PSA: Zwift price increase

Option one
We wave a carrot for existing year membership and get a huge cash injection, getting through our financial problems

Option two
We take the piss and stop monthly cash flow from many.

as ZI points out, it is the first price hike for 6 ½ years

I don’t think that is true, I am pretty sure it went up last year by a couple a couple of quid.

Me and the Mrs have just binned ours as well.  Whilst I think the new price is probably reasonable if you can use it a few times a week, I’m just not using it much and the price hike was the catalyst to get rid now the weather is improving.  Will probably sign up again in the winter or try other providers to see what’s out there.

We are all wired differently but it wasn’t for me. I used zwift back when it was free and then when it was £3.99pm I think. But I never really enjoyed the racing side of it and whilst just riding around in a virtual world is nice enough, I can take my pain without the fluff and butterflies.

I used turbos for years before smart turbos were a thing. If you have the right mindset you don’t need a virtual world to blow out of your hoop. I used trainerroad when it was free/cheap too but that’s got expensive as well. Now I use Trainer Day. $39 for a year I think it was. Enough to programme in a workout or pick one up from a vast library. Then music or a film or something to keep you entertained.

For someone who’s sport isn’t virtual racing (this appears to now be a thing – an end in itself rather than a means to an end outdoors) , isn’t a honed athlete with a structured training regime but just wants an indoor alternative when it’s miserable outside (to be clear a blast around the woods in the dark in January for an hour trumps sitting on a turbo in all but the most miserable weather) and you need an alternative the likes of Zwift and Trainer Road are becoming unreasonable.

@vlad_the_invader

That’s pretty cool.

https://flux-web.vercel.app/

Ha, I keep returning to an idea of hosting in-person turbo nights at a local studio.

Round up a bunch of cheap second hand fluid turbos, rig up some decent videos (or compile GoPro footage of local roads and segments, bang on some loud tunes to give it a party vibe, then lead some basic structured sessions.

I reckoned it might tempt the part-timers off Zwift, maybe even more so if the price has gone up!

For someone who’s sport isn’t virtual racing (this appears to now be a thing – an end in itself rather than a means to an end outdoors) ,

Any analysis I saw on Zwift indicated that fewer than 10% of users ever used it for racing. It’s just that the 10% shouted loudest 😂

I’ve really enjoyed zwift racing last winter. But cancelled in April when most of it ended and the clocks changed. Not had any emails, maybe because my account is paused for now. When It gets back to starting up again I think I’ll try some of the other options for a few weeks. All I really want is some motivation for training through winter. Zwift was good because there was always an event or race.

I’ve ended up cancelling. I wasn’t really getting good value at the old price, so this nudged it into the weeds.

I’ll just go back to running workouts on my Garmin head unit and watch a bit of Netflix

Jeez, I was hoping they’d reduce prices to compete with MyWhoosh. Well that’s me done with it. That’s greed at its finest

That’s me cancelled too. Only ever use it in the dark depths of winter, but in November this year I’ll be looking for other options. Maybe even just use the Garmin to simulate my local rides.

Jeez, I was hoping they’d reduce prices to compete with MyWhoosh.

Yeah. I appreciate they haven’t increased their prices for years, but they’ve still always been at the top end of the spectrum. With more competition, raising prices significantly seems an odd move.

Ironically, if they reduced their prices, they’d probably get more money out of me. As it is I only pay for 2 or 3 months over winter; if it was say, two thirds of the price, I’d probably pay all year round.

I’ve had a think about it and cancelled mine. Thinking about it the last few times I’ve used my trainer I did the recommended workouts from my Garmin watch. I’ll look at the alternatives in winter.

Garmin has some decent workouts and if you have a Garmin then you get them free.
I’d paused my Zwift account about 4 weeks ago, saw this thread and went and cancelled my account.
Email arrived confirming my account has been cancelled and 1 minute later an email telling me the monthly price is rising…so a scheduled email out to members at a staggered rate, but impeccable timing for it to arrive with me.

I cancelled as soon as I got the email as £18 sounded like a huge jump.

I’ve also just finished a training plan to prep for a sportive on 19th May so I’ll be using it less over the next few months anyway.

