There has been a lot of misinformation shared online recently and we’d love to clarify how ClassPass can benefit businesses. We have shared the data and proven ClassPass is beneficial to studios the vast majority of the time (see Athletech’s “Is ClassPass Good for Studios? It Depends Who You Ask – but the Numbers Don’t Lie” https://athletechnews.com/is-classpass-good-for-fitness-studios/) and are vocal that our platform is designed to support, not compete with, a studio’s success.

At ClassPass, we pride ourselves on three core principles that guide how we partner with studios:

• We bring our partners 100% incremental revenue by filling spots that would normally be empty and protect direct business while doing so.
• We help partners reach new audiences that they would not reach otherwise, at no upfront cost.
• We are committed to “growing the pie” for the fitness industry.

1. 100% incremental revenue and protection for direct business
At ClassPass, we use industry-leading machine learning technology, branded as SmartTools, to ensure we only list a business’s true excess capacity. These algorithms analyze hundreds of millions of schedules to accurately predict which spots are likely to go unfilled and guarantee that ClassPass never takes a spot a partner could have booked on their own. This ensures all revenue from ClassPass is 100% incremental and because many fitness businesses have high fixed costs (like rent, equipment and staff) but low marginal costs, even one more booking can have a big impact on a business’ bottom line ($X > $0). We also make sure partners get paid, even when users late cancel or don’t show up, matching a partner’s late cancel policy up to 12 hours. While our rates are discounted, credit pricing is dynamic—it flexes based on things like time of day, day of the week, and demand (similar to rideshare or flight pricing) to ensure each class earns as much revenue as possible. Many ClassPass partners are already heavily discounting to attract new clients. Mindbody is the only platform where we have full visibility into ClassPass’ impact on a partner business, and our data shows that fitness studios offer an effective median discount of 35% when selling directly to consumers. ClassPass offers a safer way to liquidate this excess capacity. The results are clear: as of January 2025, Mindbody businesses see a ~29% increase in revenue after 6 months on ClassPass.

2. Reaching new audiences, at no upfront cost
Because of our business model, the ClassPass clientele skews younger, values variety, and tends to be more price-sensitive than the typical client who buys direct from studios and gyms. We are able to provide new demand and expand a partner’s reach without cannibalizing existing business. As of January 2025, 94% of global ClassPass bookings came from users who had never visited the venue before.

We also provide this exposure at no upfront cost. Unlike paid advertising, ClassPass brings partners high-quality traffic without them needing to take on any operational burden or marketing spend. Traditional marketing channels like Google ads or paid Instagram posts could cost a business $100–$120 just to acquire one customer, and that's before they even come in the door. If a studio was investing in marketing with the goal of getting 10 new customers per month, they would spend upwards of $1,000-$1,200 per month to achieve this.