Best indoor cycling apps

The best indoor cycling apps make riding indoors more productive and enjoyable, but with so many options to pick from, it can be hard to find the right one for your riding.

In this article, we explain the key features, and positives and negatives of the most popular indoor training platforms – including Zwift, Rouvy and TrainerRoad – to narrow down your choice.

After the comparison of the apps, continue scrolling to find out how to choose the best indoor cycling app and what you need to use an indoor cycling app. 

The best indoor cycling apps in 2025

Zwift

Pros:

• The most realistic and social indoor riding experience
• Gammification can be motivating
• Lots of virtual routes and real-world simulations 
• Best for racing and group riding
• Structured workouts and training plans are available

Cons:

• Video-game style is gimmicky to some
• Recent price hike
• Planned workouts can’t be done outside
• Training tech is less sophisticated than TrainerRoad

Cost: £17.99 / $19.99 per month or £179.99 / $199.99 per year 

Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Apple TV

Zwift is the most popular indoor cycling app by some margin. Dedicated Zwifters love the platform’s video-game-style graphics and interactivity, the sociability of group rides and racing, and provision of serious workouts and training plans. 

There are more than 3,000km of ‘roads’ covering climbs, flats and undulating terrain – you can even ride on virtual dirt trails. Zwift regularly adds to its virtual worlds, which include simulations of real-world courses from the road cycling world championships and Tour de France. You can also connect a treadmill to Zwift for running.

The gammified elements of Zwift don’t appeal to everyone. Like in a video game, points you pick up while riding can earn you different jerseys and bikes, and move you up to a different level of Zwifter. 

But the critical mass of people on Zwift makes it the best indoor cycling app for group rides and racing. You’ll always find people to ride with and compete against. In races, Zwift takes into account your power-to-weight ratio to determine how fast you go uphill. You can also steer and draft behind other members of the ‘peloton’. 

You can also follow structured training sessions and training plans on Zwift. But unlike with other indoor cycling apps, you can’t send them to your bike computer to complete outside. And sessions you’ve completed outside won’t count towards your progress on Zwift. 

Zwift is one of the more expensive indoor training platforms. A monthly subscription now costs £17.99 / $19.99. 

Rouvy

Pros: 

• You can ride along to footage of outdoor roads
• Group membership can save you money
• Good integration with third-party apps

Cons:

• Video quality is variable 
• You’ll need a strong internet connection 

Cost: from £10.75 per month / £129 per year 

Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Apple TV

On Rouvy, you ride along to videos of real-world roads as your smart trainer simulates the gradient profile. 

There are about 1,500 routes in the Rouvy library from the Stelvio in the Italian Alps to Snake Pass in England’s Peak District. Helpfully for triathletes, several Ironman courses are available to ride. In January 2025, Rouvy bought its competitor FulGaz, incorporating 20 of its most-ridden routes on to Rouvy. 

If you’re targeting a particular course, you can film and upload your own footage. While Rouvy works on iOS and Android, you’ll have a better experience on a larger screen, if your WiFi connection is strong enough.

You can use Rouvy on non-smart trainers because the app can calculate your virtual power from speed and gradient. 

Rouvy offers structured workouts and training plans. The app integrates with most third-party training platforms, including Strava and Training Peaks, so you can import workouts and follow your indoor and outdoor riding within Rouvy.

There are three types of subscription: Solo for single users, Duo for two and Group for up to five members. With more users, a Rouvy subscription works out cheaper per person. 

MyWhoosh

Pros: 

• Currently free
• Includes virtual racing
• Choice of virtual worlds

Cons:

• Racing lacks the realism of Zwift
• Roads aren’t as busy as Zwift
• Funded by an authoritarian oil state 

Cost: Nothing

Platforms:  iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Apple TV

MyWhoosh hosts the UCI Cycling eSports World Championships and majors on indoor virtual bike racing. 

Races are becoming more popular and competitive. Bear in mind you’ll need a power meter and heart-rate monitor. This raises the bar to entry higher than other indoor cycling apps, which only require a smart trainer with in-built power measurement. 

MyWhoosh is free and offers cash prizes for successful racers. But it is bankrolled by Abu Dhabi, part of the authoritarian United Arab Emirates, leading to allegations of sportswashing. 

With 11 virtual worlds to ride in, you get an abundant selection of routes (700km, including real-world simulations of Columbia climbs and Belgium bergs. 

MyWhoosh’s extensive workout library includes more than 700 sessions. You can also import TrainingPeaks workouts, for example, or build your own session. 

TrainingPeaks Virtual

Pros: 

• Currently free
• Works seamlessly with TrainingPeaks plans and workouts
• Realistic ride feel and graphics 

Cons:

• Not that popular at the minute
• Route map isn’t that extensive 

Cost: Free until end of March 2025, then part of TrainingPeaks Premium ($124.99 per year)

Platforms: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Apple TV 

TrainingPeaks Virtual came about when TrainingPeaks, the training planning software, acquired indieVelo, a simulated reality indoor cycling app.

A former Zwift employee designed indieVelo, which is noticeable in its video-game aesthetic and interactivity.TrainingPeaks Virtual has a more muted colour scheme and is less gammified though. 

There are also fewer events, challenges and races. Racing is also less serious than on Zwift, for example, because TrainingPeaks Virtual doesn’t stipulate such accurate weight and FTP measurement. 

With only one simulated world, your selection of routes is more limited than other apps. 

To perform a structured workout, you can pick one from the TrainingPeaks Virtual library or import one from a training plan you’re following on a third-party app. 

