Diastra vs Runna, which running app suits you?

How are Runna and Diastra different?

Runna and Diastra both build running plans, and both work on Apple Watch^[9]. The biggest difference is what sets the target for each run.

Runna guides your runs by pace. Its help page recommends running mainly to pace and using heart rate as a second measure^[3]. Your watch shows your current pace next to your target pace^[9].

Diastra guides your runs by heart rate. It draws three heart rate bands from your own max, and your watch holds you in the band for each run.

Pace tells you how fast you are going. Heart rate tells you how hard your heart is working to go that fast. Both numbers are useful, and each app is built around one of them.

What is Runna?

Runna is a running app with training plans for races and everyday goals^[1]. Strava, Inc. is the seller on its App Store page^[13]. Runna says its plans are built by elite coaches^[2].

The plans cover the 5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon and 50K. Other plans help you run faster, run further, start running or come back after a break^[1]. You can also build a custom plan of 6 to 26 weeks for any race distance from 5 to 50 km^[1].

Runna asks a few questions before it builds a race plan. It asks about your ability, your weekly distance, your longest run and any recent race times^[4]. Runna builds the plan from those answers.

What does Runna do well?

• Race plans by distance. A runner with a race date picks a distance and gets a plan for every week up to race day^[1].
• Pace on the wrist. Runna shows your current pace and your target pace on Apple Watch. Sounds and vibrations tell you when to speed up, slow down or rest^[9].
• Many watches. Runna works with Apple Watch, Garmin, COROS, Fitbit and Suunto^[1]. Runna sends workouts to a Garmin watch on its own, and finished runs come back to the plan^[10].
• Paces that adjust. Pace Insights compares your intervals, tempo runs, time trials and some long runs with their pace targets. It suggests new paces when it sees a clear trend^[5]. Nothing changes until you accept the new paces.
• Help when life gets in the way. Not Feeling 100% dials the plan back for 3 to 14 days. Its lightest level is no running at all^[6]. Plan Realignment offers a way back after you miss more than three workouts or a week^[7]. Adapt for Heat adjusts pace targets for hot, humid days^[8].
• Strength and mobility. Runna adds strength sessions for the legs and core, the full body and the upper body. It also has mobility work, and the sessions come with demo videos^[11].
• Community. Runna's App Store page describes the Runna Club as an international community of runners^[13].
• Ratings. Runna has an Editors' Choice badge on the App Store and 4.8 stars from about 35,000 ratings^[13].

Runna also shows heart rate in five zones. The zones start from a max of 220 minus your age, and you can edit them^[3].

What is Diastra?

Diastra is a heart rate training app for iPhone and Apple Watch. It reads every workout your Apple Watch ever saved in Apple Health. So Diastra starts from the runs you have already done.

Diastra looks for your max heart rate in your own workouts. You can also run a guided test or type in a max you know. Diastra tells you which of the three it used.

That max sets three heart rate bands. Easy is the easiest, Threshold is harder and VO₂max is the hardest.

The Zone 2 you know from other apps is close to Diastra's Easy band. Easy starts at 60% of your max. Its top edge is set near where lactate starts to rise for the average runner. Lactate is a substance in your blood that climbs as effort gets harder. Blood tests on 165 recreational runners found that first rise at 78.9% of max for men and 83.6% for women on average^[15]. Diastra ends Easy at 79% of max for men, 83% for women and 80% when sex is not given.

Those numbers are averages. The same study found that one runner's own rise can land about 16 beats a minute above or below the average line^[15].

Your weekly plan is built from those bands and from the minutes you already run. When you miss a day, your week is redrawn around the workouts you did. When your recovery signals are down, your hard session moves and the day stays easy.

Your Apple Watch taps your wrist when you drift out of your band on a run. Only the minutes that held inside the band are credited to your week.

Diastra shows whether you are getting fitter, holding steady or slipping over the weeks. It tells you if your training is working, even when the answer is no.

You do not need an account.

Diastra has limits. It does not set pace targets from a goal time, and it does not predict a race time. It runs only on iPhone and Apple Watch. It has no strength sessions and no community feed.

Runna and Diastra side by side

The prices below are the ones listed in the United States on October 4, 2026. Prices change, so check each store before you buy. Runna also sells a joint Strava and Runna plan for $149.99 a year through Strava^[14].

Pace or heart rate, which should guide your runs?

A race goal is a time on a clock. In a pace plan, each workout has a target speed that leads to the finish time you want.

Heart rate shows how hard your heart is working right now. Heat and humidity push heart rate higher^[3]. So you reach the top of a heart rate band at a slower pace on a hot day.

Easy runs show this most clearly. An Easy band gives every easy run the same heart rate line to stay under. The pace it takes to stay under that line can change from day to day. Zone 2 heart rate explains where the Easy band ends and the research behind it.

The max heart rate under the bands matters too. A max from 220 minus age is a guess from your age alone. A Norwegian study tested the max of 3,320 healthy adults. Even the study's own age formula missed a typical person's max by about 11 beats a minute^[16]. Max heart rate formulas shows where 220 minus age came from and how far it can miss.

Who should pick Runna?

Runna is the better pick if most of these sound like you.

• You have a race on the calendar and a finish time in mind.
• You like to run to pace targets that lead to a finish time.
• You train with a Garmin, COROS, Fitbit or Suunto watch, or you use an Android phone.
• You want strength and mobility sessions inside the same plan.
• You like the idea of a community of runners training alongside you.

Who should pick Diastra?

Diastra is the better pick if most of these sound like you.

• You run with an Apple Watch and an iPhone.
• You want heart rate bands drawn from a max found in your own workouts.
• You want a tap on the wrist when your easy runs drift out of the Easy band.
• You want to see over the weeks whether your training is working, even when the answer is no.
• You would rather not make an account.

Heart rate zones on Apple Watch shows what the watch gives you on its own.

Can you use Runna and Diastra together?

Yes. Runna saves the runs you record on Apple Watch to Apple Health^[9]. Diastra reads every workout your Apple Watch saved in Apple Health. So a Runna run also shows up in Diastra with its minutes in each band.

The two plans will not always match. If you use both apps, pick one to plan your week. Use the other one to read your runs.