Guide

Hevy Alternative: What Replaces It When the Free Limits Bite

2026-10-26 · By Sahil Shriwardhankar · PennyLume

This page is for one specific situation: you already log workouts in Hevy or Strong, and something about it stopped working — the routine cap, the history window, the sign-up wall, the subscription. For the wider "which tracker should I pick from scratch" question we have a separate comparison of seven workout trackers; here we only cover replacing the two big names.

Full disclosure: we make one of the alternatives below, Kyulift. Two of the others are better picks than ours for many people, and we say which.

What Hevy and Strong actually limit for free

Both publish it. These are from the vendors' own help pages, checked 26 October 2026:

Hevy free tier: a limit of 4 routines, 7 custom exercises, and 3 months of data history. Hevy Pro lifts all three (Hevy Help Centre).
Strong free tier: unlimited workouts logged, but 3 custom routines (App Store listing). Strong's support pages stress you are never locked out of the free version entirely (Strong PRO).

Prices, US store listings on the same date: Hevy Pro $2.99 monthly, $23.99 yearly, $74.99 lifetime. Strong Pro $4.99 monthly, $29.99 yearly, $99.99 one-time "Forever". Strong publishes no prices on its own website, so those come from the store listing and vary by region.

The history window is the one people miss until it matters. Three months of logs is not much once you have been training a year, and a gym log is worth exactly as much as its oldest entries.

What you give up by leaving Hevy

Be honest with yourself about this list before switching, because the alternatives are weaker on most of it:

Cross-device sync. Hevy syncs phone, web and watch. Local-first logs keep everything on one handset.
The community layer. Following training partners and seeing their sessions is Hevy's real product; nothing else here has it at the same scale.
Watch and web apps. Hevy has Apple Watch, Wear OS and a desktop view. Strong has Apple Watch. FitNotes and Kyulift have neither.
Exercise library size. Thousands of entries with demos versus a few hundred you may have to extend yourself.

If those four matter more to you than the caps, pay for Hevy Pro. That is a legitimate answer and not a failure.

The alternatives, by what you are actually running from

"I don't want to sign up for anything"

FitNotes (Android) — free, no account, no ads, data stays local, CSV export. The catch is maintenance: the last store update was May 2023 and the source is no longer published on the author's GitHub. It works; nobody is working on it.

Kyulift (Android 8.0+) — no sign-up, and the app has no internet permission at all, per its privacy policy, so nothing can be uploaded. Logging, ranks, charts and the planner are free; Pro is an optional one-time unlock. Actively developed, one developer.

Strong is the counter-example: its account page says all users are prompted to sign up before using the app.

"I want my full history, not three months"

FitNotes and Kyulift both keep everything locally with no time window, because there is no server to charge you for storage. wger keeps full history too, but it is server-based — you use the free hosted instance or run your own.

"I want offline that actually works"

Hevy and Strong both log offline and sync when you reconnect, which is fine for a basement gym. If you mean never leaves the device, that is FitNotes or Kyulift. wger is built around syncing to a server, so its offline behaviour is partial.

"I want open source"

wger (AGPL-3.0, active in 2026) is the only serious option: web, Android and iOS clients, an API, a free hosted server, and a licence that means nobody can take it away. It is a fitness manager — training, measurements, nutrition — so it is heavier than a quick set logger, and you register on an instance, which is the opposite of no-account.

"I want something like Strong but cheaper"

Strong's own free tier is not bad for logging; the paywall is on templates and charts. If 3 routines is the wall, Hevy gives you 4 free and Kyulift puts unlimited routines behind its one-time Pro — so check each paid option rather than assuming the cheaper app has more. FitNotes and wger cost nothing entirely.

Moving your data out

Do this before you delete the old app:

Export CSV from Hevy — Settings → Export & Import Data (guide). Its free/paid status is not stated in the article.
Export CSV from Strong (guide) — note Strong warns its exports cannot be re-imported into Strong, so keep the file regardless.
Import into the new app. Kyulift imports CSV from Hevy, Strong and FitNotes. wger has an API and community scripts. FitNotes imports its own format.
Check units and bodyweight rows after any move. No importer is perfect, and a kg/lb mix-up will quietly ruin six months of charts.

