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Strava criticised after monthly subscription price rises by almost 30 percent

UPDATE: Strava says the price hike, which will vary depending on region, was enacted to reflect the app’s “growing subscription features, as well as local market changes”

UPDATE: In reply to a request for comment from road.cc concerning Strava’s recent decision to increase the price of its monthly subscription service, the company’s US-based team issued the following statement:

At Strava, we are consistently investing in the value of our subscription experience to deliver a best-in-class digital experience.

A price change was recently enacted to reflect the growing subscription features, as well as local market changes. We remain committed to delivering value to our active community on a daily basis.

The last pricing release for annual subscriptions took place about a decade ago while monthly subscriptions have seldom fluctuated.

Price adjustments will vary depending on region and preferred platform.

You can read the original article below:

Strava has come in for criticism from its subscribers after news emerged that the monthly price of the popular ride-tracking app’s premium service has risen by almost 30 percent.

The price of the company’s subscription service, which provides users with additional features unavailable on the app’s free version, such as route planning, segment competition, effort analysis, and a training dashboard, has now increased for monthly subscribers from £6.99 to £8.99 for 2023 – a jump of over 28 percent – while the annual subscription has risen from £47.99 to £54.99.

According to BikeRadar, the revised pricing structure – which appears, for now, to only apply to users in the UK – is in place for new subscribers, while those users already signed up to a monthly plan will be subject to the price rise in their next bill.

The price hike comes less than a month after Strava, which claims to have the world's largest sports community of more than 100 million users, reportedly let go at least 40 employees, including product designers and product managers.

> Cycling industry layoffs: Strava and Wahoo cut 15% of workforce

One former employee told the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News website that 14 percent of the company’s staff had been let go, while another said the figure was 15 percent.

Strava has not made a public statement about the layoffs and declined to comment when approached by road.cc last month. The company has offices in Bristol, Dublin, San Francisco, and Denver, with more than 400 employees worldwide.

The news of layoffs at Strava came in the same week that Wahoo confirmed that around 15 percent of its workforce had been let go in what the company described as a “restructuring of its organisation to support the long-term growth of its global business”.

> Review: Strava Premium (annual subscription)

While Strava, of course, is not the only subscription service to increase its prices in these inflationary tines, the decision has nonetheless prompted criticism from users on social media, some of whom appear to have been on more affordable deals before this recent hike, and therefore subject to an even greater price jump.

“Received an email today saying it’s going up by 50 percent (yes, 50 percent) to 8.99 a month,” wrote one Twitter user. “Not sure it’s worth it to be honest, that’s a fair chunk of money and a steep increase in one go!”

However, the same user later noted that “by paying annual I’ll be paying less than I was before the price hike so I will stick with it for now. It’s a great app, if the alternative was ads I would pay, so I look at it that way as the developers need to make money somehow.”

road.cc has contacted Strava for comment.

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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32 comments

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Zjtm231 | 1 year ago
0 likes

Bunch of plonkers. I just cancelled

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mdavidford | 1 year ago
2 likes

DC Rainmaker's take on all this is amusingly incredulous.

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andystow | 1 year ago
0 likes

I've been a paid member in the US for a few years. It's $59.99 here, no change, which is currently about £49. Back when the pound was strongest in 2021, that would have been £42. I'm tempted to figure out a way to pay the UK price. I could open a UK bank account next time I'm over...

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leipreachan replied to andystow | 1 year ago
0 likes

Strava support team can "move" you to another country. You need to contact them and send a proof of living / anything else they request.

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bengusty replied to andystow | 1 year ago
0 likes

Subscription pricing in the US is now $79.99 a year or $11.99 a month.

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bfslxo | 1 year ago
2 likes

I probably don’t use a tenth of the premium features my annual subscription Strava account offers me & I’m way to old to scare KOM holder’s now as well but without Strava I would never have meet several of my best friends & the guys I go cycling with & have epic French Alp trips with over the years.

