Most “best app for beginners” lists rank apps by feature count. That is exactly backwards. A beginner does not fail because their app had too few exercises. A beginner fails because on week three they open the app, see a screen asking them to choose something, and close it.
So the ranking below is built on a different test: how much does this app ask of you before you can start training? We make one of the six, and we have marked clearly where the others are the better answer.
The short answer
If you have a gym membership and no idea what to do in there, AGUNA asks the least of you — it opens to a finished session with weights already suggested and an illustration for every movement. Fitbod is the better choice if you want to actively learn the machines and build a mental model of training. Nike Training Club is the best free start, especially at home. Strong is only right if a coach has already written you a programme.
The four things a beginner actually needs
- Somebody to choose the exercises. Programme design is a skill. You should not have to acquire it before your first session.
- A starting weight. “3 sets of 10” is useless without a number. Guessing too heavy hurts; guessing too light teaches you nothing.
- A picture of the movement. Every beginner has stood in front of a machine trying to work out which way round to sit. A diagram on your phone solves it in four seconds.
- A rule for next week. Progress comes from doing slightly more over time. If the app does not tell you what “slightly more” is, you will do the same thing for six months.
An app that does all four of those is doing the job. Everything else — charts, streaks, badges — is decoration.
Side by side
| App | Best for | Do you need to know the exercises? | Coaching format | What it costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGUNA | Complete beginners who want zero decisions | No — every movement is illustrated | On-screen plan with voice guidance | $6.99/wk or $69.99/yrFirst full workout free. No trial period. |
| Fitbod | Beginners who want to learn the machines | Helps — video demos for each lift | Auto-generated session | Subscription£14.99/month or £99.99/year on the UK App Store, Aug 2026 |
| Nike Training Club | Beginners training at home or in a studio | No — a trainer talks you through it | Video classes | Free |
| Ladder | Beginners who want a named coach | Some — you follow a written block | Coach programme + team chat | Paid subscription |
| Freeletics | Beginners with no gym access | No — bodyweight first | Adaptive bodyweight coach | Free tier, paid Coach |
| Strong | Beginners already given a programme | Yes — you supply the plan | Logging only | Free tier, paid Strong Pro |
Pricing models are as listed on the App Store in August 2026. Exact subscription prices vary by country and change without notice — check the App Store listing before you buy. AGUNA’s own price is $6.99 a week or $69.99 a year, and your first full workout is free. There is no free trial period.
The apps in detail
AGUNA
You answer a short set of questions once — goal, days per week, equipment, region for meals — and from then on the app opens to a finished workout. Sets, reps and a suggested weight are already there. Each exercise is illustrated on screen. The rest timer starts itself when you finish a set, so you are never standing there wondering whether ninety seconds is enough.
The progression rule is handled for you: log what you lifted and next week AGUNA hands you the next target, either the same weight for an extra rep or a small increase. It also builds the day’s meals around your calorie and protein targets in the food you actually eat — fourteen regional kitchens including American, British, Australian, European, Indian and Caribbean.
Honest limitations: iPhone and iPad only, no Android. It is a young app with a smaller exercise library than Fitbod, and it is deliberately opinionated — if you want to design your own split, it will feel restrictive.
Fitbod
Fitbod generates a session based on which muscles you have trained recently, and it explains itself as it goes — you can see why a movement was chosen and what it targets. For a beginner who wants to end up knowing their way around a gym rather than just following instructions, that transparency is worth a lot. Its equipment filter is excellent: tell it what your gym has and it stops suggesting things you cannot use.
It costs more than most apps here, and it will not plan your food.
Nike Training Club
Free, and not stripped down. Hundreds of guided classes with a trainer talking you through every rep, plus structured multi-week plans and mobility work. If you have not decided whether the gym is for you yet, start here before you pay anyone anything — several weeks of consistent bodyweight and dumbbell work at home is a perfectly respectable beginning.
What it will not do is track your lifts and tell you what to add next week. At some point, if you want to get stronger, you will outgrow it.
Ladder
Real coaches write the programmes, and you train alongside a team following the same block. If you have already learned about yourself that you only stick to things other people can see, this is the model that works. It is the most expensive approach in this list and the least private.
Freeletics
Freeletics started as bodyweight-only and that is still its strength: it will get you training in a bedroom with no equipment, and it adapts the plan based on how the last session felt. A good bridge if you are not ready to walk into a gym, or if a membership is not in the budget this month.
Strong
Strong is a beautifully made logbook. It is not a coach and does not pretend to be. If a trainer has handed you a twelve-week programme on paper, Strong is the nicest place to record it. If you are looking at it hoping it will tell you what to do, it will not.
How to start, whichever app you choose
Two or three sessions a week, full body, for the first two months. Not five. The beginner who trains twice a week for a year beats the beginner who trains six times a week for three weeks, every single time, and it is not close.
Pick weights you could stop two or three reps short of failure on. Write down what you lifted — or let the app do it — because next week’s decision depends entirely on this week’s number. And go at a quiet hour for the first month if you possibly can: most gyms are near-empty mid-morning and mid-afternoon on weekdays, which removes about half the difficulty of being new. If walking in is the part you dread, we wrote about that separately on our gym anxiety page.
Frequently asked
What is the best workout app for a complete beginner?
Is there a good free workout app for beginners?
How many days a week should a beginner train?
Do beginners need an app at all?
Does AGUNA tell me what weight to lift?
Does AGUNA have a free trial?
We make AGUNA. The descriptions of the other apps are structural — what they are designed to do — not judgements of quality.
Start without knowing anything.
AGUNA gives you the exercises, the sets, the weight and the picture — then tells you what to add next week. Your first full workout is free.
