Comparison

Stark vs Badger

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

Head to head
About

Stark

Features
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Stark. Workout Tracker Stark is a simple and powerful workout tracker built for lifters who want structure, consistency, and real progress. No ads. No account required. No subscription. Start training instantly. Track workouts, log sets and reps, and follow your progress over time without distractions. Create custom workout routines for push, pull, legs, full body, or your own split. Log every set and rep with ease and keep your training consistent. Progressive overload tracking See your training volume increase over time. View full workout history, track personal records, and monitor strength progression clearly. Streak tracker Stay consistent with a streak system that keeps you accountable. Miss a week and it resets. Keep going and build momentum. Quickly calculate how to load the bar. Enter your target weight and get the exact plates needed instantly. Automatic rest timer starts after each set. Stay on track with countdown alerts so you never lose focus between sets. Exercise library and workout log Access your full exercise library, log weights, track progress per movement, and review your lifting history anytime. Fast, minimal interface designed for training sessions. Works in dark or light mode depending on your environment. Stark is free to download and requires no account or subscription. Just open and start lifting. FEATURES Workout Templates โ€” Build reusable routines for any split and launch them in one tap. Set & Rep Logging โ€” Log every set with weight and reps as you train, in real time. Rest Timer โ€” Auto-starts after each set with a visual countdown and "Get Ready" alert. Plate Calculator โ€” Enter your target weight and instantly see which plates to load. Exercise Library โ€” Browse a full exercise database with per-exercise history and personal records. Session History โ€” Review every past workout with full set-by-set detail. Weekly Report โ€” Get a clear summary of your training each week, including volume, progress, and consistency. Training Streaks โ€” Stay accountable with a streak that resets if you skip a week. Progress Charts โ€” Visualize strength gains and volume trends across time. Exercise Swaps โ€” Quickly swap exercises mid-workout if equipment is taken or you want a change. Dark & Light Mode โ€” Full support for both โ€” looks sharp either way. No ads. No subscriptions. โ€” Free to download, nothing locked away. Fully functional offline!

About

Badger

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Badger is a training journal for lifters. Log your sets fast, run your program, and watch your strength climb. No account, no subscription, no ads, and it works fully offline. Your training data lives on your phone and stays yours. LOG WORKOUTS FAST Weight, reps, RPE and RIR in a couple of taps. Rest timer with per-exercise times, warm-up sets, supersets, per-set comments, and a plate calculator one tap away. Weight in kg and lbs, per exercise if you want. A TIMER THAT TALKS YOU THROUGH THE SET For planks, holds and carries, the set timer counts you in, warns you at 30 and 10 seconds, and calls out the time as it runs down. Pick a female or male voice, or turn it off. A running set shows on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island, and keeps speaking with the screen off. START TRAINING TOMORROW Proven programs are already in the app, with their progression written in: StrongLifts 5x5, Starting Strength, GZCLP, 5/3/1 Boring But Big, nSuns 531LP, Madcow 5x5, Push/Pull/Legs and Upper/Lower. Pick one and train, or build your own from scratch. RUN YOUR PROGRAM Build routines with multiple days, rep ranges, and predefined sets. A slot can carry a progression rule, written as a sentence you read: all sets met, add 2.5 kg; missed three sessions in a row, drop 10%. Every number in it is a chip you can tap. Badger keeps a training max per lift, prescribes sets as a percentage of it, and can run a day as a cycle of weeks, so 5/3/1 is written once instead of four times. The weight it proposes already accounts for your plates, your bar and your machines' real steps, and you can type your own over it. A/B rotation, scheduled days, alternatives for busy equipment, deload and plateau detection are all there and all optional. TRACK PROGRESS AND PRS Automatic personal records for every exercise type, not just weight and reps. Strength graphs, weekly volume by muscle group, a training heatmap, and a muscle coverage map. OPTIONAL APPLE HEALTH SYNC Optional Apple Health sync, off by default: save finished workouts to Health as strength training sessions, bring weigh-ins from your smart scale into the body tracker, and see an end-of-set heart rate on every logged set, from a watch that saves heart rate to Apple Health, with effort trends per exercise. Each is its own switch, and your data never leaves your phone. EVERY GYM, EVERY MACHINE Track the gyms you train at and the machines in them. Machine-scoped history, PRs, and setup notes, so the numbers you see match the equipment in front of you. SHARE WHAT YOU DID A finished workout shares as a card Badger draws for it: the date, your hero number, a line per exercise, in your own theme and accent. A routine shares either as a picture or as a file that carries the whole program, rules and percentages included. Your gym's name and your weights stay off unless you turn them on for that one share. YOUR DATA IS YOURS Import your history from FitNotes, Strong, Hevy, or StrongLifts. Export everything to CSV anytime. Your log backs itself up to your own iCloud, with an optional Google Drive copy for moving to another phone. Everything in Badger today is free, with no caps on routines or history. If paid extras ever appear, they will be new things. A feature you already rely on will not be taken away and sold back to you. BUILT LIKE A JOURNAL A clean field-journal design with light and dark themes and your choice of accent color. 350+ exercises with illustrations and technique notes, plus your own custom exercises, categories, and equipment. No account required. No subscription. No ads. Works offline.

Screenshots

Stark4 screens
Badger4 screens

Verdict

The call

Stark and Badger are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters โ€” price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them โ€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Stark ships an update every 10 days, Badger every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Stark versus Badger: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarkBadger
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysEvery 8 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size50 MB49 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAnton LarssonRON RATOVSKY

In-app purchases

None

Stark

No in-app purchases

None

Badger

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Stark free?
Stark is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Badger free?
Badger is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Stark or Badger have ads?
Neither Stark nor Badger shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Stark or Badger?
Stark ships an update every 10 days, and Badger every 8 days. Most recently, Stark was updated on October 18, 2026 and Badger on October 25, 2026.

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