renewal dates, and insurance status. At renewal season you review the whole club in one list instead of digging through folders. License payments and grading fees are recorded on each judoka's profile alongside their membership.
Yes. Create separate classes for juniors, adults, kata, randori, and competition training. MatGoat keeps each judoka's attendance history by class type, so you can review participation before a grading. Kata practice and randori each keep their own count, which makes the pre-grading review honest.
Yes. Create membership plans, collect recurring fees by direct debit, record cash or transfer payments, and send reminders from the same system used for attendance and student records. Direct debit runs with 0% commission, so the club keeps the full fee without chasing families at the door.
MatGoat costs $40 per month for clubs with up to 50 judokas and $60 per month for unlimited students. Both plans include the check-in tablet and the video library. There are no setup fees, no per-student charges, and no commission on payments. You can try everything free for 30 days without a credit card.
Yes. Parents link their children's profiles to one account, check attendance, receive belt test announcements, and manage payments for the whole family from a single login. Payment records stay on each child's profile, so nobody wonders which sibling's fee arrived. In clubs where most members are children, this is where the largest share of administrative time comes back.
Yes. Custom fields and private coach notes hold competition records and preparation details, and the attendance history shows how a judoka trained in the weeks before a tournament. A separate competition team class type keeps squad sessions distinct from regular practice.
Export your member list to a CSV file and import it into MatGoat. Most clubs complete the initial setup in under 15 minutes. The team is available by WhatsApp and email during the move, and a video call is available if you want help configuring grades or classes. Your data stays yours, and you can export it again at any time.
Yes. The grading system is fully configurable, so junior mon grades and intermediate stripes coexist with the senior kyu and dan path. Each age group follows its own progression, and when a junior moves up to the senior path, their full history stays on the same profile.
Modernize your dojo management
Join Judo academies that already trust MatGoat. Try free for 30 days.