Indoor training was once a bore, but times have changed. In the past decade, indoor training has exploded with apps, features, gear, users, and more. There are options out there that will help you get stronger through training, compete at whatever level works for you, or just ride. Many of the apps offer all of these options so that you can pick and choose depending on the day. You will have the option of riding alone or joining vast communities, and unlike the outdoors, where the sun goes down, the virtual cycling world is open 24/7/365. Bottom line, whatever you need to help keep riding fun, there's an option.
Before you get too far though, you'll need to consider hardware. If you are looking to keep costs low, most indoor cycling apps will allow you to ride with a basic trainer plus a speed and cadence sensor. If you've got a bit more cash to spend, it's worth grabbing something from our list of the best smart trainers. These are options that will allow you to connect to a computer, tablet, phone or even a TV and have the resistance change right along with what's happening on the screen. Alternatively, if you know you want to invest in the best that indoor cycling has to offer, a smart bike will free you from the constraints of a bike designed to ride outdoors.
Quick List
Best all-around
Highly social with tons of racing, group workouts, and free riding through a vast virtual world.
Best for intervals
Machine learning and AI come together to tailor every workout based on your past performance and your future goals.
Best for workouts beyond the bike
Tons of high-intensity immersive videos for on-the-bike training paired with a variety of off-the-bike training.
Best for real-world locations
Augmented reality is laid over real-world routes, offering an organic and real feel to every route.
Best for realistic ride simulation
In TrainingPeaks Virtual, you can blend coaching tools with realistic riding that includes wind, braking, and cornering
Best for at-home spin classes
Spin classes, just like at the gym, but at home, with famous instructors included
Best indoor cycling apps
You can trust Cyclingnews Our experts spend countless hours testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.
Zwift
When it comes to indoor cycling, Zwift is the biggest platform in the world. Even those who don't train indoors have heard of Zwift. No matter the time of day, or day of the week, if you want to jump online and find people to ride with, Zwift has options.
There are virtual pace partners, group rides, workouts, races, free rides and more. Zwift's biggest pro is its community. There is no one bigger than Zwift in indoor cycling, no one even close. Once you find yourself among other people, you can grab your phone and fire up the Zwift companion app. There, you can chat away and the kilometres will go flying by.
Of course, another aspect of social riding is competition. Just like all the other social rides that Zwift offers, there's always an opportunity to race. If competition is what motivates you then, again, Zwift is an excellent choice, if for no other reason than because of the high number of users at any given time.
On the other hand, if you prefer training alone, Zwift might not be the best option for you. The workouts and training plans that Zwift offers work well, but may require a high level of understanding in terms of what you need. There is sometimes little guidance for picking a plan and they don't adjust based on performance.
However, Zwift has been rolling out recommended workouts and similar features that help cater to your goals and preferences. It is the serious type of AI-modelling used by other platforms, but it is much more customised than ever before. Using Zwift to complete intervals is fun and stimulating because of the visual nature and ability to ride towards the next interval. But when it comes to peak physiological training, you might need to go elsewhere to find the best fit. This is in line with Zwift's slight shift towards community events rather than racing and training in the last 12-18 months.
Check out our full guide to Zwift.
TrainerRoad
TrainerRoad is essentially the opposite of Zwift and the other indoor cycling apps above. You will ride alone and you will have nothing to look at other than your data points and a graph. TrainerRoad is all about taking a scientific approach to making you faster. To do that, the brand leverages a combination of machine learning and data analysis to guide you through exactly the right workout plans to meet your goals. No social rides, no races, and no virtual worlds to ride in. Just you versus an interval chart.
With TrainerRoad, you'll begin by telling it what your goals are, and when you need to achieve them - usually in the form of a target event. The app's plan builder will then ask you a few questions about how often you'd like to train, and what type of event you're training for. In the end, it will spit out a base training plan for you to follow. The Adaptive Training AI is continually redefined, and TrainerRoad recently rolled out a new model for defining and measuring your FTP. This can make it difficult to understand why you're being prescribed certain sessions, but it's all part of the magic that makes TrainerRoad trusted by many.
