Ride with GPS

Cycling route planning and navigation with a genuinely usable free tier and two paid tiers above it

As of 1 September 2026, Ride with GPS is free to use. A route planning and GPS navigation tool for cycling with a free Starter tier that includes route creation and the global heatmap, and two paid tiers, Basic and Premium, that add offline maps and turn-by-turn navigation. Softwr lists it under Maps. Ride with GPS is made by Ride with GPS, Inc., available on Web, iOS, Android.

Visit siteVisit Ride with GPS

Overview

What Ride with GPS does

Ride with GPS lets cyclists plan routes on a web-based route builder, record rides via the mobile app, and follow turn-by-turn navigation on paid tiers. It includes a global heatmap of popular cycling routes, Garmin device sync, and ride analysis tools, aimed at road, gravel and touring cyclists planning their own routes rather than following curated ones. The distinguishing fact is the tier split. The free Starter tier includes route creation, ride recording and the global heatmap, which is more than some competitors give away, but it excludes turn-by-turn voice navigation, offline route downloads, advanced route planning tools and an ETA feature. Those live in the Basic tier, and the higher Premium tier adds extra map layers such as wind, air quality and cell coverage on top. That two-tier paid structure, rather than one flat paid plan, is worth knowing before assuming Basic covers everything Premium does. Buyers are cyclists who plan their own multi-day or long-distance routes rather than relying on curated trails, and who want offline navigation for areas without signal. The trade-off against a free tool is that meaningful navigation, specifically offline maps and turn-by-turn guidance, requires paying, and against Trailforks the trade-off is that Ride with GPS is road and general cycling focused rather than mountain-bike trail specific.

What people use it for

A cyclist planning a multi-day touring route who needs offline maps for areas without signal
Someone who wants turn-by-turn voice navigation on unfamiliar roads rather than checking a screen
A rider who wants to see popular local routes via the heatmap before committing to a paid tier
A cyclist syncing custom routes directly to a Garmin computer for a big ride

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Ride with GPS.

Turn-by-turn navigation and offline maps are locked behind the paid tiers, so the free tier alone is not enough for navigation in an area without signal.
There are two separate paid tiers rather than one, and some navigation-adjacent features are split between Basic and Premium in ways that are easy to misjudge before subscribing.
It is general cycling focused, not mountain-bike trail specific, so a trail rider is better served by Trailforks for singletrack detail.
The web-based route builder is more capable than the mobile app for planning, so serious route creation is awkward to do purely from a phone.
Exact free-tier limits, such as any cap on saved routes, are not clearly published, so a heavy free-tier user may hit an undocumented limit unexpectedly.

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of Ride with GPS

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

Ride with GPSvs
Trailforks
Trailforks: If you specifically need mountain-bike trail data rather than general route planning
Ride with GPSvs
Zwift
Zwift: If you want indoor virtual riding rather than outdoor route navigation
Ride with GPSvs
TrainerRoad
TrainerRoad: If you want structured indoor training rather than outdoor route planning

Pricing

What Ride with GPS costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

Starter

Free

Route creation
Ride recording
Global heatmap access

Basic

$7.99 /mo

Turn-by-turn navigation
Offline route maps
ETA and advanced route planning

Premium

$9.99 /mo

Everything in Basic
Extra map layers: wind, air quality, cell coverage

Capabilities

Features

Route builder
Web-based tool for planning custom cycling routes with elevation profiles
Global heatmap
Shows popular cycling routes worldwide, included even on the free tier
Turn-by-turn navigation
Voice-guided navigation available on Basic and Premium tiers
Offline maps
Downloadable offline route maps on paid tiers for areas without signal
Garmin sync
Routes and rides sync directly with Garmin cycling computers
Extra map layers
Premium tier adds wind, air quality and cell coverage overlays

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Is Ride with GPS free?

A free Starter tier exists with route creation and the heatmap, but turn-by-turn navigation and offline maps require the Basic or Premium paid tier.

What is the difference between Basic and Premium?

Premium includes everything in Basic plus extra map layers such as wind, air quality and cell coverage.

Is it mountain-bike specific?

No, it is general road, gravel and touring focused; Trailforks is the mountain-bike trail specific option.

Keep looking

Where to go from Ride with GPS

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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Ride with GPS, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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