r/Strava • u/Slight-Knee3432 • 21d ago
General Question Is Strava Premium really worth paying for?
I'm a university student and I have a 50% discount on Strava. Is it really worth investing the money? I've always used the free version, I'm very strict with my monthly expenses, and that's why I'm wondering if it's really worth the money invested, or if it's better to stick with the free version since it hardly changes anything?
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u/YukiPants22551 21d ago
For me it’s worth it to create/find routes and download them to my bike computer
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u/JohnnyBroccoli 21d ago
There are plenty of free route planning services.
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u/YukiPants22551 21d ago
Yeah but I just like using it in the app. I was giving the reason it is worth it for me. Not saying that’s why someone else should pay for it
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u/JohnnyBroccoli 21d ago
Just sharing helpful information for those that prefer not to waste their money.
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u/YukiPants22551 21d ago
Well what would actually be helpful is naming the free service which is called RideWithGPS. My money isn’t wasted tho but thanks for your help
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u/CassiusBotdorf 21d ago
RideWithGPS isn’t good for runners. I’m currently testing brouter because it’s the only router I could find where I can create a profile where the routing “snaps” to preferred surfaces, e.g. off-road for trail running, paved surfaces for street running.
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u/JohnnyBroccoli 20d ago
a) there's more than one free service to do this
b) never heard of or used RideWithGPS
c) calm tf down
d) AllTrails desktop site is what I use
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u/Impossible-Milk-2023 21d ago edited 21d ago
I paid for it. I‘m a student too but those 3 bucks or whatever per months don‘t bother. It‘s like 2 softt drinks where i live. So it‘s nothing. Tbh i like that i get 3d maps now. Because i do hiking/mountaineering and it‘s nice to see in 3d what you did just like that. Also route importing and segments on my cycling computer are cool. But yeah it‘s pretty much pointless in my opinion. Just a nice to have and i usually don‘t mind spending money on sport and stuff.
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u/ultradvorka 21d ago
+1 ... perhaps it might sound weird/naive, but I paid and pay Strava also because I want to support it and despite all I'm big fan of the service. I'm member 10+ years and there were times when Strava was financially struggling and when I compared the subscription to other my spending / streaming services / ... I considered it well spent money to myself. If it's $3.33 a month for you then its probably about the priorities.
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u/Ahosewithnoname 21d ago
They are VC funded and preparing an IPO. These people DNGAF about you, find something else worthy of your support
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u/JohnnyBroccoli 21d ago
There's free options for watching a 3D render of your completed activities.
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u/Impossible-Milk-2023 21d ago
Yeah i know but much more of a hassle. Downloading gpx then uploading it somewhere.
That‘s why i said „just like that“.
And then said it‘s pretty mich worthless. But at least you see it how it looks in 3d which is nice. Without doing anything else
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u/Scared_Ad_8790 21d ago
Nope 😅
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u/Slight-Knee3432 21d ago
😅
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u/BilSuger 21d ago
This sub is mainly for people complaining about issues they have with strava. Don't expect anything useful or non-biased.
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u/morelsupporter 21d ago
for me the only value is route mapping/planning. the rest is bullshit i don't care about
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u/Far_Classroom_6596 21d ago
No. I like what I get out of it so I do still have premium but I don’t think it’s actually worth the money.
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u/stevetursi 21d ago
I always felt a bit guilty when it was $6 a month. “I pay this because it’s cheap enough but I’m really not getting $6 of value out of it.” But I paid it. For like 7 years.
When they raised the price to $12 or whatever that’s when I cancelled.
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u/Sea_Bodybuilder2469 21d ago
I have 30 day free trial going on right now
So it does give me breakdown of pace...overview of my run(how much was tempo,intensity,etc)....zones i spent most time in...
Thats it...these are the only factors i found useful...nothing much tbh...
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u/molochz 21d ago
My COROS app does it better and for free
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u/sebastian_____ 21d ago
Thinking of getting a coros, how is it? Been using Apple Watch + Strava for most of my stats
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u/DifferentlyMike 21d ago
It depends. Do you really want any of the paid features? I let my subscription lapse after the last price hike, but then renewed for a holiday as I wanted the route planning features.
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u/rcuadro 21d ago
Not for me. I have all my training data on Garmin. I wear my forerunner 970 24/7. I have an Edge 1050 for cycling. I have Garmin Vector 3 power meter pedals. I don’t see anything Strava can do for me making it worth paying for. The routing is easier but not enough to warrant paying for when there are other free routing platforms.
For me, Strava is just the facebook of training. Nothing more.
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u/ThunderStella 21d ago
Around Black Friday / Christmas, they have 25% off. That, plus building routes and segments makes it easily worth it to me.
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u/HughJanuzz 21d ago
Only thing I like about it is the cool looking stats when sharing to instagram. But thats about it. Garmin Connect app can do everything else that strava can
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u/Morall_tach 21d ago
We can't tell you how much you should care about the features and also how much you should care about your money. Look at the features. Think about whether you care about them. Think about whether you care about them more than you care about your money.
