As your personal training business grows, so will your to-do list. From client management to accounting to scheduling, and more, – oh and don’t forget, delivering the actual training program and marketing yourself online – personal trainers have a lot on their plates!
Whew.
Unfortunately there is no magic software that will do it all. But, there are plenty of platforms out there that can streamline the various aspects of running your business. Yes, that means you don’t have to do it all without any help.
The more time you can save with the right tools, the better equipped you are to help clients. And of course, the more clients you can help, the more money you can bring in, and the faster your business grows.
So what software do you really need? Here are the six essential types of software for personal trainers that can help you automate and optimize the most important parts of running your business:
- Online personal training software
- Nutrition coaching software
- Website builders
- Accounting software
- Scheduling software
- Email marketing tools
We will see what each software does and compare the best options for personal trainers in each category.
Table of Contents:
- Part-I: Online Personal Training Software
- Part-II: Nutrition Coaching Software For Personal Trainers
- Part-III: Website Builders
- Part-IV: Accounting Software
- Part-V: Scheduling Software
- Part-VI: Email Marketing Tools
- Part-VII: Grow Your Business With The Right Software
Online Personal Training Software
Online personal training software helps you deliver your personal training to clients more seamlessly. When deciding on the software for you, it can be helpful to compare all of them by the most important features and how those features actually work within each platform.
To help you choose the best one, we’ve curated a list of best personal training software.
We’ve tested each one, and even tried to use a couple of them.
Most importantly, we’ve collected feedback from our staff, app developers and friends to get a better understanding of each software’s features and functionalities.
Keep reading to explore each in detail.
1. Trainerfu
Trainerfu is a user-friendly personal trainer software designed for both in-person and online training.
It offers a branded app, customizable workout plans, client progress tracking, program sales, and automated messaging. All this makes it an excellent choice for personal trainers seeking to streamline their business operations without technical hassles.
With features like a vast exercise library, nutrition coaching, habit tracking, and community engagement tools, Trainerfu provides everything you need to effectively manage and grow your fitness business.
The intuitive interface ensures easy navigation for both trainers and clients, enhancing the overall training experience.
Pricing:
Trainer Basic : US $29/mo for 10 clients
Trainer Standard: US $49/mo for 20 clients
Trainer Plus : US $79/mo for 40 clients
(Visit the pricing page for more information)
Rating:
Apple App Store (US) : 4.8/5.0
Android App Store : 4.7/5.0
2. TrueCoach
TrueCoach is another premier online personal training software, trusted by over 20,000 coaches worldwide.
With TrueCoach, you can streamline your admin tasks using features like a drag-and-drop workout builder, an extensive video library, and automated payments, allowing you to focus more on coaching your clients.
Whether you’re a physical therapist, CrossFit coach, bodybuilder, weightlifter, or occupational therapist, TrueCoach offers solutions tailored to your unique needs.
You’ll benefit from robust client management, progress tracking, and nutrition tools, all enhanced by seamless integrations with wearables like Apple Health and Garmin.
Plus, with custom branding and team accounts, you can support your business growth and scalability effortlessly.
Pricing:
- Starter Plan: US $26.34/mo for up to 5 clients
- Standard Plan: US $57.99/mo for up to 20 clients
- Pro Plan: US $136.99/mo for up to 50 clients (Visit the pricing page for more information)
Rating:
- Apple App Store (US): 2.5/5.0
- Android App Store: 1.6/5.0
3. Trainerize
Imagine transforming your personal training business with a tool designed just for you.
With Trainerize, you join over 400,000 trainers and 45,000 fitness businesses worldwide who trust the platform to elevate their services.
You can customize your own branded app, seamlessly integrate nutrition and habit coaching, and engage clients with real-time messaging and progress tracking.
Whether you train online, in-person, or hybrid, Trainerize scales with your needs, offering automated payments and video coaching to boost your revenue.
Backed by ABC Fitness Solutions, you receive innovative, customer-driven support to help you deliver exceptional, personalized experiences and grow your business effortlessly.
