I have five cycling apps on my phone. I use three of them regularly, one occasionally, and one I keep forgetting to delete. The cycling app market has gotten crowded enough that it’s worth sorting out which ones actually earn their storage space — because loading up on apps you never open isn’t a plan, it’s digital hoarding.
Here are the ones I’ve found genuinely useful after testing way too many.
Training and Fitness
Strava — still the default for most cyclists. The free version tracks your rides, shows you segments, and lets you follow friends. The paid version ($60/year) adds route planning, live segments, and training analysis. Whether the premium is worth it depends on whether you actually use those features or just want to see your ride on a map. I pay for it because the route builder has become my primary planning tool, but the free tier covers the basics.
TrainerRoad — if you’re serious about structured indoor training, this is the app. Power-based workouts, adaptive training plans that adjust to how you’re actually performing, and analytics that track meaningful progress. I covered this in detail in my indoor cycling apps article, but the short version: it made me measurably faster. Not cheap at $20/month, but cheaper than a coach.
Zwift — the social/gamified indoor training platform. Virtual worlds, group rides, racing against real people. Best for riders who need motivation to get on the trainer. Less focused on optimized training than TrainerRoad, but better at getting you to show up consistently.
Navigation and Route Planning
Komoot — my go-to for finding new routes, especially for gravel and mixed-terrain riding. The turn-by-turn navigation is reliable, and the route suggestions based on surface type are a feature no other app matches well. The base app is free; you buy region maps as needed ($3-4 each, or $30 for worldwide). Worth every penny if you ride in areas you don’t know well.
RideWithGPS — excellent planning tools, a huge library of user-created routes, and cue sheets that work with most bike computers. The free version handles basic route creation. Premium ($50/year) adds offline maps and turn-by-turn. I use this when I want to plan a specific route in detail before riding it.
Google Maps — fine for getting from A to B on roads, but it doesn’t understand cycling the way dedicated apps do. It’ll route you onto highways with no shoulder and miss perfectly good bike paths. I use it as a backup, not a primary cycling tool.
What’s Actually Worth Paying For
Start with free versions of everything. Strava free, Komoot’s base app, RideWithGPS basic. Use them for a month and see what you actually reach for. Then upgrade the ones that fill a real need. Paying for premium features you don’t use is just throwing money away — and the cycling industry already has enough ways to separate you from your cash.
One tip: most apps sync data through Strava, so you can record on one app and have your ride automatically appear in others. I record with my Garmin, it syncs to Strava, which feeds data to TrainerRoad. Set that chain up once and forget about it.
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