Wasn’t sure where to categorize this post.
So, my Strava membership will expire at some point, and was considering “swapping” to Komoot (for mapping) at an earlier stage. Although, I’m quite insecure due to the recent situation.
I have an account, but not paid yet. I see that they have been recently doing some updates to the app. So I was wondering if anyone has any insight on the future of Komoot? Or is it just bound to die quietly, and we shouldn’t put money on it?
/Edson
Have you seen this writeup by DC Rainmaker? Komoot Acquired: History Says This Won't End Well
Based on the new owners’ track record with other companies, it is likely that significant price increases will happen. For some products they have supported ongoing development, but not for all.
I personally use a free account RideWithGPS for my mapping and have been happy with it. I do all my routes through the web interface, not the mobile app, find it syncs well with my Hammerhead Karoo, and the turn by turn directions are accurate.
To me as a certified Komoot addict it looks like they have been more active with the core product after the takeover rather than the other way around. Still, I wouldn’t know about Premium, back in the day I paid for the world pack and I’ve been generally happy with it.
Yeah, I read it, also the one on escapecollective. Just wondering if anything has changed for the better besides from the track record.
I miss something good to make routes on the fly on the phone (to sync to my Karoo).
So, you’re on the former map, and not premium?
Seconding RideWithGps, especially after the developers added POI capabilities, so you get a heads up as you approach saved points of interest.
Interestingly, RWGPS seems to struggle with point to point routing in Japan and Korea.
Is it easy to make routes on the phone app on the fly? I find strava really crappy for that. Also the Karoo dashboard. I wish it was easier on the Karoo device itself to be honest.
My only “problem” is that RideWithGPS seems to be the same price as Strava, but you get much less 
I’m on the free version, which I’ve found sufficient for my use case. You could have a go with that (for 7 days) and see how you get on with it.
Yeah, I don’t have the premium functionalities, whatever they are (I suppose at least the ability to make collections, and ride weather), but for my use it’s enough. (The map is up to date, of course. I don’t use the downloadable maps on the app, but rather just plan the routes on the website and they show up on my Karoo.)
I wouldn’t call using the app for planning routes “easy”, mostly because there’s usually so little screen left for the actual map (you have to hide the top and bottom panels all the time and still do an extra tap on “Adjust route” if you actually want to change anything), but it gets the job done if needed.
I love Komoot for route planning, it’s miles ahead of Strava. I’m in the UK and also ride regularly in Europe. Not necessarily the routes it automatically chooses between two points, but the ability to link together key POIs… good roads, coffee shops, climbs etc.
Yeah, the value of Komoot depends a lot on the area, some places have lots of user-generated highlights that are really useful for route planning, whereas other places may only have more POI-style spots or nothing at all.
You do still have to exercise some judgment about the routes drawn by Komoot though. I wonder if they will ever fix the issue where they default to asphalt as the road surface if it isn’t explicitly tagged in OSM data…
I view them as Komoot adventures now. Sometimes they’re fun. Usually I’m cursing.
I find Kamoot a mid-tier route planning tool. Better than Strava’s terrible effort but not as good as RWGPS. Adjusting a route is terrible and it always thinks it knows best. All the social crap in Kamoot is just that and gets in the way. However Kamoot is or was cheap without the uneeded premium features. RWGPS is way overpriced .
I am currently playing with plotaroute.com which is much cheaper and even has OS maps for UK. Had a great auto generated route created last night. There is no phone app though.
Edit: one thing i do find useful with Kamoot is navigation when lost, or out on family walks exploring.
I pay for the top tier of RwGPS; I’ve never used Strava or Komoot. So take this with a grain of salt.
I generally like RwGPS for route design if you’re using it on a desktop computer, but they reserve the good tools for the top-level paying customers. I’ve never tried using it on a phone but I have to imagine it would be frustrating.
You can just drop pins for your starting and ending locations and let it plan the route, but inspect that closely: RwGPS will try to get you off of roads with heavy traffic, and can wind up making dumb routes as a result. For example having you turn left (across traffic, in the USA) to get onto a parallel side street, and one block later, you need to turn left again to get back onto the main road.
Komoot with the world maps for me. Been using it for more than five years. Never needed premium. As others have said, it can occasionally send you off on an adventure but in general it’s way, way better than Strava’s garbage map editor. RWGPS is too expensive. I do however, find rides on Strava from others and then load them into komoot to modify them. This has been the best way for me to get great routes. In Europe, there are also a lot of community created routes which are pretty good.
I started using Komoot in 2021 because I found it the easiest of all the mapping and route planning tools on my iphone.
I started using RwGPS this year when I heard that Bending Spoons had bought it - mostly because I hate what they have done to Evernote (which I’ve used for 10 years and now find they keep changing the interface so I struggle to use it!)
I pay for the full version of both apps - Komoot renewed for 12 months just as I decided to stop using it!
So far I haven’t noticed any issues. They both work quite well once you work out how to do stuff. RwGPS is a bit frustrating how some features and tools work very differently between web and app and some just don’t exist at all. For instance, I think sharing routes is easy and intuitive in Komoot and clumsy in RwGPS - because I can’t tell if Helen’s sharing my routes unless I use the web version to share it!?? .
A non-proprietary (fediverse-adjacent?) open-source route planning platform (that doesn’t suck) sure would be nice…
Komoot and RidewithGPS both work, the route planner (on mobile especially) is fine on both, but RwGPS one is very quirky when editing existing routes for me.
That said, Komoot seems to universally underestimate elevation by 30-50% on every single route.
And RwGPS is clearly the go to for anyone running events in the UK. Audax routes shared with full control point and POI info that anuto syncs to my Garmin are wonderful. Also the climb analysis is much better for planning epic rides and preparing your self (and fitting a bigger cassette).
I still use komoot, but mainly just to sync old routes I’ve not yet transferred over, or for hiking routes and ideas - it’s not just a cycling app.
Im using Komoot with the world package for, idk 8 years?
I like it a lot and hope it stays for a while. A true gamechanger for me was the introduction of the „street view“ function based on users images. Unfortunately that’s not available on mobile which brings me to carrying my laptop on bike holidays where I otherwise wouldn’t.
There are a few fediverse fitness apps, but Wanderer seems to be the Komootiest.