ZwiftHQ sent an email blast today announcing an immediate increase in the monthly subscription price, from $10US to $15US. Subscribers from other countries may see their price increase by a greater percentage, with some complaining of an increase of 75% or more. Existing subscribers have the current price locked in for one year.
Why the price increase? Here’s how ZwiftHQ explains it:
We raised our monthly membership in order to continue to make Zwift a bigger, better and more beautiful experience to help you improve your cycling performance and achieve your fitness goals. From a scrappy little team that could all fit around a table and share a meal, Zwift’s staff continues to grow with programmers, artists, designers, testers, community managers, coaches, and an around the clock support staff working to help Zwifters when you have questions…
Here is the complete text of ZwiftHQ’s email:
Three years ago, when we founded Zwift, a lot of people told us we were nuts. There are simply not enough cyclists to build a long term business, they said. But being cyclists ourselves, we knew they were wrong. We knew that there is not a more vibrant, dedicated, passionate group of people in the world than the global community of cyclists. Moreover, we knew that this community was being woefully underserved when it came to riding indoors—remember how boring indoor training used to be? Your continuous feedback and awe-inspiring 147 million miles (237 million km) of riding—that’s 650 roundtrips to the moon—have helped us to shape the product as it stands today and what it will become tomorrow. Thank you.
We have come a long way with Zwift since the beta release, and we have some exciting things planned for the upcoming season. We just rolled out our lush new Mayan Ruins expansion of Watopia—currently my favorite stretch of road on Zwift—and we recently began piloting Group Workouts, which marry the social fun and motivation of group rides with the targeted training benefits of workouts—try one and let us know what you think. You’ll see even more events to choose from and new training plans are being added to our library. But we have so much more that we hope to deliver to you: new gameplay features, more maps and expansions to existing maps, improved social riding experiences, better guidance in reaching your training and fitness goals. The list goes on, and on.
The team too has grown. Every day we work at building the team that can bring you an awesome and constantly improving experience to help you improve your cycling performance and achieve your fitness goals. From a scrappy little team that could all fit around a table and share a meal, Zwift’s staff has grown to over a hundred people including programmers, artists, designers, testers, community managers, coaches, marketers, and an awesome support staff working to help Zwifters when they have questions.
In order to continue to make Zwift bigger, better and more beautiful, we are updating our membership price to $14.99 per month, effective today. As a way of saying thank you, however, to the awesome Zwifters who helped us get here, your pricing will not change for one year. If you happen to suspend your membership during this period and come back, you can still enjoy your current pricing level. (Visit our FAQ for all the details.)
At Zwift, we take seriously our mission to help more and more Zwifters achieve their fitness goals by making training fun, rewarding, and effective — and we take great pleasure doing it. We are grateful to all of you, and we look forward to seeing you on Zwift!
Ride On,
Eric Min
Co-Founder and CEO
The Zwift Riders Facebook group is all abuzz with the news, with a post from Zwift’s Eric Chon currently showing 311 replies in just a few hours. As with any price change, there is no shortage of strong opinion on both sides. Some Zwifters are saying the price increase seems especially ill-timed, given Zwift’s recent outages. Others are taking it all in stride, saying it’s still well worth the money.
Personally, I’m not surprised by the price increase, given Zwift’s user survey a few months back probing our thoughts on various price points. Nobody likes price increases, but I certainly won’t stop Zwifting because of an extra $5/month. Like all Zwifters, my hope is that higher fees can fund more rapid improvement in game features and stability. If that’s what happens, then this price increase is a successful move in my book.
What about you? Chime in below with your thoughts.
Eric. First of all, I’m a big fan of your blog. Great source of info. Re: pricing, it might be ok for you, but it’s not ok for me. Here’s why… I have a big family with a wife and several kids who ride. As a former pro triathlete, I greatly appreciate what Zwift brings to indoor training, and if it were just me, I wouldn’t blink an eye at an extra $5/month. But it’s not five bucks a month for me, it’s more like $40 extra for the fam. Really disappointing. A small increase would have been understandable. But 50%?? Sorry, that’s ridiculous. And no provision for family memberships? Come on. I think the folks at Zwift could have been a little more creative here. Personally I would like to see Zwift offer significant incentives (not disincentives) to the youth – the next generation in the sport. I would GLADLY pay $15/month if I knew that meant a young rider could get into Zwift at $7.50/mo. In my opinion, this blanket price increase was a bad move.
A family discount is a great idea. Why don’t you ask them for one? I wouldn’t be surprised to have them consider it.
Yeah, when you’re talking a family of 3 subscriptions or more, it starts to become an expensive change… I get that for sure!
