If you’re considering starting your entrepreneurial journey, investing in a gym fitness franchise in Australia could be a promising opportunity. The Australian health and fitness industry is a significant contributor to the economy, with a direct GDP contribution of AU$1.52 billion and an indirect contribution of AU$2.49 billion, totaling over AU$4 billion.
The industry has experienced substantial growth over the years. Between 2016 and 2023, the number of health and fitness centers in Australia increased from over 3,800 to 7,300. According to IBISWorld Banking, as of 2024, there are 7,595 gyms and fitness centers operating across the country, marking a 3.9% increase from the previous year.
This growth isn’t limited to traditional gyms. The fitness landscape now includes yoga and Pilates studios, dance classes, group fitness sessions, and more. Notably, 12% of the industry’s revenue comes from yoga and Pilates studios, and boutique fitness studios account for 21% of the market (Source: Gitnux.org)
With over 4 million Australians holding gym memberships and the industry generating approximately $2.5 billion in revenue annually, it’s clear that gym fitness franchises in Australia are thriving (Source: Worldmetrics). Investing in one of the best fitness franchises in Australia could be a profitable venture.
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With this brief overview of the Australian gym franchise business, let us now jump to our list of Australia’s top 15 gym and fitness franchises.
Hope you like our picks, and if you have anything to add, let us know here!
Number of Franchises | 530+ |
Headquarters | NSW |
Founded in | 2008 |
Franchise Cost | $381,575 – $783,897 |
One of the world’s fastest-growing fitness chains tops our list.
Anytime Fitness is a 24-hour health and fitness club founded in Minnesota, USA.
In Australia, the brand was launched in Gunnedah, NSW 2008.
After one and a half decades of business, the brand has spread to more than 500 branches nationwide.
This growth makes it one of the biggest health club chains in Australia.
In October 2023, the Fitness chain recently achieved a major milestone of opening its 550th Australian Club in Sydney, New South Wales (source: Anytime fitness)
The club is open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.
(Source: Official Website, Entrepreneur, Wikipedia)
Number of Franchises | 235 |
Headquarters | Brisbane, QLD |
Founded in | 2003 |
Franchise Cost | $354,738 – $1,211,917 (Source: SnapFitness) |
The second fitness club on the list is also a US-origin club.
Peter Taunton founded the club in Chanhassen, Minnesota, US, in 2003 with the ambition to be an industry innovator.
Present in more than 20 countries, Snap Fitness has opened more than 1000 clubs and has a vast community of 1 million+ members. (Source: SnapFitness)
The club entered the Australian market in 2009 – Within six years of its original launch in the US as a Brisbane headquartered company.
Today, Snap Fitness has more than 235 clubs spread throughout the country.
That is why most franchise owners are, what the brand terms, ‘Absentee Owners’(Absentee owners are the ones who are running the gym as a side business).
The majority of franchise owners, 60%, fall in this category.
It is supported by the fact that the members enter gyms with their access cards.
They can even access their club’s live footage remotely.
(Sources: Wikipedia, SnapFitness, Forbes)
Number of Franchises | 65 |
Headquarters | Unley, South Australia |
Founded in | 1991 |
Franchise Cost | $120,000+ |
EFM Health Club is the third Australian Fitness and gym franchise on the list.
Curiously named as an acronym, EFM has an interesting story behind its name.
But before coming to its name, let’s talk about its inception and the specialities of its operations.
EFM Health Club is the first on our list, and it is an Australian-origin club.
The club was founded by Shane Redbone, an ex-SANFL and AFL footballer.
With over 65 outlets nationwide, the club has won several awards for its exceptional services since it was founded in 1991.
The star feature of the club is a personalised and tailored program with an affordable membership scheme.
Number of Franchises | 16 |
Headquarters | Ashmore, Queensland |
Founded in | 2017 |
Franchise Cost | $250,000+ (Source: Company’s Official Website) |
Revenue | $20.7 million |
The Next Gym franchise on the list is quite unique.
My First Gym is a health and sports activity gym dedicated to kids of all ages.
Yes – A novel concept indeed, but a successful one!
As you can imagine, being a kid-friendly space, it is also a family-friendly area where parents and guardians love to hang around.
