Method vs Trainerize: a coaching software comparison for coaches who write structured programs

The short version of each app

ABC Trainerize describes itself as a personal training software platform for fitness professionals who build, manage, and scale a business. ABC Fitness acquired it in 2020, and its about page claims over 400,000 trainers and coaches. Coaches work from a web account and a mobile app. Clients use the same app on iOS, Android, and Apple Watch. Payments, nutrition, habits, booking, video calls, and a branded app come as tiers and add-ons.

Method is a workout planner and tracker for structured strength and cardio training. The Coach Workspace is for coaches who program clients. The coach side runs on the web. Clients log every set, answer check-ins, send form checks, and message their coach in the iPhone app. A Coach Library program has blocks, weeks, training days, sessions, exercises, and per-set prescriptions. You publish it to one client at a time and Method schedules every session. Coaching is one to one.

Side by side

Facts about ABC Trainerize come from its website, help center, and store listings on 2026-09-07. Method facts come from the shipped product.

Where Method is stronger

Each set carries a structured prescription. A set has a type (warm-up, working, drop, failure). Reps are exact, a range, or AMRAP. Effort is RIR or RPE with half values. Rest, tempo, and notes sit beside them. Load can be a percentage of another set in the session, for example 85% of the top set. On the pages checked, a Trainerize target is a text field or a time. Its help center lists no dedicated tool for AMRAP, warm-ups, or drop sets. RPE in Trainerize is a rating the client gives after the workout.

The program is edited as a whole. The editor 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. Trainerize progressions live in a manual spreadsheet, and moving a workout removes them.

Publishing shows the client's changes first. Editing a published program does nothing to the client until you publish again. Publish review lists every change the client will receive. If training days changed, Method offers to publish and reschedule.

Form checks are reviewed on the frame. Either side can start one. You pause the video, draw on the paused frame, leave a note at that timestamp, and repeat. The client sees the drawings, notes, and summary in the app. Trainerize sends video through messages, and annotation is not described on the pages checked.

Check-ins run from your own questions. Templates hold written, yes or no, choice, rating, number, pain or injury, measurement, and photo questions. Each client gets a rhythm, weekly on chosen weekdays or every N days. Method sends each check-in when due and submitted answers land under Review. Every completed workout also stores the prescription it started from. See planned vs completed.

Where ABC Trainerize is stronger

The business layer. Trainerize sells one-time and recurring products, packages, memberships, and session credits through its Stripe add-on. It lists a Trainerize.me storefront, and appointments, classes, and self-booking through the Business add-on. Method has none of this, so a coach on Method bills clients elsewhere.

Platforms and reach. Trainerize clients can be on iOS, Android, or Apple Watch. Its App Store listing showed a 4.9 rating across about 68,000 ratings on the date checked. Method clients need an iPhone on iOS 26 or later. If any of your clients is on Android, Method cannot serve them.

Nutrition, habits, and wearables. Meal and macro tracking comes with Grow and above. Habits carry streaks and badges. Steps, sleep, and measurements sync from Garmin, Fitbit, and Withings. Method has none of these.

Groups and broadcast. Groups can attach a master program or receive a workout of the day. Group chat holds up to 10 clients, and auto-messages can be scheduled. Method has one conversation per client and no group chat.

Free tier, trial, and team. Trainerize Basic is free with 1 coaching client and no card. The trial runs 30 days with unlimited clients. Grow includes unlimited trainer seats. The Pro Custom Branded App is a $169 one-time purchase. Method's trial is 14 days and extra members cost $9.99 per month each.

Pricing, read carefully

All prices are USD on 2026-09-07. Trainerize prices are the monthly rate, with the annual rate shown per month and billed once per year. Method's annual billing charges 10 months for 12.

Method's Coach Workspace is $19.99 per month. It includes 5 clients and 1 workspace member. Each extra client is $2.00 per month. Annual billing charges 10 months for 12 on every line, so the base is $199.90 per year and extra clients are discounted the same way. This example uses monthly rates.

Trainerize has no per-client overage, so you move up a tier. Pro 5, Pro 15, and Pro 30 fit 5, 15, and 30 clients.

At 5 clients, Method is $19.99 per month. Trainerize Pro 5 is $25 per month, or $23 on annual billing, with 1 trainer seat.

At 15 clients, Method is $39.99 per month, the base plus 10 extra clients. Trainerize Pro 15 is $50 per month, or $45 on annual billing, with 1 trainer seat.

At 30 clients, Method is $69.99 per month, the base plus 25 extra clients. Trainerize Pro 30 is $79 per month, or $71 on annual billing, with 3 trainer seats.

Add-ons change the picture. Stripe Integrated Payments is $10 per month and the Business add-on is $25 per month. Advanced Nutrition is $20 per month up to Pro 15 and $45 per month from Pro 30. A Pro 15 coach with payments and booking pays $85 per month before nutrition. Method has no add-ons because it has none of those features.

Method's client accounts are free, and published programs do not count toward a client's free programming weeks. Regional prices are on the pricing page.

Who should pick which

Pick ABC Trainerize if you sell packages, coach nutrition or habits, book sessions, run groups, or want a branded app. Pick it if your clients are on Android or you want to start free. Its breadth is the point.

Pick Method if you write multi-week programs with per-set targets and want each client's logged sets beside the plan. It fits coaches who prescribe rep ranges, RIR or RPE, tempo, and relative load. Read more on Method for coaches and in the coaching docs.

What Method does not do

Method has no Android app, no coach mobile app, and no iPad app. It does not process client payments and has no invoicing, packages, or Stripe integration. There is no nutrition, meal plan, habit, step, or sleep tracking. There is no booking, no waivers, no branded app, no marketplace, and no group chat. Method does not generate programs and has no auto-progression. Coaching is one to one. Integrations are Apple Health and Apple Watch cardio on the client's own account.