The Best ExerciseDB Alternatives (2026)

People leave ExerciseDB for one of four reasons: they want to own the data instead of renting it, they need terms they can read, the media they need sits behind a plan they do not want, or they are confused by the name. This page names the realistic alternatives, what each costs you in licence, media and hosting, and where ExerciseDB is still the better choice. For what this site has verified about ExerciseDB in one place, see the ExerciseDB API overview.

First, what ExerciseDB is now#

The exercisedb.dev home page reads "Previously ExerciseDB" above the name AscendAPI, and AscendAPI's documentation, read on October 22, 2026, describes two products:

• ExerciseDB V1, free with no API key at oss.exercisedb.dev: "1,500 exercises with 180p GIFs. No authentication required". A paid tier on RapidAPI adds 360p to 1080p images and GIFs.
• ExerciseDB V2, on RapidAPI only: AscendAPI states 11,000+ exercises with an MP4 video per exercise. Its free Basic plan gives 2,000 requests a month and 200 exercises, with watermarked media.

There is also an older ExerciseDB listing on RapidAPI under the publisher justin-WFnsXH_t6. Its page renders only its title to a non-browser client, so we could not re-read its terms or establish whether it is the same product as AscendAPI's listings. AscendAPI's paid prices and its terms of use were also out of reach from our environment. And none of it is self-hostable: a git clone of the exercisedb-api repository on October 22, 2026 found only a README and an AGPL-3.0 LICENSE.

If your problem was the old listing's quota, AscendAPI's free V1 tier may solve it without leaving. If your problem is ownership, terms or cost at scale, read on. Plans and prices are compared on exercise database API pricing.

The alternatives#

Read the licence line as carefully as the feature line: AGPL is copyleft with obligations if you modify and deploy the code, and public domain has essentially none.

free-exercise-db#

A static dataset on GitHub (yuhonas/free-exercise-db) that its README calls an "Open Public Domain Exercise Dataset" of 800+ exercises. When we counted the combined dist/exercises.json on October 22, 2026 it held 876 exercises and 1,746 JPEG image paths, two per exercise for all but three. The repository's LICENSE.md is the Unlicense, so you can ship the data and images in a closed-source app with no attribution. Best for zero licensing friction when still images are enough. Trade-off: no API, no GIFs or video, English only, and you own hosting, search and fixes. For the head-to-head, including what is actually in the dataset, see ExerciseDB vs free-exercise-db.

wger#

A self-hostable open-source fitness application (routines, nutrition logging against Open Food Facts, body weight) with a REST API. Its application code is AGPL-3.0-or-later and its exercise data is "Creative Commons (see individual entries)"; in wger's code each exercise image and video carries its own licence and author, and new uploads default to CC-BY-SA 4. Images must be static, and its video model accepts mp4, mov, webm, ogv and ogg files you supply. Best for a complete open platform you control, with no per-call fee. Trade-off: you operate a whole Django application, AGPL applies to code you modify and deploy, and much of the data carries attribution and share-alike. We could not read the size of wger.de's live catalog, so this page gives no count. If wger's licensing is the sticking point, compare the alternatives to wger itself.

API Ninjas Exercises#

A hosted API that its maker says covers "over 3000 exercises", returning name, type, muscle, difficulty, instructions, equipment and safety notes, plus, on premium plans, an images array of start and finish photos. Each /v1/exercises call returns up to five results. Its free plan is "Evaluation and demo purposes only", and its pricing page, read on October 22, 2026, lists commercial use from the Developer plan at $59 a month or $39 a month billed yearly; storing the data is allowed from the Business plan at $149 or $99. Best for a simple hosted lookup with photos. Trade-off: no GIFs or video, small pages of results, and a storage rule to check if you cache the catalog.

A stock exercise video library#

If what you want from ExerciseDB is demonstration media, buying files is the other route. GymVisual, for example, sells "royalty-free workout animations, GIFs, and fitness illustrations", and its licence lists Android and iOS apps among permitted uses while forbidding resale or redistribution and use "for training by any Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems". You pay per file and host it yourself; there is no API. Libraries, formats and watermarks are compared on exercise video API options.

Comparison#

Which should you pick?#

• You need GIF or video demonstrations from an API: stay with ExerciseDB; none of the API alternatives here serves video. Try V2's free plan, and read the paid prices and terms on RapidAPI.
• You want media you own: a stock library, after checking its licence against your product.
• You want zero licensing friction and stills are enough: free-exercise-db.
• You want a complete open-source platform: wger, with its AGPL and Creative Commons obligations.
• You only need structured text and simple photos from a hosted API: API Ninjas Exercises on a paid plan.
• You want to stay on ExerciseDB but integrate it cleanly: see the ExerciseDB API integration guide.

Is switching easy?#

It is a re-integration, not a URL swap. The catalogs differ in schema: ExerciseDB V1 records carry bodyParts, targetMuscles and equipments arrays, free-exercise-db uses primaryMuscles from a fixed list of 17 values, and API Ninjas returns one muscle per record. Expect to re-map muscles, equipment and IDs by hand. Media is the bigger lift: moving from GIFs or video to still images changes your UI, and moving to files you host adds storage and a CDN. With wger you also take on running the application, plus a licence review if your product is closed-source.

The upside of owning the data is that you stop depending on a gateway's quotas, prices and uptime. Budget the move as a project: field mapping, media handling and a licence check.