Alo Wellness Club scores higher overall, 7.7 against 6.7, and is the stronger platform for value for money and app quality. Moves App is the better pick if what you need most is a gentler, low-impact approach.
Quick answer
- Moves App 6.7 vs Alo Wellness Club 7.7
- Alo wins seven of the twelve capabilities
- Moves App $20/mo, Alo free
- Muscle tied at 8
- No voiceover coaching on Moves App
- Mind-body support 2 vs 9
Alo Wellness Club is the better platform for most women over 40, and it costs nothing. It wins Women Over 40 Specificity, 5.7 against 5.1, Recovery Compatibility 8.5 against 7, UX and Design 8 against 6, and Value for Money 10 against 6.5. It was $12.99 a month as Alo Moves until December 2025 and is now free with no credit card required.
Moves App is the better structure for progressive dumbbell strength, and it has no coach. Muscle Potential ties at 8 and progressive strength capability is 7 out of 10 against 6, with Katy Cole training at 11 to 20 lb per hand. The problem is the format: there is no voiceover coaching, so sessions are read rather than led, and that is why she stopped.
One platform was tested for a month and abandoned, the other is still in use months later, and that difference is the finding rather than a flaw in the method. Moves App was tested for approximately one month: she started with the Foundation Moves programme, moved on after about two weeks, and dipped into Strength Moves, Endurance Moves and Weekly Moves. Alo Wellness Club was tested with one full month of intensive daily use and then several months of ongoing casual use, during which she remained a member. She did not change her nutrition during the Alo period. Both tests are long enough to score. The retention gap is a result, not a gap in the evidence.
Alo Wellness Club for almost everyone, because it is coached, well designed, broad, and free. Moves App only if you specifically want a structured progressive dumbbell plan and you are genuinely happy to read your workout rather than be led through it. She was not, and she is clear that this is a preference rather than a defect. The complication worth stating is that Moves App’s structure is real: she could see the programme producing genuine results for someone who commits to the full 18 weeks. She was not going to be that someone.
Moves App vs Alo Wellness Club: the two platforms
Same nine weighted criteria, same twelve capability scores, and a $240 a year gap that runs the wrong way.
Moves App
Runner-up
A self-paced strength platform built on written instructions rather than follow-along video, with muscle group images before each session, created by Madeline Custer with Brandon Moss.
- 30 or 60 min
- Progressive strength 7/10
- No voiceover
- 7-day trial
- $20/month
Choose Moves App if you:
- Want a structured progressive dumbbell plan you can follow for 18 weeks
- Are happy reading a workout rather than being talked through it
- Own a range of dumbbells and expect to move up it
- Like knowing which muscle group a session targets before you start
- Prefer to set your own pace between sets
Alo Wellness Club
Winner
A free on-demand studio platform spanning strength, weighted Pilates, HIIT, sound baths, breathwork and restorative flows, with SYNCD cycle-phase programming.
- Under 10 to 60+ min
- Mind-body support 9/10
- Free
- No card required
- Apple TV only
Choose Alo Wellness Club if you:
- Want a coach talking you through the movement in real time
- Want strength, Pilates, breathwork and restorative work in one place
- Need sessions that can drop under 10 minutes
- Want to spend nothing to find out whether it suits you
- Value recovery and downregulation as much as training
How we scored this, and how both were tested
Both platforms were used properly and scored on the same nine weighted criteria and the same twelve capability scores. Muscle Potential carries 18%, Time Efficiency 15%, Joint Friendliness and Programme Structure 12% each, Women Over 40 Specificity and Recovery Compatibility 10%, Value for Money and UX and Design 8%, and Nutrition Integration 7%.
Same tester, same knee, same life stage. Katy is in her mid-forties, in perimenopause, with a previous meniscus injury now signed off by her doctor. She works full time, has family commitments, and trained at the end of the day more often than the start, which matters when you are judging whether a platform survives contact with a real week. On Moves App she was training with 11 to 20 lb per hand across most exercises. On Alo she did not meaningfully change her nutrition during testing, so nothing else was moving at the same time.
