Planet Fitness Franchise Cost & Review

Planet Fitness is the high-volume, low-price end of the fitness market: large-format clubs, memberships starting around $15 a month, and thousands of members per location. Its franchise economics are unlike anything else in our cost comparison, and understanding why requires reading its Item 19 carefully rather than quickly.

This review uses figures from Planet Fitness's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document. Request the current filing before you underwrite. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or compensated by Planet Fitness. See our disclosure policy.

What it costs

Two things stand out immediately.

The investment is enormous. A midpoint of roughly $3,373,250 is about three times an Orangetheory studio and more than seven times a Burn Boot Camp. The high end of $5,221,500 exceeds the entire disclosed range of every other brand we have reviewed. This is a large-format real estate and equipment commitment, closer to a retail anchor build than a boutique studio fit-out.

The franchise fee is the lowest in our comparison at $20,000, against $59,950 for Orangetheory and $65,000 for Club Pilates. That is the clearest possible illustration of a point we make repeatedly: the franchise fee is almost irrelevant to the decision. Planet Fitness charges a third of what a boutique brand charges and asks for seven figures more in total capital.

What clubs actually earn

The sample covers clubs open and operating during the 12 months ended December 31, 2024. At 2,197 clubs this is the largest Item 19 sample in our data, comfortably ahead of Anytime Fitness at 1,683 and Orangetheory at 1,256.

Two important qualifications.

This is EFT revenue, not total revenue. The disclosed figure covers membership dues collected by electronic funds transfer. Clubs also generate annual fee revenue, retail, and other income that this table does not capture. The true top line per club is higher than $1,873,895 — how much higher is not disclosed here, and it is the single most important question to put to the franchisor.

Item 19 reports thirds, not quartiles. That makes its spread — 2.17x between upper and bottom third — not directly comparable to the quartile spreads other brands publish, because thirds are wider buckets that pull the extremes toward the middle. We leave the quartile fields empty for Planet Fitness in the comparison table rather than filling them with numbers that would not mean what the column header says.

The ratio, and why it needs an asterisk

Against a midpoint investment of $3,373,250, disclosed membership revenue of $1,873,895 gives a revenue-to-investment ratio of about 0.56x — the lowest in our comparison, below even SWTHZ at 0.59x.

Taken at face value, that says a Planet Fitness club generates a little over half its build cost in annual revenue. But the comparison is not quite like-for-like, because every other brand in our table discloses total gross sales while Planet Fitness discloses membership dues only. The real ratio is somewhat better than 0.56x. It is very unlikely to be good.

What the model trades for that capital intensity is scale and stability. A club with several thousand members at a low price point has far more revenue diversification across individuals than a boutique studio with 300 members — losing fifty members matters much less. Membership churn at $15 a month also behaves differently from churn at $200 a month.

What the corporate EBITDA disclosure does and does not tell you

The FDD discloses, for the bottom third of corporate clubs, average net revenue of $1,277,129 and average EBITDA of $266,824 across 84 clubs — roughly a 20.9% margin.

That is a genuinely useful data point and it is also not your data point. Corporate clubs pay no royalty and no brand fund, which on $1.27 million of membership revenue is roughly $114,000 a year that a franchisee would owe and a corporate club does not. Corporate locations are also typically in markets the company selected first. Treat 20.9% as a ceiling on what a comparable franchised club might earn, not an estimate of it.

Who this fits

Planet Fitness suits a well-capitalized multi-unit developer or investor group, not an individual first-time buyer. Most Planet Fitness franchisees operate several clubs, and area development agreements are the norm rather than the exception — the model's economics work through scale in real estate and management, not through a single high-performing unit.

It fits poorly for anyone whose capital is the binding constraint. At a $3.4 million midpoint, this is a different asset class from the rest of our comparison, and the brand recognition that makes it attractive is priced accordingly.

Before you sign

Ask what total club revenue is, not just EFT revenue — the gap between the two is material and the FDD's Item 19 does not close it. Confirm whether you are being offered a single unit or an area development commitment, and model the latter honestly. Read Item 19 in the actual FDD, work through the due diligence checklist, and validate with bottom-third franchisees, since the third-based disclosure hides the true low end.

Sources

• Franchise Chatter — Planet Fitness 2025 review
• Sharpsheets — Planet Fitness FDD, profits & costs

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Planet Fitness franchise cost?

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The 2025 FDD discloses a total initial investment of $1,525,000 to $5,221,500, including a $20,000 initial franchise fee. The midpoint of roughly $3,373,250 makes it by far the most capital-intensive brand in our comparison — about three times an Orangetheory studio.

How much revenue does a Planet Fitness club generate?

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The 2025 FDD reports 2024 EFT membership revenue in thirds across 2,197 franchised clubs open the full year. The bottom third of 733 clubs averaged $1,205,580, the middle third $1,803,265, and the upper third $2,613,753 — a weighted average of about $1,873,895. Note this figure covers membership dues collected by EFT, not total club revenue including retail and annual fees.

What are Planet Fitness's ongoing fees?

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A 7% royalty on total gross monthly and annual membership fees payable via EFT dues draft, plus a brand fund contribution of currently 2% of membership fees, not to exceed 3% of the EFT dues draft. Both are charged on membership revenue rather than on total gross sales, which is unusual.

Is a Planet Fitness franchise profitable?

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Disclosed membership revenue of $1,873,895 against a midpoint investment of $3,373,250 gives a ratio of about 0.56x, the lowest in our comparison. That reflects an unusually capital-heavy real estate and equipment build. The FDD does disclose EBITDA for the bottom third of corporate clubs — average net revenue of $1,277,129 and average EBITDA of $266,824 across 84 clubs — but corporate clubs pay no royalty, so that is not a franchisee figure.