Client Billing lets you charge clients by card from inside QuickCoach, through your own Stripe account. It works on Free and on Pro. So the question coaches keep asking isn't whether they can use it, it's which plan makes Client Billing cheaper to run. The answer depends on one number: how much you bill through it each month.
This guide does the sums with the real fees, shows where the break-even sits, and covers the two things that catch coaches out when they change plan.
The short answer
Client Billing is optional: 10% on Free or 3.5% on Pro when you use it, plus Stripe's processing fee on both. That 6.5-point gap means Pro pays for itself once you bill about $600 a month through Client Billing on monthly Pro ($39), or about $500 a month on annual Pro ($32.50 a month). Below that, Free costs less in fees.
How much does Client Billing cost on Free and on Pro?
There's no monthly charge for Client Billing, and creating the Stripe account is free. Each time a client pays, two fees come out. QuickCoach's platform fee is 10% on Free and 3.5% on Pro. Stripe's processing fee is Stripe's card rate for your country, charged to your Stripe account.
| Fee on each client payment | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| QuickCoach platform fee | 10% | 3.5% |
| Stripe processing fee | Stripe's rate | Stripe's rate |
| Monthly charge for Client Billing | None | None |
| Plan price | $0 | $39/mo, or $390/yr ($32.50/mo) |
Pro is billed in US dollars. Your Client Billing packages are priced in your Stripe account's currency, which follows the country you chose when you connected. If those differ, convert before you compare. The full feature list behind the Pro price is in our QuickCoach Pro guide, and the mechanics of the feature are in the Client Billing launch post.
At what monthly billing does Pro pay for itself?
Divide the Pro price by the fee gap. Monthly Pro costs $39 and saves 6.5% of whatever you bill, so $39 ÷ 0.065 = $600. Bill $600 a month through Client Billing and the lower fee exactly covers the plan. On annual Pro the monthly cost is $32.50, so the line drops to $500.
Platform fees by monthly amount billed through Client Billing
US dollars, monthly Pro at $39. Stripe's fee is left out because it's the same on both plans.
| Billed per month | Fee on Free | Fee on Pro | Saved on Pro | After paying for Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $300 | $30.00 | $10.50 | $19.50 | −$19.50 |
| $600 | $60.00 | $21.00 | $39.00 | $0.00 |
| $1,000 | $100.00 | $35.00 | $65.00 | +$26.00 |
| $2,000 | $200.00 | $70.00 | $130.00 | +$91.00 |
| $3,000 | $300.00 | $105.00 | $195.00 | +$156.00 |
| $5,000 | $500.00 | $175.00 | $325.00 | +$286.00 |
"After paying for Pro" is the fee saving minus the $39 plan price. On annual Pro, add $6.50 to every row in that column.
Read the table as a floor, not the full case. It counts fees only. Pro also adds a branded client app, push notifications, Training Insights, habit tracking and nutrition, so plenty of coaches upgrade for those well before billing reaches $600. The table answers a narrower question: if Client Billing were the only reason, would Pro still be worth it?
What does that look like per client?
Most coaches think in clients, not monthly totals. Take a client paying $200 a month in the US, with fees taken from your payout. Stripe's standard US card rate is 2.9% + 30¢, so Stripe takes $6.10 either way.
- On Free: $20.00 platform fee, $6.10 to Stripe, $173.90 to you.
- On Pro: $7.00 platform fee, $6.10 to Stripe, $186.90 to you.
That's $13 more per client every month on Pro. Three clients at that price and the saving matches monthly Pro to the cent. A fourth client is profit. If your clients pay less, say $120 a month, the saving is $7.80 per client and you need five.
The same sum with fees built into the price
Every package lets you choose who covers the fees. "Taken from your payout" charges your client exactly your price. "Built into the price" raises your client's price so you receive about what you set. On Free the client pays more for the same coaching, so the plan you're on shows up in your client's price too.
Here's a quarterly package where the coach wants A$450, using Stripe's published Australian domestic rate of 1.65% + A$0.30:
| A$450 quarterly, fees built in | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Client pays | A$509.68 | A$474.75 |
| QuickCoach platform fee | A$50.97 | A$16.62 |
| Stripe fee | A$8.71 | A$8.13 |
| Coach receives | A$450.00 | A$450.00 |
Same payout, but the Free client pays A$34.93 more each quarter. Over a year that's close to A$140 per client. QuickCoach's own preview uses its estimate of Stripe's fee, so the figure it shows when you create a package can differ by a few cents, and international cards cost more than domestic ones. Whether you should build fees in at all is its own question, especially now that Australia has removed card surcharges. We cover it in whether coaches can pass card fees on to clients.