Pricing:
Basic Plan: Free for up to 1 client
Grow Plan: US $10/month for up to 2 clients
Pro 5 Plan: US $22/month for up to 5 clients
Studio Plus Plan: US $250/month for up to 500 clients (Visit the pricing page for more information)
Rating:
Apple App Store (US): 4.9/5.0
Android App Store: 4.6/5.0
4. PT Distinction
What if you could streamline your coaching business while delivering unbeatable results to your clients? PT Distinction makes it possible with its top-rated personal trainer software.
With features like custom-branded apps, AI-driven program and meal planners, and flexible client management, you can coach more effectively while saving time.
Moreover, PT Distinction empowers you to automate workflows, track client progress, and offer personalized coaching with ease.
Whether you specialize in group training, nutrition coaching, or individual programs, PT Distinction’s cutting-edge tools and seamless integrations make it the ultimate platform to grow your business.
Pricing:
- Basic Plan: $19.90 USD per month, includes up to 3 clients
- Pro Plan: $59.90 USD per month, includes up to 25 clients
- Master Plan: $89.90 USD per month, includes up to 50 clients (Visit the pricing page for more information)
Rating:
- Apple App Store (US): 2.6/5.0
- Android App Store: 3.2/5.0
5. MyPtHub
MyPTHub is a comprehensive all-in-one platform designed to streamline and elevate your personal training business.
Trusted by over 130,000 fitness coaches worldwide, it offers unlimited access to key features like customizable workouts, nutrition plans, and habit tracking, all from one intuitive app.
With tools for branding, payment processing, and seamless client communication, you can efficiently manage your business and focus on delivering exceptional coaching.
MyPTHub’s user-friendly interface simplifies client management while its advanced features empower you to scale your operations. Whether you’re training online or in person, MyPTHub is built to support your growth.
Pricing:
Flexible Monthly Plan: $55/month, includes unlimited clients, workouts, and nutrition plans (Visit the pricing page for more information)
Rating:
Apple App Store (US): 4.1/5.0
Android App Store: 3.8/5.0
6. TrainHeroic
TrainHeroic transforms the way you coach, turning your fitness expertise into a thriving, scalable business.
Designed for modern personal trainers and strength coaches, it offers a dynamic toolkit to create custom programs, monitor progress, and inspire athletes with real-time engagement features like chat and leaderboards.
Whether you’re coaching individuals or groups, in-person or online, TrainHeroic eliminates the complexities of client management, making onboarding and program delivery seamless.
With the added advantage of the TrainHeroic Marketplace, you can expand your influence, reach new clients, and build a fitness community that keeps coming back for more.
Pricing:
Up to 25 Clients: $44.99/month
Up to 50 Clients: $74.99/month
Rating:
Apple App Store (US): 4.6/5.0
Android App Store: 3.6/5.0
Nutrition Coaching Software For Personal Trainers
Great personal training programs include more than just workouts. To really help clients reach their goals, it’s important to build well-rounded programs that incorporate habit coaching, community support, and nutrition coaching.
There are many apps out there that can help you create meal plans, deliver them to clients, monitor your client’s progress, and help them stay on track when it comes to eating healthy.
Let’s compare some of the most important features of nutrition coaching software and see how some of the best options stack up.
1. MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal is a top-tier nutrition coaching software that offers an extensive food database and intuitive tracking tools. It’s perfect for personal trainers seeking simplicity without excessive customization.
The app provides easy meal logging, calorie and macro tracking, and seamless client-trainer connectivity, allowing you to monitor your clients’ progress effortlessly.
If you prefer a straightforward, reliable platform with essential features for nutrition management, MyFitnessPal is an excellent choice.
MyFitnessPal offers a free version with core functionalities, while premium plans start at $19.99 per month. For most personal trainers, the free or basic premium plans provide all the necessary tools to support your clients’ nutritional goals effectively.
2. Trainerfu
Trainerfu is an excellent nutrition coaching software designed to help personal trainers and health coaches support more clients efficiently. It features a branded app that allows you to create personalized nutrition plans with ease.
Set daily calorie and macro goals, and use habit coaching to build lasting healthy eating habits for your clients. Automatically deliver meal plans and recipe guides directly to their Trainerfu app.
With seamless MyFitnessPal integration, tracking client meals is simple. Stay connected through the newsfeed, provide feedback, and keep clients accountable.
