Zwift if you like racing people or riding around in 3D virtual environments. Trainerroad otherwise.

What type of trainer did you get? I ask because I have a Cycleops PowerBeam Pro and there are known issues (connectivity) with that model and trainerroad.com's most current version....I was told by them that they know about the issue and it is not currently on their roadmap to resolve.

That said, I do like the workouts trainerroad.com has but the 3D simulation and interaction with other rides is really fun in Zwift!

I have both. If you want to just ride, Zwift is more interesting. There are races, challenges and people to ride with or chase. If I was preparing for a big event or wanting to dedicate a specific training block toward increasing my ftp, TrainerRoad would be the best bet. TrainerRoad has detailed plans for different event distances as well as ftp builder plans. Zwift has some workouts but they don't have the race distance specificity that TrainerRoad incorporates.

Right now I'm spending most of my time on Zwift...I don't have any big races this year.

I've tried both. TR much more extensively than Zwift. Before I explain my opinion, know that you can do well with either.

Zwift if you like:
- social aspect of biking. If you have friends or relatives you like to ride "together" with or race each other. I think this is the major advantage of Zwift over TR.
-Otherwise, the rewards and environments got old for me really quickly.
-The races are meh for me because I can't tell who is cheating with virtual power and stuff.
-I don't care about the social aspect.

TR
-the training plans are much more extensive and have been around a while and they work very well! At least for me.
-Not much entertainment watching a bar but I have my TV and Netflix in front of me and I rather do that than a virtual environment.

Try both, see which you like better. Zwift offers a free week I think. Both are $10/mo or so, not a big expenditure compared to everything, including your fancy new trainer.

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--Chris

Zwift can be more entertaining if you are after trying to replicated riding outside particularly if you go to ride is a group ride.

TrainerRoad has a much more robust set of training plans and individual workouts if you lean more towards structured training.

I view TrainerRoad as a "poor man's" way to get a coach and training program for $10/mo. I keep, and use, my subscription for the training plans. You do what Coach Chad tells you to do over the course of a base, build and specialty plan progression and you will get fast. I have used Zwift, and like it. But, while you can train with it quite effectively, the emphasis is more on being a massive multiplayer online video game and less on running you through a 20+ week training program. For me, I am a little to weak mentally to handle Zwift. It leave me too much on my own to resist the temptation to just ride with the bunch all the time rather than buckle down and do my work or, get my rest. In that sense, it is almost a perfect simulation of having a convenient group ride available every day ;-)

Both are just about the same in terms of controlling a smart trainer or running you through a workout. The big difference is Zwift provides the entertainment, you watching avatars of real riders and interacting with them (ie. beating them, getting dropped by them or drafting off them) while TrainerRoad shows your data and targets but leaves it up to you to pick your own entertainment.

Each one is only $10 a month so just get both and then if after 3 or 4 months you are only using one, drop the other. Both are great, but if you are only going to use one, you should check them both out.

For the longest time, I would have said TrainerRoad. Now though, I'm more for Zwift. With Zwift's workout mode, it's the best of both worlds. It's pretty easy to build workouts in Zwift, but you're not always around your computer where Zwift is installed to do this. This offline Zwift workout creator is the bomb!! So easy to create workouts and then drop in your Zwift folder where your application is. I use Dropbox and can create workouts at work and the files are saved at home where I can quickly copy and paste and they show up in Zwift.

http://zwofactory.com/

Like others have said, I have both.

The one thing I'll add to what others have said is that I will run both simultaneously. Not all the time, but sometimes I find that even though I have TrainerRoad controlling my trainer in ERG mode, it's still satisfying to chase down other riders. Seems to lower the RPE a bit.

Ditto. I run both at the same time. I've found hard TR workouts like VO2 max intervals are more bearable if I'm on Zwift. Some of the TR workouts I've used the Zwift online workout creator to make a Zwift version. I then don't need to run 2 devices.

I've had excellent fitness and FTP gains using TR'S plans.

That site is awesome. Thanks!

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--Chris

Private message me your email address if you want a free month of trainer road. (no strings - I don't get anything either).

I've used both also. One thing to keep in mind is that if you have a TV to watch with your trainer, which many do so the suicide rate doesn't go up, you will find that you'll be conflicted trying to watch your entertainment vs. what's going on in Zwift. Zwift, being an interactive experience, will tend to compete with any TV you have going. Since I prefer to watch some entertainment/educational videos while I ride, I find TrainerRoad to be the better choice. But you may find the Zwift environment entertaining enough that you don't need any other stimulus (it wasn't for me).

As others have said, it mostly comes down to 2 things:
1. Motivation/Entertainment
2. Workout content

I use Zwift mostly because it makes trainer sessions psychologically far more tolerable. I used to just use my bike computer and a plan for workouts. Traineroad automates and tracks that and controls your trainer if you have a smartrainer but it doesn't really change the environment. I've tried riding while watching TV/movies and it just doesn't work for me. Either I'm concentrating on riding or I'm concentrating on the movie. I find it almost impossible to do a good session and entertain myself that way at the same time. Nice idea but doesn't work for me in practice. However Zwift does work to keep me somewhat entertained. I do occasional group rides and races which keeps things interesting but I also do plenty workouts. A group ride at an appropriate intensity is a more engaging way to do a long sweetspot session for example. I don't feel the need to produce a nice accurate graph every time I ride. Intervals that last an exact number of minutes or at an exact intensity don't produce magically better results. But the willingness to get on the bike and maybe keep going a bit longer will be beneficial, both psychologically and physically. As others said, there may be some people cheating in races, but so what? I'm not trying to win. I'm trying to beat the guys in front of me, and then catch the guys in front of them. If someone disappears up the road, it doesn't bother me in the least. The best part of Zwift is that it gives you other riders to chase and terrain and landmarks against which to gauge progress rather than just a distance or time figure. It's about motivation and engagement and for me it works pretty well. I know how long it takes me to get up the epic climb in Watopia and I'm damn well going to take a minute off that time within the next 8 weeks!
While I believe the Traineroad library of workouts and training plans is more comprehensive than Zwift's, the Zwift workout builder allows me to do whatever I want. So when I want to do structured/controlled training I'm covered. I don't feel I need the Traineroad workouts.
Of course, if in doubt - try both!

Same here, use them both at the same time almost every time I am on the trainer. Both are motivating in different ways and I think they work well together.

I was doing this, as well. That being said, I am outside now and just cancelled my zwift membership. I'm keeping TR, though, as I feel it is far more robust and better overall.

I use both, but for different purposes. Lately I've been on trainerroad, while I'm not following one of their canned plans, I've made my own base plan based on some of their sessions and my time availability. I recently got a smart trainer and love the erg mode, and I'll probably keep using trainerroad because I like their workouts, especially now with erg mode (I have an 8 speed road bike and prior to this it was a huge pain to do workouts to get a comfortable power/cadence combo). Zwift, though, can be really fun for the racing aspect. I'm likely never going to be competitive in the races, but I find it motivating to suffer along with others. This past fall before I had to take a break from riding I was doing hour+ long races at or near threshold, so I got really good at suffering. Maybe it's my setup (my PC screen is set at 2 o'clock to my trainer for practical reasons) but zwift isn't all that immersive for me, and usually just listening to music/sports talk while on trainerroad does it for me.

This x2

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Human Person

I use Zwift, but mostly in workout mode.

I used to use the inbuilt workouts, but now I'm building my own .zwo workouts via TrainingPeaks or course power simulations in BestBikeSplit.

Load them up & I'm good to go, giro on in the background & other Zwift riders to chase really helps when an interval bites.