TrainerRoad has announced via their forum today (and tomorrow via e-mail to members) that existing ‘Legacy’ members with prices that have never changed, will have the option to start changing to the same higher price as others. Additionally, all US & Canadian members will see an effective price increase as taxes will be calculated extra, going forward, if their state requires it by law for SaaS.
Since the beginning, in an effort to reward the early members of TrainerRoad, TrainerRoad co-founder and now CEO Nate Pearson had made a promise that ‘prices for those early Legacy members would not change as long as he remained CEO’. And indeed, that’s been true. I signed up back on December 17th, 2011, and I’m still paying $7/month for it. Meanwhile, someone who signed up today is paying $19.95/month (or a bit less if annual). Obviously, that’s a substantial difference.
The challenge was, that the initial set of beta members wasn’t just a handful of people. Based on Nate’s video message this morning, which actually numbered in the “tens of thousands”, only a very small number are at the $7/month rate. The vast majority of others are still at low sub-$15 prices. Either way, that’s a lot of money left on the table. And, less you think this point hasn’t been argued to death, there’s a 1,300+ post thread on whether or not legacy users should pay the current rate. I promise, any thought that’s crossed your brain, has been posted at least 40-60 times in that thread.
So, what’s changing? Two separate things:
A) Legacy users will have the ‘option’ to pay for a higher price (I’ll explain in a second)
B) All US/Canadian users will start getting charged sales tax separately, depending on state
However, before I do that, I think it’s worthwhile embedding Nate’s video below, which explains some of the backstory:
In short, the TLDR variant is:
– Holy crap, TrainerRoad is a dozen years old
– TrainerRoad isn’t investor backed
– TrainerRoad hasn’t done any layoffs, like everyone else
– Inflation be real folks
– When they made the promise, it was two dudes in an overheated garage thinking it was a few thousand potential users
– Life comes at ya fast while enjoying chocolate chip cookies
This short snippet from their written post probably sums it up the best:
“Over the years, we’ve done price raises as we’ve made TR better and to keep up with inflation. But this entire time, we’ve been kneecapped by a promise I made back in 2010 that I didn’t fully understand the ramifications of.
…It’s now 2023. We have inflation and significant economic pressure on us (I think you’ve seen what the other companies in the industry have done). We’ve always been a financially conservative company. We haven’t taken investment, and we haven’t overextended ourselves.
…For us to stay viable and succeed as a company, we’re going to set everyone to the same current price (monthly or yearly) but still keep my promise by letting people opt out of the price change or choose a 15% perpetual discount.”
So, what’s their solution for Legacy users? Well, basically, you’ve got three options going forward:
Option A: Retain your legacy pricing forever
Option B: Get a 15% discount forever (on normal annual pricing)
Option C: Pay normal pricing
So far you’re with me, right? Ok, good, here’s where it gets a bit tricky: You’ve got 1 year to make that choice, except, the choice is made for you at your next billing cycle. So that 1-year period is for an ‘undo button’.
Let’s take my account. Right now it shows I’ll renew monthly, next on January 17th, 2023. However, if I do nothing right now and ignore the upcoming TrainerRoad e-mails, then on January 17th, 2023, it’ll renew at $19.95 (+ tax). The above screenshot was taken before the rates have been loaded in, thus, it doesn’t show the ending of this movie.
However, I’ve got 1 year from January 6th, 2023 to press that undo button, and choose one of the following options:
A) Keep paying $7/month as Legacy user
B) Pay $13.95/month (billed annually, with 15% discount)
C) Pay $15.75/month (billed annually, no discount)
D) Pay $19.95/month (billed monthly, no discount)
Got all that? Basically, I’m given the option to decide how much I want to pay. TrainerRoad’s thinking is that for many people that might have slightly higher rates than I do, that the added $5/month isn’t too much. However inversely, as they note in the video and post, they understand that for some people, the increase in price literally breaks the monthly budget.
