# A Shotsy alternative, and how to bring your history with you Updated 23 August 2026 · Written by the Penwise team Shotsy is the best known app in this category and it is a decent one. People leave it for three reasons: the yearly price, the features it does not have, and the fact that a medication history lives on somebody else's server. This is an honest account of what changes if you switch, and exactly how to bring your data. ## What is different | | Penwise | Shotsy | | --- | --- | --- | | Yearly price | 19,99 € | More than 30 € | | Monthly option | 2,49 € | Yes | | Lifetime option | 59,99 €, one payment | Not offered | | Free tier | Core tracker forever, including full export | Limited free tier | | Account required | None. No email, no sign-in | Yes | | Health data on a server | None. On-device only | Yes | | Estimated medication levels | Yes, per medication | Yes | | Pen click counts and discard windows | 17 pens and 5 vial presets | Not modelled | | Apple Watch app | Included | Not available | | Wear OS app | Included | Not available | | Post-shot resting heart rate | Measured and attached to the shot | No | | Doctor-ready PDF report | Yes | No | | Share card studio | Yes | Yes | | Languages | English, Slovak, Czech, Polish | English | Prices are the retail prices both apps publish. Feature comparisons reflect what each app offered at the time of writing – check both before deciding, and tell us if something here is out of date. ## The three reasons people actually switch ### Price, and the lifetime option Penwise yearly is 19,99 €, while the yearly plans Shotsy lists on the App Store all cost more than 30 €. The lifetime option changes the shape of the decision entirely: 59,99 € once, no renewal, which is less than two years of any of those Shotsy plans. Nothing in this category offers that, which is a deliberate choice rather than an oversight. The free tier matters as well. In Penwise the core tracker is free forever – logging, weight, sites, history, calendar, reminders – and crucially so is exporting your own data as CSV or JSON. Your history is never held hostage by a subscription lapse. ### The features that are not there Penwise is a superset rather than a different take. Everything a shot log does, plus: - **Pens as real objects.** Click counts per strength, in-use windows counted down, days of supply at your actual dose, and the redesigned KwikPen that no longer finishes with a leftover. See [the pen click chart](https://penwiseapp.com/en/guides/glp-1-pen-click-chart) and [discard windows](https://penwiseapp.com/en/guides/how-long-does-a-glp-1-pen-last). - **Both watch platforms.** Apple Watch and Wear OS, included, with complications on both and a tile on Wear OS. Log a shot from the wrist and it syncs when the phone is back in range. - **Post-shot vitals.** Measure your resting heart rate after a shot and save it onto that shot. - **A proper check-in system.** Twenty named side effects on a 0 to 5 scale and nine sliding measures including [food noise](https://penwiseapp.com/en/guides/what-is-food-noise), appetite and three kinds of craving. - **Insights that stay quiet.** Adherence drift, site comfort, symptom timing and milestones – each with a minimum evidence threshold before it appears. - **A doctor-ready PDF** and a clinical-standard export for an appointment. - **Four fully translated languages,** with proper diacritics, not machine strings on an English app. ### Where the data lives This is the one that is not a feature comparison. Shotsy asks for an account and holds your data. Penwise has no account, no sign-in and no server that receives health data, so there is nothing for us to hand over, sell or lose. That is an architectural difference rather than a policy one, and the distinction matters: a privacy policy can be rewritten at the next funding round, and an app with no server cannot quietly acquire one without you noticing. The full argument is in [why a GLP-1 tracker should not have a server](https://penwiseapp.com/en/guides/private-glp-1-tracker). > The honest cost of that design: there is no cloud sync, no web app, no cross-device history, and no password reset. Your data moves between devices only through a backup you export and carry yourself, encrypted with a passphrase we do not hold. If you lose the passphrase, nobody can recover it. If cross-device sync is essential to you, that is a real reason to stay where you are. ## Bringing your history across Import is a three-step guided migration rather than a project. It handles Shotsy JSON, CSV and backup exports. 1. **Export from Shotsy.