73% of personal trainers still rely on spreadsheets to manage their clients.
Let that sink in. In an era where tech transforms everything from how we order groceries to how we track sleep, why are so many fitness pros stuck in the Stone Age?
The truth is, choosing the right personal trainer software isn’t just about “going digital”—it’s about reclaiming time, boosting client results, and scaling your business without burning out.
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Try it freeConsider this : the average trainer spends 8-10 hours a week on admin tasks like scheduling, invoicing, and progress tracking. That’s 40 hours a month you could spend coaching, marketing, or—dare we say—actually enjoying your weekends.
But with over 300 personal trainer software options flooding the market, how do you pick the one that works for your unique needs? Is it the sleek app that lets you build, update, and review workout plans 3x faster or the platform that tracks habits and workouts? What about software that automates client onboarding, engagement, and training?
In this blog, we’ll break down the 5 non-negotiable features that will help you select the best personal trainer software for your online training business.
Let’s dive in.
Top 5 Features You Should Look For In Personal Trainer Software
At first glance, most of the popular personal trainer software like Trainerfu, TrueCoach, My PT Hub, TrainHeroic, and others seem similar. However, when you dive deeper into their features and explore the benefits they bring to your business and how seamless it makes running your online training business, you will know the pros and cons of each.
To help you out, we have dissected the top 5 non-negotiable features that you should consider when choosing personal trainer software.
1. Program & Workout Builder
The first thing that you need to look for in personal trainer software is a program builder. Because this is the space you are going to spend most of your time. This feature allows you to build, update and review workout plans for your clients.
You no longer have to write down workout plans for clients or groups every week. With a program builder, you can :
- Create custom workout plans for individual clients and schedule them in advance for weeks or months.
- Build and schedule exercise programs for group sessions
- Select from a library of 1000+ exercises and build plans in minutes
- Showcase proper exercise process and posture to clients so that it’s easy for your online clients to follow.
- Attach your own YouTube videos to the workout plans for better demonstrations.
- Monitor and track as and when clients complete their scheduled exercise plans.
If you are aspiring to set up your online gym business, having a program builder is a must. Trainerfu, Truecoach, and TrainHeroic are three personal trainer software that use consolidated workout planners.
Tip : Always look out for a consolidated program builder where you can build, review, update, and schedule your workout plans in one place. This makes it easier for you to maintain an exercise schedule and review what is working for your clients and how you should progress their exercise sessions.
2. Custom Branded App
What is more impressive than having your own branded app as a personal trainer? It helps you build a stronger brand image, have an authoritative brand voice in the market, and engage your clients for maximum retention and conversions.
When you look at popular personal trainer software on the market like TrainHeroic, Truecoach, or PT Distinction, they don’t offer this feature. There are only two personal trainer platforms that offer this feature: Trainerize and Trainerfu.
The custom branded app feature lets you build your own app tailored to your gym business needs and vision. You can use your own logos and brand colours and even integrate features as you need. The best thing is that you can launch your app on the App Store and Google Play Store for maximum visibility and recognition.
Pro Tip : If establishing a strong brand presence is a priority, investing in a custom-branded app is beneficial. Trainerfu offers a more cost-effective option compared to Trainerize.
3. Habit Tracking
Only planning and monitoring exercise plans is not going to get your clients to achieve their fitness goals. Be it an online training session or gym, you need to go beyond workouts for your clients.
Habit tracking is one of the features in your personal trainer software that can assist you in ensuring your clients follow a healthy lifestyle outside of the sessions. Using this feature, you can :
- Recommend a healthy diet to your clients and ensure they adhere to it.
- Track, monitor, and review their overall daily routines like eating habits, exercise timings, sleep patterns, and more.
- Set reminders for clients to stay on workout plans.
- Automatically send check-in messages to track your clients’ habits and keep them accountable.
- Provide real-time feedback on your client’s meals.
- Automatically schedule the delivery of content like recipe guides and meal plans to your client right to their app.
…and more.
Another benefit is that you can offer a 360-degree fitness program to your clients that includes both workout and nutrition coaching. Some people are very strict with their routines and lifestyles. But some lag behind, give in to temptations, and need a little encouragement to stay on the right track. Habit tracking is a boon for such people, and with your comprehensive program, you can keep their workout, diet, sleep cycle, and overall routine in check so they can achieve their health goals faster.
