Derny › Compare › Derny vs Wahoo SYSTM
Derny vs Wahoo SYSTM
Wahoo SYSTM is video-led training built on a detailed power profile, now part of Wahoo’s Pro subscription. Derny is built the other way round: it starts from your heart rate and changes the target while you ride or run.
At a glance
| Derny | Wahoo SYSTM | |
|---|---|---|
| Inside a workout | Moves the target from your live heart rate, every second | ERG or Level mode holds targets set from your 4DP power profile. An intensity slider scales them by hand |
| Heart rate | Steers the workout. When your heart rate climbs past where the workout wants it, the target comes down, and it builds again as you recover | Without a smart trainer you can follow workouts by heart rate or feel. We found no mode where it changes the target |
| Between workouts | No training plan yet. Each Adaptive Threshold session starts from what your last one showed | Daily workout suggestions and prescribed training plans |
| Treadmill | Sets the belt speed on FTMS treadmills that accept it, never above a max speed you choose. On others it shows you the speed to run | The Wahoo app controls belt speed and grade on Wahoo’s own KICKR RUN, for pace-target workouts. We found no control of other treadmills |
| Elliptical and rower | Ellipticals, yes. Rowers aren’t supported yet | We found no elliptical or rowing support |
| Fitness test | No test. You need a heart-rate monitor and your max heart rate | Workouts scale to your 4DP profile, from the Full Frontal or Half Monty test |
| Runs on | iPhone and Android | Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android |
| What you get | Ready-made adaptive workouts, a rule editor for your own, and AI workout writing with Claude or ChatGPT. No videos or virtual worlds | Video workouts, training plans, plus strength, yoga, mobility and mental training |
| Price (US) | Free in beta, then a one-time purchase. No subscription | Wahoo Pro (includes SYSTM) $17.99/mo or $179.99/yr. 14-day trial. Included with Wahoo equipment purchases |
Prices are US list prices before tax, as published in November 2026. “We found no” means we looked through Wahoo SYSTM’s own pages and support articles and didn’t find it, not that Wahoo SYSTM has said it can’t. Sources are at the bottom of this page.
The difference
SYSTM’s workouts are sized from your 4DP profile: four numbers for your sprint, short, medium and long efforts. It’s a thorough way to set targets, and once a workout starts ERG holds them. On a day you’re tired, you turn the intensity slider down yourself.
Derny reads your heart rate every second and moves the target for you. When your heart rate climbs past where the workout wants it, the target comes down, and it builds again as you recover. There’s no fitness test, only your max heart rate.
On a treadmill, Wahoo’s belt control is for its own KICKR RUN. Derny sets the belt speed on FTMS treadmills from other brands too, never above a max speed you choose.
Being fair
Choose by what you want
If you want video-led sessions, cross-training like strength and yoga, and a plan built from a full power profile test.
If you want each workout to respond to how your body is doing today, you train by heart rate, or you train on a treadmill or elliptical as well as a bike.
They can share a trainer. Use SYSTM for its structured video sessions and Derny for heart-rate-led endurance or threshold days, closing one before you open the other. Both upload to Strava.
Sources
Checked 12 November 2026. Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and it gets fixed.
Questions people ask
We found no such mode as of November 2026. SYSTM’s ERG targets come from your 4DP profile and you can scale them with an intensity slider. Without a smart trainer it suggests following workouts by heart rate or feel. Derny changes the target itself, from your live heart rate.
Wahoo X became the Wahoo Subscription in 2025. Since August 2026, SYSTM comes with the Pro plan, $17.99 a month or $179.99 a year in the US.
Yes. Derny works with smart trainers that speak Bluetooth FTMS, which includes Wahoo KICKR trainers, and sets the watts from your heart rate.
The Wahoo app controls belt speed and grade on Wahoo’s own KICKR RUN. We found no support for controlling other brands’ treadmills. Derny sets the belt speed on FTMS treadmills that accept it.
Try it
When Derny launches, it will be a one-time purchase, not a subscription.
The beta is live on iPhone through TestFlight and on Android through Google Play. Your invite arrives by email.