Strava criticised after monthly subscription price rises by almost 30 percent

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.

@Strava why has the price nearly doubled per month with a cost of living crisis going on 🤷‍♂️#costofliving #strava

— I’d love it (@Idloveit84) January 7, 2023

The cost of everything is going up, but @Strava @StravaSupport, double is just ridiculous. I'm out.

"The developer, Strava Inc., is raising the price of this subscription from £4.49 per month to £8.99 per month. Your subscription will automatically renew for £8.99 per month..."

— Rod Smith MW (@RivieraWineAc) January 6, 2023

Anyone else pay for @Strava?

Received an email today saying it’s going up by 50% (yes, 50%!!) to 8.99 a month.

Not sure it’s worth it to be honest, that’s a fair chunk of money and a steep increase in one go! @UKRunChat what are others doing, paying or going to free?

— Coxy (@coxy1976) January 4, 2023

“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.”

@roadcc What's this I hear @Strava are increasing their price 25%? Seems a bit steep. It might just persuade me not to renew my subscription and go back to the free version.

— rdaved (@rdaved) January 6, 2023

road.cc has contacted Strava for comment.