MatMade  ·  Strategic Intelligence

BJJ Directory
Competitive
Landscape

A full-spectrum analysis of every meaningful BJJ gym directory — where we dominate, where we're exposed, and exactly what to build next.

May 2026 · 8 competitors analyzed · 12 feature dimensions · Research by Roger
8,485
MatMade Gyms
Largest BJJ directory in existence
2×
Lead over #2
jiujitsu.com at 4,000+
5
Clear Wins
Areas where we lead the space
8
Gaps to Close
Features competitors have that we lack
$0
Our Paywall
vs. $59.95/yr at jiujitsu.com

The data depth gap is the biggest opportunity in the space. Name + address + phone is the universal standard across all competitors — and it's terrible. The first directory to show hours, pricing, and class schedules at scale owns the category.

Key finding — May 2026 analysis
01

Competitor Overview

Site Gyms Individual Pages UI Quality Business Model Threat Level
MatMade.comUs — baseline 8,485 Yes Modern (Next.js) Directory + verification —
gyms.jiujitsu.comJiuJitsu.com brand 4,000+ Thin (paywall) Dated / phonebook E-commerce + $59.95/yr Medium
BJJMetrics.com 3,741 Moderate Functional BJJ Fanatics affiliate Watch closely
JiuJitsuAuthority.com 2,687 None confirmed SEO-first / thin SEO arbitrage Low
BJJChat.com 250+ Thin Modern / app-like Freemium platform Long-term watch
GrappleArts.com 0 Directory removed Content site Instructional videos None
IBJJF.com N/A Not public Association basic Membership fees None
Dojos.com Unknown Basic Web 1.0 / legacy Multi-style legacy None
02

Feature Gap Matrix

Feature MatMade jiujitsu.com BJJMetrics JJAuthority BJJChat
Gym photos Yes — free $59.95/yr No No No
Verified listings Yes — human No No No Badge only
Google rating + review count Missing — fix No Yes Yes No
Instructor profiles No No Names only No Name + belt rank
Affiliation filter No No No No No
Style / program filter No No 12 styles No No
Competition medals (Smoothcomp) No No Exclusive No No
ELO ratings + fighter stats No No Exclusive (deep) No No
Hours + pricing display Partial (new fields) No No No No
Class booking No No No No Exclusive
Training tools (journal, timer) No No No No Exclusive
SEO content layer / blog No Basic Minimal Aggressive Moderate
Gym count displayed publicly No — fix this Yes Yes Yes No

Exclusive = only one competitor has this feature  ·  Partial = limited or paywalled implementation

03

Strengths & Gaps

Where MatMade Leads
  • Scale dominance — 8,485 gyms More than double the nearest competitor. This moat is real and already defensible. No one is catching up quickly.
  • Photos at scale — completely free jiujitsu.com charges $59.95/yr for photos. We do it for every gym, for free. This is our clearest value prop when talking to gym owners.
  • Real human verification Gym owners who fill out our form are confirmed. No competitor does this — most scrape Google and call it a day. This is a trust layer no one else has.
  • Clean SEO architecture State/city hierarchy, Algolia instant search, Next.js for fast rendering. Better technical foundation than most competitors.
  • No paywalls anywhere Competitors monetize features that should be free. Gym owners who've paid $59.95/yr for a worse product are primed to switch to us.
Gaps We Need to Close
  • Hiding our biggest advantage "8,485 gyms" is the most powerful number in the space. We're not displaying it anywhere. Every competitor shows their count — and they have far fewer.
  • Google ratings not surfaced BJJMetrics and JiuJitsuAuthority both show Google star rating + review count on gym cards. It's the first trust signal a gym-seeker looks for. We have the data in Strapi — we're just not showing it.
  • Bot-blocking (403 on gym pages) Gym pages return 403 to non-browser user-agents. If Googlebot faces the same friction, our entire SEO investment is being silently undermined.
  • No competition data BJJMetrics exclusively owns Smoothcomp medal counts + ELO ratings. Competitive practitioners — the most engaged BJJ demographic — always end up there. We have no hook for this segment.
  • No instructor profiles BJJChat shows name + belt rank. Head instructor's belt is a core purchasing signal for any BJJ student choosing a gym. Easy win — this data is on gym websites.
  • No content layer JiuJitsuAuthority is aggressively writing city guides and technique articles. They're capturing "best bjj gyms in [city]" searches above us in some markets purely through content volume.
04

