Best workout and nutrition apps in 2026: 10 apps compared on workouts, food and value

Our verdictfitvee is the best workout and nutrition app for training at home

You have seven spare minutes, a stiff knee and no idea what’s for dinner. fitvee has an answer for all three, and that’s why it’s our pick.

See one day in fitvee

Our picks at a glance

Best for workouts and food in one membership
fitvee
One quiz sets your plan and your calorie goal, and each check-in shapes the next session.
Best for detailed nutrition
MacroFactor
The strongest food tools here, from label scanning to described meals.
Best for the biggest library
BetterMe
More workouts than any other app here, with fasting and step trackers too.
Best for free workouts
Nike Training Club
Multi-week programs, with no in-app purchases listed.

The first thing you see: today's session, how long it takes and one button. — The first thing you see: today’s session, how long it takes and one button.

Open it and the decision is already made: Clouds, 7 minutes on your feet, arms and weight moving slowly side to side, and one big button to start. Afterwards you say how it felt, and your next session listens. Scan your yogurt on the way out. If the day falls apart, tell Vee, the AI coach, and today gets shorter.

It decides, so you don’t have to.
Pick tai chi walking (7 minutes), chair yoga (10 to 20) or calisthenics (about 15), and each day arrives with a job. Soft knees teaches the small give in the knee that keeps every move smooth. Eagle arms works your shoulders and upper back from a chair. Doorframe pull gets you pulling with nothing but a doorframe.
Your food is in the same membership.
Search a food, scan a barcode, set the portion and watch the number left for the day drop.
It bends around you.
Every move has an easier version, each check-in can move your next session a step up or down, and your place is kept when life gets in the way, because your day number counts sessions, not dates.

How it scored

Workouts: 5/5
Personalisation: 5/5
Progress and motivation: 5/5
Food tools: 4/5
Coaching: 4/5
Value: 4/5

You pay $15.19 for the first 28 days, then $38.95 every 4 weeks. On the walking plan, 12 weeks is $25.99, then $66.65 every 12 weeks (fitvee pricing).

On this page

Our verdict Our picks at a glance Workout and nutrition apps compared What fitvee is like Why you'll keep coming back The other apps What fitvee costs Our recommendation Questions How we compare Sources

Workout and nutrition apps compared, feature by feature

Every score is out of 5 and names what it rests on, so you can check our working. What the scores mean.

Workouts and plans

fitvee wins on changing today’s session, which is where it counts. BetterMe wins on shelf space.

App	Score	What it rests on
fitvee	5/5	Three follow-along plans, 141 move cards with Easier, Harder and Take-care parts, a Library, and a plan that steps up at day 28
BetterMe	4/5	The biggest shelf here: 4,000+ workouts (BetterMe help). If today’s session is too much, its workout page has no lighter version
Freeletics	4/5	Bodyweight workouts built by its AI Coach. Sessions run 15 to 50 minutes, and the long ones are hard to fit into a busy weekday

Food tools: calorie counter, barcode scanner and macros

If calorie counting is the whole job, MacroFactor outscores fitvee, and it has earned that.

App	Score	What it rests on
fitvee	4/5	Search, barcode scan, portions and undo, with a goal from your quiz; macros, usual foods and meals typed in plain words. You don’t get a week-by-week food chart, and meals stop at one day to try
MacroFactor	5/5	Barcode and label scanning, photo or described meals, 1.36 million verified foods, no ads
MyFitnessPal Premium	4/5	Free logging with macros, then a barcode scanner, Meal Scan and macros by gram in Premium (MyFitnessPal help). Meal plans need Premium+
BetterMe	4/5	A calorie tracker and 20+ meal plans, but snapping a meal or scanning a barcode is iOS only (BetterMe help)
Reverse Health	4/5	Plate photo and manual logging with calories and macros (Reverse Health help), plus meal plans

Coaching: AI and human

The test of a coach is what happens when you say “I can’t do this today.” fitvee’s can act on it, and it’s in the price.

