Watta vs Strong: Erg Intelligence vs the Gym Logbook

Feature Comparison

Why Choose Watta

• +AI-powered data capture turns a PM5 photograph into a complete workout record — Strong requires manual entry for every set
• +Rowing-specific Effort Score provides contextualised session quality that volume-based gym metrics cannot replicate for erg work
• +Clubs and social features connect you with other rowers — Strong is a solo logbook with no community

Where Strong Excels

• +Best-in-class set/rep/weight logging with intuitive rest timer and superset support for gym sessions
• +Detailed strength progress charts with estimated 1RM tracking across hundreds of exercises
• +Clean, fast interface that is widely regarded as the best gym logbook app available

Detailed Breakdown

Strong and Watta are both excellent workout trackers, but they track entirely different workouts. Strong has earned its reputation as the best gym logbook app through a clean interface, fast logging, and useful strength progress visualisations. If you lift weights, Strong makes it easy to record sets, reps, and loads, then see your progression over time. But Strong is a gym tool. Its understanding of rowing is limited to logging "rowing machine" as a generic cardio activity — no split time, no stroke rate, no watts, no pacing analysis, no effort scoring. Watta operates in the erg domain where Strong has no presence. The AI OCR captures your PM5 data in seconds without any manual input. The Effort Score analyses your session across cardiac load, work output, pacing consistency, and stroke economy — metrics that have no equivalent in weight training. For athletes who split time between the erg and the weight room — common in CrossFit, HYROX, and rowing programmes that include strength blocks — running both apps gives you best-in-class tracking for each modality. Watta handles the erg. Strong handles the barbell. Neither tries to be the other.