Zwift has announced that they are increasing prices effective June 6th, 2024, the first price increase in more than 7 years for the company. The last increase was in November 2017, from $9.99 to $14.99. In doing so, they’ve essentially become the final company in the indoor training space to increase prices over the last few years. Most other companies did it about 2 years ago.
Zwift App Pricing Changes:
Zwift’s new prices are listed below for each region (else, you’d fall under USD pricing). For US pricing, that means an increase from $14.99 to $19.99 for monthly subscriptions, and an increase from $149.99 to $199.99 for annual subscriptions. Both are a 33% increase in the price. In the case of annual subscriptions, you’re effectively getting two months free.
As with before, if specific pricing for a given region isn’t covered, then it defaults to USD pricing.
All these prices are effective on the next billing date *AFTER* June 6th. So in my case, my Zwift billing dates are the 30th of the month for myself, and the 13th of the month for my wife. Thus, I’ll see the new prices on June 30th and June 13th, for the two accounts.
Just for completeness, here’s why Zwift says they’re raising their prices:
“Despite rising inflationary pressure, we’ve worked hard to keep our prices locked since 2017. Your subscription fee has allowed us to develop the platform and enhance your experience on Zwift. We’re proud of all the additional platform benefits introduced since 2017 that Zwifters now enjoy daily. From Group Workouts and Flexible Training Plans to some of our newest features, like the always-on group rides with Robo Pacers, or the the Climb Portal that transports you to iconic climbs from the world over. Now available to enjoy on ten worlds and two event-only maps, Zwifting has never been better.
The best is yet to come! This change will allow us to continue our commitment to bringing you even more product benefits, new features, and content experiences in the months and years to come. For a preview of some of the highlights launching over the next few months, head here.
We value the support of every member of the Zwift community and hope to see you in Watopia soon. Ride On!
“
Note that in the event your subscription is currently paused, it’ll simply remain paused as normal. Once you resume your membership, you’d do so at the new pricing once you clear past June 6th.
For fun, I did a quick check of pricing for various training platforms as of January 2018 (so two months after Zwift’s previous price increase), and how they compare now. Note that it was messy enough finding all the monthly prices, let alone the annual prices. In general, most of these companies gave two months free for annual.
In any case, here’s the historical price data (for monthly memberships), for companies that existed at the time (other options that have launched since then, aren’t included, but are included in my total round-up of platforms here):
Zwift: $14.99/month to $19.99/month
Peloton: Hardware units – $39.99/month to $44.99/month (the app-only side is messy for reasons outlined below)
TrainerRoad: $12/month to $19.95/month
Kinomap: $9.99/month to $11.99/month
Wahoo SYSTM: $9.99/month to $14.99/month
Rouvy: $12/month to $15.00/month
FulGaz: $10/month to $14.99/month
Xert: Still $9.99/month
I’ve got an entire chart of all the prices as of this past November (when most of them were settled for the Northern Hemisphere winter), in case you’re curious – with a number of other entities listed as well.
Of course, some of the above have notable nuances/caveats/whatevers:
1) Most of these prices are “+ taxes”, but not every one of them.
2) Peloton’s Digital App only pricing, that’s changed like 19 times in the last 7 years, in terms of what’s included. So it went from $19 to $9 to $12 to upwards of $24. Peloton keeps changing what is or isn’t included. Whereas the pricing for the hardware subscription classes has simply gone from $39.99 to $44.99
3) TrainerRoad’s pricing technically has the option for legacy users to keep the original prices, but that’s a very small number of people. Also, they increased their prices a few months after my January 2018 cutoff, to $15/month.
4) In the case of Wahoo SYSTM, in January 2018, it was still The Sufferfest. They raised prices late 2018, and then were acquired by Wahoo in 2019.
Ultimately, Zwift & TrainerRoad’s prices are the highest of the bunch, excluding Peloton’s hardware-connected variant. I’d argue that within this realm Zwift & TrainerRoad are widely seen as the two most premium options – so in that realm, it makes sense. I don’t think anyone really likes to see price increases, but I’ll give Zwift credit for holding out longer than just about anyone else (7 years), especially given that virtually every other company in our lives has increased prices over the last 3-4 years. Unfortunately though, the bad news doesn’t end there.
Hardware Price Increases:
In addition to this, Zwift & Wahoo are also increasing the price of their KICKR CORE Zwift One and KICKR CORE smart trainers, which included a year of Zwift as a bundle. They’re going from $599 to $649:
Zwift.com & WahooFitness.com
– US – $ 649.99
– EU – € 649.99
– UK – £ 579.99
WahooFitness.com:
– Australia – AUD 1,129.95
– Canada – CAD 1,049.99
Likewise, the previous $100 add-on bundle (1 year Zwift), if you bought a new Wahoo trainer, has also disappeared. In fact, it actually disappeared about a week ago from Zwift’s site, which was available for buying any new (other) Wahoo trainer on Zwift.com. Instead, you’ll continue to be able to buy the upgrade bundle through the app post-purchase (just like the last 7-8 months), except now it’ll be $150 instead of $100.
