Group Class Payment Calculator
What does this class pay?
There are soooo many ways to calculate how instructors get paid for teaching group fitness classes! Use this calculator to either find what is the best method for your studio, or if you are an instructor what a fair method would be.
Instructor pay
$40.00
$40.00 per hour
12 eligible students
Model: Flat rate / per class
Line items
- Base $40.00
Copy this scenario so you can send it to a co-owner or your bookkeeper.
Email me this rate card
This is gross class pay, not legal wages. It does not calculate taxes, overtime, employer burden, or W-2 vs 1099 classification.
Compare Pay Across Different Calculations
See how the choices you made above affect every pay model in this calculator.
Which scenarios & pay structure pay particularly well (or badly!)
Across 8 comparable models this class pays between $30.00 and $84.00.
| Pay model | Pays | Per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Showing | $40.00 | $40.00 |
| $32.00 | $32.00 | |
| $84.00 | $84.00 | |
| Add class revenue to compare | ||
| $60.00 | $60.00 | |
| $30.00 | $30.00 | |
| $60.00 | $60.00 | |
| $36.00 | $36.00 | |
| Add class revenue to compare | ||
| $84.00 | $84.00 | |
Revenue-share and workshop rows stay blank until you enter class revenue. Pass vs membership splits your students evenly between the two buckets unless you set them yourself. If you have set a rate, that rate is used; if not then each model keeps a typical boutique default.
How studios actually pay instructors
Most instructors are paid per class/session - NOT a salary or revenue share. IDEA’s 2025 compensation guide for group fitness and specialty instructors puts the split like this:
| How they are paid | Share of instructors |
|---|---|
| Per class or session | 65% |
| Per hour | 25% |
| Per participant | 5% |
| Salary | 5% |
As for the hourly rates, the IDEA guide reports roughly $20 to $24 an hour depending on region, and an annual average of about $46,000 to $50,600 for instructors working full time. ZipRecruiter’s August 2026 figures put the US average at $24.85 an hour, with the middle of the range running about $17.31 to $28.85.
A caveat: both sets of numbers are US data, and both lean toward gyms rather than boutique studios...something to keep in mind depending on what type of class you teach.
Common instructor pay models
This isn't an exhaustive list, but it does hightlight the most common scenarios we've seen at Punchpass.
Flat rate / per class
A fixed amount for teaching the class. The most common boutique starting point. Same pay for 3 students as 18 unless you add a bonus or a floor.
Hourly
Useful when class lengths vary. Count a 45-minute class as one hour, or pay the true fraction of an hour (0.75).
Per head
A dollar amount per eligible student. Often paired with a minimum so a quiet class still pays. Eligible heads are not the same as bodies on the roster.
Revenue share + floor
A percent of class revenue, with a guarantee. How you define revenue matters more than the percent. A frozen visit value is safer than a number that moves later.
Base + bonus over a threshold
The boutique workhorse: a base that covers a threshold, then extra only on students over that number. Easy to understand and calculate, and handles varying class sizes.
Tiers
Lump-sum bands (1–5 students pay one amount, 6–10 another). The last band should be open-ended to handle extra students.
Pass vs membership rates
Pack redemptions and unlimited memberships are different economics. Some studios pay a different per-head rate — or a different percent — on each bucket.
Sub rate
A substitute may get the same rate, a multiplier (often around 90%), or a second, lower card. The regular teacher is usually unpaid for that class.
50/50 after room cost
Deduct the room cost once, then split what is left. Costs come off the top before the split, not out of one person’s share.
Higher of flat or per-head
Whichever is bigger for this class, the flat rate or the per-head total. Studios often write this down as if it were base-plus, which pays quite a lot more.
Frequently asked questions
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No. It outputs gross class pay for one class. It does not calculate income tax, employer burden, overtime, minimum wage, or worker classification.
Per-class pay can also count as piece-rate in some places, and classification rules differ by state and country. Use this to compare pay models, and talk to a qualified advisor before you treat the output as wages.
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Usually a paid, attended student. Staff, comps, intros, and unpaid guests are often excluded from both heads and revenue. Late cancels and no-shows depend on studio policy.
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Of course! The address bar always holds a link to the exact scenario on screen, so you can send it to a co-owner, an instructor, or whoever does your books and they'll see the same numbers. There are also buttons to copy the link, print it, or have the breakdown emailed to you.
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You can, if you tick the box that labels it as attributed revenue (in the Revenue Share scenario). But treat that figure as an estimate as it can change when punchcards and unlimited passes expire. Punchpass attributed revenue was designed to help business owners compare actual class revenue....no specifically for payroll.
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Unlimited per-visit value is not stable as the pass gets used more often. A $100 membership used once is a very different visit from the same membership used nine times. Paying a percent of that number makes instructor pay swing for reasons that have nothing to do with the class that ran.
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At the moment no, though Punchpass does give you all the numbers you need around attendance to calculate payroll.
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This calculator was built by the team at Punchpass, along with some AI help. Use this as a guide to explore options and always double check any calculations!
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