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First time? · What it costs

How paying to move works in NYC.

Fitness prices in New York come in about six shapes, and studios love inventing new names for each. Learn the shapes and the price list stops looking like a trick question. Every example below is a real place on this site, in the provider's own terms.

Drop-in: one class, one price

The simplest: pay for one class or one day, owe nothing after. A class at Gibney is $22 and at Peridance $27. Gyms call it a day pass: $35 at Brooklyn Athletic Club and $37 at Movement LIC. Even a single class can expire: Peridance's is good for 14 days, Gibney's for 60.

Class packs: cheaper per class, with a clock

Buy several classes up front and each one costs less. Peridance sells 10 classes for $250 and Integral Yoga Institute has a 10-class card for $250, good for 3 months. The catch is the expiry date: if you won't use all ten in time, singles were cheaper.

Intro offers: the newcomer price

Many studios have a price just for people who've never been. Body & Pole's first class is $25, or your first 5 classes for $99 instead. SLT's Intro 3 Pack is 3 classes for $60. Jivamukti says "Try 4 weeks for $99." SoulCycle's New Rider class is $25 and expires in 30 days.

Some are free. Club Pilates has a free 30-minute intro class, and CorePower gives new students a free week. Offers like these are one per person and nearly all of them expire, so buy one when you can actually go. All of them, quoted from their sites: free first visits and intro offers.

Memberships: a monthly charge, plus the small print

A membership charges you every month, for unlimited visits or a set number of classes. The monthly number is rarely the whole price. On October 14, 2026, Planet Fitness listed its NYC Classic membership from $19 a month with a 12-month commitment, a $59 startup fee and a $59 annual fee, or $24 a month with no commitment. PureGym adds a joining fee of $19.99 to $39.99, depending on the plan.

Some places say plainly that they charge none of that. Brooklyn Athletic Club says its memberships are month-to-month with no joining, cancellation or annual fees. The YMCA lists a $0 joiner's fee and offers membership scholarships.

Seasons and league fees

Leagues charge once, for a whole season. Volo says most NYC leagues run between $100 and $165 per player, one payment. Big Apple Softball's spring player fee is $125, which new players pay when they register, before recruitment day, plus up to $100 to $200 toward uniforms.

The city's recreation centers work like a season ticket. On October 14, 2026, NYC Parks listed adult membership (ages 25 to 61) at $50 for six months at centers without an indoor pool, free for ages 18 to 24, and $25 a year for seniors, people with disabilities and veterans. There are no day passes.

Free, with a sign-up

A lot of good NYC exercise costs nothing but asks you to register. Shape Up NYC classes are free with a free NYC Parks account, one registration per class. NYRR Open Run is free once you've signed a waiver. Baby Cobra is donation-based, with suggested amounts by income that start at $5. Space is limited, so cancel if you can't go.

What "to try" means on this site

Every place shows one price under "To try it": the cheapest way for a newcomer to try it once, from the provider's own site. "Free" means it costs nothing. "Free first visit" means a paid place gives newcomers their first visit, class or week free, like Unity Jiu Jitsu's first day for people from the tri-state area. A dollar amount is the cheapest single way in, even when that's a pack: Jivamukti shows $99 because its way in is 4 weeks for $99. The full price wording is on each place's page, under "What it costs".

"Price on their site" means the provider doesn't publish a price we could read. 305 Fitness advertises a New Client Special but shows the price only in its booking system, and [solidcore]'s intro pack prices vary by studio and weren't shown on the pages we could read. We'd rather say so than guess, so those places only come up in the finder under "Treat me".

Reading the fine print

Before you pay, look for when it expires, whether it renews by itself, what it commits you to, and what's added on top. Central Rock Gym's October 2026 offer (it ends October 31) was to join for $0 and climb free for the rest of October, as long as you committed to at least one full month of dues from November 1; the ongoing membership is $140 a month. Mark Morris Dance Center's 3 classes for $55 are for new students and have to be used within 30 days. VITAL adds 4.5% NYC sales tax to its day passes, and Mendez Boxing lists its prices before tax.

None of this is financial advice: it's what providers say on their own pages, and prices change.

The short version

Trying something once? A drop-in or an intro offer commits you to nothing. Going every week? A pack or a membership can cost less per class, but only if you'll use it before it expires. Money tight? Start with everything free.

Want the cheapest way in?

Every place that offers newcomers a free first visit or an intro price, in their own words.

See intro offers

Prices change.

These come from each provider's own pages, checked on October 21, 2026 unless a date is given next to them. Each place's page links to its live prices. How we pick.

Checked at on October 21, 2026:

First-time guides