Vertical research · Ranked #6 of 10
Boutique fitness studios and gyms
Membership billing by design. US facility membership hit a record 81 million people in 2025, and studio pricing is almost entirely subscription based.
- Opportunity score
- 71.6 / 100
- Recommended plan
- Growth
- Platform fee
- 0.60%
- Modelled revenue per merchant
- $4,068 / yr
- Businesses in scope
- 42,000
- Typical monthly card volume
- $40,000
- Average transaction
- $120
- Confidence
- 70%
How this industry scored
| Measure | Weight | Score (0–100) | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fit for recurring billing | 20% | 96 | Memberships are the entire business model. |
| Processing volume per merchant | 30% | 58 | Low average ticket offsets high transaction counts. |
| Acquisition through search | 20% | 76 | Active, well-defined software search demand. |
| Expected retention | 20% | 68 | High studio closure rates cut merchant lifetime. |
| Risk profile (higher is safer) | 10% | 62 | Auto-renewal rules and cancellation disputes. |
The overall opportunity score is the weighted average of these five measures.
Market size and merchant population
The Health and Fitness Association reports that 81 million Americans belonged to a gym, studio or fitness facility in 2025 — an all-time high and a 5.2% increase on 2024 — across nearly 7 billion visits.
Confidence 75%
How money actually moves
Revenue is overwhelmingly membership based, billed monthly, with class packs and retail as secondary lines. Average transaction size is low but the recurring share is the highest of any vertical studied.
Confidence 75%
Modelled platform revenue per merchant
Modelled on the Growth plan at $99 a month plus a 0.60% platform fee. Stripe processing is charged separately by Stripe.
| Scenario | Monthly card volume | Platform revenue per year | Over three years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | $18,000 | $2,484 | $7,452 |
| Base case | $40,000 | $4,068 | $12,204 |
| Aggressive | $85,000 | $7,308 | $21,924 |
Confidence 65%
Search and AI answer opportunity
Studio owners search actively for membership billing, failed payment recovery and cancellation handling. Content on auto-renewal compliance and churn recovery is under-served and highly citable.
Confidence 68%
Risks and objections
Studio failure rates are high, so merchant lifetime is shorter than the recurring-billing fit suggests. Auto-renewal and cancellation rules in several states create compliance obligations for the billing flow.
Confidence 65%
Our recommendation
Recommended as a secondary target. Best-in-class recurring fit and easy acquisition, but low volume per merchant and high studio failure rates cap lifetime value.
- Sales difficulty
- Moderate — studio owners are digitally native and evaluate quickly
- Retention
- Moderate to strong — memberships lock in, but studio closure rates are high
- Risk
- Elevated — cancellation disputes and consumer-protection rules around auto-renewal
Sources
- Health and Fitness Association — 2025 Fitness Industry Benchmarking Report
Operating and financial benchmarks for US gyms and studios.
Checked 2026-09-09
- Health and Fitness Association — 2026 US Health and Fitness Consumer Report
81 million Americans belonged to a fitness facility in 2025, up 5.2% on 2024, across nearly 7 billion visits.
Checked 2026-09-09
Revenue figures on this page are our own modelling of Enterprise Pay Gateway subscription and platform fees, not measured platform data, and they exclude Stripe's own processing charges. Cited facts link to their original source above.