Are you comparing TriDot vs Strava?
TriDot and Strava are two apps that endurance athletes have probably hear of. TriDot will allow you to create personalized triathlon and running plans, while Strava has basic running plans and is more about connecting with other athletes.
While each app offers training plans, the type of athlete they're best for is different.
The main difference between TriDot and Strava is that TriDot is primarily designed to offer triathlon and running plans that prepare you for a race, while Strava's training plans aren't nearly as detailed, but you can connect with other athletes around the world much better than on TriDot.
In this article, we'll discuss all the pros and cons of TriDot and Strava, and we'll answer the following questions you might have:
- What are the main features of TriDot and Strava?
- What are the pros and cons of TriDot and Strava?
- How much do TriDot and Strava cost?
- Are TriDot and Strava good for beginners?
- What athletes should consider TriDot vs Strava?
BONUS: We'll also be discussing our app MOTTIV, which is a really good alternative to TriDot and Strava if these two apps don't sound quite right for you.
TriDot vs. Strava vs. MOTTIV Summary
TriDot Review
TriDot Overview
TriDot is a computer app and smartphone based app that creates training plans for running races and triathlons. The app creates detailed workouts to prepare for triathlons from sprint to Ironman distance and running races from 5k to marathon (but there's a catch with the running races)
TriDot offers performance metrics to monitor your progress and a neat score where you rank out of 100 in your swim, bike, and run skills.
TriDot is primarily focused on helping triathletes, and while the company has recently launched RunDot, they still aren't supporting running races fully (more on this below.)
Compared to Strava, TriDot is much better for athletes who want a training plan that's created for them to prepare for triathlons and running races.
TriDot Pros
- Integrations: TriDot connects with a lot of devices and apps, such as Garmin, Polar, Strava, Wahoo, Rouvy, Trainerroad, and Suunto.
- Offers premium training options: Athletes who use higher priced plans on TriDot can choose to add features like strength training, find a 1-1 coach to work with, or even use RaceX to get a race strategy plan.
- Performance metrics: TriDot tracks your performance statistics, and the swim, bike, and run scores are a nice bit of motivation to give you incentives to keep training regularly.
- Minimal user interface: Once you learn how to use TriDot, the layout is visually attractive and feels modern.
- Plans and schedules can be customized: Training plans aren't strictly template training plans. Users can customize their calendar and weekly training schedule.
TriDot Cons
- Expensive: TriDot doesn't have any free version and will cost at least $99/month if you want to add more than three races at a time and get strength training in your plan. The lowest-priced plan is $14.99, and athletes can only train for one sprint or Olympic triathlon on this plan.
- No running plans (pretty much): Running plans are clearly not given as much importance as triathlon plans for athletes. Even when you sign up with what TriDot calls their run training app, RunDot, you just get kicked over to TriDot. Athletes can't add 5k or 10k races as their most important race of the year.
- Adding races: Adding races can be confusing for athletes and has noticeable limitations. Adding a race requires users to get redirected to RaceX, and adding races that aren't in their database is difficult.
- Questionable tactics: TriDot has used some "questionable" communications tactics in the past. They used to use a marketing tactic where athletes would have to apply to become a TriDot athlete, even though every single person who applied got accepted. During the winter of 2022-23, they teased free use of the app if athletes took part in a study, which came across as just a way to hook athletes into using the app with a long free trial. And recently, they've "launched" RunDot, which was touted as their running-specific training app, but when you sign up, you'll just get redirected to the normal TriDot app.
- Odd user experience: Some odd things happen when using the app. For example, when you try to load your future calendar, the app will look like you're loading the future weeks, but it just keeps loading your current week. There are a number of odd user interface experiences like this that are noticeable when you first start using the app.
- Confusing setup: Generally, there are a lot of different offerings that can make it confusing to use the app. Should you use RunDot, why is RaceX a separate app, and why do you need RaceX just to add a race to your TriDot account? Which of the five different pricing options should you use? When I sign up, it says I'm on the Mark Allen plan, which costs $149/month, but I didn't choose that plan, so why am I on the most expensive plan?
- Set up requires time to learn: There are a number of areas of the app where how to use the app isn't easy. For example, learning how to change your weekly training schedule or even add a race takes several minutes to figure out how to do.
TriDot Ease of Use
When you first sign up for TriDot, it will take some time to figure out all the nuances of using the app. It's not going to be intuitive and will take some time to learn.
After a day or two with the app, most users should be able to use TriDot with ease. They just have to understand how to work around some of the limitations.
Who is TriDot Best For?
TriDot is best for triathletes who don't want strength training in their plans and want a training plan created for them.
TriDot Pricing
- Free: No free plan
- Paid: at least $14.99/month, but really, the full version that people will want costs $99/month
Strava Review
Strava Overview
Strava is a web and smartphone-based app that is designed primarily as a social media app where you can follow the fitness activities of other people.
Strava displays activities, allows you to see routes, create your own routes, and see how people rank on leaderboards for sections of activities from all around the world.
Compared to TriDot, Strava is much better for connecting with friends and strangers, but the training plans offered to paid Strava users are very generic and much less personalized than TriDot training plans.
Strava Pros
- Connections: Strava connects to an almost unlimited number of fitness devices and apps.
- Huge community: Strava has roughly 100 million users, so you'll have no shortage of athletes you can follow.
- Free version: If all you want to do is follow other athletes, you can do that for free.
- Stats: Strava can be your all-in-one lifelong fitness activity app, so you can always change your fitness devices and not worry about losing all your fitness data.
