Best Workout Apps in 2026: 5 Picks for Lifting Weights

1. Hardy: best free app for running a program

Most workout apps log what you did, and then leave the next step to you. Hardy also tells you what to lift next. You pick a program, enter your numbers once, and every set shows its weight, rounded to the plates you own.

Well-known programs like 5/3/1, nSuns, 5x5 and Greyskull LP are free to follow. After a good session, Hardy offers to raise the weight for next time. You can accept the change, adjust it or say no, so you always stay in charge.

Hardy also has the most featured routine builder of any workout app. You can set each set in four ways:

• As a percent of your Training Max, a safe max you train from.
• As a percent of your one-rep max.
• By RPE, a 1 to 10 score for how hard a set feels.
• As a Working Weight that goes up over time.

Then you write your own rules for each exercise. You say when the weight goes up and by how much, and when it drops after a few bad days. You can even reward extra reps on your last set with a bigger jump.

Hardy fits you if you follow a program, or want to build one that runs itself. It is less useful if you make up each workout as you go and only need a notebook.

2. Hevy: best for training with friends

Hevy is a fast, friendly logger with a social side. You can follow friends, see their workouts and share your own. It also has a web app, which is handy if you like to plan routines at a desk.

The free plan is generous, and Pro is the cheapest paid plan here. Hevy Trainer, a Pro feature, writes a program for you and raises its weights.

Your own routines do not change by themselves. The Hevy vs Strong comparison has more detail.

3. Strong: best simple workout log

Strong does one job and does it well. You open the app, log your sets and close it again. There is no feed to scroll and very little to learn, which is why so many lifters have stayed with it for years.

Strong fills in what you lifted last time, so you only type what changed. It has a plate calculator and a warm-up calculator built in. You choose the next weight yourself, because nothing in the app raises it for you.

4. Fitbod: best for a fresh workout each day

Fitbod builds each workout for you. It looks at which muscles you trained lately and what gear you have, and then it picks the exercises, sets and weights. No two sessions need to look the same.

That suits you if you do not want to plan anything and just want to be told what to do today. It does not suit a fixed program like 5/3/1, where the same lifts repeat each week. There is a free trial, and after that you pay.

5. JEFIT: best exercise library

JEFIT has been around for more than a decade, and its big draw is the exercise list. There are over 1,400 exercises, and each one comes with a guide. That helps a lot when you are new to a movement or train in a gym with odd machines.

The free plan covers routines, logging and the full exercise library. Elite removes the ads and adds more stats and watch support. You pick every weight yourself, as you do in Strong.

Best workout apps compared

Best free workout app

Hardy is the best free workout app if you want to follow a program. Logging is free with no cap on workouts. Every public routine is free too, and so are the rules that raise your weights.

The limit is 3 routines that you build yourself, where Hevy gives you 4. JEFIT is a good free pick too, if a big exercise library matters most. Fitbod is the only app on this list with no lasting free plan.

Best weight lifting app

The best weight lifting app depends on how you train, so there is no single answer. Match the app to the way you already work out:

• You follow a program with set weights: Hardy.
• You just log what you lift: Strong or Hevy.
• You want the app to plan it all: Fitbod.

Best strength training app

The best strength training app adds weight to the bar over time, because that is how you get stronger. Lifters call this progressive overload. Hardy is the only app on this list that does it by following a program's rules.

Fitbod raises weights too, but it picks a new workout each day. The progressive overload app page shows how Hardy does it. The 531 app page walks through a full 5/3/1 cycle.

Best workout app for beginners

The best workout app for beginners gives you a plan to follow. A blank log is hard to use when you are new, because you do not yet know what to write in it. You need to be told which lifts to do and how much weight to use.

Start with a simple program that trains your whole body three days a week. Hardy has free ones ready to go, and each one explains itself as you train. Pick one below, enter your starting numbers and do your first session.

How to choose a workout app

Most of these apps are free to try, so the choice is not risky. Still, moving your history later is a chore. Ask yourself three things before you download.

1. Do you follow a program? Pick an app that knows its rules, like Hardy.
2. Do you only want a log? Pick Strong or Hevy.
3. What will you pay? Try the free plan for two weeks before you decide.

Check your watch too, because only Hevy works on Wear OS. It is also worth checking how you get your data out. Most of these apps can export your history as a file that you keep.

How this list was made

Every price and free limit comes from the app's own site or its App Store page. All of it was last checked in September 2026. Prices are US prices, and they change.

Hardy made this list, and nobody paid to be on it. The other apps were not tested in the gym. The list compares what each company says about its own app.