** Settings, then Manage My Data, then Export Data. Choose JSON if your version offers it, CSV if it does not. 2. **Open Penwise and start the import.** The in-app walkthrough names the exact path and picks the file up from wherever you saved it. 3. **Check the preview.** Penwise shows you what it found before it writes anything. 4. **Assign pens, if you want to.** A dedicated screen afterwards lets you attach pens to the doses that came in without one. What comes across: shots with dates, times, medication and dose; weights; injection sites; and side effects. What the import is careful about: - Importing the same file twice does not duplicate anything. - A side effect you recorded as mild is not rounded away to nothing on the way in. - Dates, units and separators are detected from the file rather than assumed, including exports made in other languages and regions. - The whole import can be rolled back if you change your mind. Import is a Penwise+ feature, and every install starts with fourteen days of Penwise+ with no card and no account – so you can migrate, look at your whole history in the new app, and decide afterwards. ## Try both, honestly There is no reason to delete anything on day one. Export from Shotsy, import into Penwise, and run them side by side for a fortnight while the trial is live. You will know quickly whether the level curve, the pen handling and the watch app are worth it to you, and whether the absence of cloud sync is a relief or a problem. If it is not for you, your data is still in both places and Penwise will export it again on request, free, forever. **Move your history in three steps** Fourteen days of Penwise+ included, no card and no account. Import, look around, decide afterwards. ## Common questions **Can I import my Shotsy data into Penwise?** Yes. Export from Shotsy as JSON, CSV or a backup file, then run the in-app import. Shots, weights, injection sites and side effects come across, importing the same file twice does not duplicate anything, and the whole import can be rolled back. **Is Penwise cheaper than Shotsy?** Yes. Penwise yearly is 19,99 €, while the yearly plans Shotsy lists on the App Store all cost more than 30 €. There is also a 59,99 € lifetime purchase, which Shotsy does not offer, and a monthly option at 2,49 €. **What does Penwise have that Shotsy does not?** Pen click counts and discard windows for seventeen pens, Apple Watch and Wear OS apps, post-shot resting heart rate, doctor-ready PDF reports, a full check-in and side effect system, four translated languages, and no account or server for health data. **What does Shotsy have that Penwise does not?** Cloud sync and a cross-device account, which follow from having a server. Penwise deliberately has neither, so your history does not move between devices except through a backup you carry yourself. **Do I need an account to use Penwise?** No. There is no sign-up, no email address and no password. The app works the moment you install it, and the fourteen-day trial starts without a card. **Will I lose my data if I stop paying?** No. The core tracker keeps working and CSV and JSON export is free forever, with no paywall on your own history. Penwise+ features stop; your data does not. Penwise is a tracking and education tool, not a medical device. Nothing on this page is medical advice, a diagnosis or a recommendation to start, stop or change a dose. Dosing decisions belong to you and your clinician. Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus, Saxenda and Victoza are trademarks of Novo Nordisk; Mounjaro, Zepbound and Trulicity are trademarks of Eli Lilly. Penwise is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to either company. ## Keep reading - [How to choose a GLP-1 tracker app](https://penwiseapp.com/en/guides/best-glp-1-tracker-apps): Twelve questions worth asking before you put a year of medication history into an app, and what the honest answers look like. - [Why a GLP-1 tracker should not have a server](https://penwiseapp.com/en/guides/private-glp-1-tracker): Your medication history is one of the most sensitive records you will ever create. Here is what a cloud tracker actually holds, and what an on-device one cannot. - [The Mounjaro tracker app that keeps your log on your phone](https://penwiseapp.com/en/guides/mounjaro-tracker): How to track Mounjaro (tirzepatide) properly: doses, the KwikPen, injection sites, side effects and where you actually are between shots. - [GLP-1 weight loss timeline: what happens month by month](https://penwiseapp.com/en/guides/glp-1-weight-loss-timeline): Month one is titration, not results. What the trials actually recorded at each stage, why the first six weeks mislead everybody, and how to read your own curve.