indieVelo vs Zwift: Is indieVelo The Zwift Alternative We've Been Waiting For?

In this video, I am diving deep into Zwift and indieVelo. In this video, I'll compare their features, from ride physics and workout modes to social elements and device compatibility.
-- Chapters --
00:00 Intro
00:45 Route Selection
02:43 Ride Physics
03:43 Structured Training
06:18 Social
07:39 Racing
10:08 Multisport Options
11:00 Device Compatiblity
11:57 Customizability
13:14 Pricing
13:56 My final thoughts
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[@Stevenafoe]

Zwift for now for me. I am like you, training/workouts, long groupride sunday morning and a race once and a while. I prefer riding outside, so zwift is only for cold/bad weather situations, to not have to stop with training that day/week.

[@MattSwain1]

I do have a laptop that could run Indievelo but I’ve got an old iPad specifically for the purpose of training so the lack of iOS compatibility is a bit of a deal-breaker. These days I’m only interested in workouts when I’m indoors (running and riding), work hard for 30-60 minutes and then get on with life! I’ve done the group rides but the chatter tends to be more annoying than inspiring so I’ve got that turned off. It’s good to see what Indievelo are doing but at some point they’ll need to appeal more to the masses or they could end up being another platform that never quite reached critical mass and went away

[@mariokulero]

indieVelo has an UI and engine I have wished since 2015 from Zwift

[@bikeanddogtrips]

my personal choice is rouvy as it allows me to ride actual routes rather than fantasy worlds. there are actually a lot of workouts on rouvy nowadays and it also has several daily races and group rides. one aspect i enjoy would be the monthly challenges - whether it be something simple such as conquer the height of Everest and ride 2000km in a month or more unique challenges such as several famous European climbs or a tour of canada or Japan.

[@manny2987-pv5jn]

I like the challenges on Rouvy too. The tours are great because they make my decision making easier where to ride, haha.

[@matthewsweat319]

IndieVelo training settings look awesome. Slope Feel with actual percents, YES! and workout resistance mode that matches the worlds terrain, Yes!. I mean I really just want to set an incline percent that mimics a hill to do intervals.

[@charlesconvery9424]

Great video, I moved from RGT so have a 3 months free Zwift. I have tried Zwift & Indievelo and keep on coming back to Indievelo. It is easy to use on the laptop, still needs fine tuning but for me beats Zwift. I am not a serious cyclist using it once or twice a week.

[@kevinderung8524]

competition is always a good thing, I have been using zwift for several years, it has been wonderful...new companies in this space will only continue to push VR cycling ahead

[@wilsistermans1118]

IndiVelo was never developed with the aim to become a Zwift alternative, but a way to show how physics could work in an indoor training app and how it is possible to force people to be honest. It even started with a single developer. He now got some help in creating more routes. IndiVelo shows how the weakest points of Zwift can be solved. It would be awesome if the two will work together.

[@jasonr.8907]

Great video. I’m currently riding with Indievelo and they have added an entirely new island to ride and are in the works to adding even more. I was with Zwift for a few months but I feel it’s clogged with way too many riders and the bots are out of control. Of course IndieVelo has a lot of bots too but they don’t just suddenly appear out of no where like they do in Zwift. I think IndieVelo will be a huge competitor with Zwift but building the infrastructure will take time. What I like best about IndieVelo is that it’s very similar to real life feel when riding where Zwift is no so much.

[@sigfreed11]

6:44 you can’t tell who bots are unless you are chatty AND this is ONLY a “problem” until the IndieVelo population grows 😊

[@PureNRG2]

IndieVelo is certainly very tempting. But being a multi-sport athlete, having the run and bike feature in one app is perfect for me. Plus, with all the miles I’ve put into Zwift, I feel less motivated to start putting in my miles elsewhere. And if I’m being really honest, I’m kinda hooked on earning new kit and you really can’t beat the social aspect of Zwift. I’ll probably give IV a try, but It’s unlikely that I’ll switch.

