The best apps for climbing coaches, compared
Short answer
Most coaching apps were built for runners, cyclists or gym clients, so a climbing coach has to fit fingers and boulders into somebody else's fields. If you coach climbers, Blok Sessions is the one built for it: plans in the climber's app, their logged boulders and tests back to you, and finger pain flagged before a session. It's free for 5 climbers. TrainingPeaks is the pick for climbers who also run or ride, TrueCoach for gym strength programs, and Everfit if you sell packages to clients. We make Blok Sessions.
Coaching climbers? The coach area is free for up to 5 climbers: their plans, what they log and who has a sore finger, in one place.
See the coach areaWe make Blok Sessions, and this list includes it. What each tool does comes from its own website in October 2026. Where we couldn't confirm a price, we say how the tool charges instead.
What a climbing coach needs from an app
Coaching software does four jobs. A coach who sends climbers a spreadsheet does all four by hand.
- Get the plan to the climber, session by session, in a place they'll look before training.
- Get the training back: what they did, how hard, which boulders, what they skipped.
- Hear about problems early, above all a sore finger, before the next hard session.
- Keep it manageable at 20 climbers, not just at 3.
Climbing adds things general fitness software doesn't know about: grades, flashes and goes on a boulder, hangboard protocols, finger strength tests, and the difference between a day on the wall and a day off it.
The tools, side by side
| Tool | Built for | Climbing-specific | How it charges | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blok Sessions | Climbing coaches, one on one or squads | Yes | Free for 5 climbers, then €10 a month or €99 a year for 25 | Browser, iPhone; Android in review |
| TrainingPeaks | Endurance coaches | Plans for sale, no climbing tools | Coach subscription; athletes free on Basic, Premium costs more | Web, iPhone, Android |
| TrueCoach | Personal trainers, strength coaches | No | By number of active clients; free for clients | Web, iPhone, Android |
| Everfit | Fitness coaches who sell online | No | Free for 5 clients, then by number of clients, add-ons extra | Web, iPhone, Android |
| Hevy Coach | Strength coaches | A strength page for climbers | Monthly, free trial; free for clients | Web, iPhone, Android |
| Spreadsheet and WhatsApp | Everything | Whatever you type | Free | Everywhere |
Blok Sessions
We built the coach area for climbing coaches. You write a plan for each climber, or start from one in your team's library, and it shows up in their app session by session. Change a day and it changes on their phone. What they log comes back: sessions, boulders with grade and goes, effort, notes, tests (Tindeq force tests included) and Workload against their usual week. Before training they answer a short check-in on sleep, body, head and whether anything hurts. Finger pain goes to the top of your screen.
It runs one on one or with squads, adult or youth, and for climbers under 16 a parent says yes first. You can ask a climber or a squad for tests, and give your own exercises a short video.
Pros: made for climbing; free for 5 climbers; €10 a month or €99 a year for up to 25, any number of coaches; climbers pay nothing. Cons: new and small; the Android app is still in review; no sync to watches or bike computers; no way to take payments from your clients; no plan generator for coaches.
TrainingPeaks
The standard for endurance coaching. Structured workouts with power, pace and heart rate targets go to the athlete's watch or bike computer, and the calendar, comments and compliance scores are mature. It also has a strength builder with an exercise video library, and its marketplace sells some climbing plans written by other coaches.
Pros: the best tool here for climbers who also run, ride or ski tour; device sync; a large plan marketplace. Cons: nothing for boulders, grades or finger tests; climbing sessions have no power or pace for its numbers to work on; a free Basic athlete shows the coach less than a paid Premium one. TrainingPeaks vs Blok Sessions goes through it.
TrueCoach
Coaching software for personal trainers and strength coaches. Multi-week programs go to one client or many, there's a big exercise video library with room for your own videos, and messaging takes photos and video. It shows how many workouts each client completed.
Pros: polished program builder, strong on gym strength work, free for clients. Cons: paid from the start as far as we could see; no grades, boulders or finger tests, so a wall session becomes a note. TrueCoach vs Blok Sessions has more.
Everfit
A fitness coaching platform with a free tier for up to 5 clients. Forms and questionnaires handle intake and weekly check-ins, messaging takes voice notes, and add-ons take payments and automate messages. Some climbing coaches already sell finger rehab and hangboard packages on it.
Pros: free to start; built for selling online coaching; check-in forms you write yourself. Cons: no climbing log or tests; payments and automation cost extra. See Everfit vs Blok Sessions.
Hevy Coach
Coaching on top of the Hevy workout app, priced monthly with a free trial, and free for clients. It has a page for coaching climbers, and what it covers there is strength work: sets, reps, weight, rest and effort. Pick it if your climbers' programs are mostly gym sessions.
A spreadsheet and WhatsApp
Free, flexible and already on everyone's phone. It works for three climbers. Past that the plans live in files nobody opens before training, the reports arrive as voice notes between other messages, and a sore finger gets mentioned after the session it should have changed. Plans without spreadsheets or WhatsApp covers moving off it.
Lattice, Crimpd and the climbing training apps
Lattice and Crimpd are climbing apps, but they deliver their own plans and workouts to climbers. They aren't tools for another coach to run clients in, so they're not compared here.
Where Blok Sessions is the wrong pick
- Your climbers also run, ride or race, and you want one calendar for all of it. Use TrainingPeaks.
- You want to sell packages and take payments in the same app. Use Everfit.
- You want the app to write the plans. The coach area has no generator: you write each plan, or copy one from your library and change it.
Questions
Is there a coaching app made for climbing?
Blok Sessions has a coach area made for climbing coaches, free for up to 5 climbers. The big coaching platforms are built for endurance sports or the gym, and climbing coaches use them by typing hangboard sessions and boulders into general workout fields.
What's the cheapest way to coach climbers with an app?
Two of the apps here have a free tier for 5 clients, Blok Sessions and Everfit. Spreadsheets and WhatsApp cost nothing too, but nothing comes back to you unless the climber writes it out. Blok Sessions is €10 a month or €99 a year for up to 25 climbers, BTW included.
Do my climbers have to pay for the app?
Not in any of these. TrainingPeaks is the one where it matters, because a free Basic athlete account shows the coach less than a paid Premium one. In Blok Sessions climbers use the free app, and on a paid plan they also get the guided timer for your plans and their own Workload.
Which coaching app works for climbers on Android?
TrainingPeaks, TrueCoach and Everfit have Android apps. Blok Sessions is on iPhone, and its Android app is in review at Google. Until it's out, climbers on Android join and train in the web app at bloksessions.com/app with the same account.
Why trust a comparison from one of the apps?
Read the section on where Blok Sessions is the wrong pick, and check the others against their own websites. We describe how each one charges rather than quoting its prices, because prices change and we couldn't confirm every one on the day we wrote this.
Coach your first 5 climbers free
Write each climber's plan, see what they log and read their check-ins before training. Paid plans start at €10 a month for up to 25 climbers.
Free for up to 5 climbers