Our verdictfitvee is the best no-equipment workout app for real training
Pushing is easy at home. You have a floor. Pulling is where training with nothing gets hard, and so is the week ten push-ups stop being work. Solve those two and you have a real program, which is how fitvee’s calisthenics plan wins this list.
Our picks at a glance
- Best for real training with nothing
fitvee
A clock that tightens every week, in about 15 minutes a day.
- Best for sessions up to 50 minutes
Freeletics
Its AI Coach builds them, on bodyweight or optional equipment.
- Best free option
Nike Training Club
Equipment-free workouts, if you’ll steer your own training.
- Best if weights are coming
Fitbod
It builds workouts from what you own.
- Best for classes
Peloton App
An instructor to follow, with no equipment needed.
Day 12 is Doorframe pull: hold both sides of a solid doorframe, lean back, drag your chest in. Day 5 does the same job with a towel around a firm post. Push-ups climb from the wall to the floor, then keep going: slow, wide, close, pike. About 15 minutes a day, and nothing to buy.
It trains the whole body with what’s already in your home.
Push, pull, legs and core, from a chair, a towel, a doorframe and a stair.
It has somewhere to go.
46 moves sit on eight ladders, each with its own level for you, and one “Too easy” moves all of them up a step.
It starts from your numbers.
The quiz asks “How many push-ups can you do in a row?” and means it. Your answer sets the first rung.
How it scored
- Workouts
- 5/5
- Progress and motivation
- 5/5
- Personalisation
- 5/5
- Food tools
- 4/5
- Value
- 4/5
- Coaching
- 4/5
You pay $36.99 for the first 12 weeks, then $94.85 every 12 weeks (fitvee pricing).
On this page
Our verdictOur picks at a glanceHome workout apps that need no equipmentWhat fitvee's calisthenics plan is likeWhy you'll keep coming backThe other appsWhy pay for training on your own floor?Our recommendationQuestionsHow we compareSourcesHome workout apps that need no equipment, scored
“No equipment” is a slippery phrase. Freeletics says “bodyweight or optional equipment”. BetterMe says no equipment for many workouts. fitvee gives you the list: a mat or folded towel, a sturdy chair against a wall, a kitchen counter, a towel, a solid doorframe, a bottom stair, and a post or railing that can’t move. You own most of that already. No pull-up bar, no bands, no bench.
Every score below is out of 5, with its reasons beside it. How the scoring works.
Workouts: is it real training?
Real training at home means pushing and pulling, a clock that gets tougher, and more ways to make a move harder than doing more of it.
| App | Score | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 5/5 | Push, pull, leg, circuit and mobility days, 25 follow-along sessions a round, main blocks run on work and rest slots, and a free card for every move. Bodyweight has a ceiling, so if pure top-end strength is the goal, a barbell will beat it |
| Freeletics | 4/5 | Bodyweight HIIT or calisthenics-style workouts from an AI Coach. They run 15 to 50 minutes, great with an hour free and awkward in a lunch break |
| Nike Training Club | 4/5 | “Equipment-free workouts that build muscle”, and it’s free (App Store) |
| Muscle Booster | 4/5 | Strength training, HIIT, core and bodyweight calisthenics in one app (App Store) |
| MadMuscles | 4/5 | Calisthenics and military workouts, with tai chi or chair yoga for slower days (App Store) |
| Fitbod | 4/5 | Strength workouts built from your level and your gear, with a home setting for no equipment (App Store) |
Personalisation: does it read your numbers?
fitvee’s quiz changes more on this plan than on any other it sells.
| App | Score | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 5/5 | Push-up and squat answers shift those ladders, your goal rewrites four days a round, your length and zones add finishers, and each check-in moves the next session |
| Fitbod | 4/5 | Plans from your level that adapt when you edit them |
| Freeletics | 4/5 | An AI Coach that fits each workout to your fitness level, by its own account |
Progress and motivation: can you see the work?