Here’s those 1-year bundled prices:
– USA – $150.00
– EU – €150.00
– UK – £130.00
– Australia – AUD $230.00
– Canada – CAD $190.00
But wait, the good news isn’t done yet…on to the next item!
New Kids Accounts Paused:
In addition to all this, it flew under the radar that last month Zwift stopped creating new kids accounts (under-16, or so-called U16 accounts). In fact, the entire program is “being reviewed”, but at this point, existing kids accounts can remain on the platform, though Zwift says that if that changes “any future changes impacting existing members will be communicated in advance.” – which seems like an awfully close to saying “we plan to kill off Zwift kids accounts entirely, but don’t want this much bad news in one week”.
When asked why the pause for Zwift accounts, Zwift noted that all of the account creation work had to be done manually by customer service. Parents were required by Zwift to submit an application for the U16 account, which included accepting various Zwift Terms & Conditions. This application was then manually reviewed and the kid account set up. Kids accounts were restricted in that they were private and were unable to message other Zwifters. Zwift Kids accounts were free up to 16 years old
Still, despite that, I struggle to see why this would have been a lift. Clicking ‘I approve’ on a form is one of the easiest automated approval things out there. And certainly Zwift’s platform just adds these accounts to a group that restricts access to messaging and is otherwise marked as private (if it’s somehow more complex than this, that is rather concerning, technically). This is a well-solved problem by countless entities. Even within the sports/fitness space, companies such as Garmin & Fitbit have kids account, as does Peloton (down to 13yo). None of which require any special manual approvals.
As a father of three kids that love to cycle (but don’t have Zwift Kids accounts), I think it’s totally appropriate to charge me some trivial sum to have a sparingly used Zwift Kids account atop my existing kids account. After all, if Zwift is looking to find new members long-term, getting kids on the platform would seem to be a good place to do that (even if it’s a very minimal number of people).
Hopefully, Zwift can figure out whatever process needs to be figured out to be automated, and get the creation of kids accounts back in the hopper.
With that – thanks for reading, even if all this news probably wasn’t super awesome to read.
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Interesting – the email I received from Zwift said nothing about the June 6th date, just that “Your first payment at the new $249.99, plus applicable taxes price will be on your next billing date.” (I’m in Canada and just switched to the annual plan).
I’ll be interested in seeing what happens on my renewal date in 2 days.
Just got the Zwift email this morning. Not sure this line jives with your June 6th info: “Your first payment at the new $199.99 [USD], plus applicable taxes price will be on your next billing date.”
For me, my next bill is May 8th, the day after this announcement. That sounds a lot like I got 24 hour notice my price is going up.
The email I received says 6th of June:
«
We’re writing to inform you of changes to your Zwift Subscription pricing. The monthly Zwift subscription price will be increased to 19,99 €.
Your first payment at the new price will be on your next billing date after June 6th.
»
On my membership page, it says next billing will be €14,99 on June 1st, 2024. I expect it will go to €19,99 on July 1st. I’ll suspend my account for 8 weeks in July/August and try other platforms.
Only 5 levels left and 3 badges to get (now at 219/222), the new ones released with the bag that badge mission in May.
> Zwift’s new prices are listed below for each region
I don’t see it, am I missing something? Trying to see Australia pricing as I’m in the UK at the moment and it will only show me UK pricing.
The Aus email:
“We’re writing to inform you of changes to your Zwift Subscription pricing. The Zwift Annual Membership price will be increased to $299.99.
Your first payment at the new $299.99 price will be on your next billing date.”
So… up from $219. Although I use it 3-4 times a week at the (wet) minute, $300 is pushing the benefit/cost.
Regarding kids accounts, do you get the sense that this has to do with kids accounts being free or some other problem with having kids on the platform? I have 2 kids who Zwift, including a 9 year old who is a serious cyclist and a level 44 Zwifter. I wouldn’t be thrilled about paying $200/each a year but will that even be an option?
As things stand, I think, yes, you can pay for a subscription. But if Ray is right the whole account might get deleted at some point.
I tried and they won’t let you enter a birthday less than 16. If I were a new parent willing to pay I wouldn’t really care and I’d just say my kid was 16 except that it won’t let you enter a lower weight for 2006 birthdays or before. But at the moment they will allow low weights in 2007 and that is greater than 16 so I guess that’s the sweet spot. What a convoluted situation.
Similar – I have two kids with accounts (aged 11 and 7). The 11yo is getting into road racing now – all stimulated by his time on Zwift. If I was paying an extra AU$300 for his account, I’d have to think long and hard about it. And the younger one – who is more occasional – certainly wouldn’t have one.
Please don’t do this Zwift – or be gentle as Ray suggested!
With the icTrainer app, training is still free for kids up to the age of 16.
ahh, apologies. I thought you had already an account set up and simply wanted to renew … that would be possible as things stand. Creating a new account is unfortunately not possible. Unless your children already have an account they have been declared to be persona non grata by Zwift.
