Komoot

What Is Komoot?

Picture this: a gravel rider in the Taunus hills loads a 120 km route onto her Garmin, taps Start, and follows turn-by-turn voice cues across fire roads and singletrack — all planned the night before using a free app. That experience, multiplied across 45 million users in 50 countries, is why Komoot became the dominant outdoor navigation tool in Europe.

Founded in Potsdam in 2010, Komoot built its reputation on one insight: generic maps give cyclists and hikers wrong directions. Road-cycling GPX files route you down motorways. Walking apps ignore bridleways. Komoot's sport-specific routing algorithms understand that a gravel bike belongs on packed dirt, not cobblestones — and its community of millions reinforces that intelligence through curated Highlights marking the best climbs, viewpoints, and technical descents.

In March 2025, Italian tech firm Bending Spoons acquired Komoot for an estimated €300 million and promptly cut roughly 85% of the workforce — including the founding team. Bending Spoons follows a consistent acquisition playbook: buy, reduce headcount aggressively, raise prices, and run the product as a revenue-maximising asset. Komoot's product still works well today, but prospective users deserve to understand that context before committing to an annual subscription.

The core remains strong. Route planning is best-in-class. Community data is dense in Western Europe. The app is polished. The question is whether that quality holds through 2026 and beyond with a skeleton crew.

Key Features

How does Komoot's sport-specific routing work?

Komoot builds separate routing graphs for eight sport profiles: road cycling, gravel, mountain biking, hiking, trail running, running, ski touring, and snowshoeing. When you select a sport type, the algorithm weights road surfaces, gradient limits, track conditions, and signage accordingly — a mountain bike route actively seeks singletrack and avoids tarmac, while a hiking route prioritises waymarked footpaths.

The result is directions that match real-world capability. A road cyclist planning a century ride won't be sent down a B-road with 15% gradients and loose gravel. A hiker planning an alpine traverse won't be routed along a cycle lane. Competing apps like Google Maps and Strava Route Builder don't come close on this specificity — which is why Komoot retains a loyal user base despite the ownership change.

What does the community Highlights system offer?

Highlights are geotagged points of interest created and rated by Komoot users. They surface the best swimming spots after a long ride, the technical rock gardens on a trail, the cafes that welcome sweaty cyclists, the viewpoints that justify the climb. With 45 million users contributing data, coverage in Western Europe — Germany, the UK, France, the Alps, Iberia — is exceptional.

Each Highlight carries a user rating, photos, and brief description. They appear automatically on planned routes and can be added manually during planning. For travellers visiting an unfamiliar region, Highlights transform route planning from a map exercise into local knowledge aggregation.

What is Komoot Premium and what does it add?

Premium unlocks a layer of features that transform Komoot from a navigation app into a trip-planning platform:

• Multi-day tours: chain multiple route segments into a single itinerary with accommodation stops
• Live tracking: broadcast your real-time position via a shareable public link — useful for long solo adventures or group rides where riders spread out
• Weather overlay: see forecast conditions (wind, temperature, precipitation) layered on your planned route by time of day
• 3D maps: visualise elevation profile in three dimensions before you ride
• Sport-specific map layers: Komoot's own cartographic layer showing surfaces, trail difficulty, and gradients
• Komoot map on Garmin: an additional map layer installed on compatible Garmin devices

From March 2025, new users also need Premium to sync routes to Garmin, Wahoo, and other GPS devices — a significant change from the previous model where any user with a purchased region could sync routes freely.

How do offline maps work?

Offline maps come as purchasable regions — geographic areas that download permanently to your device. Voice navigation and turn-by-turn directions work without any internet connection once a region is loaded. For new users, one region is included free on account creation; additional regions cost €3.99 each, though the availability of new regional purchases for accounts created after February 2025 is restricted.

Legacy users who purchased regions before the policy change retain full access indefinitely. Premium subscribers get worldwide offline navigation included.

Pricing

Komoot's pricing changed materially in early 2025, post-acquisition.

The free tier still allows unlimited route planning and Highlights browsing — enough to test the app's core capabilities. Voice navigation and offline maps require either a region purchase or a Premium subscription.