App	Score	What it rests on
fitvee	4/5	Vee and Vin, included. They can make today gentler or seated, give you a rest day, move your level and read your food log, and Vee can trim a walking day. They can’t log food for you, so that stays your job
Freeletics	4/5	An AI Coach that, by its own account, adjusts each workout from your feedback
BetterMe	3/5	A real person by chat at any hour, but 1-on-1 coaching is a paid extra

Personalisation

This is where fitvee pulls away from BetterMe: your plan changes from one session to the next.

App	Score	What it rests on
fitvee	5/5	A quiz that sets your starting level and can keep every move seated, a check-in that sets the next session, and reminders timed to when you really train
BetterMe	4/5	A plan from a quiz, three intensity levels and Special Programs such as Sensitive Knees, though each level is a whole 28-day plan
Freeletics	4/5	Workouts its AI Coach fits to your level, by its own account

Progress and motivation

App	Score	What it rests on
fitvee	5/5	A plant that grows with your sessions, a forgiving weekly rhythm, four badges, before-and-after can-do numbers and a Welcome back that never scolds
BetterMe	4/5	On iPhone, a Progress tab with charts for weight, steps and sleep. Its web app has no progress page

Value: what one price covers

fitvee isn’t the cheapest here. It’s a price that buys a plan, a food diary and a coach together.

App	Score	What it rests on	A month at renewal
fitvee	4/5	Plan, Library, calorie counter, trackers and coach in one price. Add-ons such as Premium Workouts are separate subscriptions named in the terms. Yearly plans elsewhere cost less	$24.07 to $42.20, by plan
MacroFactor	4/5	Food tools alone, or its food and workout apps on one yearly plan (MacroFactor help). Adding workouts costs a little more	$6.00 yearly, food only; $7.50 with Workouts
Centr	4/5	“No premium tiers or locked content” (Centr help)	$29.99; $13.25 to $15.00 yearly
MyFitnessPal Premium	3/5	Scanner, Meal Scan and routines in one tier, but meal plans cost a tier more	$19.99; $6.67 yearly
FitOn	3/5	Workouts cost nothing (FitOn help), but programs and personalised meal plans need PRO	Workouts $0
Nike Training Club	4/5	No in-app purchases listed, though food comes as guidance	$0

See one day in fitvee

What fitvee is like: workouts, food and a coach in one app

The workouts: short, named and easy to bend

A round is 28 days: 25 follow-along sessions and 3 rest-and-stretch days.

Tai chi walking
7 minutes standing, a hand near a wall or counter, then an optional walk that grows from 3 to 15 minutes. A Cochrane review found tai chi may cut the rate of falls in adults 60 and over by 19%.
Chair yoga
10 to 20 minutes, seated or holding a sturdy chair. In 25 studies of adults 50 and over, seated routines added about two stands to a 30-second chair test.
Calisthenics
About 15 minutes, with push-ups climbing from the wall to the floor. No session has a jump, so you can train early or late without shaking the floor. In a 2026 ACSM overview of healthy adults, equipment type didn’t consistently matter for strength, though heavier loads helped.

A move fills the screen: a photo, one line on what to do and a ring counting down. Under it sit How and Easier, and the chair plan adds Seated. March in place says “Lift one knee, then the other, at a steady pace.” Tap Easier and it says “Keep your toes on the floor and just lift your heels, one at a time.”

March in place with Easier open: a lighter version, right there in the session.

On the chair plan, Easier swaps the counting for one hand on your belly.

Every move is free to read in the exercise library before you buy. Once you’re in, the Library adds any session, any day, and walking and chair yoga come as a pair.

Three weeks ticked off, the last one to go, and both plans waiting in the Library.

BetterMe’s Plan tab is clean, and we like it. But each Intensity level is a 28-day plan, so you’re choosing for the month, not for this afternoon.

BetterMe on iPhone, 2 November 2026: a strip of 28 days, your goal and one workout card.

BetterMe web app, 2 November 2026: intensity is chosen for a whole plan.

The calorie counter: a food diary inside your fitness app

Calories opens on one big number, such as 1,600 kcal left, worked out from your quiz. Under it sit bars for protein, carbs and fat, a Scan food button and a box that asks “What did you eat?” Type “2 eggs and toast” and it comes back as two foods with portions and macros, and one button: Log 222 kcal.

Type a meal in plain words and see what would be left before you log it.

