Fitness
Planet Fitness Franchise
A high-volume, low-cost "Judgement Free Zone" gym franchise built around a $10-$25/month membership model rather than premium pricing, requiring franchisees to buy fitness equipment from a franchisor affiliate. The first club opened in 1992; the brand's predecessor began franchising in February 2003. Franchised and company-owned unit counts both grew every year of the FDD's three-year window, and the chain now numbers in the thousands of U.S. locations.
On record with state regulators
The New York Attorney General's Office investigated Planet Fitness in 2013 over "free"/"unlimited" advertising claims and indoor-tanning safety-disclosure violations at 7 of roughly 80 New York locations. A November 2015 settlement required Pla-Fit Franchise to stop approving "free"/"unlimited" tanning marketing in New York and to encourage franchisee compliance with state tanning laws.
Disclosed in the FDD's litigation section (Item 3)
Item 3 discloses a 2013-filed suit by Pla-Fit Franchise's former CFO alleging she was misled about the value of her ownership interest during a separation negotiation; a Massachusetts court entered a $8,826,394.20 judgment against individual former officers (not the company) in 2022.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from Planet Fitness's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
$40,000
Total to open
$1,282,500–$5,386,000
Ongoing royalty
7% of gross sales
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough fitness industry average, not a figure from Planet Fitness's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$1,527,500 – $5,631,000
Startup investment
$1,282,500–$5,386,000
Royalty per year (7%)
$49,000
Total royalty, 5yr
$245,000
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Planet Fitness's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical fitness profit margin (~15%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general fitness industry benchmark, not a figure from Planet Fitness's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
12.2–51.3 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Planet Fitness is opening more locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is Planet Fitness actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
GrowingFrom Item 20 of Planet Fitness's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2,082 | 2,201 | +119 |
| 2024 | 2,201 | 2,298 | +97 |
| 2025 | 2,298 | 2,432 | +134 |
Most recent year (2025): gained 134 franchised units, ending the year at 2,432 total.
What you're actually signing up for
The cost and growth numbers above are only part of the picture. These three FDD items are the ones a prospective franchisee tends to weigh most heavily once they're past the sticker price.
Training & ongoing support (Item 11)
Item 11: site-selection factors and lease review, initial training program, specifications for a required pre-sale/grand-opening marketing spend ($20,000-$30,000 per 30 days up to $120,000), and a loaned Operations Manual; PF Equipment is the mandatory supplier for fitness equipment.
Territory protection (Item 12)
Item 12: no exclusive territory, protected area, or any other form of territorial protection -- Planet Fitness explicitly reserves the right to open other clubs, sell online, or operate other fitness concepts (including dual branding) anywhere, including near an existing franchisee's location.
Renewal & termination terms (Item 17)
Item 17: 12-year term, with a successor franchise available for a $20,000 fee plus required remodel if the franchisee is in substantial compliance; a franchisee who doesn't meet renewal requirements may continue month-to-month but at a royalty temporarily increased by up to 4% of EFT Dues.
How Planet Fitness compares to other Fitness franchises
Across the 9 fitness franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $512,636–$1,337,041, with royalties averaging around 7.3% of gross sales (based on the 9 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
$764,577–$1,104,920 · 8% royalty
Pure Barre$445,299–$736,465 · 7% royalty
StretchLab$271,037–$814,192 · 8% royalty
Anytime Fitness$539,329–$905,482 · 8% royalty
Club Pilates$403,289–$1,029,811 · 8% royalty
Burn Boot Camp$291,145–$678,003 · 6% royalty
The Joint Chiropractic$254,250–$520,800 · 7% royalty
F45 Training$362,300–$857,700 · 7% royalty
Keep going
- Planet Fitness and Orangetheory Fitness are both fitness franchises; Orangetheory Fitness's total investment starts about $517,923 lower than Planet Fitness's. Orangetheory Fitness Franchise
- Planet Fitness and Anytime Fitness are both fitness franchises; Anytime Fitness's total investment starts about $743,171 lower than Planet Fitness's. Anytime Fitness Franchise
Where this came from: Planet Fitness only files a Net Worth/Experience Exemption notice with California DFPI, so this entry is sourced from Minnesota's CARDS registry instead: MN File No. 10843, Clean FDD issued May 22, 2026, filed 5/22/2026, effective 6/25/2026. hqLocation is corrected from the FTC boilerplate Washington, DC address the automated parser picked up -- Item 1 gives the real principal business address as 4 Liberty Lane West, Hampton, NH. Item 5: $40,000 lump-sum fee (currently waived for locations opened under an Area Development Agreement). Item 6: royalty is 7% of gross monthly/annual membership (EFT Dues) fees, plus a National Advertising Fund of up to 3% of EFT Dues (currently 2% for calendar year 2026) and a 20%-of-monthly-dues (or 5%-of-prepaid) Join Fee on every new membership. Item 7 Total: $1,282,500-$5,386,000, of which $333,000-$995,000 is fitness equipment that must be purchased from franchisor affiliate PF Equipment. Item 20 Table No. 1 confirmed. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-06-25. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.