Did you know kids under 13 can Zwift free? https://zwiftinsider.com/kids-ride-free/
I absolutely think a family plan is a good idea.
Ride on. I would pay $20 if I could select the course and have guarenteed sunshine
This will change how I use Zwift. I’m now considering other options. I just got my wife a new treadmill for Christmas and was going to get a second account but that won’t happen now. If I renew my account at all, we will share it. I was about to renew in December even though I won’t ride much until January but will definitely wait until January. I was not considering other training options/programs but will now. If I go back to Zwift I’m going to cut corners. Last year I kept it a month longer than intended “just in case” I needed it. Those days are gone. I really liked using Zwift last year but there are so many options that should be in place to justify this price hike. With so much developing competition this inspires me to think twice.
I’m fine with it if it means hiring someone who knows how to design a user interface that doesn’t suck.
For me it does not seem bad to me whenever zwift offers a professional service, without cuts, without incidents, I understand that there are people who have family and that this increase is an extra effort, it is also the opposite, addicted to zwift whatever it may be, I think that an average rise and then another rise would have been more feasible than the global rise at the same time. I will continue in zwift.
I am okay. It is a big increase percentage wise, and Zwift knows a small number of subscribers will leave, but I agree with the last bit in your blog: If it means they put more into development great. And the only way folks can stop increases is if they find another platform that will provide them the same value for less.
I’ve been speccing out a new turbo setup, plus TV screen and Apple TV 4k. That is a lot of money. All to use with Zwift.
A 50% hike to $15/month is not acceptable to me. Over the length of time I was intending to use the planned turbo setup, that subscription adds up to a large sum of money that I’m not prepared to pay.
Look, I pay Google $7.99/month for Google Play Music, which I use for hours and hours every day, maybe 200 hours per month. Paying Zwift almost twice that, for less than 1/10th the usage is not happening. Adios.
abusive…., I’m leaving Zwift behind, Ciao
I pay 13.44 USD a Monty in Denmark all ready, a raise off 50% maybe more NO!!. 12 month to finde a replasment !! Sad they have become greedy?
A 50% increase seems very steep. I would definitely support a increase from $10 to to $12 but a 50% is just too much. It’s too bad that Zwift has learned nothing from the backlash that Netflix received when they tried to do a large fee increase. Hopefully they’ll reconsider such a large increase, or give a discount for quarterly, semi-annual, or annual subscription otherwise I will look at other alternatives.
As a casual user I was already having trouble justifying the cost, so it was an instant cancel when I got this news. Hopefully they consider a tiered pricing model in future.
Is Zwift preventing me from posting because I mentioned less expensive options like Trainerroad, TheSufferFest, Rouvy, and BKOOL? I have tried twice, and the posts don’t show up. Other people have posted in that time.
Yep, that one posted. Can I not include URLs?
If I was Trainerroad I would be looking at some sort of group workout mode where you all do the same workout but rather than being in a virtual world you see the stats and webcam of other riders. Add in voice chat.
I hope Road Grand Tours continues to develop. There needs to be some competition for Zwift but RGT has a long way to go to match Zwift.
I love how folks won’t support a growing product and company like this, but will easily spend this much on lunch and a latte. I’m not sure some even read the email as existing users get a year on the old plan before the hike goes into effect. Comparing this to something like Netflix or Spotify isn’t the same. Creating a game in this space takes a lot more resources to keep it operational. This space will continue to evolve and Zwift is a leader.
Like everything else, a little competition in the space (gaming, 3D, feature-rich, etc.) will help keep prices/costs in check. For me, nothing keeps me in shape as well as this platform does – I wouldn’t ride much in the winter w/o it. Ride on!
Why would you compare it to those things you mentioned?
Agreed
i agree for a 100% we all spend 1000’s of dollars on the most fancy bikes but 15 dollar for a game changer in the indoor trainer industry is to much? i remember indoor training was boring untill zwift changed the game so for me the 5 extra dollars won’t change a thing. ride on
After a few minutes of searching I found a few options to Zwift and they are all less expensive. Zwift has made itself the most expensive virtual training program.
Other Options:
TrainerRoad = $12mo/$99yr
The SufferFest = $10mo/$99yr
Rouvy = $8/10/11/12 plans with family discounts
BKOOL = $9.99mo
Grand Road Tours = Beta
Had Zwift not increased the price by such a large amount this might not have felt so wrong. I’m looking forward to exploring options.
But yes, the grandfathering piece is nice. It’s the reason I have not yet stormed off in a huff and thrown my monitor out the window.
