ClassPass, Inc. is a health club aggregator that allows customers to sign up for gym memberships via app subscriptions and credits.
The company, headquartered in New York City, was founded in 2012 by Payal Kadakia, Sanjiv Sanghavi, and Mary Biggins.
ClassPass is best known for its fitness class services, but the app can also be used to book salon, spa, and beauty appointments. Customers are given “credits” upon subscription, which they can use several times to book and reserve classes across the platform’s partners.
Platforms like ClassPass are becoming more popular these days. Members get a lot of discounts and in-app promotions at different wellness centers for a lower price than the traditional way of signing up for membership at one fitness center. Additionally, you can use the service you’ve booked on-site or online.
The monthly subscription plans and prices for ClassPass vary by country. In general, credits are sold in bundles, with an estimated price of around $2 per credit. Appointments may consume one or two credits, depending on your service. Regular gym time, for example, may only cost one credit, whereas heavier workouts (such as strength training or prenatal yoga) may require 4 to 8 credits per session.
We detailed the subscription-based business model of ClassPass as well - have a read!
Aside from the services above, ClassPass also provides corporate membership, entitling employees to the benefits of using ClassPass. ClassPass and other similar platforms also function as marketplaces for fitness centers, with the app promoting their businesses.
ClassPass began in 2012 as Classtivity, the brainchild of Kadakia, an MIT graduate and passionate dancer. Tired of her corporate life as a Warner Bros employee, she had the idea one day while trying to book a dance class. After recognizing a problem with fitness class bookings, Kadakia invited Sanghavi to form the company.
The pair went on to start the firm, which was given a chance to join TechStars, a startup accelerator in New York. Biggins, a seasoned execute, joined the team the following year. ClassPass had already recorded 100,000 reservations on the platform two years later.
In 2019, ClassPass acquired Guavapass, a Singaporean-based company that operates in the same field as ClassPass. The acquisition, which cost around $4.2 million, ceased the operations of GuavaPass in its market, primarily in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. A year later, ClassPass became the first “unicorn of the decade,” meaning it earned a value of $1 billion without going public.
Although the number of members isn’t disclosed, ClassPass recorded over 100 million booked classes, more than 1,000 employer/corporate partners, and around 30,000 partner studios by 2020.
In 2021, ClassPass merged with Mindbody, another wellness tech company focusing on online workout plans.
ClassPass is now among the leading platforms in its field, available in the US, Argentina, Brazil, some parts of Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, India (Mumbai), and Southeast Asia. That’s a total of more than 20 countries worldwide.
Currently, the annual revenue of ClassPass is estimated to be about $97 million while the firm has raised about $550 million in funding as of 2021.
The methodology by which competitors of ClassPass are ranked is based on various data points. Information such as the average annual revenue, total funding, number of available countries, number of partner studios, number of partner companies/members (whichever is applicable), and anything else relevant is being taken into account.
This analysis, to ensure comparability, only looks at the health club aggregator competitors of ClassPass. Therefore, the competition in online workout planning, live streaming fitness class lines, and salon and spa appointment booking is not considered (although some of the below-listed companies also operate in those industries).
Additionally, companies that ClassPass (partially) owns are included as well. However, in the case of Guavapass, ClassPass completed the acquisition of the latter in 2019, which ceased its operations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and rebranded Guavapass as ClassPass. Currently, ClassPass has several acquisitions operating under the same condition, such as in the case of Latin America’s MuvPass and Clickypass.
Lastly, this analysis does not include indirect competitors of ClassPass. Examples include on-site gym memberships, audio-based training subscription services, online workout planners, fitness suppliers for at-home workouts, and the like.
So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the top 7 competitors of ClassPass.
1. Gympass
Headquarters: New York City, New York Founder(s): Cesar Carvalho, Joao Barbosa Year Founded: 2012
Gympass is a fitness app that lets companies sign up for gym and fitness center memberships. Unlike ClassPass, Gympass focuses on connecting workout centers and companies to let employees access wellness facilities.
