The short answer
If you are a runner or walker who wants to finish every named street in your city, CityStrides is built for exactly that. If you are a cyclist, or you want to cover a whole region across any sport, Wandrer fits better, and it can write your new mileage straight into your Strava activity. Plenty of completionists run both, because they measure different things.
The real difference: streets vs roads
This is the whole thing, so it is worth getting right. CityStrides breaks every street into nodes and marks a street complete once you have covered its nodes. Your score is streets finished and the percentage of a city you have done. It is built around runners and walkers chasing a clean “100% of my town” goal.
Wandrer thinks in terms of an area instead of individual streets. It tracks every unique road and trail you have traveled and shows what percentage of a neighborhood, city, or whole region you have covered, plus how many new miles each activity earned you. It started as a cycling tool and grew to cover running and hiking, so it handles big areas and mixed sports more naturally.
Pricing in 2026
CityStrides is genuinely usable for free. You get the full LifeMap, street and city completion, and a spot on the leaderboards. The free limits are about convenience, not a hard cap: slower processing, no date filtering, and a street counts as done at 90% of its nodes. Supporter is $5 a month or $50 a year, and it adds the Node Hunter route planner, near-instant processing, full-screen maps, date filtering, and a strict 100% “Hard Mode.”
Wandrer has a free tier too, but with a real catch: it only imports your last 50 activities, so longtime athletes will not see their full history. Pro is $40 a year (up from $30 in May 2026) and unlocks your entire history, the monthly exploration challenges, and the full set of achievements and routing tools.
Feature by feature
| What you get | CityStrides | Wandrer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (Supporter $5/mo or $50/yr) | Free, last 50 activities (Pro $40/yr) |
| What it counts | Named streets finished, city % | % of an area's roads, new miles per ride |
| Best for | Runners and walkers | Cyclists and multi-sport explorers |
| Leaderboards | Global and per-city, by streets done | Monthly challenges vs everyone |
| Route planning to find new ground | Node Hunter (Supporter) | Routing tools and exportable maps (Pro) |
| Phone app | Web only | Browser extension plus an iOS app in beta |
| Writes back to your Strava activity | No | Yes, your new mileage (optional) |
How each one works with Strava
Both connect to Strava with one tap (and to Garmin, COROS, and others), then sync automatically after each activity. CityStrides matches your GPS track against street nodes; Wandrer matches it against the road and trail network.
Wandrer has one trick CityStrides does not: an optional toggle that posts your new-mile count right into the Strava activity description, so your followers see how much fresh ground you covered. CityStrides has been asked for that for years but has not shipped it. On the flip side, CityStrides lets you manually mark nodes you have covered, which is handy for streets a GPS track clipped but did not quite complete.
Who should pick which
Pick CityStrides if you run or walk and the dream is turning your entire city green, street by street, with a leaderboard to chase. Pick Wandrer if you ride, or if you think in terms of covering a whole region, and you like the new-miles framing plus the automatic Strava write-back. If you are a serious every-street type, there is a real case for running both: CityStrides to finish a city, Wandrer to spread out across everything around it.
Common questions
Is CityStrides or Wandrer free?
Both have free tiers. CityStrides free is fully usable, just with slower processing and fewer extras. Wandrer free only imports your last 50 activities. Paid plans are $5 a month or $50 a year for CityStrides, and $40 a year for Wandrer.
What is the actual difference?
CityStrides tracks named streets and city completion and is aimed at runners. Wandrer tracks the percentage of an area's roads and trails you have covered, plus new miles, and is aimed at cyclists and multi-sport explorers.
Do they both work with Strava?
Yes, both sync automatically from Strava. Only Wandrer can optionally write your new mileage back into the Strava activity description.
Does either have a phone app?
CityStrides is web only. Wandrer has a browser extension and a native iOS app in beta as of mid-2026.
Can I use both?
Yes, and a lot of completionists do. They measure different things, so they complement each other rather than overlap.
Related reading
Wandrer also made our roundup of the best free Strava apps. For more ways to explore, browse the routes and exploration tools in the directory.