The best indoor cycling apps in 2026 (an honest round-up)

There has never been a better — or more confusing — time to train indoors. A decade ago the choice was "put a DVD on and stare at the wall." Now there are a dozen serious apps, each with a different philosophy about what indoor riding is for: some want to entertain you, some want to coach you, some want to take you somewhere real. They also cost real money, and a €20 monthly subscription adds up to €240 a year — more than many riders spend on tyres, chains and bar tape combined.

This is an honest tour of the main options in 2026: what each one is genuinely best at, where it falls down, and who should pick it. We build one of them, and we'll flag that clearly when we get there.

The apps, one by one

Prices are indicative monthly rates at the time of writing and move around constantly — treat them as ballpark, not gospel, and check before you subscribe.

Which one should you actually pick?

Forget feature lists for a second. Find the sentence below that sounds most like you.

The thing nobody tells you

The app matters far less than whether you actually use it. Every option on this list will make you fitter if you ride it three times a week for a winter, and none of them will do anything if the subscription quietly renews while your trainer gathers dust. Before you pay for anything, be honest about what gets you on the bike: is it competition, a coach's voice, a number to chase, or somewhere interesting to look at? Buy that, not the longest feature list.

The second thing: check what happens to your data afterwards. A trainer session is training — it should land in the same place as your outdoor rides, count toward the same fitness numbers, and inform what you do next week. An app that leaves your indoor hours stranded in a silo is quietly costing you more than its subscription.

Where Moveee Indoor fits

Full disclosure: we build this one. Moveee Indoor exists because we wanted one specific thing none of the others quite did — to ride our own routes indoors. You pick any route from your library, and it builds a 3D world along it from real map and elevation data: the actual streets, buildings, rivers and climbs of the place your route goes through. It runs in the browser, so there's nothing to install, and it's free while it's in alpha.

It's also honestly younger than everything else here. There's no big racing scene, it needs Chrome or Edge for Bluetooth, and you'll find rough edges. But if the idea of previewing next summer's gran fondo course — or riding your own commute in January — appeals more than a fictional island, it's worth twenty minutes of your time. Rides save with full power data, count toward your Moveee training plan, and can go to Strava in a tap.

Whatever you land on, pick one, commit for a season, and judge it in March rather than after one week. The best indoor cycling app is the one that's still getting you on the bike when it's dark and raining outside.