TrueCoach vs Trainerize: Which Coaching App Should You Choose?
TrueCoach suits a strength, bodybuilding or CrossFit-style coach who wants a branded app included from a mid-tier plan and is comfortable paying a flat percentage on payments. Trainerize suits a coach with a fast-growing roster who wants a native meal planner and cheaper per-client pricing as the client count climbs past 30.
- At 5 clients, TrueCoach Starter ($29.98/mo) and Trainerize Pro ($25/mo) are close in price.
- At 30 clients, TrueCoach’s tier caps force a jump to its $164.98/mo Pro plan, since Standard tops out at 20 clients. Trainerize Pro at the same size is $79/mo.
- At 100 clients, TrueCoach does not publish a price at all: its Pro plan caps at 50 clients, and anything above that is "special pricing" via support. Trainerize Pro publishes $225/mo at 100 seats.
- TrueCoach includes a branded app from its Standard plan at no extra fee. Trainerize charges $169 one-time for a branded app on Pro.
- TrueCoach Payments charges a flat 5 percent of the invoice total including tax, on every plan, only in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Trainerize's Stripe add-on is a flat $10/mo, with no percentage stated.
TrueCoach vs Trainerize price at 5, 30 and 100 clients
TrueCoach prices in fixed bands, while Trainerize Pro scales more granularly by client seats. That difference decides what happens when your roster falls between TrueCoach’s bands.
- TrueCoach
- $29.98/mo (Starter, 5 client cap)
- Trainerize
- $25/mo (Pro, 5 client seats)
- TrueCoach
- $164.98/mo (Pro, 50 client cap; Standard tops out at 20)
- Trainerize
- $79/mo (Pro, 30 client seats)
- TrueCoach
- No figure past the 50-client cap; larger rosters go through support
- Trainerize
- $225/mo (Pro, 100 client seats)
| Roster size | TrueCoach | Trainerize |
|---|---|---|
| 5 clients | $29.98/mo (Starter, 5 client cap) | $25/mo (Pro, 5 client seats) |
| 30 clients | $164.98/mo (Pro, 50 client cap; Standard tops out at 20) | $79/mo (Pro, 30 client seats) |
| 100 clients | No figure past the 50-client cap; larger rosters go through support | $225/mo (Pro, 100 client seats) |
The 30-client row is the clearest difference. TrueCoach's bands force a jump to Pro well above Standard's price, for headroom you may not use yet. Trainerize's seat-based pricing avoids that jump entirely.
At 100 clients the gap is starker: TrueCoach does not publish a price at all past its cap, sending anything larger to support. Trainerize publishes a real number you can budget against. See our Trainerize pricing guide.
Workout building
TrueCoach is built around a drag-and-drop workout builder with a large exercise video library, aimed at strength, bodybuilding, CrossFit and physical therapy coaching, the kind of programming a one rep max calculator feeds into. Trainerize includes an AI Workout Builder across its plans, aimed at general fitness styles.
Neither publishes an exercise count that makes a direct comparison fair, since Trainerize does not publish a library figure at all. If your coaching leans heavily on strength programming, TrueCoach's stated focus is worth weighing against Trainerize's general-purpose builder.
Nutrition
Trainerize builds a meal planner into its core price, with food logging and MyFitnessPal sync, useful for a coach who already sets targets with a macro calculator. TrueCoach has no native meal-plan builder: plans are delivered as documents, with macros tracked through MyFitnessPal instead.
For a coach who wants nutrition guidance built into the same app the client trains in, Trainerize's native planner is a real advantage. For a strength coach who wants only a light touch, TrueCoach's approach may be enough.
Check-ins and habits
TrueCoach includes custom habit tracking and progress photos on every plan, including the cheapest. Trainerize's feature list centres on weekly progress summaries rather than a named habit or check-in tool.
A coach who relies on habit tracking as a core part of the relationship gets it at every TrueCoach price point, a point in its favour. See our own approach in check-ins.
Payments
TrueCoach Payments, built on Stripe, charges a flat percentage of the invoice including tax, only in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Trainerize's Stripe integration is a flat monthly add-on instead, with no percentage stated.
The two models suit different volumes: a percentage costs more as volume grows, while Trainerize's add-on costs the same regardless. Run your own numbers before assuming either is cheaper.
Branded app
TrueCoach includes a branded app from Standard at no extra fee, the most straightforward inclusion of the two. Trainerize charges a one-time fee on Pro, under the shared Apple listing, or a fully own-listed app from Studio with your own Apple Developer account.