Trainerfu offers flexible pricing starting at $29 per month, catering to various business sizes. Try it free today and enhance your nutrition coaching services effortlessly.
3. EatThisMuch
If you’re looking for a way to streamline meal planning for your clients while maintaining a high level of personalization, EatThisMuch might be the perfect tool for you.
Unlike traditional methods that require juggling spreadsheets or manually selecting foods, Eat This Much allows you to create customized meal plans in minutes.
You can easily tailor plans to fit each client’s dietary preferences, calorie goals, and macros, making it an ideal choice for trainers who want a balance of efficiency and flexibility. Clients can even access their plans directly through the app to view recipes, nutrition info, and grocery lists.
Eat This Much offers a free trial, but the full potential of the platform unlocks with premium plans, starting at £47/month. These plans include advanced features like client app access, branded meal plans, and detailed tracking tools to elevate your coaching services.
4. Evolution Nutrition
Evolution Nutrition stands out as an intuitive and versatile nutrition coaching platform, designed to simplify meal planning and scale your fitness business with ease.
Whether you’re new to nutrition coaching or an experienced professional, you’ll find step-by-step guides and interactive resources to help you create and customize meal plans for your clients.
The platform offers a wealth of tools to save you time and deliver professional results. With over 4,400 dietitian-created meal plans, automated planning tools, and the option to fully customize or build plans from scratch, Evolution Nutrition adapts to your needs.
Features like food swaps, recipe management, and automated grocery lists ensure your clients stay on track with minimal effort on your part.
As your business grows, Evolution Nutrition supports seamless collaboration with team members like assistants or nutritionists. With flexible plans starting at $59 a month, and advanced options for enterprise-level needs, Evolution Nutrition is your all-in-one solution to scaling your fitness coaching business.
5. Nutrium.io
With its intuitive design, comprehensive features, and global reach, Nutrium is the go-to software for personal trainers who want to enhance their services and achieve better results with less hassle.
With tools for nutrition analysis, meal planning, and client management, Nutrium streamlines your workflow so you can focus on client success.
Nutrium offers features tailored for personal trainers, including secure client health records, customized meal plans, and a mobile app for client engagement.
You can also manage appointments online, integrate telehealth, and provide real-time updates to client plans. This makes Nutrium ideal for trainers looking to grow their business while improving client results.
The mobile app allows trainers to send recommendations, monitor progress, and communicate with clients easily. Automated reminders reduce no-shows, while personalized meal plans and progress tracking keep clients motivated and on track.
Nutrium starts at $44.80/month for 25 clients, offering scalable solutions as your client base grows.
Website Builders
The good news is that you don’t have to build your professional website from scratch. The bad news? There are dozens of website builders to choose from! Don’t worry, we narrowed down the options to the top three website builders for personal trainers and broke down the best features of each.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a highly popular website builder that can help you create a simple, yet striking website.
It has a plenty of predesigned templates to choose from that are organized into categories (like fitness) and goals (sell products, get membership, market yourself, etc), making it a great choice for non-tech savvy personal trainers that aren’t looking for too much customization.
You’ll find that it’s easiest to simply work from the template’s predetermined look. So, If you’re good with a more standardized site with minimalist design (which works just fine for most personal trainers) Squarespace might be the site for you.
Squarespace starts at $16 a month and goes up from there. For most small businesses, the starter plan or next plan up at $25 per month will offer all the features you need.
Wix
If you’ve already got a specific vision for branding and have colors, fonts, and a logo you’d like to see on your site, Wix may be a better option for you.
Like Squarespace, Wix has several prebuilt templates, but this website builder gives you more freedom to customize those templates. With Wix, you can move elements around more freely and change your fonts and colors. Though not quite as simple as sticking with a predesigned template from Squarespace, the Wix website builder is easy to use and a great choice for those that want more customization.
Wix has a free plan, but know that you will have to use a Wix subdomain, and Wix advertisements will be prominent on your site. To upgrade, Wix is comparable to Squarespace with plans ranging from $16 to $45 per month.
Wordpress
There are two versions of Wordpress. We’re going to talk about the version that is most fit for personal training websites – Wordpress.org.
