Workout builder apps for personal trainers.
Five compared.

01 / The short answer

Which app suits which coach?

All five offer a free trial: 30 days for Trainerize and My PT Hub, and 14 days for TrueCoach, Kahunas and TrainHeroic. All except Kahunas say no card is needed to start; Kahunas takes your card at sign-up and charges nothing until the trial ends.

02 / How to choose

Five questions that narrow the list

1. How many clients will you coach in a year? The apps price in different ways: by client (Trainerize, TrueCoach, TrainHeroic), per client at a rate that falls as you grow (Kahunas) or with unlimited clients at one price (My PT Hub). The cheapest app at five clients isn’t the cheapest at fifty.
2. Do you coach nutrition as well as training? If you want to build meal plans in the app, Kahunas and My PT Hub include them and Trainerize charges extra. TrueCoach suggests uploading meal plans as files, and TrainHeroic isn’t designed for nutrition.
3. One-to-one or groups? TrainHeroic is built around teams. The others handle groups too, but their focus is the individual client.
4. Do you need your own app? Options range from your logo on the company’s app to a listing under your name in the app stores. Prices are in each app’s section below.
5. Will clients pay you through the app? Fees differ: TrueCoach takes 5% of each payment, Kahunas takes no commission, and TrainHeroic leaves billing personal clients to you.

03 / Cost

What each app costs at your client numbers

The cheapest plan that covers 5, 20 and 50 clients, billed monthly. In brackets is the monthly cost with annual billing, where the company offers it.

A few things the table can’t show:

• Trainerize at 20 clients needs its 30-client plan, because the tier below covers 15.
• Meal plans on Trainerize come with its Advanced Nutrition Coaching add-on: $20 a month on plans up to 15 clients, $45 above that. With it, the three figures become $45, $124 and $180.
• Kahunas bills the next tier up when that costs the same or less, so anywhere from 13 to 24 clients costs the same as 25: $62.50 a month.
• My PT Hub’s Starter plan covers only three clients, so Premium is the price from four upwards. The bracketed figure is its annual plan, paid monthly.
• TrainHeroic has no annual billing below 1,000 athletes.

The app is one of the business costs that sets your minimum price. Our guide to how much to charge for nutrition coaching shows where it fits.

04 / The apps

The five apps in detail

Trainerize

ABC Trainerize prices by the number of clients you coach. There’s a permanent free plan for one client, Grow at $10 a month for two, and Pro from $25 a month for five, rising to $135 for 50. Annual billing takes about 10% off.

• Nutrition: paid plans include client meal and macro tracking, nutrition goals and a MyFitnessPal connection. Meal plans, a library of more than 2,400 recipes and shopping lists come with the Advanced Nutrition Coaching add-on.
• Sharing resources: attach a PDF to a client’s Meal Plan tab (up to 20MB), send PDFs and documents in messages (up to 10MB), or post them to a group.
• Branded app: a one-time $169 on Pro adds your logo and colours to the Trainerize app. A fully white-labelled app, listed under your name in the app stores, comes with the Studio plan.
• Payments: through your own Stripe account, with a $10-a-month add-on. Stripe’s fees depend on your country.

Suits: coaches who want training and nutrition tracking in one app, including those starting with one or two clients.

TrueCoach

TrueCoach has three tiers, priced by active clients: Starter at $29.98 a month for up to 5, Standard at $69.98 for up to 20 and Pro at $164.98 for up to 50. Above 50, it quotes on request. Extra coaches cost nothing, and archived clients don’t count towards your total.

• Nutrition: set calorie and macro goals on any plan and connect MyFitnessPal. Logging food and habits in the app itself needs Standard or above. There’s no meal-plan builder; TrueCoach suggests uploading meal plans as files.
• Sharing resources: files uploaded to your library, including PDFs, spreadsheets and documents, are visible to all your clients. To send something to one client, attach it to a direct message.
• Branded app: on Standard and Pro, at no extra cost: your logo, your colours and your own TrueCoach web address.
• Payments: built in for coaches based in the US, UK, Australia and Canada, at a flat 5% per transaction, plus $15 for each chargeback.