All of this is effective on the next billing cycle, from January 13th, 2023. Meaning, if your billing cycle is tomorrow, you escape for another month. If your billing cycle is like mine on January 17th, I’ll be under the new rules. If you miss this post, or can’t decide, or whatever the case is, you’ve got until next January 2024 to realize this and press the undo button and select a different life path from the options above.
And again, the sales tax change for US/Canadian users takes effect on January 13th as well. I assume you can figure out how much that is for your specific home state. For most states, that’s effectively a 4-6% price increase. Here’s the list of states per the TrainerRoad thread:
Got all that? Good.
TrainerRoad has an entire thread on their forum here, where this will undoubtedly be beaten to death in discussion. However, I can’t really see how anyone could complain here. If you want to keep your pricing, you can. If you want to support TrainerRoad more, you can. If you want to keep your legacy $7 pricing and still pay TrainerRoad a bit more, you’ll be able to do that too depending on what state you live in (since those people get a price hike via the tax inclusion). Thus in effect, there will be some people that are upset at the price increase via tax-hike. Given that’s less than the cost of inflation, I think that’s probably fair. But to each their own.
With that – thanks for reading!
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen a company gracefully handle price increases and consider the differing financial situations of their customers. Consequently, as a legacy person, they’ve convinced me to pay more. I’m not sure how much, but I’ll decide that at my renewal.
+1 TrainerRoad
🙏🙏🙏
I couldn’t have said it better. I’m still on 2014 pricing and the amount of features and app integration is worth way more than I am paying.
Funny that I have two mails from back in the time regarding signing up.
One signing up for beta the 27th of September 2011 and then it seems like it become “real” the 20th of February 2013, same mail used 🙂
Paying only $10 each month which I think is little compared to the other services there are.
Nate and all of the Trainerroad team have done a great work since the start!!
Zero fitness programs have worked for me as effectively as TR has. It’s constantly updated with useful improvements.
Go Pens.
Wow, truly love the honesty in Nate’s clip. Been a proud supporter for a while myself and it’s always refreshing to hear/feel the passion they have for their product, forums, podcasts etc. It’s shows as it’s such a complete training tool imho. Congrats on another year TR, keep crushing it!
Nate has been overly kind through this process. I can’t believe I’ve been allowed to keep my pricing for so many years.
I can’t think of any company that has been this transparent and overtly kind regarding prices or services ever.
If anyone gives TR flack over this, it surely will be unjust.
I’ll actually happily up my charge because it’s the right thing to do in the current environment (even though my pay is being cut currently)
Currently I’m paying $89 per year. The only alternative I currently have is to switch to 19.95 a month. I guess that might change tomorrow.
I should add for the last 2 years I’ve barely used it (maybe 6 rides?) but as I have such a good deal I’ve kept it rolling. So in some ways I feel that I can justify keeping my price low for at least another year just to break even.
I’m on $99/yr. I’ll happily increase that to full price because TR works wonders for me and I want it to continue. I’m getting great value even at the higher price.
I met Nate years ago at a trade show and was impressed by his attitude then. His honesty and principles are refreshing.
Pay what you think it is worth, seems fair to me, how anybody can complain about this is beyond me
A TrainerRoad subscription is overpriced and expensive. Surprised to see so much support here for yet another subscription based software service that has convinced their customer base into being OK with a never-ending overpriced fee. It seems like people’s memories have slowly been wiped of a past where you paid once for a software product and owned it. You are delusional to think that via your monthly or annual subscription fee you are paying for worthwhile frequent updates. You are just paying into a model that gets such a company a continuous revenue stream from their customers.
When was this “past” you speak of?! I must’ve missed it! I’m interested in a comparable training platform that improves and is backed by science that doesn’t have a subscription platform.
The point is you’ve happily allowed yourself to be cornered into a situation where the only option is a never ending subscription fee and you are somehow happy with that. You do the math on how much that will cost you over 5 or 10 years….
Here’s an alternative: a software company that offers a one time software purchase of a finished product for $75 with guaranteed updates over 2-3 years. Then the company works towards a version 2 of the software that becomes available when ready in a few years. If worthwhile then customers can upgrade to version 2 or keep using version 1 since they paid for it and own it.
