https://communityhub.strava.com/insider-journal-9/an-update-to-our-developer-program-13428
The gist of it is that Strava just killed its free API, and will now require developers to have a subscription.
At Strava, we care deeply about developers, and the health of the developer ecosystem. There are now 241,000 Strava API developers, up from 185,000 last year. Starting today, all current and future applications will automatically receive access to the Standard developer tier. This allows you to serve up to 10 athletes and start building immediately, completely eliminating the previous queue.
This essentially kills thousands of tools people build using the free API.
If you’re looking to move away from Strava, so far I’ve found four open source alternatives:
- CubeTrek - Open-source GPS track manager with 3D topography visualization for outdoor activities.
- Endurain - Self-hosted fitness tracking service for running, cycling, and more with full data control.
- RunnerUp - An open source run tracker for Android.
- Geo Activity Playground - Data analysis and visualization based on GPS tracked outdoor activities.
- OpenTracks - A privacy-focused sport tracking application for Android that records GPS tracks and supports Bluetooth sensors without any internet access or ads.
I was a paying customer for over 10 years and it just got worse and worse. I quit several years ago and haven’t looked back.
As it turns out, I love and I have always loved cycling and don’t need anyone else to see that.
I’m not saying that anyone else should behave the same way, you do you, but it was so freeing to just ride for the love of riding. No more “600m of circles” to make it to 200k, no more kudos to every workday commute, just the open road (or trails) and the freedom it provides.
Yes, I no longer race, but I do privately keep a record of my efforts and rides, but they’re now a side effect of the thing I love - not part of the focus.
Eh the social aspect never was the point for me. It was more tracking progress. That said this was a good reminder to cancel my sub as I haven’t used it enough in the last year to justify it. If anyone has self hosted options I’d love to see those.
Yeah, I recently got Strava, but I’m about at the point of ditching it. I run alone. Garmin keeps any stats just fine, and doesn’t inject any social media into it. I have a couple friends on Garmin, but I have to actively look for their stuff, and they for mine, which is exactly how I like it. Otherwise, I run, and then I can go see how things look, and it gets added to the archive.
Well said
EN SHI TTI FI CA TION
Hey guys, just so you know. In the future
If private company = company will fuck you over to your and their own detriment.
Yeah, I mean, that was inevitable.
I just saw an AP alternative launched a couple days ago: https://fitpub.social/
Thanks ! I was searching for an alternative.
How does this compare to Endurain? Endurain isn’t ActivityPub, however curious about other features.
Definitely a +1 to FitPub that they’re on codeberg vs GitHub 🤣Endurain migrated to Codeberg and I’m just blind. Github is just a mirrorI mean there’s zero information about Endurain on their site so…I have no idea.
Build a product -> make it free or very affordable -> create dependency -> collect user data to improve product resulting in more dependency -> create a near market monopoly if possible -> make it paid only or make the free version a lot worse so users have to pay -> cross fingers that no alternative emerges or just buy it and shut it down if you can.
Always the same pattern.
Because of investor pressure to generate actual meaningful revenue, Strava is going to rapidly enshittify leading up to their IPO and after it. The unfortunate thing is that they’ll largely get away with it, because there’s really no alternative for users to move to.
The alternative is stop using. Like every other platform that enshitified, once you know you can live outside the ecosystem, you can live free.
There are lots of alternatives. Apple has one Garmin has one. Google has one. etc.
Garmin requires Garmin devices to be if any real use. Same probably goes for apple. The reason strava is popular is everyone can use it, no matter their phone/device.
Edit: not advocating for Strava or saying it’s good. I don’t like it, don’t use it anymore.
I think Strava is just popular due to cultural inertia more than anything. Garmin, Coros, Fitbit, Apple, even phone apps. Not really hard to export data and move. 90% of what I saw on Strava before closing the account was Zwift garbage anyway.
Strava has the unique position that it is the de facto provider nearly everything does sync to. Even some chinese bicycle computer will sync to Strava, your obscure fitness tracker will too and that nice little app will also grab your data and display it. This nice ecosystem will end with these changes.
There are many alternatives for tracking and analyzing performance data, but I’d posit that that’s not what most Strava users do there. For most of them, it’s a social network, and that’s it’s focus as it goes public. There’s no alternative “athlete focused” social network that allows planning and organizing group activities, has tight integration of activity info (e.g. tracking that the group bike ride averaged 20mph over this route, or that person X and I competed in the same park run, and here’s the finishing time for each of us, along with a few photos and some performance data like pace and heart rate).
All of those I listed have social features
Social features do not make a social network. Maybe it’s just where I cycle (Northeast and Northwest USA) but approximately 100% of the people that I ride with post their rides to Strava. That is what makes it a social network.
Further, all of the alternatives that you listed have limitations that prevent them from being viable alternatives to Strava even if people were interested in migrating. Mainly these are related to device integration.
Another great alternative is Geoactivity Playground if you use Strava to get overall statistics for your rides. You can import a Strava export or simply put some GPX files in a folder. It’s great:
Wait so is this going to affect my Garmin sending info to Strava?
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I think that’s an April fools article. Check the update in the first paragraph.
Yeah my bad, I didn’t properly verify that.
Oh so they want me to pay a Garmin sub and a Strava sub? Fucking hell. The enshitifacation contimues
From the linked article:
Two things that aren’t changing: every Strava athlete can still access and download their data for free, at any time – and wearable and device integrations are not affected.
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I missed this one. Was it like Heroku used to be or something?
Whether it’s a back-alley transaction or a multinational corporation transaction “the first one is free” is a marketing tactic that seems to work time and time again.
I switched to CubeTrek 2 years ago and have been generally happy with it. I sometimes miss the social aspects, but then I just text my friends and we ride bikes together anyway.
Maybe something to do with the location leaks from private strava accounts? Public figures and aircraft carriers and such. It may provide some kind of control to put this behind some kind of control. Not solving the problem though.
I’ve got an IFTTT applet that works with Strava. Crossing my fingers.
I was a happy user of Endomondo before underarmour killed it.
I want it back. I hate using strava.
