Method vs Hevy Coach: a program-first coaching workspace against the simplest coach layer on a gym logger

The short version of each app

Hevy Coach calls itself simple personal trainer software for professional coaches. It is made by Hevy Studios in Barcelona, the company behind the Hevy workout tracker. The coach side is a web app. A coach app for iOS and Android logs client sessions in person and handles chat. Clients do not get a separate app. They accept your invitation in the Hevy app and a Coach tab appears with the program and chat. A program is a set of routines with a title, a note, and a duration up to 52 weeks. You assign one program per client at a time. Sets take a weight target, reps or a rep range, RPE, rest, and a set type. One plan is priced by client tier, and every client gets Hevy Pro free.

Method is a workout planner and tracker for structured strength and cardio training, with a Coach Workspace for coaches. The coach side is the web app. You build Coach Library programs in the same editor athletes use, with blocks, weeks, sessions, and per-set prescriptions. You publish a program to one client and review every change before it lands. The client follows it in the iPhone app. Completed sets, check-ins, form checks, and messages come back to the workspace. Method has no Android app, no payments, and no nutrition. Coaching is one to one. The athlete side of Hevy is compared in Method vs Hevy.

Side by side

Facts about Hevy Coach come from its website, help center, and store listings on the date shown above. Facts about Method come from the shipped product.

Where Method is stronger

Programs are dated and run for weeks. A Method program has blocks, weeks, training days, and sessions. You publish it coach-dated, as fixed weekdays or an N-on/M-off rolling cycle. Method then schedules every session to a date. Or the client places the start in the iPhone app. You can move a start date or training days later without touching the program. A Hevy Coach program is a set of routines with a duration and an optional start date. Its pages describe no week-by-week or day-by-day builder.

Prescriptions carry more detail. Each Method set holds a set type and reps as an exact number, a range, or AMRAP. Effort is RIR or RPE with half values. Rest seconds, tempo, and notes sit on the same set. Load can be a percentage of another set in the session, such as 85% of the top set. Hevy Coach sets take a weight target, reps or a rep range, RPE, rest, and a set type. RIR, tempo, AMRAP, and percent of 1RM are absent from its pages.

The editor works at block scale. Method has a spreadsheet view, fill, find and replace, and bulk-edit rules with a preview. You can duplicate weeks, reorder days across weeks, and swap an exercise across the whole program. The editor shows what changed before save.

Publishing is a reviewed step. Editing a published Method program does nothing to the client until you publish again. Publish review lists every change the client will receive before it lands. If the structure or training days changed, Method offers Publish and reschedule. In Hevy Coach, edits appear immediately in the client's app.

Check-ins and intake come from your own questions. Question kinds include written answer, yes or no, choice, rating, and number. Pain or injury, measurement, and photo in a named pose are there too. A Check-in template runs weekly on chosen weekdays or every N days, and Method sends each one when due. A Client intake template is asked once and can ride on the invitation. Hevy Coach's pages describe no check-ins or forms. See what to ask in a coaching check-in.

Form checks come back annotated. Either side can start one. You pause the video, draw on the paused frame, leave a note at that timestamp, and repeat. Then you send it with a summary the client can return to in the app. In Hevy Coach, clients send videos in chat and you reply in chat. Every completed Method workout also stores the prescription it started from, so you see deviations per set. More in planned vs completed.

Where Hevy Coach is stronger

Platforms. Clients log in the Hevy app on iPhone from iOS 15.1, on Android, and on both watches. Everything syncs. They can log offline once the latest program is saved. The coach app on iOS and Android logs a client's session in person and carries chat. Method's coach side is web only, and every client needs an iPhone on iOS 26 or later. If any client is on Android or logs from a watch, Hevy Coach is the practical choice.

Clients may already be there. Hevy Coach says the Hevy app has more than 16 million athletes. A client who already logs in Hevy keeps the app they know, and coaching arrives as a Coach tab. Every coached client gets Hevy Pro free. That lifts the routine, graph history, custom exercise, and measurement limits. Method clients use their own free or Pro Method account.