Does Stripe's fee change between Free and Pro?
No. Stripe sets its fee from your country and your client's card, and charges it to your Stripe account. QuickCoach doesn't set it or take a share of it. That's why the break-even above ignores Stripe completely: it costs the same on both plans, so it cancels out of the comparison. How often you bill does change the Stripe side, because of the fixed per-payment amount.
What happens to my packages when I upgrade to Pro?
This is the step coaches miss. Upgrading lowers your fee from 10% to 3.5%, but it reaches packages and subscriptions differently.
- Subscriptions follow your plan. Every live subscription moves to the Pro fee from its next payment, on its own.
- One-off packages keep their fee. A one-off package is a fixed price in Stripe, so it keeps charging the fee it was created with. After upgrading, create a new one-off package at the Pro rate and archive the old one.
If you sell 12-week blocks as one-off packages, skipping this means every block you sell after upgrading still pays 10%. Archiving doesn't affect clients who've already paid.
What happens if I go back to Free?
Subscriptions follow your plan in both directions. If your Pro plan ends, live subscriptions move back to 10% from their next payment while your clients keep paying the same price. On a package with fees built in at the Pro rate, that gap comes out of your payout.
Take the A$474.75 quarterly package from above. Back on Free, the platform fee becomes A$47.48 and you receive A$419.14, about A$31 less than the A$450 you planned on, every quarter, for every client on it. If you downgrade, recreate those packages at the Free rate or accept the smaller payout knowingly.
When should I stay on Free?
Free is the right call more often than a pricing page would admit. Stay on it if most of your clients pay you another way, such as bank transfer, PayPal or your gym's system. The platform fee only applies when you get paid through Client Billing, so a coach billing $250 a month through it pays $25 in platform fees on Free. That's less than Pro costs.
Free also suits coaches who are still building a roster. It covers up to 20 active clients with no time limit, and you can move to Pro the month your billing crosses the line. Our guide on when not to upgrade coaching software makes the wider case, and free vs paid coaching software covers what changes beyond fees.
How do I work out my own break-even?
- Add up what you'd bill through Client Billing in a typical month. Leave out clients who'll keep paying another way.
- Multiply by 0.065. That's what Pro would save you in platform fees.
- Compare it with $39 (monthly Pro) or $32.50 (annual Pro), converted to your currency if your Stripe account isn't in US dollars.
If the saving is bigger, Pro pays for itself on billing alone. If you're still setting your prices, our guide to how much to charge for online coaching starts from the income you want, and the coaching rate calculator does the sums for you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Client Billing free on QuickCoach Free?
There's no monthly charge for Client Billing on any plan. When a client pays through it, QuickCoach's platform fee is 10% on Free and 3.5% on Pro, and Stripe's processing fee comes on top. The platform fee only applies when you get paid through Client Billing.
How much do I need to bill for Pro to be worth it?
On fees alone, about $600 a month billed through Client Billing on monthly Pro ($39), or $500 a month on annual Pro ($390 a year, $32.50 a month). Above that line, the lower 3.5% fee saves more than Pro costs. Pro's other features come on top of that.
Does Stripe charge less on Pro?
No. Stripe's processing fee is the same on Free and Pro, because Stripe sets it from your country and your client's card. Only QuickCoach's platform fee changes between plans, from 10% to 3.5%.
Do my existing packages move to the Pro fee when I upgrade?
Subscriptions do, from their next payment. One-off packages keep the fee they were created with, so after upgrading you create new one-off packages to charge the Pro rate and archive the old ones.
What happens to my clients' payments if I go back to Free?
Their subscriptions keep billing at the same price, but the platform fee moves back to 10% from the next payment. If the package had fees built into the price at the Pro rate, you take home less than the price you set.
Fees are current as of October 2026: a 10% platform fee on Free and 3.5% on Pro, plus Stripe's processing fee. Stripe's rates are from Stripe's published US and Australian pricing pages, and your rate depends on your country and your client's card. The Help Center explains what Client Billing is and what it costs screen by screen. Questions? Reach us at support@quickcoach.fit.
