TL;DR: Nolio and TrainingPeaks solve the same problem from two different continents. TrainingPeaks is the American platform, headquartered in Louisville, Colorado (Garmin press release), built around TSS, CTL and ATL and the Performance Management Chart (the science of the Performance Manager), says of its device support that it “syncs with more brands than any other endurance training app” and lists USA Cycling, British Cycling and USA Triathlon among its federations (coach features), with a marketplace that sold more than 70,000 training plans in 2023 (TrainingPeaks for coaches). Nolio is the French challenger: a French company with a Grenoble-based team (Nolio for coaches, Nolio terms), priced in euros, used by 4,500 coaches and 60,000 athletes by its own count (Nolio), with club plans for associations (Nolio pricing) and messaging built in (Nolio features). Both are capable endurance coaching platforms. In the documentation of both we did not find a way to analyze blood lactate tests, nor an AI assistant that answers questions about an athlete’s training, so coaches who run lactate tests likely need a separate tool and a manual workflow. Coachbox combines training planning, athlete communication and lactate testing with automatic LT1 and LT2 detection in under a minute, plus an AI assistant, Coachbox AI, in one platform, priced in EUR and available in seven languages.
Update, 22 July 2026: Garmin has acquired TrainingPeaks and TrainHeroic from Peaksware Holdings (Garmin press release). The announcement does not mention changes to TrainingPeaks’ pricing or coach accounts, and the prices below are the ones TrainingPeaks lists on 29 September 2026. For what the deal does and does not change, read Garmin acquires TrainingPeaks.
The Case for Nolio
In our view, Nolio has become a default coaching platform for much of francophone endurance sport, and that position rests on real product decisions, not just home-market loyalty.
European Pricing Built for Coaches and Clubs
Nolio prices in euros and keeps the structure simple. Coach plans run from 19.90 EUR per month (Starter, up to 3 athletes and 1 coach) through 29.90 EUR (Classic, up to 25 athletes and 1 coach) to 39.90 EUR (Pro, 30 athletes and 2 coaches included, with extra athletes at 1.50 EUR per month up to 50 and 1 EUR beyond that, and extra coaches at 12 EUR). Club plans are for associations, which have to show a document proving the association exists. Club Starter costs 29.90 EUR per month for 40 athletes and 2 coaches, Club Classic 49.90 EUR for 80 athletes and 3 coaches, each with additional athletes at 0.50 EUR per month. Nolio does not say on its pricing page whether these prices include VAT (Nolio pricing).
TrainingPeaks bills differently. The Coach Edition costs 21.99 USD per month billed monthly with 4 Basic and 1 Premium athlete account. Coach Edition Unlimited costs 54.99 USD per month with 1 Premium athlete and an unlimited number of Basic athletes, and TrainingPeaks suggests it for coaches of groups, teams or a club (coach account pricing and billing). Premium athletes cost 9 USD per athlete per month when the coach pays, with volume discounts from 5% at 10 athletes up to 50% at 1,000, and athletes can also buy Premium themselves. TrainingPeaks lists these prices in USD with “additional taxes may apply”, plus a 99 USD start-up fee that a coupon on the page waives (TrainingPeaks for coaches). What you pay on TrainingPeaks therefore depends on how many of your athletes need Premium and who pays for it; on Nolio it depends on which plan your roster and number of coaches fit. In our view, Nolio’s association plans suit clubs that want every athlete and several coaches on the platform on a tight budget.
Athletes can use Nolio for free: the athlete account costs “0€ forever” and includes auto-sync, structured workouts, training analysis and progress statistics. The optional Premium account costs 6.90 EUR per month and adds self-planning, workout templates, custom metrics, HRV measurement and analysis and API access. Every coach and club plan comes with a one-month free trial, no credit card required (Nolio pricing).
A Complete Endurance Toolkit
Nolio covers the full endurance coaching workflow. The structured workout builder works with steps, targets, durations and repetitions, and you can mix endurance and strength steps in one workout (Nolio features), drawing on a library of more than 200 exercises (Nolio). Structured workouts go automatically to compatible devices such as Garmin, COROS and Suunto, and completed sessions come in through connectors for Garmin, Polar, Suunto, COROS, Wahoo, Zwift, Strava, Whoop, Oura, Concept2, Decathlon and more (Nolio connectors).
