strava.comcontributed by Samuele Ongaro
The value is the network, the data or the infrastructure. Keep paying.
Records runs and rides and turns them into a social feed: segments with leaderboards, clubs, route planning and training analysis on top of GPS files.
Do not build this. Everyone else is already on it, and that is the entire product. Segments with other people's times on them, a club, and the friends who see what you did are a network, not a feature. A private version of it is a spreadsheet with a map, and the reason people stay subscribed is precisely the part that cannot be rebuilt alone. WHEN TO KEEP PAYING - The social side is why you use it. That is a legitimate reason and no software replaces it WHAT YOU CAN BUILD, AND SHOULD **Your own archive**, because years of training should not live only in somebody's account: - Import GPX and FIT files from any device, or export from the platform on a schedule - Store the track, elevation, timestamps and every sensor channel as rows - Compute your own numbers rather than trusting a platform's: distance, elevation with a stated smoothing, moving time with a stated threshold for what counts as stopped, and distributions rather than averages - A map of everywhere you have ever been, which is the thing people most enjoy and the thing no platform lets you take away - Training load, if you use it, with the formula named — several exist and they disagree - Search by date, area, distance and route similarity - Everything local, exportable in one command **And check your privacy settings today.** A public activity history with a home address at the start of every ride is a real safety problem, and the fix is a privacy zone plus a check of what a stranger actually sees on your profile. Most people have never looked. THE EXPORT TO DO NOW Request your full history and confirm what comes back: sensor data and route metadata are often thinner in an export than in the application. Years of activities that exist only in somebody else's account are years you do not own, and the time to find that out is not when you want to leave. THE ONE-LINE VERSION Keep it for the people. Own your history, and go and look at what your profile shows a stranger.
What you lose
- Segments and leaderboards, which only exist because everyone else is on it too
- Clubs, kudos and the social loop that is the actual reason people keep training
- Route planning built from where millions of other people actually ride and run
- Integrations with every watch and bike computer on the market
- Years of your own history, already there and already comparable
If you would rather not build
- Garmin Connect — free with the watch, weaker social features
What it costs
as published on their pricing page
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Last read |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | $11.99/mo | — | — |
Their pricing page is where these came from. Seeing a different price? Tell us.
The escape hatch
open source · no votes, no paid placement
Wanderer
$0Self-hosted trail database with maps, statistics and GPX import.
open-wanderer/wandererfree · open source
GoldenCheetah
$0Serious desktop training analysis for power, heart rate and fitness modelling.
GoldenCheetah/GoldenCheetahfree · open source
Why this verdict
our own opinion · changed only by a person
22/100
Verdict no at 22: the analysis is buildable and the prompt gets the parts people quietly get wrong. But Strava is a network — segments and clubs have no meaning with one member, and that is what the subscription is really for.
History
tracked since 9 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten
Questions about Strava
answered from the record above
Is Strava free?
No — the plan we track is $11.99 a month. Subscription at $11.99/month or $79.99/year; recording activities is free, while segments, routes and analysis are paid.
Can you replace Strava by building your own?
KEEP IT. The value is the network, the data or the infrastructure. Keep paying. Replacement score 22 out of 100, build time longer than it saves. Read what you lose before you decide.
How much does Strava cost?
$11.99 a month on Subscription — $143.88 a year. Recorded 9 Aug 2026.
What do you lose by replacing Strava?
Segments and leaderboards, which only exist because everyone else is on it too; Clubs, kudos and the social loop that is the actual reason people keep training; Route planning built from where millions of other people actually ride and run; Integrations with every watch and bike computer on the market; Years of your own history, already there and already comparable. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Strava?
Yes: Wanderer, GoldenCheetah. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.
Related entries
same category first, most replaced first
Forest
HevyEvery week, something stops being worth paying for.
New verdicts, prices that moved, entries added. One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click. Nothing is being sent yet — your address is kept here, and the first issue is the first thing it is used for.
free forever · no tracking pixel · stored here, never passed to anyone