Trim down or bulk up, run faster, or bike farther—however you work out, these top-rated workout apps help you keep your commitment to physical fitness.
ByJill Duffy
Jill Duffy
Columnist and Deputy Managing Editor, Software
My Experience
I've been contributing to PCMag since 2011 and am currently the deputy managing editor for the software team. My column, Get Organized, has been running on PCMag since 2012. It gives advice on how to manage all the devices, apps, digital photos, email, and other technology that can make you feel like you're going to have a panic attack.
Read Full Bio
&Gabriela Vatu
Gabriela Vatu
Contributor
My Experience
I have been a writer since 2006 when I covered various domains for localpublications. In 2012, I startedcovering technology broadly and I've written thousands of articles since then.I've written social media and cybersecurity news, software and hardware reviews, streaming guides, how-tos, tech deals, and more. I have bylines in numerous publications, including MakeUseOf, Pocket-Lint, Android Police, How to Geek, XDA, Softpedia, as well as here at PCMag. When I'm not working, I like to spend time with my family, read, game, paint, listen to music, and run around after our many pets asking what it is they're chewing on this time.
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UpdatedMarch 26, 2024
Table of Contents
Working out on your own can be a struggle, or it can be a blast if you find an activity that excites you and motivates you to get up and move.
Here's the good news about workout apps: App stores are saturated with them, which means there's something for everyone at a range of prices. Whether you like to lift weights, join a HIIT class, or get guidance while training for a marathon, you're sure to find something. We've tested and put together a list of the best workout apps across a wide range of activities, so there's bound to be something right for you.
Our Top Tested Picks
Best for Guidance and Instruction Jump ToDetails Best for Screenless Workouts Jump ToDetails Best for Family Sharing Jump ToDetails Best for Free Calisthenics and Pilates Workouts Jump ToDetails Best for Tough Workouts Jump ToDetails Best for Free Yoga Videos Jump ToDetails Best for Finding Workouts by Time, Intensity, or Style Jump ToDetails Jump ToDetails Best for Long-Term Exercise Commitment Jump ToDetails Best for Energetic Instructors Jump ToDetails Best for Building Muscle Jump ToDetails Best for Tracking Runs and Bike Rides Jump ToDetails Best for Flexibility Training Jump ToDetails 
8fit
Aaptiv
Apple Fitness+
Blogilates
Centr, by Chris Hemsworth
Find What Feels Good
FitOn: Fitness Workout Plans
Nike Training Club
Peloton: Fitness & Workouts
Shred: Home & Gym Workout
Strava
StretchIt
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
- RELATED:
- Best Fitness Trackers
- Best Strength Training Equipment
- Best Exercise Bikes
Best for Guidance and Instruction
8fit
8fit brings together on-demand workouts and meal planning. It's one of the best workout apps for people who like a lot of guidance and instruction. The app creates a personalized program for your diet and exercise based on whatever goal you set. You tell 8fit what your fitness goal is, and then you work out to videos in the app, log what you eat, and create meal plans using recipes and shopping lists.
The free version gives you access to only some workouts, which require you to look at and tap the screen often. That's not great. You can also track your weight and activities with the free app. The Pro version is better and unlocks personalized meals, shopping lists, calorie logging, instructions on what foods you should exclude from your diet, weekly classes you can join, and additional workouts. The monthly rate is high, so don't sign up for it—but six-month and annual plans are priced competitively. The list prices for the Pro plan are $79 per year, $39 per three months, or $24.99 per month.
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Best for Screenless Workouts
Aaptiv
Aaptiv specializes in audio-based workouts led by trainers, meaning you don't have to keep your eyes or fingers on a screen to exercise. A trainer tells you what to do with music in the background. You can choose from one of the music styles the app offers or connect to your Spotify account. The app suggests workouts that will suit you based on the information you provide, such as what type of exercise you like (stretching, strength training, yoga, indoor cycling, outdoor running, stair climbing, and other activities) and what styles of music you prefer. Take advantage of the seven-day free trial via the web app, though it requires a credit card. List prices are $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year, though good discounts were in effect the last time we checked prices.
