Best Workout Tracker App in 2026: smolLifts vs Hevy vs Strong vs Fitbod

At a Glance: Pricing Comparison

Right away, you'll notice a wide range. Fitbod is the most expensive at nearly $96/year, while Hevy is the cheapest at $23.99/year. smolLifts lands at $59.99/year — but as you'll see below, it's the only app that includes recovery analytics, and the free tier alone outperforms what most competitors offer even with a subscription.

Free Tier: What Can You Actually Do Without Paying?

This is where the differences get real. Some apps treat "free" as a demo. Others give you a fully functional tracker.

smolLifts — The Most Complete Free Experience

smolLifts was built with the philosophy that workout logging should be free. Period. Here's what you get without spending a cent:

• Unlimited workout logging — no caps, no time limits
• Up to 4 custom routines — enough for most training splits
• Full exercise library with 300+ preset exercises and unlimited custom exercise creation
• Complete rest timer with auto-start, audio/haptic alerts, adjustable countdown, and background persistence
• Full workout history — every workout you've ever logged, no time restrictions
• Edit completed workouts — go back and fix mistakes anytime
• Live Activity and Dynamic Island — see your current exercise and rest timer right from your lock screen
• Import from Hevy and Strong — switching is painless, bring your entire history
• Share and import routines — send routines to friends or import theirs
• Exercise merging — combine duplicate exercises and keep all your history
• Export your data — full JSON backup, CSV workout history, your data is yours
• Personal records tracking — estimated 1RM, rep records, and PR notifications during workouts
• Muscle map visualization — see which muscles each exercise targets
• Exercise notes — save form cues and tips per exercise

That's not a trial. That's a real workout tracker.

Hevy — Generous But Chart-Limited

Hevy's free tier is solid for basic logging:

• Unlimited workouts and routines
• Custom exercises and rest timers
• Progress charts limited to the last 3 months
• Community and social features
• No recovery analytics

Hevy is usable for free, but if you want to see your progress over time, you'll hit the 3-month chart wall quickly.

Strong — Functional But Locked Down

Strong gives you the basics but holds back key features:

• Unlimited workout logging
• Only 3 custom routines — a real limitation for anyone running a structured program
• No progress charts without Pro — you can log, but you can't see trends
• No workout generation or AI features
• Interface feels dated compared to newer apps

Strong works as a digital logbook, but without charts or enough routine slots, it pushes you toward Pro fast.

Fitbod — Barely a Free Tier

Fitbod's "free version" is a 3-workout trial. After that, you need to pay $15.99/month or $95.99/year to log a single workout. There's no free tier to speak of — it's a trial, not a product.

Bottom line: smolLifts gives you the most complete free workout tracker of the four. No chart restrictions, no routine caps low enough to frustrate you, and full data portability.

Feature Comparison: What Do You Get When You Pay?

Workout Logging

All four apps handle the basics — sets, reps, weight. But the details matter.

Fitbod's standout feature is AI-generated workouts — it builds your session based on your history and recovery. If you want the app to think for you, Fitbod is the only option here. But if you prefer to run your own programming, that feature adds cost without value.

smolLifts, Hevy, and Strong all trust you to build your own workouts. The difference is what happens after you log them.

Rest Timer

A good rest timer keeps you on track without getting in the way.

smolLifts' rest timer runs on your lock screen and Dynamic Island, showing your countdown and next exercise without opening the app. No other tracker does this.

Exercise Library

Fitbod wins on raw exercise count and has video demos. But smolLifts is the only app that lets you create unlimited custom exercises for free and merge duplicates — a lifesaver if you've imported data from multiple apps.

Personal Records & Progress

smolLifts gives you full access to your PR history, estimated 1RM, and rep records without a subscription. Hevy and Strong gate these behind their paid tiers.

The Big Differentiator: Recovery Science

This is where smolLifts stands alone.