Wordpress is a little different because it is a free platform. You bring your own domain and web hosting, which can cost as little as $3 per month. But before you get too excited about the low price, know that using this website builder is a bit more complicated than Wix or Squarespace.
Wordpress is for more tech savvy users that want ultimate control and total customization of their site. All sites have a bit of a learning curve, but Wordpress will likely be the most difficult and time-consuming for the average user to figure out. That being said, it is set up to handle major customization with third party templates and plugins (like pop-up forms and scheduling tools).
If you determine that this is the website builder you’d like to use and are not tech savvy, you may want to hire someone to build the website for you. Doing this will give you a fully built out and highly functional website that looks exactly how you want it.
If you do decide to build a Wordpress site yourself, it will be your cheapest option since you’ll only pay for the cost of web hosting. Keep in mind, buying templates and plug-ins for your site will likely cost extra as well.
Before choosing a website, you can also spend a little time trying each of them out. Squarespace offers a two week free trial. Wix has a free version that you can try out, and Wordpress, of course, is free. It may take a little time to play around on all three but it can save you time in the long run, as once you create a full website on one builder, there is no easy way to transfer the existing material to a new website builder.
Cost considerations may also play a big role in your final decision and that’s ok. All of these website builders are great options, and all will help you build a great website.
Accounting Software
Ahhh accounting – the most fun part of running a business, right? Fortunately, if accounting isn’t your thing, there are several types of accounting software for personal trainers. Most of them will allow you to manage your finances, prep for taxes, automate payments, and send invoices. With that in mind, here are some great options and the features we like best about them.
Freshbooks
Freshbooks is an easy to use accounting software that has a fun, fresh design. As you’re starting out, each section has short tutorial text to help you navigate and learn how to use the software. The site also has plenty of other helpful resources as well as a support center that you can call or message if you get stuck.
Freshbooks has a robust feature set that’s great for personal trainers including accounting, time tracking, invoicing, and project management. Freshbooks can help you stay organized and get a better idea of where your hours are going each week. This is super important if you dabble with online personal training, which is the best way to build an extremely profitable business
For tax purposes, Freshbooks makes it easy to upload receipts and keep track of your business expenses. It also allows for you to add users if you do decide to hire an accountant, assistant, or other team member down the road.
Freshbooks starts at just $15 per month, with additional costs as your client base grows or you decide you want more advanced reporting features.
Quickbooks
When you started your own fitness business, your mind was probably filled with images of helping happy clients reach their health goals and fall in love with being active. You probably weren’t also thinking about sitting at a desk, surrounded by paperwork, as you try to figure out how the heck to do your small business taxes.
Quickbooks Self-Employed is an accounting software that can make tax time much less daunting. As you onboard, it prompts you with questions and even makes suggestions on what other people in the fitness industry typically write off.
Quickbooks creates a tax checklist and a step by step process so that you can rest assured you’re doing everything correctly. Quickbooks nails accounting and easily tracks time, expenses, and transactions. It’s not quite as efficient for creating invoices, though it is a feature that you can turn on. This may not be a big deal if you already take payments through another.
Quickbooks offers a free trial so that you can try it risk free. From there, plans are either $15 or $25 per month if you want more advanced accounting features and analytics.
Wave
Wave is another great option for personal trainers that can really help you visualize your monthly cash flow with their simple design and intuitive home page.
Since many small business owners have to teach themselves accounting, Wave created a really helpful resource: an E-book called Fearless Accounting with Wave that will teach you some accounting basics.
Wave has great reporting features and allows you to create and send invoices. You can even integrate Wave with your website to directly take payments. You can also keep track of expenses in the software by manually uploading data from your receipts. One big downside of Wave is there are no time tracking or project management features which are typically really helpful for personal trainers who’s wage is often directly tied to the hours they put in.
Regardless, Wave is still an attractive choice as there is no set monthly fee associated with using the software. Instead, Wave takes a small transaction fee for every payment coming in – which if you’ve used other payment processing software, you know is pretty standard.
Fiverr Workspace
If most of your client management is done digitally, Fiverr Workspace is a great option for you. This software has plenty of introductory videos to help you get started and chat and email help for any other questions you might have.
