Wild Things vs Strava
Wild Things wasn't built to replace Strava.
It was built to help you discover trails, tick off peaks, explore more and get more from every day outdoors.
Already use Strava? Great. Keep using it. Wild Things complements it beautifully.
Use Wild Things with Strava, Garmin, both, or neither.
Wild Things is much more than a tracking app
Strava records what you did. Wild Things helps with everything around the adventure — finding places to go, planning the journey, staying motivated, saving money, and being part of a real outdoor community.
Trail Directory
Find incredible places you would never have discovered otherwise.
Peak Bagging
Turn every summit into progress and build your own mountain bucket list.
Maps
Know exactly what you’re getting into before leaving home.
Challenges
Stay motivated with goals worth chasing.
Shop
Your membership starts paying for itself.
Partner Rewards and Events
Save money with brands you’ll actually buy from and get discounts on events.
Community
Get local advice from people who’ve actually been there.
Strava & Garmin imports
Automatically keep your adventure progress up to date.
Curated by real people who actually go outside
Wild Things trails are submitted by real runners, walkers, and adventurers, then checked and approved by humans before they go live.
What this means
No random AI slop. No mystery route pretending to be a recommendation. No “there might be a path here, good luck” nonsense.
Just real trails, real context and real local knowledge.
Everything works together
Wild Things is one connected outdoor ecosystem.
Find a trail
Download GPX
Send to Garmin
Complete it
Automatically matched
Explorer points
Challenge progress
Prize entry
VIP discount
Find your next adventure
Record it anywhere. Experience it with Wild Things.
Works alongside Strava and Garmin — but doesn't depend on them
If you use Strava
Connect Strava and your activities automatically count towards trails, peaks, personal routes, challenges and more.
If you use Garmin
Garmin gives you the same automatic syncing, plus the ability to send trails directly to your watch as Garmin Courses for turn-by-turn navigation.
If you use neither
You can still discover trails and peaks, use maps, download GPX files, join challenges, access VIP perks and enjoy almost everything Wild Things has to offer.
Strava and Garmin make activity syncing automatic. They're optional, not required.
Wild Things works with both free and paid Strava and Garmin accounts.
Side-by-side comparison
| What you get | Wild Things VIP | Strava Subscription |
|---|---|---|
| Trail discovery & local knowledge | ||
| Human-curated trail directory | ||
| Human-submitted trail guides | ||
| Human-moderated before publishing | ||
| Real trail photos | ||
| Trailhead info | ||
| Toilets & water info | ||
| Dog-friendly notes | ||
| Cell coverage notes | ||
| Gear tips | ||
| Local notes and post-adventure food/drink suggestions | ||
| Trail status and closure updates | ||
| Auto-generated route suggestions | ||
| Peaks, maps & routes | ||
| Peak directory | ||
| Peak bagging | ||
| Explorer points | ||
| Real topo maps | ||
| GPX downloads | ||
| Send trails to Garmin | ||
| Personal progress | ||
| Save trails to your wishlist | ||
| Private notes | ||
| Personal Routes for loops, commutes and favourites | ||
| Shop | ||
| Trail Running Shop | ||
| VIP shop discount | ||
| Birthday discounts | ||
| Challenges, rewards & membership perks | ||
| Challenges | ||
| Challenges with real prizes | ||
| Event entry discounts | ||
| Event entry giveaways | ||
| Partner discounts | ||
| Community & support | ||
| Connect with people who've done the trail | ||
| Personal support from a small local team | ||
| Local trail knowledge | ||
| Rewarded trail guides & blogs | ||
| Activity tracking & integrations | ||
| GPS recordingWild Things is not trying to be the GPS recorder. | ||
| Automatic activity syncingConnect Strava or Garmin so activities can count inside Wild Things. | ||
| Social fitness feed, kudos & comments | ||
| Training plans & structured workouts | ||
| Advanced training insights & analytics | ||
| Works without Strava | ||
| Works without connecting any tracking app | ||
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing | $7/mo or $62.50/yr | $14.99/mo or $94.99/yr Last time we checked... |
Yes No Partly / different / limited Not applicable
We've done our best to keep this comparison accurate. As both platforms evolve, features and pricing may change.
Which one is right for you?
If all you want is GPS recording and a global social feed, Strava is a fantastic choice. Wild Things is for everything else you’ve been missing.
Choose Strava if…
- You mainly want to record GPS workouts
- You care about kudos, comments and a social feed
- You love segments and performance comparisons
- You want training stats and a huge global network
- You want a social fitness app
Choose Wild Things if…
- You want to discover real trails and peaks
- You want curated local knowledge, not random route noise
- You want peak bagging, explorer points and personal progress
- You want real topo maps, GPX tools and Garmin route sending
- You want shop discounts, partner deals and event perks
- You want challenges with real prizes
- You want a real outdoor community with human support
A membership that pays for itself
Wild Things VIP isn't just access to more features. It's a membership that helps you explore more, save money on the gear you're already buying, access discounted events, and gives you more reasons to get outside.
Shop discounts
Get a VIP discount on every Wild Things shop order, plus member perks like free NZ shipping over $150 and birthday discounts.
Partner rewards
Save with outdoor brands, services and partners who support the Wild Things community.
Events, prizes & giveaways
Access event entry discounts, entry giveaways, gear prizes, partner rewards and challenges with real prizes.
Small enough to care
Wild Things is a small business built by people who are part of the outdoor community.
That means the support is human. You can chat to us live, email us, and usually get a same-day reply — unless we are out running.
It also means features often come from real member feedback, trails are moderated by humans, and the platform is shaped by the people who actually use it.
What our members say
Real feedback from people who get out there.
Wild Things is NZ based, contains a ton of really helpful info and advice from locals who have run the trails, time estimates for different abilities, things to be aware of.
Wild Things is an awesome New Zealand owned business! Emma is bang-on about all the local knowledge in the trail and peak directory, and Rob the owner is very responsive to suggestions for new features. The Wild Things membership is well worth the annual sub, as it gets you access to the directory and sweet discounts off lots of gear, supplies and entries. Get amongst it!!!
Oh yeah I didn’t even mention the discounts! Wild Things is super functional as a site and easy to add a widget to your Home Screen.
Become a Wild Things VIP Member
VIP Monthly
No long-term commitment
$7/month
Smaller, more manageable payments
Cancel anytime
VIP Yearly
Best value
2-week free trial
then $62.50/year
Save $21.50 NZD per year vs monthly
Cancel anytime
Partner discounts unlock after your free trial.
Need partner discounts right away?
Currency has been automatically set to NZD ($). If you’d prefer to pay in AUD or GBP, please contact us and we’ll update it for you.
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