Zwift 33% Price Hike – all the details PLUS a FREE Alternative
It’s been a long time coming, 7 years to be precise. Today Zwift has hiked its prices, as investors try to recoup some of their initial investment or, at least, to stop haemorrhaging cash. That is going to get harder as the competition intensifies – for example, casual Zwifters, not too interested in racing or the social side, can today use MyWhoosh, a freebie with a similar ride feel on several platforms including MacOS.
Here’s what the company had to say:
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… 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. [Zwift]
Note: See comments. 2019 had price rises.
And these are the hard numbers that some are being asked to pay as of today despite the official announcement that the hike only applies to payments due after 6th June.
| Location | Membership pm | Membership pa |
| USA | $19.99+tax (was $14.99) | $199.99+tax (was $149.99) |
| European Union | €19.99 | €199.99 |
| Iceland, Norway + Switzerland | €19.99+tax. | €199.99+tax |
| UK | £17.99 | £179.99 |
| Canada | CAD$24.99+tax. | CAD$249.99+tax |
| Australia | AUD$29.99 | AUD$299.99 |
| Japan | ¥2,400 | ¥24,000 |
| Rest of World | US$19.99+taxs. | US$199.99+tax. |
What About Running on Zwift?
That’s still free,
Avoid Zwift Dropouts – Tips & Tricks for a definitive solution
Is It Value for Money?
You usually pay for what you get. Zwift is an excellent platform with a quality rider base. You can’t replicate that anywhere else. Most of the platform’s nuances and idiosyncracies have long been sorted out and the experience of using Zwift is super-slick.
You are also paying for the upkeep and development of the ecosystem and that is getting a feature boost over the next few weeks, most notably revamped metrics on the main ride screen.
Alternatives
- Mywhoosh – Very similar to Zwift but free with fewer users
- Trainer Road – Focus on training plans, even though Zwift also has plans
- Rouvy – more like augmented reality, real rides
- Wahoo SYSTM – Training plans plus video content that used to be Sufferfest
- TACX (from Garmin = free and like Wahoo SYSTM but you must have a TACX Trainer
- Also BKool, Kinomap, and FulGaz
Thoughts
If you race and use Zwift two or three times a week in the winter months, I reckon it’s decent value for money.
However if you don’t race but want something to look at, or if you use the platform infrequently, or if you bought another subscription for your partner or kids or flatmates who don’t often use it then you might start to question the wisdom of spending US$200 per person per year.
Even if it is value for money for you, would you lose the Zwift subscription before Strava? or before Trainer Road? if times got tough? All those subscriptions add up to significant chunks of your annual salary.
As our economic fortunes change, the group of non-core Zwift users must get ever-larger and Zwift runs a real risk of losing revenue from them to upstarts like MyWhoosh.
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The price has gone up twice since 2017.
£8 2017
£13 2019
£18 2024
do you have a link for the 2019 rise? I don’t remember that one
It was when they had a split price offering. Throughout 2018 New users paid £13 whilst old users paid £8. Everyone was on the same price of £13 by the start of 2019.
When converted to USD the prices are
29.99 AUD is 19.73 USD
24.99 CAD is 18.20 USD
19.99 EUR is 21.48 USD
2400 JPY is 15.42 USD
17.99 GBP is 22.48 USB 🙁
Maybe i should get a Japanese Paypal in link it to Zwift.
This was the email.
“Hey Jonathon,
You may remember that when we raised prices for new Zwifters last year, we kept your price the same for 12 months. This is a reminder that your special pricing is ending and your membership will be GBP £12.99 beginning with the next billing cycle, which starts Dec 11, 2018.
To cancel your membership before the price change takes effect, just go to Zwift.com before Dec 11, 2018, find your account, and click “cancel”. We’ll miss you, but we’ll be here if you change your mind in the future.
We’re proud of all the updates we’ve delivered over this past year — flexible training plans, expansions like Leith Hill and Alpe du Zwift, as well as new courses Innsbruck and New York. We’ve got plenty of fun stuff planned, including level 26 and more.
Ride On.
The Team at Zwift”
that rings a vague bell, ty. will add a note above
Yeah they kind stick that “don’t increased price” but i always thought it was cheaper than the current 14,99 and specially with decomission of the hub i just got it’s a cancel immeditately and turn to mywhoosh specially since they finally enter the appletv deploy and are improving it so perfect timing
Sadly i got the zwift play and was cool to have virtual shift but well you can’t have everything and gladly will save 20 euro monthly specially in summertime
Really bad timing and move from zwift, better small increases and specially not before summer because people will just cancel and then when they need to come for 1 or 2 days indoor they will try mywhoosh that is free and most likely will not notice a big difference and gives time for them to have more users and keep improving, then on winter they will just grow a lot 🙂
Theres also Rolla One which is free.
http://www.rolla.app/one
Check out IndieVelo too
I wish there were “free” alternatives to things I have to do in real life. I could get “free” food, but the quality just isn’t there. The same with the “free” alternatives to Zwift. If you looked at MyWhoosh or IndieVelo, you immediately notice what is missing. It’s going to take a long time to match Zwift. So, you look at TrainerRoad. No video (it’s one of the main reasons I left was the divorce between TR and The Sufferfest). I’m a SYSTM user and have been for over a decade. What’s missing? Flexibility. You are stuck on the same video (abet they are high quality) for every ride. You also can’t bring in your own custom designed rides. Thus, the value of Zwift is there when you realize you can ride your ride in one of ten different areas.
yes.
there is also the trade off between cost and value. For infrequent usage, very few subscriptions offer value so the logical choice for many in that situation is to go for a free option of lower quality
i generally come from the perspective that if something offers you value then pay for it. if it offers no value then dont use it.
not sure I can wangle my response to your food metaphor! food is a binary thing as we all need it. free food is given to the poor who can’t afford it (uk food banks, help in poorer countries),