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Best for Family Sharing
Apple Fitness+
4.0 Excellent
- Well-designed, intuitive interface
- Integrates with Apple Watch for automatic workout tracking
- Good class selection, with options for beginners and advanced users
- Diverse trainer team
- Quality music playlists
- Requires an Apple Watch and iPhone
- Classes only stream to Apple devices
- No live classes, leaderboards, or partner features
Inside the Fitness app by Apple is Fitness+, a membership with all kinds of video workouts. You can do yoga, HIIT cardio, kickboxing, dancing, or more restorative wellness classes such as meditation. The app also lets you create custom plans based on your preferred days to work out, class duration, trainers, music, and more. A free one-month trial is available, after which it costs a reasonable $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. If you use Apple's Family Sharing, up to five family members can also use the membership at no additional cost. If you purchase an iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or Apple TV, Apple Fitness+ comes free for three months.
iOS, AppleTV
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Learn More
Apple Fitness+ Review
Best for Free Calisthenics and Pilates Workouts
Blogilates
Blogilates—officially called Body by Blogilates in the Apple App Store and Google Play—is one of the best free workout apps, hands down. There is a paid tier of service, but it's more nice-to-have than need-to-have. We really like that you can access the workouts without even creating an account, which is good for your privacy. Blogilates contains video workouts with the ever-peppy Cassey Ho, who sweats and suffers alongside you through her tough routines. The workouts lean toward pilates moves and calisthenics, though you can also find exercises that mix in weights and some cardio. You can sign up for challenges and try to complete a series of workouts over several days, find healthy recipes, and more, all for free.
While free content is abundant—and Blogilates is by far one of the best free workout apps you'll find—you can pay a subscription if you love the app and want to get a little more out of it. A Workout Pass ($3.99 per month or $39.99 per year) gives you access to the Workout Calendar, as well as all challenges and programs. An All-Access Pass ($6.99 per month or $69.99 per year) lets you set goals, keep a daily journal about your progress, track your water intake, and keep a visual meal tracker.
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Best for Tough Workouts
Centr, by Chris Hemsworth
Actor Chris Hemsworth, known for playing the swole hammer-wielding god Thor, brings you this all-in-one fitness app for planning your training, doing workouts, and eating healthy. You can use it to build muscle, lose weight, or just generally get fit. You tell the app which of these goals you're interested in during the signup process.
Some workouts are coached, meaning you play a complete video of a trainer who does the workout with you. Others are self-guided, meaning you get a timer and a sample video of each exercise instead. You can get a free seven-day trial of this app, though a credit card is required to access it. The prices are all over the place. The list prices change constantly, and the annual subscription is always on sale. Typically, the monthly plan ($29.99) is too expensive, so don't sign up for it. The quarterly and annual rates ($60 per quarter, $120 per year) are good, and you may even find discounts for them.
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Best for Free Yoga Videos
Find What Feels Good
If you've ever searched for a yoga video on YouTube, chances are you've run into Yoga with Adriene. This same Adriene (Mishler) sells a subscription to all her yoga videos and other content under the brand Find What Feels Good, or FWFG. It's available on iOS, Android, and the web. The FWFG library has exclusive videos, premium courses, and vlogs from Adriene, plus all the videos from Yoga with Adriene (Mischler's other website) ad-free. Mischler has brought on new instructors, too, who offer pilates and other classes via recorded video in a style that's similar to her yoga workouts. The app and website have yoga classes for kids, too, if you want to get your young ones involved. Subscribers get access to new content as it's added. The subscription cost went up slightly in 2021 but has held steady since then at a reasonable $12.99 per month or $129.99 per year with a seven-day free trial that requires a credit or debit card number to get.
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Best for Finding Workouts by Time, Intensity, or Style
FitOn: Fitness Workout Plans
Another one of the best workout apps is FitOn. This app has video-based workouts on demand led by trainers, and a good amount of the workouts are free. You can find exercise routines based on how much time you have, the level of intensity that you want, or the type of workout you prefer, including yoga, butt and thighs, abs, stretching, and so forth. If you wear a connected heart rate monitor while working out, you can see your heart rate on the screen as you move. There's also a leaderboard where you can compete with other members or a group of friends.
You get a lot for free with FitOn, including all the video workouts. If you want a little more, however, such as personalized meal plans and the ability to connect to Fitbit or Garmin, you can pay for a Pro account—but don't pay the advertised rate ($79.99 for six months or $99.99 for a year). Keep an eye out for discounts, which can bring the price down significantly.
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Best for Tracking Weight Training
Jefit
Jefit is a workout app designed for people who want to log and track their strength training, such as how much weight you lift, how many reps you do, and so on. This app doesn't limit you to weight training, as you can design and track other kinds of workouts, but it's most popularly used for lifting. The app comes with routines you can do and a bank of exercises you can explore and add to a workout plan. You can search for exercises based on which muscle groups they target. The app also lets you track your body measurements. Jefit comes with a calendar for keeping track of your workouts, planning workout days and rest days, and a training schedule that tells you briefly what's up next in the coming days.
