Prospective buyers searching for F45 franchise owner testimonials will find very few credible, independent first-hand accounts online — most "testimonials" that surface are franchisor-produced marketing. What the public record does contain is substantial and far more useful: a documented wave of Australian studio closures, court filings, restated financials, and a clear fee structure. This article sets out what is actually verifiable about the cost and risk of owning an F45 studio in Australia in 2026.

TL;DR: An F45 studio costs roughly AUD $349,000–$786,000 + GST to open, carries about $5,000/month in fixed fees, and resells on average near $193,860 — well below cost. Public 2023 reporting documented widespread Australian closures, and we classify the brand Elevated Risk.

Operator experiences referenced in this article are sourced from publicly available reviews, forum discussions, and media reports. Individual results vary significantly.

What F45 Franchise Ownership Actually Costs

Upfront Investment

Publicly available data indicates an F45 studio requires a total investment of approximately AUD $349,000 to $786,000 plus GST, with most operators landing between $450,000 and $550,000. The breakdown below reconciles with our F45 franchise cost analysis and the figures in our brand report:

AUD $349,000–$786,000 + GST (median: AUD $450,000–$550,000)

Initial franchise fee$60,000 (16.2%)

Fitout and equipment$200,000 (54.1%)

Equipment and technology$50,000 (13.5%)

Initial inventory and supplies$10,000 (2.7%)

Working capital and contingency$50,000 (13.5%)

• Initial franchise fee: $60,000 (upfront, non-refundable)
• Fitout and studio construction: $200,000–$450,000
• Equipment and technology systems: $50,000–$100,000
• Initial inventory and supplies: $10,000–$20,000
• Working capital and contingency: $50,000–$150,000

Ongoing Fees and the Fixed-Fee Floor

The fee structure is where many operator difficulties begin. F45 charges a royalty plus two separate fund contributions, several of which carry fixed monthly minimums that apply regardless of how the studio is trading:

Combined, the royalty, brand fund and fixed $2,500/month marketing fund total roughly 9% of revenue plus about $5,000/month in fixed costs. At $400,000 of annual revenue those fixed fees alone consume around 15% of gross sales — a structural squeeze that becomes acute for any studio trading below median. On top of fees, trainer wages typically run 25–40% of revenue in boutique fitness: the class-based model is staff-intensive by design, leaving a comparatively narrow margin band once rent and fees are covered.

What the Public Record Shows About F45 Operators

In place of testimonials, the most reliable picture of operator experience comes from Australian media reporting through 2023, when F45's financial troubles became public.

The 2023 Closures, in Numbers

Australian media coverage compiled by Australasian Leisure Management (drawing on reporting from News Limited, 7News and Mail Online) documented specific failures rather than generic sentiment:

• The Opulent Group, then one of F45's largest franchisees, closed at least five Sydney studios — Kogarah, Kirrawee, Caringbah, Miranda and Balgowlah.
• The Yeppoon (QLD) studio reportedly owed creditors around $600,000; a Gisborne (VIC) studio was locked out by its landlord over roughly $125,000 in unpaid debt.
• Of the approximately 500 Australian studios trading in early 2023, reports indicated around 10% were actively for sale, with a much larger cohort described as distressed.

The ABC's The Business program (March 2023) reported that about nine Australian F45 studios had gone broke in the preceding eight months. Our when to walk away from a franchise deal guide explains why a cluster of distressed resales is a signal worth taking seriously.

Why Operators Struggled

SmartCompany's reporting on the downfall (July 2023) traced the corporate collapse — a 2021 IPO valuing F45 near US$1.4 billion, a share price that fell from a $16 peak toward $0.53, founder and CEO Adam Gilchrist stepping down, around 110 staff cut, and lawsuits from brand ambassadors David Beckham and Greg Norman. The same reporting noted that of six F45 owners spoken to, only one ran a studio anywhere near the revenue numbers the brand promoted.

The corporate picture worsened from there. The company disclosed "material errors" in its 2021 and 2022 financial statements and warned its net losses were likely significantly higher than first reported. Its share price fell roughly 75% before F45 voluntarily delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in late 2023 (effective early September), after failing to meet the exchange's minimum price and filing requirements. Incoming CEO Tom Dowd publicly characterised the company's prior trajectory as a "slow-motion train wreck." Ownership ultimately consolidated among creditors, with Kennedy Lewis Investment Management identified as a principal stakeholder in the restructured entity — a backdrop that leaves franchisees uncertain about long-term support and platform investment.

