Strava raises price and issues a statement explaining the reasons

As in other services, the start of the year has brought the price increase of the premium subscription to the popular cycling sports network Strava, which has gone from 7.99 € per month to a fee of 9.99 €. A 25% increase that has caused criticism among its users and has forced the platform to justify the reason for this increase.

Strava's clarifications on its price increase fail to convince users

Although Strava has maintained its prices since the implementation of its subscription system, to which it has been progressively incorporating new features, the announcement a few days ago of the price increase of monthly subscriptions has sparked comments and criticism among users of the platform. Annual subscriptions remain unchanged.

Already a few months ago Strava had come under a lot of criticism when it removed from the free profiles some features that were considered part of the essence of this social network for athletes, such as the tracking of the complete rankings of the different segments.

Now, the price increase of the premium subscription brings back to the forefront what is undoubtedly the most used option by athletes in general and cyclists in particular to show and share their workouts and routes on the bike.

In a statement, Strava wanted to explain to its users the reason for this price increase, which they argue reflects current market conditions. Of course, the brand alludes to all the features that have been introduced over the last 10 years such as the route builder, live activity tracking or global heat maps. They also mention that the price remained unchanged as market conditions changed.

Nor should the Strava subscription price increase come as a surprise if we consider that it is a common trend in other subscription services, not only in sport. Just look at the ones that have occurred in streaming platforms such as Netflix that, as has happened with Strava, have generated anger among users.

In any case, the increase in Strava prices has not been general but has been limited to users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Spain, Great Britain and the United States, affecting only those subscriptions prior to November 23, 2022. These reasons fit in with the current inflationary situation but have not convinced users.

For its part, the free option remains with the same conditions as before, i.e., users can upload and share their rides. They can observe the segments through which they have passed and a brief analysis of them, but only the classification of the first 10 positions of the same can be displayed without the possibility of using any type of filter.

In addition, within the activities, free users still have the option, introduced not long ago, to select the data that is shared or set privacy zones that you do not want to be displayed on the maps of the same. These free functions are quite complete and make many people wonder if it is worth opting for a premium subscription.