She came to Moves App while researching strength-based programmes and signed up through the website, which she found refreshingly simple. Her first impression was that the app reminded her of EvolveYou but with a narrower focus and a slightly different approach, which is a useful placement if you know that platform. She came to Alo Wellness Club straight after several months on Owning Your Menopause, expecting a one-week assessment. What happened next is the most useful sentence in either review, and it is in the retention section below.
Coaching and progression: Alo wins, and this is the whole page in one section
Alo Wellness Club wins, and the difference is not a score, it is a presence. Moves App has no voiceover coaching. The workouts are written instructions you read and then perform. Alo Wellness Club is coached classes throughout.
Our tester’s verdict on the Moves App format is the plainest thing in her review: the format did not work for her. She wants a coach showing her the movement and talking her through it as she does it, and to hear cues about form, tempo and breathing while she is mid-set. Without that, the sessions felt like work rather than training. She found herself stopping to re-read instructions and losing momentum, and she is explicit that this is personal preference and wants to be clear about that.
That caveat is worth taking seriously rather than discounting. Plenty of people prefer to work at their own pace without a voice in their ear. But two consequences of the format are not preference at all. The first is timing: the self-paced format meant workout durations got longer for her than they are planned for, because she had to read the descriptions and often adjust. The second is discoverability, covered in the UX section below.
On Alo, the coaching is the product. Her line on Roxie Jones is that the Summer Strong: Complete Body series genuinely challenged her and she felt it the next day, positively. Her line on Bianca Melas is stronger and more specific: Bianca Melas is the reason she changed her mind about Pilates. A platform that changes someone’s mind about a whole modality is doing something a written instruction cannot.
Programme Structure runs the other way, 7 against 7, because Moves App lays out a plan and Alo hands you a library. She dipped into the Weekly Moves schedule to see how the daily programming worked on its own, and said she could see the programme producing genuine results for someone who commits to the full 18 weeks. The structure is real. The delivery is what she could not live with.
Muscle potential: tied, and they arrive there by opposite routes
Tied at 8 each, with progressive strength capability 7 out of 10 for Moves App against 6 for Alo Wellness Club. Muscle Potential carries the heaviest weight in our model at 18%, because Maltais and colleagues document accelerated loss of muscle mass and strength through the menopause transition.2
What happened on Moves App
She was training with 11 to 20 lb per hand and found the Strength workouts genuinely demanding at that load. That is the case for the platform in one line: the programming is not soft, and a woman who already lifts will be worked. She gravitated towards full-body sessions rather than upper or lower body splits and tended to stick with the full-body options, which is a consistent preference across her testing and worth knowing if you are the opposite.
She also tried the programme that combines strength training with running, was curious about the concept, enjoyed it and tried several sessions, but modified it significantly and went much slower than prescribed. Strength Moves she dipped in and out of between programme testing and found solid, straightforward strength sessions.
What happened on Alo Wellness Club
Strength on Alo comes through coached classes rather than a progressive plan, which is why its progressive strength capability sits at 6. What it delivers instead is quality in the room. The Summer Strong: Complete Body series challenged her and she felt it the next day in a way she describes positively, which is the useful distinction between productive soreness and being wrecked.
The weighted Pilates with Bianca Melas is the other half of the strength story here, and it is the part that changed her opinion of a modality she had previously written off.
Bone loading
Moves App takes bone loading 7 out of 10 against 5, the widest strength-related capability gap on the page, because loaded progressive dumbbell work is closer to what the evidence points at. Mohebbi and colleagues identify progressive resistance training as the primary non-hormonal intervention for bone mineral density after menopause,4 with a further review reporting improvements in menopause symptoms and functional capacity from resistance training, on evidence its own authors rate as very low to low certainty.5 If bone is your specific reason for training, our best workouts to build muscle after 50 ranking is the better starting point than either platform here.
Joint friendliness: tied, and each protects your knees differently
Tied at 8 each, with low-impact capability 8 out of 10 for Alo against 6 for Moves App. Our tester brought the same meniscus history to both, now signed off by her doctor, and her governing rule is worth quoting because it is how she reads every platform: she has been too sore too many times to play hero with her knee.