But, I’ve just jumped on Zwift for an hour and had a great ride, finding someone to ride round with for half an hour, completing a route and getting a new FTP. All for about £1.50 per ride on my current price (and less than £2 on the new price). So maybe I’ve been a little hasty. I’ll still pause it over the summer but I reckon I’ll likely be back in the autumn.

DickBarton, how do you pause your account rather than cancelling it?

Not been using it for that long and price vs use is now a bit wtf.

Got the email and think £18.99 is taking the mick, my price doesnt change till my next next bill date on the 22nd June so it can stay for now, but will then be cancelled!

I think I’m ok with it – still cheaper than Trainer Road or similar. I tend to do 2 rides a week on average and it’s often an intense high intensity race for below an hour or light zone 2 for 45-60 mins. Time I’d struggle to get kitted up / out on the bike and do anything meaningful with.

A lot of companies are jumping on the inflation bandwagon and banging charges up – Strava lost me at the last price hike as I don’t get enough value out of that.

I think I’m ok with it – still cheaper than Trainer Road or similar.

Trainerroad looks like $20/month, which is a fair bit cheaper than £18/month.

I find it kinda weird that you’re okay with the Zwift price increase of £5/month, but objected to the Strava price increase of £7/year.

@inbred853 – go to the website and login. Under your account is a Membership section…there is an option to cancel or pause. Pausing allows you to select a pause for 1, 2 or 3 months.

No point pausing it though, just cancel and reactivate when you’re ready.

I’ve been on zwift now since ooo 2016, before it was popular. For the first few years I kept it going over the summer with a commitment to use it once a week to justify the cost. The last time there was a price rise I started to cancel it over the summer and then one year because finances were tight I cancelled it over the winter period. Instead I just did zone 2 stuff with a YouTube video of some roads and actually preferred to just face the grim roads of winter riding instead. This winter I loaded zwift back up again and actually I was really disappointed with it and frustrated, options seemed to be just workouts and races, no more social group rides and camaraderie. I’m also annoyed that they continue to schedule zwift academy at a stupid time of the year and have ruined it by removing any sort of group mentality. I’d already decided that come next winter I won’t be signing back up and this is the final nail in the coffin. No way what they’re delivering for me is worth that outlay.

Cancelled too.  Increase is too greedy and don’t use in the summer.  Will review options in the autumn.

I actually got through a first stage interview with them a while back, but then they said the entire team that I would have been hired into was abandoned. They did seem to be doing quite a lot of R&D which I guess was initially funded by the covid boom. I think they wanted a bit more of the lucrative Peleton market as those users tend to come from non-cyclists. They had a round of layoffs a few months ago too

actually I was really disappointed with it and frustrated, options seemed to be just workouts and races, no more social group rides and camaraderie.

possibly didn’t have the right filters selected? There are still loads of social rides every day, “The Herd” is a great group for organising these. Also Zwift themselves had their “Big Spin” events recently, which were 100% social rides.

They had a round of layoffs a few months ago too

yeah, I don’t know if it is “greed” or just the need to actually start making money now in order to pay back investors! There was an interview with the founder about a year ago where he said the old pricing was basically unsustainable.

Everything that is subscription-based is getting more and more expensive.  Those investors that have propped them up for the last few years are going to want a return on that cash sooner or later.   

I think I must be in the minority that find the new price still reasonable.  It’s no more than it would cost me to go for 1-2 rides outdoors plus it’s far easier to jump on the trainer when time is short.  The cost is no more than a cinema trip or a cheap pub meal so I’ll be sticking with it for a while.  Normally I’d be pausing it for the summer but my fitness is horrific right now so starting a training plan later this week!

Cancelled my subscription as well, just can’t see any real value at the new price. I’m guessing they’ll try and weather it out until the winter in the hope that everyone comes running back? Surely someone at Zwift is panicking looking at all these cancellations?

I’ll be using Wahoo’s version in the winter if My Whoosh hasn’t improved, it’s not much cheaper but it’s quite good and I considered switching over to it last winter but everyone else was on Zwift.

I wouldn’t mind if they were constantly developing new tracks, realistic scenery etc. but it hasn’t drastically changed since I started using it over 4 years ago.

