8 exercise APIs compared: ExerciseDB, MuscleWiki, WorkoutX, wger and more (I run one of them)

I run Your Move, an exercise API. Keep that in mind while reading.

We run a white-label fitness app business. When we needed exercise media for our clients, none of the videos out there were shot well enough for enterprise use, and GIFs were not accurate enough and the motion was not smooth. So we shot everything ourselves. We shoot with personal trainers, physiotherapists and bodybuilders, people who are experts in their field and in movement.

We launched the API in February 2026 and have had thousands of signups since, from corporates to small startups to solo founders. We keep shooting and improving the library every month. Along the way I have looked at every other exercise API out there, and this is the list I wish had existed when I started.

The one question that decides everything: what media does the API ship? Exercise names and muscle data are a commodity now. The GIFs, animations or videos are what your users actually see, and they decide whether your app looks like a product or a prototype.

The 8, side by side

Counts and prices checked November 2026. Vendors change these, so verify before you build.

How I would pick

You want real humans on camera and one consistent look. Your Move or MuscleWiki. Your Move has more unique exercises, including yoga and pilates. MuscleWiki has more videos per exercise, with two angles each. Your Move films everything in the same white studio with trainers and physiotherapists, so the library looks like one product inside your app, and the $19 plan already includes workout generation and secondary muscles. MuscleWiki puts those on the $99.99 plan.

Animation is fine for your users. WorkoutX if you want 3D, ExerciseDB V2 if you want the biggest catalog and do not mind buying through RapidAPI. Check the commercial terms on ExerciseDB first, the docs do not state them.

You only need text and muscle data. API Ninjas, or wger if you can live with Creative Commons attribution per exercise.

Prototype or hobby project. ExerciseDB V1 open source. No key, decent data, GIFs are 180p so do not ship them to paying users.

What a real-video response looks like

Every exercise API returns roughly the same shape. The difference is the media field. Here is Your Move, filtered to chest exercises with white-background video:

const res = await fetch(
  'https://exercise-api.ymove.app/api/v2/exercises?muscleGroup=chest&hasVideoWhite=true&limit=5',
  { headers: { 'X-API-Key': process.env.YMOVE_KEY } }
);
const { data } = await res.json();
// data[0].videoUrl is a portrait 9:16 MP4 of a trainer, not a GIF
// data[0].muscleGroups, instructions, equipment, difficulty, thumbnailUrl

Keep the key on your server. Every API on this list wants that, and the ones that run through RapidAPI will bill you for a leaked key.

The endpoint table, quickstarts for REST, the TypeScript SDK and the MCP server, an SVG body map for every exercise and the full exercise list are in the docs repo: https://github.com/ymove-app/exercise-api

Two things nobody tells you until you are live

1. Catalog size is a vanity metric. Your users see maybe 150 exercises in their first month. Consistency of the 150 matters more than the other 10,000.
2. Check the media license separately from the code license. Two of the open-source options on this list have MIT code and no stated license on the clips.

The longer version with sources per API, a GIF vs filmed video face-off and a selector that picks for you is on our site: https://ymove.app/exercise-api/top-exercise-apis

If you would rather read code than marketing, start at the repo: https://github.com/ymove-app/exercise-api