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Im with you on collecting points and kits on Zwift. It’s addictive 😬 😂

[@davecasey4341]

I haven't seen anything yet from the other platforms that will get me to switch away from Zwift. For me, the social aspect is the name of the game. If I wanted to ride with a ton of bots, I'd just buy a game from Walmart and ride offline.

[@waterdeptworker]

I have been using Zwift for over a year and have just used indieVelo twice. If you have been using Zwift for years and have the Tron bike and Lightweight wheels might as well stay on Zwift. If you are new or under level 20 (which I am) and am about a year away from getting the Tron bike go indieVelo. The people on the Tron bike and all those other perks are A HUGE ADVANTAGE. I probably will be ending my Zwift in the next couple of months and also Zwift has like 30-40% of the people cheating. Most top 10 finishes are men inder 130 pounds, YEAH RIGHT!!!

[@DaveRider719]

And how IV stops you from entering your weight that low ?

[@noggintube]

I have the Tron, wheels etc and agree, however, the recent price hike that Zwift has announced has now made users start to look at the alternatives. I might give IV a go, and maybe even pause Zwift over summer and use IV instead for the odd ride, and then only pay for Zwift for the winter months. It's certainly thrown the cat amongst the pigeons and I think IV will see a lot more traffic in the coming months.

[@KarlAxelZander]

IV is impressive stuff for being this early in its lifetime. Development speed & direction are really good, considering the small dev team. Could definitely be the mainstream #1 choice for the serious racing events/series one day. Biggest challenge of course how to get the critical mass of organizers & (racing) users to move over to something new, no matter how great it is. That's really hard if you, as someone mentioned here, don't got big marketing budget. And/or a big passioned core user group that do significant social legwork, etc. The sudden injection of new users from RGT was promising as a start though 👍

[@JasonBecker-USAFL]

I'm new to IndieVelo and so far I like it. You mention that it can be tricky to tell the bots from real people, but you'll get the hang of it, I think implying that your chats may go ignored. I've seen other comments about they've made it intentionally opaque but you can compare rider names to national flags and make a guess. Are there other ways to identify bots? I guess, more important, I'd like to know which riders are real people. I struggle to keep up at times and I'd rather wheel suck a bot than a real person. Any insights are appreciated and I love your content.

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

They have done it purposely hard to differentiate between bots and real people. There are pros and cons like you mentioned to that approach. As far as finding who’s who, names and where they are from are probably the easiest way to find out. I would say just assume everyone is a bot at this point because per my experience with other platforms, you will be riding alone for the majority of the time until the platform grow its user base.

[@mumblecake251]

For me the killer feature of Zwift is the flexibility of device connections through the Companion App. The ability to tether the connections to my PC is something that actually enables me to use Zwift in the first place. Non of the competitors seem to have anything like that available which mean that the only PC I have that would be powerful enough to run software like IndieVelo or MyWhoosh could not connect to my smartbike and it is too far away from the smartbike to feasibly put Blutooth or Ant+ dongles in place.

Bah, you just need to buy a dirt cheap USB-extension cable and use your USB-dongle (either ANT+, or BT radio dongle) with that. Works just fine

[@mumblecake251]

@ No it doesn't! My computer is in the home office, my smart bike is in my pain cave. Video gets streamed from the PC to a TV in front of the exercise bike. I don't want to lay a 25m cable across the house nor would a cheap cable cut it due to signal integrity issues. Bluetooth tethering through the companion app IS the killer feature for me!

[@mikebeattie976]

I like both Zwift and indevelo, I don’t know how to recognise bots in indievelo though . I like the paced rides in indevelo and Zwift. Zwift clearly wins in the number of real riders . I think Zwift could do with some slower events, D cat rides are still too fast for some riders. Haven’t tried events in indievelo

[@lellotrello2338]

They deliberately made it so that you cant identify the Bots vs real people

[@dangerfulmind]

The dead giveaway of bots in indievelo are the names compared to the country flag and just plain simply the name in most cases, look at them.... Saw one today called Ginger Ball. 🙃

[@barrycorney3665]

Easy - how many South Koreans do you think are called Jock Mackintosh...?! It's a laugh watching the random generated names pitched against the nationalities

[@stupossibleify]

Ultimately, it's good to have other options and a bit more competition in the market. I'll stick with Zwift until they become arrogant or cease service.