On the analysis side, Nolio offers three training load models, Foster, Coggan and TRIMP, that you can run at the same time (training load settings). It adds cycling analysis with W’bal and left/right balance, grade adjusted pace for trail running, an interval finder that picks out the best segments of a workout automatically, custom metrics and personal records (Nolio features). The mobile app measures HRV with a chest strap or with a protocol that uses the phone’s camera (Nolio features), and connected devices can also send HRV, sleep and resting heart rate (Nolio connectors).
Communication Is Built In
Every workout on Nolio doubles as a conversation: athletes ask questions or comment on how a session felt, and the coach answers and marks the workout as seen. On top of that sits an instant chat, one-on-one or in groups, with file sharing (Nolio features). TrainingPeaks has messaging too now; see below.
Nolio also handles the business side: automated monthly athlete payments through Stripe, invoices in one place, and a marketplace where coaches sell training plans and coaching services (Nolio features). Nolio charges platform fees on these sales and subscriptions, depending on your plan (Nolio platform fees, in French).
Human Support and Federation Trust
Support comes from the Nolio team in Grenoble (Nolio for coaches), and Nolio reports a 94.5% customer satisfaction rate and an average response time of 1h21 (Intercom figures for 2026) (Nolio demo). Nolio’s site lists the French cycling, athletics, rowing and sailing federations, Swiss Canoe and Swiss Rowing among the federations and structures it works with (Nolio). In our view, Nolio plays a role in francophone endurance sport that resembles the role TrainingPeaks plays in the US.
For the full breakdown, see our Nolio Review.
The Case for TrainingPeaks
In our view, TrainingPeaks is the platform many endurance coaches measure the others against, and it earned that position.
The Shared Language of Endurance Coaching
TSS, CTL, ATL and TSB are the building blocks of the Performance Management Chart, which TrainingPeaks documents in detail (the science of the Performance Manager, PMC). In our experience, many coaches and athletes in cycling, triathlon and running use these terms, and a shared framework makes it easier to talk about fitness, fatigue and form. Nolio’s Coggan model calculates the same kind of short-term and long-term load (ATL and CTL) (training load settings), so this is partly common ground.
A Wide Ecosystem
TrainingPeaks says it “syncs with more brands than any other endurance training app on the market” (coach features). In our view, once an athlete’s training history lives there, that ecosystem makes it harder to leave.
Federation Partnerships and Marketplace Scale
TrainingPeaks lists USA Cycling, British Cycling, USA Triathlon, British Triathlon and Triathlon Australia among the federations that trust it (coach features). Its Training Plan Marketplace reports more than 100,000 visits per month, more than 70,000 plans sold in 2023 and more than 10,000 USD monthly income for top sellers, and accredited coaches can join Coach Match to get matched with athletes (TrainingPeaks for coaches). For coaches building an international business, that reach has real value.
How TrainingPeaks Charges and Communicates
Pricing is a coach fee plus Premium athletes when the coach pays for them, in USD before taxes (TrainingPeaks for coaches). On top of that, TrainingPeaks collects sales tax in some US states, VAT in the EU, the UK, Switzerland and Norway, and GST in Australia and Canada (sales tax for TrainingPeaks products); an EU coach who adds a VAT ID to the account avoids the VAT on the monthly bill (coach account pricing and billing). The web app is available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, and the mobile apps add more languages (TrainingPeaks languages). For communication, coaches leave post-activity comments (TrainingPeaks for coaches), and TrainingPeaks Messaging adds direct and group conversations between coaches and Premium athletes on web and mobile (TrainingPeaks Messaging). Our TrainingPeaks Review covers the details.
Where Both Fall Short
Nolio and TrainingPeaks both deliver training well. In our view, the gaps show up at the edges of that job.
Lactate Testing Not Found in Either
TrainingPeaks can detect new heart rate, power and pace thresholds from workouts and suggest or apply them (threshold notifications), and its coach guide to lactate testing points to Thresholds Over Time for tracking the values you found (a coach’s guide to lactate testing). Nolio calculates critical power and W’ from your power records and lets you define zones with your own formulas (critical power in Nolio, in French; Nolio features). In the documentation of neither platform did we find a way to record blood lactate measurements from a step test and derive thresholds from them: a search for “lactate” in Nolio’s help center returns no articles (Nolio help center search), and in TrainingPeaks’ help center it returns articles on TSS, Intensity Factor and a heart rate zone calculator based on lactate threshold heart rate (TrainingPeaks help center search).
