8fit Review: 5 Things Nobody Tells You

Last tested: April 2026 | Independent review — not sponsored | We tested this ourselves so you don’t have to

Most fitness apps solve half your problem and leave you to figure out the rest yourself. You either get decent workouts with no guidance on what to eat, or a solid calorie tracker that leaves you guessing what to actually do with your body. 8fit pitches itself as the solution to that gap — one app that handles both your training and your nutrition, without requiring a gym membership or a kitchen full of exotic ingredients. Bold claim. But does it actually deliver?

We put 8fit through its paces for several weeks — real workouts, real meal planning, real-world use on a busy schedule. The result? It’s genuinely solid for a specific type of person, but there are some things the app’s marketing conveniently glosses over. We tested this ourselves so you don’t have to, and this review gives you the unfiltered truth: what works, what doesn’t, who should download it, and who should look elsewhere.

If you’re a complete beginner trying to build better habits without being overwhelmed, or someone coming back to fitness after a long break, 8fit has a lot going for it. But if you’re already past the beginner stage or you want serious depth in either the workout or nutrition side, you might find it falls short. Let’s get into it.

What Is 8fit?

8fit is a health and fitness app built around one core idea: that sustainable weight loss and improved fitness require both smart training and smart eating — at the same time. Rather than choosing between a workout app and a nutrition tracker, 8fit combines both into a single platform. You get personalised home workout programmes and customised meal plans generated from a short onboarding quiz that asks about your goals, current fitness level, available time, and dietary preferences. The whole thing is designed to work without a gym membership, expensive equipment, or hours of free time.

Founded in Berlin, 8fit has grown into a genuinely mature platform with millions of users worldwide. It’s available on both iOS and Android, and has been featured in major publications for its holistic approach to health. This isn’t a rushed start-up product — the user experience is clean, the content is professionally produced, and the overall philosophy is refreshingly sensible: moderate exercise, balanced nutrition, sustainable habits. It won’t promise you a six-pack in 30 days, which is either a selling point or a disappointment depending on what you’re after.

Where 8fit really earns its place is in the beginner-to-intermediate space. If you’ve never really had a structured programme before, or you’ve fallen off the wagon after injury, work pressure, or life in general, 8fit gives you a realistic entry point. It’s worth noting that if you’re already tracking detailed macros and following a progressive overload programme, you’ll likely find it limiting — and you might be better served by something like our MyFitnessPal review for nutrition tracking depth, or a dedicated lifting tracker for the gym side of things.

Key Features

Personalised Workout Programme

When you first open 8fit, you’ll be taken through a short onboarding quiz. It’s not lengthy or annoying — it covers your fitness goals (lose weight, build strength, improve fitness), your current activity level, how much time you have per session, and whether you have any physical limitations. Based on your answers, it generates a customised workout programme just for you.

The sessions are HIIT-based, require no equipment, and need very little space — a cleared living room floor is all you need. Workouts typically run from 10 to 30 minutes, making them genuinely achievable even on packed days. Each exercise comes with video demonstrations and clear instructions, so you won’t be left guessing whether your form is completely wrong. The app also tracks your progress and adjusts as you improve, though the progression system is fairly gentle — more on that in the cons.

Customised Meal Plans

This is where 8fit really differentiates itself from most fitness apps. Rather than just logging what you’ve eaten after the fact, 8fit gives you a weekly meal plan built around your calorie targets, dietary preferences (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and others are catered for), and even how much time you have to cook. Each meal comes with a full recipe, shopping list, and macro breakdown.

It’s not as granular as dedicated nutrition apps — you can’t easily substitute individual ingredients or build out highly specific macros — but for most people who just want to eat better without obsessing over every gram of protein, it strikes the right balance. The recipes are practical, the portion sizes are realistic, and nothing requires a culinary degree to prepare.

Progress Tracking

8fit lets you log your workouts, track your weight over time, and monitor your meals completed. The progress dashboards are clean and easy to read — you can see your workout streak, calories consumed versus target, and how many sessions you’ve completed over the week or month. It’s motivating without being overwhelming.

What’s missing is deeper body composition tracking or integration with wearables like Garmin or Fitbit. If you’re used to syncing everything to one central health hub, the lack of third-party integration might frustrate you. Apple Health integration is available on iOS, which helps, but it’s not a seamless multi-device ecosystem.

Recipe Library and Shopping Lists

Beyond the auto-generated meal plan, 8fit gives you access to a library of healthy recipes you can browse and add to your plan. The app will then compile a shopping list for the week, organised by category (produce, protein, dairy, etc.), which is a genuinely useful feature for busy people. It’s the kind of small detail that separates an app you actually use from one you abandon after a fortnight.

The recipe quality is solid — varied, reasonably balanced, and not unrealistically time-consuming. There’s enough variety to avoid meal plan fatigue, though over several months you will start to see the same meals cycling back. The library isn’t infinite.

Mindfulness and Lifestyle Content

8fit includes a section covering sleep, stress management, and general wellness habits — things most fitness apps completely ignore. This content is relatively brief compared to the workout and nutrition sections, but it adds a layer of holistic thinking that aligns with the app’s overall philosophy. If you’re someone who knows that poor sleep and chronic stress are sabotaging your fitness goals, this section is a useful reminder rather than a comprehensive programme.

