Ground CoveredHow is Ground Covered different from Strava heatmaps, CityStrides and Wandrer?
This is how Ground Covered differs from three tools people use for the same job, as of October 19, 2026. Each cell comes from the product's own pages, listed under the table; a cell says "not stated" where those pages do not say.
| Ground Covered | Strava heatmaps | CityStrides | Wandrer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it shows | Every activity on one map, and in Home Turf the streets around your home colored by how often and how fast you cover them | A heat layer of the ground covered: your own Personal Heatmap, plus Global, Weekly and Night heatmaps | Your progress toward covering the streets of a city, on a map called LifeMap | A game that scores points for each new road, credited once |
| Price (US) | Free, with no paid tier today | Global heatmap free; Personal, Weekly and Night heatmaps need a subscription at $11.99 a month or $79.99 a year, plus tax | Free tier with unlimited activities and cities; Supporter at $5 a month or $50 a year | Free plan syncs 50 past activities; Wandrer Extra Lost is $40 a year |
| Account needed | No | For your own heatmaps, yes: they are built from activities on Strava. Whether the Global heatmap needs a login is not stated | Yes, to connect a tracker account and sync | Yes, to link Strava, RideWithGPS or Garmin |
| Do your files leave your device | No: files are read and kept in your browser | Yes: heatmaps are built from activities uploaded to Strava | Yes: activities are synced from connected accounts or uploaded to CityStrides | Yes: activities are synced from your linked account to Wandrer |
| Sports | Runs, rides, walks and hikes | Foot, cycle, water, winter and other sports | Running and walking | Bike and foot sports, such as ride, run, walk and hike |
| Street-level stats | Yes, in Home Turf: how often and how fast, street by street | No: the support pages describe a heat layer, not street stats | Yes: which streets of a city you have completed | Yes: new roads, towns and neighborhoods per activity |
| Does better | No account, no subscription and nothing uploaded | A mobile app, a social network, clubs and challenges, syncing from phones and GPS devices, and a global heatmap of everyone's public activity | Street-completion progress for a whole city, route planning and challenges | An exploration game with points, achievements and maps you can download |
What the others do better
Strava is where your activities are shared with friends, and it has an iPhone and Android app and syncs from your phone or GPS device as you finish. Ground Covered has no social features, no app to install and no live sync: you export your files and add them yourself.
CityStrides and Wandrer are games. They keep score, award progress or points and sync new activities for you once an account is connected. Ground Covered is not a street-completion game, and it keeps no score of who has run what.
Sources
Checked October 19, 2026.
- Strava: A Guide to Strava Heatmaps, Personal Heatmaps, pricing and strava.com.
- CityStrides: home, pricing and Supporter features.
- Wandrer: home, subscription plans and FAQ.
- Ground Covered: Where is my data and FAQ.
Prices are in US dollars. If something here is out of date, the product's own page wins.