Kind of like a Garmin vs. Whoop.
There is a training software that you can purchase, PerfPRO. I have it as I used to (pre-pandemic) run a winter turbo class for our cycling group. It’s decent – but a lot more than you indicate you are willing to pay.
I have not yet seen a stand-alone, full-featured, indoor and outdoor compatible training software, with performance metrics and training calendar that ticks the “just works” box.
Whilst I have, and own PP, for my own day-to-day use, I tend to use one of the other “big box” SaaS providers as they are less ‘faffy’ and have more features.
I think most here are adults and capable of deciding for themselves whether the TrainerRoad subscription is worth it and if the updates are valuable.
I’m not sure your rant is name calling is appreciate by many here. It’s certainly not constructive.
As another pointed out, there’s always something like PerfPro to purchase.
[John’s pathetic lonely human existence of a comment deleted by DCR – Have a good weekend!]
I’m always amazed John/Tom/all your other names, that out of the literal millions of people that come here each month, you’re actually the only dick. It’s kinda impressive. I can only assume at this point that you’re probably a horrible, or at least horribly annoying person to be around in real life.
While we’re at it, for all your bravado each time, you don’t even have the balls to put the same name each time, or the same e-mail address each time. Somehow you think you’re clever by changing them – but the internet is much smarter than that these days. That’s like 1994 Geocities level covertness.
In any case, all of us find your comments consistently laughably dumb, useless, and yes, also not constructive. Cheers!
Got em!
Well, seems like you have a new business idea 😉
Just go use a free app like trainer day. It lets you control a trainer eith power match for free, and think you can add your own workouts for tree too
“It seems like people’s memories have slowly been wiped of a past where you paid once for a software product and owned it. ”
I remember those times well. You’d pay one larger cost up front and you’d receive a box of floppy disks that stored the software that you purchased. That software never changed after you purchased it. When the software creators released a new version you’d have to pay another large sum to get the new version.
Compare to today, where you pay a much smaller monthly subscription and the software is constantly updated. If at any point you decide the software is no longer useful, you can cancel your subscription.
As a consumer, I personally prefer SAAS model. And as a software developer, SAAS is a dramatically better way to build software. Doing monolithic software releases poses the risk that what you’re building misses the mark; but you won’t know that until after you’ve spent months building it. Example: Windows Vista.
Products such as that exist. TR is not one of them. There are plenty of poor value subscriptions, but anything that has uploads, backups, linked services like strava, and evolving content carries a recurring cost to the developer.
If you don’t want those, don’t get TR.
If you want those, TR is not the only solution, so pick the one you like at the price point you can afford.
I don’t even use TR as I have an actual coach
But this comment makes it pretty obvious that you don’t actually understand what TR is/provides. It’s not just a piece of software, if it were just software, I would probably agree with your point
Poor comparison. TR is continually upgrading their product, small or large, to enhance user experience. When you buy a software package you get a static product with no changes for, at best, 2-3 yrs (more likely 5+). Any small glitches or annoyances with the product that make it less user friendly are baked into that model, you’re stuck with it. In comparison, TR asks for and then acts on user feedback to continually improve the user experience. The end result is a better and better product over time. We, the user, should pay for that. That is capitalism: make a better product, retain your customer base and make a profit (aka: a living). Also consider that they are trying not to lay off their workers, which is admirable in the current economy, and that they are giving you, the user, the choice! Crazy. Nobody is forcing you to pay more. They’re stating their case and allowing you to make the decision that is right for you. What other company does that? It’s admirable. Allows us to support them if we agree with their model. And don’t forget their podcast, which is excellent, and free…
The above was written as reply to ColdNorth comments.
Came here to say this!!! The fact that anyone is actually complaining drives me bonkers and might convince me to up my pricing. I’m like you (DC) locked in at 89/month and was going to opt out. But this person that complains actually makes me want to pay more.
