Tailwind GPS vs RideByWeather: which wind-aware cycling planner is right for you?

Tailwind GPS and RideByWeather both use the weather to help you choose when to ride, but they are different kinds of product. Tailwind is a route planner: it looks up to two weeks ahead and gives you the tools to find the best ride for every day. RideByWeather is a weather companion that also covers running and walking. This page compares them on scoring, route planning, riding, groups and price.

The short version

Tailwind GPS plans your riding up to two weeks out, not just the ride you're about to do. Draw a route, bring it in from Strava or a GPX file, or let Tailwind generate one, and every route is scored from 0 to 100 for each departure hour across the whole forecast. The score reads wind, rain and temperature along the entire route, at your pace. Around that sit the tools for finding the best ride each day: route optimisation, AI route creation, a route explorer, Ride Huddle for groups, and navigation. It all runs in one clean browser app, with nothing to install.

RideByWeather gives you a Ride Score for a location or a 24-hour route forecast, with a free tier and apps for Android, Garmin and watches. It spreads across several sports and weather extras.

Choose Tailwind if you want to plan your rides around the wind, days ahead, on routes you've actually saved. Choose RideByWeather if you want a quick weather read across several activities or a watch app.

How each one scores your ride

Tailwind GPS

Every route gets a Tailwind Score for each departure hour. Tailwind splits the route into short stretches, works out when you'll reach each one at your pace, and reads the forecast for that place at that hour. The same loop scores differently at 6am and 2pm, and a quick rider and a relaxed one get different scores for the same route. You can see the result on the map. The route line is coloured by the wind and changes as you move through the hours, so you can spot the stretch that helps and the one that hurts before you pick a time. Highlights name the parts worth knowing about, such as a hard headwind or a long easy run. The strongest forecast gust along the ride sits next to the score. Reverse a ride and it's rescored for the way back, and a light shower keeps a fair score of its own.

On the free plan Tailwind scores 3 routes up to 3 days ahead, and rescores daily. Pro scores up to 60 routes up to 14 days ahead, and keeps today and tomorrow current as new forecasts arrive.

RideByWeather

RideByWeather's headline number is a Ride Score from 0 to 10, updated every hour, with a 7-day forecast and an hourly timeline on the free plan. Its forecast shows wind, gusts, temperature and rain chance. The route planner shows headwind and tailwind on each leg and gives loop-direction advice. The score is a single figure for the conditions, and a forecast for a specific route only appears on Pro, covering the next 24 hours.

The difference is what the number describes. Tailwind scores your saved route at the hour you'd actually be on each stretch, so a route can be excellent at 7am and poor at noon, and you can compare every hour across 14 days.

Plans and pricing

The plans aren't like for like. Tailwind Pro scores up to 60 routes, hour by hour, for 14 days, and includes route optimisation. RideByWeather Pro's route forecast covers 24 hours, and its 14-day figure is a Ride Score rather than a score for each of your routes. Its free tier is a lighter product, and the price reflects that. RideByWeather also sells a Club plan at $39 a month for up to 25 riders. Prices are in US dollars as listed in October 2026, so check each pricing page before you pay.

Building and finding routes

Tailwind GPS

• Draw on the map, snapped to roads or freehand, or search for a place and draw from there.
• Upload a GPX file, or bring your rides across from Strava.
• Generate a route for free. Pick a start, a distance from 20 to 150 km, and a direction to head out in or a place to finish. Tailwind builds a loop on quiet, popular road-bike roads. It doesn't plan around the wind yet, so score it afterwards.
• See Elevation and Road types charts as you draw.
• Browse scored rides in the route explorer, by city and country, or open Discover to see scored rides near you.
• On Pro, route optimisation (beta) finds the stretches of a ride that run into the wind for your departure time, and swaps them for roads that save time or suggests riding the route the other way round. It shows the minutes saved and any extra distance before you accept.

RideByWeather

• A route builder with elevation, plus loop-direction advice.
• Wind-aware route optimisation on Pro.
• Its site doesn't mention AI route creation or a Strava connection.

Both apps show elevation and gusts, and both offer wind-aware route optimisation on paid plans.

Riding it

Tailwind GPS runs turn-by-turn navigation in your phone's browser. It guides you back onto the line if you miss a turn, and gives you a summary at the end. You can also download the route as a GPX file for Garmin, Wahoo or any head unit that reads the format, or send a link to friends so everyone is looking at the same ride.

RideByWeather has an Android app, a Garmin Connect IQ app and a watch app, plus a live workout mode with wind-shift alerts and offline route follow. If you want an app on your wrist, that is where it is ahead.

Groups, tools and extras

Tailwind's Ride Huddle puts a few routes in front of the group and lets everyone vote from one link. Nobody needs an account to vote, and the link shows the winning route with its weather, Tailwind Score and a GPX download. Pro also sends a weekly email of your best ride windows and alerts you when a route hits the score you set.

Tailwind has free tools too: a wattage calculator that works out the watts a ride will ask of you, and a tyre pressure calculator that gives front and rear pressures for every surface. RideByWeather also has a tyre pressure tool.

RideByWeather also covers running and walking, and adds smaller extras such as what to wear, air quality, pollen and UV. Tailwind keeps its focus on one job, planning the best cycling ride each day.

Side by side

Which to choose

Choose Tailwind GPS if:

• you want to plan up to two weeks ahead, with your own routes scored hour by hour for wind, rain and temperature
• you want to build, generate, optimise, navigate and share rides in one place
• you ride with a group and want a simple way to pick the route
• you're happy working in the browser and sending a GPX to your head unit

Choose RideByWeather if:

• you want a quick weather read for a location rather than a planner
• you want a Garmin, watch or Android app, or a live workout mode
• you want one app for cycling, running and walking

For more options, see our guides to the best cycling app with weather alerts and Tailwind GPS vs Windy.

Try it on your own route

Open the map, bring in a route you ride, and scroll through the departure hours and days. It takes a minute, and the free plan needs no card. Open the map.