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Gyms and studios

The best fitness franchises to own

Big-box gyms, boutique studios, and class-based concepts, ranked by lowest total investment. Two very different business models hide inside one category.

Photo via Pexels

A fitness franchise costs anywhere from about $160,000 for a 9Round kickboxing gym to more than $5 million for a full-size Crunch Fitness or Planet Fitness club, on the brands' own 2026 disclosure documents. Where a brand lands depends almost entirely on the building. A 9Round fills a storefront with nine training stations; a Planet Fitness leases a building its FDD puts at 15,000 to 25,000 square feet and fills it with equipment. All eleven brands are ranked below by lowest total investment, each from its own 2026 filing; the two with a full FranPicks page link through.

  1. UFC Gym $155,388 to $6,211,970 total investment Combat-sports gym, five formats · royalty 5%
  2. 9Round $160,449 to $390,300 total investment Nine-station kickboxing circuit gym · royalty Greater of $600 or 6% of net sales, monthly
  3. HOTWORX $288,890 to $830,380 total investment 24-hour hot-exercise studio · royalty $695 a month
  4. F45 Training $362,300 to $857,700 total investment Interval-training studio · royalty Greater of 7% of gross sales or $2,500 a month
  5. Club Pilates $413,289 to $1,029,811 total investment Pilates studio · royalty 8% of gross sales
  6. Pure Barre $455,299 to $736,465 total investment Barre studio · royalty 7% of gross sales
  7. Anytime Fitness $539,329 to $905,482 total investment Access gym with coaching · royalty $842 a month, CPI-indexed
  8. Snap Fitness $554,731 to $827,621 total investment 24/7 access gym · royalty $725 a month, CPI-indexed
  9. Orangetheory $764,577 to $1,104,920 total investment Group studio, cardio and strength · royalty 8% of gross sales
  10. Planet Fitness $1,282,500 to $5,386,000 total investment Big-box gym · royalty 7%
  11. Crunch Fitness $2,147,500 to $5,367,000 total investment Full-size health club · royalty 5% of monthly gross sales

Membership model vs. class model

"Fitness" covers two economies that barely resemble each other. The big-box membership gym sells access to equipment at a low monthly price and makes its money on volume, thousands of members, many of whom rarely show up. The boutique studio sells classes at a premium, runs on a smaller footprint, and lives or dies on instructor quality and class fill rate. Their build-outs, staffing, and revenue rhythms are completely different, so a single "cheapest to open" number tells you where to start looking, not which model suits you.

A close-up of a loaded 45-pound barbell plate racked in a dimly lit gym
A big-box gym's build-out is front-loaded and heavy; a boutique studio's is lighter but leans on class fill and instructor pay. The entry cost only starts the comparison. Photo via Pexels

Fitness franchise costs compared, eleven brands

Every range below is the total initial investment from the brand's Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 7, cheapest entry point first. The initial fee comes from Item 5 and the royalty from the first line of Item 6.

Fitness franchise costs compared, cheapest entry point first
Brand Format Total investment Initial fee Royalty Filing
UFC Gym Combat-sports gym, five formats $155,388 to $6,211,970 $30,000 5% 2026 FDD
9Round Nine-station kickboxing circuit gym $160,449 to $390,300 $19,900 Greater of $600 or 6% of net sales, monthly 2026 FDD
HOTWORX 24-hour hot-exercise studio $288,890 to $830,380 $19,950 $695 a month 2026 FDD
F45 Training Interval-training studio $362,300 to $857,700 $60,000 establishment fee Greater of 7% of gross sales or $2,500 a month 2026 FDD
Club Pilates Pilates studio $413,289 to $1,029,811 $65,000 8% of gross sales 2026 FDD
Pure Barre Barre studio $455,299 to $736,465 $60,000 7% of gross sales 2026 FDD
Anytime Fitness Access gym with coaching $539,329 to $905,482 $42,500 $842 a month, CPI-indexed 2026 FDD
Snap Fitness 24/7 access gym $554,731 to $827,621 $39,500 $725 a month, CPI-indexed 2026 FDD
Orangetheory Group studio, cardio and strength $764,577 to $1,104,920 $59,950 8% of gross sales 2026 FDD
Planet Fitness Big-box gym $1,282,500 to $5,386,000 $40,000 7% 2026 FDD
Crunch Fitness Full-size health club $2,147,500 to $5,367,000 $35,000 5% of monthly gross sales 2026 FDD

Two notes on reading it. HOTWORX publishes a separate, higher range for studios in California and New York, $374,860 to $1,083,310. And Planet Fitness's range spans two ways of paying for the equipment: $1,282,500 to $3,769,000 if you finance it, $2,385,000 to $5,386,000 if you buy it, so its low end and high end describe different deals. Its full cost breakdown separates them.

Flat fee or percentage: how fitness royalties differ

In fitness the royalty itself comes in two shapes, and the shape matters more than the rate. Three of the brands above charge a flat monthly fee: HOTWORX $695 a month, Snap Fitness $725 and Anytime Fitness $842, the last two indexed to inflation. Anytime also charges a separate $900 a month for general advertising, and its FDD reserves the right to replace the flat fee with a percentage royalty of up to 8% of gross revenue. The class studios and Crunch charge a share of sales instead: 8% at Club Pilates and Orangetheory, 7% at Pure Barre, 5% at Crunch. 9Round and F45 split the difference with a floor, the greater of a percentage or a fixed monthly minimum.

The difference compounds as a location grows. On $500,000 a year in sales, a $725 monthly fee comes to $8,700 a year; an 8% royalty on the same sales is $40,000. On a club doing $1 million the flat fee is still $8,700 and the percentage doubles to $80,000. A flat fee rewards the owner who builds a busy club; a percentage protects the owner whose club stays small, because a quiet month costs less. Neither is cheaper in general. Run your own sales assumption through both before treating the royalty column as a ranking.

The numbers that decide a gym's economics

Equipment and build-out dominate the initial investment, but the figures that decide whether a fitness location works are recurring: the royalty on membership and class revenue, the rent on the square footage the format demands, and, where the franchisor discloses it, the average unit revenue in Item 19. Many fitness brands publish no revenue figure at all; when that's the case, the page says so rather than filling the gap with a projection. Check the royalty and the disclosure on each brand's page before you weigh a low entry price against a higher one.

Planet Fitness is a useful benchmark because it does disclose. Its 2026 Item 19 reports membership dues for 2,291 franchised U.S. clubs in thirds, from $1,260,539 a year on average in the bottom third to $2,705,811 in the top. Compare that with the build cost above and the reason big-box gyms still sell becomes clear, along with why they demand the capital they do. The fitness franchise cost guide sets the brands FranPicks covers side by side, and the affordability estimator checks your liquid capital against each one.

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