Comparison

Run Plan vs Runner Lab

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

Head to head
About

Run Plan

This app offers personalized running training plans from 5K to marathon, designed for Apple Watch. It features guided workouts, smart pace adjustments, and detailed progress tracking, all while prioritizing user privacy with local data storage.

Highlights
  • Personalized training plans (5K to Marathon)
  • Apple Watch-first experience
  • Guided interval workouts
  • Smart pace recalibration
  • Detailed progress analytics
  • Flexible rescheduling
  • Privacy-first local data storage
Features
Read full description

Run Plan is the Apple Watch–first training planner with no account, no ads, and no subscription. Train for 5K, 10K, half marathon, or the full 42.2K with personalized plans that fit your schedule. Your training data stays in Apple Health, on your device. BUILT FOR APPLE WATCH Plan from your iPhone, run from your wrist. Start workouts, follow guided intervals, or go for a spontaneous run — all directly from your Apple Watch. No phone needed on the run. TRAIN AT THE RIGHT INTENSITY Every workout is guided by heart rate zones or target pace, so you always run at the right effort. Easy runs stay easy. Threshold runs hit their targets. Intervals are timed and zoned. No guesswork — and pacing that guards you against overtraining. PLANS THAT FIT YOUR LIFE Pick your goal, your race date, and your weekly schedule. Get a clear day-by-day plan with phases that build base, sharpen speed, and peak you for race day. Life happens? Move runs around your week with one tap. Your calendar always shows exactly what's next. Missed a few weeks or crushed a time trial? Run Plan can smartly recalibrate your target paces to match your current fitness level — but you always preview and approve every change. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS Track your fitness trend, training load, and pace dynamics as you train. The Progress view provides deep analytics to help you balance effort and recovery, and compares your planned vs. actual weekly volume. Plus, stay on top of your schedule with Home Screen widgets that show today's run and your week at a glance. PLANS FOR EVERY LEVEL • 5K — train for your first race or a faster time • 10K — build endurance and speed • Half marathon — go further, train smarter • Marathon — the full 42.2K, from first long run to finish line • Pro plans — Half Pro (Sub-1H30) and Marathon Pro (Sub-3H) with 6-day weeks • VO2 Maxxing — an 8-week aerobic-power block to grow your engine • Maintenance & Recovery — stay race-fit between goals, or ease back after a big race WHAT'S INCLUDED • Personalized training plans from 5K to marathon, plus Pro-level racing plans • Heart-rate-zone or target-pace training (your choice) • Apple Watch-first experience — start, follow, finish from your wrist • Live interval coaching with zone targets, splits, and timed recoveries • Smart recalibration to adjust paces based on your current fitness • Progress view with deep analytics, pace trends, and planned vs. actual weekly volume • Planned vs. actual pace for every completed interval • Detailed run stats — pace, splits, distance, heart rate • Phase-based periodization (base / speed / peak / taper) • Flexible rescheduling — move runs whenever life happens • Clean calendar view of your training • Hill repeats, threshold runs, intervals, long runs, strides • Home Screen widgets for quick access to your daily run • Full privacy — training data stored locally via Apple HealthKit • No GPS data leaves your device PRIVACY-FIRST Your training data lives in Apple Health on your device. Your heart rate, your splits, your routes — we never see them, and your GPS data never leaves your device. The app collects only anonymous usage statistics and crash reports, so we can keep making Run Plan better. BUILT FOR RUNNERS No account. No ads. No subscription nags. No social feed. No streak guilt. Just a quiet, well-designed running coach in your pocket and on your wrist. Whether you're starting your first 5K or chasing a marathon finish line — Run Plan gives you the structure to get there.

