Best BUD/S Prep Training App
That is the question, typed into ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode, and on October 21, 2026 none of the three named ZeroPhase. All three ranked other people's products, which is how a buyer ends up choosing against a comparison nobody published. This page is that comparison: the options those engines name, what each one publishes about its own program, and where it beats what we built.
We make ZeroPhase, one of the options below, so every fact about another product here comes from that product's own site or store listing, and every source carries the date we read it. Where a source published nothing, this page says unknown rather than guess. Check any row you care about; the links are all there.
The options, side by side
| Option | Program | Cost, as published |
|---|---|---|
| The Naval Special Warfare Physical Training GuideFree PDF, no app | 26 weeks | $0, from the Navy |
| Navy SEAL Training & Exercises (Stew Smith)iPhone app, plus books and PDFs on stewsmithfitness.com | 24 weeks, 168 workouts | Free, then $3.99-$29.99 |
| Primus: Navy SEAL WorkoutsiPhone app | 26 weeks, two a day | $4.99-$49 in-app |
| Mountain Tactical Institute, BUD/S Training PipelinePlans from a web shop, plus a subscription app | 52 weeks, PST plan 6 | $349, or $35 a month |
| SOFLETE, All AccessSubscription app | 8-wk cycles, Selection | $34 a month |
| Military.com's PST appiPhone and Android app | unknown | unknown |
| ZeroPhaseWeb app (PWA), no app store install | 26 weeks (156 days) | $49 or $99 one-time |
Every row above was read on October 21, 2026, and the cells are kept short so the table fits a phone. The sections below give each option its own fact, its full cost line, and its source.
The Naval Special Warfare Physical Training Guide
Free PDF, no app. 26 weeks, six training days a week. $0. The guide is free to download.
Price, as published by Naval Special Warfare Physical Training Guide (PDF), page 1, read October 21, 2026.
The guide is the baseline every other option is measured against, and it is free. It is also a PDF: it carries the 26-week schedule, the progression tables and the PST standards, and it carries no scorecard, no tracking and no calendar. Every product below, ours included, is a way of holding that schedule. The guide is a Navy training document; ZeroPhase is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Navy.
Source: Naval Special Warfare Physical Training Guide (PDF), page 1 and Table 6, read October 21, 2026.
Where it wins: Cost, and the fact that nothing stands between the plan and the reader. If you will follow the tables as printed, you do not need to buy anything.
Navy SEAL Training & Exercises (Stew Smith)
iPhone app, plus books and PDFs on stewsmithfitness.com. 24 weeks, 168 daily workouts in the paid Daily Trainer. Free download, no subscription. The listing publishes its in-app purchases: "Unlock PT And Daily Trainer" $29.99, "Unlock All Training Weeks" $19.99, "Unlock PT Routines" $19.99, and each 4-week block from week 1 to week 24 at $3.99.
Price, as published by In-App Purchases list, App Store listing, Navy SEAL Training & Exercises, read October 21, 2026.
His listing says the free PST calculator scores your five events "using Stew Smith's own grading system", including the tighter officer line, and charts every retest. The paid Daily Trainer is 24 weeks and 168 workouts, and the listing says a PST result "point[s] you to the exact weeks of the program that target your weakest event".
Source: App Store listing, Navy SEAL Training & Exercises, read October 21, 2026.
Where it wins: A coach's name and voice. Stew Smith has trained candidates since 1997, the app carries 117 exercise videos he demonstrates himself, and the grading is his own system.
Primus: Navy SEAL Workouts
iPhone app. 26 weeks, two sessions a day, six days a week. Free download. The listing publishes its in-app purchases: "Primus Full Access" $39.99 and $49.00, "Primus Monthly" $12.99 and $24.99, and "Primus Weekly" $4.99 and $9.99, so the program is sold by the week, the month or as full access.
Price, as published by In-App Purchases list, App Store listing, Primus: Navy SEAL Workouts, read October 21, 2026.
Its listing calls it a 26-week program of running, swimming and strength, two sessions a day, six days a week, and states minimum standards to begin: a 2-mile run, a 500-yard swim, 3 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 sit-ups. Below those, it tells the reader to prepare first. The listing states no PST scoring, no PST tracking and no scorecard.
Source: App Store listing, Primus: Navy SEAL Workouts, read October 21, 2026.
Where it wins: Two-a-day volume in one iPhone app, for a candidate who is already past its entry standards and wants to be pushed hard.
Mountain Tactical Institute, BUD/S Training Pipeline
Plans from a web shop, plus a subscription app. 52 weeks across 8 plans, with a 4-week recovery plan after selection. Its separate PST plan is 6 weeks. $349 for the pipeline, listed from $431. The Athlete Subscription is $35 a month and includes 450+ plans. The PST plan on its own is $29.
