How to price your gym memberships
From the cost floor to the price list: unlimited, days a week, packs, sign-up fee, discounts, trials and how to raise prices.
Wodmark team Updated 14 Nov 2026 7 min read
Most boxes set their membership price by looking at what the gym down the road charges. It is a fair starting point, but it does not tell you whether that price covers rent and wages, or which plans you need so every athlete finds one that fits. This guide goes in the order that works: first the floor your costs set, then the price list, and last how to raise prices without losing people.
The floor price: what each athlete costs you
Before you look at competitors, work out the price below which you lose money. You need three numbers: what you spend a month, how many active athletes you have (or expect), and the margin you want to keep for surprises and new equipment.
An example with made-up figures, only to show the sum:
| Monthly cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Rent and utilities | 2,800 |
| Coaches and front desk (total employment cost) | 4,200 |
| Software, insurance, accountant, cleaning | 700 |
| Replacing equipment (spread over the year) | 300 |
| Total | 8,000 |
With 120 active athletes, each one has to bring in about 67 a month on average just to cover costs. If you want a 20 % margin, the average goes up to 80. That is your floor on average: some plans can sit below it and others above, but the mix has to reach that figure.
If you charge sales tax or VAT, the athlete's price carries it on top; check the rate that applies to you with your accountant. In Wodmark every plan has its own «VAT %» field.
The plans you need
You do not need a long list. Four or five well-thought-out plans cover almost everyone:
| Plan | For whom | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited | People who come 4 or more days | That it does not crowd peak hours; a daily class limit helps |
| 2 or 3 days a week | Most athletes with a job and a family | What happens in the week they cannot come |
| Pack of N classes | Shift workers, travellers, people back from injury | Expiry: a pack with no end date is a debt you owe the athlete |
| Drop-in | Visitors and people passing through | That it is clearly dearer per class than any membership |
| Trial | People who do not know you | That it ends in a conversation, not in silence |
The rule that orders everything: the more commitment, the less each class costs. If the 3-day plan works out cheaper per class than unlimited for someone who comes 3 days, good. If a 10-class pack works out cheaper per class than the 2-day membership, people will drop the membership.
To check it, divide each plan's price by the classes it gives a month (a 2-day plan is about 8 or 9 classes). That column has to go down from the drop-in to unlimited.
Sign-up fee: when it makes sense
A sign-up fee covers what it costs to bring someone in (the first technique session, the coach's time) and discourages people who join and leave every few months. The downside is that it slows sign-ups. Two ways it works:
- Always charge it, but waive it in specific campaigns (September, January) so you have something to announce.
- Charge it on monthly memberships only, not on packs or drop-ins.
In Wodmark the sign-up fee («Enrolment fee») is a field on each plan and is charged once: with the first plan sold to that person at your box. Renewals and later plans do not charge it again.
Discounts: family, students and paying ahead
Every discount should have a reason you can explain at the front desk. The usual ones:
- Family or couple: the second person pays less. You keep two people at once.
- Student or unemployed: with a condition you can check and a review date.
- Quarterly or half-yearly: paying several months ahead for a small discount gives you cash and fewer cancellations.
- Off-peak: a cheaper membership limited to midday or early classes fills the quiet hours without touching the busy ones.
In Wodmark a discount is one more plan: «Family 3 days», «Student unlimited», with its own price and the classes it includes. The off-peak one is a plan that only gives access to certain class types. That way every receipt shows what each person pays for.
Trial class and open gym
A free trial brings in more people; a paid trial (a week or three classes at a token price) brings in people who are more decided. Whichever you pick, what matters is what happens next: someone on the team should talk to everyone who tried, within two or three days.
Open gym (hours when athletes train on their own) can be included in the higher plans or sold separately. If every plan includes it, someone paying for 2 days can come 5. The simplest way is an «Open gym» class type with its own capacity, and deciding which plans include it.
In Wodmark, trial requests from the box's website land in «Trial requests», with who handled them and when; from there the person becomes an athlete and you sell them a plan. The help page on trial class requests explains it.
Review the price every year, and raise it without losing people
Costs go up every year; if the membership does not, the margin shrinks by itself. A yearly review on the same date avoids big jumps. How to announce it:
- Give at least a month's notice, in writing.
- Explain the reason in one sentence (rent, wages, equipment) without apologising.
- Say what has improved or will improve this year: schedule, equipment, coaches.
- Consider keeping the old price for a while for people who have been with you for years.
In Wodmark, changing a plan's price affects new sales: people who already have it keep renewing at the price they paid. To apply the raise to everyone, change their plan from each athlete's record. The notice can go from «Notices» only to the people on that plan, as an app notification or by e-mail.
Setting it up in Wodmark
Plans are created in «Plans»: type (monthly fee, class pack, drop-in or trial), price, period, classes per week or in total, sign-up fee, VAT and whether it shows on the box's public page. The steps are in creating plans and packs. To collect by direct debit in the EU, read SEPA remittances for your box; if you are coming from another platform, read switching software without losing your direct debits.
Frequently asked questions
Is an unlimited plan better than one by days?
You want both. Unlimited is the reference that gives the others their value, and the 2 or 3-day plan is the one most people buy. Avoid a price gap so small that nobody picks the days plan, or so large that nobody picks unlimited.
What about classes not used in a week?
Pick a rule and write it down. The most common is that they do not carry over to the next week. In Wodmark you can give a plan «Extra days to recover classes» at the end of the period, for people who had a bad week.
How many plans are too many?
If the front desk needs a table to explain the difference between two plans, one of them is too many. Special plans (family, student) can exist without being on the public page: in Wodmark you untick «Shown on the public page» and only the team sells them.
Wodmark has plans by days, packs, drop-ins and trials, with sign-up fees and SEPA direct debit, so the price you decide gets collected. See Wodmark's pricing and try everything for 30 days.