Tonal review: a full gym on the wall, if you can fit it
Official site: tonal.com
Where it lands
Tonal took the top spot, and it did so as the odd one out. Every other app on our list runs on a phone you already carry; Tonal is a screen and two arms bolted to a stud wall that generate resistance electronically. We scored it as much on the steel as on the software, because the coaching only enters the picture once the machine is installed. On what it can do, nothing else here comes close. On what it asks of you first, nothing else here comes close either.
The hardware reality
The unit replaces a rack of plates with up to two hundred pounds of digital resistance, delivered through cables. Mounted, your home gym is a panel about the size of a mirror. In use it is genuinely clever: the cables shift load mid-set, pile on extra weight during the lowering phase, and ease off if you stall. The catch is plain and large. You need the wall, a professional installation and a serious budget before a single coached session begins.
What the coaching adds
Once the membership is running, Tonal looks like its app rivals, and here it is strong. It measures the force you produce on every rep, then sets the next session's weight from that, which deletes the plate math completely. Programs are coach-led and progressive, and the strength tracking is the most exact in this group because the machine is the sensor. For guided strength, the data sits a clear step beyond what a phone can infer from taps and timers.
The full cost of owning one
Membership runs $59.95 a month, the priciest recurring fee on our list, and it sits on top of the hardware and the install. There is no way to sample the coaching without buying in, so Tonal is a commitment rather than a trial. If you would otherwise pay for a gym for years, the long-run sum is gentler than the sticker suggests, yet the first-year outlay is still the heaviest here by a distance.
Score, point by point
| Coaching quality | 8/10 | |
| Strength tracking | 10/10 | |
| Beginner support | 7/10 | |
| Value for money | 5/10 | |
| Hardware build | 9/10 | |
| Setup and installation | 5/10 | |
| Progress tracking | 10/10 | |
| Workout variety | 8/10 | |
| Space required | 4/10 | |
| New content cadence | 8/10 | |
| Cancellation terms | 7/10 | |
| Availability in the US | 8/10 |
Who should buy in
Tonal makes sense for a committed strength trainee who wants a complete gym in a small footprint and has both the budget and the wall for it. Anyone testing the waters or working to a normal app budget will get coached programming from Ladder for a fraction of the price, running on the phone already in their pocket. Tonal is excellent at its job. It simply asks the most before it does anything at all.
Alternatives
Ladder
Coached strength on your phone, with no hardware and a far smaller bill at the end of the month.
Visit Ladder