Hevy vs Strong: which should you pick in 2026?

The two best strength loggers on the App Store, compared honestly — and the one thing neither of them does.

Updated July 2026

The short answer: pick Hevy if you want a social feed, apps on every platform, and the most generous free experience; pick Strong if you want a mature, minimal logger that stays out of your way. Hevy gives you iOS, Android, web, Apple Watch and Wear OS, a community feed that genuinely keeps people showing up, and a free tier that never expires. Strong is the quieter veteran: unlimited free logging, a clean interface refined over many years, and zero social anything. Both sit at roughly 4.9 stars across tens of thousands of ratings — for pure logging, you won't go wrong either way. The honest catch is what they have in common: both are loggers. You bring the program, you decide the weights, and the app writes down what you did. If that's the part you wanted help with, neither is the answer — more on that below.

Hevy vs Strong at a glance

What Hevy does better

Hevy is the modern pick, and it earned the spot. The logging screen is the fastest in the category, and it runs everywhere — native iOS and Android, a full web app, and standalone Apple Watch and Wear OS apps that sync sets back to your phone live. The social feed is the real differentiator: follow friends, post workouts, browse community routines. If accountability is what keeps you training, that feed is worth more than any feature list. The 400+ exercise library ships with video and animated demos, and the free tier — capped but permanent — hands you more than most paid apps do. In February 2026 Hevy also added Hevy Trainer to Pro, which builds a plan from onboarding questions and auto-progresses the weights, closing part of the programming gap — though it doesn't explain per-set why a number changed.

What Strong does better

Strong is the app your gym's strongest regular has been quietly using for years. It's older than Hevy, and the maturity shows: the interface is minimal to the point of invisible — open, log, done — with none of the feed, likes, or community noise. Its free tier is the opposite trade from Hevy's: unlimited workout logging and full history forever, capped at 3 routines (which happens to be exactly what a 5×5 or upper/lower program needs), with some conveniences reserved for Strong PRO. It holds a 4.9-star rating across roughly 108,000 US ratings — the largest verdict pile of any strength logger on the App Store. If you already know exactly what you're doing and want the app equivalent of a paper notebook that does math, Strong is that app.

What neither does: run your progression

Full disclosure: LiftRing is our app. We'd send you to Hevy or Strong without blinking if logging is all you need — but there's a gap both leave open, and it's the reason this page exists.

Open either app on day one and you face the same two questions: which program? and what weight? Hevy and Strong record your answers beautifully; they don't supply them. (Hevy Trainer is the partial exception — it auto-progresses a plan it generates, behind Pro.) LiftRing starts from the other end: it ships 15 built-in programs — Full Body 5×5, Barbell Strength 3×5, Linear Progression AMRAP, push/pull/legs, PHUL and more — and each one embeds its own progression: linear progression, double progression, or 5/3/1-style AMRAP. With no history at all it computes your starting weights, then plans your next weights every session and pre-fills them with a one-line reason, like "+10 lb — you hit all your reps." A 220+ exercise catalog, a warmup ramp calculator, and a rest timer that lives in the Dynamic Island round it out. No account, optional iCloud sync, and an App Store privacy label that reads "No data collected."

Two honest disclosures. First, LiftRing isn't the only app that adjusts weights for you — Fitbod, Dr. Muscle, and Jefit do it too, each with a different philosophy; LiftRing's bet is fixed, proven programs with the reasoning shown next to the number. Second, the pricing model is plain: your first 3 workouts are free with everything unlocked, then LiftRing Pro is required — $4.99/month with a 7-day free trial, $44.99/year, or $99.99 one-time lifetime, billed by Apple. iPhone-only, iOS 18+.

Fit guidance, honestly: if a social feed or Android matters to you, Hevy is the better pick. If you want unlimited free logging, Strong is. If you're on iPhone and want the program picked, the weights computed, and every jump explained — that's us.

Frequently asked questions

Keep comparing

Want the deeper one-on-one breakdowns? Read the Hevy alternative and Strong alternative pages, see the guide to workout apps that pick your weights, or start from the full workout app comparison hub. Curious what LiftRing's programs actually run? Start with StrongLifts-style 5×5 or push/pull/legs.