Komoot vs Strava: Which Planner Is Best for E-Bike Touring?

The dream of an e-bike tour is one of freedom: cruising through scenic landscapes, discovering hidden gems, and enjoying the journey without a worry. You’ve got the bike, you’ve booked the time off, and now comes the most crucial part—planning the route. This is where the great debate begins for modern cyclists: Komoot or Strava? As a bike travel blogger, I’ve spent countless hours with both, and I’ve learned the hard way that for a leisure rider planning a vacation, this isn’t a simple question of features.

Most comparisons will tell you the standard line: Strava is for competition and social bragging rights, while Komoot is for exploration and adventure. While true, this advice is dangerously simplistic for e-bike touring. Your needs are unique. You’re not just looking for a route; you’re managing battery life, avoiding treacherous road surfaces, and ensuring you don’t end up on a busy highway miles from the nearest charging point. The consequences of a bad plan are much higher than just a frustrating ride.

So, what if we reframe the question? Instead of asking which app has more features, let’s ask: which app is the better risk management tool? This guide goes beyond the surface-level debate. We will dissect how each platform handles the specific challenges of e-bike touring, from inaccurate speed calculations to the critical danger of losing navigation in a no-service zone. The goal is to equip you with a strategy, not just an app choice, for planning safer and more enjoyable trips.

For those who prefer a visual guide, the video below demonstrates a key skill for any digital route planner: importing an existing GPX file into Strava. This is often necessary when you receive a route from a friend or event organizer.

To help you make the best decision for your next adventure, this article breaks down the critical considerations for e-bike touring. We will analyze the core functionalities and hidden pitfalls of each platform, giving you a clear framework for your planning process.

Why Auto-Routing Often Sends Cyclists to Busy Highways

One of the most jarring experiences for any touring cyclist is when your trusted app confidently directs you onto the shoulder of a high-speed, multi-lane road. Why does this happen so often? The answer lies in the fundamental logic of auto-routing algorithms. Whether it’s Google Maps, Strava, or Komoot, their primary directive is often efficiency. They are programmed to find the most direct, paved connection between two points, and these are frequently the major arteries designed for cars, not cyclists.

These algorithms prioritize “routable” roads—officially designated and paved surfaces. They often lack the nuanced data to differentiate a quiet country lane from a busy A-road with a 55 mph speed limit. While they might factor in the existence of a painted bike lane, they rarely account for traffic volume, speed differential, or the sheer stress of having cars whiz past you. This is a classic case of digital planning clashing with on-the-ground reality.

For an e-bike tourer, this isn’t just unpleasant; it’s a significant safety risk. Strava’s reliance on its heatmap data can sometimes worsen this problem. If many hardcore road cyclists use a particular highway for training, the heatmap will glow brightly, signaling to the algorithm that it’s a popular cycling route, even if it’s entirely inappropriate for a leisurely tour. Komoot tends to be better at avoiding this by allowing users to specify a preference for bike paths or quiet roads, but no automated system is foolproof. The key takeaway is that you can never blindly trust the first route an app generates.

How to Adjust Average Speed Settings for E-Bike Calculations

A successful e-bike tour hinges on accurate time and range estimates. Arriving at your hotel after dark or running out of battery miles from the nearest town can ruin a trip. Both Komoot and Strava estimate your ride time based on a calculated average speed, but their default settings are often wildly inaccurate for e-bike riders. They are typically calibrated for non-assisted road bikes, failing to account for the consistent speed an e-bike can maintain, especially on climbs.

Komoot offers a significant advantage here. It allows you to create different “sport” profiles (e.g., Road Biking, Touring, E-Bike) and adjust your fitness level. Setting your profile to “E-Bike” and tinkering with the fitness slider will produce more realistic time estimates. However, even this is just an approximation. Your true average speed is influenced by your assist level (Eco vs. Turbo), your total weight (rider + cargo), and the terrain. A properly calibrated speed profile is your best defense against poor planning.

To truly dial in your estimates, you need to perform your own tests. Before a big trip, conduct a few baseline rides on varied terrain with your typical cargo load. Record your actual average speed at different assist levels. This personal data is far more valuable than any app’s default. You can then use this knowledge to manually assess the time estimates Komoot or Strava provide, giving you a much more realistic picture of your day on the road.