First paragraph typo: “they’ve essentially because the final company” (should be “become”)
Prices on the UK website are already increased. No opportunity for a last-minute 12 month sub at the old price.
I’m really surprised they didn’t offer a 12 month prepay retention incentive
Ouch. Between Zwift and Trainer Road, I might need to make a choice when my subscription is up for renewal. I’m already paying for my wife’s account, and $600+ a year is a bit excessive in my use case. If I have to pick, I’ll go with TR every time.
Same here, once you factor in Training Peaks as well it starts to add up. I’ve been on Zwift from the beta days and I’ve never paused for the summer. I think this year I’ll pause for the summer and keep my overall spending the same over TrainerRoad, Training Peaks and Zwift
I use Xert which is very reasonably priced and MyWhoosh which is free.
right? TR, Strava, Zwift, TP and Gym… That is AT LEAST $100 monthly.
I hear you! I was using both those as well with TR for the workouts and Zwift for the visuals, entertainment. Recently I went to TrainerDay which is something like $40/year and when my Zwift subscription comes up again I’m seriously considering MyWhooshGo as the workout player. It’s a pretty big difference going from close to $400/yr to $40/yr.
I get that they technically have not raised prices for a long time, but am still pissed because for me that is the second price increase with them in a short period of time. Because recently Zwift lured me into changing my subscription from monthly to yearly. And despite me accepting the yearly price in $ – they flipped me to the same amount in euro. Because when I joined years ago, there was no euro pricinng. Because of exchange rate, instead of saving with the yearly subscription this got slightly more expensive instead already. And now … even more.
Is Zwift running still free?
Yes.
and it’s a bad product.
I think 14,99 is just the max for these kind of apps. They should make it work for the pricepoint. Other videogames can make profit even if the game is free (counter strike 2 for example).
Right now i will cancel my subscription on zwift because the price
Yeah, and the simulation/realism is much better (F1, Rally, etc). Zwift is wasting too much of money on marketing/sponsorships to races/riders.
The problem is I really don’t care about any of the improvements they’ve made in recent years, that they’re using to justify the price increase. I’m using Zwift almost exclusively for racing, and racing has always been and remains a second thought on the platform. It’s even becoming worse, with most A races nowadays being empty or having just handful of riders. For me it’s just not worth it anymore.
So, if I sign up for a yearly subscription today (I’ve been month to month), I would get the $149.99 price until next June?
I think you are too late to get the old pricing.
I just tried to find the annual plan for $149. Even clicking past email links, it is up to $199. I’ve emailed them and asked if current members might be allowed to do a yearly subscription at the $149 price since the increase is supposed to start after June 6. We’ll see how they respond.
I’d love to know the answer to that as I just tried to do the same thing.
This seems madness to me, I think they will loose more members than they gain in the price increase. Very poorly managed and communicated at Zwift as well.
I think moving the (UK) annual price to around £149 would have been reasonable and would have pushed people to move from monthly to annual membership (and not pause over the summer, so ensuring Zwift gets the income).
MyWhoosh wins here
I suspect the unspoken part of “pausing” kids accounts may stem from the new restrictions on minors’ accounts on social media websites working their way through legislatures in the United States. I research in computer security and privacy, and my colleagues working in this particular space will basically give you the 🤷🏻♂️ emoji if you ask for a prediction on what the law (and penalties) will be after the bills pass and inevitable First Amendment challenges are heard. I would not be surprised if Zwift’s general counsel is telling them the same thing.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right but when contacting Zwift they said, “ I would also like to confirm that if your kids already had a U16 account, their accounts will still be renewed with normality until they turn 16”. If you’re right, that’s simply not a guarantee they can make.
I wouldn’t like it but I’d be willing to pay and change their ages (like parents have to do on other sites every kid uses) if I had to as long as long as they could keep their progress and equipment. But if they lose everything they’ve done to get to level 44 and 35 then we, and that includes my wife and I, will go elsewhere.
The key is that many of the new laws are targeting enforcement at onboarding. The lawmakers don’t want the heat from media savvy kids caused by telling Facebook, TikTok, etc they have to *purge* their user base of those same kids. They just want the easy win to say “see parents, we’re protecting kids”.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts with those of whose who aren’t as close to the situation. I already had preparatory talks with my kids after school – “you may eventually lose your bikes, jerseys, and levels and possibly be required to ride at an inflated weight”. Currently a birthday prior to 2007 is requiring 40kg weight. But in the end, I will sign them up as age 16 if I have to with Zwift or another platform because they can’t ride outside in the winter in Wisconsin and they’re killing the kids who didn’t train in the winter.
With the icTrainer app, training is still free for kids up to the age of 16.
My thought as well. Interesting almost no law uses the age 16 as a cutoff. It’s either 13 or 18.
I’ve switched to an annual plan last year (as soon as it became available) and with this price increase I’m thinking of switching back to a monthly plan and simply cancelling it for summer when I mostly ride outdoors anyways – then I would save three months compared to two on an annual plan. Or maybe switch to a different platform altogether – Zwift is nice but I’m not sure it’s €200/year nice.
