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Shedams vs Strava
Strava is where people who already train keep the record of it. Shedams is built for the fortnight before that: effort graded against your own baseline, so a brisk walk scores, and something real at stake for turning up.
Strava describes itself as “Strava makes fitness tracking social”. Everything in the Strava column below is taken from their own published pages, last read on 2026-11-11. We quote no ratings or download figures, theirs or ours.
The five differences that actually decide it
| Shedams | Strava | |
|---|---|---|
| What counts | Walking, running, cycling and cardio, indoors or out, plus a tracked session on an Apple Watch or Wear OS watch. | More than we cover. Their own listing says "runs, rides, hikes, yoga and over 50+ other sport types", with strength work pulled in from other apps and devices. |
| How your effort is judged | Against your own baseline, by age band and fitness level. A brisk walk can earn an A, and a beginner and a regular can both have a good day. | By the record itself. Their copy offers a Training Log and "data insights to understand your progress", which is your own history rather than a grade. |
| What is at stake | A prize or a donation funded by a brand or an organiser, won on verified effort. Never a game of chance. | Their monthly challenges, which their own copy describes as a way to "chase new goals, collect digital badges and stay accountable". |
| What it costs you | Free for everybody moving. An optional ad-free subscription. Organisers and brands pay. | In their own words, "both a free version and a subscription version with premium features". |
| Who it is built for | People who are not athletes, stated outright: age 13 to 93, and not built for competitive athletes. | Everybody who moves. Their listing says that whether you are a world-class athlete or a total beginner, you belong there. |
Pick Strava if
- You already train regularly and want the deepest record of it. Strava covers far more sports than we do and syncs with, in their words, thousands of devices including Apple Watch, Fitbit and Garmin.
- You want routes and trails found for you before you set off, and saved offline for where the signal goes. That is a tool they build and we do not.
- You want the established name, with years of reviews and a place in the sport behind it. Shedams has none of that yet.
Pick Shedams if
- You are not training yet, and a feed of other people doing long rides reads as a reason to stay in rather than a reason to go out.
- You want the walk to count as much as the run, judged on how hard it was for you rather than on pace and distance.
- You want something real at stake, funded by a brand or an organiser, rather than a digital badge.
Not built for competitive athletes. Built for everyone else.
Questions
Four things people ask before switching
Is Shedams a Strava alternative?
For most people it is not a replacement, it is a different job. Strava is built around recording training and sharing it. Shedams is built for somebody who has started before and stopped inside a fortnight, and the mechanism is people and stakes: a challenge, a group that notices when you go quiet, and a grade set against your own baseline so you are never bottom by default.
Does Shedams track runs and rides properly?
Yes. Outdoor runs, rides and walks are tracked with GPS, indoor sessions and treadmill work are tracked without it, and a session recorded on an Apple Watch or a Wear OS watch counts with the phone left at home. What Shedams does not have is the breadth of sports Strava covers.
Can I use both?
Nothing stops you, and plenty of people would. Be clear about what that costs you today: there is no Strava import and no sync between the two, so a session recorded in one does not appear in the other. If you want your effort to count towards a Shedams challenge, record it in Shedams.
Will a walk count for anything?
It is graded exactly like anything else. A ten-minute brisk walk can earn a top grade for the person it was hard for, and it pays the same tiles and XP that grade pays anybody. That is the whole design: the score is about the effort, not the distance.
Also worth reading: what Shedams costs, and Shedams vs StepUp, Shedams vs Sweatcoin, Shedams vs StepsClub, Shedams vs Nike Run Club.
It takes about ten minutes to find out.
Free to download, free to start. Pick a few people, set a target, and see who turns up.
Your data is yours. Organisers see participation, not your health record - and we never sell it.