You can get a lot from the free version of this app, which is ad-supported. An Elite membership removes the ads and unlocks advanced features, such as video-based exercise instructions, charts, and goal settings. In the years that we've been reviewing Jefit, the price has nearly quadrupled, but it's still not very high for the annual membership ($69.99 per year or $12.99 per month).
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Best for Long-Term Exercise Commitment
Nike Training Club
When a pandemic was declared for COVID-19, Nike vowed to make its Nike Training Club workout app free to everyone, at least for the time being. Almost four years later, the app is still totally free and has a wide variety of workout videos, from short yoga sessions designed to loosen and relax your body to 15-minute fun activities for kids and adults to do together. You also have access to healthy recipes and tips on nutrition and exercise.
The workouts come in the form of videos, usually with a trainer who talks to you while doing the activity alongside you, and sometimes videos showing a trainer doing the exercises with a voiceover, giving tips, and counting down the time. While some of Nike's on-demand workout videos are short, they can also go the distance, with routines up to 60 minutes. If you want more structure in your routine, there are programs you can join that include multiple weekly workouts, usually split into several stages. As extra motivation, you can work toward hitting the various achievements set out in the app.
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Best for Energetic Instructors
Peloton: Fitness & Workouts
While the name Peloton may be synonymous with expensive stationary bicycles, the company does offer a reasonably priced fitness class subscription service to anyone, with or without home equipment. The app has a ton of classes, from yoga to cardio to bodyweight strength and so on. Classes and instructors have the high energy and intensity Peloton is known for. Even if you pick a quick 10-minute yoga class, expect some upbeat music and someone yelling at you through a headset mic. You can do live classes or workouts on demand with recorded videos. The app supports outdoor activities, too. Android device owners should beware that users have reported problems tracking outdoor activities, connecting to Bluetooth devices, and casting to Chromecast. There are two subscription options to choose from. You can also sync with Apple Health if you want.
The Peloton App One costs $12.99 per month and features access to all sorts of training methods, as well as three cardio equipment classes per month (indoor cycling, running, walking, or rowing), or Peloton App+ which comes with no limit on those cardio equipment classes and costs $24 per month.
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Best for Building Muscle
Shred: Home & Gym Workout
Shred is an app that creates workouts for you to do with some basic equipment you might have at home or in a gym. The workouts are based on your goals, such as whether you want to drop a lot of weight, build muscle, or just stay healthy by adding some cardio to your routine. Whatever the case, Shred sets you up with a complete program so you know what to do and which days to do it. You can also generate a workout based on what part of the body you want to exercise, what equipment you have, and how much time you want to spend. Sometimes, you get full videos with a trainer working out alongside you, and other times, you get sample videos of each exercise or move and the ability to record your rep counts. You can try a few workouts for free and get a free seven-day trial, but after that, it's $99.99 per year with no monthly payment option.
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Best for Tracking Runs and Bike Rides
Strava
Strava is a fitness-tracking app that offers access to over 30 types of sports, making it perfect for anyone who loves to run, cycle, hike, swim, rock climb, snowboard, or even golf. If you’re looking for some competition, you’re in the right place. With Strava, you compete against yourself or others who have run, biked, or swum the same segments you have. The app uses the GPS from your phone or a connected device, such as a running watch or fitness tracker, to map where you go and how fast you go. Then, it analyzes your data (and everyone else's) to see where you overlapped to compute a segment leaderboard. If you're into Strava, be sure to read all the details about the app's options for keeping your personal information private. The free app has plenty to get you started, but if you want advanced features, you'll want to pony up for the paid membership, which costs $59.99 per year. New members (and sometimes lapsed returning members) get a 30-day free trial.
Best for Flexibility Training
StretchIt
Don't be misled by your assumptions about stretching—StretchIt has some tough sessions that work your full body and might even leave you sweating. What I like most about this app is that it has a series that you sign up to complete, such as the Middle Splits Challenge, and each day, when you open the app, you know exactly what you're supposed to do. StretchIt has routines for specific body parts, too, for people who need to work on their back or hip flexibility, for example. A monthly membership is high at $19.99, but the $159.99 per year membership works out to be a much better deal. I highly recommend taking advantage of the seven-day free trial first, plus trying out all the free sessions on the website.
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Buying Guide: The Best Workout Apps for 2024
How Much Should You Pay for a Workout App Membership?