So a coach who tests athletes likely analyzes the test in another tool and then enters the zones in Nolio or TrainingPeaks by hand, and does it again after every retest. In our view, that friction is one reason coaches test less often than they would like, and every manual transfer is a chance for errors.
No AI Assistant in Their Documentation
Both platforms collect a lot of athlete data. We did not find an AI assistant that answers questions about an athlete’s training in the documentation of either platform (Nolio help center, TrainingPeaks help center). Nolio lists an MCP server, to make AI agents easy to use with Nolio, as in progress (Nolio upcoming features).
Nolio’s French-First Orientation
Nolio’s interface is available in French and English (Nolio general settings). For a French-speaking coach that is home advantage. We did not find a Dutch or German interface in Nolio’s settings, so a coach with Dutch- or German-speaking athletes works in English or French.
What TrainingPeaks Costs as You Grow
When you pay Premium for your athletes, TrainingPeaks’ cost grows with each Premium athlete, softened by volume discounts (TrainingPeaks for coaches). Messaging is limited to Premium athletes and coaches aged 18 and older (TrainingPeaks Messaging), so athletes on a free Basic account talk to you through workout comments or other apps.
The Multi-Tool Stack
Based on what we found in their documentation, a coach who wants structured delivery, communication and lactate testing on either platform adds a separate testing tool. In our view, that stack costs more, spreads athlete data across systems and turns every lactate test into a data-entry session.
The Case for Coachbox
Coachbox was built for the gap we see in both platforms: it puts endurance coaching and lactate testing in one connected workflow.
Testing and Coaching in One Platform
Run a lactate test in Coachbox and the results flow straight into coaching. Type in the values or upload a photo of a paper protocol, and Coachbox detects LT1 and LT2 automatically in under a minute. The resulting zones go into the athlete’s profile and future plans, and a branded PDF report is ready to share. A test can include spirometry data too. No second platform, no manual zone entry.
Zones in Coachbox carry a date. Each workout is analyzed against the zones that applied on that day, so a new test changes future sessions without rewriting the athlete’s history.
An AI Assistant on Top of Your Data
With Coachbox AI you ask questions about a specific athlete, a workout or a whole season, and have it write changes straight into the athlete’s training plan. Coachbox also connects to ChatGPT, Claude and other assistants through MCP.
The Full Endurance Coaching Workflow
Beyond testing, Coachbox covers the same core ground as both platforms: a training calendar with annual planning, structured workouts that go to Garmin, COROS and Wahoo, strength and core workouts, zone-based prescription, training load monitoring, in-app messaging and comments on individual workouts. HRV, sleep and resting heart rate sync from the athlete’s device, and injuries are logged as milestones. That is common ground: Nolio and TrainingPeaks also plan, message and track health data such as HRV and sleep (Nolio features, TrainingPeaks Messaging, TrainingPeaks metrics). The Coachbox Academy adds education for coaches on top of the software, much as TrainingPeaks offers TrainingPeaks University (TrainingPeaks for coaches) and Nolio offers courses and webinars (Nolio).
European by Design
Coachbox prices in EUR, from 19 EUR per month billed yearly or 25 EUR billed monthly, excl. VAT, with 5 athletes included on Base and 25 on Build at 49 EUR per month billed yearly. The platform is available in seven languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. In our view, localized software often decides the choice in Europe, and it is likely part of why French coaches pick Nolio. A francophone coach gets a French platform on Coachbox too, and a Benelux coach gets Dutch. More than 25,000 users in 35+ countries have logged over 12 million workouts on Coachbox.
For the direct head-to-heads, see Coachbox vs Nolio and Coachbox vs TrainingPeaks.