Moves App’s contribution is informational. It shows muscle group images before each workout, which she found genuinely useful for understanding the purpose of each session, and having had knee issues herself she called this one of the most practical features she has encountered on any platform. Knowing what a session is about to load is a real form of joint protection, and it is unusual.
Alo’s contribution is optional intensity. There are no-jump HIIT variants, and the breadth of restorative and mobility work means there is always something available on a day when loading is a bad idea. The counterweight is that some Roxie Jones HIIT includes high-impact plyometric work, and some Hourglass Method exercises are hard on the knees, so the platform will happily let you pick something unsuitable. It does not stop you.
Why this matters more now. Wright and colleagues describe the musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause, covering oestrogen decline’s effect on tendon and ligament integrity and increased injury risk in midlife.1 Neither platform gives you in-class modifications, so on both you are responsible for your own substitutions.
Recovery: Alo wins, and it is the widest criterion gap on the page
Alo Wellness Club wins, 8.5 against 7, with recovery and deload capability tied at 8 out of 10 each. The score gap comes from what is available on a recovery day rather than from any deload logic.
Alo carries sound baths, breathwork with Kirat Randhawa, restorative flows and lymphatic movement work. The note on the lymphatic class is specific and personal: she carries water retention in her lower body and this class is genuinely relaxing. That is the kind of thing a general library gets right by having enough range, rather than by design.
It also runs SYNCD cycle-phase programming, which she used with a luteal-phase focus. This is cycle-aware rather than menopause-aware, and we are not going to inflate it into a menopause feature, but it is the only thing on either platform that acknowledges that the same session does not land the same way every week.
Moves App has no equivalent. It is a strength platform, and recovery is something you arrange elsewhere.
Perimenopause and menopause fit: Alo wins, and neither is built for it
Alo Wellness Club wins Women Over 40 Specificity, 5.7 against 5.1, and the capability scores show how low a bar that is. Menopause programming 3 out of 10 against 2, menopause education 3 against 2, hormone awareness 5 against 2, midlife nutrition 4 against 3.
These are the two lowest menopause-fit profiles among the platforms compared in this set, and it is worth being direct about that. If you are here because you want training that accounts for perimenopause, neither of these platforms does that, and our low-cortisol workouts for perimenopause guide and the menopause-specialist platforms we have reviewed will serve you better.
Alo’s edge comes from SYNCD and from having nutrition content with Dr Amy Shah in the library, though she notes that nutrition content is buried in the navigation. Moves App has no perimenopause content at all.
Pelvic floor
Moves App takes this one, 7 out of 10 against 4, which is an unexpected result on a platform with no women’s-health positioning and reflects the core and stability work in its programming rather than any dedicated guidance. Teixeira and colleagues report a 36% prevalence of urinary incontinence across female athletes in a systematic review with meta-analysis,3 which is a reason to take the subject seriously on any platform. That review did not separate high-impact from low-impact sport, so we do not claim it did. Neither platform offers pelvic floor coaching.
UX and design: Alo wins, and Moves App has a specific, fixable problem
Alo Wellness Club wins, 8 against 6.
Moves App cannot tell you how long a workout is. In testing she found herself wanting to filter workouts by duration, by difficulty, by equipment required, or by body area, and often had to start a session to understand how long it would actually take. Combined with the self-paced format stretching sessions beyond their planned length, the result is a platform where you cannot reliably answer the first question anyone with a full day asks, which is whether this fits in the time I have.
Alo’s problem is where you can watch it. Casting is Apple TV only, with no Roku, Fire TV or Chromecast support. There is no progress tracking or class history, so the platform does not remember what you have done, which for a free product is an understandable omission and still an omission. Nutrition content is buried in the navigation. She trained primarily on a second computer monitor in her home office, which sidesteps the casting limitation entirely and is worth knowing as a workaround.
Sign-up is the other visible gap. Alo took about forty-five seconds with no credit card. Moves App requires a card for a 7-day trial like most paid platforms.
Nutrition: Alo wins, and neither is a reason to subscribe
Alo Wellness Club wins, 5.5 against 3.5, with midlife nutrition capability 4 out of 10 against 3. Nutrition carries the smallest weight in our model at 7%, and on this page it is the least consequential section, because neither platform does much.