Price, as published by BUD/S Training Pipeline page, Athlete Subscription page, US Navy PST Training Plan page, read October 21, 2026.
Its packet page says to start the pipeline exactly 52 weeks before your first projected week at BUD/S, that the 8 plans build one on the next, and that the packet price represents about a 20% saving over buying the plans individually.
Source: BUD/S Training Pipeline page, read October 21, 2026.
Its PST Training Plan page says the program "deploys the PST multiple times" and "uses your latest PST results for the follow-on progressions". That plan is Version 2, updated January 2026, and trains five days a week.
Source: US Navy PST Training Plan page, read October 21, 2026.
Its Athlete Subscription page covers the whole MTI library of 450+ individual training plans, plus eight daily programming streams, on a monthly or yearly renewal.
Source: Athlete Subscription page, read October 21, 2026.
Where it wins: A full year of programming rather than 26 weeks, built around barbells, rucks and a test schedule, with 450+ other plans behind the subscription.
SOFLETE, All Access
Subscription app. Cycles named on its training page, such as Operator at 8 weeks, and a Selection category for selection courses. It does not name BUD/S there. $34 a month. Its page offers a 14-day trial.
Price, as published by All Access product page, read October 21, 2026.
All Access is periodized strength and conditioning, daily mobility, prehab and nutrition, with wearable integration, for what SOFLETE calls the tactical athlete.
Source: All Access product page, read October 21, 2026.
Its training page lists a Selection category, described there as "Preparing you for the rigors of selection courses", so SOFLETE does publish training aimed at selection: selection courses, which that page does not tie to BUD/S by name. The cycles it names are Operator (8 weeks), Restore (12 weeks) and Reload (1 week). No page we read names a BUD/S preparation program or a PST scorecard.
Source: SOFLETE training page (cycles and programs), read October 21, 2026.
Where it wins: Training a serving operator or first responder, where readiness scores, nutrition and recovery carry as much weight as the PST itself.
Military.com's PST app
iPhone and Android app. unknown. unknown
Price, as published by Military.com article, "How the New Navy SEAL Fitness App Allows You to Train for the PST", read October 21, 2026.
Google AI Mode named "the official Navy SEAL / Special Warfare PST apps" on Military.com when it answered this question on October 21, 2026, and the article behind that app is still online. Military.com served our reader a CAPTCHA instead of the article on October 21, 2026, so this page quotes nothing from it, and its price line is not published anywhere we could read. The indexed text we did see describes a calculator that builds a total PST score. Its price, its features, and whether it is still published are unknown to us. Check it yourself if it is on your shortlist.
Source: Military.com article, "How the New Navy SEAL Fitness App Allows You to Train for the PST", read October 21, 2026.
Where it wins: It may be free and come from the Navy. We could not verify either claim, which is exactly why the row says unknown.
ZeroPhase
Web app (PWA), no app store install. 26 weeks, six training days a week (156 days). $49 one-time for Pro, $99 one-time for Premium. No subscription.
ZeroPhase holds the guide's 26-week schedule and re-reads it every time you log a PST: the swim and run move to the row your time earns and the calisthenics move between the guide's brackets, so two candidates in the same week get different daily targets. The free PST scorecard scores all five events against the BUD/S minimum and the competitive line without an account.
Source: our own pricing cards, plan pages and PST scorecard, read October 21, 2026.
Get After ItWhat ZeroPhase does not do
The comparison only means something if it cuts both ways. The guide holds one program: 26 weeks of BUD/S preparation, six training days a week. ZeroPhase ships that one program, and only that one. It is not a gym program, so it does not build a barbell strength cycle or a hypertrophy block. It is not a coach, so nobody adjusts your week for a tweaked knee, a work trip or a bad night of sleep. It does not proctor a PST: you log your own numbers, from your own test. And it does not replace a recruiter, who knows your ship date, your contract and the test site you will actually walk into.
If any of those is what you are shopping for, the options above do it better than we do, and MTI and Stew Smith have been at it far longer.
Who this page is for
For a candidate choosing what to train with while there is still time to choose, weeks or months out from a PST. Compare the rows, follow the links, check the dates, and pick the one whose shape fits the time you have.
Not for someone who wants a gym program rather than PST preparation. Not for someone who is not training for a PST, which is the only test the guide and this app are built around. And not for a candidate shipping to BUD/S within weeks: that person needs a recruiter's plan, not a 26-week program.
If your date is already closer than 26 weeks, this page answers that question with the guide's own rule.
Source: each option's own site or store listing, named with each fact above. Page updated October 21, 2026.
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