4. Process Automation
You don’t need to spend hours onboarding clients, asking them to fill out forms, sending workout reminders, planning meal guides, and other mundane tasks. Your efforts and focus should be on how every client is progressing in their fitness journey and what you can do more to advance it further.
That is why you need smart automation for repetitive administrative tasks. A good personal trainer software is the one that comes with automation features like :
- Automated payment reminders, status tracking, and invoice generation
- Automatically send welcome messages to users 30 minutes after installing the app
- Automatic reminder for scheduled workouts and diet plans
- Automatically send recipes, guides, and meal preparation tips to keep your clients engaged
- Automatically add clients to your email list as they sign up
Tip : Always go for personal trainer software like Trainerfu, which has the most advanced automation features where you don’t have to waste time on handling client communications, onboarding, monitoring, scheduling, payments and reminders.
5. Client Engagement
Last but not least, the most important feature that you should be considering when selecting personal trainer software is client engagement. In an offline setup, you are meeting the clients every day. So the clients can easily discuss with you the struggles or hurdles they are facing. Or you can discuss it yourself with them to know what they think about their present exercise plans and if they are able to achieve their goals and more.
However, in an online setting, clients may feel disconnected from you. So you need some features that open a two-way communication for you and your clients. With engagement features, you can :
- Offer personalized experiences to both gym and remote clients
- easily add nutrition coaching, recipe guides, meal plans, and habit training to your fitness program
- Send them notifications and reminders before and after workouts to keep them motivated
- Live chat feature to enable clients to contact you 24x7
- Community-building features like a newsfeed where your clients can share their victories and support each other in their fitness journey.
Other Features You Should Consider In Your Personal Trainer Software
A personal trainer software can be a game changer for your offline gym brand as well as your online training business. It helps you build workouts, schedule sessions, manage clients, track habits, offer nutrition coaching, monitor client fitness progress via a dashboard, get payments and more.
The above 5 pointers that we discussed in the previous section are must-have features in your personal trainer software. However, there are other secondary features that you shouldn’t avoid. They are :
- Automated payments : Enables you to automatically send invoices, send payment reminders, collect payments and track payment statuses.
- Wearables integrations : integrates with popular fitness wearables like smart watches for real-time monitoring of client health metrics and habits.
- Exercise Library : a collection of 1000+ videos to help you easily drag and drop exercises to build custom workout plans in minutes.
- Business Scalability : features that enable you to scale your business as the demand grows to stay agile, adaptive, and capable of meeting the evolving demands of a growing clientele.
- Tracking & Reporting : Track workouts, assessments, meals, and habits and monitor all through a unified dashboard to help your clients reach their goals.
- User-Friendly Interface : Easier for clients to navigate through the app, find assigned workout plans, share fitness journey milestones, get diet tips, and use other features to stay on the right track.
Which Personal Trainer Software Is Best For Me?
Choosing the right personal trainer software depends on your unique business needs, budget, and goals. While many platforms offer similar features at first glance, their differences in workflow efficiency, automation capabilities, branding options, pricing, and user satisfaction can significantly impact your success.
Below, we break down the top factors to consider when making your decision :
Quick Decision Checklist
- Prioritize workflow efficiency? → Choose consolidated planners like Trainerfu or TrueCoach.
- Need smart workflow automation sequences? → Trainerfu (flexible) or Trainerize (basic).
- Looking for advanced client engagement features? → Get Trainerfu, TrainCoach, or PT Distinction.
- Focus on client habit tracking? → TrueCoach or Trainerfu will be best.
- Want a premium-branded app? → Trainerfu’s $99/month app or Trainerize.
- Tight budget? → My PT Hub ($49/month for unlimited clients).
Best Software by Use Case
- Branding + Automation : TrainerFu (affordable custom app + flexible automations).
- Startups on a Budget : Trainerize (low entry cost) or My PT Hub (unlimited clients).
- Group Programs : Trainerize (standardized) or TrainerFu (personalized).
- All-in-One Workflow : TrueCoach or TrainHeroic (consolidated planners).
By matching these insights to your priorities, you’ll find the best fit for your coaching style and business growth.