Peloton vs. SoulCycle at-Home Bike

OUR TAKE

Here are some of the main differences discussed and maybe.yes.no decision points to consider when deciding which exercise bike is the better fit for you.

Connected fitness exercise bikes featuring trainer-led instruction are an awesome choice to help achieve your wellness goals, whether for fitness or weight loss. Both the Peloton Bike and the SoulCycle At-Home Bike will get you there. 

Peloton offers a more traditional, aggressive, goals-focused, class workout whereas, SoulCycle is more about getting you to feel emotionally and physically refreshed while equally getting your quads to burn and your heart pounding for an excellent cardio workout.

We found that determining the best bike for you depends on the workout experience you prefer and the classes you like taking. If the spiritual passion of SoulCycle appeals more to you, then there is no substitute, but if you are a goals-by-the-numbers type, then Peloton may be a better match.

Below are some essential differences to consider helping compare which exercise bike may work best for you. Short on time, then jump to our Quick Comparison Chart below.

Trust Our Reviews of Fitness Equipment

When testing and evaluating these two indoor bikes we also took into consideration comparable models to review like the Proform Pro Studio Bike 22, NordicTrack S22i Bike and the NordicTrack S27i Studio Cycle. (See 10-Point Review Guide)

maybeyesno has tested and published exercise equipment reviews for over ten years. Our review team understands what makes good fitness equipment — including indoor bikes, rowers, strength equipment, and treadmills. If it’s good, it’s good — if it’s bad — then it’s bad, and we will tell you.

We get hands-on with gear and discuss overall design, tech, and function, including the feel, price, drilling down on components such as the screen display (if applicable), flywheel, pedals, handlebars subscription content, adjustment features, ease of use, noise levels, warranty and durability.

Based on extensive use and testing, we discuss, summarize, and compare equipment to help you determine which is the right best exercise bike for you through the following breakout.

SoulCycle is extremely popular because its workouts are mind-changing, even transformative, some riders say, with their inspiring instructor's ability to build up an intense level of group energy from the pack and successfully transport this soulful emotion into your home.

The vibe and tempo are super-fast and upbeat, with a bit of a dance club feel and strong encouragement. You will find that you spend a lot of time, during classes, out of the saddle enjoying moves unique to SoulCycle. It feels less like exercise and more like a cardio dance on a bike, with the primary goal being to ride more to the beat of the music than competing on the leaderboard.

So, if you’re the “Not into the Numbers” type that prefers to forget you are exercising losing yourself when working out to the rhythm of the music then, SoulCycle is a perfect match.

Metrics are displayed but are kept minimal. There are no watching calories burned, no leaderboard, and overall, a much less competitive focus, numbers-wise. You can always swipe the touchscreen to view your watts (power exerted), cadence (how fast you are pedaling), and distance— but the prime goal is to ride to the beat of the music and get in the best 45-minute workout leaving you exhausted but much more confident, stronger and self-empowered.

As mentioned during our in-depth SoulCycle Bike review, “Music is one of the Experience Drivers and an integral aspect of SoulCycle and the SoulCycle At-home Bike experience, with tons of great playlists to keep you motivated and riding.” To learn more, read the full SoulCycle Review. At-Home Cycle Instructors design and build their own playlists to help keep SoulCycle's original fresh feel.

PELOTON BIKE

Peloton (Available now at Amazon for faster delivery) is also a highly popular and offers an impressive workout experience as well. They have talented instructors, but the class content is more metric-oriented and much more focused on progress by the numbers, which are constantly front and center, including the leaderboards with instructors regularly referring to them, plus the endless yelling out of the resistance levels as you ride — which at times we find can be annoying. To learn more about the Peloton, follow this link to read the Full Peloton Bike Review.

With the dramatic growth of Peloton, the workouts are now designed not by the instructors but by metrics engineers who analyze levels of resistance. The goal is to maximize the class productivity for each rider. As a result, classes can have a bit of a drill / repetitive feel, but that said, still give you an excellent workout.

Music is a big part of the workout but not in the Soul-lifting approach. In the beginning, Peloton classes were created by each Peloton instructor, who also incorporated their own music playlists, style, and personality into a class to give Peloton the unique, special spontaneity that helped to propel the brand and make it so well-liked.

Due to music licensing constraints and corporate growth controls, the music is still part of the workout but not in the soul-lifting SoulCycle way and can become less-interesting. If you like to track your progress with a range of metrics and enjoy friendly competition Peloton, most likely is a better way to go. Metrics such as cadence (in RPMs), Energy exertion (WATTS), resistance, calories burned, distance, etc., plus the leaderboard constantly shows how you rank with other riders whether in a live or on-demand session.

Besides access to live and on-demand workouts included in its $39.99/month subscription the SoulCycle app, Equinox+ gives you unlimited access to an incredibly good array of off-the-bike workouts from top boutique-branded cross-training programs. These include [solidcore], Equinox, TB12, Rumble, Headstrong, Pure Yoga, and Precision Run. You have access to Stretch and Recovery, Boxing, HIIT, Walking, Meditation, Running skills, and more.

For the monthly membership, this is outstanding value with access to a much wider variety of trainers and types of exercise classes to select. Each with its method, personality, style, and approach to training — so your mind and your body will not become bored.

PELOTON BIKE

For a little more the monthly membership cost of Peloton All Access, is $44/month. As we reported in June 2023, Peloton has greatly expanded its workouts to include off-the-bike strength training, guided walks and runs, yoga, meditation, and Bootcamp and a lot more. These classes are trainer-led by capable in-house instructors who engage in personal stories and motivating callouts during sessions. There is a competitive atmosphere again, with a more focused approach to your progress by the numbers. Potentially there is a tendency to get a little bored by the same instructor selection pool, many of whom also lead bike classes as well.