I haven’t spent much time using other training software, but I’d argue the most comparable platform is Peloton Bike, given their social participation model and significant subscriber base. They charge $39/mo, not to mention the required purchase of their bike at $2000. Other alternatives might be live spin classes, a gym membership, a dedicated cycling coach, or even a local club. All of these likely come with much higher costs.
I don’t look at this as a price increase. I ask myself “will $15/mo be worth everything that Zwift offers?” For me, the answer is yes.
Cash grab heading into winter in the north – 50% is a hair shameful. Loved Zwift…Love it less today. 10%-20% = ok – agree w/below that family plans / monthly/ yearly options should be in play. Extra fun that this hits in the middle of open enrollment US… Uh..
I canceled my subscription.I will not use the period at the current price, ciao
I am assuming you didn’t cancel it immediately because you still have a whole year at the old price…
Interestingly nothing in the very recent 40 minute interview with Eric Min ! I’m assuming that the blog author knew about this but was told it was off-limits.
50% increase can never be justified. $180 a year is starting to look like the kind of amount you’d think twice about, especially as, for 6 months of this time you’d hardly be using Zwift.
I’ll give Zwift the benefit of the doubt this time and assume they’ve made a genuine mistake with this increase, if not, then it is just pure greed, possibly driven by the VCs that have been investing their cash.
A few suggestions to save face….
– family discount – i.e. with Netflix I get 4 devices with the same account for less than $15 a month
– yearly discount – e.g. $140 a year
– cross-product discount – e.g. if you subscribe to Strava you get x% discount
As it stands, I’ll keep paying my $10 a month for the next year and evaluate the platform at the end of that period… I can see Strava premium being binned for certain, as for Zwift, the ball’s in their court… they’ve got 12 months otherwise back to my (already paid for) Tacx RLVs.
I didn’t know about the price increase until I got the email from ZwiftHQ today. I’m not Simon who does Zwiftcast (he’s much smarter and much more British)! And I’m not sure Simon even knew about this, although it’s possible–Zwift IS having more and more folks sign NDAs for these sorts of reasons…
Thanks Eric for the clarification.
The other thought I had was… if I was having scaling problems with an increasingly popular platform and I wanted to reduce the rate of new subscribers whilst attempting to maintain revenue projections, and in the process buy myself a year to fix the scaling problems, this kind of price hike is exactly what I’d do.
It seems clear to me that scaling the runtime engine is an issue for Zwift. They must know their maximum load and they must be worryingly close. You don’t fix problems like this overnight.
I agree Mark. Too many subscribers for the platform to handle.
There was talk in that interview with Eric about financing. I’m surmising that Zwift may have took on an investor that has given them 12 months to turn it around and that’s what this is about – or an existing investor has given them 12 months before they pull out. It’s certainly a huge hike in price that is clearly designed to frighten off new users while keeping existing users until Zwift can sort their shit out.
As is, Zwift have put this warning in place for 12 month’s time and Zwift, as well as the users, have 12 months to consider things. It may be that Zwift don’t make such a big price hike in 12 months for existing users if they realise they’ll drive most of them away to other platforms which are sure to be much more improved in what they have to offer Zwift refugees in 12 months also.
I can also see this as a shot at Zwift competitors. Forcing them into over-reaching themselves over the next 12 months in order to pick up a load of Zwift refugees. However, this could backfire massively if one of them gets their stuff up to a good standard.
As is, 12 months is a long time and it’s not worth worrying about for any of us until nearer the time – i certainly won’t be losing any sleep over this announcement. Zwift have a lot to show over the next 12 months or they’ll have to seriously lower this increase to something like 20%. It’ll certainly be an interesting 12 months – both from Zwift and their competitors. This is probably what the virtual cycling/running world really needs to happen.
Mark, I use Zwift ALL year. Every time it rains, and often in the evening when it is dark, high winds etc.
I love Zwift, but rather a huge increase! 10 Euro a month is more than enough. Why not include advertising around the roads we are driving instead? And please make the software more stable first, include family subscriptions, free added strava subscription, it is getting very expensive right now. Only the middle and higher classes can keep riding now.
The extra cost is totally worth it IF they add new courses more frequently. In my opinion the biggest problem with Zwift today is the slow release of new courses. Let’s release an expansion with real world climbs like Alpe d’huez so you can train for a real event. Sure, tacx and other services have that but if Zwift add it there is no need for any other services. Think about amateur to pros being able to train for a stage in Zwift.
Cyclists are a funny bunch. I remember when as club secretary we had to increase club subs by £2 a month. There was uproar.
The same cyclists think nothing of spending thousands on carbon bikes and over a hundred quid on sunglasses.
So many people have expensive turbos and power meters by comparison Zwift costs are small.