Scan a package and the food lands in your Today list, macros included, with Not right? and Undo beside it. Change the amount any time. Your usual lunch comes back ready to add. You also get one day’s meals to try. Water, walking minutes, weight and measurements sit in the same membership.

Add the food row to Today from the toast after your first log, or from More, and calories left, scan and + sit below your session.

Your session and your calories on the first screen you open.

In 22 studies, people who kept food diaries tended to lose more weight, though that evidence is weak. Five free apps, tested on 30 food records from lower-income adults, tracked intake closely but tended to read a little low, so treat the number as a guide.

BetterMe on iPhone, 2 November 2026: a tidy tracker with a calorie ring, macro bars and four meal rows.

Here for the food? See the diary in fitvee

Vee and Vin: an AI coach that can change your day

Vee coaches the walking and chair plans, and Vin coaches calisthenics. Both are AI and say so: “Yes, I’m an AI, not a person.” They write like a friend who has read your plan: short messages, a little teasing, one next step.

Tell Vee you’re short on time and the chat shows a card: “Day 3 is the short version now, without the stretch.” Open the session and the stretch has gone from the start sheet. Tell Vin your legs are tired and today drops a level.

Ask “What should I eat tonight?” and the answer starts from what you’ve logged.

Short on time? Vee trims today, and the card shows what changed.

Ask about dinner and Vee starts from what you've eaten so far. — Ask about dinner and Vee starts from what you’ve eaten so far.

If something hurts, it offers a gentler version. It’s under orders never to tell you to push through pain, and never to call eating under your goal a win. After days away there’s no lecture: “No catching up needed. Day 13 is waiting: do the first 5 minutes and stop there if that’s all today has. It still counts.”

The research is young: a 2021 review suggests chatbots may raise activity, with too little evidence on diet or weight. So we score Vee and Vin as the quickest way to change today.

Personalisation: a plan built around you

The quiz does real work. The chair plan asks “Can you put on your shoes while standing up?” Say you sit to put them on and every move stays seated, start to finish. Calisthenics uses your push-up and squat counts to set each ladder, swaps four days a round for your goal, and adds finishers for the zones you pick.

Then the check-in takes over. Call a finished session too easy and the next is a step harder on every move. Call it too hard and it’s a step easier, with a line we like: “Easier still counts.”

Two questions after each session. The answers set the next one.

After a Too hard: day 3 is done, and Sound walk, where you listen as you move, comes a step easier.

Across 28 trials of healthy adults 18 to 65, apps and trackers raised daily steps, with personalised ones doing better. Even fitvee’s reminders learn: they land about 30 minutes before you usually train, and none comes once you’ve trained.

How it all fits together

Here’s a week. Your reminder says Day 3: Clouds. You call it too hard, so Day 4 comes a step easier and your week gets a tick. At lunch you scan a sandwich and the number drops. Your water goal sets off confetti and offers “Start my 7-minute session.” One evening falls apart, so Vee trims the session. Day 7 is rest and stretch: “Nothing to prove.”

Your food log doesn’t change your workouts, and it shouldn’t: a big lunch is no reason to lose a hard session. What ties them together is one quiz that sets your plan and your calorie goal, one screen that shows both, and one coach that reads both.

In 8 trials, combined diet and exercise programs lost about 1.7 kg more than diet alone at 12 months, with no difference at 3 to 6 months.

Why you’ll keep coming back

You grow a plant.

On walking and chair yoga, Progress opens on a flower: “A petal for every session,” with a bloom for each week. Small sessions add up to something you can see. A streak gift sits below it, with a date on it. Calisthenics gets the count, the rings and its own dark look.

A test member's Progress on day 20: three blooms and a streak gift on its way. — A test member’s Progress on day 20: three blooms and a streak gift on its way.

Today on the strength plan: Squat, pull, push, 15 minutes.

Finishing feels good.

“Day 21 of 28, done. Proud of you.” The week’s dots fill in and “This week counts” appears. Four badges mark your first session, first full week, first extra session and day 28. Game-style rewards lifted activity in 16 trials, though the boost faded afterward, so fitvee doesn’t stop at rewards.

The end of a session: your day, your week and a kind word.

You get proof, not just praise.

