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Remap vs Strava: which route planner should you use?

Remap and Strava side by side, with prices, limits, who should pick which and how to move from Strava to Remap. Every Strava figure links to its source.

By Remap · Published 17 October 2026 · 9 min read

Pick Remap if you want routes built for you from the roads around you, through the scenery you choose and matched to a style you set, with planning free and without limits. Pick Strava if you want one app to record and compare everything you do, with segments, training analysis and routes that sync to a Garmin, and you’re happy to pay for its route tools.

Every Strava 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).

Strava builds routes from where other athletes go. Its suggested routes start from your location and your filters, then “our model leverages insights from real activities, like those in Strava’s Global Heatmap, to generate routes”. You set the sport, a distance, whether to avoid hills or maximise climbing, and mostly paved or mostly dirt (community routes). In its route builder you tap points on the map and “the routebuilder automatically connects it to the last one based on where others have uploaded the same spot in that area”, or you draw with a finger and the route snaps to the nearest roads or trails (create a route in the app). Both need a Strava subscription.

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 Strava
Plan routes Free, without limits, by distance or by time: 10 to 200 km (5 to 125 miles) for rides, 2 to 30 km (1 to 20 miles) for runs (pricing) “Try Routes made for you” and “Draw your own Routes” are ticked for the subscription, not for free (subscription)
Paid plan Remap Pro, $59.99 a year in the US (pricing) Strava Subscription, listed at $79.99 and $11.99 on the US App Store, which doesn’t show billing periods (App Store); €10.99 a month or €74.99 a year on Strava’s pricing page viewed from Europe (pricing)
Free trial 7 days of Pro (pricing) 30 days for eligible accounts (subscription, how to subscribe)
Sports Rides and runs, each with its own styles Runs, rides, hikes, yoga “and over 50+ other sport types” to record (App Store); the web route builder plans for 32 sports (routes on the web)
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 Sport, distance, hills and paved or dirt for suggested routes (community routes); most popular or most direct in the web route builder (routes on the web)
Voice while you move Voice guidance before each turn, in Pro, in the iPhone app; turn tones stay free Audio cues for start, stop and pause, splits on runs, and Live Segments for subscribers (audio announcements)
Offline maps None to download; Remap needs a data connection to plan Routes download to your phone for offline use, in the subscription (subscription features)
Segments and training No segments or training analysis; each activity shows distance, speed, climbing and moving time, plus heart rate, power and cadence from Bluetooth sensors, with a chart Segment leaderboards, Live Segments, Training Log, Fitness & Freshness and more, in the subscription (subscription features)
Wahoo Pro: rides come in, saved routes go out as courses (Wahoo) ELEMNT rides upload to Strava; rides from before you connect don’t sync (Wahoo ELEMNT)
Garmin and Hammerhead No direct sync; export any route as a GPX file for a device that takes one (home page) Saved or starred routes sync to Garmin devices that support Courses (Garmin) and to Hammerhead (Hammerhead)
Export GPX of any route or recorded activity, on the web and in the iPhone app, free with an account; a copy of your data on request (privacy) GPX or TCX of public routes and your activities, plus an archive of your account, on the website only (export, follow a route)
Account Not needed to plan; a free account, with Apple or Google, saves, shares and exports (Your account) Free to record and share your activities (Is Strava free?)
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) Web, iPhone, Apple Watch (App Store) and Android 8.0 or higher (Android)
Rating New on the App Store, with no US ratings yet (App Store) 4.8 from 377K ratings on the US App Store, an Editors’ Choice (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. Indoor workouts stay on Wahoo (Wahoo).
  • Wahoo sync pauses while you’re not on Pro (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.
  • There are no segments, leaderboards or training analysis, and no feed of friends’ activities.

Strava

  • Suggested routes and building your own routes from scratch both need a subscription (community routes, create a route in the app).
  • Suggested routes “may not be perfect”, and their distance “may vary from the exact selection” (community routes). Strava doesn’t suggest ski routes (create a route in the app).
  • When a route’s map is wrong, Strava asks you to edit OpenStreetMap yourself, and the fix reaches Strava only when its basemap next updates (routes on the web).
  • Exporting your data only works on the Strava website (export).
  • A route has to be less than 600 miles long to sync to a Garmin, and unstarring it on Strava doesn’t remove it from the device (Garmin).
  • You may get a full refund within 14 days of purchase; after that a subscription is non-refundable (cancel).
  • The iPhone app requires iOS 17.0 or later, and the Apple Watch app watchOS 10.0 or later (App Store).

Who should pick which

Pick Remap if you:

  • Want the route built for you from how the roads ride, rather than drawn by you or taken from where others went.
  • 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 routes without an account or a subscription.
  • Want GPX files of your routes free, in the app as well as on the web.

Pick Strava if you:

  • Record many sports, not only rides and runs.
  • Want segment leaderboards, training analysis and a feed of your friends’ activities.
  • Want routes that follow the paths the Strava community already uses.
  • Want routes synced straight to a Garmin or a Hammerhead, or need offline route maps.
  • Use Android. Remap runs on the web and iPhone.

How to move from Strava to Remap

  1. Open Remap on the web or on iPhone. You don’t need an account to plan (Your account).
  2. Pick a style. In Explore, tap Style and choose the one closest to the Strava sport you route for. Rides and runs keep their own styles (How routes pick roads).
  3. Refine it. On the web, open Style and choose Refine beside it; in the app, tap Style, then the edit button. Set surfaces and hills the way you set paved or dirt and elevation on Strava, then traffic and the rest (How routes pick roads).
  4. Sign in to save. Sign in with Apple or Google to save routes and keep your history (Your account).
  5. 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). Strava’s connection lives in the Wahoo ELEMNT app, under Profile, then Connected Apps (Wahoo ELEMNT).
  6. Keep a copy of your Strava routes and history. On the Strava website, open a route and use the down arrow to download its GPX or TCX (follow a route). For everything, go to Settings, then My Account, and choose Download your account (export).
  7. Rebuild your favourite routes. Remap doesn’t import route files, so build them again in Remap from the same start.
  8. 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).
  9. Decide what to keep on Strava. Strava stays free to record and share your activities (Is Strava free?). Segment leaderboards, training analysis and offline route maps stay with its subscription (subscription features). If you cancel it, do so on the platform you subscribed through; your activities and data stay (cancel). Remap Pro can be cancelled any time (Remap Pro).

More comparisons

Sources

Strava figures, each checked on 16 October 2026:

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.

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