Verified — real FDD extraction
Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory under this name — though SBA loans to its franchisees exist; verify eligibility with your lender
Planet Fitness
Fitness · independent · est. —
Planet Fitness is a high-volume, low-price gym chain offering cardio and strength equipment on inexpensive monthly memberships in a casual, judgment-free format. A franchisee builds and operates large fitness clubs, typically under a multi-unit development commitment, serving a broad base of everyday gym members.
Planet Fitness net unit count grew +10.3% from 2023–2025 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Proven & steady
Distress
The operating record is solid, but the FDD discloses a bankruptcy history (Item 4) — capped below a full endorsement. The standout in the record: owners who leave mostly sell rather than fail.
Exit rate · latest year
0.3%
vs 3.8% across 34 fitness systems
Cost to open
$1.3M–$5.4M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
0.0%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 7 of 2,298 franchised outlets left the system — a 0.3% annualized exit rate, vs 3.8% across 34 fitness systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 2,314 | 2,455 | 2,568 |
| Opened | 123 | 100 | 141 |
| Transfers | 100 | 270 | 71 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 2,455 | 2,568 | 2,709 |
| Net change | +141 | +113 | +141 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 173 SBA-backed loans to Planet Fitness franchisees since 2005. Of the 136 that have resolved, 0.0% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
0.0%
0 of 136 resolved defaulted
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$2,060,550
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
1 vs 19
distinct banks — pulling back
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO PLANET FITNESS BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
U.S. Bank, National Association
12.8% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 12.7% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
73.1%
first-time franchise owners
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.
Does experience help here?
+0.0pp
multi-unit vs single-unit owners
Owners of multiple units default at 0.0%; single-unit owners at 0.0%.
Computed from 173 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Planet Fitness franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $40K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $1.3M–$5.4M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$1.3M–$5.4M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$40K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
7%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$70K
7% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$700K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for Planet Fitness with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 18 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $51K in back wages for 250 workers. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
18
Back wages owed
$51K
Employees affected
250
Since 2020
1
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Planet Fitness franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Planet Fitness itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2020.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks safer than 98% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
2 / 100
Measured
Modeled SBA charge-off
5.2%
Observed SBA charge-off
0.0%
Top drivers: System size (log units) (lowers) · Investment ceiling (log) (lowers) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (raises). 50+ resolved loans and complete disclosure data — the score is checkable against the brand's observed rate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for Planet Fitness. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Planet Fitness's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Planet Fitness franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Planet Fitness franchises closed last year?
In Planet Fitness's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 7 of 2,298 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 0.3% — compared with 3.8% across 34 fitness systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.
How much does a Planet Fitness franchise cost?
Per Planet Fitness's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $40K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $1.3M–$5.4M (Item 7).
What royalty does Planet Fitness charge?
Planet Fitness charges an ongoing royalty of 7.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does Planet Fitness disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Planet Fitness makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for Planet Fitness franchises default?
Across 173 SBA-backed loans to Planet Fitness franchisees since 2005, 0 of the 136 that have resolved were charged off — a 0.0% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.