Class packs vs memberships: which earns your studio more?

Memberships bring steady, predictable monthly revenue and tend to keep members coming more often. Class packs suit people with irregular schedules and bring cash up front, but income swings from month to month. Most small yoga and pilates studios do best with a mix: a recurring membership as the main offer, a pack for flexibility and a drop-in priced highest.

What is the difference between a class pack and a membership?

• A class pack is a set number of classes, for example 10, valid for a period, for example 3 months. The member pays once and uses credits as they go.
• A membership is time-based. The member pays every month, either for unlimited classes or for a cap, such as 8 classes a month.
• A drop-in is a single class. It is really a one-class pack, priced highest.

The choice changes three things for your studio: how predictable your income is, how often members come, and how much admin you do.

How do the numbers compare? A worked example

Here is an illustrative price list for a small studio in Canada. Replace the prices with yours.

Option	Price	Price per class
Drop-in	CA$30	CA$30
10-class pack, valid 3 months	CA$250	CA$25
Membership, 8 classes a month	CA$170 a month	CA$21.25 if all 8 are used
Unlimited membership	CA$220 a month	Depends on use

Now look at three typical members.

Ana, pack buyer, comes about 5 times a month. She buys a 10-pack every 2 months, so she spends about CA$125 a month, paid as CA$250 every second month.

Ben, capped membership, comes about 7 times a month. He pays CA$170 every month. His real price per class is about CA$24.

Carla, unlimited, comes about 12 times a month. She pays CA$220 every month, about CA$18 per class. If she comes 16 times, it drops to under CA$14.

What this shows:

• Packs bring in money in lumps, and a member who drifts away simply stops buying.
• Capped memberships bring steady money and a fair price per class.
• Unlimited memberships are great value for heavy users, which is fine when classes have room and risky when they are full.

Which model gives more predictable revenue?

Memberships, clearly. Say you have 100 active members.

• If 60 are on the CA$170 membership, you know CA$10,200 is coming in next month before anyone books a class.
• If the same 60 were on packs, the total over a few months might be similar, but any single month could be well above or below it, depending on who happens to buy that month.

Predictable income makes rent, teacher pay and planning easier. That is the main reason most studios push memberships as their headline offer.

Do memberships make members come more often?

Usually, yes. Someone who has already paid for the month has a reason to show up. Someone holding a pack can always put off the next class until “next week”.

Attendance matters beyond the money: members who come regularly see results, and members who see results stay. A membership with a sensible cap also gives members a weekly rhythm, which is often what they wanted in the first place.

When do class packs make more sense?

Packs are the better fit when:

• members travel or work shifts and cannot commit to a weekly pattern,
• you run workshops or specialty classes that people take occasionally,
• you want a low-commitment step between an intro offer and a membership,
• you have visitors or seasonal members.

Packs also bring cash up front. When a pack expires with credits unused, that is called breakage. Do not plan your budget around it: members who lose credits often do not come back. A fair expiry date (and a reminder before it) is better for long-term revenue.

How should you price each option against the others?

Use a simple ladder: the more someone commits, the less each class costs.

1. Drop-in: highest price per class. It is for trying, not for staying.
2. Class pack: about 10 to 20% below drop-in per class.
3. Capped membership: below the pack per class, for members who attend regularly.
4. Unlimited: priced so that a member coming 2 to 3 times a week still pays a fair amount per class.

Then check every price against your cost per class. If a full class costs you CA$90 to run (teacher, room, overheads) and holds 8 people, your floor is about CA$11 per person at full capacity, and much higher when the class is half full.

How do you move members from packs to memberships?

If most of your members buy packs today, you do not need to force a switch. Make the membership the obvious choice for regulars:

• Show the math at checkout. “You came 7 times last month. On the membership, that would have cost CA$24 a class instead of CA$25, with a guaranteed weekly rhythm.”
• Offer a bridge. When a pack runs out, offer the first month of membership at the pack’s per-class price.
• Keep the pack, but do not discount it further. The ladder only works if each step down in price comes with a step up in commitment.
• Respect the people who prefer packs. Travellers and shift workers are often loyal for years. Losing them to force a membership costs more than it earns.

Give any change at least one full billing cycle of notice, and keep members on what they already bought.

Checklist: setting up packs and memberships

• One headline membership, clearly the best value for regulars.
• A pack for flexibility, with an expiry date shown before purchase.
• A drop-in priced highest.
• An intro offer limited to one purchase per person.
• Clear rules: classes per week or per month, which class types are included.
• A cancellation window that applies the same way to packs and memberships.
• A pause option for injuries or travel, with clear limits.
• A plan for price changes that keeps existing members on what they bought.

How does elastudio handle packs and memberships?

In elastudio, you create passes, monthly memberships and intro offers with plain-language rules (the product form even warns about the classic “per week or per month” trap). Changing a price creates a new version for new buyers while existing members keep what they bought. Monthly memberships are billed by card automatically, staff can pause a membership, and unused credits expire on their date with a full record, so you can see breakage instead of guessing. elastudio takes no cut of your sales on any plan.

Pick your mix and publish it

Start with one membership, one pack and a drop-in. Watch attendance for three months, then adjust. See how passes and memberships work on the features page, and compare plans on pricing. Questions: support@elastudio.app.