Comparison

Great Rides vs Roady

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Great Rides

Discover and navigate New Zealand's Great Rides with this comprehensive guide. Track your position offline using GPS, view trail details with elevation profiles, and find essential bike services. Explore points of interest with photos and descriptions for a complete cycling adventure.

Highlights
  • Offline trail maps
  • GPS position tracking
  • Trail section details
  • Elevation profiles
  • Bike service identification
  • Points of interest information
Features
Read full description

New Zealand's best guide and tracking app for the NZ Great Rides a partner of the NZ Cycle Trail Once a trail is downloaded it can work offline: • To track your position along the trail using your phone's GPS. • Showing key stops on the trail with photos and descriptions. • Providing information about trail sections with elevation profiles. • Identifying bike-related services to help you along your ride. • As a guide with trail information all packaged into one app. All the trail data has been carefully collected on-site then compiled with relevant trail side attractions and points of interest. Key sites can be found on the map screen and selected to provide more information, photos, and links.

About

Roady

Discover hidden local gems like walks, waterfalls, and viewpoints in New Zealand and Australia. Plan your road trip with reliable information and share your own travel experiences.

Highlights
  • Discover local walks, waterfalls, and viewpoints
  • Access reliable travel information
  • Plan NZ and AUS road trips
  • Tick off experiences and earn badges
  • Climb the leaderboard
  • Create a travel profile map
  • Share ratings and tips
Features
Read full description

Finding things to do in new places can be tough. We got sick of Googling “best things to do in XYZ” and finding the same results each time. We wanted local knowledge, the walks, waterfalls, swimming holes and viewpoints that we didn’t know existed. But finding these, let alone getting any reliable information on them to plan an NZ or AUS road trip, isn’t easy. So Roady set out with a mission to give travellers easy access to local knowledge, no matter where they are. After years of travelling around the country capturing content and learning about these places, we’ve built a travel app that includes our favourite spots and key information that we would have wanted in one place. Tick off experiences as you travel the country, earning badges and climbing the leaderboard along the way. By ticking off an experience, you’ll create a record of your travels on your profile map. Upload a photo, leaving a rating and sharing a tip to provide your own local knowledge for others. Follow us on Instagram @roadynz [:mav: 2.71.0]

Screenshots

Great Rides4 screens
Roady4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Great Rides at 5.0 against Roady's 4.4. Great Rides also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 13) and device support (3 vs 1). Roady's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (29 vs 1). On price, review sentiment, ads and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Roady sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Great Rides asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Great Rides holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Roady has 29 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Great Rides's written reviews are positive against 71% of Roady's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Great Rides ships an update every 2 months, Roady every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on July 18, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Great Rides versus Roady: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGreat RidesRoady
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.4 (29 ratings)
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews71.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings129 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size133 MB123 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGary PattersonRoady Travel Limited

Customer experience

Great Rides

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral16.7%
Negative16.7%

Roady

All ratings29 ratings
Positive86.2%
Neutral3.4%
Negative10.3%
Written reviews80 reviews
Positive71.3%
Neutral7.5%
Negative21.3%

Bugs and requests

Great Rides

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Roady

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Cannot access bucket lists or add items
  • Photos won't upload (not jpeg)
  • Submit button doesn't work on survey
  • Bug at the start - cannot use app
  • Crash issue (now fixed)
Show 5 more
  • Occasional issues with ticking off activities
  • Images won't upload
  • Slow page loading
  • Bugs that sometimes close the app
  • Unable to reset password

Requested features

10 requests
  • Version for Europe
  • Add/suggest places
  • Offline mode
  • Ability to hide/color-code map pins
  • "Along the way" feature for routes
Show 5 more
  • Ability to tick off places without posting a picture
  • Add local recommendations
  • Access other photo options besides photo library
  • More locations off the beaten track
  • Paid vs free option for locations

In-app purchases

None

Great Rides

No in-app purchases

12 purchases

Roady

Subscriptions4
  • AUS Explorer - Monthly$4.991 Month
  • NZ Explorer - 3 monthly$5.993 Months
  • NZ Explorer - yearly$9.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • AUS Explorer - Yearly$12.991 Year
One-time8
  • New Zealand Access$5.99
  • New Zealand Access$7.99
  • New Zealand Access$12.99
Show 5 more
  • Australia Access$14.99
  • NZ Access$17.99
  • New Zealand Access$17.99
  • New Zealand Access$19.99
  • Australia Access$19.99

Questions

Is Great Rides free?
Great Rides is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Roady free?
Roady is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Great Rides or Roady?
Great Rides is rated higher. Great Rides averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Roady averages 4.4 from 29 ratings.
Do Great Rides or Roady have ads?
Neither Great Rides nor Roady shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Great Rides or Roady?
Great Rides ships an update every 2 months, and Roady every 6 days. Most recently, Great Rides was updated on July 18, 2026 and Roady on September 26, 2026.

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