GpxFix Blog

Compare two activities with GpxFix - a practical guide

By Roy Lachica on December 10, 2025. Last updated December 10, 2025.

Want to see how a training session, hike or bike ride stacks up against another? GpxFix makes it easy to compare two GPX activities side-by-side: distance, time, pace, elevation, and even an overlay map. This post walks through the steps and shares tips to get meaningful comparisons.

Why compare activities?

• Track progress: See if you're faster or stronger than a previous session.
• Validate routes: Confirm two rides followed the same path (or not).
• Troubleshoot devices: Spot GPS drift, wrong elevations, or gaps.
• Race prep: Compare pacing strategies or where you lost/gained time.
• Analyse optimal routes: Compare speed for specific sections of a race to find the fastest route.
• Compare athlete performance: View workouts by two different athletes to see how they compare throughout a similar workout or race.

What GpxFix compares

When you load two activities, GpxFix typically computes and shows:

• Basic stats: start/end time, moving & elapsed time, total distance.
• Pace / speed: average, total and point to point details.
• Elevation: total ascent/descent, max/min elevation, and elevation profiles.
• Map overlay: both tracks side by side on maps so you can visually inspect differences.

Step-by-step: comparing two activities

1. Open GpxFix, upload or choose an activity as the main activity. Click the 'Compare two activities' button.

   Now choose or upload the second activity.

2. Pick a slider lock method.

   You can sync sliders by:

   • Time — good when both recordings started at the same moment. Such at two runners participating in the same competition.
   • Track point index — lock the track point indexes of both sliders. Useful for precise comparisons when both activities have the same tracking interval but did not start at the same time.
   • Track range — start and end of slider 2 will match slider 1 start and end so even when the two activities have different elapsed time.
3. Review the two table columns and map overlay.

   GpxFix will display side-by-side stats, a map with both tracks, and an elevation chart. Use hover or click to jump to the exact section on both tracks.

Common pitfalls

1. Not starting and stopping at the same place. Be accurate when starting and stopping the sports watch. GpxFix has tools to crop workouts but this is of course adds exstra steps.
2. Forgetting device differences (phone vs. dedicated GPS): do make sure that you have the same tracking interval set for both devices used for the two activities.

Wrap up

Comparing two activities in GpxFix gives you both a visual and numeric way to understand differences—faster splits, extra distance, or a tricky climb. With those simple steps you’ll get comparisons that actually help improve your training and make sense of your data.

Try it now: run two activities through the Compare tool — a few minutes of exploration will reveal useful insights.