Today, Zwift announced their first price increase in 7 years raising it’s monthly subscription price from $14.99/month to $19.99/month – a 33% increase.
Here’s the details of the price change:
- Monthly subscriptions go from $14.99 to $19.99 per month
- Yearly subscriptions go from $149 to $199 per year
- Existing subscribers will have 30 days notice so the new rate will be on their next billing cycling after June 6th, 2024
- Subscribers that are billed before the 6th will have their first payment with the new rate in July 2024
- If your membership is paused, your first payment at the new price will be on your next billing date after June 6th
- Zwift Run remains free
This is a substantial increase compared to it’s previous price but I’d argue that this is still a great value compared to other training platforms with what Zwift has to offer in terms of features.
There’s a wide range of (very good) indoor cycling training apps available from TrainerRoad, Wahoo SYSTM, Rouvy, Tacx Training, and you could even include Peloton and Apple Fitness+ in the mix. When comparing the prices of these platforms, the $19.99 price per month may be more than most of the other options but still remains competitive when comparing features.
TrainerRoad is $19.95 per month or $189 per year and it’s arguably the most popular training-specific cycling app when it comes to training plans which can automatically adapt. I use TrainerRoad specifically when it comes to actual training to make myself stronger and faster, just like their slogan.
We then have Wahoo SYSTM offering many features like structured workouts, an enormous workout library, customizable training plans, as well as all the content they brought over from Sufferfest. Wahoo SYSTM runs $15 / month or $150 / year.
Rouvy offers an augmented reality riding experience with real-life route videos ($15 / month; $150 / year), Tacx Training also offers real-life videos and structured workouts with different tiers based on the content offered (Free; $9.99 / month; $13.99 / month), as well as BKool, Kinomap, and FulGaz, all ranging from $12 – $15 / month.
While Zwift doesn’t offer real-life videos like some of the other options, the features they offer is more broad than the other platforms with a virtual riding experience that integrates the most social interaction of any cycling training app. At anytime, I can hop on to Zwift and be able to ride with thousands of other riders from all over the world whether that’s “just riding along”, RoboPacer group rides, hourly events, as well as virtual racing.
Zwift also has a workout library like other platforms but may be overshadowed by some of it’s other features and may not be as tailored when it comes to training plans, such as is offered by TrainerRoad, but they’re making more strides with workouts with a new Workouts API.
With the recent news of a wide range of layoffs at Zwift, that showed signs of Zwift not being in a sustainable financial state so this price adjustment isn’t necessarily a surprise. While none of us want to shell out more from our wallets I still feel like the price increase isn’t exorbitant compared to other platforms.
I did a quick calculation of the time I’ve spent riding on Zwift in April (29 hours) and that comes out to $0.69 per hour. That seems worth it to me even on months where I’m riding outside more than inside.
