The best workout tracker with no subscription is Kountrain, because it has no subscription at all. Logging, daily goals, streaks, stats, 56 achievements, and CSV export are free forever. FitNotes is also fully free but Android only. Strong and Hevy have good free tiers, yet both cap them and sell a monthly plan. Here is the honest ranking.
The real problem: freemium, not free
Search for a workout tracker and you will find dozens of apps that call themselves free. Most of them are freemium. You can log a few workouts, then a wall goes up. Create a fourth routine, and a paywall appears. Look at last year’s data, and it is locked behind Pro. The app was never free. It was a trial with no end date.
This is fine for some apps. Recurring software costs money to run. But logging that you did 20 push-ups is not a service that needs a monthly fee. You are typing a number into a database on your own phone. When an app charges you every month for that, you are paying rent on your own data.
So this roundup ranks trackers for one specific job: logging your workouts without a subscription hanging over you. That means looking past the word “free” on the store listing and checking what the free tier actually caps, and whether there is a way to pay once instead of forever.
Comparison at a glance
| App | Subscription required | Free-tier caps | Pay-once option | Platforms | Best for | Offline / no account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kountrain | None | Full app free; custom exercises are the only paid feature | Yes, one-time Premium unlock | iOS, Android | Bodyweight rep logging, streaks, progress | Yes, fully offline, no account |
| FitNotes | None | None, fully free | Not needed, it is all free | Android only | A free gym log for Android users | Yes, local with backup/restore |
| Strong | For unlimited routines | 3 custom routines on free | No, subscription only | iOS, Android | Barbell and gym strength logging | Account-based |
| Hevy | For unlimited routines | 4 routines, 7 custom exercises, ~3 months history | Yes, lifetime purchase | iOS, Android | Gym lifting with a social feed | Account-based |
1. Kountrain: no subscription, ever
Kountrain leads this list for a simple reason. It has no subscription. Not a hidden one, not a trial that converts, none. The entire app is free: logging six built-in bodyweight exercises (push-ups, squats, planks, pull-ups, lunges, and burpees), daily rep goals, streak tracking, progress charts for the week, month, and year, 56 achievements, and CSV export. No account, no ads, no monthly fee.
There is exactly one thing you can pay for. If you outgrow the six built-in exercises, Kountrain Premium unlocks custom exercises, each with its own name, color, icon, rep or second target, and achievements. It is a one-time purchase, paid once and yours forever. There is no subscription version of Premium. If the six built-ins are enough, you never pay anything.
Kountrain is fully offline. Your workout data lives in a local database on your device and is never sent anywhere. It works on a plane, in a basement, in a park with no signal. It runs on both iOS and Android.
The honest limit: Kountrain is built for bodyweight and calisthenics rep logging, not barbell programming. It counts reps and seconds, builds streaks, and shows progress. It does not manage gym routines, warm-up sets, or plate math. If your training is bodyweight reps and you want a simple counter that respects your money, nothing here beats it. If you lift heavy in a gym, read on.
Kountrain is best for people who want to log bodyweight reps, build a streak, and watch progress accumulate, without a subscription and without complexity. See why counting reps matters for the reasoning behind the approach, and how to gamify your home workout for how streaks and achievements keep you consistent.
2. FitNotes: genuinely free, Android only
FitNotes is the other tracker here with no subscription and no ads. It is completely free to use, and it is a real gym log, not a stripped-down one. You get an exercise library organized by muscle group, custom exercises, workout notes, volume analysis, bodyweight tracking, CSV export, and full backup and restore.
For an Android user who trains in a gym and refuses to pay a subscription, FitNotes is excellent. It has earned a loyal following precisely because it never nickels and dimes anyone. Nothing is locked. There is no Pro tier waiting to appear.
The honest limit is platform. FitNotes is Android only. There is no iOS version, so iPhone and iPad users are out. The interface is also functional rather than polished, which is a fair trade for a free, no-subscription tool that just works.
FitNotes is best for Android gym-goers who want a free, no-subscription strength log and do not care about a social feed or a modern coat of paint.
3. Strong: excellent gym logger, but Pro is a subscription
Strong is one of the best barbell and strength-training loggers ever made, and this is where the field gets fair. Its free tier is genuinely usable. You get unlimited workout logs and history, stats, cloud backup, Apple Watch support, and no ads. Many lifters use Strong for free for years and never feel boxed in.
The catch is routines. The free version limits you to 3 custom routines or templates. To create unlimited routines, plus advanced graphs, a plate calculator, and a warm-up calculator, you need Strong Pro. That costs 4.99 dollars per month or 29.99 dollars per year. It is a subscription, which is the one thing this roundup is trying to help you avoid.
The honest credit: if 3 routines is enough for how you train, Strong free is a superb, subscription-free experience in practice. Plenty of lifters never hit the wall. Strong runs on both iOS and Android.
Strong is best for barbell lifters who program a few routines and want a clean, powerful logger. If you can live within 3 routines, you may never pay a cent.
4. Hevy: polished and social, with a lifetime option
Hevy is a polished gym and weightlifting tracker with a social side, a feed where you can follow friends and see their workouts. The logging is smooth and the app is well designed. Its free tier is ad-free and covers the basics of workout logging.
The free limits are tighter than Strong’s. Hevy free caps you at 4 routines, 7 custom exercises, and roughly the last 3 months of history. To unlock unlimited routines, unlimited custom exercises, and full graph history, you upgrade to Hevy Pro. Here is the useful part for anyone allergic to subscriptions: Hevy sells Pro at 2.99 dollars per month, 23.99 dollars per year, or 74.99 dollars for lifetime access. The lifetime option is the only pay-once path among the two big gym apps here, which matters if you want to buy your way out of a recurring fee permanently.
The honest credit: Hevy is a strong choice for gym lifters who like a social feed and want a modern, well-built tracker, and the lifetime purchase is a genuine no-subscription route if you are willing to pay up front. It runs on both iOS and Android.
Hevy is best for gym lifters who want polish and a social layer, and who either fit inside the free caps or are happy to buy the lifetime unlock.
How to choose
Match the app to how you actually train.
If you train with bodyweight exercises and want to log reps, build streaks, and see progress with zero subscription, choose Kountrain. It is the only app here with no recurring fee on any feature, and the one optional purchase is paid once.
If you train in a gym on Android and want a fully free log with nothing locked, choose FitNotes. It asks for nothing.
If you lift barbells and program routines, look at Strong and Hevy first. Their free tiers are good, and if you stay within the routine limits, you may never pay. If you know you will outgrow the caps and hate subscriptions, Hevy’s lifetime purchase is the cleanest pay-once option among the gym apps.
The point is not that subscriptions are always wrong. The point is that logging your own workouts is simple enough that you should not have to rent access to it. Pick the tracker that fits your training and lets you keep your money.
Get started
If you want to start logging bodyweight reps today with no account, no ads, and no subscription, Kountrain is free on iOS and Android. For the full list of what it tracks and how, see the bodyweight exercises full-body guide. And if exercise has never stuck for you before, start with how to start working out when you hate exercise.
