Comparison

Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® vs RUN interval

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K®

This app offers a 20-week training program designed for beginners aiming to complete a marathon. It utilizes a run-walk method to reduce impact and injury risk, guided by an audio coach. Features include run mapping, health app integration, and community forums.

Highlights
  • 20-week run-walk marathon training program
  • Audio coach and alerts
  • Map your run
  • Health app integration
  • Community forums
  • Light and dark modes
Features
Read full description

■ The Official Marathon Trainer App by C25K® ■ Official partners and the ONLY C25K (Couch to 5K) app featured on FITBIT and SAMSUNG smart watches! ■ Featured on The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Men's Fitness, Forbes, Mashable, Glamour Magazine, Popsugar Fitness, CBS News, NBC News, Macworld, Cosmopolitan, Lifehacker, WebMD, and many more! From the same makers of the #1 C25K® Trainer app, Marathon Trainer follows the same successful recipe to create an easy simple 26.2 (42k) program. Ideal for first-time marathoners and those who are new to running. The program uses a blend of running and power walking in training and racing. You’ll soon be able to run-walk the entire marathon. ≈ Free Trial ≈ ◉ Train the first week for free! ◉ Train to complete a full 26.2 (42k) marathon using a RUN/WALK ratio See thousands of real success stories and race photos of your fellow runners using these running program at Facebook.com/c25kfree This proven 20 week plan is designed for beginners. The run/walk breaks help make the full marathon less grueling and reduces the overall impact and risk of injury. Don’t think that just because walking is involved that your time will be slower or that you'll be accomplishing less. Many veteran runners have posted personal best times after switching to this run walk method! Using a ratio of running and walking will better manage your fatigue and give you the muscle resource and mental confidence to handle the later parts of the race. Turn on our award winning music and just press start! Our audio coach will guide you through your run! It's that easy! ≈ Less is More ≈ ◎ Easy to learn. Just press start! ◎ Ideal for beginners. ◎ 20 weeks total. ≈ Features ≈ ◉ Proven 20 week marathon training run-walk program (1st week free) ◉ Convenient audio coach and alerts ◉ Map your run at the end of your workout! ◉ Light and dark modes ◉ Health app integration ◉ Free iPad integration for indoor treadmills ◉ Integrated with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram ◉ Access to our forums with thousands of veterans and newcomers starting the app. Join the community and meet other runners! ≈ NEW Zen Unlimited Pass - Try it for free! ≈ ◉ Award winning music curated from top DJ's! ◉ Scientifically proven to increase motivation by 35% ◉ Unlimited access to all pro features across ALL Zen Labs Fitness running apps ◉ Unlock calories, distance, Apple watch integration, and more ◉ Full access to C25K, 10K, 13.1, and 26.2 programs ◉ 4 apps for the price of 1! One subscription, multiple apps! Questions/comments? Email us at contactus@zenlabsfitness.com or visit us at www.zenlabsfitness.com. ≈ Connect ≈ Facebook: @C25Kfree Twitter: @C25Kfree Instagram: @officialc25k Hashtag: #C25K Zen Labs is a proud supporter of the National Breast Cancer Coalition. breastcancerdeadline2020.org Subscription pricing and terms: The subscription will automatically renew unless turned off in your iTunes Account Settings at least 24 hours before current period ends. You can go to your iTunes Account settings to manage your subscription and turn off auto-renew. Your iTunes Account will be charged when the purchase is confirmed. If you subscribe before your free trial ends, the rest of your free trial period will be forfeited as soon as your purchase is confirmed. Privacy Policy & Terms of Use: https://www.zenlabsfitness.com/privacy-policy/ Apple Standard Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Legal Disclaimer This app and any information given by it or by Zen Labs LLC are for educational purposes only. You should always consult your healthcare provider before beginning any fitness program. C25K® is a registered trademark of Zen Labs LLC

About

RUN interval

This app simplifies interval and Fartlek running by allowing you to set custom targets for time or distance during hard, easy, and rest efforts. It offers detailed post-run summaries, audio and visual feedback, and an Apple Watch app for enhanced training.