Alo has nutrition classes including content with Dr Amy Shah, which is more than Moves App offers, and her practical criticism is the same one the UX section makes, that it is buried rather than poor. Moves App has limited nutrition tools and a basic community, and nutrition is not what it is for.
One point of context on her own results: she did not meaningfully change her nutrition during the Alo testing period, which she states explicitly. That makes her training observations cleaner, and it means neither platform’s nutrition content was actually put to work.
Time efficiency: Alo wins, and the reason is that its durations are reliable
Alo Wellness Club wins, 8 against 7. Alo runs from under 10 minutes to 60 and above, and she used 15 to 30 minute sessions most. Moves App offers 30 or 60 minute options.
The gap is not the nominal lengths, it is that one platform’s numbers are reliable and the other’s are not. On Moves App the self-paced format meant durations ran longer than planned, because she had to read descriptions and adjust, and no duration is displayed before you start. On Alo you pick a 20-minute class and it takes 20 minutes.
For a woman training at the end of a working day, which is when she trained more often than not, that predictability is worth more than the range. Our 30-minute workouts for women over 40 guide covers the wider field in this band, and 20-minute workouts for perimenopause covers the shorter end that only Alo reaches.
Equipment and space needed at home
Both work in a small space, and only one of them really needs a rack of dumbbells.
Moves App is a dumbbell platform. She trained at the same 11 to 20 lb per hand the methods section describes, so the useful setup is a range rather than a single pair, and the platform is built to take you up it. Alo Wellness Club spans modalities where a mat is the main requirement, with dumbbells needed for the strength classes and the weighted Pilates.
Screens are the real equipment question here. Alo casts to Apple TV only. The monitor workaround described in the UX section above is the practical answer if you do not have an Apple TV and do not want to train from a phone.
Starting from scratch: Alo wins, 7 out of 10 against 6
Alo Wellness Club wins, and the score understates it. The beginner question is not really about programme structure, it is about whether anyone tells you how the movement should feel while you are doing it.
Moves App does not. A woman who has never done a goblet squat is being handed a written description and left to judge her own form. She trains regularly and has tested dozens of platforms, and the format still cost her momentum in the way described above. A beginner does that more, not less, and has no basis for knowing whether what she is doing is right.
Alo’s coached classes give a beginner the thing she actually needs, and the free price removes the risk of finding out. The caveat is that the library is large and unguided, so a beginner has to choose well, and some of what she might choose includes high-impact plyometric work that is not a beginner’s first week.
Moves App pros and cons
Moves App scores 6.7. It is strongest on building and keeping muscle and weakest on nutrition guidance.
Pros
- Muscle Potential 8, tied, with Strength workouts she found genuinely demanding at 11 to 20 lb per hand.
- Progressive strength 7 out of 10 and bone loading 7 against 5.
- Muscle group images before each workout, which she called one of the most practical features she has encountered anywhere.
- Programme Structure 7 against 7, with an 18-week plan she believed could produce genuine results.
- Pelvic floor 7 against 4.
- A refreshingly simple sign-up.
Cons
- No voiceover coaching, so sessions are read rather than led, which is why she stopped.
- Sessions ran longer than planned because of the self-paced format.
- No workout duration displayed before you start.
- No filtering by duration, difficulty, equipment or body area.
- No perimenopause content, with menopause programming and education both 2 out of 10.
- Mind-body support 2 against 9.
- Limited nutrition tools.
- $20 a month against a free competitor.
Alo Wellness Club pros and cons
Alo Wellness Club scores 7.7. It leads on value for money and trails on nutrition guidance.
Pros
- Free, with no credit card required and a sign-up that took about forty-five seconds.
- Value for Money 10.
- Coached classes throughout, with Roxie Jones strength that challenged her and Bianca Melas weighted Pilates that changed her mind about Pilates entirely.
- Mind-body support 9 out of 10 against 2.
- Recovery Compatibility 8.5, with sound baths, breathwork and restorative flows.
- UX and Design 8.
- Sessions from under 10 minutes.
- SYNCD cycle-phase programming.
- She is still a member months later.
Cons
- No dedicated perimenopause programming, with menopause programming 3 out of 10.
- No progress tracking or class history.
