Their route planning tool is nice to use, but after literally years, it still doesn’t get the basics right like making street names appear on my Wahoo device when providing directions. RWGPS has done this forever.
They’ve stagnated, panicked and are now desperately removing free features instead of adding value.
This is something that @davidtinker might wish to comment on.
Strava could act in the way that Apple do with their app store: leave the free apps/3rd party sites alone but take 30% of the cost of those that charge, in return they get a more advanced/open API and greater data rates. This way those that want better analytics, data presentation, etc. will pay without impacting those that don’t.
think you will find pro cycling in much the same boat as strava, unprofitable!
Actually, its for the opposite for a great many of us.
I think that the revenue on “selling data” like for Strava is generally overestimated.
If we just think about it: they already have a lot of premium members. Let’s say 10pct of all members are premium members - which is an underestimate as per my belief. That means they have over 5million premium members according to their communication*. The revenue of the subscription itself already surpasses my monthly paycheck, believe it or not.
So what about costs? They have 180 (mostly US based) employees, what’s the cost of that? 30MM dollars a year? Maintenance of their app/systems? I don’t think the app/platform is designed in a way it heavily needs thorough maintenance.
With that in mind, I truly don’t think this is a matter of finally making money, this is to make more money longterm. If they wanted to keep it free for most of their users, they probably could have done this by introducing ads. It’s their decision/strategy not to put ads on their ads, so that leaves them not much choice.
So how is Strava not making money with this depth of data? I really think the data-part gets them peanuts in comparison with the revenue that will follow out of the subscriptions.
*Strava Milestones: 50 Million Athletes and 3 Billion Activity Uploads
I think you’re overestimating how many users pay for premium. Amongst competitive cyclists it might be quite high, but out in the wider world of more casual users? I doubt it very much.
If I remember correctly, Strava always put it in their “philosophy” that the Users are in charge of their own data. So you decide which 3rd party companies get your data.
Strava either could have changed that philosophy and start sell everyone’s data or try to increase the number of subscribers.
I’m not having any problems with Strava sending data to third parties, so maybe it’s an issue on your end. I’m a free user, also. Strava is still sending data to Intervals.icu, Apple Health, and Elevate for me without any problems.
If I use the “search athletes” page of Strava to search for friends, I see 21 atletes per page. If I browse through these pages I see at least 3 atletes per page who pay for Strava. Did this for my own area, but also some random areas abroad. I really don’t think 10% paying members is an overestimate.
Edit: Apparently somebody did it a tead bit more adequate than I did, but he comes to the same conclusion:
That’s great, when are they gonna start?
Glad it’s working for you. Makes me even more angry I’ve paid money for something that free users get and it works for them while I pay and get 0 tech support on their end to help me troubleshoot even though I followed every step of a reset as required.
Yeah, i’m done.
yeah that would be seriously cool. I think we all (or most) agree that Strava didn’t do much in terms of developing new features and left many, many possibilities unexplored.
But at least that means there is hope, new and exciting features are coming our way in the future 
He estimates 2.3% are paying members not 10%.
I still haven’t seen the activity on Strava, actually. But I did see it about 8 other places around the internet. Same with Lionel’s Mt. Lemmon KOM. Never saw the Strava activity, but heard/read about it many places. Strava isn’t the be-all end-all.
I agree with @Captain_Doughnutman, I think it would be an initial shock if Strava disappeared, but I wouldn’t miss it. With every update, it’s becoming less useful. And with the removal of segments, just another reason I use it less and less. And I have nothing against paying for services I like. And if Strava could actually fix the segment problems, maybe I would pay for it, too.
For how many people here supposedly don’t care about Strava, there’s a lot of recycled crying and complaining about a platform they claim not to use, and the thread size is here to prove it. If I had all their tears in a jar I’d probably have enough salt to fuel for aT least half a dozen KOMs.
I’ve never felt like people on this forum were elitists until now, and certainly not everyone, but there’s a handful of people here who seem to act like anything aside from indoor training on TR is beneath them. “I’ve never used it anyway because Strava is a crap social platform”, while they post 10+ times a day on a social platform looking to get a pat on the back in the form of a “nice post” badge.
If you have actual reasons for disliking the program, fine. But if you’re just a grumpy old man who simply doesn’t use something because others do and you can’t stand to not be different, then I feel kinda sad for you.
That’s interesting analysis, but it’s also 5 years old! There are a lot more analytics available via 3rd parties using the API nowadays and that surely has to have had a downward effect on Strava’s premium numbers given how lacking their offering is in comparison.
Wait till you find the thread explaining how we all make coffee. lol
Everyone takes to cycling their own way. Like any hobby.
I think this discussion is veering away from the forum ethos.
Let’s keep it civil people.
I stuff a heaping tablespoon of Cafe Bustello into my refillable K-Cup, and then run it on 8oz strong, twice, without changing out the grinds. 
I don’t think they have KOMs for riding on high horses.
Now ain’t that the pot calling the kettle black.