Suits: one-to-one coaches who programme training and track macros through MyFitnessPal, and small teams of coaches.

Kahunas

Kahunas charges per seat, where a seat is an active client or a team member: $5 a month each from 3 to 24 seats, $2.50 from 25 and $2 from 50, falling further beyond 100. Paying yearly takes 20% off. When a larger tier costs the same or less, Kahunas bills that instead, so 20 clients cost $62.50 a month, the price of 25. Existing customers can keep their earlier plans. More features unlock as you add seats: recipes and automations from 25, team members from 50.

• Nutrition: meal plans, macro targets, food logging and a barcode scanner are included in every plan; the recipe library starts at 25 seats. There’s no MyFitnessPal connection, because clients log food in the Kahunas app.
• Sharing resources: the Content Library, in every plan, takes videos, audio and documents, including PDFs, up to 500MB each.
• Branded app: included from 200 seats. Clients install it from your own link rather than from the app stores.
• Payments: through Stripe and PayPal on every plan, with no commission from Kahunas.

Suits: coaches who want meal plans and food logging included at any client number, and who expect to grow, since the price per client falls as numbers rise.

My PT Hub

My PT Hub’s Starter plan costs $25 a month for three clients. Premium is $59 a month for unlimited clients, or $52 a month on its annual plan, paid monthly. Ultimate, at $215, includes every add-on and five extra trainers.

• Nutrition: custom meal plans and recipes, calorie and macro targets, and food logging with a barcode scanner are included as standard. Clients can sync MyFitnessPal.
• Sharing resources: upload files to your account and assign them to individual clients, or attach PDFs and links in chat.
• Branded app: a one-time $95 puts your logo on the app icon, although the name beneath it still reads My PT Hub. A white-label app with your own store listing costs $145 a month.
• Payments: through Stripe. My PT Hub charges an application fee on each transaction; the rate is agreed in writing rather than published.

Suits: coaches past three clients who want one price however many they take on, with meal plans and group classes included.

TrainHeroic

TrainHeroic prices by athlete count, billed monthly: $17.99 for up to 5, $44.99 for up to 25 and $74.99 for up to 50, with tiers continuing to 1,000. Assistant coaches cost $9.99 a month each.

• Built for teams: one calendar delivers programming to a whole team, with team messaging and leaderboards. Team subscriptions can be sold through its marketplace.
• Nutrition: TrainHeroic says it isn’t designed to track nutrition. Athletes who pay for its Athlete Pro subscription on an iPhone can share calories and macros from apps such as MyFitnessPal through Apple Health.
• Sharing resources: there are no file attachments. Share a link instead, for example to a Google Doc, in a session or a message.
• Branded app: not available; clients see the TrainHeroic logo.
• Payments: you bill personal clients outside the app. Marketplace sales cost $1 a month per subscription, or 30% on sales TrainHeroic finds for you, plus card fees of 2.9% + $0.30.

Suits: strength and conditioning coaches, and anyone programming for teams or groups.

05 / Head-to-heads

The comparisons coaches search for

Trainerize vs Kahunas

Both cost $25 a month at five clients, but Kahunas’s price per client falls as you grow: at 20 clients it’s $62.50 against Trainerize’s $79, and at 50 it’s $100 against $135. Kahunas includes meal plans and food logging in every plan; Trainerize charges $20 to $45 a month for meal plans. Trainerize connects to MyFitnessPal and has a free plan; Kahunas has neither. For branding, Trainerize’s one-time $169 adds your logo and colours to its app on Pro, while Kahunas includes a branded app, installed from your own link, from 200 seats.

