To cancel a Planet Fitness membership, you have to either visit your home club in person or send a cancellation letter to that club by certified mail with return receipt requested. Phone and email cancellations are not accepted. Your request must reach the club by the 10th of the month to avoid being billed for the next cycle, and by the 25th of the month before your annual fee date to avoid the $49 annual charge. If you’re still inside a 12-month commitment, expect a buyout fee of around $58.
The Two Accepted Cancellation Methods
Planet Fitness processes cancellations only through your home club, which is the location where you signed up or the one currently tied to your account. Corporate headquarters and other franchise locations won’t handle it for you.
In Person at Your Home Club
Go to the front desk with a valid photo ID and ask to cancel. Staff will have you complete a cancellation request form. Ask for a printed copy of the completed form before you leave. That receipt is your proof the request was submitted, and you’ll want it if a charge shows up later.
Front-desk staff may offer a freeze or try to talk you out of leaving. You’re not obligated to accept any alternative. Stay polite, stay firm, and walk out with documentation in hand.
By Certified Mail
If visiting isn’t practical, send a cancellation letter by certified mail with return receipt requested through USPS, addressed to your home club. Include your full name, phone number, email, home club location, membership ID or barcode number, the date, and a clear statement that you are canceling your membership. Sign it by hand.
Keep the tracking number and the returned receipt. Planet Fitness counts the date the club receives the letter, not the date you mailed it, so build in delivery time if a deadline is close. Send the letter at least two weeks before the deadline you’re trying to beat.
Online Cancellation and the FTC Rule
The FTC finalized its “Click-to-Cancel” rule in October 2024, with most provisions taking effect in 2025. It requires recurring-payment businesses, including fitness centers, to let customers cancel through the same method they used to sign up. If you joined Planet Fitness online, the company should offer an online cancellation path through the “My Account” section at planetfitness.com.
In practice, Planet Fitness’s own guidance still points to in-person visits and certified mail as the primary methods. Check your online account first. If no cancellation option appears there, use one of the two traditional methods rather than assume the account is closed.
Deadlines That Decide What You Pay
Most Planet Fitness memberships bill on the 17th of the month. To skip the next monthly charge, the club must receive your cancellation by the 10th. A request that arrives on the 11th means you’ll be billed that month, with no refund, though you keep access through the end of that paid period.
The annual fee is a separate deadline. To avoid being charged the annual fee, your cancellation must reach the club by the 25th of the month before the annual fee is scheduled. The exact annual-fee date is listed in your membership agreement. Missing this window by a single day means owing the full $49.
Both deadlines turn on receipt, not submission or postmark.
What It Will Actually Cost
Your total depends on whether you’re still inside a commitment and how close you are to the annual fee date.
If You’re Month-to-Month
No cancellation fee applies once your 12-month commitment has ended, or if you signed up with no commitment at all. Submit your request before the 10th, pay the final month if the deadline has already passed, and you’re done. Classic memberships start at $15 per month and PF Black Card memberships start at $24.99, so the worst case is one more monthly charge.
If You’re Still Inside a 12-Month Commitment
Canceling before the commitment ends triggers a buyout fee. The standard amount is $58, though some locations charge up to $100 depending on the franchise and membership type. Paying it settles the rest of the contract. Skipping it doesn’t make the balance go away; it can be sent to collections.
The $49 Annual Fee
The annual fee is charged on top of monthly dues, once per year, on the date listed in your agreement. If you cancel after the 25th-of-the-prior-month cutoff, you’ll owe it even if you never use the gym again. Confirm the date with your home club and time your cancellation around it if that charge is coming up.
Freezing Instead of Canceling
If your reason for leaving is temporary, a work trip, an injury, a tight month, freezing can keep your locked-in rate and avoid a buyout fee. Monthly billing stops during the freeze, and the membership restarts automatically at the end at the same rate.
Freeze rules vary by franchise. Some locations allow up to two consecutive months once per year; others permit three to six months for medical or military reasons. You generally have to request the freeze in person at your home club. One catch: if your annual fee date falls during the freeze, you still owe the annual fee.
Freezing is worth it only if you expect to come back. If you’re done, cancel outright.
After You Cancel
You keep gym access through the end of the current paid billing period. Cancel on the 8th with a billing date of the 17th, and you can still check in until the 17th. After that, the key tag or app check-in stops working.
Watch your bank statements for at least two billing cycles. Franchise locations have staff turnover and paperwork sometimes gets mishandled. If an unexpected charge appears, your cancellation receipt or certified mail return receipt is what gets it reversed. Contact the club with your documentation first; if the charge isn’t refunded promptly, dispute it with your bank.
You can rejoin at any Planet Fitness location later. Expect a new enrollment fee and whatever the current monthly rate is, which may be higher than before. There’s no formal waiting period, though some clubs offer a brief grace window to reinstate at the old rate. Ask before you cancel if there’s any chance you’ll return soon.
Don’t Just Stop Paying
Letting the account go unpaid does not cancel it. Planet Fitness will keep attempting charges, and once payment fails the account becomes delinquent. The unpaid balance is typically sent to a third-party collections agency after about 30 days past due.
Planet Fitness itself doesn’t report routine billing to credit bureaus, but collections agencies do. A collections entry generally appears on your credit report within 60 to 90 days of the original missed payment and can stay there for up to seven years, even if you later pay the balance. For what might be a $15 or $25 monthly charge, that’s a disproportionate hit. Formally canceling, buyout fee and all, is almost always the cheaper path.
If you were billed after canceling properly, bring your documentation to the home club, escalate to Planet Fitness corporate if the franchise won’t resolve it, and file a dispute with your bank or card issuer. Small claims court is available for persistent disputes; filing fees in most states run between $25 and $160.