| App | Score | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 5/5 | Can-do numbers for push-ups, squats and a plank, a session count and rings, four badges and a three-day weekly rhythm. The plant on fitvee’s other plans doesn’t appear on this one |
| BetterMe | 4/5 | iPhone charts for weight, steps and sleep, but no progress page in its web app |
Food tools: fuel for the work
Training on nothing still needs feeding, and protein is the number to watch.
| App | Score | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 4/5 | Barcode scan, search, portions and a goal from your quiz, with protein, carbs and fat for each day. There’s no per-kilo protein target, so you set the split yourself, and you get one day of meals to try, not a meal plan |
| BetterMe | 4/5 | Calorie tracker and 20+ meal plans (BetterMe help). Barcode scans need iOS (BetterMe help) |
| MadMuscles | 3/5 | Personalised meal plans, which the store lists as paid items of their own |
Coaching: who changes the session
| App | Score | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 4/5 | Vin, included. It can drop today a level, call a rest day, shift your level and read your food log. It can’t cut this plan’s minutes, because there’s no end stretch to drop |
| Freeletics | 4/5 | An AI Coach that says it adjusts “in real time based on your feedback” |
| BetterMe | 3/5 | A person on chat at any hour, with real 1-on-1 coaching sold as an extra |
Value: what you pay to skip the gym
Nike Training Club is the honest competition here: $0 and real workouts. fitvee is for when you want the thinking done too.
| App | Score | What it rests on | A month at renewal |
|---|---|---|---|
| fitvee | 4/5 | Your plan, Vin, the calorie counter, trackers and Library, all in one price. Its add-ons, Premium Workouts among them, are separate subscriptions named in the terms. Other apps’ yearly plans cost less | $34.25 to $42.20, by plan |
| Nike Training Club | 4/5 | Free, with nothing for sale in the app’s listing, and food comes as guidance (Nike help) | $0 |
| Fitbod | 4/5 | One Elite plan, with a 7-day trial (Fitbod help) | $15.99; $8.00 yearly |
| Peloton App | 4/5 | Start free, or try its paid memberships for 30 days (App Store) | App One $15.99; App+ $28.99, or $24.08 paid yearly |
| FitOn | 3/5 | No-cost workouts, but programs and meal plans sit behind PRO (FitOn help) | Workouts $0 |
What fitvee’s calisthenics plan is like
The training
Every workout has the same spine: three warm-up moves, a main block, three cool-down moves. The main block runs two rounds against the clock. Week 1 reads “about 6 reps in a 50 s slot, 30 s rest”. By week 4 the slot is 65 seconds and the rest is 15. The plan gets harder even on days the moves don’t. Each round has 25 follow-along sessions and 3 rest-and-stretch days across its 28 days, and standing work comes first so you get down to the floor once.
The sessions change shape as you go.
- Week 1, Form first. Knee push-ups, knee planks and rows with a towel.
- Week 2, Longer work, shorter rest. Full push-ups, with the knee version still there as the easier option. The chair moves aside for squats, and the doorframe comes in.
- Week 3, A step harder. Wide and pike brings two new push-up shapes and a plank where you tap your shoulders. Slow squat takes 3 counts on the way down.
- Week 4, Put it together. Slow and close push-ups, step-ups on a stair and a hip hinge called a good morning.
Between them come circuits, which are step jacks and squats back to back and then mountain climbers on the floor, and a Floor mobility day each week to move your back, hips and legs through an easy range. A step jack is “a jumping jack with no jump”. That’s the rule everywhere: no session has a jump or a hop. “Keep your feet quiet.”
Take the doorframe row. Struggling? “Move your feet a little farther back so you stand more upright and lean less.” Too easy? “Lower for 3 counts, or lean back a little further, one small step at a time.” You change the leverage, because you can’t change the weight. Inside a session each move has How and Easier tabs, and one cue is said once on rep days: “Stop before your form slips.”
