What is the Peloton app, how much does it cost, and everything else you need to know 

The Peloton app is a digital fitness app that can be downloaded onto your phone, tablet, computer, and some smart TVs. It is also compatible with some smartwatches, such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch5.

While the company is probably best known for its Peloton bike (and you can certainly use a Peloton bike with the app) there are thousands of workouts to choose from that don’t require much by way of expensive equipment, including strength, high intensity interval training (HIIT), yoga, stretching, and outdoor running and walking.  

As well as offering workouts on demand, the Peloton app also offers live workouts, which you can join alongside other app users from around the world, should you wish to. The app currently has an impressive rating of 4.9 stars out of five from users. 

If you’re someone who likes the thought of exercising at home, while still recreating much of the feel of being in an exercise class, then you may well enjoy Peloton. 

It’s simple to access the Peloton digital app, and the good news is that it’s available on a wide variety of platforms. If you use an Apple or Android device, you can simply download it from either the Apple App Store, or the Google Play store, as appropriate.  

If you’re using a smart TV, you can search to see if the app is available to install. Once you’ve downloaded the app, simply create an account and get started. The app is currently available via Android TV, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku. 

If you are using a computer, go to the onepeloton website, where you can register for an account.  

The app is also compatible with certain smartwatches, including the Apple Watch as well as Garmin, Fitbit and Samsung devices. While you can’t run the app directly through these, you can start a workout on your phone or tablet, for example, then use your watch to capture key metrics while you exercise. 

If you need a little extra help, check out our guide on how to set up the Peloton app. 

Peloton announced major changes to the pricing structure of the app in May 2023. For new users, there are three membership tiers to choose from – Peloton App Free, Peloton App One, and Peloton App+.

Peloton App Free costs nothing, and offers users access to up to 50 different classes across 12 exercise types. Live classes, and rowing, bike and treadmill classes are excluded.

Peloton App One costs £12.99 a month (or £129 a year with a one-off payment), and offers access to thousands of classes from nine of the exercise types Peloton offers. Users can also try three equipment-based classes per month.

Finally, Peloton App+ costs £24.99 a month (or £240 a year if you pay in full upfront). Subscribers can then access all Peloton’s equipment-based workouts, in addition to everything in the first two tiers.

For comparison, Apple Fitness+ costs £9.99 a month, or £79.99 if you pay for a year in full upfront. At the time of writing, Peloton does not offer an annual subscription. 

If you want to, you can spend £24 a month to use Peloton Guide, an AI-powered personal trainer targeted at strength-building workouts. This uses a camera to display you on the screen next to the trainer during classes, to help you make sure your movements are correct. It also includes features that allow you to track reps (the single repetition of an exercise) so you can count your reps during each class, and offers personalised workout recommendations to make sure you are working all muscle groups in a balanced way.  

If you are a Peloton Bike or Peloton Tread owner, the Peloton app is included as part of your all-access membership, which costs £39 per month. For this, you unlock classes for all your Peloton equipment, with the cost of the Peloton app included. You will, however, need to invest in the Peloton Bike, Bike+, or Tread, with prices starting from £1,345 for a bike, and up to £3,620 for a Tread bundle including weights and other accessories. When you include a monthly subscription on top, this starts to look expensive. 

If you already own a bike or treadmill, you can still access the relevant workouts available from the Peloton app.  

Thousands of workouts are available via the Peloton app. Many workout categories, such as strength, yoga and running, offer well over 1,000 workouts each. Others are in the high hundreds. It’s very unlikely you’ll find yourself having to repeat workouts unless you want to.  

There’s a wide variety of activity types to choose from: strength, meditation, cycling, stretching, yoga, outdoor, running, walking, cardio, tread bootcamp and bike bootcamp.  

The “outdoor” workouts are audio only and include walking, running, intervals and pace setting options. For example, the “5k pace setter” allows you to choose whether you want to run each mile in eight, 10, 11, 12 or 13 minutes.  

After choosing a workout type, you can then use a comprehensive filter to narrow down your options. You can filter by length of workout, instructor (if you find someone you particularly enjoy), class type, body activity, music, difficulty (with Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced options), and you can even choose subtitles, which are available in English, German and Spanish. Finally, there’s the option to filter, based on whether you’ve taken a class before or not. This is great if you want to repeat a workout, as it makes it much easier to track it down. 

As well as its on-demand content, the Peloton app offers live classes which you can join alongside other Peloton users. These are displayed on the home page, where you can also access a calendar to see everything coming up. If there’s a live class you want to try in the coming days, you can schedule it by adding it to your Peloton calendar. 

If the sheer number of classes leaves you feeling a little overwhelmed, Peloton also offers some curated selections, which may make things a little easier. Examples include “Yoga for cross-training”, which consists of 12 classes, some with a focus on stretches for runners, and some for riders. There’s also “Peloton boxing”, which has 56 classes focused on strength training.  

Other curated collections include those centred on music, so for example you could choose from a Beatles artist series, a David Bowie collection, and Beyoncé. Other collections include one centred on Black History Month, another called “Turkey Burn”, and one for Mother’s Day, to highlight just a few. 

A final category, called Programs, is focused on specific training goals. Options include a four-week strength plan consisting of around four workouts a week, each for 30-50 minutes. Some programmes are as short as one week, while others stretch over six weeks. These could be an excellent starting point both for beginners who need a helping hand or for more seasoned exercisers, who want to train towards a goal. 

This will depend on what sort of workouts you are interested in doing. The basic requirement to get started is a phone, tablet, or TV. After that, if you’re interested in trying a bit of everything, you’ll need equipment such as an exercise bike, a treadmill, a variety of dumbbells, yoga mat and yoga blocks, and perhaps a gym mat for floor-based routines. 

You might also want to consider investing in a smartwatch or fitness tracker to help you monitor your performance as you exercise. 

The Peloton app makes a great effort to cater for as wide an audience as possible. With the ability to choose workouts based on difficulty (with classes categorised as “Beginner”, “Intermediate” or “Advanced”), a beginner can find something accessible just as easily as an experienced exerciser can find a challenge. 

It’s intended to appeal to anyone who wants the convenience of being able to work out at home, or perhaps even while you’re away travelling. The variable length of workouts also makes this suitable for even the most time-poor of individuals. 

And while you’ll need a wide range of equipment to get the absolute most from it, there are still plenty of workouts that require little equipment. The app uses lots of different coaches with their own very distinct personalities, and there are plenty of different musical styles to pick from, so you’ll almost certainly find something to your taste. 

It’s also available whether you use an Apple or Android device, which means that the vast majority of phone and tablet users can download and use this app. 

You do have to pay a monthly subscription if you want to access more content, but at £12.99 this is cheaper than many gyms, and the app still offers live classes as well as on-demand video. And if you get really into it, there’s always the possibility of treating yourself to some other Peloton equipment. But happily, that isn’t essential. Finally, with the free membership tier now available, there’s little to no risk if you do want to try it for yourself. 

If you don’t like the sound of the Peloton app, or prefer not to pay a monthly fee, then it might be worth exploring other ways to get fit. You might want to find a walking group, or consider a couch to 5k running plan, for example.