Best Gym Leaderboard App for Friends (2026): Hevy, Strive, Strava

If your group wants a real leaderboard for lifting, Hevy is the most direct pick: it ranks your best lift on a set list of exercises against the people you follow. Choose Strive when the contest is steps, distance, exercise minutes, or move calories, and Strava when your group mostly runs or rides.

PeakBFF is not a leaderboard app. As of October 2026 it has no friends or global leaderboard you can open in the app. It is a better fit if your group would rather swap recaps than ranks: you can share any finished workout as a card, photo, or video, and keep your own streaks and daily and weekly challenges. That is covered below, with a simple way to run a board by hand.

The options, compared

1. Hevy: the closest thing to a lifting leaderboard

Hevy is a gym log with a social side. Its help centre explains that you open Profile, then Statistics, and scroll to Leaderboard Exercises. Each listed exercise ranks your best result against the people you follow, and you can tap a name to see the workout behind their record. Hevy lists 38 exercises, mostly barbell lifts such as bench press, squat, and deadlift.

You can also open a friend's profile and tap Compare to see workout count, total duration, volume, and muscle split side by side over a window you choose. Two caveats from the same help pages: comparison is limited to the exercises on the leaderboard list, and private profiles need a follow request before others see anything.

Best for: friends who all log in Hevy and want to see who has the heavier bench.

2. Strive: group challenges for movement

Strive's challenge page says you can invite friends, family, or coworkers and compare steps, distance, exercise minutes, or move calories on a leaderboard. Its feature overview also describes time-bound challenges. It fits a group that wants to be more active together. It is less direct for a group that wants to compare sets and reps.

Best for: friends, families, or coworkers running an activity-first challenge.

3. Strava: strong for running and riding groups

Strava's Group Challenges guide describes private mobile challenges with a goal and timeframe, and its Challenges guide explains how eligible activities appear on challenge leaderboards. Strava added a dedicated strength log for sets, reps, and weight in May 2026, but we did not find a lifting-specific challenge leaderboard. Its challenges are built around time, distance, elevation, and activity days.

Best for: running, riding, and outdoor groups that want a defined challenge.

4. PeakBFF: recaps and personal streaks, not a ranking

PeakBFF is for the lifter who logs training and food in one app and would rather send a training partner the result than compete on a number. From a finished workout in your history you can share a card, a photo recap, or a video recap, so the group chat sees what you did without anyone rebuilding it by hand. The Progress tab adds daily and weekly Challenges and Badges, which keep the personal side motivating.

If a ranked board matters to your group, pair it with Hevy or Strive and keep PeakBFF as the place where your training and nutrition live. Sharing a recap is covered in our completed-workout share checklist, and PR share cards work well for a group chat. Plus is $49.99/year in the US (as of October 2026); many features are free for basic users, including workout and food logging.

Best for: lifters who want training and nutrition in one app and prefer shared recaps to a scoreboard.

What should a friendly gym leaderboard measure?

The best metric rewards a habit your group can sustain. It does not need to be the most impressive number.

Set a small time window, use a metric everyone understands, and make the board optional. For a step-by-step version, see our guide to creating a fair gym leaderboard with friends. For personal goals instead of rankings, see the gym challenge app comparison.

A simple way to start without making it weird

1. Ask who wants in. Do not add people to a board as a surprise.
2. Choose one metric. Days trained is fair at every experience level.
3. Choose the tool. Hevy for lift rankings, Strive for activity, or a shared note and weekly recaps if nobody wants another app.
4. Set a review date. Two or four weeks is enough to see whether it helps.
5. Celebrate the work, not the rank, and stop it when it stops being fun.

The bottom line

Hevy is the best gym leaderboard app for friends who lift, Strive suits activity challenges, and Strava suits outdoor groups. PeakBFF does not have a leaderboard today, but it is a good home for the training and nutrition log behind the conversation, with share cards, photos, and videos to post the result.

Download PeakBFF for iOS or Android to log your training and share your recaps.

Questions, answered

What is the best gym leaderboard app for friends?

For lifting, Hevy is the most direct choice: its leaderboards rank your best lift on a set list of exercises against the people you follow. Strive and Strava suit groups competing on steps, distance or time. As of October 2026, PeakBFF does not have a friends leaderboard in the app.

Does PeakBFF have a leaderboard?

Not at the moment. PeakBFF has no friends or global leaderboard you can open in the app, so we do not recommend it for a ranked lifting contest. It does have personal streaks, daily and weekly challenges, badges, and share cards, photos and videos for sending a finished workout to your group.

How do I compete with friends on lifting without a leaderboard app?

Agree on one metric, such as days trained this month, and a review date two to four weeks out. Everyone logs in their own tracker, then posts a recap to the group chat on the same day each week. Share a result, not a rank, and let anyone opt out at any time.

Can Strava run a leaderboard for weight lifting?

Strava's group challenges are built around goals like time, distance, elevation and activity days, so they suit runs and rides better than set-and-rep lifting. Strava added a strength log in May 2026, but we found no lifting-specific challenge leaderboard. Check the current challenge options in the app.

What should a friendly gym leaderboard measure?

Pick the habit your group can sustain, not the biggest number. Days trained or a short streak is fairest for mixed experience levels. Weight lifted or a best lift only compares well between similar bodies and training histories. Keep the window short and make joining optional so the board stays fun.