As with any modern cycling training plan, the system uses power to set correct intensities. But unlike other systems, though, you don't have to do any testing. TrainerRoad will pull in all of your riding data, no matter if it's indoor, outdoor, or on another platform. With all that data, the system will use the power of AI to detect your FTP automatically and then offer perfectly tailored workouts based on the riding you've done, your goals, and your FTP. Each time you log in, there will be a selection of workouts based on what you need on that day. If you fail a workout, the system will adjust. If you find a workout too easy, the system will adjust. It's having an AI coach constantly at your disposal.
The only downside to the system is that it lacks any distractions. Sometimes it's enough to watch the seconds tick away, and as you progress across a line showing the intervals, but most of the time you need more. You can minimise the display and put a movie on top, but you'll often wish you could do the workouts inside of Zwift. For many, a combination of Zwift and TrainerRoad is ideal if you can afford it.
Check out our full guide to TrainerRoad and our Zwift vs TrainerRoad comparator for more.
Wahoo
Wahoo (sometimes called Wahoo X or SYSTM) covers not only high-intensity cycling-specific content but also a variety of off-the-bike workouts. Look around the app, and you will find options covering mental training, running, strength & mobility, swimming, and yoga. The bike workouts come from what was formerly known as The Sufferfest, while the cross-training library continues to expand.
Wahoo and TrainerRoad share a number of similarities, such as a plan builder and a workout calendar. While TrainerRoad excels in the size of its workout catalogue and its AI model adapting to your progress, Wahoo's mid-workout video footage makes it more immersive. The included yoga, strength and mental training are a huge plus, helping Wahoo to appeal to those who want guidance off the bike as well as on.
For those whose focus is mainly on the bike, the star of the Wahoo show is definitely the content pulled from what used to be Sufferfest. During a workout, you can get a video to watch paired with immersive graphics, audio, and often a specific storyline. Many of the workouts use real race footage to put you in race situations and then ask you to perform intervals that match the storyline as presented.
Although it's incredibly motivating and intense, that also leads to some downsides. Your body can only handle so much intensity, and there aren't as many lower-intensity workouts on Wahoo as there are on other platforms. Plus, you won't get the freedom to explore or join a group ride like you can on Zwift. If you like to repeat workouts over time, the same video is only motivating so many times. This combination means that Wahoo ends up being the best choice when you want a more well-rounded training app that involves more than just on-bike workouts.
For more details, check out our comparison covering Zwift vs Wahoo X.
Rouvy
Rouvy has an amazing catalogue of outdoor routes from around the world, and the experience is like no other. Instead of placing you in a virtual world, Rouvy puts you in the real world, with footage often captured from a car with a GoPro. You can see the snow banks of the Stelvio from your living room while climbing the virtual gradients on Rouvy.
The advantage here is that, though Zwift has incredibly talented designers making great routes, there's a certain synthetic quality to them. No matter how good a designer is, they are still creating something that lacks a bit of randomness you find in the real world. By using real-world elevation profiles, Rouvy feels more like real life.
On top of those real-life routes, Rouvy uses augmented reality superimposed avatars. As you ride, you will see other people in the world with you, whom you can pace or try to drop and that's motivating. Along the same lines, Rouvy also has Strava live segments, which can be even more motivating. Some routes will now allow you to race yourself or others using Strava live, just like an outdoor route. Keep in mind that you will need a paid Strava account for that functionality.
As well as routes that Rouvy's staff have videoed, you can upload your own footage and can now add augmented reality objects and make the route available for others to ride.
Even though Rouvy is primarily about freeriding in real-world locations, there is also an impressive workout library. Like Zwift, it lacks the kind of adjustment and responsiveness of TrainerRoad, but it does offer intervals when you want them and that adds value to the whole system.
Although Rouvy ends up being a great overall package for riding real routes, the AR graphics do sometimes feel kind of clunky. But for long, steady rides on the indoor trainer, it's hard to beat the beautiful scenery available on Rouvy.
Check out our full guide to Rouvy, and our comparison of Zwift vs Rouvy for more.
TrainingPeaks Virtual
TrainingPeaks Virtual (TPV) is a unique indoor cycling app in its use of real-world physics. Unlike other apps that only include drafting and power output, TPV uses wind, cornering, and braking to adjust your avatar's speed. This applies to racing, training, and workouts, creating an engaging ride experience across the board.
