Remap vs Google Maps: which should you use for rides and runs?

Pick Remap if you want rides and runs built for you from the roads around you, through the scenery you choose and matched to a style you set for traffic, surfaces, hills and lighting. Pick Google Maps if you need stops on the way, want one free app for every way of travelling or use Android, because Google offers all of these and Remap doesn’t.

Every Google Maps figure below links to the page it came from, checked on 16 October 2026. What we say about Remap describes its web and iPhone apps on 17 October 2026, from our help pages, pricing page and the apps themselves.

How each one makes a route

Remap builds the route for you. It reads every road for its surface, traffic and terrain, then builds routes through the roads that suit the style you chose. A road you like can lose out when it’s busy, rough or steep for that style (How routes pick roads).

Google Maps gets you to a destination. You search for a place or tap it on the map, tap Directions and choose how you’re travelling, including Cycle and Walking (Google’s directions guide). If there are several routes, “the best route to your destination is blue” and you can pick another on the map. For bikes, Google said in July 2022 that you would see “the elevation along your route” and whether you’ll meet “heavy car traffic, stairs or steep hills”, “when this data is available” (Google blog).

What Remap already knows about every road

Before you ask for a route, Remap has already read every mapped road and path in the world and worked out what each stretch is like to ride or run:

Scenery: whether it runs along the coast, beside water, through a forest or a park, or through a quiet part of town.
Traffic: how much traffic it carries and how fast that traffic moves, modelled for every road, not only where traffic counts exist.
Comfort: bike lanes and separated paths, mapped cycle routes, surface, hills and lighting.

When you ask for a ride or a run, Remap joins the best of these stretches into a route that fits your distance or time. In Explore you choose the scenery you want more of, free: coastal, waterside, parks, forest, cycle networks or quiet streets, with only the kinds your area has on offer. Before you go, the route shows the scenery it passes along its elevation profile and flags any busy, fast or rough stretches.

Side-by-side comparison

	Remap	Google Maps
Price	Free to plan routes, without limits; Remap Pro is $59.99 a year in the US (pricing)	Free. The in-app purchases on its US App Store listing are Google storage and AI plans, for example 100 GB for $1.99 (App Store)
What you ask for	A ride or run in a style you choose (How routes pick roads), or with Go here, a direct route to a place or address you search for	Directions to a place you search for or tap on the map (directions guide)
Ways to travel	Rides and runs, each with its own styles	Driving, public transit, walking, ride sharing, cycling, flight and motorcycle (directions guide)
Tune the routing	Styles you refine: road comfort, speed limits, bike lanes, surfaces, hills, intersections, turns, ferries, traffic and lighting for rides; surfaces, turns and lighting for runs	Avoid tolls and highways (directions guide, computer) and prefer carpool lanes (directions guide); for bikes, you choose between the routes shown
What a bike route tells you	Distance and time, an elevation profile, the scenery along the way, bike lanes and paths, and any stretches with heavy traffic, rough surfaces, steps or a ferry	Elevation, heavy car traffic, stairs, steep hills and the type of road, “when this data is available” (Google blog)
Bike map	The map draws cycleways and roads marked for bikes; the route you pick is coloured by the scenery it passes	Bicycling layer: trails without car traffic, dedicated lanes, bicycle-friendly roads and unpaved trails (layers guide)
Stops on the way	None; Go here takes you from a start to one place you search for, free	Up to 9 stops, including the final destination (directions guide)
Voice navigation	Pro, in the iPhone app; turn tones stay free	Free “turn-by-turn voice, and on screen navigation” (App Store), not in every country, region or language (navigation guide)
Offline maps	None to download; Remap needs a data connection to plan	Download areas, but cycling and walking directions are unavailable offline (offline guide)
Account	Not needed to plan; a free account, with Apple or Google, saves, shares and exports (Your account)	Sign in to your Google Account to save places; a saved list holds up to 3,000 entries (saving guide)
Where it runs	Web and iPhone (iOS 26 or later); navigation and recording are in the iPhone app; no Android or Apple Watch app (App Store)	Computer, iPhone, iPad and Android (directions guide), and Apple Watch (App Store)
Rating	New on the App Store, with no US ratings yet (App Store)	4.7 from 7.4M ratings, #1 in Navigation on the US App Store (App Store)

The real limits on both sides

Remap

Voice guidance, Just Go, Explore Focus, unlimited saves and Wahoo sync are Pro. Planning, GPX export, sharing by link and Bluetooth sensors stay free (Remap Pro, pricing).
A free account shows up to 3 saved routes and favourite activities. The rest are kept, not deleted, and come back with Pro. Recorded activities aren’t capped.
Remap Pro is sold on the web and in the iPhone app (Remap Pro).
Navigation and recording are in the iPhone app, which needs iOS 26 or later. The web plans routes, shows your history and exports GPX. There’s no Android or Apple Watch app.
There are no offline maps to download, so you need a data connection to plan a route.
Remap doesn’t import route files, and Wahoo is the only device it syncs with. Any other bike computer or watch takes a GPX file you export.
Courses you make in Wahoo don’t come into Remap. Older ELEMNT, BOLT and ROAM models keep only your latest course, and the older ELEMNT companion app doesn’t list Remap courses (Wahoo).
A road you like can lose out when it’s busy, rough or steep for your style. Change the style, or report the road if it came out wrong.
Go here gives a direct route to one place, with no stops on the way, and Remap plans only rides and runs.

