The 12 Best Free Gym App Options for Smarter Training in 2026

IPhones have many fan favorite workout apps to pick from, which include many on this list like Peloton, Nike Training Club and Strava. Some positive reviews people have shared are that the app finally got them to be more active, while another says it gave them the freedom to get in shape on their own time frame. Overall, most seem to enjoy the variety and length of the workouts. Ladder offers a free seven-day trial, and afterward you can pick from a Pro plan for $30 a month or the Pro Plan-Annual, which is an up-front fee of $180 for the year and offers unlimited access to the app.

ClassPass: Most Personalized Fitness App.

You want to track your lifts, see tangible progress, and follow a solid plan without hitting an unexpected paywall or being bombarded with ads. The challenge isn’t a lack of options; it’s the overwhelming number of apps that promise a lot for free but deliver little. While some premium routines and features require the Elite subscription, the free version gives you everything you need to stay on top of your fitness goals. There are a ton of free workouts and features for you to use, so you don’t get bored. However, if you have your heart set on personalized workouts, premium music, and access to exclusive training programs, the premium account may be for you. Not only is it free, but you can interact with other members, share completed workouts, and receive/give encouragement from people on similar fitness journeys.

Lotus Yoga & Workout — Best for Yoga Programs

If you’re looking to track health metrics outside of your workouts, the Oura Ring is a solid option. While you can’t view heart rate, calories burned, distance or time elapsed during a workout, the ring automatically tracks 40 different types of activity and removes the need to manually log exercise. One of the most unique aspects of the Oura Ring is its focus on women’s health. With its integration with Natural Cycles, the Oura Ring provides cycle insights, pregnancy insights and fertile window estimates.

best free gym workout app

Find an Orangetheory Fitness Studio Near You.

Most fitness apps come with classes that assist people in working out at any time, and anywhere, delivering complete flexibility. Now that you’ve seen a quick overview, let’s take a closer look at the 5 best workout apps in detail. Each app offers different features, training styles, and levels of personalization to suit various fitness goals.

data-module=”Global_Extender_Footer”

Tester Sydney Samuels started using the Peloton app during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to use it to supplement her in-person gym and exercise classes. She appreciates its wide range of classes and the flexibility it offers. The app offers live classes every day of the week — filmed in a fun neon studio — in addition to its extensive on-demand library of more than 7,000 classes. This app brings the feel of a boutique group fitness class to your living room.

Real Results for Real People

During each workout, Atkins is right there with you, providing helpful cues and modifications for all fitness levels. Not necessarily just for beginners, this app is a great place to start if you don’t feel comfortable practicing yoga on your own. This app walks you through each pose with cute cartoon people performing each pose or movement. It also functions as a social platform where you can share your workouts and view others’ workouts. The app also has challenges where you can participate in specific fitness events with others.

I’m Maggie, PCMag’s AI-powered product finder, exclusively powered by our deep library of

The learning curve is steep and there’s no free tier, making it a poor fit for beginners. Fitbod sits comfortably in third place with its unique muscle recovery model. The AI tracks which muscle groups you’ve trained recently and prioritizes fresh muscles in each new session. This approach reduces the chance of overtraining any single muscle group and naturally creates balanced training across the week. It’s a genuinely smart system that many users love, though the $14.99/month subscription fee and lack of a permanent free tier are notable downsides. JEFIT and Caliber are excellent for strength and gym routines without any paid tiers.

Find a Club

You can set workout goals, track your intensity and choose specific workout modes (like cycling, running, yoga or strength training) to better monitor your unimeal review every movement. The watch is also water-, crack- and dust-resistant so you don’t have to worry about damaging your watch during a workout. Fitness trackers have become as common as water bottles at the gym.

  • We also prioritized effectiveness, favoring thoughtfully programmed workouts and motivating instructors who provide clear guidance and encourage users to stick with their routines.
  • Instead of endlessly comparing feature lists, it’s time to take action.
  • And when we say thorough, we mean you can log over 14 million foods from their index, which makes estimating meal calories so much easier.
  • On top of activity, sleep and stress scores, the app also provides personalized insight into your cardiovascular age, sleep regularity and holistic readiness.
  • Whereas many apps focus on video or visuals, Aaptiv guides you through curated workouts with impeccable verbal instruction that takes care to be detailed without taking you out of flow.
  • The app also connects to your Apple Watch to provide health metrics such as your heart rate and logs your activities.