I agree with this and mentioned it in the Facebook reply. Not everyone cares about the “AI” featured training plans or Zwift racing or whatnot. I just want something easy and has a small library of workouts I can choose from and something to stare at while riding. As a casual rider who maybe rides 4-6 hours/month as cross-training, I can’t justify $15-20/month for all of these apps — especially Zwift, given that it is very similar a $60 PS5/Xbox car racing game where instead of using a controller, you’re using a bike trainer as an input.
I’d gladly pay an upfront price for basic features, or a lower monthly price for basic features, but the current pricing model isn’t sustainable for casual users IMHO.
@ Brandon Gittelman
You are complaining about using a product that really isn’t intended for you. TR isn’t geared or necessarily marketed toward someone riding 4-6 hours per month. The minimum plan to follow is almost four hours per week. Your complaints are like buying a turkey sandwich and complaining because you wanted ham.
While I too am growing frustrated with subscriptions (why I chose Garmin over Whoop), your argument actually supports why a subscription model can benefit the end user. You found a product that may be interesting to you. You signed up and paid a small fee that recurs as long as you’re happy enough to allow it. You seem unhappy with it and you can now cancel at any moment. However, if you had been forced to pay a much larger up front fee, you would now be left with a product that you don’t necessarily want for far more money.
If you’re still interested, send me over a few hundred dollars. I’ll put together 50-60 workouts of varying length that you can choose at any moment. If you’re not happy, oh well. At least you have them forever.
Yeah it’s the “waterfall” type of development that most shops are moving away from.
I grew up as well with “finished” products/games and waiting for the next version to come. With today’s market it’s all about bringing features to markets ASAP and iterating continually.
The older model sadly can’t keep up with the newer one as people will just jump ship/abandon to get new features (just look at people buying new cellphones all the time and…for what?)
This seems eminently fair. They are a good company doing a excellent job and if they were subject to big outside investors, some of what makes them so great would surely disappear over time. On top of everything else, their commitment to customer service is simply amazing.
Well worth the full price, in my view. I’m recalling the money I spent subscribing to Peleton and Cycling Tips, all gone to hell because big money investors took over.
count your blessings, as they say.
And, the podcast is outstanding, the forum is good and active.
BTW, since starting with TR 2 years ago, I’ve become dramatically faster and fitter. Think of all the money you’ve spent on a lot of things that didn’t make you faster and fitter…
I’ve gotten the best results from TrainerRoad and have really enjoyed their plans and their community. I’ve great respect for the way Nate has handled this so well. Really happy with the company and the people who work there.
Sean
Hello I am Robert-Bob Smith and I am a real human name. TrainerRoad(tm) has made me a cyclist of immense power. I am unrivaled by all other human males. I would spend $150 a month on TrainerRoad because of how powerful it has made me. TrainerRoad.
I find it interesting (and encouraging) to see the positive comments above. I am a very regular user of Trainerroad and really like the platform. Still, I am a bit shocked by the amount of people saying that they will voluntarily pay more for Trainerroad.
To be completely honest, I wont pay more and will opt for my current pricing (which is 129 US).
Even though I am super happy with Trainerroad, if I would need to pay the full amount, I would certainly try other options. Most likely, I would go for Garmin’s Suggested Workouts, as I could use these for free anyway. Wahoo X also looks tempting. Whenever, I think about trying something else, the relatively lower costs of Trainerroad keeps me onboard although many of the other triathletes that I train with are on Zwift.
This point (i.e., that pricing creates a hook for existing customers) is not being talked about in the comments, but I believe that there is actually a risk for Trainerroad here. Importantly, the cost of acquiring new subscribers might be bigger than the additional income.
Just a thought!
I feel like I’ve missed something here because as a user who’s been with Trainerroad for more than 5 years, I’ve been subject to the same price increases as everyone else.
Have you canceled and rejoined TR over that time?
The “rule” that was in place is that if you maintained your payment (whether monthly or annual payment), TR would keep you at whatever rate you started with.