The can-do check on day 1 counts chair stands and a balance hold, or push-ups, squats and a plank. Day 28 shows “Your numbers, then and now”. You can also print a one-page grid of all 28 days, and ticking helps: across 138 studies, monitoring progress made reaching a goal more likely, more so when it was physically recorded.

A bad week doesn’t end it.

Three session days make a week count. You start with a rest week in reserve, and a lapsed run can come back free within 7 days: “A quiet week happens.” After three or more days away, a banner greets you, and it never says “missed”. Your membership keeps billing, but your place is safe. That fits the evidence: in a study of 96 volunteers, one missed day didn’t derail the habit, while about 43% of people dropped out across 17 studies of apps for chronic disease.

"Your plan waited for you, right where you left it." — “Your plan waited for you, right where you left it.”

There’s always a next step.

On day 28 you choose a step on or the same level, and the app suggests one from your check-ins. Round 2 brings new moves and longer sessions, and after that a step on repeats them a level harder. Along the way it tells you “You’re a walker now.”

“My Tuesday on the walking plan: a 7-minute session before work, a bowl of oats logged on the way to the train, and a check-in that night. The session was easy to start. What annoyed me was hunting for the oats, since the first result was the wrong brand.”

See one day in fitvee

The other apps, one by one

BetterMe

Suits: You want a huge library, native apps, and fasting and step trackers.
Main strength: It’s big and well liked: 4.7 stars from 714,447 US App Store ratings, with Chair Yoga on iOS, Android and the web (BetterMe help).
Drawback: You see your price at checkout, after the quiz.

Full review: BetterMe review. Head to head: fitvee vs BetterMe.

Lasta

Suits: You want indoor walking and tai chi next to wall Pilates and chair yoga.
Main strength: The range, on bodyweight and minimal equipment.

Centr

Suits: You want programs with personalised meal plans.
Main strength: Breadth: fitness, meal planning, mindfulness and recovery in one app.
Drawback: The low monthly figure needs a year paid up front.

MacroFactor

Suits: You want detailed nutrition first.
Main strength: Serious logging in a paid-only app, with a Workouts app on the same account.
Drawback: You log in one app and train in the other, and the bundle is yearly only.

FitOn PRO

Suits: You want free workouts first and may pay later.
Main strength: Cardio, yoga, strength and Pilates at no cost.
Drawback: PRO is billed a year at a time.

Reverse Health

Suits: You’re a woman over 40 who wants wall Pilates, chair yoga or somatic flows.
Main strength: It’s built for that audience, with food tools beside the workouts.

Freeletics

Suits: You want bodyweight training run by an AI Coach.
Main strength: The coach, which it says adjusts “in real time”.
Drawback: Nutrition means the Training and Nutrition bundle.

MyFitnessPal Premium

Suits: You already log there and want routines added.
Main strength: A free tier that logs food and shows macros.
Drawback: The barcode scanner needs Premium (MyFitnessPal help), and meal plans need Premium+, at $99.99 a year (archived page).

Is it worth it: MyFitnessPal Premium. Head to head: fitvee vs MyFitnessPal.

Nike Training Club

Suits: You want free workouts.
Main strength: Multi-week programs at no cost.

What fitvee costs, and why it’s worth it

Every price is on one public page. The fair figure to compare is a month at renewal: 4-week billing means 13 charges a year, so $38.95 comes to $42.20 a month.

Plan	First payment	Then	A month at renewal
12 weeks, walking	$25.99 for 84 days	$66.65 every 12 weeks	$24.07
12 weeks, chair or strength	$36.99 for 84 days	$94.85 every 12 weeks	$34.25
4 weeks	$15.19 for 28 days	$38.95 every 4 weeks	$42.20
1 week	$6.93 for 7 days	$38.95 every 4 weeks	$42.20

What that buys.

A daily session set for you, the Library, the check-in and the printable grid; the calorie counter, trackers, badges and reminders; macros and Vee or Vin. You’re paying for the plan and the help, not only for a place to put numbers.

The cheaper routes.

MyFitnessPal Premium is $79.99 a year (App Store). MacroFactor is $71.99 a year for food (App Store), or $89.99 with Workouts. Centr is $29.99 a month or $159 to $179.99 a year, depending on promotions (Centr help). Nike Training Club is free (App Store).

