Actus vs Fitbod: one adjusting program, or a new session every visit?

Fitbod builds each session on the fly from your equipment, muscle-recovery state and logged history, so there is no fixed multi-week program to follow. Actus builds a multi-week program from a deterministic rules engine grounded in ACSM and NSCA guidelines and Schoenfeld's volume research, then regenerates that program every week from your logged sets.

A per-session generator does not target weekly volume. In a 2017 meta-analysis of 15 studies, Schoenfeld, Ogborn and Krieger found each additional weekly set was associated with a 0.37% greater gain in muscle size, a graded dose-response (Journal of Sports Sciences, 2017). Actus plans weekly sets per muscle against those landmarks and schedules deloads; change your equipment or training days and the program is regenerated. Neither app has a chatbot write the plan.

In Fitbod a skipped day only changes which muscles count as fresh for the next session, and its help center does not document an injury intake at onboarding. In Actus a missed session reshuffles the rest of the week instead of resetting the program, a pain streak changes exercises and loads, and a gap of 14 days opens a return path.

For an exercise you want to avoid, Fitbod's help center documents Don't Recommend Again, which excludes it from future sessions. Actus treats repeated pain reports on an exercise as a signal and changes the plan around it. Neither app diagnoses anything; pain that keeps coming back is a question for a professional.

Both apps suggest a weight and reps for every set. Fitbod recalculates the suggestion from your logged sets each session and learns from your edits. Actus applies progressive overload on the last set of each exercise: hold the load, add 2.5%, or cap the intensity, and the weekly regeneration carries the result into next week.

The difference is where the number comes from. Fitbod's is a fresh estimate each visit, refined by the edits you make. The Actus number is a small step from the last set you logged on that exercise, the way a coach's notebook moves: a little more when the set was clean, the same when it was not, a deload when the block asks.

Actus has a coach in the app: a chat where you ask for a change, see a preview of what would move in the plan, confirm it, and the plan updates. It never diagnoses. Fitbod has no chat coach and no audio coaching; its App Store page says pro fitness trainers are available via email.

What the Actus Coach is for: "I only have 40 minutes today", "the squat rack is taken", "I want a second leg day". Each request becomes a preview of the sessions it would touch, and nothing moves until you confirm. Fitbod's email trainers are a real channel for questions, but they sit outside the workout; inside it, your levers are the edits you make and the option to exclude an exercise.

Fitbod runs on iPhone (iOS 18 or later), Apple Watch, Mac with Apple silicon, Apple Vision, Android, and Wear OS with a tile. Actus runs on iPhone and Apple Watch, with Mac (Apple silicon) listed on the App Store; there is no Android version. Both log sets from the Apple Watch.

If you are on Android, the comparison ends here: Fitbod is the one you can install. On the wrist, both apps log sets. Fitbod also has a Wear OS tile; Actus also writes the finished workout to Apple Health.

Fitbod has no free tier: its help center describes a seven-day trial that asks for a card. The lowest SKUs listed on the US App Store are $12.99 a month and $79.99 a year. Actus is free to start (full plan, three completed workouts, ten Coach messages), then $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year.

Checked on 28 September 2026 against the App Store In-App Purchases lists and Fitbod's help center. The US list also shows $15.99 a month and $95.99 a year, the figures reviewers usually quote. On the lowest annual SKU the two apps cost the same in the US; the difference is whether you are paying for a session or a program.

Pick Fitbod if you are on Android, if you train at changing gyms and want a session built for whatever equipment is there, or if you do not want a program at all. Pick Actus if you want one multi-week program that keeps adjusting to what you logged, with a coach in the app, on iPhone and Apple Watch.

Stephen Sheehan at Garage Gym Reviews, in a review updated 25 September 2026, writes: "If you want a fairly low-cost tool that helps create customized workout plans and offers detailed performance tracking, it's definitely a viable option." Actus is built for the person who wants the week and the block handled: you open the app, the session is there, you train, and next week is already adjusted to what happened.