The accounting features are extremely robust. The software will help you create detailed invoices and contracts and send them to clients, as well as payment reminders.
The time tracking side of things is just as expansive. You can add projects and descriptions to keep up with where your time is actually going, as well as set reminders in the app to log your admin time as it happens.
Fiverr Workspace has some really unique features, so it’s not totally surprising that its price is on the higher end. To have more than one client and access all of its great functions will cost you $24 per month.
Zipbooks
Zipbooks has a bright and intuitive interface and a search bar that can help you find what you need. This is helpful since the onboarding process leaves a little to be desired. It will be up to you to play around and experiment on the site to figure it out.
If you prefer to collect payment from clients via invoice, Zipbooks has one of the more robust invoicing features. It guides you into filling out your invoices with all the right details, so that collecting payments from clients is straightforward and easy.
Zipbooks, like others, also allows you to keep track of expenses by attaching your receipts and integrates with your bank.
Their time tracking feature also stands out as you can see a calendar with all of your time. The software shows you what time has been billed and which hasn’t. This is great for busy online personal trainers that sometimes forget to bill their time, and can help you make sure you’re getting paid for all the hours you put in.
Zipbooks does have a limited free plan available and subscriptions starting at $15 per month.
FreeAgent
FreeAgent has a basic but clean design and offers step by step processes for many of your most common tasks. FreeAgent strives to help users with a thorough knowledge base, weekly onboarding webinars, and a helpful chatbot.
When it comes to features, FreeAgent has everything a personal trainer should need including invoices, expense and time tracking, project management, and cash flow charts. FreeAgent also has small business resources that should help you come tax time.
There is only one pricing structure for FreeAgent – $24 per month will get you access to all of its great features.
Hectic
If you’re looking for an accounting software that can help with organizing other areas of your business, Hectic might be a good chance. A lot of its features were built with freelancers in mind, but personal trainers can still take advantage of some of the site’s great resources.
With Hectic, you can create contact forms and meeting schedulers that integrate on your website and help you catch leads. From there, you can keep track of leads as they make their way down your funnel.
Of course, Hectic also has all your basic accounting needs covered like invoicing, expense tracking, payment integration, and reporting.
Hectic does have a free plan to start, but it won’t allow you to take advantage of the meeting scheduler or sales pipeline. This may or may not matter depending on what other tools you have in your arsenal. For the full Hectic experience, expect to pay about $12 per month.
As you can see, there are many accounting software for small businesses, and all of them have unique features that set them apart. What is right for you depends on your business needs and the capabilities you need from your software. Keep in mind, your needs may change over time.
Scheduling Software
The more seamlessly you can schedule and book clients, the quicker you can grow. Clients need to be able to book themself based on your availability without all the back and forth. A scheduling software is how you make this happen – here are some of the best ones for personal trainers.
Calendly
Calendly focuses on making scheduling easier for you and your clients. With Calendly, you can set your availability and meeting types. You can decide how long your meeting windows are, how far in advance someone needs to book, and how much of a buffer you need between appointments.
Calendly produces a link to a calendar that you can integrate into your website or send directly to clients. They select a time that works for them and the meeting info is sent automatically to them. This works for both in-person and virtual meetings.
Calendly’s has a range of plans starting at a free option, going up to $16 per month (which is built for businesses with multiple team members). Most personal trainers can get by with the $12 per month plan which will allow you to access integration and customization features.
SetMore
Like Calendly, SetMore makes scheduling appointments easy for your clients.
This site has a well designed interface and is fairly easy to use. SetMore lets you create different service options and even group classes. You can share your unique URL with your audience so that they can book within your availability.
SetMore allows for customization on your booking page. You can add cancellation policy and your business hours. You can even request reviews right in the platform (which make great content for your social media channels by the way!)
Their free plan is really robust, and allows you to take unlimited appointments, take online payments, and add up to four employees.
Doodle
Doodle’s strength is the ability to book multiple people at once. You can set up a survey that gives people dates and times within your availability. Clients can comment in the survey and let you know which dates and times work for them. Then, you can pick a time that works for everyone. As you can imagine, this can save you a lot of back and forth trying to schedule meetings with multiple people.
