Quick comparison
| Feature | Helm | Strava |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £2.99/mo or £29.99/yr | Free (limited) / $11.99/mo |
| GPS run tracking | ✓ Kalman-filtered | ✓ |
| Strength training | ✓ Full logging + PR detection | ✗ |
| Nutrition tracking | ✓ Full + 21 micronutrients | ✗ |
| Barcode scanning | ✓ | ✗ |
| Social community | None (by design) | Massive global community |
| Segment leaderboards | ✗ | ✓ (Strava subscription) |
| Cycling support | ✗ | ✓ Full cycling + power data |
| Race predictor | ✓ Built-in (Riegel) | Premium only |
| Route sharing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Meet simulator | ✓ Wilks & DOTS | ✗ |
| Progress photos | ✓ 8 poses | ✗ |
Where Strava excels
Strava is the undisputed king of social endurance sports. If running or cycling community is your main priority, it's hard to beat.
Strava's strengths
- Social running community - Strava has the largest community of runners and cyclists in the world. Kudos, comments, and activity feeds create genuine motivation for many athletes.
- Route sharing - Discover popular running and cycling routes in your area, save favourites, and share your own. Strava's route data is unmatched.
- Segment leaderboards - Compete on specific road or trail segments against other athletes. The KOM/QOM system adds a layer of competition that keeps runners and cyclists coming back.
- Cycling support - Full power meter integration, cycling-specific analytics, and a massive cycling community make Strava the default choice for serious cyclists.
Where Helm excels
If you're an athlete who does more than just run - you lift, you track nutrition, you care about body composition - Helm keeps everything in one place.
Helm's advantages
- Strength training + nutrition included - Strava does not offer set-and-rep strength logging or food tracking (verified April 2026). If you lift and run, you need Strava plus a workout tracker plus a calorie counter. Helm replaces all three.
- Kalman-filtered GPS - Helm uses a Kalman filter to smooth GPS noise, producing cleaner route maps with more accurate distance calculations in urban or high-noise GPS environments.
- A quarter of the price - As of April 2026, Strava's subscription is required for route planning, race analysis, and certain training logs. Helm is £2.99/month with every feature included - plus strength training and nutrition that Strava doesn't offer at all.
- Race predictor built in - Predict your 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon times based on your training data using the Riegel formula. No premium subscription needed.
- All data in one place - Your runs, lifts, meals, bodyweight, measurements, and progress photos live in a single app. No exporting between apps, no context-switching, no fragmented history.
How to switch from Strava to Helm
Your run history doesn't have to stay locked in Strava. Bring your activities to Helm in a few steps.
- Log into Strava on the web. Go to Settings → My Account → Download or Delete Your Account → Request Your Archive.
- Strava emails you a ZIP file. Download it and extract the activities.csv file.
- In Helm, go to Settings → Import Data, select Strava, and choose the CSV.
- Helm imports your runs, rides, and activity data including distance, duration, and pace. Tap Import.
Need more detail? Check out the full import guide.