Comparison

Trace vs Runnerd

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

Head to head
About

Trace

Features
Read full description

Deep analysis of your training and health data, a plan that fits around your everyday life, and an AI coach you can ask anything. What used to take several apps and a coach now sits in one app: trace. WHAT THE APP COMPUTES • Readiness: a score from 0 to 100 every morning from HRV, resting heart rate, sleep and your recent training load, each factor measured against your own values from the past weeks rather than population norms • Training load: fitness, fatigue and form (CTL, ATL, TSB), with a warning when your ramp gets too steep or your training too monotonous • Durability and aerobic efficiency: how well your power holds up when the ride gets long, and whether your heart rate is coming down at the same power • VO2max and fitness age, both tracked over months • Heat acclimatization, derived automatically from your normal sessions • Cycling: Critical Power and W' with no test protocol, plus power curve, W'bal and your rider type • Running: critical pace, heart rate recovery and training effect • Climbs: detected automatically, with vertical metres per hour and pacing, and every one of your ascents comparable BEYOND THE NUMBERS • Training plans that follow your goal, the time you have and what you can actually handle. When life gets in the way, the plan adapts instead of punishing you with a red deficit • Even without a plan trace suggests a session every day, and with a subscription you can also create your own from the workout catalogue • One tap sends a planned session to your head unit or your watch, with the warm-up, the intervals and targets in watts or heart rate • After every session the workout report shows how well plan and execution lined up • Race preparation with course simulation, race prediction and pacing for your target event • Fueling plans with concrete carbohydrate and fluid amounts, for training and for race day • The trace Coach knows your data, your history and your goals, and answers any question about them HOW THE NUMBERS ARE MADE trace computes all of these values itself, with no language model involved. The AI explains them, answers questions and drafts your plans, and even there it stays inside the computed limits. CONNECTS TO YOUR SETUP Apple Health (iPhone and Apple Watch), Wahoo, Polar, Suunto, intervals.icu (for Garmin data, for example) and Hammerhead. You can also import FIT, TCX and GPX files directly. Once connected, new sessions land in trace automatically. YOUR DATA BELONGS TO YOU Hosted in the EU, full data export anytime, no sharing of your health data for advertising. You can delete your account and all your data right in the app. START FOR FREE trace is free to use. The first two weeks of every training plan are yours to train in full, device push included. Advanced analyses and features come with an optional subscription. No ads, no selling of your data. The same account works at usetrace.de on a big screen. Questions or feedback? We are glad to help: https://usetrace.de/support SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION trace Athlete and trace Pro are auto-renewing subscriptions with a term of one month or one year. Payment is charged to your Apple ID upon purchase confirmation. The subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled in your App Store settings at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms and Conditions: https://usetrace.de/agb Privacy Policy: https://usetrace.de/datenschutz

About

Runnerd

This app analyzes your running data from Apple Health to provide insights into your training, readiness, and performance. It offers detailed run breakdowns, season timelines, and coaching advice without requiring an account or subscription.

Highlights
  • Readiness Score calculation
  • Detailed run analysis
  • Performance Management Chart
  • Season timeline view
  • Three coaching tones
  • Shoe mileage tracking
  • Personal bests tracking
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Runnerd is a running coach and a serious analytics app in one. It builds a plan around your goal, explains every recommendation and works with the runs you've already logged. No subscription. No account. No compromises. HOW IT WORKS Connect Apple Health and Runnerd reads your past runs, whether they came from your Apple Watch, your iPhone or another running app. No blank slate: Runnerd knows where you stand from day one. Keep tracking with whatever you use today. Set a goal, like your next half marathon, and pick a coach. The Patient One builds up carefully, The Ambitious One pushes harder, and The Balanced One sits in between. The difference shows up in your plan, not just in the tone. Runnerd maps out every week until race day and schedules more of the run types you enjoy. You can add your own runs whenever you like. Each morning, your coach checks the plan against your readiness. After each run, it reviews how it went. Ahead of your goal? It'll tell you. Goal asking for more than your coach allows? It'll tell you that too. FOR NERDS WHO RUN Fitness, fatigue and form, running economy, intensity, training load: Runnerd shows whether your training is working and explains every term along the way. It's all built on proven sports science, not AI: Banister for fitness and form, Daniels VDOT for training paces and predictions, Karvonen for heart rate zones. IPHONE AND MAC Check in on your iPhone, dig deeper on your Mac with a native Mac app. Your data syncs through your private iCloud. Runnerd collects nothing and runs no servers. AND THE DETAILS Shoe mileage with a heads-up before a pair wears out. Personal bests, spotted automatically. Running partners. Widgets for your Home Screen and Lock Screen. Share runs, weeks and personal bests as images. FREE, WITH A ONE-TIME PRO UPGRADE Runnerd is free to use. Pro adds race predictions, running technique analysis, GPX export and The Ambitious One. One purchase covers iPhone and Mac.

Screenshots

Trace4 screens
Runnerd4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Trace at 15.1 against Runnerd's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Trace sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month and Runnerd sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Trace ships an update every 8 days, Runnerd every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Trace versus Runnerd: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTraceRunnerd
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, Mac
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size108 MB16 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperLukas RamsaierNorma Steller

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Trace

Subscriptions4
  • trace Athlete14 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • trace Pro14 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • trace Athlete Yearly14 Days trial$69.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • trace Pro Yearly14 Days trial$129.991 Year
2 purchases

Runnerd

One-time2
  • Runnerd Pro$7.99
  • Support a Nerd$17.99

Questions

Is Trace free?
Trace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Runnerd free?
Runnerd is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Trace or Runnerd have ads?
Neither Trace nor Runnerd shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Trace or Runnerd?
Trace ships an update every 8 days, and Runnerd every 2 weeks. Most recently, Trace was updated on October 10, 2026 and Runnerd on October 12, 2026.

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