GainsLog vs Strong: Which to Pick and Where Strong Wins

It depends on whether you want to choose the next weight yourself. Pick Strong if you're on Android, already run a program you like, want to pay less, or want to mix kilograms and pounds. Pick GainsLog if you're on iPhone and want each session's weight and reps set from what you logged. Its free version does that, and Strong describes nothing that does. Both free versions save three routines. As of October 2026, Strong PRO is $4.99 a month or from $23.99 a year, and GainsLog Premium is $39.99 a year.

I build GainsLog. Before that I tried Strong, RepCount, StrengthLog and RP Hypertrophy App, and I built GainsLog because I wanted the programs and the progression in the same app as the log. Strong's facts below come from its App Store listing, help center and website, checked on 8 and 9 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.

Strong's limits come from its help center and 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.

Strong is a log for the program you bring. You add your own routines, which Strong calls templates, and start a workout from one or from an empty workout (Strong). Its listing says it's optimized for a progressive barbell routine such as Starting Strength or StrongLifts 5x5 (App Store). Strong's help pages describe no program generator and nothing that picks the next weight for you.

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). In Strong, you choose the next weight yourself.

If you already know what to do each session, Strong is enough, and PRO costs less than Premium. Neither app describes a social feed. Hevy's comparison page calls Strong "a personal logbook with no social features" (Hevy), and GainsLog lets you share a workout summary or your split as an image.

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. In Strong, the split and the set counts are yours to decide.

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.

Strong's free version saves unlimited workouts and three routines, and its listing says you can add your own exercises (App Store). Its help center says the charts tab needs PRO, on a page last updated in 2021 (Strong).

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, 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 your own program has up to three different workouts and you won't pay, both free versions cover it. Strong's adds your own exercises. GainsLog's adds next-session targets.

Strong's US listing states $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year for Strong PRO, and $99.99 for Strong PRO Forever. It also shows $23.99 a year, $19.99 for six months, $79.99 Forever and a $3.99 product with no period named (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).

Strong's listing doesn't say which product the app will offer you, so check the price in the app before you pay. A year of GainsLog Premium at $39.99 costs $10 to $16 more than Strong PRO's yearly products. GainsLog has no monthly plan for new buyers, and four weeks at $5.99 cost $23.96 against Strong's $4.99 a month.

• Android. Strong runs on iPhone, iPad, Android and Apple Watch (App Store). GainsLog runs on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch (App Store), and its Android app is in closed beta.
• Price. Strong PRO has a $4.99 monthly plan, its yearly products cost $23.99 to $29.99 against GainsLog's $39.99, and its lifetime purchase starts at $79.99, the same as GainsLog's (App Store, checked 22 October 2026).
• The Apple Watch app. Strong's listing says its watch app logs workouts with or without your iPhone (App Store). GainsLog's watch app, added in version 1.13.0, is described as a companion for active workouts (App Store). You start the workout on the iPhone and continue it on the watch, which can save sets while disconnected and syncs with the iPhone later. You can't start a workout on the watch.
• A longer feature list on the App Store. Strong lists set tags for warm-up, failure and drop sets, supersets, a rest timer, warm-up and plate calculators, body measurements with Apple Health, progress photos and exercise videos (App Store). I haven't compared these one by one with GainsLog.
• A longer record. Strong has been on the App Store since 2011 and had 108,529 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).
• Mixed units and CSV export. Strong's listing says it supports pounds, kilograms or a combination of both (App Store). GainsLog has one setting for the whole app, kilograms or pounds. Strong exports your workouts as a CSV file (Strong), which Hevy can import (Hevy). GainsLog has no import or export, so switching to it from Strong means starting a fresh log.

• Pick Strong if you're on Android, already run a program you like, want to pay less, or want to mix kilograms and pounds. If three routines cover your program, you may not need to pay at all.
• Pick GainsLog if you're on iPhone and want next-session targets without paying. Its free version also saves three workouts. 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 Hevy is on your list too, see GainsLog vs Hevy 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 Strong's and GainsLog's App Store listings, Strong'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
• Strong on the US App Store: prices, free version, features, units, ratings
• Strong help: templates
• Strong help: exercise detail and charts
• Strong help: exporting workout data
• Hevy help: importing Strong data
• Hevy's own Hevy vs Strong page