Here are two hypothetical Planet Fitness members, not real accounts. Both decide on July 20 that they’re done, and both are on No Commitment memberships, so neither owes a buyout fee. The only difference between them is the home club.
Member A’s club prints the same fine print as one Michigan club’s offers page: the $49.00 annual membership fee, plus applicable state and local taxes, “will be billed on or shortly after August 1st.” Member B’s club uses that sentence with March 1st instead, as a club in Reading, Pennsylvania does.
Member A has four days. To stop the August fee, the club has to receive the cancellation at least 8 days before August 1, which puts the latest day at July 24. Member B’s next annual fee is months away, so what B is really up against is the monthly dues. Assume, for this example only, that B’s account bills dues on the 17th; that’s an input we picked, not a Planet Fitness billing date, and a real account shows its own. Counting back 8 days from August 17, the club needs the request by August 9.
Same day, same decision, two different deadlines. And neither deadline is counted from the day they joined.
To avoid the Planet Fitness annual fee, find the annual fee date your home club sets, then make sure the club receives your cancellation at least 8 days before it. Planet Fitness puts it this way: “To stop the billing of the annual fee, your request must be received by the club at least 8 days prior to the annual fee date.” Until recently the same page said the 25th of the month before, so older advice may still repeat that; for a club date on the 1st, the new deadline lands one to four days earlier. The page doesn’t say exactly how the 8 days are counted, or whether the change reaches agreements signed under the old wording, so aim a day or two ahead of the date you work out.
The current standard annual fee is $49 plus applicable taxes. Planet Fitness also says prices may vary depending on location, so the figure on your own club’s page is the one that counts.
Your Deadline Comes From Your Club’s Date, Not Your Sign-Up Date
Counting 12 months from the day you joined is the most common way to get this wrong. Club offer pages name a fixed calendar date for the annual fee, and the deadline is measured against that date.
Three places to find yours:
- Your member portal or membership agreement. Planet Fitness says you can find your billing dates by logging into your member portal at planetfitness.com or on your membership agreement. The fee and its date are part of what you signed.
- Your home club’s page, which you can reach through the club finder on planetfitness.com. The date sits in the fine print under the membership offers.
- Last year’s bank statement. Planet Fitness reports that about 87% of membership fee payments are collected by ACH direct debit, so for most members the fee shows up as a checking-account debit around the same date each year.
Then subtract 8 days from that date. A club date of August 1 means July 24 at the latest. A club date of March 1 means February 21, or February 22 in a leap year. There’s no single calendar day that works for every member, which is why your club’s date has to come first.
Two words in the rules decide whether you actually make it. “Received” means the day you mail something isn’t the day that counts. And “on or shortly after” means the debit can land a few days past the club’s date. A late debit doesn’t move your deadline.
Why “cancel 7 days ahead” can leave you a day short
You’ll see it repeated online, and it mixes up two numbers from the same sentence. For monthly dues, Planet Fitness says the club must receive notice “at least 8 days before your next billing date, as it may take up to 7 days for billing changes to take effect.” Seven days is how long the billing change can take. Eight days is the deadline. Plan around seven and you can be a day late.
The same 8-day count now applies to both charges. What differs is the date you count from: your club’s annual fee date for the yearly fee, and your account’s own billing date for monthly dues. That’s why Member B’s first deadline comes from a monthly bill, not the annual fee.
| Charge and amount | When it’s billed | What stops or avoids it |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee $49 standard, plus applicable taxes; may vary by location |
Once a year, on or shortly after the date your home club sets | Cancellation received by the club at least 8 days before that date |
| Monthly dues From $15 (Classic Card) or $24.99 (PF Black Card) for new members |
Your account’s billing date, shown in the member portal or on your agreement | Cancellation received by the club at least 8 days before that billing date |
| Buyout fee $58 |
Once, if a membership with a minimum term is ended before the term is up | Finishing the term; No Commitment memberships don’t have one |
Enrollment fees, which run from $0 to $59, are billed separately again. Don’t expect one number on your statement to cover everything.
Log In First, Then Pick How to Cancel
Planet Fitness names three ways to end a membership on its customer service page: “You can send written notification via mail to your home club requesting to end your membership, visit your home club in person, or log into your account online through the member portal on the website. Some policies and procedures may vary by location based on state and local guidelines.”
So online is one of the standard routes, and some club pages even advertise “Cancel Online, Anytime!” The last sentence is the one to take seriously, though. What your own account shows decides your next step.
- A cancel option appears in the member portal. Use it now rather than in deadline week, and save the confirmation screen or email with its date.
- No cancel option appears. That isn’t a refusal. Written notice by mail and an in-person visit to your home club are still open, so switch channels and leave time for the club to receive your request at least 8 days before your club’s date.
I couldn’t find a published list of which clubs have the online option turned on, so your own account is the check that counts.
If you go through the club, the goal is a dated record showing the club had your request at least 8 days before the charge date. Submit several days early, because a request that arrives inside that window is late no matter when you wrote it.
For mail, a delivery method that gives you a dated receipt is the safer choice. The official pages don’t say certified mail is required, so ordinary mail isn’t invalid. A delivery record is simply what settles an argument later. And unless your club is in New York, don’t count a phone call as done without something in writing.
Whichever channel you use, this is what I’d ask the club to put in writing:
“I’m ending my membership. My home club’s annual fee date is [date]. Can you confirm in writing the date you received this request, and that the annual fee due on or after [date] won’t be billed?”
