How you structure your pricing is one of the most consequential decisions you'll make as a studio owner. It affects your cash flow, your retention, and how committed your students feel to showing up. Most studios offer some combination of class packs, unlimited access memberships, and class-limited memberships.
What is a class pack
A class pack is a fixed bundle of classes purchased upfront. A student buys 10 classes, uses them over time, and buys again when they run out. Simple, flexible, low commitment.
Pros
- ✓ Low barrier to entry for new students
- ✓ Upfront cash for the studio
- ✓ No ongoing commitment required
Cons
- ✗ Easy for students to let classes lapse and drift away
- ✗ Unpredictable revenue
- ✗ No recurring income base
Class packs are a useful entry point. They lower the barrier for new students who aren't ready to commit to a monthly plan. The risk is that students who live on class packs tend to drift. Research shows that class pack holders experience more gaps between purchases, which disrupts practice patterns and increases the likelihood of permanently leaving. Packs work best as an onramp, not a long-term revenue model.
What is an unlimited access membership
An unlimited access membership is a recurring monthly plan with no cap on classes. Students pay the same amount every month and can attend as often as they like.
Pros
- ✓ Builds consistent attendance habits
- ✓ Strongest retention of the three models
- ✓ Predictable recurring revenue
- ✓ High perceived value for frequent attendees
Cons
- ✗ Can be underpriced if high-frequency students dominate
- ✗ Poor value fit for students who attend once a week
- ✗ Harder to adjust pricing once students are on it
This is where the retention data gets interesting. Unlimited membership holders renew at a 17% higher rate than class pack holders over 12 and 24-month periods. The reason is behavioural: when someone pays monthly, yoga becomes part of their identity and routine. They are less likely to disappear for weeks because the cost is already committed. The downside for studios is that unlimited plans can be underpriced if a core group of students attends five times a week. Know your average attendance before setting the rate.
What is a class-limited membership
A class-limited membership is a recurring monthly plan that renews automatically but caps attendance at a set number of classes per month. Four classes, eight classes, twelve classes, whatever fits your studio's model.
Pros
- ✓ Predictable recurring revenue
- ✓ Predictable revenue per class
- ✓ Lower price point widens your potential membership base
- ✓ Protects margins compared to unlimited
- ✓ Builds attendance habit without open-ended access
Cons
- ✗ More pricing tiers to communicate clearly
- ✗ Motivated students may feel capped and push for unlimited
It is the model most independent studios overlook, and arguably the one that works hardest for them. Students get a lower price point and a commitment they can actually keep. Studios get recurring revenue without the margin risk of unlimited access. Unlike unlimited plans where a highly active student effectively lowers your per-class yield, class-limited memberships give you predictable revenue per class, every month.
How to choose the right pricing model for your studio
Most studios do best with all three, positioned deliberately. Class packs as the entry point for new students. A class-limited membership as the anchor tier. Unlimited access for your most committed regulars. Studios using tiered pricing structures report 15 to 30% higher average revenue per member compared to single flat-rate models.
If you only add one membership tier you don't already have, make it a class-limited membership. It fills the gap between class packs and unlimited better than either model does alone, and it tends to be where the majority of your membership base will land naturally. Students who attend once or twice a week get a price that reflects how they actually use the studio. You get recurring revenue you can forecast.
The mistake is treating class packs as the primary model. They create lumpy, unpredictable revenue and make it harder to plan instructor schedules or cover fixed costs with confidence.
Class-limited memberships are also where a lot of studio software falls short, either not supporting the model at all or requiring clunky workarounds to make it function. Platsana supports all three models. Class packs and unlimited access memberships are available on every plan. Class-limited recurring memberships are on the Studio plan, built to work the way the model is supposed to.
All three membership models supported
See how Platsana handles class packs, unlimited access, and class-limited memberships.
Frequently asked questions
Unlimited access memberships show the strongest retention, with membership holders renewing at a meaningfully higher rate than class pack holders over 12 and 24-month periods. The behavioral reason is that monthly payment makes practice part of a student's routine and identity rather than a discretionary per-visit decision.
Most independent studios benefit from offering all three: class packs as a low-commitment entry point for new students, a class-limited membership as a mid-tier anchor, and an unlimited membership for frequent attendees. Studios using tiered pricing structures tend to generate higher average revenue per member than those using a single flat-rate model.
No. Class-limited memberships are a feature that some platforms do not support at all, and others require workarounds to implement properly. Platsana supports class packs and unlimited memberships on every plan, and class-limited recurring memberships on the Studio plan.