Komoot vs Strava

ByMoises Campos
komoot-vs-strava
Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash

The use of useful applications for route planning has increased along with the boom in the practice of outdoor sports. Due to the variety of these tools that currently exist, it is necessary to be able to know which of them is the most suitable for each user's interests. To help with this, two of the most popular ones are discussed below, Komoot vs Strava.

Komoot

Komoot is a sports application which is based on information provided by users. Users are encouraged to share highlights and notes about their journeys. Coffee stops, bike shops, images and a multitude of interesting facts can be found in the app. The app takes all this information to help create better trips.

It also presents important information such as the level of difficulty of the trip, the highest and lowest altitude points, the surface and type of bicycle route, the street or fast road, unpaved, paved or paved.

With all this, when you draw your route, you can know in detail what you are going to do. It is ideal for users who want to explore and try new routes.

What makes Komoot different

Komoot won't just plan a random route, it will plan your custom route. It will be a great help to link non-contiguous roads, paths and whatever it takes to connect various points in the least boring way possible, something that can't be done so easily with other mapping elements.

In addition, Komoot generates routes through the use of heat maps. The routes receive recommendations from local athletes in the area, be it a great cafe, a stretch with excellent asphalt, or a well-stocked store. The routes receive recommendations from local athletes in the area, be it a great cafe, a stretch of excellent tarmac, or a well-stocked shop. Points of interest are shown on the maps as red dots, which are known as highlights, with images, comments and descriptions from users.

Komoot analyses the surface of the route to do a better job of sending it along passable trails or dirt roads, not steep climbs or descents. It is also possible to filter the route according to the degree of technical difficulty.

Main features of Komoot

Within the Komoot's most notable features include are the following:

  • Creation of multi-day routes and the possibility of building your own collections, you can upload data that you find interesting and images that can help other users.
  • Automatically sync your route to any Wahoo, Garmin or Suunto device.
  • Step-by-step voice navigation via smartphone.
  • Route recommendations by the Komoot.
  • Technical route information about the type of road and road surface.
  • Offline map use and on-the-fly route creation.
  • Availability of the elevation profile both in the application and on the device.
  • Search for routes carried out by other users.
  • Mapping information for road and off-road (gravel, footpaths and tracks).

How much does Komoot cost?

Once the app Komoot is downloaded, you get the first region for free. You can then select one of three packages: Single Region, Multi-Region Package or World Package to access offline maps and voice-guided navigation wherever you are.

Region purchases can be made from 3.99 euros for a single Region, 8.99 euros for the Multi-Region Pack or 29.99 euros for the World Pack.

Komoot The subscription version also has additional functions, such as allowing you to create your own collections, planning routes for several days or the possibility of accessing the maps offline.

Strava

Strava is the social network exclusively for sportsmen and women. Since its launch in 2009, it has grown significantly in popularity, appropriating many of the features used to generate user interaction available on platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, and associating them with elements of activity-tracking technology, such as those found in Ride with GPS or MapMyRun.

Makes it possible to log, track and monitor your training and road rides. It allows you to like, follow and comment on your friends' training. When it was launched, its main attraction was that it was able to automatically provide a recorded time for specific segments of steep hills.

Subsequently, Strava will rank your performance on that climb against all the other athletes in the world. There are also challenges to join and a calendar where you can keep track of your training stats. In recent years, Strava has incorporated functions for route planning and route sharing.

Why is Strava different?

Strava Routes is a powerful tool that works best on a desktop computer, similar to the Ride with GPS software. It is perfect for athletes who are interested in monitoring and ranking their performance as well as tracking progress, and it works best for on-road activities.

As you generate your road route, you can explore segments and climbs where other users have already recorded their times and plot your route to cover the segments, while a heat map setting will allow you to see the most popular routes.

There is a smart routing function that provides travel recommendations based on other users' routes. You have to activate the "use popularity" button and compare the ones that Strava suggests your own route. The aim is for the algorithm to focus on finding the fastest, safest and most beautiful routes to travel.

Strava makes use of OpenStreetMap, rather than Google, as well as the terrain mapping comes from Mapbox, which means that some alternative paths and roads will not be shown at all times.

Strava's most important features

Some of the Strava features that can be highlighted are listed below:

  • The local guides section shows pre-made trips, which are sent to your device and you follow. However, for some countries, only a local guide is available.
  • Heat maps and segment information to help you with the most interesting routes.
  • Step-by-step voice navigation using the mobile phone application.
  • Editing and deleting sections or waypoints through the use of the free account service.
  • Elevation profile available in the application and the device.
  • Sync and send routes directly to linked devices, including Wahoo and Garmin.
  • Printing a reference sheet step by step.

How much does Strava cost?

Strava is a free digital service that can be accessed via both the mobile app and the website. It also has a subscription version, which costs €7.99 per month.

However, users who have not subscribed, have the possibility to log, share and view activities in Strava, so they can use it as a training record.

The free version of the app will be useful for collecting data from a number of different devices and for being part of the user community.

How to choose between the two applications

Strava is a more fitness-oriented application than Komoot, so it is perfect for competitive athletes and those who want to achieve their fitness goals. There is a supportive community and mutual motivation within it. Heatmaps are a very useful feature when planning a route so you can see how far other users have come.

Through Strava you get a social network on a platform for tracking activity. If you're interested in comparing data with yourself and others, it's great. Plus, it covers a variety of sports, from running to skiing, so you can track and share all your activities in one place.

Komoot focuses on exploring, touring and seeing the world. The featured summaries make it one of the best apps for route planning, touring the countryside or taking an exploratory trip. It has no segment leaderboards or badges, so there is less of a competitive advantage for Komoot, i.e. it is more about sharing your experience and not about challenging others.

Travellers, cyclists, runners and walkers shall identify themselves with Komoot. The application is clean, user-friendly and easy to use, and as you configure your ideal route from various surfaces, Komoot will present you with highlights you might otherwise miss.

Conclusion

After having compared Komoot vs Strava you have seen that each of these applications is completely different from the other. It is therefore recommended that each person try them out and then choose the one that best suits their needs. There are even users who use both applications without any problem, complementing each other.