Does bodyweight count? Yes. The 2026 ACSM position stand, an overview of 137 reviews in healthy adults, found strength improved with 2 or more sessions a week and that the type of equipment didn’t consistently matter. It also found heavier loads helped, which is why the ladders exist: your body weight doesn’t change, so the move has to.
Built from your numbers
The quiz does real work here. Your push-up and squat answers each shift a ladder one step easier or harder. Your main goal swaps four days a round: pick muscle and days 3, 10, 17 and 24 become strength days; pick weight loss and four days become circuits. Ask for a longer workout and you get a finisher of 3 to 4 minutes, one more round, or both, and the zones you picked decide whether that finisher hits core, chest, arms, legs or back.
Then the check-in runs the plan. Finish everything and call it too easy, and your next session is a step harder on every move and every ladder: “You can always switch back.” Call it too hard and it comes down a step.
Vin: a coach without the shouting
Vin is the plan’s AI coach, and it says it’s AI. It’s under orders: no “bro”, no drill-sergeant lines. Tell it your legs are gone and it drops today a level, then shows you a card: “Day 3 is a level easier now.” It can call a rest day that leaves your week intact, or raise your level from the next session.
Food: protein on the same screen
Calories opens on what’s left for the day, with bars for protein, carbs and fat. The default split is balanced; choose More protein and the targets follow. Scan a package and it logs with its macros. After your first log you can add a one-line food row to Today: what’s left, a bar, scan and +. Across 49 trials of people doing resistance training, extra protein stopped adding much at about 1.6 g per kg of body weight a day, though those trials used supplements, not meals.
One week on the plan
Day 8 is Full push-ups. They go well, so you call it too easy. Day 9, Squat without the chair, comes a step harder, with the chair still close as a guide. A sandwich goes in by barcode at lunch and the protein bar moves, while the session stays as written. Day 10 is Circuit two, which adds a walkout. Your legs complain on day 12, so Vin takes Doorframe pull down a level. Day 14 is 9 minutes on the floor, then the day is yours: “Rest days are part of the plan. Take this one.”
Why you’ll keep coming back
Training lasts when there’s a number to beat, a step to earn and a harder block waiting. fitvee has all three.
The number.
After the warm-up on day 1 you test yourself: push-ups in a row until your form breaks or you hit 30, squats in 30 seconds, a plank to 45 seconds. Day 28 repeats it and sets the two results side by side under “Your numbers, then and now”. That’s the reason to do any of this.
The step.
Finish a session and call it too easy, and the screen tells you straight: “Level up. You’re ready for more.” You earned a rung, and your next session is the proof.
The block.
Round 2 is called Load, and the week names give away the mood: One rung up, More reps, The top rungs, Load it all. Main blocks grow from three moves to four, and the new moves are a wall sit, skater step, one-arm doorframe row, single-leg box squat and decline push-up. Past round 2 the sessions repeat, one level harder. Finish a round and the app says what you’ve become: “You train now: at home, on your own time.”
The other apps, one by one
Freeletics
- Suits
- You have more than 15 minutes and want an AI to build the session.
- Main strength
- Home strength plans made for you by the coach.
- Drawback
- Food sits in a separate Training and Nutrition bundle.
Nike Training Club
- Suits
- You want a good free app and will steer your own training.
- Main strength
- Multi-week programs, and 282,883 App Store ratings that average 4.85 stars.
FitOn
- Suits
- You want variety at no cost.
- Main strength
- Cardio, yoga, strength and Pilates, with a no-equipment category of its own.
- Drawback
- PRO is billed annually.
Muscle Booster
- Suits
- You want bodyweight work mixed in with HIIT and weights.
- Main strength
- 139,068 App Store ratings, averaging 4.55 stars.
MadMuscles
- Suits
- You like military-style training and want meal plans with it.
- Main strength
- The range, from calisthenics to tai chi.
- Drawback
- In June 2026 the FTC sued a network of app operators whose products include MadMuscles, alleging products advertised as free or at a low one-time cost and cancelling made difficult (FTC). These are allegations, and the release names MadMuscles once, in a list of products.
