Method vs PT Distinction: a program-first coaching workspace against an all-in-one personal trainer platform

The short version of each app

PT Distinction is a UK company founded by Tim and Adam Saye and launched in 2010. It calls itself everything you would ever need to be a successful personal trainer, all in one place. You build workouts from templates at program, workout, and section level. Each exercise takes sets, reps, time, tempo, rest, and intensity. Workouts repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or on set days on the client's calendar. An AI Program Generator states custom programs in 20 seconds. Around the builder sits a wide business layer. Packages and payments, forms with signatures, assessments, a food database, habits, broadcasts, email, SMS, and Zapier. Every feature is on every plan. Trainers are free to add. Clients use iOS, Android, the web portal, or an Apple Watch app. Pro and Master customers get their own branded apps.

Method is a workout planner and tracker for structured strength and cardio training. Its Coach Workspace is for coaches who program clients, and it runs on the web. You build Coach Library programs 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 payments, no nutrition, no branding, and no Android app. Coaching is one to one.

Side by side

Facts about PT Distinction come from its website, blog, and App Store listing on the date shown above. Facts about Method come from the shipped product.

Where Method is stronger

Prescriptions are structured per set. Each set holds a set type and reps as an exact number, a range, or AMRAP. Effort is RIR or RPE with half values. Each set also holds rest seconds, tempo, and notes. Load can be written as a percentage of another set in the session, such as 85% of the top set. Effort is stored once as RIR and shown as either scale. PT Distinction takes sets, reps, time, tempo, rest, and intensity per exercise. Its pages describe rep ranges and RPE through those fields, and no dedicated AMRAP, RIR, or percent field. See RIR vs RPE.

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. PT Distinction builds multi-week plans by repeating a workout on a schedule and editing days by hand.

Publishing is a reviewed step. Editing a published program does nothing to the client until you publish again. The workspace shows an unpublished changes badge until you do. Publish review lists every change the client will receive before it lands. If the structure or training days changed, Method offers Publish and reschedule. You can move a client's start date or training days without touching the program.

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 sees the drawings, the notes, and the summary in the app and can return to them. A workspace default sets the allowance, with a per-client override. PT Distinction's pages describe clients recording technique and coaches reviewing the submission.

Check-ins are built from your own questions. Eight question kinds cover written answers, ratings, numbers, pain or injury, measurements, and photos in a named pose. A Check-in template runs on a rhythm, weekly on chosen weekdays or every N days. Method sends each one when due. A Client intake template is asked once and can ride on the invitation. Submitted check-ins land under Review, and you reply beside the answers. See what to ask in a coaching check-in.

Planned sits beside completed. Every completed workout stores the prescription it started from. You see partial sessions and deviations per set. Trends show estimated 1RM per exercise over time with the sessions behind each change. The estimate uses the Epley formula with reps in reserve and excludes warm-ups and drop sets. More on this in planned vs completed.

Where PT Distinction is stronger

Everything on every plan, and trainers are free. PT Distinction states that every feature is included in every plan. There are no upgrades and no hidden fees. You can add as many trainers as you wish at no charge. The plans differ on included clients, overage rates, and branding. Method charges $9.99 per month for each further workspace member.

Packages and payments. You sell pre-made packages from your own website, and clients are added automatically. Packages bundle forms, assessments, nutrition coaching, habits, programs, and messages on a schedule. Payments run as one-off or recurring through PayPal, with a Stripe integration. You can set up automated free trials. Method has no payments at all, so you bill clients somewhere else.

Platforms and your own branded app. Clients can use iOS, Android, the web portal, or an Apple Watch app. On Pro and Master you get your own branded iOS, Android, Apple Watch, and web apps at no extra fee. Apple approval takes up to 2 weeks and Android is available instantly. Method's coach side is web only and has no branding. Every client needs an iPhone on iOS 26 or later. If any client is on Android, PT Distinction is the practical choice.

Nutrition, habits, and integrations. The food database holds over 1 million grocery items and 200,000+ restaurant meals. There is a barcode scanner, a photo food diary, macro and calorie totals, recipes, and meal plans. Habits cover hydration, sleep, and steps. Integrations include MyFitnessPal, Fitbit, Apple Health, Apple Watch, MyZone, Google Sheets, and Zapier. Method imports workouts from Apple Health and writes cardio back, on the client's own iPhone, and connects to nothing else.

Forms, assessments, and signatures. Pre-made informed consent, lifestyle, PAR-Q, and consultation forms are ready to send. Custom forms take checkbox and radio groups, and clients can sign them in the app. Assessments cover movement screens, posture, body composition, and fitness tests. Method has check-in and intake templates and no waivers or signatures.

Messaging reach. The messenger carries text, photos, videos, documents, and transcribed voice notes. There is group chat and a forum. You can broadcast instant or scheduled messages to your whole client base with first-name tags. Scheduled email and SMS go out from inside the platform. Method has one conversation per client and no broadcast.

Track record. PT Distinction launched in 2010 and claims over 60,000 training businesses on its homepage. 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. Client invitations and messaging start with the first payment. Clients use their own Method account, free or Pro. See the pricing page.

PT Distinction sells three tiers in USD, billed monthly, with no annual price shown. Basic is $19.90 per month with 3 clients, then $6.00 per month for each extra client. Pro is $59.90 with 25 clients, then $2.40 each. Master is $89.90 with 50 clients, then $1.60 each. Every extra client is free for the first month. There is no free tier. The trial is 1 month, and you can cancel inside it and pay nothing. There is no set or minimum term.

A worked example, with one coach on monthly billing and no extra members. Each extra PT Distinction client is counted after its free first month.

Five clients cost $19.99 per month on Method. On PT Distinction Basic they cost $19.90 plus 2 extra clients at $6.00, which is $31.90.

Fifteen clients cost $39.99 on Method, which is $19.99 plus 10 extra clients at $2.00. On Basic they cost $19.90 plus 12 extra clients at $6.00, which is $91.90. Pro at $59.90 covers 15 clients within its 25, so Pro is the cheaper PT Distinction plan here. Pro becomes the cheaper plan at 10 clients, where Basic reaches $61.90 against Pro's $59.90.

Thirty clients cost $69.99 on Method, which is $19.99 plus 25 extra clients at $2.00. On Basic they cost $19.90 plus 27 extra clients at $6.00, which is $181.90. On Pro they cost $59.90 plus 5 extra clients at $2.40, which is $71.90. Master at $89.90 is dearer here.

Method was cheaper at each of those three counts. The gap narrows as you grow. At 25 clients Pro is $59.90 against Method's $59.99. At 40 clients Master is $89.90 against Method's $89.99, and from there Master stays cheaper. Set that against what each price buys. PT Distinction's price includes payments, nutrition, forms, branding, and free trainer seats, which Method does not sell at any price.

Who should pick which

Pick PT Distinction if you run a personal training business and want payments, nutrition, forms, and broadcasts in one place. Pick it if you want your own branded app or if clients are on Android. Pick it if you coach groups or want several trainers under one account 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 client's changes first. Choose it for form checks with drawings and timestamped notes, 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 or Trainerize, see Method vs TrueCoach and Method vs Trainerize.

What Method does not do

Method has no client payments, packages, invoicing, or client subscriptions. It has no nutrition, macros, meal plans, habits, steps, or sleep tracking. It has no Android app for coaches or clients, no iPad app, and no coach app on any phone. It has no custom-branded app, no client booking, no waivers, and no signatures. It has no Zapier, MyFitnessPal, Fitbit, or MyZone integrations. It has no group programs, group chat, broadcast, email, or SMS. It does not generate programs. Coach exports are none today.