It doesn’t seem that long ago, but 12 years have passed since I joined Strava in 2011. Back then, if I remember correctly, there were no benefits to having a paid Strava membership. It was more of a donation, supporting a company that was creating something I found fun and useful. In reality, that went on for years before Strava finally started implementing features that only paying members could utilize.
In case you have never used Strava, it is a web and app-based program that allows you to log and track workouts. More than that, it has become a sort of community hub for active people all over the world to connect. Sometimes that connection is through competition for the fastest time on a segment, while other times, it is from discovering other users in your area that ride the same routes.
For me, Strava has always been a positive experience and has made finding new routes, segments, and riding friends a bit easier. However, I feel like I am at a crossroads and that Strava doesn’t hold the same value to me any longer. It is still and will remain the place I connect with cycling friends and track all my rides, but I rarely use the premium features. The most useful is the route builder heat map. The Strava user base and data acquisition are so vast that it does make building custom routes a bit easier.
The Ugly Strava Membership Truth
I’m going to be 100% honest, the best part about Strava for me (and many others) has been the segments. It has never been about being the fastest but more of a way to help track progress and personal goals. The segments made solo training rides a bit more fun than traditional intervals and an easy way to track personal fitness.
However, when Strava started adding member-only features, they were not worth paying for. There are a lot of ways to track fitness data and goals, and what Strava offers is simply not up to par, in my opinion. There are much better options if you want to geek out on workout data, but I kept paying. What Strava does offer is a simplified, easier-to-digest way to view your data that is great for those just getting into the numbers. However, there is no “expert” view where you can really break things down.
The Price For Simplicity
In reality, the price of a Strava membership has pretty much gone unchanged since the beginning. It was originally $49 a year and then went up to $59. In 2019 it again went to $59.99, but it still seemed to add value at $5 a month for me. Those prices are also discounted for committing to a year, and if you pay month to month, it is significantly more. In my view, that $5 ask has been the correct price because they haven’t really nailed any of their features. Sure, routing has come a long way, but it is far from the best option. Sure, they have been working on tweaks and improvements, but it’s been a bit of treading water. The real advantage is it has been the one-stop shop for a bit of everything, and I’m not sure that it is worth paying for if you want more than a simple breakdown.
The biggest move they made that I think really forced people to start paying was when they moved segment leaderboards behind the Strava membership paywall. It was brilliant because everyone that I knew who used Strava was obsessed with segments. Per Strava, it is the most used feature of their platform. Plus, I may have had a small part of that doing when on a call with them and asking too many questions, but that is for a different day.
So when I finally got the email letting me know the price of my Strava membership was changing again and I would be paying more, I started doing the math. Over 12 years, the price went up $1 per month if you pay for the entire year, but now it is raising $1.6 more per month when committing to the year. I have heard that in other countries, it is even more, and in a few that they are trying to grow the community, it remains lower.
If you can’t or don’t want to commit to a year, then things get really expensive. For me, the new month-to-month rate is $11.99. That’s nearly $64 more per year over the discounted year subscription for a grand total of, let’s call it, $144.
When I did all the math, I am just over $1000 invested into Strava, and for a large majority of that, I was just donating, hoping it would improve and grow. Grow it has, but for me, the useful features have remained unchanged and, in a few cases, gotten worse. While I feel like it was a well-spent $1000 since, for a long time, it was the only game in town. I think it might be time to see what else is out there.
Going Free
$6.66 per month is not a lot if you commit to the year, but it is something. So after many years of supporting Strava with my wallet, I think it has lost its value for me and maybe even its company direction a bit. What I would like to see is more focus on improving the training side of Strava. Even small things like making it possible to create laps within the interface. At the moment, it feels like Strava is chasing the endless battle of how they look, and I miss the days when they let the usefulness and user experience do the talking.
I will remain a user, but my paid Strava membership will come to an end, and I guess I will see what else is out there. For me, this is tough because Strava has been such a valuable and intricate part of not only my cycling community but everything outdoors. No matter if you pay or not, I think Strava is a great resource for cyclists and the overall active community. For now, I’m going to see what the free version is really all about.