TrainingPeaks Virtual is currently free until the end of March 2025. After then, it’ll be included in TrainingPeaks Premium(£124.99). It remains to be seen whether TrainingPeaks will increase this cost, but as things stand it’s a great deal for existing paid users of the software.

Wahoo X

Pros: 

• Can suggest off-the-bike training
• Includes plainer workouts and video-accompanied sessions
• Claims to use a more rounder power profile than FTP

Cons: 

• Minimal immersion
• Quite expensive 
• Little social element

Cost: £12.99 / $14.99 per month or £135 / $149 per year

Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows, macOS

Wahoo X brings together a mixture of straightforward training sessions, ride videos and cross training. 

Wahoo says its software takes into account your 4DP profile (data from four maximal efforts of different durations used to identify your physiological strengths and weaknesses) to create a personalised training plan. Like TrainerRoad, Wahoo X will now suggest daily workouts.

If desired, you can choose to include yoga, mobility and strength training in your plan. 

Users of the brand’s bike computers can send Wahoo X workouts to their head units to follow outdoors. 

You can’t ride in a group or take part in races though. 

TrainerRoad

Pros: 

• No-frills training
• AI-adaptive training plans
• Automatic FTP estimation 
• Workouts can be done indoors or outdoors
• You can choose your own entertainment

Cons:

• Not immersive
• No races
• Fairly expensive

Cost: £17.80/ $21.99 per month or £170 / $209.99 per year 

Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows, Mac

TrainerRoad puts fitness gains in front of an immersive indoor riding experience. 

Structured workouts are pretty much all that’s on this spartan indoor cycling app. While completing them, you’ll be looking at a black screen and blue blocks of intervals not a cartoony simulacrum of an Alpine col. 

But if you’d rather focus on your target interval power and time remaining to completion and are happy to provide your own entertainmen, TrainerRoad might appeal to you. While there’s no racing, you can complete group workouts on the desktop app.

TrainerRoad has some clever AI tech that goes a long way to justifying a subscription, especially for self-coached athletes. 

The software will give you a customised training plan based on your goals and performance profile. The Adaptive Training takes account of factors like your training load, workout completion rate and subjective feedback to adjust your training schedule. If you want to do a workout on the fly, the Train Now will tailor a suggested session to your recent riding, for example. 

As with all Artificial Intelligence, this tech should be taken with a pinch of salt. It might not be as effective as hiring a coach. 

When you’ve paired TrainerRoad with a third-party training platform like TrainingPeaks, you can send workouts to your bike computer to do them outside. Completed outdoors rides will then be uploaded to your TrainerRoad profile. 

BKool

Pros:

• Relatively affordable
• Mimics real-world roads
• Targets fun and fitness

Cons:

• Racing isn’t hotly contested
• Not compatible with Apple TV
• Graphics aren’t the clearest 

Cost: £9.99 per month or £89 per year

Platforms: iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows 

Bkool simulates riding outdoors on real roads and even velodromes at reasonable cost compared to other indoor cycling apps.

Like on Rouvy, you can turn videos of you riding outdoor roads into virtual routes for you and other app users. 

Along with routes, you can pick structured workouts and follow customisable training plans. 

Admittedly, the videos aren’t of the highest quality. While you can race, the events aren’t as competitive as on more popular apps like Zwift and MyWhoosh. You can’t project Bkool on to Apple TV either. 

How to choose the best indoor cycling app for you

To select the best indoor cycling app for your riding, consider a few things. 

How often will you use it? How long will your rides be? Do you want to focus solely on fitness? Or would you like to have fun as well? Do you want to race and ride in groups? Do you want to experience real-world roads for enjoyment or training purposes?

For infrequent users, a more expensive subscription probably isn’t worth it. But if you ride inside several times a week in winter or all-year round, it might be. 

If you plan to ride for hours on your turbo at a time, a more immersive indoor cycling app like Zwift or Rouvy could stave off boredom during these sessions. But if you do endurance rides outside and shorter interval sessions inside, simpler apps like TrainerRoad might be fine.

Stripped-back apps like TrainerRoad are also ideal for fitness-focused athletes who want to do quality sessions with minimal fuss while benefiting from AI ‘coaching’. But for virtual racing and group riding, Zwift and MyWhoosh are the leading options. 

Triathletes targeting Ironman races should consider signing up to Rouvy. On the app, you can replicate Ironman courses while riding along to a video of the course. 

Alternatives to indoor cycling apps 

A free alternative to indoor cycling apps is to connect your smart trainer to your bike computer. You can follow workouts from, choose a real route to simulate or just do a free ride.

Many people will find this too boring, but if you just want to get the odd structured workout done indoors, it will save you a lot of money. 

What do you need to use an indoor cycling app

To use an indoor cycling app, you’ll need one of the following: a bike and turbo trainer, an indoor smart bike or an indoor smart frame and turbo trainer. 

For the best experience, including adjustable resistance to replicate gradient changes on virtual climbs, you’ll want a smart trainer. But some apps work with cheaper ‘dumb’ trainers without connectivity. 

For racing, MyWhoosh requires you to have a power meter on your bike in addition to the smart trainer’s integrated power meter. Other virtual racing platforms don’t mandate this though. 

You can also connect a heart-rate monitor to indoor cycling apps to receive more data about your effort. 

Even for the more pared-back indoor cycling apps, you’ll want a screen to display the app. Tablets, laptops and TVs are better than a mobile phone’s smaller screen for simulated reality riding. On TrainerRoad, though, a fairly large smartphone works fine. 

For indoor cycling in general, it’s worth investing in one of the best indoor cycling fans. You can connect some smarter options, such as the Elite Aria, to your app for hands-free control.