A big hike suggests they are struggling. How the hell can you be struggling when you’re the market leader, hundreds of thousands of subs, and you rarely add anything to the platform? Someone’s really messed up.

Possibly, didn’t they also get in to some bother with Wahoo as the zwift turbo trainers were a copy of a Wahoo? I bet that wasn’t cheap even if it was settled outside of court.

 Is there an easy to use free workout creator? Something that looks like Trainerroad / Sufferfest but I don’t need the coaching/library/videos? Just something that’ll let me plan a workout, talk to the trainer and show a HUD / Graph.

It’s a bit of a steep learning curve, but Golden Cheetah can do this – and once you know how to use it then it’s pretty straightforward. You can even play videos with the workouts, so you can do a DIY Sufferfest sort of thing (if you have the old Sufferfest videos downloaded then it’s even better).

niel11

I wouldn’t mind if they were constantly developing new tracks, realistic scenery etc. but it hasn’t drastically changed since I started using it over 4 years ago.

To be fair to Zwift, this is something I don’t think you can level at them.
There are tons more routes & worlds than their used to be and the scenery at least if played on a half decent PC or laptop is pretty good. It looks pretty basic on Android though, and no idea about Apple stuff.

Makuri Islands was released in 2021
Scotland was released in 2023
There was a decent update to Watopia not that long ago with a load of new roads & routes
They released the climbing portal not that long ago

ROUVY.

but I’ve switched mine off for summer as I won’t use it. 15usd for one, 20 for a duo account.

i usually pause mine for summer, but such a big increase in one go does feel a bit naff.

I think i am in the minority of Zwift users that actually enjoys it and am happy with how it has developed and grown. Extra routes, plenty of events, workout options etc.

But then i go into it looking to ride or do a few simple workouts. rather than race at a pro level or do month long training plans.

Seems like many are cancelling on the Zwift forum too, so will be interesting to see how Zwift react.

This is taking the biscuit!  I rode 10,000km last year, of which ~6000km were indoors on Zwift.  I love it, its easy. Its entertaining.  It works with my life.  However, 90% of what I use it for are personal workouts.  Am I right in saying I can use the Tacx software to re-create my personal workouts?

I don’t use zwift, on trainerroad instead. Similar-ish pricing, which I don’t have an issue with at all. Ride twice a week and it’s like what, £2 or £3 a go?! You can’t even by a decent coffee or half pint for that.

I’ve really got into the racing over the winter and was going to keep it going over the summer to do the Thursday night TTs only but at that price I’m just moving away from it. I’ll re-sign in the winter no doubt but then I used it two or three nights a week.

@ernie – similar here, I create all my workouts in TrainingPeaks and ride them in Zwift – the visual stimulation is welcome with some background music and helps me sit on there a while longer adding some Z2 after my intervals.

I can apparently do the same in MyWoosh so will be chcking that out, just looking for something a little more engaging than TrainerRoad graphs.

I rarely use the pace partners or races and can happily live without them, not interseted in group workouts or academy etc.

Maybe they should have a tiered subscription, something like a fiver for basic access then extra for premium content.

There are tons more routes & worlds than their used to be and the scenery at least if played on a half decent PC or laptop is pretty good.

That’s all pretty meaningless though.  What we really want is features that actually do stuff.  Someone else had to develop Zwiftpower, the thing that made the races work properly, before they bought it up. How about a velodrome? That would be great.

@zilog6128 I’ll be a bit more specific, a lot less social rides which weren’t full of blokes bitching the entire time or making ‘jokes’, (surprisingly after using zwift for so long I know how to use filters). There used to be a couple of week night rides that I went to regularly and there were more group rides as part of zwift academy. This last winter everytime I went on and thought I’d check for group rides I gave up as the pace either didn’t suit or it was just races and workouts.

I’m guessing the UCI moving to mywhoosh for the official virtual cycling competition will have hit them financially, I fear this will be the beginning of the end for Zwift unless they get bought by a sport washing state. A lot of the  big cycling brandssuppliers from when I came back to the sport in 2009 have gone the same way, it’s a shame really.

I really enjoyed Zwift during Covid and used it a lot the following years but I only used it for a couple of months last winter, and at £18 a month I’ll stick with the gym down the road for £15 a month.

Anyone want to buy a cheap smart turbo?