There are more than 70 classes conducted each week, which include
It has specialised training concentrated on the first 90 days of the opening and even beyond in many aspects.
(Source: Gym’s Official Website & blogs)
Number of Franchises | 260 |
Headquarters | Sunshine Coast, Queensland |
Founded in | 2007 |
Franchise Cost | $550,000 – $700,000 |
Revenue | $62.9 million |
Brendon and Cristy Levenson founded Jetts Fitness in 2007 on the Gold Coast, QLD.
The brand is uniquely honoured to be the first gym franchise in Australia to offer all-day access.
Beyond its industry, the brand was declared the 2nd fastest growing company in Australia. (Source: WRKPlus)
Jetts Fitness is not confined to Australia.
The expansion continued afterwards, bringing the club’s franchises into many other countries, including Thailand, Netherlands, and the UK.
(Sources: Jetts Fitness, Wikipedia)
Number of Franchises | 100+ |
Headquarters | Bayswater, Victoria |
Founded in | 1997 |
Franchise Cost | $289,500 – $446,000 |
Revenue | $66.2 million |
Next Health Franchise on the list is also an Australian-origin and 100% Australian-owned health-club brand.
Genesis Health and Fitness Club first opened in 1997 in Ringwood, Victoria.
To grade it as per the membership cost, it stands in the middle of the spectrum – neither cheap nor too costly.
However, certain perks give the members personalised and premium treatment.
New members are welcomed with a free, personalised fitness consultation, personal training sessions, and a complete training plan.
Once you get on that program, they check in with you every 12 weeks to keep you on track.
The gym is a 24/7, all-week open club.
Number of Franchises | 27 |
Headquarters | Sydney, NSW |
Founded in | 1992 |
Franchise Cost | $936,600 – $4,558,000 |
Revenue | $340.5 million (Source: Investor Report 2025) |
Planet Fitness (PF) is a US-origin fitness club that was founded in 1992 in Dover, New Hampshire, USA.
Platen Fitness has a unique business model that revolutionised the gym and fitness industry.
So, they sat down and tried to figure out why the rest of 80-85% of the people did not join the gym.
They made their gym environment non-intimidating and affordable.
In Australia, Planet Fitness signed an agreement with Bravo Fit Holdings Pty Ltd in November 2019 (Bravo Fit Holdings is a joint venture of two US franchisees and an Australian fitness operator, Dallas Rosekelly’s Galactic Fitness Pty).
Number of Franchises | 18 |
Headquarters | Parramatta, NSW |
Founded in | 1989 |
Franchise Cost | $304,500 and $2,129,500 (Source: Crunch) |
Revenue | $33.7 Million |
Next up is a gym franchise that was founded in 1989 in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of New York City.
The club had in its roots the ambition to welcome people of diverse groups.
The gym’s franchise operation in Australia was started in 2007 by a couple in the heart of Sydney.
The couple has 45 years of experience in the health and fitness industry.
Their passion for fitness activities is matchless; they call it “living with mana”.
And their “mana” certainly shows in the brand’s success.
As with every premium gym franchise, Crunch also has a set of fitness programs they advertise for fitness programs meeting the needs of various fitness enthusiasts.
(Sources: CrunchAustralia, Wikipedia, CrunchUSA)
Number of Franchises | 4 |
Headquarters | Boca Raton, Florida |
Founded in | 2010 |
Franchise Cost | $488,405 – $994,360 |
Revenue | $179.6 Million |
The next fitness club franchise on the list is quite a unique one.
Orangetheory Fitness (OTF) is a US-based boutique fitness studio franchised and headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.
The club was founded by exercise physiologists Ellen Lathan, Jerome Kern, and David Long in 2010.
OFT’s success can be gauged from its ranking at #415 in Inc. magazine’s “Fastest-Growing Private Companies” list.
The brand is also featured among the “Franchise 500” of Entrepreneur magazine.
Number of Franchises | 10 |
Headquarters | Sunshine Coast, QLD |
Founded in | 1965 |
Franchise Cost | $1,483,000 – $3,602,000 (Source: GoldGym) |
Revenue | $580.0 million |
Gold’s Gym is probably one of the most recognisable fitness brands included in the list.
The gym is also probably one of the oldest in this industry.
Gold’s Gym was founded in 1965 as a small gym in Venice, California.
