MapMyRide Vs Strava

If you are into cycling, you know the importance of finding a good route.

If you live in a city, there are probably hundreds of cycling routes just waiting for you; but how do you find them?

Just like everything else, there are apps for that. You can download GPS-tracking apps that will help you find new routes and allow you to track your workouts.

Two of the most popular apps for this are MapMyRide and Strava. Cyclists all over the world use these apps to keep in shape, but which one is better?

Both apps allow you to track your ride and find new routes, which are the basic features you will need. However, each app comes with its own unique features.

This guide will cover the different features of MapMyRide vs Strava and help you decide which one is best for you.

Contents

What is Strava

Strava is a tracking app that allows you to monitor GPS-based exercises such as swimming, biking, running, skiing and more.

The app not only tracks your workout but allows you to add friends, join fitness challenges, and upload photos. Strava offers a free plan and a paid plan for around $10 per month.

Overall, users have found the app simple to use and packed with helpful and fun features.

What is MapMyRide

MapMyRide is a GPS tracking app owned by Under Armour. The app is most popular amongst cyclists.

You can find new cycling paths, connect with friends, compare results and analyze your workout data.

You can also upload photos, keep track of your food intake, search for racing events and more. Overall, MapMyRide has over a dozen features that can help you keep in shape.

This app also has a free and paid version. The paid plan costs around $6 per month or $30 per year. Most people use this app since it has a clean interface and has easy to follow map routes that you can share.

Features

MapMyRide

Discover New Routes

One of the main features of this app is discovering new routes. MapMyRide has a database of over 100 million routes.

You can search for routes based on your location, or you can search for popular trails near your area. This feature will also allow you to save your favorite routes to use later.

Create New Routes

Many cyclists love this feature the best; creating new routes. The process is quite simple compared to other apps.

All you have to do is enter where you are starting from and what terrain the trail will be (paved, mountain biking etc.). You can then use the map to create your route. As you build it, the app will display how long it is in miles to get a good idea of overall distance.

Logging Nutrition

When it comes to MapMyRide vs Strava, this is one feature they don’t have in common. While Strava may have some features to track calories, it is not of the same extent as MapMyRide.

First of all, MapMyRide allows you to make a nutrition plan. It will tell you how many calories you should have a day and will even calculate how much you need in protein, fats and carbs. You can also log food with the app to help keep track of your calorie intake.

Analyse Workout Data and Lifetime Statistics

You can also analyze your workout data after each cycle. The app will tell you how many calories you have burnt, how much distance you covered, how long it took and your average speed.

MapMyRide also offers lifetime statistics. This tells you the total duration of all your workouts combined, total calories burnt, total distance and the total number of workouts.

Strava

GPS Tracking

Most people use Strava for its GPS tracking system. If you are trying out a new route, simply turn on the tracking feature and go for it.

After your workout, you can check out the map and see exactly where you went. It will also tell you the duration of your workout, the overall distance and your pace.

Analyse Workout Data

Another cool feature of Strava is that you can analyze your workout data. The app will tell you what the elevation gain and max elevation were of your workout.

Strava will also generate a chart that shows your average pace through the whole cycle and some other stats you may find helpful.

Connect With Other Cyclists

If you are social or love to compete with others, Strava will be a good app for you. The platform allows you to follow other cyclists, upload photos and find new challenges to complete.

You can even organize some group rides with the app and make some new friends that have the same passions as you.

Usability

Now that we know the main features of MapMyRide vs Strava let’s take a look at the usability of each app.

We will cover a few things, such as ease of use, battery life, and other factors relating to the usability of the apps.

Ease of Use

Both apps are fairly easy to use. When tracking your workouts, you only have to press a few buttons, and you are ready to go.

When it comes to MapMyRide vs Strava, Strava is a bit easier to use. The first thing you will notice about Strava is that the website and app are more modern. Strava stays up to date and has a straightforward interface that is effortless to use.

You can navigate the app through the main dashboard at the bottom and bounce between features from there.

On the other hand, MapMyRide is a bit dated. The website looks old and has a few issues that need to be resolved, such as broken images.

The app looks more up to date, but the free version will still have ads. Furthermore, you can only use the website to complete certain features, such as creating new routes.

Battery Life

When trying to decide between MapMyRide vs Strava, battery life will be an important factor to consider.

These apps will inevitably drain your battery at least a little bit. However, many users have mentioned that Strava will not drain your battery as much as MapMyRide does.

To keep battery drainage at a low, make sure to pause your tracking when you take a break. This will help save battery life and give you enough power to track the whole trail. Just remember to bring a portable charger if you are planning to go on a long ride.

Free Version

Both MapMyRide and Strava offers a free version of the app.

With both apps, you can access all of the basic features that you need to track your ride successfully.

The Strava free version allows you to track your rides and personalise in-app information for your heart rate, gear and bike route. You can also access your pace and elevation gain at the end of each ride.

MapMyRide also offers a lot of features on the free version of the app. Even though the free plan will have advertisements, you can access the basic tracking system, create personal fitness goals, access the lifetime statistics and use an unlimited amount of mapped bicycle routes.

Upgrades

When it comes to upgrades for MapMyRide vs Strava, both apps offer a good amount of upgradeable features.

You can upgrade to premium versions of both apps. Strava premium offers live tracking, personal cycling training plans, heart rate analysis, route planning, personal heatmaps and filtered leaderboards. You can also access fitness analyses, and the app will have no ads.

MapMyRide also comes with a few premium perks. You can filter the leaderboards, export cycling routes, access fitness analysis and live location tracking. You can also set different cycling goals to help keep you motivated.

Customer Support

Customer support is an important factor, especially when you are using a new app. Before deciding between MapMyRide vs Strava, let’s see what platform has the best customer support,

Both apps do not have the best customer support. When it comes to MapMyRide, it is hard to find the customer support section in the first place.

When you log in to your account, you have access to an online chat. However, this chat is not live and only provides automated answers. If you need help from a customer support agent, you will need to contact them by email.

Strava has similar customer support as MapMyRide. However, they have a lot more resources on their site that will answer most of your questions. If you still cannot find an answer in their large database, you will have to submit a request and wait a few days for the answer.

Conclusion

If you are trying to decide between MapMyRide vs Strava, we hope that this guide has given you some clarity.

MapMyRide has many features to offer, including a large database of maps, new route creation, nutrition logging and workout data and lifetime statistics.

Strava offers many of the same features. The app provides GPS tracking, detailed workout data and allows you to connect with other cyclists.

When it comes to usability, Strava is a bit easier to use. This platform is also easier on battery life. Both apps offer many premium features that you can access when you upgrade.

On the downside, these platforms do not offer live support, but Strava has a large database of articles that will answer most questions.

Overall, both platforms give you everything you need to track your route and check your basic fitness statistics.

Sources

Last Updated on June 11, 2023 by Danijel Cakalic