- Apple TV only for casting, as above.
- Some Roxie Jones HIIT includes high-impact plyometric work, and parts of the Hourglass Method are hard on the knees.
- Nutrition content buried in the navigation.
- Progressive strength 6 against 7, and no structured plan to follow.
Quick yes/no comparison
| Feature | Moves App | Alo Wellness Club |
|---|---|---|
| Voiceover coaching during the workout | No | Yes |
| Structured multi-week progressive plan | Yes, 18 weeks | No |
| Shows workout duration before you start | No | Yes |
| Filter by duration, difficulty or body area | No | Yes |
| Muscle group shown before the session | Yes | No |
| Sessions under 15 minutes | No | Yes |
| Breathwork, sound baths or restorative work | No | Yes |
| Cycle-phase programming | No | Yes, SYNCD |
| Menopause-specific programming | No | No |
| In-class modifications for joint issues | No | No |
| Progress tracking or class history | Yes | No |
| Casts to Roku, Fire TV or Chromecast | Not assessed | No, Apple TV only |
| Costs anything | Yes, $20/month | No |
Moves App vs Alo Wellness Club at a glance
| Moves App | Alo Wellness Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 6.7 | 7.7 |
| How it was assessed | Fully tested, approximately one month | Fully tested, one month of daily use plus several months of ongoing use |
| Cost | $20/month or $200/year | Free, was $12.99/month as Alo Moves until December 2025 |
| Free trial | 7 days | Not needed, the platform is free |
| Session length | 30 or 60 minutes, self-paced so it varies | Under 10 minutes to 60 and above |
| Coaching format | Written instructions, no voiceover | Coached video classes |
| Approach | Self-paced progressive dumbbell strength | Studio library across strength, Pilates, HIIT, breathwork and restorative work |
| Named instructors | None, the format is self-paced | Roxie Jones, Bianca Melas, Kirat Randhawa, Dr Amy Shah |
| Equipment | Dumbbells, 11 to 20 lb range used | Mat, with dumbbells for strength and weighted Pilates |
| TV casting | Not assessed | Apple TV only |
| Did the tester stay | No, about one month | Yes, still a member months later |
Moves App vs Alo Wellness Club: the full scoring breakdown
Alo wellness club wins six of the nine weighted criteria and moves app wins none, with three tied. The overall gap is 6.7 against 7.7.
| Criterion | Weight | Moves App | Alo Wellness Club | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muscle Potential | 18% | 8 | 8 | Tied |
| Time Efficiency | 15% | 7 | 8 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Joint Friendliness | 12% | 8 | 8 | Tied |
| Programme Structure | 12% | 7 | 7 | Tied |
| Women Over 40 Specificity | 10% | 5.1 | 5.7 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Recovery Compatibility | 10% | 7 | 8.5 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Value for Money | 8% | 6.5 | 10 | Alo Wellness Club |
| UX and Design | 8% | 6 | 8 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Nutrition Integration | 7% | 3.5 | 5.5 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Overall | 100% | 6.7 | 7.7 | Alo Wellness Club |
The twelve capability scores
Alo wellness club wins seven of the twelve capability scores and moves app wins four, with one tied. The mind-body support row, 2 against 9, is the widest gap and the clearest statement of what each platform is for.
| Capability | Moves App | Alo Wellness Club | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low-impact | 6 | 8 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Progressive strength | 7 | 6 | Moves App |
| Bone loading | 7 | 5 | Moves App |
| Recovery & deload | 8 | 8 | Tied |
| Menopause programming | 2 | 3 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Pelvic floor | 7 | 4 | Moves App |
| Hormone awareness | 2 | 5 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Menopause education | 2 | 3 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Expert credibility | 7 | 6 | Moves App |
| Mind-body support | 2 | 9 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Beginner on-ramp | 6 | 7 | Alo Wellness Club |
| Midlife nutrition | 3 | 4 | Alo Wellness Club |
Value for money: Alo wins by the largest margin we have recorded
Alo Wellness Club wins, 10 against 6.5, and 10 is the highest Value for Money score on this site, for the simple reason that the platform is free.
| Plan | Moves App | Alo Wellness Club |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $20 | Free |
| Annual | $200 | Free |
| Free trial | 7 days | Not needed, no credit card required |
| What the money buys | A structured 18-week progressive dumbbell plan, read rather than coached | Nothing to buy, a coached studio library across several modalities |
It was $12.99 a month as Alo Moves until December 2025, so this is a recent change and worth verifying before you plan around it. If it reverts, the comparison shifts: at $12.99 against $20 the gap becomes a normal one rather than a structural one.