But the gym’s first franchise in Australia in 2005.
Among its many firsts, Gold Gym was one of the first companies in the health and fitness industry to the franchise. Its franchising started back in 1980.
With more than 3 million members, the brand claims to be the world’s number 1 full-service fitness franchise. It is present in more than 29 countries and has more than 700 franchises.
Number of Franchises | 250 |
Headquarters | Narellan, New South Wales |
Founded in | 2008 |
Franchise Cost | $350k to $550k* plus GST |
Revenue | $32.2 million |
Plus Fitness is an Australian-origin gym franchise founded by John Fuller. Fuller initially launched the first four franchises of the business as the sole owner of the club but later formed a partnership with Nigel Miller to run the future business together.
The exclusive territory model had a dedicated aim of protecting the franchisees from future market saturation.
Along with these measures, the owners ensured that they developed a real turn-key franchise operation that offered a lucrative package to investors, including gym equipment, franchise training, and marketing support.
These specific measures to make their franchising more lucrative for investors paid them real dividends, and their efforts finally made the gym a true ‘Australian Success Story’.
(Sources: PlusFitness, Official Website)
Number of Franchises | 70+ |
Headquarters | Richmond, Victoria |
Founded in | 1989 |
Franchise Cost | $500,000+ |
Revenue | $54.9 million |
Another unique club in the list.
Fernwood Fitness is a women-only health and fitness club with a mission to ‘empower women to shine’.
Opened in 1989 in Bendigo by Diana Williams, Fernwood boasts a proud history of more than 40 years of successful experience.
The founder, Diana Williams, is a successful businesswoman, proud mother, and weightlifting champion.
Being a female-friendly fitness club, the gym has tailored its fitness routines to suit its members’ needs.
Most of their clubs also offer childcare services to let the moms cater to their fitness needs without worrying about dropping their kids somewhere else or hiring a nanny for them.
(Sources: FernwoodFitness, StartupGrind)
Number of Franchises | 16 |
Headquarters | Dapto, New South Wales |
Founded in | 2009 |
Franchise Cost | $200,000 to $250,000 |
Revenue | $3.5 million (Source: StepzFitness) |
Stepz Fitness is a fitness club with a noble mission behind its business strategy.
The club aims to help “1 million Australians become healthier, fitter, and happier.”
The brand markets its clubs as “24/7 boutique gym” franchises.
As with other gym brands, this club also has a unique business philosophy to make them stand out from the rest.
(Source: Company’s Official Website)
Number of Franchises | 367 franchise |
Headquarters | Melbourne, Victoria |
Founded in | 1992 |
Franchise Cost | $45,595 – $75,295 |
Revenue | $20.4 million |
Well if it isn’t obvious from the name itself, the Curves is a women-dedicated health and fitness franchise; the second one in the category to make it on our list.
Curves’ business philosophy is to allow women their personal space in a women-only environment to pursue their fitness goals.
Their membership plans have a tiered regime that allows you to choose in-club or at-home membership with and without a coach to guide you.
(Sources: Curves, CanStarBlue, WellnessLiving)
Number of Franchises | 57 |
Headquarters | Randwick, New South Wales |
Founded in | 1999 |
Franchise Cost | $250,000 – $350,000 (Source: VisionPersonalTraining) |
Revenue | $50.2 million |
Well, we couldn’t let you go with the last entry being a boring old plain gym like the average clubs out there. Not at all.
The Vision Personal Training takes a holistic approach to fitness.
It is surrounded around all the elements of a fitness package, not just “fad” high-tempo and short-span exercises.
Their fitness philosophy also emphasizes the order of priority in following their four pillars of fitness.
All this talk of philosophy may sound dull and boring, but they do have a surprising twist to pique your interest.
If you really hone in on their philosophy, practice mindfulness as guided, and follow their eating and exercise guidelines for nine weeks and still do not achieve your fitness goals, guess what?
They call it the Vision promise.
Well, at least I am sold on that promise. Are you?
Keep happy to lurk around our Small Business website and blog to check other related lists bringing you the top franchise businesses in Australia in multiple industries. Or better yet, drop us your email id and we’ll bring it right to your inbox.
Happy Franchising with Lessons At Startup 😉