Three-Way Comparison Table
| Feature | Nolio | TrainingPeaks | Coachbox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endurance training delivery | Yes (source) | Yes (source) | Yes |
| Structured workouts to devices | Garmin, COROS, Suunto and other compatible devices (source) | Yes, “more brands than any other endurance training app” by its own account (source) | Garmin, COROS, Wahoo |
| Training load models | Foster, Coggan, TRIMP (source) | PMC with CTL, ATL, TSB (source) | Training load monitoring |
| Strength in workouts | Mixed endurance and strength steps, 200+ exercises (source) | Structured Strength (source) | Strength and core workouts |
| HRV | Measured in the app with a chest strap or the phone camera (source), or imported from devices (source) | HRV metric, entered by hand or synced from devices (source) | Synced from the device or entered by hand |
| Coach-athlete messaging | Workout chat and instant chat, one-on-one or in groups (source) | Post-activity comments; Messaging with Premium athletes (source) | In-app messaging and workout comments |
| Lactate test analysis | Not found (where we looked) | Not found (where we looked) | Included |
| LT1/LT2 detection | Not found; critical power from power records (source) | Thresholds detected from workouts, not from lactate (source) | Automatic from lactate tests, under a minute |
| Zones from lactate tests | Not found; zones from your own formulas (where we looked) | Not found; you enter the values found in a test and track them over time (where we looked) | Yes, into profile and future plans |
| AI assistant | Not found; MCP server in progress (source) | Not found (where we looked) | Coachbox AI, plus MCP |
| Branded PDF test reports | Not found (where we looked) | Not found on their coach pages (where we looked) | Yes |
| Plan/coaching marketplace | Yes, with platform fees per plan (source) | Yes, 70,000+ plans sold in 2023 (source) | Coming later |
| Athlete payments | Automated monthly subscriptions via Stripe (source) | TrainingPeaks Payments via Stripe, for coaches in the US, UK, Canada and Australia (source) | Coming soon |
| Club plans | Club Starter and Club Classic for associations (source) | No separate club plan found; TrainingPeaks suggests Coach Edition Unlimited, with unlimited Basic athletes, for groups, teams and clubs (source) | Custom pricing on request |
| Federations on their site | French cycling, athletics, rowing and sailing federations, Swiss Canoe, Swiss Rowing (source) | USA Cycling, British Cycling, USA Triathlon, British Triathlon, Triathlon Australia (source) | Plans for coaching organizations and federations on request |
| Languages | French, English (source) | Web: EN, FR, DE, IT, ES; more on mobile (source) | EN, NL, FR, DE, IT, ES, PT |
| Pricing currency | EUR (source) | USD (source) | EUR |
| Entry price for coaches | Coach Starter, up to 3 athletes: 19.90 EUR/month, VAT basis not stated (source) | Coach Edition: 21.99 USD/month billed monthly, excl. taxes, with 4 Basic and 1 Premium athlete (source) | Base, 5 athletes: 19 EUR/month billed yearly or 25 EUR billed monthly, excl. VAT |
| How a larger roster is billed | Coach Classic, up to 25 athletes: 29.90 EUR/month; Coach Pro, 30 athletes and 2 coaches: 39.90 EUR/month, then 1.50 EUR per extra athlete up to 50 and 1 EUR beyond; VAT basis not stated (source) | Coach Edition Unlimited: 54.99 USD/month for unlimited Basic athletes and 1 Premium athlete, plus 9 USD per extra coach-paid Premium athlete per month with volume discounts, excl. taxes (source, billing) | Build, 25 athletes: 49 EUR/month billed yearly or 65 EUR billed monthly, then 2 EUR per extra active athlete, excl. VAT |
| Free athlete account | Yes, “0€ forever” (source) | Yes, Basic is free (source); TrainingPeaks lists syncing planned workouts to your device as a Premium feature (source) | Yes, free for every athlete; athletes of a coach use the app for free |
All prices in the table are what a coach pays. TrainingPeaks lists its coach prices in USD with “additional taxes may apply”, so they are excl. taxes; EU coaches pay VAT on top unless they add a VAT ID (coach account pricing and billing). Nolio does not say on its pricing page whether its prices include VAT, so we show them as listed and do not convert them. Coachbox lists its prices in EUR excl. VAT. On Coachbox, an athlete counts as active when they have workouts planned in the future; following an athlete’s data without planning ahead does not count toward your plan. Because the three platforms bill different things (a plan by roster size and coaches, a coach fee plus Premium athletes, a plan with athletes included), we do not add them up into one total per roster. See Coachbox pricing.
Real Coaching Scenarios
Scenario 1: Club Coach in Francophone Europe
You run a cycling club in Lyon with 60 riders, 3 coaches and a federation affiliation. Budget per athlete is minimal, communication happens in French, and most riders just need structured group plans.