The rest.

BetterMe shows your price after the quiz (BetterMe help) and, like fitvee, renews above its introductory price (BetterMe help). The App Store lists BetterMe at $6.99 to $41.99, Lasta Premium at $14.99 to $34.99, the Reverse Health program at $4.99 to $76.99, Freeletics at $34.99 to $79.99 and FitOn PRO at $19.99 to $39.99.

fitvee’s terms.

Checkout shows the renewal date, and on a 4 or 12-week start an email reminds you 7 days before the first full-price charge (renewals). You cancel online and keep access to the end of the paid period (cancel). Payments are final, with no money-back guarantee (refunds).

Our recommendation

If you train at home and want your session, your food and a coach in one membership, start with fitvee. It treats those as one job: a plan that listens, a diary beside it and a coach that can change today. It’s also fun to come back to.

Against BetterMe, its closest match, you can ease a move in the middle of a session, the coach is included, and you can read the price before the quiz.

If one job matters more than the rest, take MacroFactor for detailed nutrition, BetterMe for the biggest library, or Nike Training Club for free workouts. More on our pick: fitvee review.

See one day in fitvee Food first? See the diary in fitvee

At home in the fitvee kit — Linda R. on the walking plan, week 3

Questions

What is the best workout and nutrition app?

For most people training at home, fitvee. For detailed macros, MacroFactor. For the biggest library, BetterMe.

Is there an all-in-one fitness app that tracks workouts and food?

Yes: fitvee, with your plan and calorie counter in one membership. BetterMe, Reverse Health and Lasta also put both in one app.

Is there a free workout and calorie tracker app?

MyFitnessPal’s free tier logs food and exercise, and Nike Training Club and FitOn have free workouts. fitvee has no free tier, but a full session is free with no sign-up.

Which workout and meal plan apps include full meal plans?

Centr, BetterMe, FitOn PRO, Reverse Health, Lasta and MyFitnessPal Premium+. fitvee gives you one day’s meals to try.

What does fitvee cost for 12 weeks?

Your first 12 weeks are $25.99 on the walking plan or $36.99 on chair or strength, and those plans then renew at $66.65 or $94.85.

What’s the best app to lose weight and build muscle?

No app can promise either. Look for a calorie goal you can live with and strength work that gets harder: in 28 studies of healthy adults, lighter loads built as much muscle as heavy ones when sets went to failure, though heavier loads built more strength.

Should I count exercise calories?

Not in fitvee: your goal already allows for light activity.

Is a 7-minute workout enough?

It counts: the WHO says any activity beats none. The target is still 150 minutes a week plus 2 days of strength work, and the optional walks and the Library help you build toward it.

Do I need a gym?

No. A phone and, depending on the plan, a mat or towel, a sturdy chair, a doorframe or a stair (what you need).

Is fitvee a real app?

It runs in your browser, and you can add it to your home screen, where it opens full screen. It has no live classes, watch sync or step counting.

Who is fitvee for?

Walking and chair yoga are made for women after 40 and calisthenics for men, but any adult can take any plan. It’s sold in the United States (terms). If you have a health condition, check with your doctor first.

How we compare

We read each app’s own pricing, help and store pages on 6 November 2026. BetterMe’s shots come from a plan we bought, 2 November 2026. fitvee’s come from a test member with sample history on a preview of the app. Full method: How we compare.

What the scores mean. We score six jobs out of 5. A 5 is the whole job plus something that stands out. A 4 covers the main job. A 3 has a real catch, such as a key part costing extra. A 2 is part of the job, and a 1 is little or nothing. Each score rests on the features named beside it. A rival is scored only on what its own pages and our shots show, and where that isn’t enough to score a job, the app isn’t in that table. There’s no overall score, because the jobs don’t matter equally to everyone.

Who wrote and checked this page:

Dana Whitfield

Editor

Runs the Eat Move Guide desk and checks every page against the apps’ own pricing and help pages. Has kept a food diary on and off for years and tried most of the big tracker apps.

Nora Lindqvist

App reviewer

Reads each app’s help and pricing pages and goes through its screens. Keeps a list of every price she finds.