Strava Cons
- Paid version: Strava has struggled over the past several years to show its users that the paid version actually has value.
- Training plans: Strava training plans are limited to runners and cyclists, and the training plans are extremely basic and not interactive whatsoever.
- Complexity: Strava has suffered "feature creep" where there are so many features available on Strava that many users don't even know all the available features or where to find them.
- No strength or mobility training: Strength training is one of the most significant performance enhancers endurance athletes can do, and mobility workouts will help athletes avoid developing tightnesses and physical limitations during training. Strava doesn't include any strength or mobility training in their plans.
- No nutrition guidance: Pairing the right nutrition with every workout will make the workouts much more effective. Strava doesn't provide any nutrition recommendations at all.
Strava Ease of Use
Strava is very easy to use because it is designed for the end user to use (as opposed to being designed primarily for coaches like Trainingpeaks is.
The most difficult thing new users need to learn with Strava is where everything is. Strava has been around since 2007, so the app has grown quite large, and there are a lot of features users can find and play with.
When it comes to Strava training plans, they're easy to use once you find them (run training plans can be found on Strava here, and cycling training plans are here). They are very basic without many details, so athletes will have an easy time using them, but they'll find them generic and not personalized to your goals and abilities.
Who is Strava Best For?
Strava is best for athletes who want to track their fitness activities in one place where they can see what they did, what their friends or favorite athletes did, and how they compare. Strava is not a good option for training plans.
Strava Pricing
- Free: No free plan
- Paid: $11.99/month, $79.99/year
BONUS: MOTTIV Review
MOTTIV Overview
MOTTIV is an app that can be used on the web or in a mobile smartphone app that creates a personalized training plan for athletes looking to prepare for any combination of running races, triathlons, cycling events, duathlons, and swimruns.
Athletes just need to enter the dates and distances of their races, how much time they're able to train, and their current fitness abilities, and they'll receive a personalized training plan that gets them ready for all their races at the same time.
Of course, we're biased, but we believe MOTTIV excels at keeping athletes on track to reach their goals. Getting a training plan is one thing, but having the support and motivation you need to stick to that plan is far more important. MOTTIV keeps you motivated throughout the training process so you always know that you're on track and your goals are within reach.
MOTTIV Pros
- Ease of use: MOTTIV is designed for athletes who want a training plan that's done for them and easy to follow. All you need to do is input a little bit of data, then be ready to show up willing to work and follow the plan every day you have training scheduled.
- Unlimited training plans: Whether you have one race or 20 races to train for, MOTTIV can create a training plan that gets you ready for all of them. Premium members can add as many races as they want at no additional cost.
- Strength & Mobility: MOTTIV strength and mobility workouts are full-length videos that you can follow along with to make sure you're doing the right thing.
- Nutrition guidance: Eating the right thing before, during, and after your workouts will make every single workout you complete much more effective. Every single workout in the MOTTIV app has nutrition recommendations that are personalized to you.
- Progress stats: MOTTIV tracks and displays all your workout and progress stats for you. You don't need to learn how to work the app or where to find stats to see if you're on track or not. MOTTIV easily shows you if you're headed in the right direction.
- Motivation: MOTTIV has some really excellent features that help keep you on track with your training plan because we all need a little support sometimes.
- Cost: MOTTIV provides all your endurance training, strength training, mobility training, personalized workout nutrition, and stats tracking, all in one place for one flat fee. Getting all these services separately elsewhere would cost well over $60/month.
MOTTIV Cons
- Workout complexity: Some people find that our workouts can be hard to understand when they first start using the app.
- Device connections: MOTTIV currently offers full workout synchronization with Garmin, as well as connections to Trainingpeaks, Strava, Zwift, and more. However, our list of possible connections isn't as robust as Trainingpeaks.
- Lack of flexibility: While most people want a training plan they can follow, some people want a training plan that they can customize themselves to add and subtract workouts as they see fit. MOTTIV is designed strictly for you to follow along as close as possible.
- Slower interface: MOTTIV hasn't been around for as long as Strava or TriDot, so there are a few screens that take a couple of extra seconds to load.
MOTTIV Ease of Use
MOTTIV is designed to be the easiest app for endurance athletes to use. All you need to enter to create a personalized training plan are your race dates and distances, how much time you're able to train, and your current fitness abilities.
In addition to it being easy to create training plans, the MOTTIV app has features throughout the app that tell you why and how to perform every aspect of your training so you're never left guessing.
Who is MOTTIV Best For?
MOTTIV is best for athletes who are looking for a holistic training plan that includes endurance workouts, strength training, mobility workouts, and nutrition guidance.
If you are the type of person who wants to know what to do and have just a little help to know that you're on track and doing it right, then MOTTIV is for you.
MOTTIV Pricing
- Free: Free plan
- Paid: $19.99/month, $179.99/year
TriDot vs. Strava vs. MOTTIV: Which One is Better?
When comparing TriDot, Strava, and MOTTIV, the answer to which one is better is like most things: it depends.
It's pretty tough for us to recommend TriDot, given that you can get more for free at MOTTIV. You can pay just $19.99/month for MOTTIV and get more than what you get for $99/month at TriDot.
If you're someone who already has your training plan taken care of and you're just looking to connect with as many other athletes as you can, then Strava is the app for you.
If you're looking for a holistic training plan app that can create a personalized training plan for multiple races at a time and keeps you motivated to stay on track to reach your goals, then MOTTIV is the app for you.