I’ve just been zwifting for three months, and as I’m typically using the platform once or twice a week, I really can’t justify €19,99 per month — €14,99 was already a high price for me. I feel extra sad, because I just bought the Zwift cog for virtual shifting for my Kickr Core a month ago, which means that shifting platforms also means buying yet another cassette. Any tips from other people in this situation?
indieVelo has had virtual shifting since before Zwift did and will allow you to use your Zwift Cog just fine (for free – for now). You won’t be able to use a Click or Play to shift with, but a microkeyboard attached to your Garmin mount (my choice) or a set of programmable keys works well for most.
Thanks, Paul! I will look into it. I was hoping to use my iPad, but it seems IndieVelo doesn’t support iOS. Well, you can’t have it all, I guess;-)
Ah, I’m in the founder’s club (I pay for iV). They’ve had a test version of it on iOS for founder’s club members to try it out and work out the kinks for the last month or two, so I had forgotten that it wasn’t out for everyone. Not sure when George is planning on taking the iOS version out for wider release.
I’ve though about this in the past but don’t know how you would programme keys for click responses. Please advise
It’s available for testing already if you are in the founders club
The indoor cycling software from icTrainer now also offers virtual cycling (here is the German tutorial: link to youtube.com ) – and costs just two USD per month ;-)
I will try the new Mywhoosh GO for zero $ .
If it is good for Pogacar, will good for me also.
The major beef with Mywhoosh that I have heard is there is not enough users, it will be interesting to see if this changes that. I am downloading it now and going to give it a try.
Seems odd that both MyWhoosh and IndieVelo not mentioned in the comparison list!? How come?
Because, as it says, the comparison list is from 2018. Did either MyWhoosh or IndieVelo exist then?
It’s comparing price changes. Not really applicable as one is in beta and one is free.
I’m torn. I enjoy Zwift when I have to ride inside but usually if I’m indoors I’m also following a specific training plan. And the amount of time it takes me to get Zwift up and running and into a map, yada, yada…I could already be riding the same plan on my Edge computer. In fact that’s what I’ve been doing for months ever since my PC died that was dedicated to my bike room and I never bothered to replace it. I just put on a TV show or movie.
If I’m just doing a “casual” indoor ride then Zwift is great…but if I’m training then I don’t need it at all.
Seems MyWhoosh Apple TV beta isn’t accepting new testers, I’ve sent them an email about this. Maybe there’s a more correct link.
It’s not in beta anymore. Just visit the App Store on your Apple TV and download.
Beta is over since one month. Download the official release.
Yeah the support people let me know as well, thanks :)
Have they ever considered Fortnite approach with free gameplay, but selling virtual jerseys (skins) and race passes? Their subscribers number has stalled over the past couple of years, and increasing prices will definitely not help it.
I bailed when it was in beta and free.
Never understood it, tried it about 10x again.
It is that Garmin killed 4k on TDA and might a few stupid only Garmin mistakes else TDA would have been perfect by now.
It seems Zwift has only 2 options to stop your subscription “Pause” or “Cancel”. Do you know if Canceling will remove your zwift progress?
I remember there were 3 options before, something like: Pause (for a period of time), Stop (Indefinitely, kept progress when resumed) and Cancel (Delete Account, killed progress).
Thanks!
“Cancel” will convert your account into a free tier at the end of the current billing cycle, but won’t delete any progress, so you will remain at your level. Free tier allows 25km of riding each month.
I just paused my account. I was required to indicate how long the “pause” will last. The limit that you can indicate a pause is only 8 weeks. According to the TOS, auto billing starts again at the end of the 8 weeks. I will have to see if you can pause again without being charged (for a month).
Hi Ray is there a chart indicating pricing around the world? curious what countries may not be impacted by these hikes.
Not sure where the logic is to increase 33%.
Global pricing is on this support page: link to support.zwift.com
Note that while it says payments after June 6, annual pricing went up immediately so there is no opportunity to switch and save.
I would have liked to seem them deliver the new roads and training app API before raising prices. Really looks like the wahoo/zwift settlement was not a win for consumers.
I can understand the Peloton cost as I’ve used it for all around gym replacement with the variety of different classes from running, cycling, weights and stretches.
But Zwift just for being one dimensional and at this price? No thanks, here comes Mywhoosh (That you somehow failed to mention)….
I included a link to a listing of all training platforms and price (or, lack thereof). As for “somehow failing to mention” it, MyWhoosh didn’t exist in 2017/2018, thus, logically, it wouldn’t be included on a chart of price differences between 2017 and 2024.
Presumably Zwift must be short on cash if they are increasing memberships when NH usage is seasonably low. No incentive to carry on over summer and they just effectively sent out a reminder to people that they have a subscription they should cancel!
I normally just let it tick over during the NH summer despite not using it much. I’ve just cancelled
The comparison is missing MyWhoosh, which comes free to ride!