Priority Roadmap

1
Display gym count prominently sitewide
"8,485 gyms" is our #1 credibility signal. Add it to the homepage hero, the search bar placeholder, and every state page header. Every competitor does this. The number alone wins the comparison.
Critical
2
Surface Google rating + review count on gym cards and pages
Both BJJMetrics and JiuJitsuAuthority show this. It's the first trust signal a gym-seeker looks for. We already have googleRating and googleReviewCount in Strapi — just not rendering them.
Critical
3
Investigate and fix bot-blocking (HTTP 403 on gym pages)
Gym pages return 403 to non-browser crawlers. If Googlebot faces this, our entire SEO architecture is silently compromised. Needs investigation in the Next.js middleware config immediately.
Critical
4
Instructor profiles — name, belt rank, photo
BJJChat already does this. Head instructor belt rank is a core purchase signal for BJJ students choosing between gyms. The Instructors content type already exists in Strapi — we just need to collect and display the data during buildout passes.
High
5
Style + program filter on search and city pages
BJJMetrics filters by 12 martial arts styles. We have Programs data in Strapi (Adult, Kids, Teens, Women, Competition, etc.) but no filter UI. Adding program facets to Algolia is relatively straightforward and unlocks a missing dimension of search.
High
6
Smoothcomp integration — medal counts per gym
BJJMetrics exclusively owns this. Smoothcomp club pages are publicly scrapeable. We need a smoothcompId field in Strapi, a gym-by-gym ID discovery pass (check websiteURLs for Smoothcomp links), and a sync script. Competitive practitioners — the most engaged segment — will care deeply.
High
7
SEO content layer — city guides + technique articles
JiuJitsuAuthority is aggressively building this. They're beating us on "best bjj gyms in [city]" searches in some markets because they have a content layer we don't. City guides with real gym links and data would bury their bare address lists.
Medium
8
Hours + pricing display on gym pages
Nobody in the space does this at scale. It's the #1 question any potential member asks before visiting. We just added priceRange and numberOfStudents to Strapi. Getting gym owners to fill this in during verification — and displaying it prominently — would make our listings category-defining.
Medium
05

Competitor Deep Dives

gyms.jiujitsu.com — E-commerce directory with paywall4,000+ gyms · Medium threat

What they're doing: Attached to the JiuJitsu.com gear/apparel brand. The directory is an SEO asset to drive BJJ gear sales — not a genuine product. Free listings show name + address + phone only. $59.95/yr unlocks photos and enhanced details. City/state pages exist but are address-book-only with no ratings, no images, no filtering.

Their core weakness: The paywall philosophy is backward. They charge $59.95/yr for features that should be table stakes, which means gym owners who pay expect value but still get a mediocre product. These gym owners are primed to switch to us the moment they discover we offer more for free.

How to take their listings: Our gym pages need to be demonstrably richer. A MatMade listing with photos, Google rating, instructor info, and programs — all free — beats their paid listing every time. Target their gym owners directly.

BJJMetrics.com — Competition analytics + ELO ratings3,741 gyms · Watch closely

What they're doing right: The IBJJF competition data is genuinely differentiated — ELO ratings, medal career histories, rival tracking, team comparisons. This is a stats platform that happens to have a gym directory. The Smoothcomp integration (medal counts per gym) is clean and useful. They've built a network effect with competitive practitioners: if you compete, you live on BJJMetrics.

Why they're the one to watch: Competition-minded practitioners are the most engaged BJJ demographic. If we don't offer competition data, that segment will always end up on BJJMetrics — even if they start their search on MatMade. We need a reason to keep them.

Their blind spot: Gym profiles are shallow. No photos, no hours, no pricing, no rich descriptions. We can be where someone goes first (discovery + trust), they go second (competition record validation). Position ourselves as complementary, then eat their user base.

BJJChat.com — Training OS with a school directory250+ gyms · Long-term watch

What they're building: A fundamentally different product — a training management platform for BJJ practitioners. Technique library (1,000+ techniques), session journal, round timer, class booking, bracket tools, and a school directory. Their school pages show instructor name + belt rank + programs, which is already ahead of most directories. Class booking integration is a serious feature that nobody else has.

Why they matter long-term: If BJJChat grows from 250 to 2,500+ schools, their booking integration becomes a major differentiator. "Find a gym AND book your first class" in one workflow is something we don't have. They're 2–3 years from being a real threat if they execute on coverage.

Their weakness right now: 250 gyms is too small to win directory searches. Most school pages are thin on operational data. The platform requires registration for most features — creates friction for casual gym-seekers who just want an address.

JiuJitsuAuthority.com — SEO content farm2,687 gyms · Low threat

What they're doing: Pure SEO arbitrage. 2,687 gyms across 774 cities — but no individual gym pages confirmed, city pages are address-lists-only with no photos, no links, no filtering. The real product is their content: technique guides, gear reviews, city-specific BJJ articles, all written for search engines.

Why they rank in some markets: Aggressive internal linking, FAQ schema on every page, long-form city guides, and high-priority sitemap weights on location pages. They're capturing "best bjj gyms in [city]" searches above us in some markets because they have a dedicated content layer and we don't.

How to beat them conclusively: Our gym data is already 3× richer. We just need a content layer to match their top-of-funnel coverage. Once we're writing "Best BJJ Gyms in Austin" with actual linked gym pages + Google ratings + photos vs. their bare numbered address list, we win every comparison — and Google will rank us higher.

Honorable mentions — BJJChat schools, Dojos.com, IBJJFNo significant threat

Dojos.com: The "first" martial arts directory. Web 1.0 design, 40+ martial arts styles diluting the BJJ signal, no data depth. More of a historical artifact than a competitor. Zero threat.

IBJJF Registered Academies: Not a public searchable directory — just a ranking table by competition points. Valuable as a trust signal (IBJJF registration = active competition academy) but not a user-facing gym-finder. We should show IBJJF registration status on gym pages where we can verify it.

JiuJitsuSchoolFinder.com: Site is down as of May 2026. Domain may have lapsed.

MatMade  ·  Competitive Intelligence  ·  May 2026  ·  Research by Roger