But if you cancel for even one month and then rejoin, you join at the current pay rate of that moment. So, I’d guess you joined at the time it was around $12 per month, $99 per year and then canceled/joined one or more times since then. There was a $15/mo, $129/yr tier at one point and current is $20/mo, $189/yr.
So it likely depends on what you’ve done with your subscription since the first time.
I think it is a reasonable ask for people who consistently use the platform. TR has added new features on a regular basis and communicated openly about their plans and goals. Inflation is real and I’d hate to lose their services or have it swallowed up by someone else.
I just looked through my history and I’ve averaged ~190 trainerroad workouts per year. At 1-2 hrs each I’m getting my money’s worth. I think I’ll opt to pay the new annual price. How much is it worth to never do an FTP test ever again? 😉
The math will be different for someone who isn’t as consistent, so I do worry that some ppl are more likely to drop for the summer or altogether at a higher price.
The full $20/month price does seem overpriced compared to the competition. Hard to justify over Zwift, wahoo x, etc. The decision seems all well and good but I wonder how many will actually pay more and if it will be enough to satisfy whatever money issues they seem to have.
I cancelled my Zwift subscription for TR in 2022, so you can say I’m a late adopter. TR has been pushing their adaptive training and AI FTP the past few years, which finally pushed me over the edge. It means their offering is more like a coach that is adjusting your workouts based on performance, rather than just a prescribed plan you follow.
Until Zwift, Wahoo, etc. can come up with something similar, they stand alone with that feature. Personally, if I’m spending 200+ hours a year on a bike, I am willing to pay to be doing the “right workout” instead of “a workout”. Maybe not $300/month to get a real coach though.
What am I missing here? Doesn’t this just boil down to being status quo for all legacy users except those that aren’t paying attention? They’ll be the ones getting the price increases if they don’t act to *undo* the increase in the next year. Can’t see how this is more fair than the way things are now. A bit of a cash grab perhaps until these users figure it out then TR will have to credit them if they decide they want their legacy pricing back.
You imply anyone who has a choice and is aware of it will opt-out and keep their old pricing.
I think Nate believes (and many comments here and in their forums agree with – if accurate) that many will be willing to leave legacy pricing and pay more.
I tend to agree with Nate. I am on the earliest beta / cheapest pricing right now and feel willing to jump to an annual plan with 15% discount (nearly doubling my expenditure, yes, but the increase is not all that substantial in my personal monthly budget vs how much I value and use their software and services).
As someone who pauses my subscription over the Summer months, I’m not likely to resub at $20/ month. Being a light user, I’ll probably look for other options rather than pay the 33% increase. I think TR would have been better off increasing everyone’s monthly to $15 in order to remain competitive with Zwift and others. The $20 monthly fee isn’t competitive with other platforms and is going to make it much harder to attract new users.
If you pause you aren’t affected by the increase anyway as you can’t keep legacy pricing across the pause – right?
I think new subscriber pricing has been $20/month for some time now?
None of the other platforms come as close to replacing a coach, which is a 200$/month expense for a coach who actually cares and is worth their salt
IMO that is why there isn’t price parity. I mostly like zwift but my pick-one app will always be trainer road
“Thus in effect, there will be some people that are upset at the price increase via tax-hike. Given that’s less than the cost of inflation, I think that’s probably fair.”
GST + QST in Quebec is… 15%. Inflation is high, but not *that* high. Coupled with the fact that TR does not have CAD pricing, a TR user in this province has seen the monthly costs go from $22 mid-2021 to $31 now. That’s a 40% increase.
Same boat as you. Will already get a 15% increase because of Quebec taxes this year. I’m grateful fir legacy prices. I’ve been with trainerroad for 10 years now. I don’t use many of the features so I don’t take full advantage of the system anyways. $189 US + exchange rate + exchange fee + taxes would come out to $299.54 Canadian. I definitely would have had to cancel and find a cheaper alternative.
I have been lucky enough to meet many of the TR guys and given the opportunity to do the right thing they always do! Kudos to Nate and the team!
There is a fantastic alternative called TrainerDay. It’s either free with 20 basic workouts or it costs $3.99 per month with all features unlocked. It can be linked with Intervals.icu platform and together their functionality surpasses TrainerRoad by a lot!