What this means for your decision. Moves App is not poor value in isolation. The problem is what it is being compared against: a coached, better-designed, broader platform that costs nothing. A self-paced app with no voiceover has to be worth $240 a year against a free alternative, and here it was not: she left after about a month. Our best free and budget workout apps ranking covers the wider free field.
Who wins for…
Who wins for building muscle after 40
A tie on the score, Moves App on structure. Muscle Potential 8 each, with progressive strength 7 out of 10 against 6 and bone loading 7 against 5 to Moves App.
Who wins for being coached
Alo Wellness Club, without qualification. Moves App has no voiceover coaching at all.
Who wins on price
Alo Wellness Club. It is free. Value for Money 10 against 6.5.
Who wins for a knee history
A tie on the score, and each helps differently. Moves App tells you what a session will load. Alo gives you a low-impact alternative on any given day, and also lets you pick something plyometric by mistake.
Who wins for recovery days
Alo Wellness Club. Recovery Compatibility 8.5 against 7, with breathwork, sound baths and restorative flows Moves App has no equivalent to.
Who wins for a 15-minute window
Alo Wellness Club. It goes under 10 minutes. Moves App starts at 30 and overruns.
Who wins for knowing how long a workout takes
Alo Wellness Club. Moves App does not display duration, and its self-paced format makes the nominal number unreliable anyway.
Who wins for following a plan
Moves App. Programme Structure 7 against 7, with an 18-week progression Alo does not offer.
Who wins for Pilates
Alo Wellness Club. The weighted Pilates with Bianca Melas changed her mind about the modality entirely. Our best Pilates programmes for women over 40 ranking covers the specialists.
Who wins for perimenopause
Neither, really. Menopause programming is 2 out of 10 and 3 out of 10. Alo’s SYNCD is cycle-aware, not menopause-aware.
Who wins for staying subscribed
Alo Wellness Club, decisively. She is still a member months later, and left Moves App after about a month.
Decision tree for women over 40
You want someone talking you through the movement. Alo Wellness Club. This is the single biggest difference between the two.
You want a structured plan that progresses for 18 weeks. Moves App, and accept that you will be reading it.
Money is the constraint. Alo Wellness Club, which costs nothing.
You want breathwork, sound baths or restorative work alongside training. Alo Wellness Club. Moves App has none.
You need to know a session fits in the time you have. Alo Wellness Club.
You have no Apple TV and want to train on a television. Neither is ideal. Alo casts to Apple TV only, and a laptop or monitor is the workaround she used.
You want perimenopause-aware programming. Neither. Look at the menopause specialists instead.
What we did not test
Here is what this comparison does not cover.
On Moves App we did not test prenatal training, the Move Anywhere travel programme, or the Move Together challenge, which carries a separate cost. She started Foundation Moves and moved on after about two weeks rather than completing it, and she dipped into rather than completed the Weekly Moves schedule, so her judgement of the 18-week progression is an assessment of its design rather than a report on finishing it.
On Alo Wellness Club we did not test live classes, the community features, Apple Vision Pro functionality, or Chromecast and non-Apple TV viewing. She dipped into the Hourglass Method rather than completing it.
Neither platform was tested by a beginner. Both beginner assessments are an experienced tester’s judgement of how a beginner would fare.
Alo Wellness Club’s free pricing is recent, dating from December 2025. We have not tested how the platform behaves over a longer period at that price, and a free product can change in ways a paid one usually does not.
Which is better for women over 50?
Alo Wellness Club, and the case gets stronger
Coaching matters more, not less, when form is the thing protecting your joints, and the low-impact capability gap of 8 out of 10 against 6 favours Alo. The breadth of restorative and breathwork content covers days when loading is the wrong choice, and the price removes the risk of committing to something that does not suit you. Our best low-impact workouts for women over 50 and best workouts for postmenopause rankings cover the wider field.
