If you typed "low cost fitness franchise" into a search bar, you're probably one of two different people. Either you're an entrepreneur pricing out a gym business to buy, or you're a bargain hunter looking for a cheap place to work out. This article is built for the first group, but the search data behind this term shows plenty of people land here by accident while comparing Planet Fitness membership prices or hunting for club fitness near me. We'll answer both, starting with how to tell which one you actually are.
For the franchise buyer, the gap in most existing coverage is obvious: articles quote a headline franchise fee and stop there. They rarely add build-out costs, equipment, signage, and working capital into a real total investment figure, and almost none of them mention royalty math, FDD Item 19 disclosure, financing terms, or how saturated your specific metro already is. That's what this piece covers, brand by brand, with numbers.
Are You Searching for a Gym Membership or a Low Cost Fitness Franchise to Open?
These are two completely different price tags, and confusing them wastes hours of research. A gym membership costs $10 to $40 a month. A fitness franchise costs six figures to open and years to pay back.
If you're comparing Planet Fitness membership pricing, wondering what 24 Hour Fitness charges, or trying to find club fitness near me for a Saturday workout, skip to the last section of this article where those specific questions are answered directly. If you're evaluating whether to sign a franchise agreement, buy equipment, and hire staff, keep reading. Everything from here forward is about the business side: what it costs to build, what it costs to run, and what can go wrong.
Defining the Low-Cost Gym Franchise Category
A gym franchise earns the "low cost" label when its franchise fee sits below roughly $50,000 and its physical footprint is small enough to keep build-out costs down. That usually means the 24-hour, minimally staffed access model rather than a full-service big-box club.
Anytime Fitness, Snap Fitness, and Fitness 19 fit this description. They run on 3,000 to 6,000 square foot spaces, key-fob or app-based entry, and a skeleton staff of one or two people during peak hours. Crunch Fitness, Orangetheory, and full-format Planet Fitness clubs are frequently lumped into "low cost" listicles because their monthly membership is cheap, but their franchise investment is not. That distinction drives most of the confusion in this space, and it's worth remembering every time a brand markets itself around its member price rather than its franchisee price.
How Much Does It Really Cost to Open Each Brand?
The franchise fee is the smallest number you'll write a check for. Build-out, equipment, signage, insurance, and several months of working capital typically add three to ten times the franchise fee on top, and the gap between low, mid, and high estimates comes almost entirely from local real estate and construction costs.
| Brand | Franchise Fee | Estimated Total Investment | Royalty | Ad Fund |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anytime Fitness | $42,500 | $126,700 to $570,700 | ~7% of gross | ~2% |
| Snap Fitness | $25,000 to $35,000 | $150,000 to $350,000 | ~7% of gross | ~2% |
| Fitness 19 | $25,000 | $200,000 to $500,000 | ~5% of gross | 1 to 2% |
| Crunch Fitness | $30,000 to $50,000 | $1,000,000 to $3,500,000 | ~4% of gross | ~2% |
| Planet Fitness | $10,000 to $20,000 | $850,000 to $4,500,000+ | ~7% of gross | 7 to 9% |
Ranges like these come from the franchisors' own Anytime Fitness franchise disclosure summaries and comparable pages for Snap Fitness and Planet Fitness, all of which vary by market. Notice that Planet Fitness has the cheapest franchise fee on this list and one of the highest total investments, because its clubs run 15,000 to 20,000 square feet with a pool of cardio and strength equipment built for volume. Cheap membership and cheap franchise are not the same thing.
What Do Royalty and Ad Fund Percentages Actually Cost You?
Royalty and ad fund fees are ongoing, monthly, and calculated on gross revenue, not profit, which means they come out whether the club is thriving or barely breaking even. A typical structure runs 5 to 7 percent royalty plus 2 percent (or, for Planet Fitness, considerably more) into a national ad fund.
Run the math on a club doing $40,000 in monthly revenue at a 7 percent royalty and 2 percent ad fund: that's $2,800 in royalty and $800 in ad fund, or $3,600 a month, $43,200 a year, before rent, payroll, utilities, or loan payments. At Planet Fitness, where the ad fund can run 7 to 9 percent on top of the royalty, that same $40,000 month could send $6,400 or more out the door before a single operating bill is paid. This is the number competitors' listicles skip, and it's the one that determines whether "low cost" stays true after year one.
FDD Item 19 and the Numbers Franchisors Don't Have to Show You
Item 19 of the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) is the section where a franchisor can, but is not required to, disclose average unit revenue or profit. Many low-cost gym franchisors either omit it entirely or limit it to a small, non-representative sample of locations.
