If you only read one paragraph
Zwift has the crowd. Events set off every few minutes, and Zwift says over a million people ride there. It’s where the racing is, from beginner categories up to the Zwift Racing League, which returned on September 22 with a new draftless format. ROUVY is $20 a year cheaper for one rider, cheaper again for a household on its DUO and GROUP plans, plays real video of real roads, and pulls your outdoor Strava rides back in for XP, which Zwift doesn’t do. If you want to race people, Zwift. If you want to ride the Stelvio in your garage, ROUVY.
What the acquisition changed
Zwift completed its purchase of ROUVY on April 29, 2026. Both companies said the apps would stay separate, with their own roadmaps and subscriptions, and Zwift’s support FAQ still says there are no plans for a bundle. ROUVY’s support pages said the same again on September 13.
The hardware story is older than the deal. ROUVY reverse-engineered Zwift’s Click shifter and Ride frame in February 2025, more than a year before Zwift bought it. The acquisition made that official in ROUVY 4.5.5, fixed the Click V2, and added the Cog. Zwift’s July FAQ says Zwift Play controllers don’t work on ROUVY; ROUVY’s own remote-controller page, updated in August, now lists Play with firmware 2.0.1 or later as supported, so ROUVY is ahead of Zwift’s paperwork. Zwift Ride itself went to a V2 on September 9, at $1,299.99 with a KICKR CORE 2, and ROUVY’s shop sells a ROUVY Edition of the frame.
The newest link is XP. Since ROUVY 4.7.2 in September, you can connect the two accounts and ROUVY says rides on either app earn XP on both. It needs a paid subscription on each side, only XP moves, and I’ve seen riders confirm the Zwift-to-ROUVY direction while the other way was still settling in, so treat the two-way claim as ROUVY’s for now.
The ride itself
Zwift renders 3D worlds. Watopia, its flagship island, is always open, and gets roughly 18 km of new road on October 26. Two guest worlds sit alongside it and swap out every couple of days from a list that includes London, New York, Paris, Innsbruck, Scotland, Yorkshire, Richmond, France and Makuri Islands. A Climb Portal serves up real ascents at a difficulty you choose. You draft, collect power-ups and level up. It’s a video game with pedals, and that is the appeal or the objection depending on who you are.
ROUVY plays video. Its own pages say 1,500 routes in one place and 1,800 in another, all filmed on location, with other riders drawn on top of the footage and your speed set by the physics. You are watching real road go by at the pace you’re producing. It has been the official training partner of the Giro d’Italia and RCS’s other races since March 2026, with stages filmed on race day and added afterwards, and it carries more than 55 official IRONMAN bike courses. Subscribers can film their own routes with a GPS camera through Route Creator.
Pricing in 2026
Zwift is $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year. The monthly plan has a 14-day free trial, first-time annual subscribers can get a full refund within 30 days, running is free, and memberships billed by Zwift can be paused.
ROUVY’s SINGLE plan is $19.99 a month or $179.99 a year. DUO covers two riders for $29.99 a month or $249.99 a year, $50 a year more than one Zwift membership. GROUP covers up to five for $59.99 a month or $499.99 a year. There is a 7-day trial, a free tier of 20 km a month, and you can pause for up to 180 days.
Side by side
| What you get | Zwift | ROUVY |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99/mo or $199.99/yr | $19.99/mo or $179.99/yr; DUO $249.99/yr for two; GROUP $499.99/yr for five |
| Free option | 14-day trial on monthly; running free | 7-day trial plus a free tier of 20 km a month |
| The ride | 3D worlds, game physics, power-ups | 1,500 to 1,800 filmed routes with riders drawn over the video |
| Racing | Events all day, Racing Score categories, Zwift Racing League and Zwift Games | Official races, private races, ROUVY Segments with 90-day KOM and QOM boards |
| Progression | Levels, unlocks, RoboPacer rides, Next Up recommendations that read WHOOP recovery | Career mode, 100-plus levels, XP and Coins; XP now shared with a linked Zwift account |
| Strava sync | Auto-upload with photos if enabled; select segments count for Local Legends | Auto-upload plus outdoor Strava rides imported for XP; group rides and teleports tagged Gamified |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Apple TV | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Apple TV. Not Android TV or Chromebook |
| Community, in their words | “Over a million Zwifters” | “300,000 cyclists and pros” |
How each one works with Strava
Zwift uploads every saved ride, with up to five photos and a short clip if you switch those on. Strava files it as a virtual ride, so it matches Zwift segments but stays off real-world leaderboards, and Strava says select Zwift segments are eligible for Local Legends. Rides on a Climb Portal climb at under 100 percent difficulty lose their segment matches. Nothing comes back from Strava into Zwift; its outdoor rides arrive from Garmin, Wahoo and Hammerhead.