Nike Training Club is one of the most well-known free fitness apps, offering a large selection of workouts led by professional trainers. It includes a variety of training styles such as strength, yoga, HIIT, and mobility, making it a versatile option for users at different fitness levels. The app stands out for its high-quality content and completely free access to most features. While it doesn’t offer the same level of personalization as some paid apps, it compensates with a rich library of workouts and expert guidance.

Review of the Top 3 Free Gym Apps

Do you need to replace a gym trainer with a personal digital trainer in your pocket or do you need an app that tracks each calorie you intake throughout the day? The fitness apps have their core competencies which are used by the users according to their particular needs. Similarly, you might have to figure out if you want a trainer who can help you lose or gain weight or just the guidance to elevate your Yoga experience. Caliber positions itself as a premium strength training tool with one of the most robust free offerings available. It provides users with a completely ad-free experience while allowing for unlimited custom workout logging, a feature often restricted in other apps. The app’s core philosophy is built around evidence-based training principles, which is reflected in its structured workout plans and clear exercise demonstrations.

best free gym workout app

Which fitness trackers do not require subscriptions?

If your goal is to lose weight, 8fit Workouts is the best workout app on our list. And it’s the only app on our list that combines personalized workouts with meal plans tailored to your dietary preferences. After inputting your goals, the app generates weekly meal plans filled with nutritional recipes, and you can use the app to find nutrition tips and guides. Most of the app’s workouts do not require any equipment, opting to focus on bodyweight training, and workout lengths are between five and 20 minutes. While 8fit is great for weight loss, it also provides workout and meal plans for users who want to stay in shape or build muscle mass, making it a great all-around option for everyone.

We found ClassPass to be the most personalized app, depending on what classes you’re interested in taking. We found the 7 Minute Workout app to be the best for fitting in quality workouts quickly with busy schedules. We’ve listed 12 apps right here in this roundup to look into, and there are countless others online and on your app store. Some may prefer a paired down app that’s easy to navigate over a slow or bloated app that tries to offer too much. And, crucially, when you start a workout, think about whether you’re actually enjoying it or have to force yourself to finish.

Workout Tracker & Planner Gym App Weight Lifting Routine Log

We like the flexibility of the program, which allows you to swap workouts to different days or track your studio classes.Got an injury or plan on traveling? Your coach can adjust your workouts based on whatever pops up. And if at any point you feel your trainer isn’t the best fit, you can switch to a new one. No matter your fitness status or age, Simple’s customizable 28-day wall Pilates program makes it easy to lose weight, get toned, keep track of progress and create lasting lifestyle habits — all without workout equipment. We love that the app includes a weekly planner, an AI coach that simplifies exercise and nutrition guidance and trackers that can analyze your meals, movement, hydration and fasting. Simple offers a free version of its app with limited features; to get the most out of the platform, upgrade to the Premium plan ($44 per month, $30 for three months or $72 for six months) and get three additional free months.

What do I need to consider before I get started with a fitness program?

best fitness app for women

Get access to world’s best workouts from cardio, yoga, strength, pilates, toning and more. But with Strong I can see all my previous workouts, all my previous lifts of a specific exercise, and I can easily copy/paste the workout from Strong to a TrainingPeaks comment as text for my coach to see. As for the workouts, I found them to be fun and you can make them as challenging as you want. The app will not recommend the amount of weight to use; instead, you decide what feels right or challenging enough for you.

I’m a Certified Personal Trainer, and These Are My Favorite Health and Fitness Apps

  • MacroFactor costs $11.99 per month, or about $71.99 for a year.
  • It’s not quite like TrainerRoad but it does adjust the plan as you go, with specific periodization and what not.
  • When I tested the fitness-tracking abilities of the Pixel Watch 3, I found that the Hevy watch app was miles better than any of the watch’s native strength-training features.
  • There’s even a desktop version so you can see your workouts on a computer screen for more detailed planning.
  • One of the things I don’t like about this app is how the exercises are listed for the day once you hit play.
  • And if at any point you feel your trainer isn’t the best fit, you can switch to a new one.

Although there isn’t an official vegan option, if you select the vegetarian option, you can exclude foods like honey, milk and eggs to make your plan vegan-friendly. Similarly to WeightWatchers, StrongHer has a point system for the foods in your nutrition plan. Every food is assigned a youtube number of points based on its calories, fat and protein.

