No one likes price hikes, but Strava’s messy rollout has left many customers wondering what’s happening with their subscription. Here’s what’s actually happening: the company raises prices for the first time in over a decade, and the new price everyone pays depends on the region they live in, whether they have a monthly or annual subscription, and whether they previously purchased subscription until Nov. 23, 2022. (Customers who signed up after that date won’t be affected.) But Strava didn’t make this easy to understand.
As noted by sports blogger DC Rainmaker and r/Strava Redditors, things got confusing when customers started comparing notes on Strava’s price hike. Customers on r/Strava say emails were sent to some, while others received updates from the App Store. Those who received emails received different prices depending on the region, adding to the confusion. Some saw prices about doublewhile others saw prices increase by 67 percent or about 33 percent. To complicate matters, the relative price increase will differ depending on whether you are a monthly or annual subscriber. And some people who received emails say they didn’t see the price change on their Strava account pages.
“There are a lot of lessons here, but we chose to do it this way for very specific reasons,” said Strava spokesperson Brian Bell. The edge. “We thought it was best for our business.” Bell says the company decided to continually warn members as they chose to subscribe at different times over the years. Part of the confusion, he says, comes from customers seeing different rates of increase based on when they joined. The most affected group, Bell says, will be the 30,000 users who started subscriptions before 2016. However, everyone involved will end up paying the same new price based on their region.
According to a Strava support blog, subscribers will receive “notification of your updated price 30 days prior to your subscription renewal date.” It also says that your updated price may not be updated until February 2 on your account page. The affected regions are Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Spain, UK and US.
As a Strava subscriber who joined before November 23 last year, I checked my inbox for emails about the price increase or renewal notification. Nada. There was also nothing to indicate the upcoming change on the My Account page – nor was there any information about what I’m currently paying because I subscribed through the App Store. Instead, I had to hunt for the new price by checking my subscriptions under my personal Apple ID. That was the only way for me to find out that my annual subscription will be increased by $20 from $59.99 to $79.99. Meanwhile, it looks like monthly US subscriptions will increase from $7.99 to $11.99.
You’d think Strava would publish a nice table showing the price increases for each region, but you’d be wrong. (However, you can see a handy table that DC Rainmaker put together here.) Bell told The edge that given the confusion, Strava is currently “assessing what needs to be done to provide additional clarity,” but no final decision has been made.
The price of everything eventually goes up, but it’s very uncool to be sneaky about it. Peloton angered subscribers when it raised prices last year, but at least it made that information widely available in a press release and email to all customers. Right now, Stravas subscription login page lists all the features that premium users get, but doesn’t offer a price breakdown apart from a small bar at the bottom. And while many companies are guilty of price confusion, some of Strava’s customers just don’t have it.
“I just canceled too. I wonder if they trust people not to notice. It’s too big a jump. I want their employees to be compensated fairly. But life is just too expensive right now,” writes Redditor prettycheezy82 a topic about the price increase.
“I canceled mine,” writes Royal_Catepillar536 same thread. “Can’t justify it in the current financial climate.”
Personally, that free Strava tier looks more appealing today than it did yesterday.