Both apps from Peloton and SoulCycle allow you to view content across nearly any Smart Device from smartphones, tablets, Apple TV, Amazon Firestick TV, Google TV, or Roku. If you would prefer to watch on a big screen, you can cast Equinox+ content from your mobile device to your TV via Apple AirPlay or Google Chromecast.

The SoulCycle bike is an exclusive, Stages Spin Bike, custom crafted for SoulCycle. Designed to provide more room between the handlebars and seat to allow for the signature SoulCycle moves like tap backs, chest presses, abdominal crunches, and double tap-backs — unique cycle movement choreography made famous by SoulCycle. Built to commercial grade specifications it is an exceptionally sturdy and a more stable indoor bike than any we have tested. The SoulCycle handlebars can also be adjusted forward and backward, in addition to up and down giving you more flexibility.

Stages is a bike manufacturing company with a well-deserved global reputation mostly because they have built more premium indoor bikes than any other company.

For this reason, combined with the points covered earlier, we give the edge to the SoulCycle and our recommendation for an excellent spin or exercise bike.

Good to Know

■ SoulCycle at-home Bike ships with duo-sided pedals supporting clip-in cycling shoes with SPD cleats on the one side or the 3-holed Delta system cleats on the other side. With the Peloton Bike you are required to use Delta compatible shoes unless you want to swap out the pedals. For those new to cycling, clip-in cycle shoes improve your power/performance on the upward and downward stroke.

[MYN PRO Note:] The Cleats connects your cycling shoes to the pedals and usually come with your pedal purchase. So, with the Soul Cycle bike you clip into its pedals with either SPD or Delta cycling shoes out of the box.

■ You can put the SoulCycle bike in a Free-Ride Mode Function which lets you ride while listening to you own music, or in a Streaming Mode Function that lets you stream Netflix or Disney+ instead of an instructor-led class. These streaming options are out-of-the-box features that you could not access through a Peloton Bike unless you do so through the web browser. However, as we also reported this year, based on popular demand, Peloton is now testing out access to Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube TV from its bike and tread consoles which is cool.

PELOTON BIKE

The Peloton Bike is close to the SoulCycle but designed for more traditional based cycling workouts — it does not have as much room to move around on the pedals and does not come close to the same sturdy stable feel and commercial grade quality of the SoulCycle bike. Peloton has had a few Snafus over the years with the bike and treadmill hardware recalls, most recently the bike seat post breaking and prior the pedal crank snapping causing injury to some.

SoulCycle: 62.2" L x  53.5 H x 22.2 W
Peloton: 59" L x 53" H x 23" W

The SoulCycle At-Home Bike delivers an ultimate SoulCycle ride designed for tap-backs, push-ups, sprints, and climbs, double tap-backs, abdominal crunches, all while pedaling.

The Original Peloton bike does not directly support AppleGym Kit while the SoulCycle At-home spin bike is AppleGym Kit enabled and compatible. A useful feature to allow your apple watch to display and monitor your heart rate and collect all your workout data on the Equinox+ app. Then populate all your stats to your Apple health activity feed. That said, we were still able to connect our Peloton to an Apple Watch. You can sync the watch and bike and track your heart rate, displaying it on-screen and record workouts.

• SoulCycle is $2,499 $1,500 + $39.99 per month for App (includes delivery and assembly)

• Peloton is $1,895 $1,495 + $44 per month for All Access Content subscription (+delivery and assembly $250) ¹ Peloton recently lowered its price of the Peloton Bike to $1,495, its second cut from its original price of $2,295. Recently it added $250 for Shipping and assembly for a total of $1,745. Buy the Peloton Original Bike at Amazon and the shipping is free.

• Both bikes require a monthly content membership subscription fee.

• Financing is available for both is available. $50/month for 39 months with 0% interest for the SoulCycle and $49 per month for the Peloton Bike for 39 months 0% interest.

When comparing a Peloton with the SoulCycle At-Home Bike and trying to figure out the essential difference, this is it. A SoulCycle workout places emphasis on body positivity and self-love – at the end of every session you feel beautiful, powerful, and fit — at any size.

Skeptics at first, we grew to increasingly love this approach over competing on the leaderboards and more metric focused workouts. But the type of class you prefer is up to you! Peloton is extremely popular and has gained thousands of fans before, during the pandemic and beyond still has a huge base of riders. SoulCycle brings a wildly different approach and experience to a ride and the class. Its focus is more on music, joy, and a soul-lifting experience.

Mantras like “Take it to the next level and Ride Together” create a pack mentality that energizes everyone and translates well to the at-Home Bike experience. More than just a workout, it is a transformational mind-body-Soul experience.

Powered by inspiration, joy, and heart-pounding playlists, the SoulCycle At-Home Bike delivers an experience that moves you—from the comfort of your home to the front row of the SoulCycle studio.

It is an awesome way to work out as it feels a lot less like exercise and more like a Cardio dance on a bike. Many say it is life changing.

Go SoulCycle and become inspired, confident, and energized. It has a happy vibe that can’t be beaten backed by the Stages bike hardware with a proven manufacturing track record and history behind it providing a durable, sturdy bike perfect for dancing.

The Peloton bike (Now available at Amazon) takes a more traditional approach to achieve your fitness goals. But also delivers excellent workouts, productive but maybe not as much fun, but that point of view will depend on what approach appeals more to you.

A Note on Financing:

When you are considering the price difference between the SoulCycle at-home bike and the Peloton Bike Original, let’s look at the monthly financing costs.

For less than the cost of one in studio class at SoulCycle per month you can purchase the SoulCycle At-Home bike and experience the magic at home. Plus, you get the full off the bike line-up of Equinox+ — great value!