The real prices for fitness app subscriptions are often less than they first appear, so don't get stuck paying too much. If an app offers you a free trial, take it and cancel the subscription before the trial ends. Doing so can sometimes trigger a discounted rate. Be patient, and never pay the highest list price you see. A deal will come, often during the "Are you sure you want to cancel?" phase of a company trying to keep you on as a customer.
App makers would love for you to believe that the best discounts happen between November and January, but it's just not true. Deals crop up all year round, and some sales never seem to end.
The prices you see above are list prices—not necessarily what you'll pay. In our opinion, $20 per month is too high for a workout app subscription. A good rate is $10–$13 per month. Even $15 per month is on the high side, though it could be worth it if you love the app and it provides services, classes, or extras above and beyond the norm.
As with many online subscriptions, you're almost guaranteed to get a better rate if you pay for a year upfront. However, we don't recommend doing that until you've completed a free trial and paid for a one-month membership first. The reason? Sometimes, you get all the best content up front, and the rest of the catalog is duds. You'll know after around five weeks if an app seems built to last for you.
After comparing more than 70 workout and fitness apps on the market, we ruled out several that are very good but cost twice as much as most others. If you've heard about a trendy app and it's not here, there's a good chance it simply costs too much to be considered one of the best. You can do better with a little extra shopping around.
The Best Apps for Smart Gym Equipment
If you're interested in more than just apps, including at-home workout equipment that includes on-demand classes, take a look at our ultimate fitness tech guide. Just keep in mind that smart exercise equipment often costs a lot upfront and requires an additional subscription fee for classes, which can also be quite steep. For example, the Peloton Bike+ will set you back at least $2,495 for the bike itself, plus $44 per month for an all-access pass. Yowzers. Because at-home equipment is so different from a standalone workout app, we didn't include any here, but the stories linked above can help you find some great equipment.
In addition to finding you the best workout app for your needs and preferences, we'd love to steer you toward other wellness services that could be of help, including apps for weight loss, great meditation apps, and online therapy apps.
Recommended by Our Editors
The Ultimate Guide to Health and Fitness Tech for 2024
Break a Sweat: 7 Streaming Services With On-Demand Workouts
Peloton Too Pricey? Recreate the Experience Without an Official Bike
Protect Your Privacy and Security When Using Workout Apps
Remember that some apps can be malicious, even fitness apps, and you always have to think about your privacy and safety before downloading. While we've tested all the apps included in this list and feel confident in their safety, there are so many fitness apps out there that it's easy for a malicious one to hide among the good ones. Be careful what you download and what information you give to any app. Also, before you start working out, make sure you check the privacy settings on your chosen app. Some apps will share your running routes online, for instance, something that can quickly turn into a nightmare for you if that data were to fall into the wrong hands.
If an app opens an in-app browser and asks you to submit information there, think twice—and if you follow the advice of PCMag's security analyst Kim Key, don't enter anything there at all. Those in-app browsers can collect data on everything you do. Open your own browser to the website you need, or even reconsider whether the app is worth using at all.
As always, taking a few simple steps to protect your data is better than dealing with being a victim of an online crime afterward.
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I've been contributing to PCMag since 2011 and am currently the deputy managing editor for the software team. My column, Get Organized, has been running on PCMag since 2012. It gives advice on how to manage all the devices, apps, digital photos, email, and other technology that can make you feel like you're going to have a panic attack.
My latest book is The Everything Guide to Remote Work, which goes into great detail about a subject that I've been covering as a writer and participating in personally since well before the COVID-19 pandemic.
I specialize in apps for productivity and collaboration, including project management software. I also test and analyze online learning services, particularly for learning languages.
Prior to working for PCMag, I was the managing editor of Game Developer magazine. I've also worked at the Association for Computing Machinery, The Examiner newspaper in San Francisco, and The American Institute of Physics. I was once profiled in an article in Vogue India alongside Marie Kondo.
Follow me on Mastodon.
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About Gabriela Vatu
Contributor
I have been a writer since 2006 when I covered various domains for localpublications. In 2012, I startedcovering technology broadly and I've written thousands of articles since then.I've written social media and cybersecurity news, software and hardware reviews, streaming guides, how-tos, tech deals, and more. I have bylines in numerous publications, including MakeUseOf, Pocket-Lint, Android Police, How to Geek, XDA, Softpedia, as well as here at PCMag. When I'm not working, I like to spend time with my family, read, game, paint, listen to music, and run around after our many pets asking what it is they're chewing on this time.
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