Gympass was initially founded in Brazil when Carvalho thought equipment utilization rates were a common problem that gyms faced, which disabled them from operating at full capacity. Thus, gyms could not realize the maximum profit their assets could give, while customers have little to no choice in their service provider.
Instead of following a business-to-consumer model, the founders thought of tapping into big companies to offer the platform to their employees. On the other hand, corporations are attracted by the promise of boosted productivity and ethics that proper exercise can bring.
Although Gympass offers package plans for companies, it’s also available for individuals looking for a fitness center. Gympass clarified from day one that it only focuses on providing a fixed fee for companies.
Late in 2021, Gympass acquired Trainiac, a 1-on-1 personal training app that lets customers extend their fitness plan from the gym to their homes. It was expected that the acquisition would add 50,000 more customers to Gympass.
Gympass currently has over 55,000 partner gyms in 14 countries. Its network includes over 11 million employees/customers and approximately 5,000 partner companies.
As per the latest reports, there have been more than 170 million check-ins on the app. On average, Gympass earns around $478.9 million in revenue per year. The company’s total funding is estimated to be around $520 million.
Sources: Business Wire, Gympass Blog, Gympass Site, Valor Capital Group
2. Peerfit
Headquarters: Tampa, Florida Founder(s): Scott Peeples, Edward J. Buckley, III Year Founded: 2011
Peerfit Inc. is a fitness center pass startup offering both individual memberships and corporate wellness.
The company also offers Peerfit Move, which is specially designed for seniors. The extension is available as an add-on to the benefits of Medicare, a publicly funded health insurance plan in the US, the lone market of Peerfit currently.
The founders, Buckley and Peeples, met as university students in Florida and quickly decided to make this business idea come to life. The pair started in a small downtown office in Gainesville, Florida, finding a way to penetrate a decent market size.
Initially, the company’s goal was to connect athletic trainers, gym instructors, and other fitness enthusiasts to share each other’s workout plans and ideas. However, the founders failed to see that many trainers prefer—and it’s more convenient for them—to jot down activities on the spot. Needless to say, no one was using the app.
To solve this, they first thought of making Peerfit an app where gym goers could post reviews, but better plans eventually arose. Peerfit Passport was launched and rebranded as Peerfit Sweatpass, changing its product from free trial runs to gym membership plans.
Unlike ClassPass, Peerfit is focused on corporate partnerships. Peerfit is also cheaper compared to ClassPass. However, Peerfit subscriptions do not include reservation fees (and the like) charged by partner studios—although customers can also buy credits, which will cost additional fees.
In addition, while ClassPass sells “credits” in exchange for a subscription, Peerfit charges a fixed fee of $8.99 per month and can be used unlimitedly within the period.
Peerfit has an average annual revenue of $11.1 million and has raised over $48.6 million in funding. Peerfit is only available in the US, but it has already acquired 13,000 partner studios and convinced 16,000 companies to join its platform.
Sources: Catalyst, Crunchbase, Medium, PeerFit Move, Peerfit Pulse, Tampa Bay News, Tampa Bay Wave
3. Fitternity
Headquarters: Maharashtra, India Founder(s): Neha Motwani, Jayam Vora Year Founded: 2013
Known as the “Zomato of health and fitness services,” Fitternity is an Indian fitness aggregator software that connects local studios to users. The app offers a variety of fitness programs that users can easily choose from with an organized list of categories. It also promotes holistic fitness, offering a healthy diet with tiffin services.
Like many fitness hobbyist-turned-entrepreneurs, Motwani also craved something that would help her manage her workout schedule despite work demands. As she puts it, her goal during that time was to create a platform to help women like her choose among various fitness training and studios across India.
Initially, Neha designed the company as a pay-per-session platform, offering one-time passes to consumers. By its second year in operation, Fitternity was already making a buzz as one of India’s largest – and pioneering – fitness aggregators, connecting over 100,000 users to over 8,500 fitness centers in the country.
In time, Fitternity gradually transformed and added services, such as bundle membership plans, corporate partnerships (for employers), and online personal training. In 2021, Fitternity was acquired by Cure.fit, an Indian-based health and wellness platform, for an undisclosed amount. The combined company now boasts a user base of 3 million.