Trainerize vs Everfit

Both have a free way in: Trainerize is free for one client, and Everfit for up to five, with no time limit. On paid plans, Everfit’s Pro costs less at each client number in the table above: from $19 a month for 5 clients, $49 for 20 and $95 for 50, against Trainerize’s $25, $79 and $135. Annual billing saves 16% on Everfit and about 10% on Trainerize.

Everfit’s Pro plan includes a food journal, macro tracking and basic meal plans, and its meal plans and recipe books add-on starts at $39 a month; Trainerize’s meal plans come with its $20-to-$45 add-on. Both connect to MyFitnessPal. Everfit puts your logo and colours on its app on Pro at no extra cost, where Trainerize charges $169 once. Taking payments costs $9 a month on Everfit plus card fees from 3.15% + $0.30, or $10 a month on Trainerize through your own Stripe account. Everfit offers a 30-day trial with no card needed.

Trainerize vs TrainHeroic

TrainHeroic is cheaper than Trainerize at every client number in the table above, and it’s built for programming teams. It has no nutrition tools, no branded app and no file attachments. Trainerize covers training and nutrition for individual clients and lets you share PDFs in several places.

TrueCoach vs Trainerize

TrueCoach has three simple tiers, extra coaches at no cost and branding included from its Standard plan. Trainerize is cheaper at 5 and 50 clients; TrueCoach is cheaper at 20. Both connect to MyFitnessPal, and neither builds meal plans without help: Trainerize sells an add-on for them, and TrueCoach suggests uploading them as files. TrueCoach’s built-in payments cost 5% per transaction; Trainerize uses your own Stripe account for a $10 monthly add-on.

06 / The content

What the app won’t do

Each of these apps delivers programmes, check-ins and messages. None of them writes the recipes, guides or welcome pack your clients read. That still has to come from you, and most of it ends up as a PDF.

A resource is worth making once and reusing. A branded welcome guide, a recipe book or a handout on a question clients keep asking can go into whichever app you use, and moves with you if you change. Our guides cover what a welcome pack should contain, choosing and introducing handouts and using ready-made white-label resources.

07 / Alternatives

Also worth a look

• Everfit has a free plan for up to five clients, and paid plans from $19 a month. See how it compares with Trainerize above.
• PT Distinction includes a set number of clients in each plan: Basic at $19.90 a month for 3, plus $6 for each extra client; Pro at $59.90 for 25; and Master at $89.90 for 50. Every plan has meal planning, recipes, calorie and macro tracking and a two-way MyFitnessPal sync, and branding is included on Pro and Master. There’s a one-month free trial; its sign-up page asks for card details.
• Exercise.com describes itself as software for gyms and fitness businesses, and invites you to book a demo. It suits a business with staff and premises more than a solo online coach.
• No app yet. If you coach nutrition only, with a handful of clients, well-designed forms and one organised place for each client’s notes may be enough to start. Our guide to nutrition coaching forms covers what to collect, and the onboarding guide covers the process.

08 / Questions

Questions trainers ask

Which app is cheapest for a new trainer?

Trainerize is free for one client and $10 a month for two, and Everfit is free for up to five. Among the five apps compared here, TrainHeroic is the cheapest paid plan at five clients ($17.99), followed by Trainerize and Kahunas at $25.

Can I use MyFitnessPal with these apps?

Trainerize (on paid plans), TrueCoach and My PT Hub connect to it, as do Everfit and PT Distinction. Kahunas doesn’t; clients log food in its own app instead. TrainHeroic only shows MyFitnessPal data if the athlete pays for its Athlete Pro subscription and uses an iPhone.

Do I need a branded app?

No app here requires one. The cheapest options put your logo and colours on the company’s app: TrueCoach includes it from its Standard plan, Everfit and PT Distinction from Pro, while Trainerize charges $169 once and My PT Hub $95 once. Kahunas includes a branded app, installed from your own link, from 200 seats. A listing under your own name in the app stores costs more: My PT Hub’s $145-a-month white-label app, Trainerize’s Studio plan or Everfit’s Enterprise plan. TrainHeroic doesn’t offer branding.