About

Runner Lab

Read full description

Runner Lab reads your runs from Apple Health and turns them into a clear picture: how much you've done, where you're heading and what you can reach by the end of the year. Everything happens ON YOUR IPHONE. Runner Lab reads Health read-only, never writes to it, has no account and uses no tracking. THE YEAR AS A LAP OF THE TRACK • Set a goal in miles or kilometers: the checkered finish is the goal, the lap run is your distance to date. • Below the track, one line at a time: the finish at this pace, the gap to the plan, the year end, the markers passed, the years at the same hour. • The current week as bars, day by day, against the plan, last week or your typical week; and every run with the thing to notice. MY YEAR • Free: your year page by page — the distance, the day you run most, your biggest month, the weeks, the climbing, the year's best time. • The goal gets its page only if you reached it, with the day. FORM & TRAINING LOAD • Today's form with its curve, and recovery: HRV, resting heart rate, VO₂max. • With Runner Pro: acute/chronic load week by week, time in zone and efficiency. RECORDS & PREDICTIONS • Personal records on standard distances, outdoors and indoors, and how much each one beat the previous. • The race of the years: each year's best on the same track. • With Runner Pro: the race prediction with its range, and the years on the distance. RECURRING ROUTES • Runner Lab recognizes the loops you repeat by comparing the shape of the GPS tracks: the runs, the best time, every repeat. • Rename, merge or split routes. • With Runner Pro: the latest repeats compared, and the best and the latest split by split. HABITS • Your running days with the calendar, the longest break, your typical week, the time you set off, how often you run, long runs, the months and the years. • With Runner Pro: every month and every year against the year before. EVERY RUN • Time, pace, track, elevation and zones; the splits with their climb and heart rate; power, cadence, stride, energy and cardiac drift. • With Runner Pro: comparisons with your record and the same route, split by split, load and the two halves. WIDGET, SHORTCUTS & NOTIFICATIONS • The "Year" widget on your Home Screen and Lock Screen: the year's oval, the goal share and the distance left. When the data gets old, it says so. • Three actions for the Shortcuts app. • Optional, local notifications: Sunday, the first of the month, after every run, records, goal reached. SHARE & EXPORT • A card for a run, a record, the goal or the year, with no coordinates and no maps. • Every run as GPX and the archive as CSV. THE RUNNER LAB EDGE Apple only computes form and load for natively recorded workouts. Runner Lab computes them ALSO for runs imported into Health from other apps or devices. RUNNER PRO The numbers are free: goal and projection, the week, the archive, every run, today's form, records, routes, habits. Runner Pro opens the analyses: load and time in zone, efficiency, predictions, the comparisons of every run and every route, months and years against the year before. Monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time purchase. The yearly subscription starts with a seven-day free trial. ACCESSIBILITY Larger Text up to accessibility sizes, charts with VoiceOver's Audio Graph, contrast measured in both themes, 44-point tap targets, Reduce Motion respected. PRIVACY No server, no account, no tracking. Run maps come from Apple Maps. Two optional features, off by default: "Names from places" sends a route's halfway point once to Apple's geocoding to obtain its name; "Your choices in iCloud" keeps a copy of your goals and preferences in your iCloud, with no health data. Requires runs recorded in Apple Health. No data yet? You can explore the app with sample data. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://privacy.coden.cloud/runner

Screenshots

Run Plan4 screens
Runner Lab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Run Plan at none against Runner Lab's 3. Runner Lab's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Runner Lab sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Run Plan asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Run Plan ships an update monthly, Runner Lab every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 28, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Run Plan versus Runner Lab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRun PlanRunner Lab
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.5 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB9 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperEkaterina Sergeevna RoyLuigi Coden

In-app purchases

None

Run Plan

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Runner Lab

Subscriptions2
  • Runner Pro - Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Runner Pro - Yearly7 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Runner Pro - Lifetime$59.99

Questions

Is Run Plan free?
Run Plan is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Runner Lab free?
Runner Lab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Run Plan or Runner Lab have ads?
Neither Run Plan nor Runner Lab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Run Plan or Runner Lab?
Run Plan ships an update monthly, and Runner Lab every 5 days. Most recently, Run Plan was updated on October 28, 2026 and Runner Lab on October 28, 2026.

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