Fitbod
- Suits
- You may buy weights one day and want an app that follows you there.
- Main strength
- It builds from what you own, and 289,108 App Store ratings give it 4.81 stars.
Peloton App
- Suits
- You want an instructor to follow.
- Main strength
- Thousands of classes, with “no equipment needed” (Peloton).
BetterMe
- Suits
- You want a huge library and don’t mind choosing.
- Main strength
- Scale, with 4,000+ workouts by its own count.
- Drawback
- The level is set for a whole 28-day plan, not for today.
Full review: BetterMe review. Head to head: fitvee vs BetterMe.
Why pay for training on your own floor?
| Plan | First payment | Then | A month at renewal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 weeks, strength | $36.99 for 84 days | $94.85 every 12 weeks | $34.25 |
The shorter starts are on the public pricing page, first payment and renewal side by side.
The floor is free, and Nike Training Club is too, so the money has to buy something a floor can’t give you. It buys programming: what today is, which rung you’re on, when the rest shrinks and when you move up. Daily sessions, check-ins, ladders, the Library and a grid you can print are all in it. Reminders, trackers and a calorie counter come along, and so do macros and Vin. If you’d enjoy writing your own progressions, keep your money. If you’ve tried that and stalled, this is what you’re paying to stop doing.
Price alone points elsewhere. The App Store lists a year of Muscle Booster at $59.99, the same for MadMuscles, and Freeletics at $34.99 to $79.99.
Before you commit: the renewal date is on the checkout screen, and on a 4 or 12-week start a reminder email lands a week before you’re charged in full (renewals). Cancel online at any time and the sessions stay yours until the paid period ends (cancel). Every charge is final, and fitvee gives no money-back guarantee (refunds).
Our recommendation
A floor, a doorframe and about 15 minutes a day: that’s all fitvee asks for. In return you get a real pull, a ladder for every pattern and a plan that moves when you do.
Freeletics is its closest match. fitvee’s edge is the fit: about 15 minutes in place of anything up to 50, a shopping list with nothing on it, and your food in the membership, not in a bundle.
For free, take Nike Training Club. If weights are in your future, look at Fitbod. For classes, Peloton App. More on our pick: fitvee review.
“I live in a small flat with no weights. Everything is bodyweight and the sessions fit in the space beside my bed.”
Questions
What is the best workout app with no equipment?
fitvee, for a planned bodyweight program that gets harder. Nike Training Club if it has to be free. Freeletics if you want longer sessions.
What is the best free no-equipment workout app?
Nike Training Club, with no in-app purchases listed. fitvee has no free tier, though every move’s card is free to read.
Can I build muscle with no equipment?
Yes, if the sets get hard. In 28 studies of healthy adults, muscle growth didn’t differ between light and heavy loads when sets were taken to failure, while heavier loads built more strength. No app can promise you the result.
What’s the best calisthenics app for beginners?
fitvee starts a true beginner at the wall or on the knees. Say you don’t work out in the quiz and you begin on the easier steps. For more on starting out, see home workout apps for beginners.
Do I need a pull-up bar?
Not here. Rows use a doorframe or a towel around a post.
Do I need a mat?
A folded towel does the job.
Can I do it in a small apartment?
Yes. You need room to lie down and a clear doorway, and with no jumps it stays quiet.
Is 15 minutes a day enough for strength?
It’s enough to start and to keep going, as long as the work keeps getting harder. Three sessions come to about 45 minutes a week, inside the 30 to 60 minutes where 16 cohort studies saw the biggest drop in the risk of death and major disease from strength work, though those studies are observational. The plan also offers an extra round of about 5 minutes when you want more.
Is there a no-equipment plan for women?
Calisthenics is made for men, but any adult can take it. Sweat is built for women and lists no-equipment workouts.
Is it an app I download?
It’s a web app, and kept on your home screen it goes full screen. No live classes, no watch sync. It’s sold in the US (terms). If you have a health condition, see your doctor first.