StrongHer – Workout For Women

Since the focus is on building strength, SBTD has a section where you can input your weights and reps neatly. If you hit a personal best, the app suggests a new weight goal for that specific exercise. One of the things I don’t like about this app is how the exercises are listed for the day once you hit play.

Stronger By The Day

Unless you memorize the initial preview of the workout, you have to skip through different slides to know what exercise comes next. This is tough when your attention span tends to be short, like mine. There are lots of ways to find workouts to follow along with, including getting workouts from a wearable like a Garmin, or subscribing to a service like Apple Fitness+ or Peloton.

I found this particularly helpful since most workout apps have fixed routines, and often you don’t have the right equipment to complete them. Every exercise is paired with a video and description if you’re unsure how to execute specific movements. When I tested the fitness-tracking abilities of the Pixel Watch 3, I found that the Hevy watch app was miles better than any of the watch’s native strength-training features.

Training Shoes

It has a great workout builder though and is super easy to use once you get it set up, it’s definitely the best free app I’ve ever used. I have tried a few of the other apps recently to see if there was anything I was missing but I went straight back to it because the other ones all wanted premium feature money for things I wasn’t going to use or already got for free with Jefit. There are some pre-programmed routines, or you can create routines with some basic knowledge, but it doesn’t look like it is coaching you. I think that’s the main distinction with Peak Strength, which is asks you what is your goal, asks you what equipment you have or don’t have, and then creates a specific workout plan based on that. It’s not quite like TrainerRoad but it does adjust the plan as you go, with specific periodization and what not.

The app has thought of everything a person in the gym wants. It can even keep the display from sleeping during a workout. The biggest things you’ll want to think about before starting a fitness program are your current fitness level, a realistic and balanced program pace and equipment you have access to. These will all factor into what you’ll see the most success with as you start.

The Best Workout Apps for Women in 2026: Tried and Tested

It’s not hard to see why this workout app is a fan favorite; it offers over 30 programs — all designed to fit multiple workout preferences and achieve different results. Some of the most notable plans include at-home workouts, gym training plans, post-pregnancy programs and zero-equipment workouts. Even when you finish a program, there are so many other options to explore that it’s doubtful you’ll ever get bored with a routine. And like any other well-designed fitness app, Sweat strives to provide you with a personal trainer 24/7 right in the palm of your hand, along with a nutrition plan to help you reach your goals. That’s why we’ve pared down the top fitness apps for home workouts that don’t require additional gear, save for your favorite yoga mat, light weights or an affordable fitness tracker.

Cons of using workout apps

best fitness app for women

Nasha is a Managing Editor for CNET, overseeing our sleep and wellness verticals. She is a nutrition, mental health, fitness and sleep science enthusiast. Her passion for mindful and holistic practices transcends her personal life and profoundly influences her editorial approach, as she weaves evidence-based insights with practical advice to inspire readers to lead healthier, more balanced lives.

Justin Bieber Goes Heavy On ‘Swag’ In Much-Anticipated Coachella Headlining Set

For example, suppose you started with 5-pound weights for bicep curls, and in two months you are able to lift 10 pounds. If you document it in the app, it’ll show you historical data about your physical activity progress, calorie intake and water intake. This app has an extensive selection of workouts to choose from, and every Monday a new workout is uploaded.

It won’t track your heart rate, which is a good thing. But it does give you a wrist-based interface to track the lifts you’re doing, and the watch app updates the phone app and vice versa. Hevy also works with the iPhone and Apple Watch, and of course you can use it just on a phone. The best workout app will be the one that offers you the right tools to achieve your goals and fits your lifestyle. Our best overall pick is EvolveYou, since it has the widest variety of workouts to choose from, allows you track progress and is highly customizable. All workout apps in this article cost between $10 and $20 per month — that’s likely cheaper than most fitness classes in a studio.

Butt Workout: Fitness at Home

Try yoga, HIIT, cardio, barre, strength training and other types of workouts and unlock discounts on future purchases. When you can’t make it into Equinox’s luxe gyms, the high-end fitness brand’s app brings the sweat sessions to you. If you’re an American Express cardholder, you’ll also save $300 per year when you charge it to your Platinum card. Mix it up with a variety of yoga styles, high-intensity training (HIIT), barre, Pilates, strength and core training or a new skill (like handstands and the splits), and relax and recharge with a range of mindfulness sessions that fit your schedule.