Comparison · Checked on November 3, 2026
OpenAthlete vs intervals.icu
intervals.icu is one of the best things to happen to endurance data. It's free, it's fast, it reads almost every device on the market, and its analysis satisfies the most demanding power users. A $4 Supporter plan keeps it independent. Data-minded athletes love it, and they're right to.
OpenAthlete takes a different angle. Less depth in the charts, more in the coaching loop: plan, send to the watch, ask the athlete how it went, act on it. The code is open, you can host it yourself, and AI is built in with your own key.
A better pick if
intervals.icu
You love power curves and custom charts, train on Wahoo or Zwift, or need an interface in one of 21 languages.
A better pick if
OpenAthleteYou coach, want an AI that asks how the session felt, and care about open code you can host.
At a glance
intervals.icu and OpenAthlete, side by side
Every claim about intervals.icu links to the page we read it on. Where we couldn't check something, there's no row.
- Yes
- Partly
- Not offered, or not listed on the vendor's own pages
OpenAthlete- Open source
intervals.icuNo
OpenAthleteYes, AGPL-3.0[1]
- Self-hosting
intervals.icuNo
OpenAthleteYes, free, from one Docker Compose file[1]
- Price for athletes
intervals.icuFree; Supporter $4/month[2]
OpenAthleteFree, every feature. Supporter is optional: €5/month or €50/year
- Coaching athletes
intervals.icuFree to coach; teams, organisations and bulk athlete setup need Supporter[2]
OpenAthleteFree up to 5 athletes, unlimited with Supporter (€50/year)
- Planned workouts sent to the watch
intervals.icuYes, including Wahoo and Zwift, which OpenAthlete doesn't cover[2]
OpenAthleteFree: Garmin, Suunto, COROS. Not Polar.
- Training load (fitness, fatigue, form)
intervals.icuFitness, fatigue and form[2]
OpenAthleteFitness, fatigue and form from TRIMP or session RPE, projected over planned sessions
- Analysis depth
intervals.icuVery deep: power curves, custom charts, weather, CSV streams[2]
OpenAthleteDone vs planned per step, auto intervals and climbs, decoupling, weather-adjusted pace. Less depth on power.
- Built-in AI
intervals.icuAI assistant connector on Supporter; no built-in AI[2]
OpenAthleteBuilt in, with your own key or Supporter's allowance; MCP server free on every plan
- Open API
intervals.icuOpen REST API with webhooks and OAuth[2]
OpenAthleteREST API, MCP server, Activity Import API, full JSON export
- Integrations
intervals.icuStrava, Garmin, Wahoo, Zwift, Polar, COROS, Suunto, Huawei, Amazfit, Concept2, Oura, WHOOP and more[2]
OpenAthleteStrava, Garmin, Polar, Suunto, COROS, FIT/GPX/TCX files, Activity Import API
- Native mobile apps
intervals.icuResponsive website; mobile apps come from third parties
OpenAthleteInstallable web app today. iOS and Android apps coming soon.
- Interface languages
intervals.icu21[2]
OpenAthlete5: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese
Sources
Checked on November 3, 2026. List prices as each vendor shows them: USD before tax, euros with VAT. Spotted something out of date? Write to contact@openathlete.org and we'll fix it.
Strengths
Each one is better at something
Where OpenAthlete is better
Open source, self-hostable
intervals.icu is free but closed. OpenAthlete is AGPL-3.0: read the load formulas, fork it, or run it on your own server.
AI built in
Turn a sentence into a structured session, read each activity in a few lines, and answer a few questions after each run that log effort and pain. Your key, any plan, a model per feature.
A coach's dashboard
A team overview with compliance and form per athlete, alerts when someone reports pain or goes quiet, comments on every session, and group chat.
Science with its limits shown
Every derived metric says what it measures and where it stops being reliable, from critical speed to aerobic decoupling.
Where intervals.icu is better
Analysis depth
Power curves, custom charts, weather, CSV streams. For pure analysis, intervals.icu goes further than we do.
Integrations
Wahoo, Zwift, Huawei, Amazfit, Concept2, Oura, WHOOP and more. We cover Strava, Garmin, Polar, Suunto, COROS and files.
21 languages
We have five. If you coach in German or Dutch, that matters.
Price
What a self-coached athlete pays in a year
The paid tier of each product, at list price. OpenAthlete's free plan already has every feature.
Free isn't a trial
Every feature is free, on our servers and on yours. If OpenAthlete saves you a subscription, Supporter (€50/year) adds AI on our keys and unlimited athletes, and pays for the servers. A coffee helps too.
OpenAthleteFree plan, every feature
€0/year
OpenAthlete SupporterSupporter: AI on our keys, unlimited athletes
€50/year
intervals.icuSupporter, 12 × $4
$48/year
Checked on November 3, 2026. USD prices are before tax, as published; euro prices include VAT. Bar lengths convert at about 1 USD = 0.87 EUR.
Moving over
Switching from intervals.icu
What really comes across, and what doesn't.
Create a free account
Athlete, coach or both. No card, no trial clock.
Connect your watch accounts
In Settings > Connectors, press Import all activities. Strava and COROS bring your whole history (COROS serves 50 files a day, so it takes a few days). Garmin and Suunto bring the last 30 days; Polar, new activities only.
Upload older files
For anything older, upload FIT, GPX or TCX files from your watch app, many at once, up to 20 MB each. FIT and TCX keep their laps. Files already imported are skipped.
Rebuild your key sessions
Planned workouts and plans from intervals.icu don't come across. Save your staple sessions once as templates, or describe one in a sentence and let the AI structure it.
Bring your athletes, or your coach
Invitations go by email, both ways. Each athlete connects their own watch, so their activities follow them.
About intervals.icu
You don't have to choose today. Connect the same watch accounts to both and each stays up to date with your activities.
What OpenAthlete doesn't do (yet)
- Store apps: iOS and Android are in testing. Today it's an installable web app.
- No plan marketplace, no athlete billing.
- No club or team account. An athlete can have several coaches, and that's it for now.
- No workouts sent to Polar. No Wahoo, Zwift or Apple Watch.
- Metric units only.
- No automatic plan generator: the AI writes sessions, you build the plan.
Questions
Yes. Every feature is free on our servers. Supporter (€5/month or €50/year) adds AI on our keys and unlimited coached athletes. intervals.icu Supporter is $4/month.
No. It's free to use, with an open API, but the code isn't public. OpenAthlete's code is AGPL-3.0 on GitHub.
intervals.icu, especially for power. OpenAthlete covers done-vs-planned per step, auto-detected intervals and climbs, decoupling, weather and grade-adjusted pace, records, and critical speed or power.
Yes. OpenAthlete doesn't import from intervals.icu directly, but both read the same Garmin, COROS, Suunto, Polar or Strava accounts.
Yes. Its MCP server works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other agents, free on every plan. 23 tools let an assistant read your training and plan up to 60 sessions at once.
Other comparisons
Try OpenAthlete next to intervals.icu
Free, every feature, no card. Connect your watch and compare on your own training.
Free forever. No credit card.