[@edgardwill4932]

For some reason he didn't mentioned that Indievelo is the only one that offers a "virtual shifting" just touching the keys + or - on keyboard. The big vantage in that is you can use any Carrefour (or Walmart) bike on the Smart trainer, you don't need to have fisical gears, so, you can keep your road training bike out of your smart trainer, AND, there's no consume in cassete and etc... Only Indievelo has that!

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

I did a number of videos on indieVelo and I did mention it in one of them. It is a nice feature 👍

[@sigfreed11]

Would love an update video on IndieVelo! The more exposure it gets the better it becomes 💪🏻 IndieVelo has a much higher ceiling than Zwift because IndieVelo is CONSTANTLY improving and at a rapid pace; whereas Zwift is slow to improve

[@jayd6307]

Thank you for making this video. I'm new to "cycling" all together. My question to you, is there a novice setting? I used indievelo today for the first time and tried the "warm up". Oh lord it had me at 120W for 2 mins. That's a negative for my new legs omg. Thanking you in advance

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

You should be able to lower your FTP in your profile. If you know what your FTP is, you can input it there. Otherwise, input a low value and take the FTP test.

[@jayd6307]

@SmartBikeTrainers - Thank you very much for responding. Not sure what FTP or how to take the test but I'll reach around.

[@n22pdf]

Hope that indievelo comes to appletv soon 😊 Pete

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

There seem to be some progress on that front. Hopefully we will see it soon on ATV 🙏🏼

[@sigfreed11]

2:02 IndieVelo is always adding more routes and islands 👍🏻

[@_J.F_]

I am in the market for a smart trainer and a training/racing platform and while Zwift seems to be the big dominant leader on this front I am not really into all the 'bling' and flashing visuals but would probably rather have more detailed data, credibility, and less social interaction. Just from having watched this video it seems that indieVelo might be a better choice for me and I will definitely look into that platform a lot more before making up my mind.

[@DaveRider719]

I would try indieVelo but I have update my Zwift Hub with the coq and virtual shifting. Virtual Shifting ist a great thing and my setup is in place so I wont make any changes now. But competition is always good and indieVelo looks great.

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Enjoy your new Zwift Hub 👍

Virtual shifting is there with indieVelo. It just works with any (smart) trainer

[@DaveRider719]

@ also while shifting with zwift play controller?

[@frailivan1797]

Hi. Can I used the Zwift Click or Zwift Play on IndieVelo platform....or just keyboard key????Or some other options? Please,let me know,ok? THANKS!

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

You can use the keyboard shortcuts to adjust virtual gearing in Indievelo. Zwift Click, or Zwift Play is only compatible with Zwift.

[@frailivan1797]

Interesting? Because,its works on GTBike platform with ladt updete,works even with a Zwift Play,so I wonder if works on Indie too??! Witch key then you use for +,-,to change gearing pozition when you Ride???Or +,- key????I mean from 12 speef to 11,10,9....or 13,14 up...????

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

+ and - keys will change your virtual gears. Basically it adds and take off some resistance. You can configure your gears settings in the settings menu.

[@DanCave]

You can use a PlayStation or Xbox controller instead of the zwift shifters which I'm told by the developer of indievelo that they are encoded and encrypted to only work with zwift. Even the swift click virtual shifting buttons are encoded

[@NeillRobinson]

Indievelo vs mywhoosh tho?

[@07storck]

Is there a platform out there where you can create your own "real wotld" routs by downloading Garmin GPS data? I use to ride/race prior to losing my eyesight and would like to ride my old routes.

