Method vs TrainHeroic: a team and marketplace platform compared with private one-to-one coaching

The short version of each app

TrainHeroic calls itself the premier platform for strength coaches. Coaches build sessions in a Session Designer on a calendar. Library programs are templates assigned to a Team or an athlete's 1:1 calendar. Everyone on a Team sees the same programming each day. A prescription takes reps, time, or distance, a rep range, and a percentage of working max. Athletes answer a fixed readiness survey and log in the iOS or Android app. The Marketplace sells Team subscriptions, one-time Programs, and Bundles, and pays coaches through PayPal.

Method is a workout planner and tracker with a Coach Workspace for coaches who program clients. The coach side is a web app. You build programs in a Coach Library with blocks, weeks, sessions, and per-set prescriptions. Each program is published to one client at a time. The client follows it in the iPhone app, logs every set, answers check-ins, and sends form checks. Every completed workout stores the prescription it started from, so you see partial sessions and deviations. Coaching is one to one, with no teams, leaderboards, marketplace, or client billing.

Side by side

TrainHeroic facts come from its website, store listings, and help center on the date at the top of this page. Method facts come from the shipped product.

Where Method is stronger

Every set carries a structured prescription. A Method set has a type of warm-up, working, drop, or failure. Reps are exact, a range, or AMRAP. Effort is RIR or RPE with half values, stored once as RIR and shown as either. Rest seconds, tempo, notes, and load relative to another set are fields too. TrainHeroic's help center suggests you write RPE, tempo, and rest in the Exercise Notes. No RIR field is described on the pages checked.

You see what the client will receive before it lands. Editing a published program changes nothing for the client until you publish again. The workspace shows an unpublished changes badge. Publish review lists every change the client will get. If the structure or training days changed, Method offers Publish and reschedule.

Check-ins are your questions. Templates take written answer, yes or no, choice, rating, number, pain or injury, measurement, and photo questions. A Client intake template is asked once. Each client gets a rhythm, and Method sends each check-in when due. TrainHeroic's Readiness Survey has five fixed questions that cannot be modified. Its help center points coaches to a Google Doc link for custom questionnaires.

Form checks get drawn on and kept. Either side can start a form check. You pause the video, draw on the paused frame, leave a note at that timestamp, and send a summary. The client sees the drawings and notes in the app and can return to them. An allowance is set per workspace and per client. TrainHeroic caps uploaded videos at 1 minute and keeps them for 30 days. No annotation tooling is described on the pages checked.

Where TrainHeroic is stronger

Teams. A Team calendar puts the same programming in front of everyone on the roster each day. A Leaderboard on any exercise, circuit, or superset ranks the Team by reps, weight, or time. TH Chat adds group messages and a Team Feed. Method has no groups, no team calendar, and no group chat.

Billing through the Marketplace. TrainHeroic sells Team subscriptions that auto-renew monthly or annually, one-time Programs of fixed length, and Bundles. TrainHeroic handles billing, cancellations, refunds, and support, and pays out through PayPal monthly. Method processes no payments between a coach and a client, so you invoice elsewhere.

Android and a coach login in the app. TrainHeroic athletes use iOS or Android. Offline Mode lets them log without a connection. Coaches log in to the same mobile app for messaging, session building, and logging. Method's coach side is the web app, and Method clients need an iPhone on iOS 26 or later.

Percent of working max and linear progression. TrainHeroic prescribes weight as a percentage of a working max. The working max is a projected 1RM, updated by testing sessions or edited by hand. Linear Weight Progression raises the prescribed weight from the athlete's last logged set. Method has no percent-of-tested-1RM prescription and no auto-progression.

Reporting and track record. The coach sees Compliance, Readiness, and Training Summary Analytics, with print and export. Method's client record shows completed sessions and estimated 1RM trends, with no coach-specific export. The TrainHeroic iOS app first shipped in May 2015. Method's coaching is launching now.

Pricing, read carefully

TrainHeroic prices by athlete count on a slider, in USD, billed monthly. No annual option was shown on the date checked. One athlete is $9.99 per month. Up to 5 is $17.99 and up to 15 is $34.99. Up to 25 is $44.99 and up to 35 is $59.99. Assistant coaches are $9.99 per month each. Marketplace sales carry fees. Self-attributed Team sales cost $1 per month per subscription plus 2.9% and $0.30 in bank fees. Sales through Marketplace Match carry a 30% fee on the purchase price plus the same bank fees.

Method's Coach Workspace is $19.99 per month in USD on the web on the date checked. It includes 5 clients and the owner as the workspace member. Each additional client is $2.00 per month and each additional member is $9.99 per month. Annual billing charges 10 months for 12, so the base workspace is $199.90 per year. Client invitations and messaging start with the first payment. Clients use their own Method account, free or Pro.

The worked example assumes one coach on monthly billing with no extra member. Clients are invited directly rather than through the Marketplace.

Five clients. TrainHeroic's Up to 5 tier is $17.99 per month. Method is $19.99 per month.

Fifteen clients. TrainHeroic's Up to 15 tier is $34.99 per month. Method is $19.99 plus 10 extra clients at $2.00, which is $39.99 per month.

Thirty clients. TrainHeroic's Up to 35 tier applies at $59.99 per month. Method is $19.99 plus 25 extra clients at $2.00, which is $69.99 per month.

TrainHeroic is cheaper at each of the three sizes on monthly billing. Method's annual option lowers the base to $199.90 per year, and TrainHeroic showed no annual option. Method grows by $2.00 per client, and TrainHeroic steps up a tier at 16 athletes. Live prices are on Method's pricing page and TrainHeroic's pricing page.

Who should pick which

Pick TrainHeroic if you coach a team that trains from one calendar. It also fits if you want leaderboards, percent of working max, Android, or a platform that sells your programs.

Pick Method if each client gets a program written for them. It fits if you want RIR or RPE, rest, and tempo as fields on every set. Choose it for publish review, check-ins built from your own questions, and form check videos you can draw on. Read Method for coaches and the coaching docs for the full workflow.

What Method does not do

Method has no team calendar, training groups, leaderboards, or community feed. It has no marketplace, program sales, or client billing. There is no Android app and no coach app on iPhone. Clients need an iPhone on iOS 26 or later. Method does not prescribe by percent of tested 1RM, does not auto-progress loads, and does not generate programs. There is no nutrition or habit tracking, no white-label app, no client-facing booking, no Zapier, and no coach-specific export.