If a branded app matters from a small roster, TrueCoach reaches it sooner and without an extra fee. For a fully independent listing under your own name, Trainerize's Studio tier answers that, at a considerably higher price.
TrueCoach
- Entry price
- $29.98/mo (Starter, 5 clients)
- At 30 clients
- $164.98/mo (Pro, 50-client cap)
- At 100 clients
- Not published; special pricing
- Branded app
- Included from Standard ($69.98/mo)
- Growing past the 50-client Pro cap means a call with support, not a listed price
- The invoice fee sits at a flat 5 percent, tax included, on every tier
- No meal-plan builder; nutrition guidance goes out as a document instead
- No extra fee for the branded app once you reach Standard
- A drag-and-drop builder backed by 3,500-plus demonstration videos
- Every plan, even the cheapest, comes with habit tracking and progress photos
Trainerize
- Entry price
- $25/mo (Pro, 5 clients)
- At 30 clients
- $79/mo
- At 100 clients
- $225/mo
- Branded app
- $169 one-time (shared Apple listing)
- A branded app on Pro still carries the Trainerize name on the App Store listing
- Taking payments means an extra $10 a month tacked onto Grow or Pro
- By 100 clients the seat-based price has more than doubled from where Pro started
- Priced seat by seat, so 30 clients costs $79 a month rather than a tier jump
- Food logging and MyFitnessPal both sync into the built-in meal planner
- A published number exists all the way up to 200 clients on Pro, then 500 on Studio
Who is each one for?
TrueCoach suits a strength, bodybuilding, CrossFit or physical therapy coach who wants habit tracking and a branded app from a mid-tier price, comfortable with a flat percentage on payments.
Trainerize suits a coach with a fast-growing roster, since seat-based pricing avoids TrueCoach's band jumps and keeps publishing a real number well past where TrueCoach stops. It also suits a coach who wants nutrition planning built in rather than delivered as a document.
If neither fits
Scraler folds workouts, nutrition, check-ins, habits and chat into a single client app starting on the entry plan, and Premium brings Stripe payments into that same price with no percentage cut, plus AI generation and a client community.
Ultimate is where the white-label app lives: iOS goes out under your own Apple Developer account, Android through Scraler's Google Play Console, neither one costing extra. A trial needs a card to begin, yet nothing is billed unless the account is still active when it closes, and an archived client never counts against whichever cap you are on. Scraler is the newer, smaller name here, worth weighing against how much it bundles. See pricing or Best Apps for Personal Trainers.
One client app covers workouts, nutrition, check-ins and messaging, Premium brings payments into that price, and Ultimate adds the white-label option, with archived clients dropped from the count automatically. The trial runs 14 days, a card is required to begin it, and the account is only charged if you keep it running past that point.
Start free trialMore comparisons
Not sold on Trainerize at all? Trainerize alternatives lists what else is out there beyond TrueCoach. Curious about Everfit too? Everfit vs Trainerize and Everfit alternatives cover that angle. For TrueCoach's own field, TrueCoach alternatives rounds out the picture.
Frequently asked questions
- Is TrueCoach or Trainerize cheaper?
- At 5 clients they are close: TrueCoach Starter is $29.98/mo and Trainerize Pro is $25/mo. Past 20 clients, TrueCoach jumps to its $164.98/mo Pro plan while Trainerize scales more gradually by seat, so Trainerize is cheaper for a roster between roughly 20 and 100 clients.
- Does TrueCoach or Trainerize include a branded app?
- TrueCoach includes one from its Standard plan ($69.98/mo, 20 clients) at no extra fee. Trainerize charges a $169 one-time fee on Pro for an app on both stores, or offers a fully own-listed app from Studio at $275/mo.
- How much does each platform charge for payments?
- TrueCoach Payments charges a flat 5 percent of the invoice total including tax, on every plan, only in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Trainerize's Stripe add-on is a flat $10/mo on Grow and Pro, with no percentage stated.
- What if my roster outgrows TrueCoach's Pro plan at 50 clients?
- You would need to contact TrueCoach support, since nothing is published past its 50-client ceiling. Trainerize, by contrast, has a listed number all the way to 200 client seats on Pro ($250/mo), then a Studio plan from $275/mo for 500 clients.
- Can I migrate from TrueCoach or Trainerize to another platform?
- Most coaching platforms expect a manual rebuild. Scraler's free switch page does that work for you, turning an export from TrueCoach, Trainerize or another platform into rebuilt clients, workouts and meal plans.