I agree the increase by percent is huge – but I think it’s more a case that they’d kept fees really low for too long.
I was surprised at how cheap it was originally. I thought it would be more.
I love the guy speccing up his 4k turbo dungeon and then having a fit about this small increase. Compared to his hardware cost it’s nothing.
Agreed. Human behaviour is fascinating.
>> I love the guy speccing up his 4k turbo dungeon and then having a fit about this small increase. Compared to his hardware cost it’s nothing. <<
Are you referring to me?
I don't currently have any devices capable of running Zwift (no Windows, no iDevices, no Mac stuff). As I understand it, the Apple TV 4k would be the *cheapest* way for me to run Zwift. Pumped into a 32" HD TV, say £250 for a Samsung. Kickr Snap £500. Total £929. Get the TV off ebay and I can knock £200 off the bill. That kit should all last 5 or 6 years. Use my existing, old turbo bike, bought many ago.
In that timeframe, at £13/month, Zwift subs would cost as much or more than the hardware outlay. And in that 5 or 6 years, you could undoubtedly pencil in several more price Zwift hikes.
So you're clearly wrong about the subscription cost being "nothing" compared to the hardware costs. It'd actually cost more than the new hardware I need to buy.
Why do you think businesses wish to rope people into monthly subs rather than one off licensing fees? Because the numpties cannot do maths.
Have you calculated the opportunity cost of not zwifting? For your health. Let me know how training in your basement staring at a blank wall goes.
Here here. There are far more expensive items in cycling
Agree with Mr. Toms’ “here here”
Now approaching 62 and with a pretty much static income we’ve recently completed an exercise to reduce our monthly outgoings with one of those that was ditched being my monthly Strava Premium. Then along comes this email; well, thanks very much, Zwift.
I’ve cancelled my Zwift sub before to try others…Rouvy, BGT, BKool, BigRing…all of which (and others) will provide exactly what I want which is simply to keep reasonably fit but don’t quite have Zwift’s flexibility. But I’m prepared to put up with a little inconvenience if it’s going to save me money.
Whilst I’ll keep my Zwift going over the winter come the spring it will be gone.
All in all a PR disaster. Whilst some increase is justified going from £8 to £13 a month in any circumstances is not. Zwift wants to make itself the elite platform….or do they mean elitist?
A “PR disaster”? That seems a bit dramatic. The subscription was simply too cheap for too long. If five more bucks is too expensive, perhaps your static income could use a boost. I heard wal-mart needs door greeters.
No doubting where you’re from, is there?
Unnecessary
It doesn’t seem necessary to comment on someone’s income. Have a little class.
Seriously, a 62% increase, it’s outrageous and smacks of a cash grab to to set up for a sell out or listing. Also can’t believe you have over 100 staff and are hiring more, what you achieved with a handful of people was 70% of what is there now, it’s amazing how little the additional headcount has achieved. But hey, it’s your business and you can do as you please with it, and your subscribers will vote with their feet.
Just to be clear–I’m not ZwiftHQ. I just run this site, which is a fansite.
Given where the product is now, the price increase seems reasonable to me. The 12-month grace period is a nice touch and it also provides Zwift with a window in which to sort out their development life-cycle. Let’s hope that by the time the increase kicks in for existing subscribers:
-New maps are being delivered routinely at the beginning of each quarter
-Expansions are delivered at the beginning of every month
-Running is properly established (so nearly there – it’s frustratingly close)
-Kayaking/rowing makes an appearance
Not an issue for me, but I agree with the calls for a family membership – not sure how Zwift would police this though. How would you suggest they stop me describing all my training buddies as family?
When I compare Zwift to my monthly swimming pool membership, the value-proposition is clear. Zwift (new price) is just over half my pool fees, is available 24/7 and just so much better as a training/motivating/social experience.
Imagine this for value:
TrainerRoad level training plans, done on Zwift group workout mode.
That is the ultimate training tool for everyone.
But we don’t have that, we have the tech but half arsed training.
All they have to do is put in some TrainerRoad level training plans and then it’s worth it for everyone. At the moment you don’t have any serious plans on Zwift, so either you’re arsing around, or doing some high level custom plan of your own or coach’s.
I’d even be up for TrainerRoad selling their plans on a Zwift store as long as they were permanently unlocked once purchased. £20-30 per build plan sounds right to me.
At the moment goal oriented users are paying for TrainerRoad and Zwift. Getting pricey, especially if there’s more than one of you at home doing it (my situation).
Zwift will be the ultimate destination, but for now it has some glaring holes in it for serious users. Holes that are easily filled.