The recurring themes behind the failures were consistent across coverage:

1. Market saturation — multiple studios opened within the same trade area, cannibalising members.
2. High fixed fees — the ~$5,000/month minimum hit under-performing studios hardest.
3. Member churn — boutique fitness typically loses 5–8% of members monthly, demanding constant, costly acquisition.
4. Franchisor instability — the 2023 NYSE delisting reduced confidence and support certainty.

Strong Member Demand, Strained Owner Economics

It is worth separating two things that are often conflated. Member-facing reviews of F45 studios on platforms such as Google and ProductReview.com.au are generally favourable about the workout — the format, the coaching and the community. But member satisfaction with a class is a different question from whether the studio is financially viable for the person who owns it. The closures above happened at sites that, in many cases, had reasonably happy members; the failures were economic, not a verdict on the training product. Prospective buyers should weigh owner economics on their own evidence rather than reading positive member reviews as a proxy for franchise profitability.

F45 vs the Fitness Franchise Category

The table below compares F45's publicly reported figures against fitness-category benchmarks and a 24/7 alternative. Every figure is drawn from our brand reports and the public cost data above — not from estimated operator surveys.

Metric	F45 Training	Fitness Category Avg	Anytime Fitness
Total investment	$349,000–$786,000	~$268,008	$350,000–$975,000
Franchise fee	$60,000	~$38,721	$42,500
Royalty	7% or $2,500/mo min	5–8%	Flat $699/mo
Avg resale price	~$193,860	n/a	n/a
Independent risk rating	Elevated Risk	n/a	Moderate Risk

Sources: FranchiseInsights brand reports for F45 Training and Anytime Fitness; category averages from our fitness brand dataset.

The standout figure is the resale gap. Publicly available data indicates the average F45 resale price (~$193,860) sits roughly 60% below the median initial investment — meaning most operators who exit do so at a substantial capital loss, compounded by the short five-year franchise term.

Independent Risk Assessment

Independent Risk AssessmentFranchiseInsights

F45 Training

Elevated Risk

Overall classification across investment, regulatory, operational, market, and brand-stability dimensions. The underlying numerical score and the dimension-by-dimension breakdown are in the full Brand Intelligence Report.

F45 Training carries an independent risk classification of Elevated Risk under our five-dimension methodology, driven primarily by capital-recovery and structural (franchisor-stability) risk. This classification reflects the public evidence above; the underlying numerical score, the dimension-by-dimension breakdown, profit scenarios and regret-driver analysis sit in the full F45 Training Brand Intelligence Report.

What to Verify Before You Sign

The honest takeaway from the public record is not "avoid F45" — it is "do not buy on the brand story alone." The studios that struggled shared identifiable, checkable warning signs.

Questions for the Franchisor

Prospective buyers may wish to put direct, documented questions to F45's development team before committing:

• What are the current network-wide median and lower-quartile annual revenue figures for Australian studios, and how have they trended since 2023?
• How many Australian studios have closed, been terminated, or failed to renew in the past three years?
• What is the average resale price of Australian studios that changed hands recently, and how does it compare to the initial investment?

Site-Level Due Diligence

Brand-wide averages hide the variation that decides individual outcomes, so the work happens at the site level:

• Map every competing studio (F45 and rival boutique brands) within the practical trade area to test for saturation.
• Stress-test the model at below-median revenue to see how the ~$5,000/month fixed-fee floor behaves if member numbers disappoint.
• Confirm lease terms, break costs and any territory protection in writing — several failures traced back to rent obligations the studio could not sustain.

What the Numbers Don't Tell You

Public figures establish the entry cost, the fee floor and the closure history — but they don't tell you whether a specific site, at a specific price, can clear the revenue threshold the model demands. That requires modelling realistic member counts against the fixed-fee burden and local competition.

Our $197 F45 Training Brand Intelligence Report goes beyond this article to provide the full five-dimension risk breakdown, three profit-sensitivity scenarios, the regret drivers former operators cite most, a suitability analysis of who tends to succeed, and the specific questions to put to F45's franchise development team. Under Australia's Franchising Code of Conduct, prospective buyers also have disclosure rights and a cooling-off period worth using fully, and business.gov.au sets out the broader obligations of buying a franchise. Trainer wages — typically 25–40% of revenue — are governed by minimum and penalty rates under the Fair Work Act.

Before relying on any figure here, model your own numbers: the Financial Reality Calculator lets you test member counts, fees and rent against a target return for a specific location.