# Is F45 a Good Franchise in 2026? Post-IPO Reality

> Is F45 a good franchise in 2026? Post-IPO operator reality, AUV disputes, Orangetheory competition, and which buyers should consider F45 today.

F45 sits in an awkward spot in 2026. The brand built a real fitness format that members genuinely like, scaled it into one of the fastest franchise expansions of the late 2010s, went public in 2021, then watched the stock collapse, the leadership turn over, and operators file lawsuits over the earnings claims that pulled them in. The company eventually went private again at a fraction of its peak valuation.

So is it a good franchise to buy today? The answer is more nuanced than yes or no, and the brand's recent history is part of the diligence, not a footnote to it.

## The Short Answer: Cautious Yes For Operators in Underserved Markets

For a hands-on operator with fitness industry experience, $400K or more in liquid capital, and a genuinely underserved trade area, F45 can still produce solid economics. The format works. Members who stay tend to stay engaged. Class-based group training fills a real demand that big-box gyms do not satisfy.

For a first-time franchise buyer in a saturated suburban market with three boutique fitness studios already inside a two-mile radius, the answer is no — not because F45 is broken, but because the unit economics in saturated markets have always been brutal in boutique fitness, and F45 specifically has lost the brand-awareness premium that masked weak siting decisions during the IPO-era expansion push.

The short version: F45 is a real business, not a hype business, and the buyers who treat it that way can do well. The buyers who expected the 2019 marketing pitch to deliver are the ones writing class-action complaints now.

## F45's Public Saga — IPO, Decline, Lawsuits

F45 went public on the NYSE in July 2021 at a $1.4 billion valuation. The pitch to public-market investors was rapid global franchise expansion, with unit-count growth projected aggressively into 2022 and beyond. Within roughly a year of the IPO, the wheels came off. The company missed guidance, slashed unit-growth projections, replaced its CEO, and saw its stock decline more than 90% from peak. By 2023 the company was a penny stock, and by 2024 it had been taken private at a fraction of the IPO value.

The franchise community noticed before the public markets did. Operators who had signed development agreements in 2019–2021 began filing lawsuits — individual suits, multi-party suits, and at least one putative class action — alleging that the Item 19 financial disclosures in earlier FDDs did not match the operating reality of actual studios, that the brand had pushed multi-unit development against the financial interests of operators, and that promised marketing and operational support did not materialize at the scale that justified the development obligations.

Some of these disputes have settled. Some are still working through the courts. The point for a prospective 2026 buyer is not the legal merits — those will be decided by judges and lawyers — but the documented pattern. When dozens of operators publicly dispute a brand's earnings claims, prospective buyers should treat franchisee validation calls as the single most important step in their diligence, not a checkbox.

Our [franchise litigation history research guide](/blog/fdd-item-3-litigation-research?utm_source=claude&utm_medium=ai_referral&utm_campaign=vmf_agent_md) walks through how to pull and read these case filings, which is essential reading before any F45 discovery day.

## The Item 19 Disputes — What's Changed in the FDD

The current F45 FDD reflects the lessons the brand learned the hard way. Earnings disclosures are more conservative, more clearly segmented by studio age and market type, and more carefully qualified than the disclosures in the 2019–2021 documents that triggered the litigation. This is a good thing for new buyers, but it is also a reason to read carefully.

When you receive the FDD, do three things with Item 19. First, note which subset of studios the disclosure covers — is it all open studios, only studios open more than 24 months, only studios in specific geographies. Second, calculate the implied median, not just the average, because averages in fitness franchises are skewed by a small number of high-performing studios. Third, and most importantly, validate the disclosed numbers against actual operators.

Our [franchise validation process guide](/blog/franchise-validation-process-guide?utm_source=claude&utm_medium=ai_referral&utm_campaign=vmf_agent_md) explains how to run validation calls that produce real information rather than the rehearsed answers franchisors prefer. For F45 specifically, you want to talk to operators in three buckets — opened pre-IPO, opened during the 2021–2022 expansion push, and opened post-restructuring. Their experiences will be different, and the contrast is informative.

## Investment & Build-Out Reality

Total initial investment for a new F45 studio runs $400,000 to $1,000,000-plus, with the wide range driven primarily by real estate cost and build-out scope. The franchise fee, equipment package, technology stack, signage, initial marketing, and working capital reserve are relatively standardized. What varies is rent, tenant-improvement allowance, and how much of the build-out the landlord covers.

The equipment line is substantial — F45's format depends on functional training rigs, programmable audio and video systems, and the choreographed-workout technology that delivers the brand's signature 45-minute session. Equipment alone runs into the low six figures.