No Commitment Means No Buyout Fee. It Doesn’t Mean No Annual Fee.
Planet Fitness’s Form 10-K says some of its memberships require a cancellation fee, while the company offers, and requires its franchisees to offer, a non-committal option. Club pages explain that a commitment length is “the minimal number of months you will be billed,” and that leaving before then can bring a buyout fee. The customer service page puts that fee at $58.
The same club pages say that for No Commitment memberships “you may cancel at anytime without paying a fee.” That sentence is about the buyout fee. Nothing on the pages reviewed here says a No Commitment membership skips the annual fee, and the separate annual fee deadline suggests it doesn’t.
If your agreement has a minimum term and you want out now, beating the annual fee deadline won’t remove the $58. Put your own numbers side by side: the dues left on your term at your rate, against $58 plus the annual fee you’d avoid by leaving. Take both from your agreement, not from a search result.
If the Annual Fee Already Came Out
Planet Fitness’s public pages don’t say whether an annual fee that’s already been billed can be refunded. That’s a missing provision, not a published no-refunds policy. What’s published is the deadline, which means a refund is something you’d have to ask for, not something the terms promise.
Two situations are still worth raising with your home club:
- The amount or date doesn’t match your club’s page. Ask the club to check the charge against its own offer terms.
- You canceled in time and were charged anyway. Bring the dated confirmation showing the club received your request at least 8 days before the fee date.
Because most Planet Fitness fees come out of a checking account by ACH, it helps to know your options if the club won’t fix a charge you can prove was too late to bill. Those steps are in how to ask for a refund, dispute a charge after canceling, and stop the next one.
Whatever happens with this year’s fee, cancel now so the same date next year isn’t a problem.
New York and New Jersey Members Have More Ways Out
If your home club is in either state, the law gives you options the nationwide policy doesn’t describe. Only these two states’ statutes are covered here. Anywhere else, the Planet Fitness rules above are what you can rely on unless your state has a similar law of its own.
New York
The rules are in General Business Law § 624, as amended by Chapter 537 of the Laws of 2024. That chapter was signed November 25, 2024 and took effect on the ninetieth day after, February 23, 2025. For a health club in the state:
- The club “shall accept notice of cancellation of a membership through methods including, but not limited to, website, electronic mail, telephone, mail, or in person.” You aren’t limited to walking in.
- If you signed up through the club’s website, it has to accept cancellation through that website too.
- The club has to accept the cancellation within three business days of receiving your notice.
- A contract that renews annually can have its renewal canceled within fifteen business days after the renewal takes effect. That window cancels the renewal; it isn’t a rule that refunds an annual fee.
New York’s ten-business-day refund is narrower than it’s often described. It applies to a cancellation within three business days of receiving your copy of the contract, and to specific circumstances: death, a physical disability lasting more than three months, relocation beyond 25 miles from any facility the seller operates, or permanent closure. In those circumstances the seller may deduct expenses incurred and the value of services used.
Separately, New York’s Division of Consumer Protection has advised that under the state’s automatic renewal law, “consumers who purchase these services online must be allowed to terminate the agreement online.” If a club won’t take a cancellation through a channel the law requires, complaints go to the New York Attorney General (1-800-771-7755) or the Division of Consumer Protection (1-800-697-1220).
New Jersey
Under N.J.S.A. 56:8-42, a new member can cancel “at any time before midnight of the third operating day after receiving a copy of this contract” and get a full refund within 30 days. Inside that window you can call the club where you signed up, use the online route if you joined online, mail a signed and dated notice, or deliver it in person.
For existing members, the provision that matters more is N.J.S.A. 56:8-42.1, signed January 8, 2024. A subscription sold online, including health club memberships with a recurring payment, has to come with an online way to start canceling it. Not providing one is an “unlawful practice.” If you joined online and your account shows no way to cancel, note what it does and doesn’t show and file with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.
One thing not to count on in any state: a federal “click-to-cancel” rule. After a federal appeals court vacated the FTC’s 2024 amendments, the FTC restored its older Negative Option Rule on February 12, 2026, and no new final rule had been published as of October 16, 2026. The FTC’s rule page is where a change would show up.
This explains what the published rules and statutes say. It isn’t legal advice; for a specific dispute, the agencies above or a lawyer licensed in your state are the right place to go.
Eight Days Before Your Club’s Date: Get It Received, Then Get Proof
If your club’s date is a few weeks out, I’d work in this order. Find the date in your member portal, your agreement, your club’s page or last year’s bank statement, and subtract 8 days. If a monthly billing date comes first, do the same count for it. Log in and look for the cancel option. If it isn’t there, get your request to the club with a few days to spare before that point, and leave with a dated confirmation.
If you’re trimming more than one membership this month, Audible is a useful contrast, because the cost of leaving there is what you forfeit rather than a fee. That’s covered in canceling Audible with credits left, and when to pause or switch first.
The $49 is easy to remember. The date that decides whether you pay it is in your club’s fine print, and the deadline sits more than a week before it.
Sources and scope: Planet Fitness’s customer service page and club offer pages, its Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, New York General Business Law § 624, N.J.S.A. 56:8-42 and 56:8-42.1, and the FTC’s Negative Option Rule page, checked October 16, 2026. This covers Planet Fitness only; other gym chains set their own fees and deadlines, and club fees and dates can change, so confirm yours in your own account.