As the name suggests, TPV is part of the TrainingPeaks ecosystem, so there is easy integration with the preferred training software of many. However, this comes with a catch since TPV is not available to purchase on its own. Instead of a TPV subscription, you will need to subscribe to a TrainingPeaks Premium subscription, which includes TPV (formerly known as Indie Velo). This is a huge plus if you are already a TrainingPeaks Premium subscriber, but it comes at a cost if you've never used TrainingPeaks Premium before.
The community at TPV is strong, but it is not as large as the community at Zwift. If group rides and large-peloton races are your thing, Zwift might be the better option. But TPV also includes a number of features that allow you to ride with/compete against bots. The experience is better than it sounds, with the bots pushing you hard without completely crushing your soul.
One of the best features of TPV is the ability to upload GPX files, which you can use for course recon. Or you can simply upload your favourite GPX route and ride anywhere in the world. This is a feature that few other indoor cycling apps have.
Peloton
Peloton is not a direct competitor to Zwift, MyWhoosh, or TrainerRoad. Instead, the Peloton ecosystem is designed around group workouts and spin classes, rather than personalised, individual training sessions that help you reach your goals. The Peloton App One runs on a phone and gives you access to Peloton's workouts. Your subscription is managed through the phone app, but you can stream workouts to a range of other devices.
Although the Peloton Bike is Peloton's headline offer, the Peloton App One can be used on non-Peloton equipment, avoiding the high buy-in price of Peloton's own equipment.
The main downside of the app is that a basic subscription only gives you three workouts per month, across cycling, rowing and treadmill. You get unlimited live/on-demand classes with the App One, but you'll need to upgrade to the App One+ to get unlimited access to all content and also to unlock metrics as you work out and record your progress. The App+ puts the price up to £29/$29 per month, making Peloton a pricier option than the best cycling apps above, including market leader Zwift.
Peloton has 4,000 pre-recorded spin classes ranging from 20 to 90 minutes in length and run by professional spin instructors. There are live classes where you can follow and chat with other people who are suffering alongside you, and there are scenic rides too if you just want to spin your legs out.
As part of the monthly cost, you also get access to a library of running and rowing workouts with equally motivational audio coaching and also strength workouts, yoga, meditation and more.
Check out our full guide to Peloton and our review of Peloton Bike+.
FulGaz
FulGaz's motto is less virtual, more reality, and that's precisely what this app offers. Using real ride footage and some advanced physics modelling, FulGaz not only tailors resistance based on what's happening on screen, but the footage itself will react to your effort. With 4K footage filmed from the handlebars of riders around the world, the app uses real elevation data to control the smart trainer to match what you see on the screen, also taking into account your weight and power to adjust the speed of the footage.
Importantly, FulGaz was acquired by Rouvy in 2025, but user feedback helped FulGaz remain a standalone app. While FulGaz lost its official Ironman routes to Rouvy, it kept its identity with high-quality, outdoor riding video content.
The catalogue of real-world footage is broad, from the infamous Alpe D'Huez to Sunshine Canyon outside Boulder, Colorado. FulGaz offers the immersive nature of something like Zwift or MyWhoosh, but with a focus on real-world locations, rather than creating virtual worlds and maps. The first-person view in FulGaz is one of the biggest differences between it and Rouvy.
FulGaz also has a workout library and the ability to import custom sessions from TrainingPeaks or other training software, and you can create group rides to tackle routes with friends.
MyWhoosh
MyWhoosh is unlike any other indoor cycling platform in that it is completely free. Racing is free, workouts and training plans are free, and all the virtual worlds and community events are free. Based in the UAE, it hosts the UCI esports world championships, and although it's focused on e-sports racing, it also offers group activities and structured workouts. While desert worlds are abundant, it's branched out to offer routes in other simulated locations, including Belgium, Australia, Switzerland, Japan, California and more.
You can kit your avatar out with a range of Colnago bikes and UAE team kit, as MyWhoosh is one of the sponsors of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG pro team of Tadej Pogačar.
MyWhoosh's offering is based around its Sunday Race Club, which offers US dollar cash prizes and attracts top competitors from around the world. Prize pots for event series are as large as $1 million. It also uses a thorough system that attempts to verify performances from all SRC competitors. The protocol includes weigh-ins, dual recording, a livestreamed power test, and more, all to ensure that the performances are genuine.
If you're not a top-rung competitor, MyWhoosh looks to group you with riders of a similar ability, from Cat 1 to Cat 6. Outside the Sunday Race Club, there are fewer events than on Zwift though, thanks to the smaller user base. MyWhoosh rolled out live coaching and video on-demand workouts in the past year, but those events have tapered off.