As noted, MyWhoosh didn’t exist in 2017, which was the point of the chart – showing price increases. Additionally, as noted, it was in the linked post of all platforms.
The competition is heating up if people want alternatives. indieVelo is free (or cheaper than zwift to be a founder member) and already functionality superior to zwift for events and training. Looks and feels have a long way to go.
myWhoosh is a more of a poor zwift clone, but will be free forever and is improving fast.
All I am going to comment is that having increased Eric Min postings of his jetsetting destinations on social media does not make me warm and fuzzy about a 33% increase heading into summer. Just poor optics IMHO.
With that said, the price increase was coming…just wasn’t going to happen during the pandemic.
Thanks as always Ray for getting the information out there free of the “world is ending” rants I’ve seen today
When will you be reviewing indievelo? You can start free currently and paid it was cheaper than previous zwift price.
Maybe an influx of new paid users there will help them mature the platform. It sure has come far quickly
Soon (which, I know I said forever ago, not sure how it’s May already…sigh). It’s great though!
bkool or rouvy since I will pay 15 a month to have an indoor service, although, really, for what I do, mywoosh is more than good enough if I get right down to it and free.
In Australia it is now $300 a year up from $230. Monthly is now $30. I just recently cancelled our subscription services to afford the old prices, no way we can afford this.
Not even an introduction of a family account either?
Goodbye Zwift. I never really cared for your cartoons and gamification despite subscribing for several years. I really have only used you for structured workouts during the bad weather days anyhow. I can use TrainerDay for a much better price point and get better workouts. If I want something more glamorous, I’m also downloading MyWhoosh right now for a trial in case I need some eye candy during my workouts.
The more I think about the price increase of Zwift, the more it bothers me. I felt it was already at a steep premium for what it delivered and how much I used it.
I tried MyWoosh running on my laptop. It was very laggy at medium video settings. On low graphics, it was practically unwatchable. Outside of performance issues, the world and experience was similar to Zwift but not quite as refined.
I really liked the physics in the now defunct RGT cycling platform. I’m now going to give IndieVelo a try in hopes that it is an improved experience.
MyWhoosh finally released an appleTV version and the GO version for lower specs PCs. It runs smoothly on Windows laptops without a dedicated graphic card.
link to mywhoosh.com
a list of structured workouts:
link to bikeclimbs.com
I also really liked the RGT cycling platform. Just tried Mywoosh on ipad and really what a surprise!: fast connection with power meter/watch, good graphics, fun racing (less participants then zwift but hope more people will join :-) )…. I am going to cancel Zwift and continue with Mywoosh.
I really liked RGT too. For $15 you got structured + free ride. Such a good deal.
You could also have mentioned MyWhoosh, since it is still free (but I do understand all the concerns you mentioned in your 2022 article) and now they even advertise how the’re a UCI partner (money talks, I guess). I am no expert and not a heavy user, but to be honest, the platform has been improving and user feedback has been somewhat answered (they even created a new lighter app for PC users with less powerful machines!). I have tried several apps (Tacx Training, Zwift, Rouvy, Kinomap and MyWhoosh) and ended up using MyWhoosh when I need an indoor training session. The user base of Zwift is really great, but I seem to find it eroding, as many of my more focused cycling friends have been moving away from Zwift (some to MyWhoosh, others to Rouvy, etc…)
MyWhoosh is included in the full list of all training apps, linked in the article.
The price has gone up twice since 2017.
£8 2017
£13 2019
£18 2024 (converts to $22.50)
UK pricing is the most expensive region. What did we do wrong?
Brexit
ICTrainer – 20,- / Year!!!
I have been a Zwifter since the Beta days, and I just decided to cancel my subscription. I have had periods over the years when I didn’t Zwift much, but I never paused my membership. I don’t necessarily think the new price is outrageous, but it becomes really expensive with multiple family members – of which some bike a lot less than me. I think Zwift needs to offer some kind of family plan, and until that happens this family will use another platform.
Really sad about the hardware. We had a market filled with $500 trainers for just a moment in time before they consolidated and now are back to $650.
Indeed. But, there are still trainers at the lower price, and many of them pretty darn good.
The Wahoo KICKR CORE is sold on
link to rei.com
link to competitivecyclist.com
or at many local bicycle retailers, unbundled from the Zwift membership at $500 USD+tax.
Why is Canada still getting screwed? $649 USD = $892 CAD, vs wahoo charging $1049 CAD, over $150 CAD difference.
I would assume import duties (or other support/transportion/etc factors, since it’s likely everything has to route via the US). The price was $999CAD before, so the $50 increase is the same as other regions.
Do consumers not have to pay those import duties? Because I know people in Canada who have bought the Kickr from US websites and all they had to pay was a reasonable shipping cost and nothing else and saved a bunch of money. So I’m still scratching my head at this.
And yes I know the increase just maintains the status quo, but this price change shines the light on it again and they could have used this price change as an opportunity to rectify (or at least ameliorate) this injustice.