This is great for group fitness programs or online fitness challenges where you might want to get several clients together at once. Unfortunately, for one-on-one meetings, Doodle falls short. In fact, you may still need to use another scheduling tool to schedule those types of meetings with clients. Doodle is truly built for scheduling meetings with multiple people.
Doodle does have a free version. If you’re ok with their branding being prominent, then this choice gets you all the features you will need.
Acuity
If you’re looking for scheduling and then some, Acuity might be a good fit. Acuity offers an automated scheduling tool, but also touches on other areas of business admin and organization like client management, intake forms, and invoicing.
If you don’t already have accounting software or CRM, it might be worth considering Acuity for its expanded features. Like others, Acuity is fairly easy to use and can help you manage your time more easily.
Acuity is now owned by Squarespace, so if you’re already using Squarespace for your website builder, you’ll be able to take advantage of great integrations including collecting payments and selling subscriptions or memberships.
Acuity plans start at $14 per month, but go all the way up to $45 for access to all of the premium features.
Email Marketing Tools
Email marketing is a powerful way to get more clients. To make the most of email marketing, you’ll need the right platform.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a popular choice for businesses just starting out with email marketing. It has a relatively simple platform and is free (with limited features) for up to 2,000 subscribers. Mailchimp also boasts a wide variety of professional looking email templates.
ConvertKit
ConvertKit is another extremely popular email marketing software and a good choice for personal trainers. Like Mailchimp, ConvertKit offers a free plan up to a certain number of subscribers — 1,000. You can get access to all of the features with plans starting at $29 per month for 1k subscribers or less.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign starts at $9 per month for up to 500 subscribers, but whereas Mailchimp counts subscribers for every list they’re on, ActiveCampaign only counts by each unique email address. So if someone joins your email list through your website, but then also signs up to work with you later down the road, that person would be on two separate lists, and Mailchimp would count that as two subscribers. This may not matter now, but if you plan on continuing to grow your email list exponentially, ActiveCampaign might be a better choice longterm.
What’s even more important to consider is that ActiveCampaign allows you to send an email to all your lists at once, while MailChimp makes you manually send out a separate email to every list. ConvertKit also automatically sends every email to everyone on your various lists. This is something to think about if you think you’ll have multiple opt-in offers.
All three platforms have landing pages, email design templates, and automation features. Mailchimp has the largest variety of designs, while ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit have more advanced automation features. If you’re just getting started and want to keep it simple, Mailchimp is a good choice. However, if you want a platform that grows with you, ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign might be better options.
Choosing the right software is just one part of a great email marketing campaign. Be sure to check out Fitness Email Marketing: The Definitive Guide to learn everything you need to know about leveraging email for your business.
Grow Your Business With The Right Software
There you have it, the best software for personal trainers. Unfortunately, there isn’t one software that can do it all, but there are plenty of great options to help automate and streamline some of the most tedious and important parts of running your business.
Personal trainers should start with a great online personal training software that is multi-functional. As your business grows, you can continue outsourcing tasks like client scheduling, accounting, and more to various online tools.
Running a business is no easy task, but you don’t have to do it alone. Be sure to check out some of our other great resources for personal trainers:
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why should personal trainers use software to manage their business?
Using software can streamline tasks like scheduling, client management, workout planning, progress tracking, invoicing, and marketing. This allows trainers to focus more on delivering value to their clients while automating repetitive processes.
2. What are the key categories of software for personal trainers?
The key categories include:
- Online personal training platforms
- Nutrition coaching tools
- Scheduling and booking software
- Accounting and invoicing software
- Client management systems
- Marketing tools (email, social media, etc.)
- Website builders
3. How do I choose the best software for my personal training business?
Consider the following factors:
- The specific needs of your business (e.g., scheduling, client tracking)
- Your budget
- Ease of use
- Integration with other tools
- Client feedback and reviews
- Availability of customer support
4. Are there software options for managing nutrition plans?
Yes, tools like Trainerfu is excellent for creating, managing, and tracking personalized nutrition plans for clients.
5. Can these tools help improve client retention?
Absolutely! By offering a seamless experience through progress tracking, personalized plans, and regular communication, these tools enhance client satisfaction and loyalty.