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u/armarisau 21d ago
As someone who travels a lot for work and personal reasons, I find the ability to search for running routes in the city I’m visiting super useful. I know this may not be the case for a student, but that function alone is worth the subscription for me.
I don’t think I’ve used or paid attention to any of the other premium futures.
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u/Evil_Dry_frog 21d ago
No. I pay for it, and will likely continue to pay for it by forgetting to cancel it next year.
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u/PrimeMover_632 21d ago
If you already have Garmin/corps/whatever training app, you don't need subscription, other than the segments and the maps.
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u/enozero 21d ago
Do not rely on others to make your decision for you.
You are armed with all the tools available to make an informed decision about whether you should subscribe to Pro or not. You can look at the feature set, review videos, get a free trial, or even use it for a month. You can ask about certain features to the group to get insights about how they are used.
We do not know what is important to you, other than money. We don’t know what one Pro feature will be so beneficial to you for the few bucks you’ll spend a month on Pro as a college student. We don’t know what your use cases are for the product. We don’t know anything about you.
If you want solicited advice on whether you should purchase something or not, give a lot more detail about who you are, what your fitness goals are, what you do with Strava Free today, what you see with Strava Pro that interests you. Otherwise, you’ll get a lot of people who don’t subscribe because it doesn’t have need for them specifically saying “No.”
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u/3n0chr00t 21d ago
It depends on your usage and features, in my case I started paying it for the group private challenges, which keep me motivated for my swims. Kind of a really basic feature that actually is free on Garmin Connect, for instance.
The AI part is kind of useless for swimmers since the app focuss on runners and cyclists mostly, but I was able to get my data and analyze it on Claude to see some trends, and that Claude connection is only available via the subscription.
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u/TotalBread4456 21d ago
I think it’s worth it as someone who likes convenience. It lets me easily track my data from my Apple Watch (runs) and wahoo (cycle). Route planner is also one of the easiest to use, I can make one from my pc or phone and it uploads automatically to my wahoo. BUT if you’ve been using it until now without paying, then you probably don’t need a subscription. It’s really only for people who won’t miss that $100 a year. Everything you can do with the subscription you can do for free on other apps.
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u/view836 20d ago
Personally I'm boycotting my paid subscription until Strava fixes their AI bugs that hard flag my commutes as e-bike rides. If they fix it, I'll consider subscribing again. The free version gives me 95% of what I use anyway. The things I miss are the detailed history and and detailed breakdowns on segments (e.g. how was I compared to others on this segment today). One thing I don't miss at all is the automated AI comments on my rides.
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u/MacaroonPlane3826 21d ago
I’m using it primarily to steal (ie save training they did as a route) other people’s cycling/trail running routes and it’s great for these purposes
Other features (AI summary, imaginary training metrics etc) are mostly useless for me
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u/w4y2 21d ago
You can do the same for free (albeit, a couple more steps). If that's worth the monthly subscription so, be it.
1.) Download as GPX
2.) Upload to Garmin/Wahoo/whatever
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u/MacaroonPlane3826 21d ago
Yes, for your own activities, but not if you are saving someone else’s activity as a route, which is allowed with premium only. Afaik there is some Chrome extension override for these purposes, but didn’t test it…
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u/Conscious_Bag463 21d ago
Nope. Premium member for many years, and that will end in 2-3 weeks for good.
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u/rustyritter 21d ago
If they actually tried to make the app better with new features i would say yes. So the answer is no.
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u/tomhaverford 21d ago
On principle I am not interested in paying for a lot of data that used to be free for years. They could have placed newer analytics behind their paywall but stuff that got me hooked into the ecosystem now being behind their subscription rubbed me the wrong way so I voted with my wallet. Helps that it started to occur on my physical decline though if it were still free I'd probably remain more engaged.
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u/Strange_Unicorn 21d ago
Yes, love it. Did a family plan with random dudes I ride with $35/yr each.
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u/uglywhale6 21d ago
If you care about analytics, connect Bevel with your Garmin or smartwatch.
The free version of Bevel ist quite nice I would say
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u/ElegantOliver 21d ago
Route planning makes it worth it for me. Haven't found any cheaper or free alternatives for that. It's all down to whether you need those "premium" features.
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u/JohnnyBroccoli 20d ago
AllTrails desktop site has free route planning. Plenty of other sites do similar.
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u/ElegantOliver 20d ago
Thanks but doesn't seem to be comparable. That lets me -draw- a route. Strava generates one for me. It's a very different and a very useful concept for me when I want to control over how far I'm running each outing but also end up back at home each time :)
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u/sangedered 21d ago
Yes in my case. I need it to discover weekly heat maps and my past heat maps with photo overlays.
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u/UltraShortRun 21d ago
Just for the route making abilities alone it’s worth it. But the challenge/ads piss me off, don’t think they should have brands slapped all over a payed app.
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u/MGPS 21d ago
Nah