Best Workout Apps 2026: Fitness Expert Approved

There is basic community interaction through a community feed, but if you’re looking for a lot of support in your fitness journey, you may want to look for a different running app. Many of the best workout apps include features like adaptive plans, calendar integration, and progress dashboards, so your training can be as data-driven and streamlined as the rest of your work life. If your goal is to manage stress, build strength, or simply close your activity ring, the best workout apps of the year are designed to remove friction, reduce decision fatigue, and help you stay consistent. Some are completely free or offer a free trial, and some require a monthly subscription.

Also tested

Once you’ve chosen your program, you check in once a month to keep track of your progress. Fiit’s group classes are completely free to join, and you only need a membership to tackle standalone sessions. There are plenty of training styles, from yoga and treadmill workouts, to spin classes and strength training routines. It’s important to know the type of person you are when looking for an ideal workout app for you.

Best Free Workout App for Variety: Nike Training Club

While the free version is extensive, if you’re going on some deep country trails, it may be worth it to upgrade. At only $35.99 per year, the monthly price works out to only $2.99, so even the paid plan earns a 5 out of 5 for value. Provided by Under Armour, Map My Fitness is easy to set up and sync with other apps and devices, like Garmin, Apple Health, UA connected footwear, MyFitnessPal, and others.

• I have no doubt it’s effective—I burned at least 5 to 10 calories just listening in fear to the YouTube trailer.
• Jefit’s free version allows you to log and track your workouts, as well as gives you access to some workout routines, although many are locked behind the elite subscription.
• Her workout of choice nowadays is strength training, plus logging her daily steps.
• During the pandemic in 2020, Nike decided to make their app completely free, including specialist tips on nutrition, recovery, and weight loss, providing huge value in a free app for all people on their fitness journey.
• You can also save your favorite trails to an easy-to-access list, as well as create your own routes and trails.
• EvolveYouIf you’re someone who likes to mix up your workouts, alternating between cardio or weights, Pilates or HIIT, the gym, or workouts in your living room, EvolveYou is a workout app worth considering.

Best Workout Tracker App for 2026: Top 7 Options Reviewed

Nike Training Club is a free fitness app with a robust workout library that includes one-off workouts as well as periodized programs led by certified instructors. Home Gym Club Training is a collaboration between Garage Gym Reviews and Boostcamp and provides over 1,000 workout plans through the Boostcamp app, including two exclusive workouts created by the GGR team. Experienced lifters or runners might be fine with minimal cues, as long as sets, reps, or distances are clearly laid out. Beginners, fitbod alternatives people returning from injury, or anyone unsure about form usually benefit from detailed demonstrations, step‑by‑step videos, and clear modifications. Look for an app whose level of guidance matches how confident you feel performing exercises on your own.

SHRED is our pick for the best workout app for muscle gain because, through well-developed exercise programming and adaptive AI, it keeps pushing you just enough to grow. BetterMe is our pick for the best workout app overall because it has a great variety of workout modalities, including plenty of strength training. We also love that the app offers an onboarding quiz, guided plans, and daily checklists remove decision fatigue, making it easier for beginners and busy users to stay consistent with their strength programs. The app covers a wide spectrum of needs—low-impact and wall Pilates, strength, walking, chair and mobility sessions, plus mindset and nutrition tools—so users can progress or scale back without leaving the platform. The app features a variety of workouts—hundreds in different formats, from written workouts to perform at your own pace, to on-demand and live fitness classes with excellent instruction that Amanda rates a 4 out of 5. Workouts cover different modalities, from strength training, HIIT, and cardio, to yoga, pilates, and mobility exercises.

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Many Centr members have come to us with concerns such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or pre-diabetic, then gone on to receive a clean bill of health from their doctor. However, the partnership didn’t last and the workouts were removed from Netflix in March 2024, according to What’s on Netflix. The Netflix and Nike deal was meant to see if Netflix could compete with Peloton for streaming workouts, but it seems the company didn’t want to progress any further.