That looks very similar doesn’t it. A little too similar.
i mean there’s no monopoly or patent on interval training…
I’m on legacy $99 a year pricing, been on since 2012.
There have been years – sometimes two or three years in a row! Where I haven’t used trainer road at all. I keep paying for it for two reasons:
1: The legacy promise to keep it cheap. I see a future where it’ll be used more by me or my kids and I appreciate the low price
2: for a non public company, I want to support what they are doing. I think their ethos, the way they do business, and their product are worth supporting.
I’m ticking the box to keep paying $99 a year – because I feel that they get more value out of that than the alternative which would be me pulling my membership altogether. I’d suggest there would be a few people like me out there.
Similar story and reasoning here. Just did a query on my data in Veloviewer (paid member 😉) and it comes up with 34 TR rides in 2022 but 14k km on the road.
As effective as TR may be as a training aid, I nowadays need a lot of resolve and motivation to get on the trainer and do even one hour workouts whereas when I signed up (2017 I think?) I would do several 2+ hour (endurance) sessions a week. Times change 🫤
I might have increased my payment out of sympathy if I could set my own price, but the +60% feels a bit much for the usage above.
Long time user who has just agreed for the price increase. The cost is low, less than a bottle of wine a month and the product works. I also have a Zwift account and mix and match rides as the mood suits.
Personally, I’ve had some of my best results in racing due to following a TR program – all my podiums and top fives occurred while following TR training programs. So if they have to increase their rates to keep with economic pressure and inflation I’m fine with that. It’s still less than hiring a coach but just as effective as having one (well… if you’re self-motivated).
I think they’re handling this so well.
But really, how is Nate so good at looking at the webcam when he talks?
Couldn’t agree more with your summary here.
Nate Pearson is being his usual honest, loyal and refreshingly transparent self. An example to all CEOs. I couldn’t respect him more. And that is why TR has the following it does.
I will pay more in the future and am glad he will keep this option available to me. Total legend.
one thing i think being overlooked here is what kind of growth (or lack thereof) have they had over the past dozen years where the grandfathered subs are still statistically significant? that to me is alarming. so if 12 years ago they signed up 10k people and that was 100% of their userbase, have they not signed up enough people over the ensuing years so that this 10k is less than 10% of their revenue stream? 10k paying $10/m out of 10k in 2011 is of course massive. 10k paying $10/m instead of $20/m out of 100k (or 200k or 300k) in 2023 is…insignificant. unless of course that base did not grow…
am i the only one who thinks this is indicative of financial trouble?
It’s a blend. Somewhere in the TR forums Nate mentioned that people like me on the $7/month plan only make up 70 people total. There’s different buckets of different prices from there.
The reality is that all indoor training apps saw big explosion in growth during covid, and then a drop of not just growth, but subscribers. Certainly still above pre-covid levels, but a pullback. Nate’s point is that unlike everyone else, TR hasn’t laid off employees (granted, nor did they massively scale up either).
His other point is that with rising prices for staff/services/etc, that revenue, even if only 10-20% (or whatever, he doesn’t say), could counterbalance a portion of the rising costs.
If you signed up for TR in January of 2011, then you would have forked over $1008 by now. I used to use TR, and I’ve put in a lot of miles on that platform (more than any other excepting whatever Computrainer uses), but would I pay a grand for a perpetual license to use TR, no I would not. Also, I’ll point out that a quick online inflation calculation puts $7 in 2011 at $8.70 today. The price increase is more than twice that, so let’s not just say “inflation” shrug our shoulders, and accept it.
What I see in this is space is too many competitors. Back in the day it was Spinnervals and Suffer Fest making videos, then TR now I can’t even keep track: Suffer Fest, TR, Zwift, SYSTM, Rovy, etc. all vying for what is a pretty small market. Add the fact that they all now do more or less the same thing (there was a point in time where I used TR in concert with Suffer Fest videos) and it’s no wonder that prices are going up and staff is getting cut. As none of them have made solo indoor training fun for me I don’t really care which companies survive, but I can foresee maybe two making it – a Zwift type virtual world and a TR type for “serious” training.