Premium costs €6.99/month billed monthly or €59.99/year billed annually (approximately €5.00/month). The annual plan is the practical choice for regular riders or hikers. One-time region purchases (€3.99 per region, or a World Pack at €29.99) remain available for legacy users.

For new users evaluating options, the €59.99/year Premium sits between Garmin Connect Plus (£2.99/month) and Strava's Premium tier (€11.99/month). The comparison isn't direct — these products serve different primary use cases — but the price is reasonable for committed outdoor enthusiasts. Casual users who only need navigation for occasional trips may find the price hard to justify.

EU Compliance & Privacy

Komoot GmbH is a German company headquartered in Potsdam, and data handling reflects that jurisdiction. All location data is processed exclusively on EU-based servers — AWS EMEA in Luxembourg and Hetzner Online in Germany — in full compliance with GDPR.

Location data is not stored on the device; it is deleted when a session ends. Route and activity data syncs to EU-hosted servers. Komoot uses US-based Zendesk for customer support, which is covered by the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification.

The Italian parent company (Bending Spoons) does not change the data-hosting equation — the operating entity remains Komoot GmbH under German and EU law. That said, Bending Spoons' future infrastructure decisions are worth monitoring, particularly if significant infrastructure consolidation occurs post-acquisition.

For most European users, Komoot's EU data residency is solid and well-documented.

Who It's Best For

Committed cyclists and hikers logging significant outdoor mileage each year will find Premium worth every euro. Multi-day planning, device sync, and weather overlays save meaningful time and reduce risk on serious adventures.

Western European users benefit most from the Highlights system — coverage in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, and the UK is outstanding. Central and Eastern European users may find Highlights coverage patchy in less-trafficked areas.

Garmin and Wahoo owners who want reliable device sync need Premium if their account was created after February 2025. For these users, the annual subscription is practically mandatory.

Price-sensitive casual users should consider whether the free tier — unlimited planning, community browsing, in-app navigation — is sufficient without paying for Premium.

If the Bending Spoons ownership model concerns you and you prioritise long-term product commitment, Ride with GPS (US-based, independently operated) or Strava's route planning features are legitimate alternatives. Within the European market, no direct competitor matches Komoot's combination of routing quality and community data density.

The Verdict

Komoot remains the best European outdoor navigation tool for cyclists and hikers — its routing algorithms, community Highlights, and trip-planning features have no close European rival. The post-acquisition staffing cuts introduce genuine uncertainty about future development, and the March 2025 paywall expansion for device sync frustrated many existing users. For active outdoor enthusiasts, however, the €59.99/year Premium is still a reasonable price for what the app delivers. Watch for product quality changes over the next 12 months as the reduced team's impact becomes clearer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Komoot safe to use after the Bending Spoons acquisition?

The app remains functional and data is still hosted on EU servers under GDPR. Bending Spoons cut approximately 85% of Komoot's staff in mid-2025, including the founding team. The product works well today, but long-term feature development is uncertain. Users considering a multi-year commitment should weigh that risk.

Does Komoot work offline?

Yes. Once you download a map region, voice navigation and turn-by-turn directions work with no internet connection. Premium subscribers get worldwide offline maps; free users can download one region at signup and purchase additional regions at €3.99 each.

Is Komoot better than Strava for route planning?

For route planning and navigation, Komoot is generally better — sport-specific routing and community Highlights give it a significant edge. Strava excels at social features, segment competition, and fitness tracking. Most serious cyclists use both: Komoot to plan and navigate, Strava to track and share.

Can I use Komoot without a Premium subscription?

Yes. The free tier allows unlimited route creation, Highlights browsing, and in-app navigation. You cannot sync routes to a Garmin or Wahoo (for accounts created after February 2025) without Premium. The free experience is genuinely useful for recreational users who navigate on their phone rather than a dedicated GPS device.

Where is my data stored when I use Komoot?

All location data is processed on EU servers — specifically AWS EMEA in Luxembourg and Hetzner in Germany. Route and activity data syncs to the same EU infrastructure. Komoot's privacy policy explicitly states that location data is never stored on-device and is deleted at session end.