Currently, the company is focused on further expansion across India and catering to sports and other ancillary services. Talks about international expansion, particularly in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific, also surfaced a year before Fitternity merged with Cure.fit—which is known to have markets in the Middle East and the US.
Fitternity’s average annual revenue is estimated to be about $11 million. As per the latest reports, the company, available only in India, has a network of over 12,000 studios where 500,000 paying members work out (although the company claims that over 11 million people have used the platform to date).
Sources: Crunchbase, Business Insider, The Hindu Business Line, Youth Incorporated
4. Hussle
Headquarters: London, England Founder(s): Jamie Ward, Neil Harmsworth Year Founded: 2010
Hussle is a fitness app that gives gym goers freedom in their workout schedule. They offer a network of gyms, spas, pools, and many more.
Hussle, like ClassPass, offers full gym memberships. Customers can also purchase a one-time pass to nearby gyms from Hussle. This feature is designed for people who rarely go to the gym, so a monthly subscription is not a practical choice.
The service offers three pass types: a day pass, a monthly membership, and the Membership Plus, costing €5, €20, and €22, respectively. The day pass is a one-time pass that expires within 30 days, and customers can use it once.
The regular monthly membership lets subscribers book unlimited reservations at their preferred studio in one month. Lastly, Membership Plus offers exclusive access and incentives in addition to the regular membership’s inclusion.
The idea of Hussle sparked in 2010 when Ward and Harmsworth were taking swimming training classes to prepare for an open-water swim to the famous Isle of Wight in England. Juggling between their work and family life, the two decided to provide a way to let fitness enthusiasts like them get the flexible schedule they need.
The company was initially launched in 2011 as PayAsUGym (pay-as-you gym), which quickly grew in the UK. Within three years of operation, it had taken over one-third of the local gyms in the UK, where its 300,000 registered customers workout.
In 2019, after raising €6.5 million in funding from Albion Capital, the company rebranded to Hussle to keep up with the changing market. Originally made for a “pay as you go to the gym” design, the platform took a gradual, flexible approach—adding monthly subscriptions and premium plans—to cater to the constantly changing lifestyle of its customers.
Early in 2021, Hussle announced a marketing partnership with the food chain giant McDonald’s through a game of Monopoly. Although they did not reveal the increase in customer numbers, Hussle revealed that the campaign resulted in a massive rise in gym-goers, many of whom were younger than the average platform users.
Currently, Hussle has over 2,000 partner studios and 530,000 (estimated) gym goers on the platform. The company’s annual revenue is about $4.3 million. As per the latest reports, the company has already raised $23.2 million in funding. Hussle is only available in the UK.
Sources: About Hussle, Attractions Management, CrowdCube, Fit Tech, HCM, Hussle, Leisure Opportunities
5. Zeamo
Headquarters: New York City, New York Founder(s): Paul O'Reilly-Hyland Year Founded: 2017
Zeamo is a corporate fitness platform focusing on partnerships with companies. Unlike ClassPass, Zeamo only offers employer membership plans, and only those employees under their partner companies can avail of all Zeamo’s services.
In addition to on-site training, Zeamo also offers online classes to eligible customers. The company is focused on recognizing the diversity and needs of gym goers, with over 14,000 activities and 200 tracking devices integrated into the app. Employers can also incentivize the physical activity of their employees to keep them motivated and engaged with their fitness goals.
Growing up with asthma, O’Reilly-Hyland, the company’s founder, always had a passion for fitness. He was a hockey and rugby player in high school, which he later took a break from after he began working in finance. After a series of relocations, Hyland became active again, making him realize employees’ struggle to access fitness centers.
That’s where the idea of Zeamo came in. Hyland’s business concept became possible thanks to Hyland’s first boss, who was also the CEO of an investment bank. Initially, the company developed a network of gyms, but with the entrance of COViD-19, people began to take online fitness classes.
With that, Zeamo began to curate the best gyms and added at-home or hybrid fitness classes to its platform. Currently, Zeamo offers over 25,000 fitness studios. The company doesn’t disclose the total number of its corporate partners, but Zeamo says there are more than 50,000,000 workers eligible to register on the platform.