As you can see, actively monitoring your performance during test rides is crucial. This process of “ground-truthing” your digital planner with real-world data is a recurring theme in safe tour planning. Your bike computer’s data after a ride is the ultimate source of truth for building a reliable plan for the next one.

Heatmaps vs Official Trails: Finding the Quietest Routes

When you deviate from the auto-generated route, you need reliable data to find a better alternative. This is where the core philosophies of Strava and Komoot diverge. Strava’s greatest strength is its Global Heatmap, which visualizes the aggregated tracks of millions of rides. It’s a powerful tool for seeing where people *actually* ride. If a line is bright, you know the road is passable and popular. However, “popular” does not always mean “pleasant” or “safe,” especially for a tourer seeking tranquility.

Komoot, on the other hand, builds its planner on a foundation of multiple data sources, including OpenStreetMap, official trail networks, and user-generated “Highlights.” This approach provides a richer, more contextual layer of information. As the BikeRadar Editorial Team notes in their guide, Komoot’s user-generated content is invaluable for off-road planning.

Komoot’s Trail View provides images taken by other riders, so you can see what you might encounter on a ride…Komoot also gives you a breakdown of the different surfaces on a route and their distances.

– BikeRadar Editorial Team, BikeRadar Guide to Strava vs Komoot

This ability to preview a trail with photos and see a detailed surface breakdown (e.g., 60% asphalt, 30% gravel, 10% path) is a game-changer for e-bike touring. It helps you avoid unexpectedly rough sections that could be uncomfortable or even dangerous. The best strategy is often to cross-reference both: use the Strava heatmap to identify potential corridors, then zoom in on Komoot to inspect the surface types and look for rider highlights that confirm it’s a scenic, quiet road and not a training highway.

This comparative table from a recent analysis highlights the different strengths of each data source.

The Danger of Cloud-Based Planning in No-Service Zones

Picture this: you’re deep in a beautiful national park, following your pre-planned route. You come across an unexpected road closure and need to find a detour. You pull out your phone, open your app, and… nothing. No signal. This is the single greatest failure point of modern digital navigation, and it’s a risk every tourer must plan for. Both Strava and Komoot are fundamentally cloud-based platforms; their powerful routing engines live on servers, not on your device.

While both apps offer offline maps, their functionality in a no-service zone is severely limited. An offline map is essentially a static picture of your route overlaid on a basic map. Your phone’s GPS can show your location on that map, and it can alert you when you go off-course. What it absolutely cannot do is calculate a new route. User feedback consistently shows there is effectively 0% re-routing capability without a data connection. You are on your own to find your way back to the purple line.

This is where navigational resilience becomes paramount. Your plan must include contingencies for when the primary route fails. This means having a broader area map downloaded, not just a thin corridor around your route. Komoot’s system of unlocking “Regions” or the “World Pack” is designed for this, allowing you to download entire areas for offline use. While Komoot offers one free region, touring often requires purchasing more or subscribing to Premium. This investment is not a luxury; it’s a critical piece of safety equipment. Without it, you are one missed turn away from being truly lost.

Planning Charging Stops: Identifying Restaurants with Outlets

For an e-bike tourer, “range anxiety” is a constant companion. Unlike traditional bike touring where you are the engine, your journey is limited by your battery’s capacity. Therefore, planning your charging stops is as important as planning the route itself. This is a task that neither Strava nor Komoot is explicitly designed for. They can route you to a café, but they can’t tell you if you’ll be able to plug in your bike once you get there.

This is where manual “ground-truthing” becomes essential. Your midday lunch break is the perfect opportunity for a top-up charge, but it requires foresight. You can’t just assume a restaurant or cafe will have a conveniently located, available power outlet. The best approach is to use your route planner in conjunction with Google Maps. Once you’ve identified a potential town for your lunch stop on Komoot, switch to Google Maps Street View to virtually scout the area. Look for restaurants with outdoor patios or beer gardens, as these are far more likely to have accessible outdoor outlets.

Even better, call ahead. A quick phone call to ask, “I’m planning a bike tour and was hoping to stop for lunch. Do you have an outdoor outlet where I could charge my e-bike?” can save you a world of trouble. This proactive step transforms a point of uncertainty into a confirmed part of your plan. Building these “energy-aware” waypoints into your tour is a hallmark of a well-prepared e-bike adventurer.