As a newer user to TR. I am on the 189.00 annual plan. I think that works out at 15.75 a month. in 2011 what features did 7.00 a month get. In the year that I have used it I have seen a few pretty major updates. I also look at the content for the podcast/youTube channel and forum as well. The inflation calculator I used shows 7.00 in 2011 is 9.26 today. Point is the product is no where near the same. Load a workout to my head unit and do that outside. Huge plus over other platforms. AI FTP is it perfect nope, but my experience is that if I choose to do a ramp test to compare AI vs Ramp. I am only off a few watts. I bump the first few workouts by 2-5 % and the future workouts adapt for me. I don’t know if that was part of TR in 2011 but I am guessing not. again Nate and TR are not forcing people to change. They are simple asking people to step up and pay a bit more if they want to. If you happen to miss the price increase they are willing to give you a year to roll back. I have never seen any subscription service of any kind offer that.
Personally always try to ride outdoor vs indoor even when is really cold.. But sometimes indoor riding is must and only way to ride at all.. For that purpose i have used few apps and must admit that Trainer road was best for me.. But also i put my self max price i would pay for that per month and that was 15 USD (im not one from the first users locked in original price).. When TR become 20 USD i switched to other platforms like Zwift, then Rouvy (i really enjoy Rouvy).. Regarding training schedule i use sometimes free training programs from Garmin Connect or i just build my self.. It’s not as effective as TR, but good enough for me..
Personally i think that TR make big mistake with this price increase.. Let me explain why.. Im sure TR use some Cloud Providers and pay per usage of resources.. More people using it, more used resources and bigger amount of money put on Cloud provider(s) accounts…
With grandfather users, im sure there is many that pay just becouse of lower price and not using it at all.. So TR get money from users which actually dont use their resources and less money to pay.. So let’s say those are like free money to TR.. With price increase only users who really use it TR will stay long term, but in same time that users actually use TR resources so those are not free money for TR.. And long term their income will shrink.. Except if they made some long term deal where they get also grandfathered discount from Cloud Providers and their resources, and with that they realize that actually getting more money from those 20 usd or 15 usd account, even those users actually use the resources…. But personally everything more than 15 USD per month, i’ll avoid and go for alternatives especially Open Source…
For example even im using GoldenCheetah long time, for 2023 im planning to complete switch to Golden Cheetah as my logging and monitoring app vs Strava etc…
Especially that i have another assumption that all this online platforms which get our personal (and very intimate biometric data and behaviours ) make some money as well from selling of those data…
This is just my opinion, does not mean i have correct assumptions but anuway wanted to share my opinion….
The Legacy pricing keeps a lot of members attached including myself. A lot of them would jump ship, including myself would prices go up. As a non-believer in ferrytales I don´t see altruistic decision making behind all of this. I received the email about the optional rise a few days ago. Thank you I guess. I keep the 100 dollar offer.
Just watched the plead video of Mr. Pearson (I think I am the only one who does not know him personally). I am really confused. This guy made a promise, and now that he realises that the world has the tendency to change I have to feel sorry for him that he can‘t escape his moral? I deduce therefore that the number of people he adresses make a very significant number.
The 99 usd I am paying is the reason why I stay. I see it more as a donation because I am not using Trainerroad that frequently anymore because I too have the tendency to change: getting older, injuries, other interests and focusses on live. The things I do when I indoor cycle I can easily do without Trainerroad. But again because of the pricing I kept on. I kept on donating.
So I was just thinking and feel free to reject my plead Mr. Pearson, because it is optional, if it is possible that I could get a 15% discount on top of my 99 usd. The inflation in 2022 was 20%, the highest since 1973 (also a period of big change) and will be rising in 2023. Sorry I am sidetracking.