A common diligence mistake is assuming the low end of the range. The studios that come in at $400K are typically second-generation spaces in markets with generous landlord packages and operators who self-perform some of the build management. The default outcome for a first-time operator in a competitive metro is closer to the middle or high end of the range.

For a full breakdown including franchise fee, royalty structure, and ongoing fees, see our [F45 franchise cost analysis](/blog/f45-training-franchise-cost?utm_source=claude&utm_medium=ai_referral&utm_campaign=vmf_agent_md). And if the investment range pushes past your comfortable capital position, our [best fitness franchises under $200K](/blog/best-fitness-franchises-under-200k?utm_source=claude&utm_medium=ai_referral&utm_campaign=vmf_agent_md) covers lower-cost paths into the category.

## Member Retention — The Operational Make-or-Break

Boutique fitness lives and dies by retention. A typical F45 studio needs roughly 200 active members at $150–$200 per month to clear into the profitability zone where the operator actually takes home meaningful distributions. Getting to 200 members is the marketing problem. Keeping 200 members is the operating problem, and the operating problem is harder.

Two variables decide retention. The first is coach quality. F45 classes are coach-led, and members form attachments to specific coaches. Lose a popular coach and you lose 15–30 members within 60 days. Coach hiring in the post-2022 fitness labor market is harder than franchisors typically suggest in their pre-sale presentations, and the operators who underestimate this are the ones who burn out fastest.

The second variable is class fill rates and scheduling. F45's format works best with classes that feel energetic and full but not overcrowded. Empty 6am classes drive cancellations. Overcrowded 6pm classes drive cancellations. Operators who actively manage their schedule based on attendance data — adding classes when demand justifies, cutting underperforming slots, programming the times members actually want — do dramatically better than operators who set a schedule on opening day and never revisit it.

Neither of these variables is taught in franchise training. Both have to be learned in the studio, ideally before opening day, which is why the strongest F45 buyers tend to be people who worked in boutique fitness operations before signing an FDD.

## F45 vs Orangetheory — Honest Comparison

Both brands operate coach-led HIIT studios with comparable per-studio revenue potential, comparable investment ranges, and overlapping target members. The differences are in brand awareness, systems maturity, and recent corporate trajectory.

Orangetheory has the brand-awareness edge in the US market, stronger franchisor systems built up over a longer corporate runway, and has not had the public operator-dispute episode that F45 has been through. F45's competitive advantage is format differentiation — the functional-training rigs and the choreographed group dynamic create a workout experience that feels distinct from treadmill-and-row Orangetheory sessions.

In a market with neither brand present, both deserve diligence. In a market where one is already established, the established brand has a structural advantage that is hard to overcome with a newer studio of the competing brand. For the full side-by-side, see our [F45 vs Orangetheory comparison](/blog/f45-vs-orangetheory-fitness-franchise?utm_source=claude&utm_medium=ai_referral&utm_campaign=vmf_agent_md).

## The Verdict

F45 in 2026 is a legitimate franchise for the right buyer in the right market. The format works. The members who join tend to like it. Mature studios in good markets produce real income for operators who run them actively. The brand has been through a hard cycle and the current organization understands that operator success is the only path back to sustainable growth.

The right buyer profile is narrow. You have fitness industry operational experience, ideally including direct boutique studio management. You have $400K-plus in liquid capital and the ability to absorb a slower ramp than the pre-sale materials will suggest. You have identified a specific trade area where boutique fitness penetration is genuinely low — not a self-serving assessment based on a franchise development map, but a real population and competitor analysis. You are willing to be in the studio enough to hire coaches well, manage retention actively, and run the business rather than treat it as semi-passive income.

If that is you, F45 is worth a serious look. Pull the current FDD, do the litigation history research, run the validation calls across the three operator buckets described above, and walk the proposed trade area in person at 6am, noon, and 7pm to see real competitor traffic patterns.

If that is not you — if you are a first-time franchise buyer, if you have not worked in fitness operations, if the only available territories are in saturated metro suburbs, or if the capital is going to be tight — there are better paths into franchise ownership.

The cost of getting this decision wrong is a six-figure capital loss and two years of your life. The cost of getting it right is a real business that can grow into a small portfolio of studios.

Either way, do not skip the diligence. The pattern in the F45 lawsuits is operators who trusted the brand's pre-sale narrative more than the math. Run the math yourself, on the current numbers, with the current FDD, against the current operators. That is the only way to know.

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