It doesn’t appear to indicate any extra duties, when I go through the cart process (though, does appear to add a $115CAD shipping charge). The FAQ for the Wahoo site, which is where the Zwift Hub/KICKR CORE is purchased, indicates duties are paid at time of purchase, and appear to be fully included. It is a fully Canadian (Wahoo) site.
However, it then adds tax (just like it does in the US), which, when I added my inlaws house in Newfoundland, adds another $174CAD – bringing the grand total to $1,339.74 (or $975USD including 1-year of Zwift, for a KICKR CORE).
But yes, normally, if you order something from the US on a US site, you’d be charged whatever duties are required by Canadian import.
Wow that wahoo site is really screwing the you (if you were to complete the order).
Here is a real order from amazon.com (the US site, not amazon.ca) of the kickr core to Canada for comparison. This is all in, no further charges had to be paid upon delivery or anywhere else. It’s from a few months back when they were having a nice sale on it:
Order Summary
Item(s) Subtotal:
USD 479.99
Shipping & Handling:
USD 60.56
Total before tax:
USD 540.55
Estimated tax to be collected:
USD 0.00
Import Charges:
USD 25.12
Grand Total:
USD 565.67
Payment Grand Total:
CAD 807.43
Yeah, it doesn’t seem awesome.
That said, it’s always hard to know on an Amazon.com sale, who exactly is taking the ‘loss’. It could have been a 3rd party seller, Amazon.com themselves, or Wahoo offloading extra inventory at the time.
But yeah, at the moment, it still shows $480USD, so definitely a better deal via Amazon (or seemingly anywhere else) than via Wahoo’s site. Surprised to see that bad a difference.
This was direct from amazon.com, not 3rd party seller, and as you saw the same price seems to be in effect right now and I went to the checkout and that same approx CAD 800 appears to be the all in price still today. I don’t think anyone is taking the loss, I think wahoo is taking a win because zwift.com doesn’t ship to canada so they don’t have any ‘direct’ competition.
What about free alternatives like indieVelo or MyWhoosh? I think it would be worth mentioning them here as they are way closer to be a competitor than many of the apps you cite IMO
The MyWhoosh praised here repulses me. I need a big monster of a computer to run the game smoothly. The APPLE TV version is also not smooth. The driving feel is stiff. A bicycle with a person in it seems too big for the surrounding world. Lack of realism in dynamics. It feels like the bike is riding on rails like a train. Zwift is more pleasing to the eye and the dynamics of the bike’s movement. Greater feeling of speed. I wouldn’t pay even $5 for MyWhoosh, but if it’s free it’s ok.
The indoor cycling software from icTrainer.com is not for free, but for two usd per month it offers an extremely wide range of functions for people who want to train in a structured way.
Albeit without computer-animated races… ;-)
As noted, there’s a linked list of all trainer apps and prices (including free apps). The list above, was purely for apps that existed 7 years ago, looking at the price changes.
That will cause me to re-evaluate my membership.
I only really use Zwift for structured workouts with a bit of visual interest.
I’m not interested in the social side, not bothered about new routes, never bought anything in the drop shop (anyone want 8 million unused drops), don’t do group rides. I do like the structured workouts, but can probably replicate those in a different platform at a much lower price.
You can do training for free using Wahoo ROAM, Garmin or another company.
Thanks ArT – and yes, I could run the smart trainer using my Garmin Edge or fenix I think.
I do like some visual distraction while doing so, which is why I really started with Zwift – otherwise I’d probably use TrainerRoad. I’ll probably go back and have a look at Rouvy again, although when I last used that, I didn’t really like the training programs.
That’s right, Zwift rewards our laziness by providing ready-made training plans. However, with a little effort, we can design these plans ourselves. Nothing complicated about it. However, lack of time makes us buy Zwift again.
My 2 cents:
I agree that every other company (not only fitness apps) is increasing prices but i see that zwift quality is not growing. Most updates are just fixes or small changes, new roads are a rarity, graphics is still ‘second life style’ (climb portal it’s a joke ) and so on.
It seems to me that the more the cost of the subscription increases, the slower the release of new updates becomes
That’s why i’m not happy with this news.
Say what? I’ve been on Zwift for 17 months now. During that time, they’ve added Scotland and the Southern Coast on Watopia, and they’re about to add a climb from the Southern Coast up to the Epic KOM. That sounds like new roads to me. They’ve also added the climb portals. I agree about the climb portal scenery, but the scenery isn’t why you enter, and this way they can add new climbs rapidly. I don’t know how real they are, since I’ve never ridden any of the ones I’ve done IRL, but they seem real enough. (Maybe they should add the Greenlee road climb here in Central PA.)
So for you scotland and 19km in watopia are enough ?
the last update was titan groove in 2019 for the main world. (the road were ready in april 2019 (fuego flat expansion) but they completed them only in august.
they have added 19km in 5 years to watopia !