Google Maps

Cycling routes come “if they’re available in your country or region”, and “some directions in Google Maps are in development and may have limited availability” (directions guide). Google’s 2022 cycling update went to “the hundreds of cities where cycling directions are available” (Google blog).
Offline maps won’t give you a bike or walking route: “When you’re offline, transit, bicycling, or walking directions are unavailable.” Downloaded areas also expire and need updating (offline guide).
The route settings in the directions guide (tolls, highways, carpool lanes, units and departure time) are not about bikes (directions guide). It has no setting for how much traffic or how many hills you’ll accept on a ride; you choose between the routes it shows.
There’s no running mode. The guide lists walking, which gives “step-by-step walking directions to your destination” (directions guide).
To start navigation, “your starting point must be your location. Otherwise, you get a preview of the route instead” (directions guide).
The iPhone app requires iOS 16.0 or later (App Store).

Who should pick which

Pick Remap if you:

Ride or run for its own sake and want the route built for you from the roads around you.
Care how the roads feel: traffic, surfaces, hills, bike lanes and lighting, all set in your style.
Want more coast, water, forest or parks on your rides and runs.
Ride and run, and want each to keep its own style.
Ride with a Wahoo and want every saved route to arrive as a course (Pro).
Want to plan without an account or a subscription.

Pick Google Maps if you:

Need to get to a particular place, with up to 9 stops on the way.
Want one free app for cycling, walking, driving and public transit.
Want to see bike lanes and trails on the map before you choose a way.
Use Android. Remap runs on the web and iPhone.

Many riders will keep both: Google Maps to reach an address, Remap for the ride or run itself.

How to switch your rides and runs to Remap

Open Remap on the web or on iPhone. You don’t need an account to plan (Your account).
Pick a style. In Explore, tap Style and choose one. Rides and runs keep their own styles, so set each once (How routes pick roads).
Refine it. On the web, open Style and choose Refine beside it; in the app, tap Style, then the edit button. This is where you set what Google Maps leaves to you: bike lanes and separated paths, traffic volume, hills and surfaces for rides, and road, mixed or trail surfaces for runs (How routes pick roads).
Sign in to save. Sign in with Apple or Google to save routes and keep your history (Your account).
Choose how you’re guided. Turn tones are free. Remap Pro adds a natural voice before each turn, Just Go, which follows your direction as you ride or run, and Explore Focus, which searches for routes in the direction you choose (Remap Pro).
Connect your Wahoo (Pro). In Remap, open Settings and connect Wahoo under Devices. Every route you save goes to your Wahoo as a course, and your recent Wahoo rides come in, back to the day before you joined Remap (Wahoo).
Tell us where a road comes out wrong. Choose Feedback at the bottom of the Explore panel on the web, or Settings, then Feedback, in the app (Report a road).
Keep Google Maps for trips with stops. Remap’s Go here takes you straight to one place you search for. Stops on the way, public transit and driving stay with Google Maps.

More comparisons

Sources

Google Maps figures, each checked on 16 October 2026:

US App Store listing, apps.apple.com/us/app/google-maps/id585027354: Free with in-app purchases (Google storage and AI plans, such as 100 GB $1.99, 200 GB $2.99, Google AI Plus (2 TB) $9.99); 4.7 out of 5 from 7.4M ratings; #1 in Navigation; navigation “for driving, walking, cycling, and public transport”; “turn-by-turn voice, and on screen navigation”; offline maps; iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch; requires iOS 16.0 or later.
Get directions & show routes, iPhone & iPad, support.google.com/maps/answer/144339, and Computer, same page for computer: travel modes; cycling routes “if they’re available in your country or region”; up to 9 stops including the final destination, except public transit and flight; avoid tolls and highways; navigation starts only from your location.
Use layers, support.google.com/maps/answer/3092439: the Bicycling layer and its colours; the Terrain layer’s contour lines.
Download areas & navigate offline, support.google.com/maps/answer/6291838: no transit, bicycling or walking directions offline; areas expire, with automatic updates tried at 15 days or less on Wi-Fi.
Use navigation, support.google.com/maps/answer/3273406: voice navigation; navigation isn’t available in all countries, regions and languages.
Save favorite places, support.google.com/maps/answer/3184808: sign in to save; saved lists limited to 3,000 entries.
Google blog, 27 July 2022, blog.google/products/maps/three-new-maps-updates-to-help-plan-your-next-adventure: cycling route information (elevation, heavy car traffic, stairs, steep hills, road type) “when this data is available”, in “the hundreds of cities where cycling directions are available”.

Remap figures, checked on 17 October 2026: the pricing page, the home page, our help pages, the App Store listing (no ratings yet in the US; requires iOS 26.0 or later) and the Remap apps themselves. Remap makes Remap. Corrections are welcome at the address on our support page.