GainsLog vs Hevy: Which to Pick and Where Hevy Wins

It depends on your phone and what you want from the app. Pick Hevy if you're on Android, want to log on the web or a Wear OS watch, want a social feed, or want four routines and seven custom exercises without paying. Hevy also fits if you already run a program and only need a log. Pick GainsLog if you're on iPhone and want each session's weight and reps set from your log. GainsLog's free version does that. Hevy keeps it for Trainer on Pro. As of October 2026, Hevy Pro is $23.99 a year and GainsLog Premium $39.99.

I build GainsLog, and I haven't used Hevy, so every Hevy fact below comes from Hevy's App Store listing, help center and website, checked on 8 October 2026. GainsLog's prices, platforms and version history come from its App Store listing, checked on 9 October 2026, and what its free version includes comes from the app's code.

GainsLog is listed on the App Store as "GainsLog: Workout Log". It isn't the same app as Gains (gains.la), a different iPhone tracker.

Hevy's limits come from its help center and its prices from the US App Store listing. GainsLog's prices come from its US listing and the Premium page. Where a listing shows several products for a period, the table gives the lowest and highest.

Hevy is a log you program yourself. You build routines, start a workout from one, and Hevy shows what you lifted last time in a Previous column (Hevy). Hevy Trainer, on Pro, builds the program for you instead. It asks about your goal, experience, equipment, schedule and a muscle to focus on, then tells you when to increase the weight and by how much (Hevy).

GainsLog starts from the next target. Its free version sets each session's weight and rep targets from the weight, reps and reps in reserve (RIR) you logged, for every exercise (Premium). Premium adds ready-made programs and a program builder that rates the program you put together, and the exercise list prioritizes machines and movements that build an aesthetic physique (App Store). Hevy's Trainer article says its suggestions are "based on the user's performance" and doesn't say which numbers it uses.

So on next-session targets, GainsLog's free version does what Hevy keeps for Trainer on Pro. Without Trainer, Hevy records the program you bring.

GainsLog rates a program by the sets it gives each muscle in a week. For back, shoulders and quads, where the defaults for men and women match, the range is 5 to 12 weekly sets, and a muscle you mark as a priority gets 10 to 15. Other muscles have their own ranges, and some differ between men and women. The volume calculator on this site shows all of them, using the same numbers as the app. Hevy's Trainer article lists the questions Trainer asks but not how many sets it gives each muscle (Hevy). Hevy Pro does count your sets per muscle group as a stat (Hevy).

GainsLog's substitution rule is published on this site's exercise alternatives pages, which use the app's exercise data. A substitute has to train the target muscle through the same main joint movement, and one of the same type, compound or isolation, comes first.

Hevy's free version saves 4 routines and 7 custom exercises and shows 3 months of stats. Trainer and the warm-up calculator need Pro (Hevy). Hevy's comparison page says the free version logs unlimited workouts (Hevy).

GainsLog's free version logs unlimited workouts and sets each session's weight, rep and RIR targets for every exercise from your own history. It saves up to three workouts, one fewer than Hevy, gives you one smart workout suggestion a week, and keeps your training totals visible on the progress screen. Premium adds the programs, the program builder, unlimited saved workouts and suggestions, the Momentum trend and muscle drill-downs, records and the estimated-1RM trend, and workout media (Premium). Custom exercises, added in version 1.3.3, are Premium too (App Store).

If you won't pay, pick on what you need for free. Hevy saves four routines and seven custom exercises and shows three months of stats. GainsLog saves three workouts and sets your next targets.

On the US App Store, Hevy Pro is $2.99 or $3.99 a month, $23.99 a year, or $74.99 once for lifetime access (App Store). GainsLog Premium is $5.99 a week with a free trial, or $39.99 a year (Premium). Its listing also shows a $29.99 yearly offer that the app shows only to some people, and two older products, $14.99 a month and $49.99 a year, kept for existing subscribers (App Store).

Check the price in the app before you pay. A year of Hevy Pro at $23.99 costs $16 less than a year of GainsLog Premium at $39.99. GainsLog has no monthly plan for new buyers, and four weeks at $5.99 cost $23.96. Hevy's price includes Trainer.

What Hevy Pro adds, and what you keep if you stop paying, is in the Hevy app review.

• More devices. Hevy runs on iOS, Android, Apple Watch, Wear OS and the web (Hevy). GainsLog runs on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch (App Store). Its Android app is in closed beta, and there's no web app.
• A social feed. Hevy lets you follow friends and copy their routines (App Store). GainsLog's listing and this site describe no feed. You can share a workout summary or your split as an image.
• More on the free version for routines and exercises: four routines against GainsLog's three saved workouts, and seven custom exercises, which GainsLog keeps for Premium. Both apps sell a lifetime purchase: Hevy at $74.99, GainsLog at $79.99 (App Store, checked 22 October 2026).
• A longer record. Hevy has been on the App Store since 2019 and had 96,784 US ratings averaging 4.9 on 9 October 2026 (App Store). GainsLog came out in November 2025 and had 3, averaging 4.3 (App Store).
• Switching from Strong. Hevy imports your history from a Strong export file (Hevy). GainsLog has no import or export, so switching to it means starting a fresh log.

• Pick Hevy if you're on Android, want a web or Wear OS app, want a feed, or want four routines and custom exercises without paying. Pick it too if you already run a program you like and only need somewhere to log it.
• Pick GainsLog if you're on iPhone and want next-session targets without paying. Pay for Premium if you want to be handed a program for muscle growth and $5.99 a week or $39.99 a year is acceptable.
• If you're choosing between Hevy Pro with Trainer and GainsLog Premium, Hevy is cheaper and runs on more devices. GainsLog shows the set ranges it rates a program against, and its targets use RIR.
• If Strong is on your list too, see GainsLog vs Strong and Hevy vs Strong.

If you'd rather follow a program than write one, and have each session's weight and reps set from your last, see how GainsLog works.

Researched and drafted with AI assistance from Hevy's and GainsLog's App Store listings, Hevy's help center and website, and GainsLog's own pages and code, then checked against those pages on 8 and 9 October 2026 and reviewed by me. Prices change, so the pages used are listed below.

• GainsLog on the US App Store: prices, platforms, features, version history, ratings
• Hevy on the US App Store: prices, feed, ratings
• Hevy help: what Hevy Pro includes
• Hevy help: Hevy Trainer
• Hevy help: previous workout values
• Hevy help: importing Strong data
• Hevy website: platforms
• Hevy's own Hevy vs Strong page: unlimited free logging