Free tool

Margin calculator for gyms and studios

Most owners don't know their margins. Check them for private, semi-private and group training, plan new classes without losing profit, and build your packages and prices, in a few minutes.

Currency

Which do you run now? Private training Semi-private training Group training

Private training is always included, even if you don't offer it: it sets the frame for your other prices.

Untick anything you don't run to hide it in parts 1 and 2.

Before you start: what you'll need

Your private session rate. The lowest price a client pays per session, usually on your longest commitment. Don't offer private training? Put in what you'd charge: everything else is priced from it.
Coach pay per session. If coaches are paid by the hour, use the pay for one session. If they're salaried, divide a month's pay by the sessions they coach. Coach everything yourself? Use what you'd pay someone else, so you can hire when you're ready.
Last month's revenue for semi-private and for group training, kept separate. Your booking or billing software will have a report.
How many sessions or classes you ran last month. Count them on your timetable, or take a week's total and multiply by 4.3.

1. Check your margins

Private training

Session rateYour price per session on a 12-month commitment (the lowest a client pays)

Coach pay per sessionThe most you could pay a coach to deliver it

Semi-private training

Revenue last monthFrom all semi-private clients

Sessions last month

Coach pay per sessionThe most you could pay

Group training

Revenue last monthFrom all group training members

Classes last month

Coach pay per classThe most you could pay

2. Plan new sessions and classes

Adding sessions should grow membership, but add too many too soon and your margin falls.

Try a new number a month and see what happens, based on last month's revenue.

Semi-private sessions

Sessions a month you're planning

Group classes

Classes a month you're planning

3. Build your packages and prices

Here's what each kind of training would cost, built from your private session rate.

You don't need to offer all of them. Use the tables for what you run now or might add, and ignore the rest.

Longer commitments get the best price; shorter ones cost a little more.

Your pricing settings

These start at the levels I'd suggest, so you can leave them as they are.

Change any one and the package tables below update straight away. The line under each box shows what it does to your prices.

Why price it this way?

Everything starts from private training. It's your most personal service, so it sets the top price. Every other price is a share of it, which keeps your menu consistent.
Sharing a coach lowers the price but raises your pay per hour. Three semi-private clients at 60% of your private rate bring in 180% of a private session for the same hour of coaching.
Commitment gets the best price. Members on longer plans stay longer and get better results. Shorter plans cost a little more, so the 12-month plan is the obvious choice.

Extra for shorter plans (%)Shorter plans cost more per session, to reward clients who commit for longer. Added from the 12-month to the 6-month plan, and again to the 3-month: use 5% to 10%.

Semi-private price (% of private)Two to four clients share a coach, so each pays less than private, but you earn more for the hour. Set each client's price at 60% or more of your private rate.

Group class price (% of private)One coach for a whole class, so the price per class is much lower. Use 15% to 25% of your private rate: lower for big classes, higher for small ones.

Group 2 a week (% of unlimited)For members who come twice a week. They pay less a month than unlimited, but more per class, so unlimited stays the better deal. About 70% to 75% of unlimited.

Round prices toThe nearest 5 gives tidy prices like 85 and 90. Small prices round to the nearest 1, so each plan still costs a little more.

Reading the tables: pick the packages you'd offer.

The yellow row is the price per session. The rows below are the monthly fee for each package on a 12-, 6- or 3-month plan.

Monthly fees are the session price × sessions a year ÷ 12, so they stay the same every month.

Unlimited group training is priced on four classes a week.

How to read your results

Margin here means labour margin: what's left from a session after paying the coach who delivers it, as a share of what it brings in.

The calculator uses the lowest price a client pays and the most you'd pay a coach, so this is the worst your margin can be.

Private training: aim for 60% or more. If it's lower, raise your session rate, lower coach pay, or both.
Semi-private and group: aim for 75% or more. If it's lower, check your prices are high enough, that you're not running too many sessions for the members you have, and what you're paying coaches.
Add sessions at a pace that keeps you green. Each new class has to be paid for by new members before it adds to your profit.

These are the benchmarks I used with clients as a coach at NPE Fitness.

As one of the NPE Success Principles puts it: it's not about how much you make, it's about how much you keep. Good marketing can't fix bad margins.

There's more in How to grow a fitness studio.

Figures are estimates to help you plan, not financial or tax advice. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere.

Talk your numbers through on a call