[@Chader9]

BKool offers that function IIRC. Also, if all you want is the "feel" of course, you can "reride / preride" any GPX file using head units like the Garmin & Wahoo ones. GP Lama has videos covering both of those use cases.

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Like Chader9 said in his reply, Bkool gives you the ability to create your own route from a GPX file. Also, if you happen to have a tacx trainer, you can use the Tacx Training application to create your own routes. Hope that helps!

[@TheOkinawaBoy]

I hate social rides. I'm not sitting and chatting in the bar, but ride my bicycle. Most of the time I exercise to improve my fitness, not chatting experience. Although, IndieVelo full of bots, they at least not collide with you and each other, like they do in Zwift.

[@__marshie]

Need apple tv compatibility.

[@rafik-eddinehendjour3702]

I would go for the free rides 😂

[@Evaso_CC]

Indievelo, like RGT, will struggle to attract numbers as they have virtually no marketing budget. It will remain a niche system

[@colintalbot7492]

I keep coming back to Zwift due to the graphics (incredible with a decent gaming laptop) sound, varied routes and social side. Rides are much more interesting with real people. I’ve tried IndieVelo and MyWhoosh but they are so dull and boring and unless you’re a serious racer I don’t see the appeal other than they’re free.

[@djconnel]

Too many bots + unoriginal scenery + uninspired roads = not ready for prime time for Indie Velo. So after RGT folded, I returned to Zwift. I'll live with the inferior physics. Zwift isn't that bad once you get past the lack of corner braking. RGT was clearly the best for racing but there were only a few races per week with decent turnout, and it never got close to the popular Zwift events.

[@rhenceocampo3253]

But let’s be real, it’s not Zwift

[@KuriReevel]

Indievelo is for sportsmen, racers, serious cyclists. Zwift is for general public doing cycling for fitness, wannabe showoff “racers” and cheaters. Basically you can’t even compare Zwift and Indievelo as Indievelo cycling dynamcis and features are so superior and light years away from Zwift.

[@Stevenafoe]

You are doing the ‘Not a real scottsmen’ fallacy. Why would zwift not be for ‘sportsmen, racers and serious cyclists’? I consider myself as two of those. Zwift works fine. You know what will happen with cycling hackers/cheaters when indievelo gets more used and more popular? Right. Will the game catch weight/length cheaters? Ofcourse not. Cheaters will also be on indievelo. Do i know a solution? No, unless the official body measuring squad pays all users a visit at home and checks all data.

[@KuriReevel]

@@StevenafoeIndievelo anti-cheat measures are built in from the start, one can even say that Indievelo is designed around the anti-cheat measures as one of it most important feature. Blatantly changing your weight dosen’t do much in Indievelo ;)

[@Stevenafoe]

@@KuriReevel i’ve never ridden indievelo, but if it’s anything like irl, weight does matter a lot (climbing) and length too (aero). So you lie about weight and length (wind) from the start. Which will be accepted. Then you can also loose weight, like irl. Or lie about loosing weight. Older (30+) people get shorter, so you can even cheat with that. 10kg less weight is a lot, you’ll notice the difference, you’ll be much faster. Cheaters will cheat, and when software claims ‘anti cheat measures’, it’s only an extra challenge for some hackers i am afraid. But you haven’t clarified why zwift isn’t for ‘serious cyclists’ or ‘sportsmen’.

[@Daimoku1938]

it seems u have won already several times the TDF and Giro or u are full of bullshift !!! +50K riders everyday on Zwift and they must be respected,so u can stick your Indievelo right up...u know the place !!!

[@KuriReevel]

@@Daimoku1938Respect my ass

[@SiliconEngineer]

Looks rad! I will try this as soon as they have either and iOS or iPadOS version. Until then, will stay with #myWhoosh 🤡

[@Daimoku1938]

its good that u keep saving money on the memberships,try saving money as well on toilet paper !!! it will help u a lot.