Zwift and MyWhoosh provide a popular and entertaining solution to indoor training, with virtual routes, workouts, group rides and racing.
Both indoor cycling apps are designed to work with smart trainers and offer iOS, Android, MacOS and PC compatibility.
MyWhoosh and Zwift are direct competitors and offer a similar overall package. Still, there are significant differences between the two packages, which we’ll explore in this guide.
What is MyWhoosh?
Based in the UAE, MyWhoosh is one of the most well-established free indoor cycling apps.
In a market dominated by subscription-based models, MyWhoosh stands out from the crowd with its cost-free model.
Since its launch in 2019, the service has been gaining traction worldwide. Recently, it hosted the fourth UCI Cycling eSports World Championships and has signed as a sponsor for the UCI Road Cycling World Championships from 2024.
Aside from its lack of a price tag, MyWhoosh’s main attraction is its numerous immersive virtual worlds, where you can ride recreations of real roads and dreamt-up routes inspired by iconic cycling hotspots in places such as Colombia and Belgium.
There are also workouts and training plans created by UAE Team Emirates’ WorldTour coach Kevin Poulton, and its lucrative eRacing series, where each week almost £100,000 is up for grabs.
What is Zwift?
Created by gamers with a love for cycling, Zwift is arguably the most fully featured indoor cycling app on the market and almost certainly the most popular.
With 12 different worlds to explore and thousands of other riders to pedal with, you have the option of joining group rides, races or power-based workouts.
Drawing on its designers' love of gaming, the platform features a multitude of gamified elements that encourage you to ride longer and harder to increase your fitness.
However, all of that doesn’t come for free. In contrast to MyWhoosh, Zwift runs on a subscription model and costs £17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 per month, or £179.99 / $199.99 / €199.99 per year.
Zwift vs MyWhoosh
Worlds and routes
Zwift has a total of 12 worlds on offer. Of these, 10 are regular worlds, including the fictional Watopia. Each of these Zwift worlds has several preset courses for you to ride, or you can just pedal freely around each map.
There is a small catch – on any particular day, there will only be three worlds available to ride: Watopia (Zwift’s original and most fully featured virtual world) and two 'guest worlds’ (two of the remaining nine regular worlds).
To ride any of the other regular worlds, you’ll need to do a workout – or join a MeetUp, race or event.
There are also two other event-only world maps, which are not part of Zwift's regular 'guest world' rotation and can only be accessed via in-game events, such as races.
Like Zwift, MyWhoosh offers a range of worlds to choose from. There are currently eight worlds available to ride, each offering a minimum of seven routes to choose from, apart from Endurance Climb, which is a 57km, one-route world.
All the worlds include accurate recreations of real locations, such as Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit and the Tour of Flanders’ cobbled Kapelmuur climb, but most of the courses are made up.
MyWhoosh rotates through worlds daily, and there are generally four to choose from at any one time.
| | Zwift | MyWhoosh |
|---|---|---|
| Number of worlds | 10 regular (Watopia, France, Innsbruck, London, Makuri Islands, New York, Paris, Richmond, Yorkshire, Scotland) and 2 event-only (Bologna, Crit City) | 8 (California, Hudayriyat, Arabia, Colombia, Australia, Alula, Belgium, Endurance Climb) |
Training and workouts
The structured training and workouts on MyWhoosh are designed by a UAE Team Emirates WorldTour coach and are focused on a range of riding disciplines, from road racing and time trialling to criterium and triathlon.
Each workout is structured around your Functional Threshold Power (FTP), which can also be tested on MyWhoosh. Once you have input your FTP, you simply have to switch your turbo trainer to ERG mode, follow the on-screen instructions and pedal.
MyWhoosh also integrates with training apps such as TrainingPeaks, and you can import your scheduled workouts, or even build your own in the app.
Zwift also employs an FTP-based workout programme, offering hundreds of structured workouts (which are essentially interval training sessions) to choose from. Alternatively, you can build your own – and you can even sign up for long-term training plans.
You can choose a plan to target specific events or weaknesses, such as ‘TT-Tune Up’ – which, as the name suggests, focuses on the aerobic power and top-end fitness required for time-trialling.
Or there are broader plans such as ‘FTP Builder’, designed to increase your general fitness and Functional Threshold Power in a short space of time.
In addition to workouts you do on your own, at any time, there are also scheduled group workouts. Like a group ride in the real world, these start at fixed times (and you have to sign up for them in advance via the events page) and involve multiple participants.
Unlike the group rides and races, though, group workouts keep everyone together in a group. As long as you are pedalling, you stay in the bunch.
As with the individual workouts, your efforts are based on your FTP. However, in group workouts, Zwift tethers everyone together, so the end result is like being in an indoor cycling class: you are all following the same workout together, but at different individual efforts according to your fitness.
Racing and rewards
With such a large focus on eRacing, it’s no surprise to see MyWhoosh pushing hard to make virtual racing an attractive feature.
The platform’s main racing event is its Sunday Race Club (SRC). As the name suggests, every Sunday, MyWhoosh puts on racing across four different categories, which are based on power-to-weight ratios and the competitors who sign up. Category one is for the strongest riders and category four is for the weakest.
The field is split between women and men, and each category has a prize pot with money up for grabs for the first five finishers. Winning amounts are split equally between men and women.
The prize money is on a sliding scale from category one to four. The largest weekly prize on offer is 10,000 AED (around £2,130) for a win in category one, while fifth place in a category-five race could still bank you 432 AED (£92).
Racing also exists in the world of Zwift, albeit without the prize pot.
To race on Zwift, you simply choose one of the many daily races from the events list, select the category you want to compete in and sign up.
Like MyWhoosh, Zwift racing categories are based on FTP, with four brackets available.
Once you’ve selected a category and signed up for a race, Zwift will automatically take you to the race start when the race is about to begin.
Over time, Zwift will update your Racing Score – a numerical rating between 0 and 1,000 assigned to every rider based on their results and performance data.
This determines which racing categories – from D to A – riders can enter (for events that have category enforcement turned on), helping to ensure events are fair and competitive.
How much do Zwift and MyWhoosh cost?
In a pay-to-play market, MyWhoosh’s subscription-free model makes it stand out from the crowd.
It looks like the cost-free model is here to stay, with MyWhoosh saying that instead of charging users, it will look to generate income through other revenue streams such as in-game advertising.
Zwift, on the other hand, offers its premium features in exchange for one of two payment models. Subscribers pay £17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 per month, or £179.99 / $199.99 / €199.99 for a year of ad-free indoor cycling fun.
Hardware
Like most indoor training platforms, Zwift and MyWhoosh require an electronic device to run the app on, a bike and a smart trainer or smart bike.
They both also require an internet connection to link you to their routes and connect you up to other riders.
Smart trainers are available at a range of prices and with varying specifications – check out our guide to the best smart trainers for our pick of the top-performing models and information on how they work.
At the lower end of the pricing spectrum, many models will have limitations on things such as maximum power output and the steepness of gradients they can simulate.
To get the best out of either app, then, mid- or high-end smart trainers are generally preferable, especially if you’re an experienced or more powerful rider.
On the other hand, for beginners and less powerful riders, budget smart trainers can offer a decent starting point for both apps.
If you don’t have a smart trainer, you can instead use a non-smart trainer or rollers on both apps, as long as you have a compatible power meter, or a speed and cadence sensor on your bike.
You won’t get simulated climbs or descents, of course, but if you’ve already got this kit at home it’s a good way to test out the apps, and find out whether you want to invest in a better Zwift setup.