Clean, Beginner-Friendly Interface

The UX deserves its own mention. 8fit is genuinely easy to navigate. There’s no steep learning curve, no cluttered dashboard, and no confusing menu structures. You open the app, you see your workout for the day and your next meal. That simplicity is a deliberate design choice, and it works well for the target audience. It won’t impress tech-savvy users who want granular controls, but for someone returning to fitness after years away, the lack of friction is a feature, not a limitation.

How 8fit Compares to the Competition

We tested 8fit against its two closest rivals — MyFitnessPal (the dominant nutrition tracking app) and Nike Training Club (a strong free workout app). Here’s how they stack up:

Feature	8fit	MyFitnessPal	Nike Training Club
Personalised Workout Plans	✅	❌	✅
Meal Plans Included	✅	❌	❌
Calorie / Macro Tracking	Basic	✅ Advanced	❌
No Equipment Required	✅	N/A	✅
Recipe Library	✅	❌	❌
Free Tier Available	Limited	✅ Generous	✅ Fully Free
Gym / Weight Training Support	❌	❌	✅
Wearable / App Integration	Apple Health only	✅ Wide	✅ Apple / Google
UK Pricing (Annual)	~£8.99/month	~£8.99/month	Free
Best For	All-in-one beginners	Nutrition obsessives	Workout variety seekers

Pros and Cons

Pricing

8fit operates on a freemium model — you can download the app and access a limited set of features for free, but to unlock the full workout library, meal plans, and recipe content, you’ll need a Pro subscription. Here’s the breakdown as of April 2026:

Plan	Price	What’s Included
Free	£0	Limited workouts, basic meal preview, no full recipes
Pro — Monthly	~£19.99/month	Full workout library, complete meal plans, recipes, shopping lists, progress tracking
Pro — Annual	~£8.99/month (billed annually at ~£107.88)	Everything in Pro Monthly, significantly better value — this is the one to go for

The honest verdict on pricing: the monthly plan is expensive for what you get. At £19.99/month, you’re paying more than a basic gym membership in some parts of the UK. The annual plan brings it down to a reasonable level — around £9/month for both workouts and a meal planning service is fair. Most comparable apps charge similar rates for less comprehensive offerings.

Worth noting: 8fit frequently runs promotional pricing on the annual plan, particularly when you first sign up or after the free trial ends. It’s worth checking whether a discount is being offered before committing to the full-price annual rate. The 7-day free trial gives you genuine access to Pro features, so use that time properly — do the workouts, use the meal plan, and make an informed decision before any money changes hands.

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Who Is 8fit Best For?

Our Verdict

8fit does something most fitness apps don’t bother attempting: it treats food and exercise as a single problem requiring a single solution. And largely, it pulls it off. If you’re a beginner — or someone who’s been away from fitness for a while and needs a structured, low-friction way back in — this app is genuinely one of the best options available at this price point. The workouts are practical, the meal plans are realistic, and the whole experience is designed around sustainability rather than suffering.

But it’s not without its limitations, and it’s worth being honest about them. The nutrition side is functional rather than powerful — if you’re already comfortable tracking macros in detail, you’ll find 8fit restrictive compared to something like MyFitnessPal. The workout programming works well at first but doesn’t offer the kind of progressive structure that keeps more experienced trainers challenged over the long term. And the free tier is so limited it barely counts — you’re essentially being shown a preview and asked to subscribe.

Overall, it earns a solid 7.8 out of 10. The concept is right, the execution is mostly excellent, and for its target audience it delivers genuine value. Go in with realistic expectations — this is a lifestyle improvement tool, not a performance training platform — and you’ll likely be satisfied. Annual plan only, though. The monthly price is hard to justify.

Category	Score
Value for Money	7.5/10
Features	8.0/10
Ease of Use	9.0/10
UK Availability	8.5/10
Overall	7.8/10

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is 8fit worth the money?

On the annual plan, yes — for beginners or people returning to fitness who want both workouts and meal plans in one app, 8fit offers solid value at around £8–9 per month. On the monthly plan at nearly £20, it’s harder to justify, particularly when free alternatives like Nike Training Club exist for workouts alone. The key is knowing what you’re paying for: a combined fitness and nutrition tool, not a premium training platform.

Does 8fit actually work for weight loss?

8fit can absolutely support weight loss if you follow the programme consistently. The combination of calorie-controlled meal plans and regular HIIT workouts creates the right conditions for a moderate caloric deficit. That said, no app causes weight loss on its own — you have to do the work. 8fit’s real advantage is that it removes the decision fatigue around what to eat and what workout to do, which makes consistency more achievable.

Can you use 8fit without a gym?

Yes — and this is one of its strongest selling points. All 8fit workouts are designed to be done at home with no equipment and minimal space. The sessions are bodyweight-based HIIT workouts that work equally well in a living room, a hotel room, or a garden. If you’re purely a home trainer, 8fit is built for you.

What’s the difference between 8fit free and 8fit Pro?

The free version of 8fit gives you a brief introduction to the app — a limited number of workouts and a preview of the meal planning feature — but it quickly hits paywalls. To access the full workout library, complete meal plans, detailed recipes, and shopping lists, you need a Pro subscription. In practical terms, the free tier is more of an extended trial than a genuinely usable free product.

How does 8fit compare to MyFitnessPal?

They’re solving different problems. MyFitnessPal is primarily a nutrition tracking tool with a massive food database, barcode scanning, and detailed macro logging — it’s far more powerful on the nutrition side but offers nothing in terms of workout programming. 8fit is more balanced across both, but less deep in either. If nutrition tracking depth is your priority, MyFitnessPal wins. If you want an all-in-one beginner-friendly platform, 8fit is the better choice.