Assignment is fast and clients can adjust. You assign one program to one or many clients in one action. Edits reach the client's app immediately. Clients can add or remove exercises, build supersets, and set RPE targets in an assigned workout. Method publishes to one client at a time, and every publish goes through review first. That suits a coach who wants control, and slows a coach who wants speed.

Teams cost nothing extra. Coaching Teams give owner, admin, and member roles and a shared program and exercise library. Clients can be reassigned between coaches. Method charges $9.99 per month for each further workspace member.

Less to set up. There is one plan with no feature gating by tier. The trial is 30 days with no credit card, and clients pay nothing. The HevyCoach Library holds more than a dozen pre-made plans. The exercise library has 400+ exercises with instructions and animations. Custom exercises take an image, an MP4 upload, or a YouTube link.

Maturity and reach. On the date checked the Hevy client app showed a 4.9 rating across about 90,800 App Store ratings. On Google Play it showed 4.88 across 261,750 ratings. Method's coaching is launching now.

Pricing, read carefully

Method sells one plan. The Coach Workspace is $19.99 per month in USD on the date checked. It includes 5 clients and 1 workspace member, the owner. Each further client is $2.00 per month and each further member is $9.99 per month. Annual billing charges 10 months for 12, so the base is $199.90 per year. The 14-day trial covers the workspace, the program library, and your own training. Clients use their own Method account, free or Pro. Published programs do not count against their free programming weeks. See the pricing page.

Hevy Coach sells one plan priced by client tier, in USD, billed monthly. On the date checked it was $25 per month for 1 to 10 clients. It was $50 for 11 to 25, $90 for 26 to 50, and $160 for 51 to 100. Tiers continue to $700 for 501 to 1,000 clients. There is no annual price and no free tier. The trial is 30 days with no credit card. Every client gets Hevy Pro free. Payments run through Paddle.

A worked example, with one coach on monthly billing and no extra members.

Five clients cost $19.99 per month on Method and $25 on Hevy Coach. Fifteen clients cost $39.99 on Method and $50 on Hevy Coach. Thirty clients cost $69.99 on Method and $90 on Hevy Coach. Method rises in $2.00 steps, so the sixth client costs $2.00 more. On Hevy Coach the eleventh client moves you from $25 to $50.

The lines cross inside each Hevy Coach tier. Hevy Coach is cheaper at 8 to 10 clients, at 21 to 25, and at 41 to 50. Method is cheaper everywhere else up to 50. On annual billing Method's base works out to $16.66 per month. Hevy Coach has no annual option to compare against.

Two things pull the other way. Hevy Coach adds coaches at no extra cost and gives every client Hevy Pro. Method charges $9.99 per month per further member, and a client's own Pro is theirs to buy or skip.

Who should pick which

Pick Hevy Coach if your clients are on Android, log from a watch, or already use Hevy. Pick it if you assign a routine set and let clients adjust it. Pick it if you coach in person and log for clients from your phone. Pick it for a team at no seat cost.

Pick Method if your coaching is the program itself. Choose it if you want reps, effort, rest, tempo, and relative load on every set. Choose it for an editor that works across whole weeks and a publish step that shows the changes first. Choose it for annotated form checks and check-ins built from your own questions. Read Method for coaches and the coaching docs before you start a trial. If you are also weighing TrueCoach, see Hevy Coach vs TrueCoach.

What Method does not do

Method has no Android app for coaches or clients, no iPad app, and no coach app on any phone. It has no watch logging for strength work. It has no client payments, invoicing, or packages, and neither does Hevy Coach. It has no pre-made program library, no exercise animations, and no likes or comments on workouts. It has no group programs, group chat, or broadcast messages, and workspace members cost $9.99 per month each. It does not generate programs. Coach exports are none today.