Buyer's guide
The best workout trackers for serious lifters (2026)
Most of these guides crown a winner. The honest version asks a different question: what are you switching away from, and why didn't it stick? After enough logged workouts, the tracker that wins is the one where your history actually changes what you do today, not the one with the cleanest archive.
You already log. You already think about progression, already notice when a lift stalls, already compare today's session against the last one in your head. So the real question for a tracker is not whether it can store a workout. They all can. The question is whether, after a few hundred sessions, the app does anything with what it has collected.
That is the dimension most reviews skip, so it is the one we weight most. We graded five trackers on seven things that matter to an experienced lifter who already has a system, and we scored Platepusher honestly alongside them, including where it is behind.
How we scored
One rubric, applied to every app, weighted toward the lifter who already has years invested somewhere else. Seven dimensions, 0 (the app does not do this) to 5 (this is what it is built around).
| Dimension | What a 5 looks like |
|---|---|
| History to today | Your accumulated log informs the session in front of you, not just an archive you scroll. |
| Logging speed | Fast enough to log mid-set without it getting in the way of the set. |
| Progression insight | Surfaces e1RM, volume trends, and stalls instead of leaving you to do the math. |
| Bring your history | Imports your existing log from another app so years of training move with you. |
| Data ownership | You can export everything, freely, and your data lives somewhere you control. |
| No noise | No leaderboards, no social feed, no fake coach, no streak theater. |
| Platform reach | Cross-platform, a Watch app, and a long track record. |
Two honesty notes. First, an app scoring low here can still be a good app for a different lifter; the rubric is tuned to the experienced switcher, not to beginners. Second, we score the structural reality, not the marketing. Strong is genuinely the fastest to log in, and we score it a 5 there even though it does little with what you log.
The coverage grid. Five trackers scored 0 to 5 across the seven dimensions. The color does not pool in one app. Strong owns speed and reach; Hevy owns platform; the left side of the grid, where your history becomes useful, is where the category is thin.
The composite ranking, and why it is honest
Sum the seven dimensions and you get a score out of 35. It is not a quality trophy; it measures how much of the experienced-switcher job an app carries.
Composite coverage out of 35. Platepusher leads because it is built for this exact job, but read the grid before reading that as a clean win: it scores just 2 on platform reach, because it is new and iOS-only against trackers with years and millions of users. Hevy and Strong are close behind, and each clearly beats Platepusher on maturity and, for Strong, raw logging speed.
The field, app by app
One real strength and one honest gap for each.
Platepusher From $4.99/mo, $99.99 lifetime
Strength: built around the one thing the rest of the category treats as an afterthought, turning your accumulated history into something that informs today's session, with restrained, observational analytics and no social feed or fake coaching. It imports your Strong and Hevy history so you bring your training life with you. Gap: it is new and iOS-only, without the track record, Android app, or community of the incumbents. If your only requirement is the fastest possible mid-set logging, Strong still has an edge.
Hevy
Strength: the modern all-rounder, cheaper than Strong on every tier, with a real web app, Apple Watch and Wear OS, clean graphs, and a working Strong CSV importer. Gap: it logs RPE but does nothing with it, the deeper progression analysis is left to you, and it leans on a social feed (follow, like, comment) that the heads-down lifter did not ask for. Platepusher vs Hevy.
Strong
Strength: the category default for a reason. It is the fastest, cleanest app to log a set in, with a plate calculator, 1RM, RPE, and a minimal interface that stays out of your way. Gap: it largely stops at storage. Progress charts sit behind Pro, it does little with your history, and it has no importer at all, so its CSV export is a one-way door out. Platepusher vs Strong.
Jefit
Strength: the largest exercise database in the category, with a big library of community programs and a long history across every platform. Gap: the interface is dated and cluttered next to Strong and Hevy, the free tier runs ads, and the analytics are broad rather than deep. Platepusher vs Jefit.
Fitbod
Strength: if you want an AI to decide your workout for you, Fitbod's generated sessions and recovery model do that, and the polish is real. Gap: it is an AI workout generator, built to write your training, not to respect the program you already run. Its own users say that if you have your own programming, you are better off with a tracker that logs what you bring. It is also the most expensive of the set, with no lifetime option. Platepusher vs Fitbod.
The part nobody mentions: leaving
Here is the fact that decides more of these switches than any feature: you are not starting from zero. You have years in Strong, or a thousand workouts in Hevy, or a spreadsheet, or a coach's PDFs. The cost of switching is not learning a new app. It is whether your history comes with you.
The one-way door
Strong exports a full CSV but cannot import one back, so leaving Strong is a one-way move. Hevy and Platepusher both accept a Strong CSV import. Platepusher treats that import as the point, not a convenience: your years of training are the experiment you have already run on yourself, and the app is built so you do not have to re-zero it.
Pricing and your data
Prices are App Store snapshots from June 2026; some tiers run promos, so treat these as the shape of each model. "Lifetime" means a one-time purchase.
| Tracker | Model | Price (June 2026) | Export | Imports your history? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platepusher | Monthly / yearly / lifetime | From $4.99/mo, $29.99/yr, $99.99 once | CSV, always free | Yes (Strong + Hevy) |
| Hevy | Freemium + sub, lifetime | From $2.99/mo, $23.99/yr, $74.99 once | CSV, free | Yes (Strong CSV) |
| Strong | Freemium + Pro, lifetime | From $4.99/mo, $29.99/yr, $99.99 once | CSV (one-way out) | No importer |
| Jefit | Freemium + Elite, no lifetime | $12.99/mo (yearly heavily promo'd) | Clunky backup file | No native import |
| Fitbod | Freemium + sub, no lifetime | $15.99/mo, $95.99/yr | CSV, free | No native import |
How to pick by your situation
Skip the ranking. Find the line that sounds like you.
"I have years of data and nothing useful comes out of it." This is the gap the whole category leaves. You want a tracker built around making your history inform today's session. That is Platepusher's entire reason for existing; Hevy's graphs are the next-closest thing.
"Strong hasn't evolved and I want out, but not to lose my log." Strong has no importer, so you leave by exporting a CSV. Both Hevy and Platepusher import that CSV; Platepusher is built around making the imported history useful, not just stored.
"I just want the fastest possible mid-set logging." Strong is still the cleanest, fastest app to log in, and for that one job it is hard to beat. The trade is that it does little with what you log.
"I want an app to write my workout for me." Fitbod is an AI generator that does exactly that, with a recovery model on top. If you run your own program, though, the AI fights you; log what you bring instead.
"I'm on Android and want the most app for the least money." Hevy is cheaper than Strong on every tier, cross-platform, and mature. Platepusher is iOS-only today, so for Android this is the practical pick.
Built for the lifter who already has a system.
Platepusher imports your Strong and Hevy history and is built around one idea: your training history should actually improve today's session. No leaderboards, no fake coach, no streak theater. Monthly, yearly, or $99.99 once. CSV export always free.
Get Platepusher