Is a Strava subscription worth it? Newbie question!

[Jon in Sweden]

I'm about 3500km and nearly five months into my return to bikes. Enjoying it greatly and now regularly doing 100km plus rides.

I adore statistics, and have the free version of Strava.

Is it worth me upgrading to the full version? I'm doing 180-200km a week across road, gravel and MTB. About 7hrs a week in the saddle.

I did try searching the forum before posting this topic, but to no avail. Apologies if it's come up before.

[foxyrider]

If you just want to record your rides for yourself the free version is quite ample. If however you like to analyse everything to the nth degree, i hold my hand up here, a subscription gives you that bit more plus access to 'challenges' etc which free use doesn't. For my sins i'm also signed up with Wanderer and Veloviewer which utilise your Strava data to give you even more stuff to analyse and pore over!

Only you can decide where on the number crunching scale you want to be.

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[PH]

Isn't the first month free? Seems like you can try it and decide for yourself.
I use the free version, though I don't upload every ride, only the club and touring stuff, mainly for the route sharing and bragging rights.

[Mick F]

I can't help with Strava specifically, but if you have a GPS device - that you probably have - is copy the GPX onto your computer and save it on a memory stick.
At any one time, you can upload any ride from the past/present, and analyse it for free on many a website.
Don't save it on there ......... it costs money, but you still have the original of course.

I've used BikeHikeUK, Plotaroute, and even Strava.
Just checking on Plotaroute, and I have six rides recorded on there and all private and all free.

https://www.plotaroute.com

[gazza_d]

For me who isn't a performance cyclist at all there's enough in Strava to justify paying for it.

I've used Strava since 2012, and have rides going back to 2007. They don't bombard you with ads or other nonsense, and £4 a month isn't a lot frankly to support a service I use a lot.

Your mileage may vary as they say.

[oldtimer99]

I use it for the ability to plot routes, which I find easy. They upload easily to my wahoo. Accurate distance and climb shown.
I know there alternatives, and that's a 'whatever suits you'd
A pound a week is well under a litre of petrol

[crossy]

Do you need the paid version of Strava to make use of Wandrer or will the free Strava still add to Wandrer?

[Gee]

I think it’s worth the money. I love the data. The route planning is quite good too.

I also like and use veloviewer.

[Psamathe]

I think it’s worth the money. I love the data. The route planning is quite good too.

I also like and use veloviewer.

I use VeloViewer and only the free version of Strava.

Ian

[David2504]

Worth it to some. Not worth it to others. All depends on the value you put on the service provided.

[CyberKnight]

i use it for route planning as i found it the easiest for me but when my sub renews i will go free as cost of licing everything non essential is getting trimmed

[rareposter]

I use it - the route planner is (for me) far and away the best one out there.
Paid for version gets a lot more functionality across laptop and mobile.

[Dingdong]

I used to use it as a route planner till I got an all singing Garmin. I doubt I would pay for it, life too short to count the miles, I only count the cafe stops!

[djnotts]

I do count miles, a sortof proxy for monitoring the decline in my lung function. I only use the free Strava for bikes with no mileometer or when calibrating a new one or a change of tyre size.
For free it's excellent!

[Jon in Sweden]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I ended up biting the bullet and subscribing. For some reason it's a bit cheaper here in Sweden than in the UK, so for a few quid a month, it seemed daft not to given that I spend an hour a day in the saddle on average.

I'll report back with my thoughts regarding benefits and such like