Updated October 2026
Is your gym's member history worth anything to AI buyers?
Census counts 11,153 US fitness and recreational sports centers with 10+ employees, and 3,237 with 30+.1
Most of what a gym records automatically is check-ins, class bookings and autopay. Your booking software knows who came on Tuesday and who froze in March, which shows behaviour but not anyone's judgment. The written part sits elsewhere: the membership sales inbox, the cancellation and freeze requests a manager talked through, coaches' programs and class templates, trainer onboarding guides, the franchise operations manual, location reports to the owner, and the staff group chat where the front desk hands over between shifts.
O*NET puts fitness and wellness coordinators at 100 out of 100 on its email scale, exercise trainers and group fitness instructors at 79 and recreation workers at 62, so the coaching floor writes less than the office. No buyer we track names fitness as a target industry. Polyshares has no fitness category, so a studio would pick Something else on its intake, and on Troveo's estimator the closest choice is hospitality, restaurants or local services, tier 4 of 4, by our reading.
In our reading, that makes this a better fit for multi-location operators and franchisees with a central team than for one studio. Health questionnaires, injury notes and body measurements are the records to keep out or raise first, and the quiz shows which buyers take a business your size.
Worth
What a studio's data may be worth
Set for a typical studio, 40 staff and 6 years of records. Move the sliders to match yours. Our estimate, not an offer.
Buyers
Which buyers want this data
Buyers whose own published rules fit gyms, fitness studios and fitness franchises. We can introduce you to the ones we work with.
Polyshares
Sets no headcount floor and buys email, tickets and call recordings, where membership sales and member questions are kept.9,10
- $100K to $2M+, Polyshares says7
- None, Polyshares says11
- An offer in 1 to 2 weeks, then paid in 30 to 60 days12
Watch out for: Exclusive by default, and every deal it lists is exclusive with no end date.13,14
Mode
Agrees systems and date ranges before export and removes sensitive material in a secure workspace, with most businesses needing 20+ office staff.15,16
Watch out for: The program launched in October 2026 and has no deal record yet.20
Pewter
Takes US companies with 20+ full-time staff now or at peak and 3+ years of records, and says regulated records may be excluded from a deal.2
Watch out for: Its site was registered in October 2026 and names no people.23,24
Grepped
States no headcount minimum, reads only approved sources and removes names, emails and phone numbers before anything is used.25,26
Watch out for: Its own site code calls its estimator "deliberately optimistic", so treat any estimate as an indication.27,28
Who wants this
Do buyers want gyms, fitness studios and fitness franchises?
No buyer publishes prices by industry, but their own intake forms show which industries they rate higher.
- Troveo puts hospitality, restaurants or local services (our closest match) in its lowest of four demand tiers: "Buyer demand for your industry is lower today."4
- Polyshares takes something else, without marking it premium.29
Which buyers take a studio your size
Shown for 40 staff, a typical studio. Ask whether contractors and part-time staff count.
micro1
Polyshares
No headcount rule; the length and texture of the record matter more9
Mode
20+ full-time US office staff (accounting firms 10+, law firms 6+)16
Pewter
20+ staff and 3+ years; by industry, from 10+ (healthcare) to 50+ (manufacturing, finance)32,33,34
Grepped
No headcount minimum stated25
Ventra
30+ US employees and 3+ years of records35
Mercor
None stated36
Troveo
No minimum stated; its estimator starts at 2037
Nyne
20+ US W-2 employees and 3+ years38
Endless
Roughly 30+ employees39
Supersoniq
50+ employees and 5+ years40
What buyers value
What in a studio's records buyers value
What buyers look for in your records, and what to talk through with your buyer before anything leaves your systems.
| Data | Where it lives | Why a buyer values it | Raise with the buyer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Membership sales and cancellation conversations | Booking software inbox, Gmail, text messages | Objections handled, freezes negotiated and cancellations saved or lost, each with the staff member's reasoning. | Member names, payment details and contract terms quoted in the thread. |
| Coaching programs and class templates | Google Drive, programming apps, spreadsheets | Progressions and session plans written by experienced coaches, with notes on how classes were adjusted. | Programs written by contract coaches who may see them as their own work. |
| Staff training manuals and front desk procedures | Drive, franchise portal | How a new hire opens the studio, sells an intro offer and handles a complaint, written step by step. | Nothing specific |
| Member messages and support tickets | Zendesk, Intercom or the booking app's messaging | Billing disputes, schedule questions and complaints answered in writing, with the result recorded. | Anything a member wrote about an injury or a medical condition. |
| Location reports and franchise field visits | Email, SharePoint | Weekly written explanations of why a location's numbers moved and what the manager plans to change. | Nothing specific |
| Health questionnaires, waivers and injury notes | Booking software, paper forms | In our reading rarely worth including; listed so you decide early that this stays out of scope unless a buyer sets out in writing how it would be handled. | Health details, minors' records and signed waivers. |
A week of records
A week of data at a studio
- Monday: weekend trial-class leads followed up by text and email, with notes on who booked.
- Tuesday: the coaches' meeting notes and the next block of programming saved to the shared drive.
- Wednesday: freeze and cancellation requests worked through by the studio manager.
- Thursday: a repair ticket for a treadmill and the back-and-forth with the service company.
- Friday: each location's weekly numbers and comments emailed to the owner.
Process
How it works with each buyer
In each buyer's own words. Where a buyer publishes nothing, we say so.
Selling or closing
Selling or closing your studio? License its data first
Fitness franchises resell territories and independent studios close or sell to larger operators, and in our reading a buyer of the gym is after the membership file. Coaching programs, procedures and operations email are a different set of records, and whether a copy of them could be offered before the sale or closing is a question to talk through with the buyer you're working with. Pewter takes companies that are downsizing or closed.2
FAQ
Gyms, fitness studios and fitness franchises: questions, answered
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Questions to talk through with your buyer
Every business is different, so these are best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over them with you before anything is signed.
Questions for this kind of business
- How are member names, payment details and any health information removed, and who checks it?
- Which programs and class templates were written by employees, and which by contract coaches?
- Does the booking software provider's agreement limit what we do with exported member data?
- How do CCPA, GDPR, UK GDPR and state privacy laws apply, and is de-identified data still personal information?
- How are employee data, union contracts and NLRA questions handled?
- Do customer, vendor or platform contracts, NDAs or API terms restrict this?
Questions for any buyer
- Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
- Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
- Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
- How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
- What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
- Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
- Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?