No for me it is not proportionate to the increase in cost of the subscription (
I apologize if the last sentence is written in bad English)
Depends how long you have been on the platform. Road expansion is so slow now compared to the early days. Been on since beta when worlds and road got added regularly. Seems more rides and resources has slowed world development at Zwift. They really need a magic/AI road generator like RGT had
I already felt Zwift’s subscription price was too high for what it is, and the lack of meaningful updates over the years (Apple Watch integration is still flakey. They still don’t display what gear I’m in on my kickr bike). I’ve also been less interested in the social parts/racing, and more interested in ERG workouts recently. So with this price increase, it’s probably time to say goodbye to Zwift.
I will probably give TrainerDay and Mywhoosh a look instead.
i wouldnt pay more than $4.99 for this service. I tried it and didnt see the value of a toonish trainer app
Zwift is mainly about riding with people and racing. No platform with the PRO edition will give me this. Only zwift for racing. That’s why I’ll buy Zwift in the winter because it’s worth one outdoor race.
However, I don’t need Zwift in the summer. A six-month subscription for $80-90 max would be useful.
A paying Zwift user since 2015, with this they lost me. I cancelled my subscription immediately after receiving that email. Why?
– No grandfathering at all (e.g. like Trainerroad), I’m a +/-9 year paying customer, at least they could have notified their long standing users or have some scheme. I would be happy to pay a bit more, but not in this way.
– Zwift is not there anymore for the core cyclist, it’s a greedy business behind it which are just there to make money. I do understand a business needs to make money, but there’s a limit there, why all the budget/money to marketing? Not to attract the core cyclists because they’ll be already on the platform. Not using that money to make the platform better, a new route here and there and some easier features.
– All that marketing&money and then they even lost the UCI events to MyWhoosh.
– It’s not that I don’t want to pay for a platform, tried Mywhoosh, don’t really like it – somehow it always feels running slow for me, sense of speed is not there.
Decided to go to Indievelo, Apple versions are in BETA for paying users (12.99$/month or 129$/year) – tested the IOS version this morning quickly, runs very smooth on 4K & 60FPS on Iphone 15 with output to 4K screen. It’s not as “polished” yet as Zwift, but for my usage (7-8hours/week) quality/price the best platform I could find.
The price increase is hefty, and Zwift’s communication of the change left me uninspired. That said, I have cancelled my subscription during the warm weather riding months, as a way to maximize my riding miles per $$$ spent on the platform. I typically pay for Zwift 6 months each year, so essentially my cost is only a $30 increase in the upper midwest of N. America. With inflation what it is in the States right now, Zwift’s price hike did not come as a big surprise . . . perhaps more of a disappointment.
I’ve been working on a virtual cycling app called Biketerra (https://biketerra.com)
It’s 3D that runs in your browser. You can upload *any* real-world routes and ride them virtually.
No multiplayer (yet); for now, the focus is on training and workouts. Would love to get some a few more eyeballs on it, to help shape the app’s roadmap :)
It looks really cool. If you can follow your own GPX track, that’s what I miss on Zwift.
I tried it but it works incredibly slow! one frame every 15 seconds.
Could you tell me more about the device you’re using? It almost sounds like the browser’s Hardware Acceleration setting is turned off.
I tried it too. I can assure that HW acceleration is on but I have an underpowered video card. It is very slow. For the level of graphics I am seeing the game should fly. Maybe all those async calls in a browser can not substitute for real threads and somehow mess up performance.
Could you elaborate on what you mean by underpowered? What are the specs?
We use an iPad 9th gen as our baseline test device, and it runs smoothly. It also seems to run well on any moderately recent phone.
Would love to get to the bottom of the reported lagginess if you’ve got some time to spare.
GeForce 1030 2GB RAM. The CPU is AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16core with 128GB RAM
Wow, those are great specs.
Any chance you could email me at hello[ at ]biketerra.com?
We’ll figure out the cause of the slowness. Biketerra runs at 60fps on my iPad, so your PC should handle it no-sweat.
emailed from kostya exsotron com
This is not the first price increase in 7 years in Canada. It has been increased a few times.
Who remember anno the blue ghost riders on Zwift?
It was a great beginning of a beautiful friendship.
The 10$ monthly price was absolutely OK.
15 was too much, 20$ is for me inacceptable.
Thankfully MyWhoosh is still free and getting better every day!
Rouvy is 14.99 a month they have duo and group accounts as well
Mywhoosh is free
Indievelo is free
Kinomap 11.99
fulgaz 12.99
veloreality 9.95/14.95 depending on resolution
GTbikev just requires you to have a pc copy of GTA v
trainer road 19.95
icTrainer: 1,96 USD per month
None of these apps offer PRO level racing like Zwift.
I just canceled the membership with Strava. €199/€19,99 is too much.
Crazy business logic ! Surely they should have warned people they were going to up the prices (maybe say in August or July) then a lot of people would have went all in for the yearly membership?
Now, a lot more customers are going to freeze their accounts over the outdoor focused summer months and many won’t come back…
Almost as if they want to devalue the company so it gets bought by someone else?
Instead of raising the price by $1 a year, they prefer an earthquake and increase the price by 34%.