Read our guide to MyWhoosh and our comparison of Zwift vs MyWhoosh for more info.
How to choose
If you're looking to set up for indoor riding, there are some hardware and tech issues to consider alongside choosing the best indoor cycling app for your needs.
How much do you want to pay?
There's a wide range of prices for using an indoor cycling app. To a certain extent, you get what you pay for, but apps such as MyWhoosh are focused on growing their user base and so give you, in its case, for free, much of the functionality of market leader Zwift at a lower (non-existent) price.
Other apps, such as TrainerRoad, offer something unique and leverage this.
It's also worth considering the cost of riding indoors versus outdoors. We've found that the initial price of each is comparable for similar levels of set-up.
Recurring costs are likely to be higher for outdoor riding, due to the cost of bike cleaning products, consumables such as winter tyres (and inner tubes/sealant!) and bike maintenance, even if you do it yourself.
So the price of a monthly subscription to an indoor cycling app, even if it looks significant, may not be that great compared to the other costs of riding a bike, either indoors or outdoors.
Also note that most indoor apps allow you to pay annually, and some also offer multi-user subscriptions, which work out cheaper than paying month by month.
What do you want to get out of your indoor cycling?
Are you looking to ride, race, socialise and explore roads around the world, or are you prepping for an event and looking for highly specific intervals?
There are plenty of apps that do all of the above. However, in the same way that tools in a multi-tool aren't the same quality as dedicated workshop tools, the apps that are explicitly designed for interval workouts offer a better experience than those where it's not the main focus.
This works in the other direction too; the apps that are designed around freeriding and racing will probably be more motivating than following a series of ramps on a screen, although your riding may be less goal-oriented.
But no matter which app you use, you will only get faster and stronger provided you actually use it, so most importantly of all: find one that you enjoy and the rest will follow.
How social are you?
If your emphasis is purely on workouts and keeping or improving your fitness, you may be content with an indoor cycling app that just lets you do your thing alone, and be pleased with the out-and-out focus.
If, on the other hand, you value the social aspect of your riding and want to ride with others or race against them, then an app with greater interactivity will be more motivating.
Also consider the user base. With over a million active users, Zwift is the top dog here. You may find that other riders are few and far between on other apps, so you're essentially riding alone most of the time, or need to ride at a specific time to join an event.
Where do you want to ride?
Indoor cycling apps take different approaches to their simulations. Zwift only offers imaginary worlds and simulations of a small number of real-world locations.
Other indoor cycling apps, including Rouvy, provide video footage of real locations, so you can experience riding the Stelvio, for example, more realistically.
Still others, such as TrainingPeaks Virtual, allow you to upload your own route files and create a simulation based on these. This is a great option if you want to prepare for a real event, understand how specific parts of the course might feel to ride and develop a pacing strategy.
Do you need a smart trainer for indoor cycling apps?
All training apps use power to determine how fast you're moving through a virtual world or to dictate intervals. There are three ways these apps can determine power: a smart trainer, a power meter, or virtual power. The first two are relatively self-explanatory; 'smart' turbo trainers and power meters will connect to your device with a Bluetooth or ANT+ connection (you may need an ANT+ dongle for the latter), and the app will be able to glean how many watts you're pushing.
If the centrepiece of your pain cave is a 'dumb' trainer, you don't have to go out and drop a week's pay on a power meter or a turbo with electronics inside to use a training app, but you will need a speed and cadence sensor.
Every trainer has a unique power curve, and using this resistance curve, apps know how to generate a power estimate based on speed and cadence. Although not all apps provide this functionality.
There are some caveats to virtual power, namely, the accuracy hinges on whether your prospective app has tested a specific trainer. Virtual power numbers also won't be as accurate as the highly tuned strain gauges in a power meter or smart trainer, but are within the ballpark to get you started with a training app.
Which operating system do you use?
Before you fork over your credit card details for an app subscription, it's essential to double-check that it's compatible with the OS you plan to run it on. For the most part, every app works on your Apple or Windows computer and iOS or Android devices, but a few are still lagging on Android or iOS versions, while others are adding Apple TV to their repertoire.
Check the recommended device hardware and software versions too, if your device is more than a couple of years old, as you may get a downgraded experience on older equipment.