It was also used to verify my successful attempt on the Cingle du Ventoux so I am happy to pay the annual subscription because I still feel I get a lot more out of it than it costs although I understand the level of recent increase is a fair bit.

Now if someone can tell me why I continue to pay the full maximum family Netflix monthly price at near £200 a year despite not having watched anything on it for months now that would be useful! cool.

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hawkinspeter replied to bfslxo | 1 year ago
0 likes
bfslxo wrote:

I probably don’t use a tenth of the premium features my annual subscription Strava account offers me & I’m way to old to scare KOM holder’s now as well but without Strava I would never have meet several of my best friends & the guys I go cycling with & have epic French Alp trips with over the years.

It was also used to verify my successful attempt on the Cingle du Ventoux so I am happy to pay the annual subscription because I still feel I get a lot more out of it than it costs although I understand the level of recent increase is a fair bit.

Now if someone can tell me why I continue to pay the full maximum family Netflix monthly price at near £200 a year despite not having watched anything on it for months now that would be useful! cool.

I'm loving some of the recent Netflix series and films. I really enjoyed 1899, but the plot reminded me of J.J.Abrams plots where it doesn't make a lot of sense when you look back on it.

Just cancel your subscription and pirate anything that's worth watching.

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Jimmy Ray Will | 1 year ago
3 likes

I think we tend to cut these businesses far too much slack in these scenarios. 

The great tech lay-off is not so much about tech companies losing money, and more about businesses wanting to maximise shareholder value. 

If other companies are laying off tech staff, you lay off tech staff too, using job market insecurities and fear to lever greater productivity from your remaining staff. It's a nasty business, driven by nothing but greed.

Likewise, in a cost of living crisis, what does it say about the company that doesn't increase their rates? Consumer - Were they charging too much previously? Shareholder - Are they strategically stupid? It's good sound business to raise subscriptions whether its needed or not.

Personally, seeing Strava play the corporate handbook so casually, leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. 

 

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Organon | 1 year ago
3 likes

Sorry guys it's all my fault. I enter the Le Col challenges hoping to win every time, but don't. Then I never use the 50% discount code. It's all collapsing because of me.

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IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
1 like

I quite like Strava, but it's been a few years now since I bothered about cycling performance so there aren't any premium features that fit social cycling - the base product provides enough interest and communication. I think if they tried to monetise the base product I'd go and tidy up my neglected and dusty Garmin Connect, which is a do everything mess but keeps track of mileage.

A nice feature which Strava have added in but haven't really got quite right yet is the component mileage tracking, so the product isn't entirely moribund and they aren't devoid of good ideas.

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Freddy56 | 1 year ago
6 likes

Strava is still super value and core to my ride record keeping. Love the App. 

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VIPcyclist | 1 year ago
0 likes

Intervals.icu for me.

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huntswheelers | 1 year ago
1 like

I only use free account Strava to share my rides with friends, my map planning is done with Plotaroute and analysis via the Bryton app which in effect is better than Strava.... My maps are linked for my ride pals to download in the format they prefer for their GPS units.... And sent via chat. I got miffed with Strava 2 years ago when for a random reason cancelled my account (£4.99) and when I asked they blamed Google who said Strava cancelled the subscription.....they then gave me a free year but it was up to £7 then to resubscribe....so I started doing what I do now.... I don't really need it to be honest

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kil0ran | 1 year ago
1 like

This is happening across the board with software subscriptions. Hosting costs are rising due to hardware supply chain issues and rising energy prices. Microsoft, Adobe, IBM all putting prices up - 25% in some cases. Currency fluctuations also playing a role, Microsoft have just announced further rises for certain territories.

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Legin | 1 year ago
4 likes

Weak pound v dollar, yet another Brexit benefit!

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mike the bike replied to Legin | 1 year ago
4 likes

I'm afraid history didn't start with brexit sir.  Back in the fifties, when my father was paid in US dollars, it cost him 2.5 bucks to buy a pound.  It's been all downhill since, regardless of the colour of our government.

