The New Zealand alternative to Momoyoga

Why New Zealand studios start looking

The percentage. On Momoyoga’s Free plan, their own pricing page states a 5% platform fee on every online payment, on top of Stripe’s transaction fee. Chocka’s free plan is 2%, and our paid plans are 0% — a flat monthly with nothing taken per booking. On NZ$3,000 a month of bookings that is the difference between $150 a month and $49. Full arithmetic on the comparison page.

Where the money sits. This is the one most people have not thought about until it bites. On Momoyoga’s integrated payments, their support site says there is “a ‘hold’ of 7 days on the payments”, with weekly payouts. On Chocka the charge is made on your own connected Stripe account and settles in your own Stripe balance — we are never holding it, so there is nothing for us to release.

Using your own Stripe account. On Momoyoga that is a “custom payment integration” costing an extra $15 a month ($12 on annual billing), and it is available only on their Standard and Plus plans. On Chocka it is simply how the platform works, on every plan, at no surcharge.

Being billed from overseas. Momoyoga’s published prices are in euros and, per their own support site, customers outside Europe are billed in US dollars. Chocka is a New Zealand business and our prices are set and published in New Zealand dollars. No conversion, no wondering what the card will actually be charged.

GST that works the way you do. Chocka’s paid-plan fees are GST-inclusive — $49 is $49, and if you are GST-registered you claim that GST back like any other business expense. Your accountant is the right person to confirm how that lands for you, but there is no foreign-currency invoice to reconcile and nothing to work out about an overseas supplier.

Support in your hours. When something goes wrong at 7am before a Saturday class, the useful question is who picks up. We are here.

What to look for in a booking platform — a checklist you can use on anyone

This is worth running over whichever platform you end up on, including ours.

• 1. Whose payment account does the money land in? Ask directly: is the charge made on my Stripe account, or on the platform’s? If it is theirs, ask how long they hold the funds and what happens to money in flight if you cancel. This is the single question that separates a tool you use from a tool you depend on.
• 2. Can you export your customer list, yourself, today, for free? Not “can you request an export”. Can you click a button right now, on the plan you are on, and get a file. If the answer involves contacting support, or is only available when you cancel, or costs money — that is the answer.
• 3. What is the total cost at your actual turnover? A percentage and a monthly fee are not comparable until you put your own numbers in. A free plan with a 5% fee is not free above about NZ$1,000 a month.
• 4. Is your brand on it, or theirs? Check what it costs to remove the platform’s badge, and whether you can put the booking page on your own domain. On many platforms both of those live two tiers up.
• 5. Do passes, memberships and waitlists work the way your studio actually runs? Concession cards that expire, courses that run in terms, a waitlist that promotes automatically when someone drops out.
• 6. Is there a real free tier, or a trial? A 14-day trial and a free plan are very different commitments. Both are fine; know which one you are getting.
• 7. Will they help you move in? Ask what happens to your existing customers, passes and upcoming bookings. If nobody will own that, you will own it, on a weekend.
• 8. What happens when you leave? Ask on the way in, not on the way out. What can you take, in what format, at what cost, and for how long after you cancel.

Chocka and Momoyoga, side by side

Three of those rows go against us. They are in the table because you would find them out anyway, and because a comparison table that only flatters the person who wrote it is not worth reading.

Read the detailed Chocka vs Momoyoga comparison →

Switching is on us

If you are moving from Momoyoga or anything else, we do the move.

We bring across your customer list, your passes and remaining credits, gift balances as far as your old platform releases them, your class schedule and class types, and your upcoming bookings — so nobody turns up to a class that no longer exists.

The one thing we cannot do for your customers is be them: everyone sets a password once, the first time they use your new site. Their bookings and balances are waiting for them whenever that is, so nothing is lost by taking a month over it.

If you run recurring memberships, your members re-join with a one-tap link: everything pre-filled except the card. A card mandate cannot be moved between platforms by anyone, so this step is unavoidable — and some members will not complete it. We will tell you exactly who has and who has not, rather than pretending the number is zero.

Historical bookings and past transactions stay behind as a file you keep. Your new system starts clean.

The managed migration is included on Grow and Thrive. On the free plan we will help where we can, but we cannot promise when.

Questions from New Zealand studios

Are prices in New Zealand dollars?

Yes. Chocka is a New Zealand business and our plans are priced and published in NZ dollars — $0 on Launch with a 2% booking fee, $49 a month on Grow, $99 a month on Thrive.

Which currency do my customers pay in?

Yours. You set your currency and your prices; your customers are charged in it and it settles in your own Stripe account.

Are your prices GST-inclusive?

Yes, on the paid plans — $49 and $99 include GST, so a GST-registered studio claims it back like any other expense. On the free Launch plan, our 2% is calculated on the full amount your customer pays you. Chocka does not split GST out as a separate line on your own prices, so the price you set is the price your customer pays, GST included — once the money is in your Stripe account, the GST on it is yours to account for. Your accountant will have views; take theirs over ours.

How quickly do I get paid?

On your own Stripe payout schedule, because it is your own Stripe account. We do not hold funds at any point, so there is no Chocka-side delay to ask about.

Where is my data held?

Your database sits in Sydney, Australia — the closest region to New Zealand, which is why your booking pages load quickly here. We will not tell you it is stored in New Zealand, because it is not. Your money is a different matter and that genuinely is onshore: it goes into your own Stripe account and your own New Zealand bank, and never touches us.

Can I get my customer list out if I leave?

Yes, in one click, on any plan including the free one, at any time — a ZIP of CSV files covering your people, offerings, classes, courses, bookings, payments, passes and credits. No contract, no notice period, no charge, and you do not have to be cancelling to do it.

Is Momoyoga’s free plan even available here?

Yes — New Zealand is on their published list of countries where the Free plan is available. We are not going to win this on availability, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. We would rather win it on the 5%, on whose Stripe account the money lands in, and on the fact that we will do the move for you.

Do you support studios that are not yoga?

Yes. Chocka runs classes, courses, workshops and passes for pilates, dance, martial arts, music, community groups and schools — the terminology adapts to what you call things.

Do charities pay?

No. Verified New Zealand charities get our Community package: Grow capabilities at $0 a month, with a 0% platform fee on payments.