Fitbod vs Ladder

Fitbod, Ladder and RIRLift side by side

Pick Fitbod to let the app decide, Ladder to let a coach decide. Pick RIRLift to keep your own plan and let your last set decide the weight, free.

Fitbod and Ladder, point by point

• Who decides today's workout

  Fitbod builds it from your goal, equipment, split, workout length, muscle recovery and history. Ladder's team coach writes six workouts a week, the same for everyone on the team.

• Who picks the weight

  Fitbod recommends sets, reps and weight and adjusts from what you log, including reps in reserve if you add it. Ladder records the weight you chose and flags plateaus. RIRLift sets the next weight after every set.

  

• Guidance during the session

  Ladder plays a video and a coach's voiceover for each movement and times the sets. Fitbod has multi-angle videos and written instructions you open when you need them.

• Price

  Fitbod is $15.99/month or $95.99/year, with no free tier after the 7-day trial. Ladder is $29.99/month or $179.99/year after 7 free days. RIRLift is free; Pro is $9.99/month or $79.99/year.

• Platforms

  Fitbod runs on iPhone, Android, Apple Watch and Wear OS. Ladder on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and the web. RIRLift on iPhone and Apple Watch.

The three in the same week

Machines at work, dumbbells at home

You lift at the office gym on Monday and Wednesday and at home on Friday. The gym workouts you've followed keep calling for a cable stack you don't have at home.

App	What it does here	For this lifter
Ladder	Edit swaps the gear for the whole workout. The edit lasts for that one workout, and you still pick each weight.	Workable, with an edit every Friday.
Fitbod	Equipment is an input to every generated workout, so Friday is built for dumbbells, weights included.	The best fit when your equipment changes day to day.
RIRLift	Swap a lift and the replacement starts from a weight worked out from the one you swapped out, adjusted for the equipment.	The best fit if you want the same lifts tracked week to week.

Fitbod handles shifting equipment best. RIRLift keeps one program and still lets you swap.

Monday at the office gym, set by set

Your own lower-and-back day, logged with reps in reserve. Each set decides the next.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
T-Bar Row	Set 1: 135 lb × 8, 1 left (planned 2)	Set 2: 135 lb × 8	You got the 8 reps, just closer to failure than planned, so the weight holds.
Front Squat	Set 1: 155 lb × 5, 1 left (planned 2)	Set 2: 145 lb × 6	Below the 6–10 range, so it comes down: 6 reps to failure against a planned 8, 155 × 35 ÷ 37 ≈ 147 lb, loaded as 145 lb.

One set too heavy, and the next came down before you loaded it.

Plans for this lifter

• The best workout plan for muscle gain, for where you are now

  Past a year of lifting, gains have stalled

  If a generated or coach-written plan stopped moving your lifts.

  4× a week · 76 sets a week · ~50 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best workout for full body, for your week

  Short sessions, 4 days a week

  Four short sessions, easy to fit around two gyms.

  4× a week · 60 sets a week · ~25 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

Make it fit you

• List your equipment

  Pick what your gyms have. Plans and swaps stay inside that list, and the swap picker shows the weight a replacement would start at.

• Keep logging reps in reserve

  If you logged RIR in Fitbod, keep the habit: 1 or 2 left on most sets. Every next weight here depends on it.

• Ask Coach if you miss a generated plan

  Ask for four days around your gyms. It comes back as a preview to apply or adjust.

When a different app fits better

• Your equipment changes from one day to the next. Fitbod, which rebuilds each workout around it.
• You want a coach's voice, video and a team. Ladder. RIRLift has no follow-along video or coach, and no public feed.
• You're on Android or Wear OS. Fitbod. Ladder and RIRLift don't run on Android yet.

Questions

Read next

• Ladder app review: what you get for $29.99 a month

  Ladder in full: teams, Journal, price.

• Fitbod alternatives, free and paid

  If Fitbod is the one you're leaving.

• Fitbod on Apple Watch, and an app that runs on the Watch alone

  What Fitbod's Watch app does and doesn't.

• How RIRLift picks your next weight

  Where the 145 lb came from.

• RPE vs RIR

  Reps in reserve, explained.

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• Ladder app review: what you get for $29.99 a month

  Ladder's coaches, price and Journal, reviewed, plus the free pick if you want your weights set for you.

• Fitbod on Apple Watch, and an app that runs on the Watch alone

  Fitbod's Watch app needs the iPhone to start and swap. RIRLift starts, swaps and sets weights on the wrist.

• Ladder app alternatives, ranked for lifters

  Seven Ladder alternatives, from free to 1-on-1 coaching, ranked for leaving Ladder to pay less.

• The AI workout planner that keeps planning after day one

  A plan built for your goal, gym and week, with every weight set from what you actually lifted.

Every lifter and goal