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Boopop replied to mike the bike | 1 year ago
6 likes
mike the bike wrote:

I'm afraid history didn't start with brexit sir.  Back in the fifties, when my father was paid in US dollars, it cost him 2.5 bucks to buy a pound.  It's been all downhill since, regardless of the colour of our government.

What a vast oversimplification of currency fluctuations. I guess the 16c drop in the pound in late June 2016, days after the referendum result was in, was a complete coincedence too, right? Many things affect the exchange rate, but I'd say the Tories recking the country's public services and our economy (last year especially) for the last 12 years has played a major part in that.

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Legin replied to mike the bike | 1 year ago
6 likes

You need to rerun your numbers, you are correct on one thing history didn't start with Brexit, but the rapid decline of the UK as a major economic power started with it. Currently only one major economy is performing worse than the UK.... that'll be Russia, hamstrung by sanctions and an expensive war. All others apart from those two are bouncing back.

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mark1a | 1 year ago
3 likes

Looks like I dodged a few previous increases, didn't realise it was £47.99 currently. Mine has always been £39.99 a year, and looks like it will renew at that too (hopefully).

 

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rct replied to mark1a | 1 year ago
1 like

same here.

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JoanneH replied to rct | 1 year ago
0 likes

And me - shhh, we shouldn't tell them ...

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leipreachan replied to mark1a | 1 year ago
0 likes

err? seven years of paid subscription for 47.99...

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hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

It's always seemed over-priced in my mind, but then I generally don't like monthly fees (skinflint). I don't see why it should be so expensive to run as in my simplified view, they're just collating other people's data and then running some analysis on it - surely both of those activities are getting cheaper over time?

Their biggest selling point as I see it is the ability to compare your own stats with other people's and that's something I can happily live without.

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flyingpitman | 1 year ago
1 like

I stopped using it when they allow cheats to prosper,especially on Virtual rides.How can a bloke go up Honister @39 mph and yet can't climb in real life @10 mph.It's a joke

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Awavey | 1 year ago
5 likes

Strava is impacted by the "cost of living crisis" as much as everyone else, employees want to be paid more, Stravas costs increase, the cost to power the infrastructure they run their service on will have doubled or at least tripled this past year, and they already struggle to make a profit (Im being generous as I dont think theyve ever posted a profit yet) how else do they pay the bills except raise their subscriptions ?.

if you think its excessive, its simple dont pay it, cancel your subs, I really do think sometimes people just expect a free lunch.

it was more annoying they offered significant discounts for new members before Christmas, but offered nothing to existing ones.

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Rendel Harris replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
3 likes
Awavey wrote:

 how else do they pay the bills except raise their subscriptions

 

Advertisements on the free service? I had a paid account, switched to free because, in London at least, the things I wanted a paid account for, i.e. leaderboards, have become a total nonsense with the top slots filled with ridiculous figures. If they ever sort their algorithm out to autodelete the people doing 400km/h on the Chelsea Embankment I'll go back to paid; until then I'd happily accept ads on the free version.

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Awavey replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
0 likes

ad revenues are falling across the industry, even before most companies also affected by the "cost of living crisis" cut back on promotion activity. As I say theyve yet to report making a profit.

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Dnnnnnn replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
1 like
Rendel Harris wrote:

If they ever sort their algorithm out to autodelete the people doing 400km/h on the Chelsea Embankment I'll go back to paid; until then I'd happily accept ads on the free version.

You just sound sore 'cos you can't hit 400kph on Chelsea Embankment...

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Zjtm231 replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
0 likes

Exactly that

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Rik Mayals unde... replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
2 likes

And that is exaxctly why I have cancelled my subscription, because they posted the 25% discount to new subscribers, but it didn't apply to existing subscribers. And they had the cheek to send that out to everyone! Talk about rubbing your subscribers nose in it! Major cock up by Strava.

I do not mind paying a subscription service, and I fully understand that the cost will rise. What I cannot accept is the way Strava have slapped the existing subscribers in the face.

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