Highlights
  • Customizable interval sessions
  • Time and distance targets
  • Distance Goal option
  • Audio and visual feedback
  • Detailed run summaries
  • Apple Watch app
  • Strava sharing
Features
Read full description

Easily set up and record your Interval and Fartlek running sessions. With the flexibility of using time and/or distance as interval targets for your "Hard", "Easy" and "Rest" efforts. The simple but highly configurable interface on your phone and watch will have you running sooner. Now with a Distance Goal option for your session. Along with great audio and visual feedback, detailed post-run summary, share your runs to Strava, and a full-featured Apple Watch app. You can also record your regular runs with voice-over calling out distance and pace feedback. Key Features: • Easily create flexible custom interval sessions. • Utilize three effort targets "Hard", "Easy" and "Rest" in each set, targeting time or distance (meters or miles). • You can "Skip" any of the three efforts to create flexible sets, like building a progressive intervals session. • NEW: Set a Distance Goal for your session, that repeats the sets from the start until the distance has been reached. • Set a Warm-Up and Warm-Down timer or distance around your session. • Clear and easily glanceable visuals and audio prompts, including vibrations. • Voice-over prompts to save you from looking at the screen, great for iPhone or headphone users. • Voice-over prompts include the upcoming intervals effort and time/distance amount, and your last intervals average pace and heart rate. • Full-featured Apple Watch App! • Heart Rate Zones! (see description below) • Indoor Mode, no GPS, for treadmill running. • Sound Mode, for normal, discrete or silent audio prompts on your watch. • Vibration feedback on both the phone and watch. • Detailed run summary, showing pace for hard and easy efforts. • The run summary also includes interval breakdown, distance breakdown and heart rate details. • Play music or podcasts while running and still hear the audio prompts. • Sharing. Share a summary photo with your friends. • Private data. We don’t send any of your data to a server or share it with anyone. Session Types: • Normal Run – Record a normal run, long or short. • Record Intervals – If you run with a group or do an undefined session, then use the Record Interval option. It allows you to manually change between "Hard" and "Easy" reps, allowing you to record your session. • Custom Intervals – Our fully flexible intervals that allow you to use time and/or distance for the efforts. Add multiple intervals sets together to create the session you want. Sharing: From the summary screen, you can share your runs with friends or across social media. If you want to share directly with friends or across other social media, you can share a summary image with the details of your run. Heart Rate Zones: (Apple Watch Only) Zones are displayed as grouped percentages of your maximum heart rate. Giving you an indication of your current work rate based on your current heart rate. Just enter your maximum workout heart rate into our Settings screen and they will display on your Watch the next time you run. Zone 1: Very Light Effort 50-60% (Gray) Zone 2: Light Effort 60-70% (Blue) Zone 3: Moderate Effort 70-80% (Green) Zone 4: Hard Effort 80-90% (Yellow) Zone 5: Maximum Effort 90-100% (Red) Privacy: We don’t want to know where you have run, that's for you to worry about. We don’t send any of your data to a server or share it with anyone you don't want too. We keep your running records safe in Apple Health so you have control. Apple Heath gives you the control over who accesses your data. We only write and read the data we record from your running. Feedback: And because we don't send any data to a server, we need you to send us feedback and suggestions. Hit the Support link below or visit our website to contact us.

Screenshots

Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K®4 screens
RUN interval4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: RUN interval at none against Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K®'s shown. RUN interval also leads on review sentiment (77% vs 47%). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and RUN interval sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® against 4.7 for RUN interval. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.7K and 1K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 47% of Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K®'s written reviews are positive against 77% of RUN interval's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® ships an update every 6 weeks, RUN interval every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® versus RUN interval: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K®RUN interval
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.7K ratings)4.7 (1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.7% of reviews77.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.7K — better1K
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod, Apple Watch
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size319 MB34 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZen LabsCAN YOU HEAR ME SOFTWARE

Customer experience

Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K®

All ratings1,659 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral2.7%
Negative5.5%
Written reviews105 reviews
Positive46.7%
Neutral7.6%
Negative45.7%

RUN interval

All ratings1,003 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral1.6%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews192 reviews
Positive77.1%
Neutral5.2%
Negative17.7%

Bugs and requests

Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K®

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Workouts not syncing properly
  • Notifications and audio cues not working consistently
  • App crashing after recent updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to customize training plan
  • Option to view past workout stats
  • Standalone Apple Watch app functionality
  • Volume control for audio cues
  • Integration with other fitness apps

RUN interval

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K®

Subscriptions4
  • Zen Unlimited Pass Monthly1 Month trial$4.991 Month
  • Unlock Your Potential7 Days trial$29.993 Months
  • Unlock Your Potential1 Month trial$29.993 Months
Show 1 more
  • Zen Unlimited Pass Annual7 Days trial$74.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlock Workout List$0.99
2 purchases

RUN interval

One-time2
  • The full RUN interval$1.99
  • The full RUN interval$3.99

Questions

Is Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® free?
Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is RUN interval free?
RUN interval is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® or RUN interval?
RUN interval is rated higher. Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while RUN interval averages 4.7 from 1K ratings.
Do Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® or RUN interval have ads?
Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® shows ads; RUN interval does not.
Which is updated more often, Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® or RUN interval?
Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® ships an update every 6 weeks, and RUN interval every 3 months. Most recently, Marathon 26.2 Trainer by C25K® was updated on November 3, 2026 and RUN interval on November 2, 2026.

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