Workout apps without a subscription in 2026

Short answer, with prices checked on October 11, 2026: FitNotes on Android is free with nothing to pay for, and every feature in PRGRES, the iPhone app I make, is free too. Benchmark ($14.99), FitNotes 2 ($44.99), Hevy ($74.99) and Strong ($99.99) sell lifetime access you pay for once, StrengthLog and JEFIT have free versions with subscription-only upgrades, and Fitbod needs a subscription after a 7-day trial.

You can keep a gym log on your phone without paying every month. Strong and Hevy have free versions that hold 3 and 4 routines, which is enough for many programs. Below are nine trackers. The eight I don't make are grouped by what their free version gives you: free with nothing to pay for, a free version with limits, or a trial. They're alphabetical within each group, and PRGRES comes last.

Prices at a glance

Free, with nothing to pay for

FitNotes (Android)

• Free: the whole app. The Google Play listing says “Free to use, and no ads - ever.”
• Paid: nothing.
• Limits: it's Android-only, and its last Google Play update was in October 2025. FitNotes 2 on iPhone is listed under a different developer from FitNotes for Android.
• Who it suits: Android lifters who want a plain log that costs nothing.

FitNotes on Google Play

Free versions with limits

Benchmark

• Free: unlimited workout logging, 2 saved routines and limited history, plus a 2-week trial of everything. Free logging arrived in its October 2026 update.
• Paid: $14.99 once for lifetime access, or a subscription at $1.99 a month. There's also a yearly plan.
• Who it suits: lifters who'd rather pay once. At $14.99, Benchmark has the lowest lifetime price in this list. It needs no account, keeps your workouts on the phone or in your own iCloud, and has Live Activities.

Benchmark on the App Store

FitNotes 2 (iOS)

• Free: every feature, but only 12 saved workouts. To keep using it for free, you delete older ones. No account is required.
• Paid: Forever is $44.99, paid once. A subscription starts at $1.99.
• Who it suits: a pay-once log with an Apple Watch app and iCloud backups. It imports FitNotes data from Android and CSV exports from Strong, Hevy and Fitbod.

FitNotes 2 on the App Store

Hevy

• Free: unlimited workouts, 4 routines, 7 custom exercises and no ads. Stats and charts cover the last 3 months, but the workouts you logged before that are kept.
• Paid: Hevy Pro is $2.99 a month or $23.99 a year. It adds unlimited routines and custom exercises, your full stats history, a warm-up calculator and Hevy Trainer. Lifetime is $74.99, paid once. A few times a year Hevy takes 50% off the first year for new Pro subscribers, but it doesn't discount lifetime.
• Who it suits: training alongside friends through the social feed, or using one log across iPhone, Android, the web and an Apple Watch. It also has a Live Activity with Dynamic Island support. It needs an account, and your workouts are stored on Hevy's servers.

Hevy on the App Store

JEFIT

• Free: the Basic tier has your own routines, 1,400+ exercises with instructions, and workout logging and history. It shows ads.
• Paid: Elite is $12.99 a month or $69.99 a year. JEFIT's plans page lists training plans, advanced analytics, Apple Watch support, exercise videos and no ads for Elite. There's no lifetime option.
• Who it suits: browsing a large exercise library with instructions.

JEFIT on the App Store

StrengthLog

• Free: unlimited workouts, your own exercises, basic stats, PR tracking, a plate calculator and a library of programs. No ads. It runs on iPhone and Android (strengthlog.com).
• Paid: Premium is subscription-only: $16.90 a month, $37.90 for 3 months or $109 a year. It adds the full program catalog, advanced stats, a muscle map, and logging of RPE, RIR and percentage of 1RM. There's no lifetime option.
• Who it suits: following a ready-made program at no cost. RPE logging is a Premium feature, so if you log RPE on every set, you'd be paying for it here.

StrengthLog on the App Store

Strong

• Free: unlimited workouts, 3 routines and CSV export. Strong prompts every new user to sign up for an account and syncs your log to its cloud.
• Paid: Strong PRO is $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year. It adds unlimited routines, all charts, body measurements, and plate and warm-up calculators. Strong PRO Forever, a lifetime purchase, is $99.99.
• Who it suits: lifters who want an Apple Watch app, an Android app, or one log synced across devices. If your program fits in 3 routines, the free version may be all you need.