Moves App, only if you already lift
Progressive loading remains the intervention with the best evidence behind it for muscle and bone after menopause,4 and Moves App is the one here built around it. If you have been training for years, already know your form, and want a plan rather than a class, it is the better structure. If any of those three is untrue, the coaching gap outweighs the structure.
Frequently asked questions
Is Moves App or Alo Wellness Club better for women over 40?
Alo Wellness Club, on the overall score 7.7 against 6.7, and the gap is mostly about coaching and cost. Alo wins Women Over 40 Specificity, 5.7 against 5.1, Recovery Compatibility 8.5 against 7, UX and Design 8 against 6, and Value for Money 10 against 6.5, the last of those because it is free. Moves App wins nothing outright except a tie on muscle. Where Moves App is genuinely better is load: it is built for progressive dumbbell strength, and Katy Cole trained on it at 11 to 20 lb per hand.
Is Alo Wellness Club really free?
Yes. It was $12.99 a month as Alo Moves and became free in December 2025, with no credit card required. Sign-up took about forty-five seconds and she started training the same day. That is why Value for Money is 10, the highest score of its kind we have recorded. Moves App is $20 a month or $200 a year with a 7-day free trial. A free platform does not automatically win, but it does change what the paid one has to prove.
Which builds muscle better for women in their 40s?
They tie on Muscle Potential at 8, and they get there differently. Moves App is built around progressive dumbbell strength and she found the Strength workouts genuinely demanding at 11 to 20 lb per hand, with progressive strength capability 7 out of 10 against 6. Alo Wellness Club’s strength comes through coached classes, and her line on the Summer Strong: Complete Body series with Roxie Jones is that it genuinely challenged her and she felt it the next day, positively. Moves App has the better structure for adding load. Alo has the better coaching while you lift.
Do Moves App or Alo Wellness Club have menopause-specific programming?
Neither, and both score poorly. Menopause programming is 2 out of 10 for Moves App and 3 for Alo Wellness Club, and menopause education is 2 against 3. Women Over 40 Specificity is 5.1 against 5.7. Alo has one thing Moves App does not: SYNCD cycle-phase programming, which she used with a luteal-phase focus. That is cycle-aware rather than menopause-aware, and we are not going to call it a menopause feature. If menopause programming is your priority, neither of these is the platform for it.
Which is better if you have knee or joint problems?
They tie on Joint Friendliness at 8, and the practical answer depends on which failure mode you would rather manage. Moves App shows muscle group images before each workout, which she rates among the most practical things on any platform, for the reasons set out in the joints section above. Alo Wellness Club has no-jump HIIT variants and a low-impact score of 8 out of 10 against 6, but some Roxie Jones HIIT includes high-impact plyometric work and parts of the Hourglass Method are hard on the knees. Her own rule is the useful one: she has been too sore too many times to play hero with her knee.
Which offers better coaching and progression?
Alo Wellness Club, decisively, and this is the single largest practical difference on the page. Moves App has no voiceover coaching at all. The sessions are read, not led. Our tester’s verdict was blunt: the format did not work for her, she wants a coach showing her the movement and talking her through it as she does it, with cues about form, tempo and breathing while she is mid-set, and without that the sessions felt like work rather than training. Alo is entirely coached classes. Programme Structure is 7 against 7, so Moves App keeps a structural edge in how a plan is laid out.
How do Moves App and Alo Wellness Club compare on price and value?
Alo Wellness Club is free and Moves App is $20 a month or $200 a year. Value for Money is 10 against 6.5. Moves App offers a 7-day free trial. Alo needs no trial because there is nothing to cancel. The fair framing of the gap is not that Moves App is poor value in isolation, it is that a free, coached, well-designed alternative exists, and a self-paced app with no voiceover has to be worth $240 a year against that.
What is the time commitment and typical session length for each?
Alo Wellness Club wins Time Efficiency, 8 against 7. Alo runs from under 10 minutes to 60 and above, and she used 15 to 30 minute sessions most. Moves App offers 30 or 60 minute options, but they are self-paced, so the real duration varies. She found that the self-paced format meant workout durations got longer for her than they are planned for, because she had to read the descriptions and often adjust, and she often had to start a session to understand how long it would actually take.