I do agree with this. During the warmer months I use TrainerRoad for my interval training and ride outside endless the rain is to bad. Now that it’s cold Zwift has only replaced my road rides. The workout side of the app can’t come close to TrainerRoad for it structured workouts.
Now come next winter I will be spending $28 instead of $23. I am OK with the $28 for the value of both and what I get. Not sure where my cutoff would be. I just know I have become a better cyclist with the two.
I was just thinking about switching to something else, because I felt Zwift was not worth it at $10 a month.
The grace period might keep me around a little longer.
I’m curious. What else is out there for $10 or $15 a month that works with a smart trainer, has customizable game like features, and displays in 4K? Asking for a friend.
I am of two minds about this. I have played other virtual reality games where you can create your own worlds, and I have to say that it is *tons* of work. Every tree, rock and everything else needs to be placed. The first time you try, you end up with what looks like a post-apocalyptic world, and while it functions it isn’t very interesting from a visual point of view. It takes time and experience to get something that looks decent, and it is even harder when you are trying to re-create something that exists in the real world.
Secondly, I looked at a youtube video of someone riding one of the Zwift competitors. I don’t know the course they were riding, but it looked like Tour of North Dakota. Flat, uninteresting, and there was a minimal amount of eye candy. And for that matter, hardly any other riders were evident. Contrast this to the new jungle route in Zwift.
In any event, we are locked in at the old price for a year – we will see what goodies they can come up with in that amount of time. This morning there were over 3000 people online. Yeah, it is only virtual, but the social aspect is a plus for Zwift.
The thing here is that $15 on itself isn’t extremely much for what you get. That is – if you’re a heavy user like myself. For the more modest user who may dive into it once in a while this is getting a bit much. $15 * 12 = $180 per year.
I will cancel my girl friend’s account since she only uses it once or twice per month and that’s not worth 15 bucks. She may well use my account. And when it’s summer, I myself use it only once or twice per month and will probably cancel it as well.
All in all it’s a seasonal thing and that makes it a nightmare to cancel and reopen the account. I’d prefer an annual fee with a discount.
On the other hand, such a price increase is an outrage. They should have started to raise pricing earlier on; right now it’s a shocker.
“Three years ago, when we founded Zwift, a lot of people told us we were nuts.”
Nothing has changed :). In the spring you will howls like hungry wolves on $.
Well, thanks to the raise, I searched the equivalent of Zwift and it’s free! Is the English version of the program
http://www.onelap.cn/?lang=en
What is onelap? Do not know him.
I checked. A cool free alternative to ZWIFT. IS EN version
The link is the one you have above, I’ll look at it, not as an alternative, I came from Bkool, and now I use Zwift and Road Grand Tours, thank you very much
I respect the increase and think it is still an amazing service and community that’s worth the price – the platform has grown together with the features and routes to ride. I myself am a big fan.
The increase is quite hefty though. For us here over in Europe it went up from 8,50€ to 14,99€.
Right now we use two accounts in the family – but will reduce this to a single account.
I’d be glad if they would introduce a annual fee – like 120$/€ – then i probably would keep the second account. (so Zwift would be better of with 240€ instead of 150€) or even better, they could go with the spotify model and introduce family pricing (120$ per person per year // 199$ for 2 // 240€ for 3 etc) With the new price I’m sure there will be a greater fluctuation between the seasons – with an annual model the could buffer that.
Anyways – the baseline i get out of the comments is clear – we cyclists spend our hard earned bugs on so much gadgetry and tech – we should not rage against one of cycling’s biggest inventions over the past decade – that enables us to do what we love even more!
RIDE ON
Today 10 USD TV, 10 USD mobile phone, 5 USD Spotify, 15 USD Zwift. You can opt-out of your TV and phone with your favorite Zwift player. The next blackmail will soon come to $ 20 for Zwift, then $ 30.
The users arrive a lot, very much and something strange to ask for more!
When you look at the increase from a percentage aspect its pretty nasty. When you take into perspective you simply go to the man or girl cave, and get on your bike as opposed to going to the car, paying petrol and in some cases parking fees and then the turbo session at $20 a pop or a monthly subscription of $50 then Zwift and all the other apps are great value at $15 a month or 50 cents a day. For most they spend that on a cup of coffee over a week easily. Why are we also shocked that the prices should increase when living costs go up as do the costs of labour. I agree the hike is a kick in the guts and Zwift seem really slow in responding to things like annual membership and family memberships but are only too quick to out of the blue send us a rate hike. That is what I feel immoral! The good news is there are alternatives and we can all go and try them out and then perhaps Zwift may pay a little more respect to its client base as opposed to its pocket