ROUVY’s link does more. Completed sessions go to Strava automatically, warm-ups and cool-downs included, and by default ROUVY writes a description into the activity with your RTL, XP, level, bike and country. In the other direction it reads your outdoor Strava rides and pays Career XP for them, provided they were recorded in Strava and set to public. Two things to know. ROUVY dropped Strava Live Segments in favour of its own ROUVY Segments, so nothing from Strava shows during a ride any more. And Strava applies a Gamified tag to ROUVY group rides, reality-level changes and teleports, which keeps those out of Strava challenges and some leaderboards.
Racing and training
A lot of people are on Zwift for the racing. A Racing Score from 1 to 1000 puts you in a category, events run all day, the Zwift Games ran February 16 to March 29 this year across seven worlds, and the Zwift Racing League’s 2026-27 season starts September 22. Training is fixed plans of one to twelve weeks plus a Next Up card that suggests a ride from your recent riding and, since September, your WHOOP recovery score.
ROUVY has official races and private ones, and ROUVY Segments on every route outside group rides and races, with 90-day KOM and QOM leaderboards, friends’ PRs and trophies. Its 2026 has been busy: a new companion app in May, clubs, communities and chat in June, and in September an Enhanced video mode, Ride Later, in-app event search, a TrainerRoad integration and the Zwift link. It sponsors Visma | Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek through 2027 and signed the triathlete Kat Matthews in April.
Who should pick which
- You want to race people, often: Zwift. The calendar and the field are the product.
- You want the road to look like a road: ROUVY. Real footage, real climbs, the Giro’s stages a few days after the pros.
- Two or more of you at home: ROUVY’s DUO or GROUP plan. Zwift is one membership per person.
- Your outdoor rides should count for something: ROUVY, which reads them from Strava for XP.
- You own Zwift hardware: either. Ride, Cog, Click and, per ROUVY, Play all work on ROUVY now.
ROUVY also absorbed BKOOL. It bought the Spanish app in 2025 and its BKOOL page says the app was retired at the end of March 2026, though a ROUVY support article still carries an earlier November date. Career Carryover moved BKOOL riders’ distance and ascent totals and set their ROUVY level to match; full ride histories and not all routes came across.
Common questions
Is Zwift or ROUVY cheaper?
For one rider, ROUVY by $20 a year: $179.99 against Zwift’s $199.99. Monthly they are both $19.99. ROUVY keeps a free tier of 20 km a month and a 7-day trial; Zwift has a 14-day trial on the monthly plan and running is free.
Do Zwift and ROUVY both sync with Strava?
Yes, both upload every ride automatically. ROUVY also reads your outdoor Strava rides and gives you Career XP for them, as long as they were recorded in Strava and set to public. Strava tags ROUVY group rides, reality-level changes and teleports as Gamified, which keeps them out of Strava challenges and some leaderboards.
What does Zwift owning ROUVY mean for me?
Two apps, two subscriptions, no bundle. Zwift’s hardware works on ROUVY, and since September linked accounts share XP, with a paid subscription needed on both sides.
Can I use the same trainer for both?
Yes. Both talk to smart trainers over Bluetooth and ANT+ and run on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and Apple TV. A classic trainer works on either with a speed sensor or a power meter, but neither app can change its resistance.
Sources
- Zwift support: Zwift and ROUVY FAQ (updated July 14, 2026), Pricing FAQ, Membership FAQ and worlds and routes
- Zwift newsroom, September 9, 2026: Zwift Ride V2, WHOOP, Watopia expansion and Zwift Racing League 2026/27
- ROUVY pricing, ROUVY and BKOOL, and ROUVY support on ROUVY and Strava, ROUVY Segments, ROUVY and Zwift (XP sharing), remote controllers and its changelog
- Strava support on Zwift and Strava and virtual trainer activities
- ROUVY: Virtual shifting and DC Rainmaker, February 12, 2025: Rouvy adds Zwift Cog/Click/Ride virtual shifting
Related reading
For structured training without a world at all, see intervals.icu vs TrainingPeaks. Both apps and the rest of the category are under indoor in the directory, and intervals.icu will read either one’s rides for analysis.