I am on a trial period on Fulgaz, looking for some variety amidst these depressing days. In combining Fulgaz and Trainerroad these 15% would be much appreciated and certainly buy you my eternal gratitude. Because twice 99 usd is a big investment for me. Look at the numbers first and see what is possible, no pressure.
Bless you Mr. Pearson.
Are you seriously asking for an additional 15% discount on top of your $99/year legacy pricing?
So I wasn’t the only one that read it that way… I feel like I have to missing something.
I am trying to give the benefit of the doubt, but the dismissive and unempathetic nature of the majority of his post seems to point in the “I want a discount!” direction.
I’ll be honest, some of these posts of people holding Nate to his well intentioned, but short-sighted promise just make me SMH. I wonder, do these same people hold themselves to that same standard… or perhaps have they slipped or even acknowledged when a good idea went bad and fixed the situation as contrary to their promise?
So much “me, me, me” in many of these posts aiming to justify sticking it to TR and/or Nate specifically with no recognition that nearly everything else in life has moved on with increased prices. Post above is even more so with them whining about inflation impacts on them, while totally ignoring the parallel impact on not only Nate, but anyone employed at TR who is facing exactly the same financial world & pressures.
I don’t really care what you choose to do for this pricing choice. But aiming to share it with the world as some sort of justification just strikes me as odd.
Of course I am not asking for a discount. I see that my sarcasm was to subtle;). Point is I just do not trust that guy! That is the whole point. That is my opinion.
He made a promise years ago to generate income, simple as that. Now he is trying to weazle out of that promise to generate income. I do not care why exactly, maybe for what he says for good valid reasons, maybe to sell Trainerroad, maybe this or maybe that. I do not care. The same as he does not care about the situation of the members he made this promise to.
The only escape, he said it himself, as long as he is CEO the promise will stand. So he has 1 solution: to step down. And do not go Promised land and sorry Mozes would you, could you and all that shit on us;). A promise is built on trust. Amen.
This is gotta be one of the more bizarre takes I’ve seen.
100% with Ray here. Bizarre opinion and judgement of a character. Or maybe he meant to post on the new Strava pricing thread!! 😉
I like TR and pay annually at the legacy price although I really only use it about 3-4 months of the year. My problem is I also pay for 3 family members who all use it about the same amount as I do. If I had to cover the increase on all the accounts, I would have to simply find an alternative less expensive solution. What I would probably do is switch to monthly so that I’m only paying for it when it is used. For now, sticking with legacy pricing since I already paid for the year and will reassess near the end of the year.
Kudos to Nate – he’s in a tough spot here.
Ironically he is kind of taking the same ‘risky’ option here of maximizing today’s revenue vs the long term revenue stream of the company.
A dozen years ago he made the promise because he needed subscribers badly and if they would float the ship he could worry about potential revenue shortfalls a decade later, at which point he would be owner of a successful company and probably ‘set for life’
Now his company is at risk of falling behind competitors because running the ship and adding features, innovating and staying at the top of the game costs a lot of $$$.
So instead of (maybe) sucking it up, apologizing and increasing prices (and losing subscribers) and hopefully securing a sustainable enterprise, he’s sort of asking for charity from legacy customers.
Ultimately, subscribers will act in their economic interests. I suspect many of the commenters who will happily pay more money will come to a conclusion sometime in the future that they are paying a lot of money for a subscription and are having a hard time justifying it.
This is not meant to be a criticism of Nate or TR, just trying to point out he is doing the same thing he did 12 years ago that he is now trying to undo.
btw i am a former subscriber who can justify the monthly fee here in Canada. I feel I get 90-95% of the TR benefit on my spin bike with power pedals.
As a Trainerroad user with more than five years of service, I’ve been subject to the same price hikes as everyone else.
I was shocked today when I received my renewal for Trainer Road, which went from $89 to $189. I understand the need for a price increase; what is shocking is the amount and that this is the first year I did not receive an email letting me know that my subscription was renewing. Let your customers know ahead of time. My annual “Your Subscription is Renewing” email would have alerted me to this, and given me options. I just submitted a cancel request and will use IndieVelo instead.