None of the other three apps offer built-in recovery tracking. Not Hevy. Not Strong. Not Fitbod.

smolLifts Pro includes a full recovery analytics dashboard powered by exercise science:

• Muscle recovery status — see per-muscle recovery percentages updated after every workout, so you know which muscle groups are ready to train and which need more time
• Muscle recovery trends — 7-day trend charts for each muscle group showing how your recovery is progressing
• CNS recovery tracking — monitor system-level fatigue, not just individual muscles
• Training load metrics (CTL / ATL / TSB) — the same Chronic Training Load, Acute Training Load, and Training Stress Balance model used by endurance coaches and sports scientists, adapted for strength training
• Training load charts — visualize your CTL, ATL, and TSB over time to spot overtraining before it becomes an injury
• Muscle map with recovery overlay — a visual body outline showing recovery status at a glance
• Calibration survey — set your baseline with benchmark lifts and training history so the algorithm starts accurate from day one

Why This Matters

Most lifters track what they do but have no visibility into how recovered they are. You've probably had weeks where you felt flat, couldn't hit your numbers, and didn't know why. That's accumulated fatigue — and without data, you're guessing.

smolLifts applies the Banister impulse-response model (a well-established framework in sports science) to your training data. It tracks how training stress accumulates and dissipates across 23 recovery entities — individual muscles, movement patterns, and your central nervous system.

The result: you open the Recovery tab and immediately see which muscles are fresh, which are still recovering, and whether your overall training load is in a productive zone or trending toward overtraining.

No other consumer workout tracker offers this. Hevy and Strong are pure logbooks. Fitbod uses AI to suggest exercises but doesn't model fatigue or recovery over time. smolLifts is the only app that combines workout tracking with real recovery intelligence.

Data Portability: Your Data, Your Choice

smolLifts is the only app that offers free import from both Hevy and Strong, plus full data export in multiple formats. Your workout history belongs to you — not your subscription.

Live Activity & Dynamic Island

smolLifts is currently the only workout tracker that fully leverages Apple's Live Activity and Dynamic Island on iPhone:

• See your current exercise, set count, and rest timer on the lock screen
• Dynamic Island shows real-time workout progress without opening the app
• Complete sets, skip rest, or snooze the timer directly from the lock screen

Hevy, Strong, and Fitbod do not offer this level of system integration.

Who Should Use What?

Choose smolLifts if you...

• Want a fully functional free workout tracker with no artificial restrictions
• Care about recovery and want data-driven insights into your training load
• Are switching from Hevy or Strong and want a painless import
• Want your data exportable at any time
• Love lock screen and Dynamic Island integration

Choose Hevy if you...

• Want social features and a community of lifters
• Don't mind paying for charts beyond 3 months
• Prefer a larger preset exercise library

Choose Strong if you...

• Want a budget-friendly option and don't need recovery analytics
• Prefer a minimal, no-frills interface
• Only need a few routines

Choose Fitbod if you...

• Want the app to generate your workouts for you using AI
• Don't want to think about programming at all
• Are okay with the highest price point in the category

The Verdict

Every app on this list can log a workout. The question is what happens next.

Hevy and Strong are solid logbooks. They record what you did, and if you pay, they'll show you some charts. But they don't tell you anything about how your body is responding to that training.

Fitbod takes a different approach with AI-generated workouts, but at nearly $96/year, it's the most expensive option — and it still doesn't track recovery.

smolLifts gives you the most generous free tier, the best lock screen experience, full data portability, and — with Pro — the only built-in recovery analytics system in any consumer workout tracker. It's workout tracking plus sports science, in one app.

If you just need a place to write down your sets, any of these apps will work. If you want to actually understand your training, smolLifts is the one that shows you the full picture.

Try smolLifts Free

Download smolLifts from the App Store and start tracking today. No account required, no trial period, no credit card. Just open the app and lift.

Already using Hevy or Strong? Import your full workout history in seconds.

Ready for recovery insights? Upgrade to smolLifts Pro for $59.99/year — less than Fitbod, and with features no other tracker offers.