It’s estimated that Zeamo earns an average of $2.8 million in revenue yearly, with total funding of $9.7 million, as per later reports. Although most of Zeamo’s partners (and customers) are in the US, the platform is also available across Europe and Asia.
Sources: Bitbean, Crunchbase, Medium, Zeamo, Zeamo Press
6. Gymlib
Headquarters: Paris, France Founder(s): Mohamed Tazi, Sébastien Bequart, Antoine Vallespir, Gregoir Veron Year Founded: 2013
Gymlib is a gym aggregator platform offering corporate fitness services to employees. Unlike ClassPass, Gymlib is focused on marketing its services through partnerships with employers. Currently, the platform is only available in France and Belgium.
Founded by Bequart and Tazi, Gymlib was created to motivate people to get into sports. The pair used to work as consultants for Deloitte, an international advisory company. Because of the nature of their job, the two workmates often went on out-of-town trips.
Realizing that they spend hundreds of euros on gym memberships each year—which they use only once or twice—the pair decided to form a fitness platform that would give gym goers more flexibility regarding their wellness goals.
Gymlib was initially designed as a business-to-consumer app, offering a “pay as you go” service. Three years later, the founders recognized they would need to scale up by tapping into companies and employers, which became Gymlib’s focus later.
Gymlib helps customer employers customize membership plans based on the latter’s needs. Interested companies are asked about the number of their employees, which affects their pricing and incentives. Aside from the company size, the contract type also plays a part in the agreed pricing. Gymlib offers three membership types: standard, advanced, and premium. The three offer 2,000, 2,500, and 3,500 venues, respectively.
On the other hand, interested employees may endorse Gymlib to their company. The pricing for organizations with 2 to 50 employees ranges from €300 to €500, and companies with more than 50 employees may request a personalized quote.
Early in 2022, Gymlib was acquired by Egym, a German-based gym equipment company, for a “high double-digit million” amount. The acquisition is expected to allow the two companies to dominate Europe by offering Egym’s highly advanced training equipment at affordable prices in Gymlib’s digital realm.
On average, Gymlib earns around $12 million in revenue every year. Currently, Gymlib has already raised $16.6 million in funding. Gymlib, serving over 600 companies, now offers access to 4,000 partner gyms across France and Belgium.
Sources: Breega, Crunchbase, Egym Blog, Gymlib
7. Fitpass
Headquarters: New Delhi, India Founder(s): Akshay Verma, Arushi Verma Year Founded: 2015
Fitpass is a gym membership app that offers individual users access to more than 5,500 fitness studios in India. The platform offers membership plans that may cost between $16 and $64. In addition to that, users can also avail themselves of nutritional advice from experts and customized online training sessions with fitness coaches.
Unlike ClassPass, Fitpass offers membership plans that give unlimited access to subscribers within a timeframe (monthly, quarterly, etc.), except with the basic plan, which is limited to only five workouts.
The company was founded by siblings Akshay and Arushi Verma with the thought of giving gym goers the freedom to visit fitness clubs on their own terms without necessarily paying for annual membership plans upfront.
Before establishing Fitpass, Akshay worked as an investment banker and had already co-founded a startup called Skillhippo, a web-based aggregator for hobby sites, short courses, and other recreational classes.
Meanwhile, her sister Arushi was a World Bank consultant. Seeing fitness problems among many Indians due to inaccessible, limited, and impractical options, the two aimed to create something that would motivate Indians to become physically active.
Although Fitpass focuses more on individual memberships, it is also open to corporate partnerships—like ClassPass. Aside from that, Fitpass also offers diet plans to help customers achieve their fitness goals—which, depending on the plan, may come with fitness accessories and nutrition supplements. Currently, the company is focused on expanding throughout India.
Fitpass has a network of more than 5,000 fitness studios available only in India, keeping 500,000 users active. Fitpass earns around $2.5 million in revenue and has raised around $3.86 million in funding.
Sources: Fitpass, Inc42, Times of India
