Komoot, Strava, and RideWithGPS are the bike navigation apps riders stack against each other when a car-oriented maps pin is not enough. You want cycling-aware routing, elevation, offline maps, and a file you can send to a bike computer so the phone is not glowing for five hours. The useful choice follows the ride.
Which of those jobs is actually yours?
Gravel and mixed surfaces usually favor Komoot, while road segments and the social feed pull people toward Strava. Club events with editable cue sheets are where RideWithGPS earns its keep. You don't have to pick only one. Plenty of riders plan in one app and record in another.
Dedicated bike apps vs a regular maps app
A regular maps app will get you across town. Cycling is pickier. You care whether the line is pavement, gravel, or a path that turns to sand, and you care how steep it gets.
Leave the screen on and GPS tracking will chew through a phone battery. That's normal. A two-hour urban loop and a mountain day are different problems. For the short loop, the phone is enough. For the long one, plan on a laptop, export a GPX, and navigate from a bike computer.
Don't trust an automatic planner with your skin. It can suggest a sidewalk, a private drive, or a trail that looks fine until you're off the bike pushing. Zoom in. Flip to satellite. Check the elevation profile. If you wouldn't ride that turn at dusk, move the waypoint.
Cyclist's roundup of cycling route-planning apps still describes the common pattern: do the detailed work on a computer, then send the route onward. That's battery math, not a luxury setup.
Komoot for mixed surfaces and new areas
Komoot is what you open when you don't already know the roads. You choose a sport profile, drop start and end points, and let it bias the line toward the surface and difficulty you picked. Community highlights mark popular trails and viewpoints so you're not inventing a path from a blank map.
Do the real editing on a desktop. The 3D planner lets you scroll the landscape, drag waypoints, and switch between map and satellite before you clip in. Phone screens fight you on that job.
Turns out offline maps are the piece that matters when the canyon has no bars. Komoot's help article on offline maps is clear: once maps are downloaded, you can view them, use turn-by-turn voice navigation, and record without a connection. Creating or heavily editing a route still needs the internet. You can download regional maps for a defined area. Premium or a World Pack lets you save a custom map area you draw yourself. In some countries the app stores hide those download buttons. If the option is missing, that's a store restriction.
Paid Komoot unlocks wider offline coverage and extras such as multi-day trip tools, and list prices have moved as the product leaned harder on subscriptions, so the number you memorized from an old screenshot may not be the number on the paywall, which means you should confirm in the app before you budget and skip buying a pack that checkout no longer offers. The vendor page wins.
Getting the line onto another device is a file transfer. Komoot's export and import article notes there is no direct Strava integration. Download a route, then upload it. Bulk GPS download isn't supported. After an import, open the planner and fix waypoints that snapped to the wrong trail. Live location sharing still needs a signal.
Komoot fits gravel, mixed-surface touring, and first visits. It's a weaker home base if your week is intervals and segment chasing.
Strava for segments and road data
Strava launched in 2009 as an activity tracker, and that origin still shapes the product. Segments and leaderboards did the rest. Route planning is available. It isn't the center of gravity.
On a laptop you can draw a loop, lean on heatmaps of where people actually ride, and look for quieter roads when you want less traffic. Turn-by-turn navigation comes with the paid plan. Recording a ride is the free-tier job. Full route building and most of the analysis sit behind a subscription.
Build anything serious on a computer. Phone editing is clumsy. Export the route if you want it on a Garmin, Wahoo, or similar head unit. Don't run live navigation on the phone for a six-hour day unless you packed a charger and a mount you trust. The battery will not last.
Plenty of riders keep Strava for the feed and still draw the route somewhere else, then upload the activity afterward, which is a reasonable split if you like the social layer but find the planner stiff, and it means you don't have to treat one app as the only tool in the bag.
Strava is the comfortable pick when you already know the roads and want performance context. You can point it at gravel. It just isn't built around that problem.
RideWithGPS for clubs, editing, and cue sheets
RideWithGPS is the organizer's tool. Ride leaders, tourers, and anyone who wants to argue with every turn tend to end up here. The web planner offers multiple map layers, turn-by-turn directions, and space to rewrite what riders will hear or read.
Cue sheets are the difference. In the web planner, generate a cuesheet from the settings menu and the app builds turn instructions. You can add custom cues for a messy intersection, a feed zone, or a photo of a landmark. Those notes show on the route page and in the mobile app. While you're navigating, open Cuesheet from the toolbar.
To be honest, it feels like software for people who already think in GPX files. That's a plus if you run group rides. It's extra clicking if you only wanted a Saturday coffee loop.
Paid plans typically unlock offline maps, voice prompts, and deeper editing. Prices vary by region and billing cycle. Check the vendor before you put it on a club budget. The free planner is enough to see whether the workflow fits.
Print the cue sheet for long events.
Phones die. Paper doesn't ask for a signal.
Other tools in the same drawer
What3words pins a 3-by-3-meter meeting spot with three words, which helps at a trailhead with no street number, and compass-style tools such as Beeline point you at a destination without calling every turn. UK riders sometimes add Ordnance Survey mapping for detailed local coverage, which is a maps add-on, not a replacement for the three apps above.
How the three apps differ
| App | Paid access | Routing and maps | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Komoot | Freemium; Premium or World Pack for broader offline maps | Sport profiles, community highlights, 3D desktop planner, regional or custom offline maps | Gravel, mixed surfaces, exploring |
| Strava | Subscription for full routing and most analysis | Heatmaps, quieter-road options, segments, paid turn-by-turn | Road riding, segments, social tracking |
| RideWithGPS | Paid plans for offline maps and advanced editing | Multiple map layers, custom cue sheets, detailed web planner | Clubs, events, precision cues |
Use that as a filter, not a ranking. The same person can plan a gravel weekend in Komoot, chase a segment on Strava, and publish the club century in RideWithGPS.
Plan the route, then protect the battery
- Name the job. Gravel scouting, a training loop, or a group event.
- Build the line on a computer. Use satellite and elevation. Don't auto-accept the first suggestion.
- Download offline maps for the whole area you might wander, not only the thin polyline.
- Export a GPX (or the format your computer wants) and load it on a head unit for anything longer than a short city ride.
- Set a battery plan: phone on low power, a small power bank, or the computer as primary nav.
- Share the route or cue sheet with anyone meeting you. Recheck weather and closures that morning.
An hour around town can live on the phone. Multi-hour rides need a second device or a charger. GPS radios are hungry.
If you ride an e-bike, run the same workflow and then look at the elevation. Steep or loose surfaces change range. The app does not know your battery's health. Compare the profile with how far you can actually go on that charge.
Match the app to the rides you actually do
Start with the week you already ride, not the tour you might book.
Unknown dirt and mixed surfaces: Komoot's community highlights and desktop 3D view. Road fitness and KOMs: Strava, especially if the feed is already your logbook. Clubs and custom instructions: RideWithGPS.
Thing is, offline coverage and battery strategy beat brand loyalty every time. A perfect line you can't follow without cell service is just a screenshot. Download the region or custom area before you leave pavement. Keep the phone in a pocket until you need a prompt.
Always scan the route yourself. The planner guesses. You don't get to guess at a left turn across fast traffic.
Plot one loop on a desktop this week in the free tier that matches that ride, download the map for that area, and do a short shakedown with the phone in your pocket so you'll know whether the voice prompts and the battery drop are livable.