How we compare
The rival rows come from pricing, help and store pages as they stood on 6 November 2026. Our fitvee screens show the app in preview, using a test member’s sample history, and BetterMe’s facts on levels and progress date from our own purchase on 2 November 2026. Full method: How we compare.
What the scores mean. We score up to six jobs, out of 5 each. A 5 does the whole job and adds something that stands out. A 4 does the core of it. A 3 has a catch that matters, and an essential part priced extra counts as one. A 2 does part of the job, a 1 next to none of it. The same rule applies to every app, and each score names what it stands on. Rivals are marked only from what their pages and our shots show, and one with too little on record sits out that table. There’s no overall score: your priorities decide that.
Who wrote and checked this page:
Tom Becker
Training writer
Writes about home workouts, walking and strength for beginners. Does his own sessions at home with no equipment and writes down what was hard.
Ben Okafor
Plan reviewer
Reads the workout plans and the coach’s changes and checks that the easier options are easy to find. Started training late and still uses the easier versions on bad days.
Sources
- fitveepricing, strength plan, how it works, terms, refunds, exercise library. Help: easier moves, renewals, cancel, check with a doctor first.
- What we useda test member on a preview of fitvee, 6 November 2026. Our purchase of BetterMe’s web chair yoga plan, a 3 minute 51 second iPhone recording and a walk through the web member area, 2 November 2026.
- FreeleticsApp Store listing and home training page.
- Nike Training ClubApp Store listing and Nike help.
- FitOnApp Store listing, home page and PRO help.
- Muscle BoosterApp Store listings.
- MadMusclesApp Store listing; FTC press release, 17 June 2026.
- FitbodApp Store listing and trial help page.
- PelotonApp page and App Store listing.
- BetterMeApp Store listing and help on features and calorie tracker.
- SweatApp Store listing.
- ResearchCurrier et al., ACSM, 2026; Lopez et al., 2021; Momma et al., 2022; Morton et al., 2018.
34 sources, numbered as they appear on this page
fitvee
- 1A test member on a preview of fitveeread 6 November 2026
- 2fitvee product pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 3fitvee product pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 6fitvee product pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 13fitvee help: termsfitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 14fitvee pricing pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 15fitvee pricing pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 20fitvee help: easier movesfitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 28fitvee pricing pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 29fitvee pricing pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
- 33fitvee pricing pagefitvee.com, read 6 November 2026
Freeletics
- 4Freeletics product pagefreeletics.com, read 6 November 2026
- 7Freeletics App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
BetterMe
- 5BetterMe App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
- 9Our iPhone recording of BetterMeread 2 November 2026
- 10Our walk through BetterMe's web member arearead 2 November 2026
- 12Our walk through BetterMe's web member arearead 2 November 2026
- 27BetterMe help: which features are includedbettermesupport.zendesk.com, read 6 November 2026
Fitbod
- 8Fitbod App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
- 17Fitbod help: how the trial workshelp.fitbod.me, read 6 November 2026
MadMuscles
- 11MadMuscles App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
Nike Training Club
- 16Nike Training Club App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
- 23Nike Training Club help: appnike.com, read 6 November 2026
Peloton App
- 18Peloton App App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
FitOn
- 19FitOn help: what is included in my fiton pro subscriptionhelp.fitonapp.com, read 6 November 2026
- 24FitOn product pagefitonapp.com, read 6 November 2026
- 25FitOn App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (ACSM)
- 21Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (ACSM) public guidelinepubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, read 6 November 2026
Morton et al., Br J Sports Med
- 22Morton et al., Br J Sports Med research reviewdoi.org, read 6 November 2026
Muscle Booster
- 26Muscle Booster App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
- 30Muscle Booster App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026
Lopez et al.
- 31Lopez et al. research reviewdoi.org, read 6 November 2026
Momma et al.
- 32Momma et al. research reviewdoi.org, read 6 November 2026
Sweat
- 34Sweat App Store listingapps.apple.com, read 6 November 2026