Best choice: Nolio. As an association, you qualify for Club Classic, which covers 80 athletes and 3 coaches for 49.90 EUR per month (Nolio pricing). The interface is available in French (Nolio general settings), support comes from a Grenoble-based team (Nolio for coaches), and the French Cycling Federation appears among the federations on Nolio’s site (Nolio). TrainingPeaks also has a French web app (TrainingPeaks languages) and suggests Coach Edition Unlimited for clubs, at 54.99 USD per month excl. taxes with unlimited Basic athletes (coach account pricing and billing). In our view, Nolio’s association plan with three coaches included fits this club better than TrainingPeaks or Coachbox.
Scenario 2: Established Coach with an International Roster
You coach 20 athletes across four countries. They arrived already using TrainingPeaks, they read their own PMC, and two of them are on federation programs that use the platform.
Best choice: TrainingPeaks. In our view, the switching cost for your athletes outweighs the platform’s gaps. Keep delivery there, and add a testing tool separately if you start offering lactate testing.
Scenario 3: Coach Who Tests Athletes
You coach 15 endurance athletes and run lactate step tests every 8 to 12 weeks. Right now every test ends in a spreadsheet, a PDF built by hand and manual zone entry into your delivery platform.
Best choice: Coachbox. Testing flows directly into zones and future plans, Coachbox detects LT1 and LT2 automatically, and the branded reports replace your handmade PDFs. We did not find this workflow in the documentation of Nolio or TrainingPeaks (Nolio help center search, TrainingPeaks help center search).
Scenario 4: Benelux Coach Choosing a European Platform
You coach in Belgium with Dutch- and French-speaking athletes, price your services in euros, and want testing to be part of your offer as you grow.
Best choice: Coachbox. You get EUR pricing like Nolio (Nolio pricing), with Dutch alongside French and English, plus lactate testing in the same platform. Nolio remains the better pick if your practice is a francophone club with no testing plans.
Who Should Choose What
Choose Nolio if you are…
- A francophone coach or club whose athletes and federation live in the French-speaking endurance world
- Running a club or association that fits one of Nolio’s club plans for a set number of athletes and coaches (Nolio pricing)
- Looking for built-in messaging, automated athlete payments and a marketplace in your delivery platform (Nolio features)
- Looking for HRV measured in the app, with a chest strap or the phone camera (Nolio features)
- Budget-driven and happy with 19.90 to 49.90 EUR per month as listed on Nolio’s pricing page
Your stack: Nolio for everything. Add a separate testing tool if lactate testing enters your practice.
Choose TrainingPeaks if you are…
- Deeply invested in the TSS/CTL/ATL framework and the PMC (PMC)
- Coaching athletes who are already on TrainingPeaks or inside federation programs that use it
- Building revenue through the training plan marketplace or Coach Match (TrainingPeaks for coaches)
- Looking for the widest device and app ecosystem, which TrainingPeaks claims for itself (coach features)
Your stack: TrainingPeaks for delivery, analytics and messaging with Premium athletes (TrainingPeaks Messaging), and a testing tool when you need lactate data.
Choose Coachbox if you are…
- An endurance coach who tests athletes, or wants testing to become a paid service
- Tired of manual zone entry between a testing tool and a delivery platform
- Coaching athletes who want the app in their own language (seven available) and pricing in euros
- Interested in an AI assistant that works from your athletes’ actual data and writes changes into the plan
- Consolidating from two or three tools into one subscription
Your stack: Coachbox for testing, coaching and communication in one place.
The Bigger Picture
In our view, Nolio versus TrainingPeaks is really a question about markets. TrainingPeaks serves the global, English-speaking, ecosystem-driven end of endurance coaching. Nolio serves the francophone, club-driven, price-conscious end. Both do their core job well.
What we did not find in either is the lactate end of coaching. In our view, zones on any platform are only as good as the data behind them, and based on their documentation, coaches who run lactate tests connect a testing tool to Nolio or TrainingPeaks by hand.
That is where Coachbox fits: not a bigger ecosystem than TrainingPeaks, not club plans like Nolio’s, but testing, training and communication in one connected workflow, in seven languages, priced in EUR. For coaches who base their zones on lactate tests, we think that connection matters most.
The right choice depends on where your coaching practice actually lives: in a French club, in the global TrainingPeaks ecosystem, or in a testing-driven workflow that belongs in one platform instead of three.