What equipment and space do you need at home for each?
Both work in a small space. Moves App is a dumbbell platform and she trained at 11 to 20 lb per hand, so a range of weights matters more there. Alo Wellness Club spans strength, weighted Pilates, HIIT, sound baths, breathwork and restorative flows, so a mat covers a large part of it with dumbbells only for the strength and weighted Pilates classes. On screens, Alo casts to Apple TV only, as the UX section explains. She trained primarily on a second computer monitor in her home office.
Can a woman over 40 start either with no gym experience?
Alo Wellness Club, on a beginner on-ramp of 7 out of 10 against 6, and the reason is the coaching rather than the score gap. A beginner needs to be told how a movement should feel while she is doing it, which is exactly what Moves App’s self-paced written format does not provide. She trains regularly and still found herself stopping to re-read instructions and losing momentum. A beginner would do that more, not less.
Which platform did the tester actually stay with?
Alo Wellness Club, and it is the most decisive result in this whole comparison set. She came to it expecting a one-week assessment and, several months later, is still a member and still logging in for the occasional class. Her own words are that this is the clearest thing she can tell you. Moves App she tested for approximately one month, started with Foundation Moves, moved on after about two weeks, and concluded she was never going to stick with it long-term.
Research citations
- Wright VJ, Schwartzman JD, Itinoche R, Wittstein J. The musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause. Climacteric. 2024;27(5):466–472. menopause MSK study. (Cited for: oestrogen decline’s effect on tendon and ligament integrity, and increased injury risk in midlife.)
- Maltais ML, Desroches J, Dionne IJ. Changes in muscle mass and strength after menopause. Journal of Musculoskeletal and Neuronal Interactions. 2009;9(4):186–197. PubMed. (Cited for: accelerated loss of muscle mass and strength through the menopause transition.)
- Teixeira RV, Colla C, Sbruzzi G, Mallmann A, Paiva LL. Prevalence of urinary incontinence in female athletes: a systematic review with meta-analysis. International Urogynecology Journal. 2018;29(12):1717–1725. urinary incontinence meta-analysis. (Cited for: 36% prevalence of urinary incontinence across female athletes in a range of sports. Note: this review did not separate high-impact from low-impact sport, so we do not claim it did.)
- Mohebbi R, Shojaa M, Kohl M, et al. Exercise training and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Osteoporosis International. 2023;34:1145–1178. bone density meta-analysis. (Cited for: progressive resistance training as the primary non-hormonal intervention for bone density after menopause.)
- Sá KMM, et al. Resistance training for postmenopausal women: systematic review and meta-analysis. Menopause. 2022. PubMed. (Cited for: improvements in menopause symptoms and functional capacity with resistance training. Note: this review did not measure strength or lean mass as primary outcomes, and its authors rate the certainty of evidence as very low to low, so we report it on that basis.)
This page compares fitness platforms. It is not medical advice. Katy is a woman who has trained through perimenopause, not a clinician. Any strength, recovery or cycle-related observations described are one person’s recorded experience, not an expected result or a general pattern. If you have a diagnosed condition, an injury, or symptoms that concern you, speak to a qualified healthcare professional before changing how you train.
About this comparison
Compiled by Katy Cole for Her Daily Fit. Both platforms were used and assessed firsthand. Moves App was tested for approximately one month, starting with Foundation Moves and moving on after about two weeks, then dipping into Strength Moves, Endurance Moves and Weekly Moves, training at 11 to 20 lb per hand. Alo Wellness Club was tested with one full month of intensive daily use followed by several months of continuing use as a member. Both were scored on the same nine weighted criteria and the same twelve capability scores. Maltais and colleagues document accelerated loss of muscle mass and strength through the menopause transition,2 which is why Muscle Potential carries the most weight in that model. Prices were verified against official sources in 2026 and may differ if there has been a recent change; Alo Wellness Club became free in December 2025, having been $12.99 a month as Alo Moves. Scores are pulled live from each programme’s own assessment. Her Daily Fit earns nothing from either platform.
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