The Federal Trade Commission's own franchise guidance for prospective buyers confirms Item 19 is optional under the FTC Franchise Rule, which means a brand can legally tell you nothing about what existing owners actually earn. If a low-cost fitness franchise you're evaluating has no Item 19, or a heavily caveated one, ask in writing for median revenue by unit size, and ask how many of the outlets included have been open longer than three years. A franchise that's confident in its numbers usually shows them.
How Can You Finance a Low Cost Fitness Franchise?
Most new owners combine a Small Business Administration loan with 20 to 30 percent cash down and, in some cases, franchisor-arranged lender relationships. The SBA 7(a) loan program is the most common route, covering amounts up to $5 million with government-backed guarantees that make banks more willing to lend to a first-time franchisee.
SBA 7(a) rates float with the prime rate plus a lender spread, and they move with the broader interest rate environment, so a loan quoted this quarter can look different by the time you close. Several low-cost gym franchisors, including Anytime Fitness, also maintain preferred-lender lists and, in some cases, discounted franchise fees for veterans or multi-unit commitments. Ask the franchisor directly whether any in-house financing or fee reduction programs currently apply, since these change more often than the headline fee does.
Do Low-Cost Gym Franchises Actually Close?
Yes, and general small business survival data gives a useful baseline even where brand-specific closure numbers aren't published. Roughly half of all new U.S. business establishments survive to their fifth year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics business dynamics data, and fitness clubs carry added risk from thin staffing budgets and heavy dependence on a single monthly membership fee.
Franchise-specific attrition is harder to find in headline marketing, but it's sitting in every FDD's Item 20, which lists outlets opened, transferred, and closed over the past three years. Before signing anything, request that table for your target brand and count the closures against total units. A brand with dozens of closures relative to its size deserves harder questions than one that's mostly adding locations.
Territory Saturation: The Barrier Nobody Puts in the Brochure
In many metro areas, the biggest low-cost gym brands are already built out, which shrinks the radius available to a new franchisee before running into an existing location's protected territory. Anytime Fitness and Planet Fitness, in particular, have thousands of U.S. locations, and dense suburban markets are frequently near capacity.
Item 20 of the FDD also lists current franchisee contact information in most states, which is the single best due diligence step available and one competitors' listicles rarely mention. Call five to ten existing owners, ask specifically about territory overlap with corporate-owned or franchisee-owned clubs nearby, and ask whether the franchisor has approved a new unit within five miles in the past two years.
Planet Fitness Membership, 24 Hour Fitness, and Local Clubs: What Are Consumers Really Asking?
If you landed here looking for a cheap gym rather than a gym to own, here are direct answers. Planet Fitness gym membership runs about $10 to $15 a month for the Classic tier and roughly $24.99 for the Black Card tier with multi-club access and perks, though pricing varies slightly by location.
24 Hour Fitness is company-owned rather than franchised, so there's no franchise version of it to invest in, only memberships to compare against Planet Fitness or regional chains. Princeton Fitness and Wellness is an independent regional club (not a national franchise), so membership pricing there is set locally and isn't listed in any franchise disclosure document, contact the specific location for current rates. And "club fitness near me" is a local search, not a brand, meaning results will mix independent gyms, franchised locations, and community centers, so compare month-to-month pricing and cancellation terms rather than assuming any one chain is universally cheapest.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest fitness franchise to open?
Among established brands, Fitness 19 and Snap Fitness tend to have the lowest franchise fees, generally $25,000 to $35,000, and lower total investment ranges than big-box or boutique formats. Total cost still depends heavily on local construction and lease rates.
Is Planet Fitness a low cost fitness franchise to open?
No. Planet Fitness membership is cheap for consumers, but the franchise itself requires one of the largest total investments in the budget gym category, often $850,000 to $4.5 million or more, due to its large club footprint and equipment package.
How much does a Princeton Fitness and Wellness membership cost?
Princeton Fitness and Wellness is an independent regional club rather than a national franchise, so pricing is set locally and isn't published in any franchise disclosure document. Contact the specific location directly for current membership rates.
Is 24 Hour Fitness a franchise you can buy?
No, 24 Hour Fitness operates as a company-owned chain, not a franchise system, so there's no franchise agreement available to purchase for that brand.
How much does a low cost fitness franchise really cost including build-out?
Expect total investment, not just the franchise fee, to run $150,000 to $570,000 for most 24-hour access-model brands like Anytime Fitness and Snap Fitness, once you add leasehold improvements, equipment, signage, insurance, and working capital.
Do franchisors have to disclose how much money existing owners make?
No. FDD Item 19 financial performance representations are optional under the FTC Franchise Rule, so some low-cost gym franchisors disclose limited or no revenue data. Ask for it in writing and request Item 20 outlet closure data as well before signing.