What Is the Best Free Alternative to Strong App?

Strong's free tier is genuinely usable — logging, rest timers, and basic charts all work without paying. The wall shows up specifically at custom routines: cap of 3, permanently, unless you subscribe to Strong PRO ($4.99/mo, $29.99/yr, or $99.99 lifetime).

Why Stay Fit is the closest match

Stay Fit runs the same fundamental workflow Strong does — guided workout sessions, live sets/reps/weight logging, per-exercise rest timers, and a custom routine builder — with no routine limit at any tier. It also includes a few things Strong reserves for PRO or doesn't offer at all: a workout streak with rest-day handling, muscle-balance insights, body measurements, progress photos, and goal tracking. The trade: Stay Fit is Android-only, with no Apple Watch companion app the way Strong has.

Other solid options, depending on what you actually want

FitNotes trades the subscription model for ads instead, with every feature unlocked from install and a long track record on Android.

Iron Log builds its entire workflow around progressive overload — your previous session's numbers appear as "ghost sets" you confirm or beat, which is close to Strong's pre-fill behavior but without a routine cap anywhere.

Plates, if what you liked about Strong was specifically its minimalism, matches that directly with no calorie tracking or social layer to distract from logging.

What doesn't carry over automatically

Strong exports your history as a CSV from Settings, but none of the alternatives above offer a one-tap import from that file yet — plan on referencing it manually while you rebuild routines elsewhere. It's a one-time cost, not an ongoing one.

Apple Watch is the other gap: if you log sets from your wrist without touching your phone, Strong's watch integration remains more mature than anything in the free-and-offline category today, Stay Fit included.