How to Download Maps for Remote Areas Without Data Coverage

As we’ve established, a data connection is a fragile lifeline in remote areas. The only robust solution is to download detailed maps of your entire touring region onto your device before you leave home. This creates a self-sufficient navigation system that relies only on your device’s GPS signal, which is available globally and does not require cellular service. Both Komoot and Strava offer this feature, but their approach and utility for tourers differ significantly.

Strava allows subscribers to save a specific route for offline use. This is useful, but it suffers from the “thin corridor” problem—if you need to detour, you won’t have the surrounding map data. Komoot’s model is far more suited to exploratory touring. It divides the world into “Regions.” You get one for free, and can purchase others individually or unlock the entire world with a one-time “World Pack” payment or a Premium subscription. This allows you to download an entire county or state, giving you full map detail even if you wander far from your planned route.

The process is simple: in the Komoot app, go to your account settings, manage your regions, and download the ones you need over Wi-Fi. It’s crucial to check how much storage space you have, as a large region can take up several hundred megabytes. This preparation is the core of building a resilient navigation plan. It’s the digital equivalent of packing a paper map for the entire area, ensuring you’re never truly lost.

Why The “Fastest” Route Is Rarely the Safest for Cyclists

There’s a fundamental conflict in route planning between efficiency and safety. The fastest route is often the one with the most direct lines, the fewest turns, and the smoothest pavement—all qualities of major roads built for cars. For a touring cyclist, these are often the most dangerous and least enjoyable places to be. The safest route, by contrast, is often winding, slower, and utilizes dedicated infrastructure like protected bike lanes or quiet rural paths.

The data on this is unequivocal. Purpose-built cycling infrastructure dramatically reduces the risk of injury. For instance, studies show that streets with protected bike lanes see significantly fewer incidents; one report found 28% fewer injuries on protected vs painted bike lanes. This highlights a critical flaw in relying on apps that don’t prioritize this type of infrastructure in their routing. While Komoot’s surface analysis can help you find these paths, it still requires manual effort and interpretation from the user.

This is another area where Strava’s social and competitive focus can lead tourers astray. As a platform built on performance metrics, its very DNA is oriented toward speed and efficiency. The editorial team at off-road.cc puts it bluntly: while Strava is a powerful tool for training and community, “route planning is not a massive part of the equation.” This is why a simple “Komoot vs. Strava” comparison is flawed. They are not trying to solve the same problem. Strava helps you ride fast; Komoot helps you explore. For a tourer, the latter is almost always the safer objective.

Smartphone vs Dedicated GPS Unit: What to Use for 50-Mile Rides?

The final piece of the puzzle is the hardware you use on your handlebars. You can have the world’s best-planned route, but it’s useless if your device dies mid-ride. The choice between using your smartphone or a dedicated GPS unit (from brands like Garmin or Wahoo) is a critical one, involving trade-offs in battery life, durability, and screen visibility.

For rides over 50 miles, a dedicated GPS unit is almost always the superior choice for several key reasons. First and foremost is battery life. A smartphone running GPS navigation with the screen on will typically last 4-8 hours, which may not be enough for a full day of touring. A dedicated GPS unit, however, is built for this single purpose and can last 15-30 hours or more. Second is weather resistance and durability; GPS units are designed to be waterproof (typically IPX7 rated) and withstand the vibrations of the road. Finally, their screens are optimized for viewing in direct, bright sunlight, a situation where most smartphone screens become nearly unreadable.

That said, your smartphone still plays a vital role in planning. Its powerful processor, large screen, and fast data connection make it the ideal tool for researching and building your route in Komoot before you leave. The optimal strategy, therefore, is a dual-system approach: plan on the phone, ride with the GPS. You can create your perfect route in the Komoot app on your phone, and with a few taps, wirelessly sync it to your dedicated Wahoo or Garmin device for on-the-road navigation.

This table summarizes the key differences and helps guide your decision based on a thorough comparison of navigation devices.

Ultimately, the best tool is the one that gets you home safely and without stress. By using Komoot for its superior planning capabilities and a dedicated GPS for its on-road reliability, you create a resilient system that lets you focus on the joy of the ride. Start by applying these risk-mitigation principles to the planning of your next short trip, and build the confidence to tackle that dream vacation.