A recent post by Beards and Triathlons got me thinking about Strava. Although I was not an “early-adopter” of Strava, I’ve been an annual Premium subscriber for a number of years, mostly letting it roll over each year without a second thought.
I was there back when subscribing felt more like a donation to development rather than paying for features. I had a short separation when they introduced an overcomplicated “three tiered” subscription model catastrophe, then hopped back on the paid train once they switched back to a simple single subscription. It’s been a journey, Strava!
Coming through, Stravaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
The price of Premium went up again this year. My subscription renewed at their increased price of $99/year (up from $82). That’s not exactly a piggy bank breaking amount of money compared to some of the stuff we spend on cycling purchases, but exactly what additional features am I paying for? What does that hundred dollar bill get me? Let’s have a little dig.
I tried to search for a chart created by Strava that outlined the differences, but I came up empty. Instead I “did my own research” and have come up with three major upgrades you get with Premium. There are a number of other smaller Premium features also, but in my opinion these are the big three headliner acts.
1) Full segment leaderboards and filtering. Ah, the big one. One of the most talked about and controversial changes that Strava ever made was moving full segment data behind their Premium paywall.
Free users can still view top tens, but that’s about it. Premium subscribers can filter by age group, gender, or weight, as well as view full leaderboard placings, not just the top ten. Premium subscribers also get Live Segments, where you can sync chosen segments to your Garmin/Wahoo head unit and “race” the KOM in real-time out on the road.
A long way from the top of this segment…
This is obviously the big feature lock! Many cyclists were originally drawn to Strava for the competition of chasing segments. While I do have a KOM or two, I am far from the strongest or fastest rider around. I do still sometimes like looking at my position and tracking personal bests though. Could I live without full segment data? Probably. Is it a feature I use? Definitely.
2) Activity analysis and goal setting. Premium subscribers get far more in-depth post ride data analysis of their activities. For powermeter nerds, Strava can show your training load, ride intensity, power curves, and other power-related data. Premium subscribers can also set weekly and annual training goals based on distance or duration.
Strava segment lead-out man duties!
I don’t tend to use Strava to analyse my ride data. The weekly/annual goals are nice, but not exactly a game changing feature. I do not use Strava to analyse any of my training or power data, the bulk of my analysis is centred around Training Peaks.
3) Route Planning. With a Strava Premium subscription, you get access to their Route Planner. You can either create a new route, or even take a friend’s uploaded ride and turn that into a route. These can be synced to your bike computer or ridden via the Strava mobile app.
I’ve used this once or twice. Honestly, I don’t create routes all that often. When I have needed to create routes I’ve used ridewithgps.com as I’ve found their user interface more user friendly. Your experience may vary.
So after that, what conclusion have I come to? Honestly, I’m not sure. I don’t seem to be fully utilising my Premium membership, but then again I do like browsing full segment data from time to time. Apart from that it seems I could easily get by on the free version. Am I paying for almost no benefit? Currently I am paid up until May 2024. Before it renews automatically again, I’ll definitely be having a longer think…
Do you pay for Strava?
Two Wheels with TC 
I do pay for Strava, and I agree it’s a bit of a tough choice. The segments are useful and fun, it’s interesting to keep in touch with other riders (although free), but you forgot to mention two additional points – Fat Maps and the Recover app. Neither is critical (Fat Maps is probably a stab at Komoot), but interesting. Since I got a Garmin earlier this year, I was amazed to discover how good the analytics are and that it is essentially Strava for Garmin (including segments). This may be a reason for me to drop Strava premium in future.
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I tried the Recover app for a bit but didn’t really get into it that much. Maybe I’ll give it another go seeing as I am technically paying for it!
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I used to subscribe, mainly for the routes but also as I wanted to support a app I used a lot. It’s heavily orientated towards running and cycling and since I switched to hiking and walking it’s of little value any longer compared to what Garmin gives me so I dropped it.
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I don’t pay for Strava and don’t subscribe to the “if it’s not on Strava, it didn’t happen” philosophy. I had to do that at work with “if it’s not documented, it didn’t happen”. I don’t want fun to feel like work. I use a cheap computer on one of my bikes. On the others, there’s no documentation at all. It’s like traveling with a camera – you tend to focus on getting the picture instead of the experience you’re having. I’d rather have fun than try to prove something. I’m old. I rode when bike computers didn’t exist. I didn’t have any less fun then. Just because you can document and analyze something doesn’t mean you have to.
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No doubt premium membership brings a lot of interesting features but when I apply the ‘would I do anything different as a result of having the extra information’ test, I stay on the free version. A lack of imagination on my part, I expect,
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That’s a good point. Even though I use Strava pretty much every day, I certainly don’t feel like I’m getting additional value from Premium.
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I signed up for Strava when Ride with GPS stopped working on my first generation android, switching to Strava. As applications fell off support on the android phone, I switched to iPhone.
When Strava screws with the. subscriptions, I left. Just restarted this last month or so.
I’m not a fan of the segments. Around where I ride I find short, stupid little segments or obviously corrupted KOM times/speeds. Useless.
I got back on the subscription horse to connect to riders here locally. I’ll likely be joining an actual real club as result. Recreational riding club. At my age racing is not something I am interested in.
I used to keep track of my bike components and servicing using the app, but I’ve not found that feature again yet.
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And of course, just found it. Hahaha
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I’m on a free trial right now, but I am not seeing any compelling reason to start paying. I’m not a competitive cyclist, I just like to track my accumulated mileage and basic analysis (i.e., average speed). I haven’t dug into the paid app much but your post puts me leaning more toward not continuing the paid version. Thank you for the illuminating post.
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I think the free version is perfect for that!
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I agree!
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Agreed on all fronts. I also keep my rides private most of the time to track my own progress. Still on a free trial of Training Peaks too, because I get obsessive about numbers and found that too much tracking led to the riding being less fun.
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Ohhh, if it’s not fun, what’s the point, amirite?!
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I subscribe. I wouldn’t want anyone using my services for free, so I pay for theirs. Simple as that.
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I had subscribed since a couple of years but now chancelled. Training aspects are all covered at Suunto. For Routing I use Komoot. I just subscribed for a month again to get the stats for the year 23.
In my eyes it looks like premium pays for the free user base – so I decided to join the last one cause the value I got as premium isn’t worth the money to me anymore.
Would re-join if they would charge 12$/Year for everyone and dump that premium subscriptions.
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Yes, I think in a way they’ve shot themselves in the foot a little by having such a good free platform. If they’d started out with a free trial, or a very limited free version, and charged a subscription for most or all the features (like most subscription services do), that might have worked out better. I definitely see value in Strava, just not sure there’s extra value in the few Premium features. Thanks for the comment! 🙂
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