For some effort to setup there is zwift-offline on github as an alternative…
BKOOL is much cheaper, I guess 11$/month and plenty of races like Giro d’Italia. It has HD video and good speed feeling.My choice since 2015
Im not sure ‘enjoy the ride’ should be reading ‘taken for a ride” ?
Just cancelled my Zwift account. I’ve been with them for 5 years but time to move on. Was getting bored with it all anyway and this sealed the deal (of my departure). Haven’t seen any innovation or real improvements for several years now. This is not how a good company treats loyal customers.
MyWhoosh will improve. IndieVelo will improve. Others will come.
This looks to me like the beginning of the end for Zwift Company. CEO will continue his fun jet-setting routines until the funding dries up.
Bye bye!
Zwift says I’m going to pay a higher price next month but then says it will be €0 (because of the Wahoo RGT one year code).
It’s confusing to get an email with a price hike when you’re on an annual promo that isn’t going to expire until half a year from now.
That being said: this officially prices Zwift out of my wallet.
Oh well – so Rouvy it is for me now. I wanted to give it a try anyway and Zwift just gave the final push here.
BigRingVR is still good value for money.
This is really ridiculous. But unfortunately, it follows a trend. There are certain consulting firms whose business is to propose (and calculate) price increases for companies. They will have calculated it very precisely at ZWIFT: The additional revenue from the price increase versus the lost revenue from cancellations. It’s a shame, this is pure capitalism: Companies just want to earn as much money as possible and it is no longer important to them to give as many people as possible a good experience. We‘ve seen the same with STRAVA and others … :-(
I like Zwift but use it mostly as a platform to run my workouts, first from TrainerRoad but after they went up in price, from TrainerDay which is $40/year. I’m seriously considering pairing TrainerDay with MyWhooshGo when my Zwift subscription is up.
I definitely see the value in Zwift if you’re racing or doing a lot of the social rides but for us who use it as a workout tool it all seems a bit much when there are free alternatives.
I actually have not received an email from Zwift, detailing this price increase. Social Media has alerted me to what is going on.
I don’t use Zwift regularly. If I am on a roll, i might use it 2 or maybe 3 times through the week on a Pace Partner ride. If the weather is bad on the weekend, I might get on Zwift to keep the legs turning over, but then it might go a few weeks with no action at all.
A 30% cost increase on something I am not really using to its full potential seems like a sign to drop the platform.
Perhaps they need to look at a second tier subscription for “occasional” users?
Anyway… there are alternantives out there. I’m now just motivated to check them out.
Nothing like pushing out the Zwift Game pads and increasing the price :).
After reading about the price increase, I tried MyWhoosh with the Zwift cog and although the click buttons obviously don’t work, riding in ERG mode is no problem at all, albeit I can only change gears on the front disc. I’m going to pause my Zwift membership and take 8 weeks to see if MyWhoosh is a viable alternative.
What I don’t understand, or just find frustrating, is that my membership page on Zwift still tells me my next billing (16th of May) will be €14,99, but when I click ‘change membership’ or ‘switch’, I get screens telling me my monthly fee is €19,99 and annual fee is €199,99. It really isn’t that I don’t want to pay for Zwift, but 20 Euro’s is to steep for me – cycling indoors only once or twice a week – and the way Zwift announced this and didn’t allow for a grace period doesn’t really get me into the mood to really consider following their price increase.
I tried it too. I can assure that HW acceleration is on but I have an underpowered video card. It is very slow. For the level of graphics I am seeing the game should fly. Maybe all those async calls in a browser can not substitute for real threads and somehow mess up performance.
GeForce 1030 2GB RAM. The CPU is AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16core with 128GB RAM
I just left Zwift.
This is the worse timing ever for their business to increase prices at the beginning of the summer … don’t they have a brain ? The software was slow, with many bugs, and not improving despite piles of money racking in each month.
I will carefully review alternatives, but what I can say is that I never had as much fun as with Bkool “HIT” sessions. Kinomap “lifetime” purchase is also very attractive to me, but workouts seem super messy.
It sounds a bit crazy to me that there is not a single “workout player” available on iPhone, to train from regular files without paying a subscription, and having a fancy 3D world I don’t care about.
Try TrainerDay if you just want a workout player. You can create or download workouts in their app. It’s not free to have full features, but at $4 USD per month it’s incredibly reasonable.
I mainly use xert app on my iPhone to do xert workout and ride zwift.
I just cancelled, after my last pre-hike payment. I basically use Zwift as a workout player. The gamification makes it a bit more interesting, but not £18 a month of interesting. Maybe I’ll write my own workout player.
It also triggered me to review various other subscriptions. I’ll be saving over £50 per month just like that. Thanks Zwift for the nudge.
Now saved over £150 per month. Zwift crashed the economy.
Funny that my membership stopped yesterday May 31st and this morning I tried to subscribe for another year but they already implemented the new pricing …. Wasn’t it supposed to be on June 6th ? :)
Looks like I ll be trying new platforms :()