Expect to lose the things that were never in the CSV: photos, social history, custom exercise demos, watch data.

Kyulift, since we are one of the answers

What it does well: opens on last session's weight and reps, fills in the next target automatically and says why, ranks five main lifts F to S against our published strength standards dataset (open CSV and JSON, CC BY 4.0), and never asks for an account or sends anything anywhere. It imports the Hevy and Strong exports above.

Where it loses: Android only — no iOS, no web, no watch app. No community, no cross-device sync, no cloud backup from us (you back up to your own files or Google account). Closed source. It is a solo project with a very small install base, so there is no support queue and no roadmap committee. Pro is a one-time unlock covering Rank Coach, the Climb timeline, advanced stats, unlimited routines and extra colours; the Play listing shows in-app purchases at $2.99–$4.99 per item.

Pick it if the no-account, no-subscription, on-your-phone combination is the thing you care about, and you are on Android. Pick FitNotes if you want the same and do not care about development. Pick Hevy if the community and multi-device sync matter more than the caps.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free offline alternative to Hevy?

Yes. FitNotes is free with no account, stores data locally and exports CSV, but has not been updated since May 2023. Kyulift is free for logging, has no internet permission, and is actively developed for Android. wger is free and open source but syncs to a server you host or share.

What is the best app like Hevy without a subscription?

Hevy's own free tier is capped at 4 routines, 7 custom exercises and 3 months of history. FitNotes has no paid tier at all. Kyulift's logging, ranks, charts and planner are free with an optional one-time Pro rather than a subscription. wger is free software funded by donations.

Is Hevy losing my workout history after 3 months?

On the free plan, the published limit is 3 months of data history — the older entries are not visible in the app's history view. Hevy Pro extends it to all time. If you want to avoid the issue entirely, export CSV regularly or use a local-first logger that keeps everything on the device.

Which gym log needs no account?

FitNotes and Kyulift both work with no sign-up. Strong explicitly prompts every user to create an account before use, Hevy is registration-based, and wger requires registering on a server.

What is a good Strong app alternative on Android?

If the 3-routine limit is the problem, compare the paid options directly: Hevy allows 4 free routines and gates the rest behind a subscription, while Kyulift puts unlimited routines behind a one-time Pro unlock. If the mandatory sign-up is the problem, FitNotes is free with no account. If you want open source, wger is the real option.

Can I move my Hevy data to another app?

Export CSV from Hevy first (Settings → Export & Import Data), then import it. Kyulift imports CSV from Hevy, Strong and FitNotes; wger has an API and community import scripts. Photos, social data and custom exercise demos do not travel. Check units after importing.

Sources

Hevy Help Centre. Hevy Pro Subscription — How to get Pro and What Does It Include? Checked 2026-10-26. help.hevyapp.com
Hevy Help Centre. Exporting Your Data from Hevy. Checked 2026-10-26. help.hevyapp.com
Hevy on the App Store (in-app purchase prices). Checked 2026-10-26. apps.apple.com
Strong. Strong Account. Checked 2026-10-26. help.strongapp.io
Strong. Strong PRO. Checked 2026-10-26. help.strongapp.io
Strong. Export workout data. Checked 2026-10-26. help.strongapp.io
Strong on the App Store (free routine limit, in-app purchase prices). Checked 2026-10-26. apps.apple.com
FitNotes on Google Play (package com.github.jamesgay.fitnotes); last store update May 2023. Checked 2026-10-26. play.google.com
wger project repository (AGPL-3.0, active releases). Checked 2026-10-26. github.com/wger-project/wger
Kyulift privacy policy (no analytics or trackers, no internet permission, CSV import from Hevy, Strong and FitNotes). Checked 2026-10-26. /kyulift/privacy
Kyulift on Google Play (in-app purchase range, what Pro unlocks). Checked 2026-10-26. play.google.com

Consumer information, not a professional endorsement or medical advice. Competitor limits and prices change; everything above was verified on the date shown.