Strong on the App Store

Trial, then a subscription

Fitbod

• Free: a 7-day trial, which you start by choosing a monthly or yearly plan. When it ends, you can still view past workouts but need a subscription to log new ones.
• Paid: $15.99 a month or $95.99 a year. There's no standard lifetime plan. Fitbod's help center says a limited number of lifetime memberships usually go on sale during its Black Friday and Cyber Monday week.
• Who it suits: having the app plan each session for you, since Fitbod generates AI workouts. If you already follow a written program, you may not need the workout generator, and any app on this list can log it.

Fitbod on the App Store

PRGRES, the app I make

PRGRES is a workout tracker for iPhone and iPad. Here it is under the same headings as the others.

• Free: everything in the app, with no limits on plans, workouts, custom exercises or history. Sets, reps and weight with an optional RPE column, a rest timer with a Live Activity, 400+ exercises, 7 built-in programs including GZCLP and nSuns 5/3/1 LP, estimated 1RM charts, weekly sets per muscle, CSV export, and import from Strong, Hevy, Boostcamp and WorkIt exports. No account and no ads.
• Paid: nothing. PRGRES+, an optional paid add-on for cloud sync, backup, and an AI coach, is planned. It isn't available yet, and nothing in the app today moves behind it.
• Limits: it runs on iPhone and iPad, with no Android version and no Apple Watch app. Your log isn't synced to a cloud, so moving to a new iPhone goes through a device backup or a CSV export. The app is in English only.
• Who it suits: iPhone lifters who want the whole tracker without paying or signing up, and who like a target for every set. Each set shows a Suggested target based on the matching set last session and the RPE you logged. Log 80 kg at RPE 7 and next time it suggests 82.5 kg. Log it at RPE 9 and it stays at 80 kg.

PRGRES on the App Store

What a workout app costs to run

In an app that keeps your log on the phone, logging a set writes one row to a database on the device, the phone draws the charts, and the exercise library ships inside the app. None of that adds a cost for each new user.

The costs start when an app runs servers. Strong syncs your log to its cloud through an account. Hevy requires an account and also runs a web app and a social feed. Servers cost money every month, and the bill grows with the number of users, so a recurring price for apps that run them makes sense.

PRGRES has no account system, and I don't run a server for the tracker. What it costs me is Apple's $99-a-year developer membership and my time, and neither grows with the number of people using it. That's one reason I made it free in June, after launching it as a paid app in March.

Before you pay for a tracker

1. Count your routines. Strong's free version holds 3 and Hevy's holds 4. A push/pull/legs split fits in both. An upper/lower split with separate A and B days needs 4, so it fits Hevy's free version but not Strong's.
2. Compare lifetime with yearly. Strong's lifetime price equals 3.3 years of its yearly plan, and Hevy's equals 3.1 years, so if you'll still be logging in year four, lifetime comes out cheaper. Three years of the yearly plan costs $71.97 on Hevy, $89.97 on Strong, $209.97 on JEFIT, $287.97 on Fitbod and $327 on StrengthLog.
3. Export once before you commit. Check that the free version exports your whole history to CSV, and that the app you might move to can read that file. Strong's CSV export is free. PRGRES exports every workout to one CSV and can import the CSV exports from Strong, Hevy, Boostcamp and WorkIt. The import guide has the steps, and there's a walkthrough for Hevy.
4. Find out what happens when you stop paying. Strong's help center says you'll never be locked out and can always keep logging on the free version. Hevy keeps your workouts and limits the charts to the last 3 months. After Fitbod's trial, you can still view past workouts, but logging new ones needs a subscription.
5. Check which paid features you'd use. If the main one is a plate calculator, the plate calculator on this site does that job in a browser tab.
6. Decide whether you want an account. Strong and Hevy use one because they sync to their servers. PRGRES, FitNotes 2 and Benchmark work without one. The post on offline tracking with no account covers where your log lives in PRGRES and what you give up without cloud sync.

The Strong vs Hevy vs PRGRES comparison goes feature by feature. For one app at a time, see Strong vs PRGRES and Hevy vs PRGRES, or all the free alternatives to Strong and Hevy.

Updated October 21, 2026: PRGRES 1.5 imports Strong’s CSV export.

Updated October 11, 2026: since its October 3 update, Benchmark has a free version with unlimited logging and 2 routines. I rechecked every other price and limit, and none changed. The apps are now grouped by what their free version gives you, with PRGRES last.