The fact that you can train effectively at home with bodyweight or simple equipment, then transition into fuller gym routines as confidence grows, makes it ideal for someone progressing from true beginner to intermediate. EvolveYouIf you’re someone who likes to mix up your workouts, alternating between cardio or weights, Pilates or HIIT, the gym, or workouts in your living room, EvolveYou is a workout app worth considering. Designed for women by personal trainer Krissy Cela, the app has six different trainers on board, all of whom have several different workout plans to choose from.

Instead, you now have the option to filter workouts by muscle group — abs and core, arms and shoulders, or glutes and legs, workout focus — endurance, mobility, strength, and yoga, and by equipment. Sweat, founded by personal trainer Kayla Itsines, has plenty of structured programs based on your goals and lifestyle, offering workouts and nutrition plans to help you get the most from your training. With the free version, you can log your own workouts, or let the Caliber algorithm create a custom workout program for you, based on a quick assessment while setting up the app. Caliber also records and charts strength progress and body metrics—body weight, waist size, and body fat percentage.

Drawbacks (From User Reviews)

Free workout apps have great value, providing basic instructions with libraries of exercises and workouts at no cost to you. Some of our favorite free workout apps include Caliber, Nike Training Club, and Map My Fitness. If those don’t do it for you, we have more free workout apps to choose from on our best free workout app roundup.

Walking for Weight Loss

If you prefer a workout app that’s more specific to your interests, such as yoga, we recommend others in the list below. If you’re looking for a simple workout tracker with an expansive community feed, look no further than Hevy, our pick for the best free app for community support. Along with a robust library of exercises to log your workouts, Heavy also has an entire community feed and social media aspect, where you can share your workouts, videos, and also like, comment, and follow other users and their workouts. Although we rate it as the best workout app for most people, it is primarily focused on strength training, with some cardio and yoga on the side. If you want more mobility or yoga workouts, you might be better off with an app like Fiit, which offers access to all group classes for free. Plenty of research1 has shown that following a workout routine can help improve your physical fitness and athletic performance, but getting a personalized training plan can be expensive.

What is the best workout app?

Hevy, Strava, and Nike Training Club have great free versions, so consider starting with them based on your workout style and primary goals. You can always get a premium subscription or look for another app to satisfy a specific need. StretchIt can generate a variety of mobility and flexibility programs based on goals, your preferred length (traditionally a bit longer than one month), weekly frequency, and session duration. The focus is on functional bodyweight training, such as push-ups, crunches, bird dog, and glute bridges.

Caliber Strength Training is a fitness coaching program grounded in scientific principles designed to increase strength and improve body composition. The app offers both group and individual training plans which are written and modified by a certified coach based on progress. The best workout app depends on your goals, experience, and preferences—someone training for muscle gain might choose a strength‑focused app, while a beginner walker may prefer a simple, walking‑based program. The best option is the one you can use consistently and safely for months, not days.

Hevy Coach

Apple Fitness Plus is the best workout app if you’re embedded in the company’s ecosystem, especially if you use an Apple Watch. There are HIIT, strength, core, yoga, Pilates, and meditation classes, taught by a range of different trainers. There’s free and paid options, but you get plenty of value if you do decide to pay, and you can access a free trial if you’re unconvinced.

Programs on a Budget: The 11 Best Free Workout Apps (

It’s a series of tempo-based classes, set to music, designed to get you fitter and stronger. The app is an extension of this, with hundreds of classes to choose from, all set to an infectious beat, with motivating instructors. If you’re based in the UK, you’ve probably heard of Joe Wicks, or done one of his PE with Joe workouts in lockdown, but if you’re in the US, Wicks is a fantastic trainer and his app has a mix of workouts to get you in shape. Since having my son, I’ve religiously used Joe’s The Body Coach app to rebuild my core postpartum, and I’ve loved the flexibility and challenge of the Body Coach plan. Whether you enjoy weightlifting, yoga or cardio, the Fiit app has you covered.