21 November 2023
Yesterday, after (many) years of people asking, Zwift has finally added an annual payment option. In doing so, they became the final company to add in annual pricing for their product, joining the rest of the industry. Of course, the writing was on the wall back in September when Zwift rolled out deals with Wahoo which included 1-year of Zwift for $99 with new hardware.
So, for those who missed the news, here are the new Zwift pricing options:
USD: 149.99 (plus tax)
EUR: 149.99
UK: 129.99
CAD: 189.99 (plus tax)
JPY: 15,000.00 (plus tax)
AUS: 199.99 (plus tax)
You can switch your subscription over today, and it’ll take effect at the next monthly renewal date. For those who subscribed via Apple device (using Apple as the payment middleman), it’ll require you to technically cancel your subscription and then renew it directly with Zwift. But given the cancellation wouldn’t have taken effect until the end of your month, it won’t affect your account.
Still, this post is mostly about seeing where everyone stands:
Trainer Platform Pricing:
First off, yes I know, I know, I’m behind on some sort of updated trainer app comparison post. There’s few things in life I hate more than writing up that post. Which, I’m probably not supposed to say, but it’s the bain of my existence. Mainly because it takes forever to do all the rides on every app (usually a few rides), then forever to get all the right screenshots/photos, then forever to try and consolidate those thoughts into just a few paragraphs for each app. After which, companies get all upset that I haven’t mentioned some hidden feature, or, that they weren’t included at all. On the bright side, I get to avoid the Dutch rain and winds.
In any event, here’s a quick recap of where all the trainer apps stand in terms of pricing for USD. In most cases, for EUR pricing, it’s at parity (e.g. $12 = 12EUR).
Also, for the few apps that didn’t have USD pricing, I simply converted at today’s EUR to USD exchange rate. Further, I didn’t include some Black Friday deals (like Rouvy at $112/year), just so I don’t have to redo this table in a few days. And finally, I took the pricing listed on each page, in the case of Zwift they state “plus tax”, whereas almost nobody else stated that on their main page. Reality might differ (and would then in turn differ based on your location).
Indoor Cycling App Pricing Comparison List
Platform-AppAnnual PriceMonthly PriceAnnual SavingsBigRingVR$99.60$10.00$20.40Bkool $120.00 $12.00 $24.00Elite My E-Training $22.00 N/AN/AFulgaz $125.99 $14.99 $53.89IndieVelo Free Free N/AKinetic.Fit $60.00 $10.00 $60.00Kinomap $89.99 $11.99 $53.89MyWhoosh Free Free N/APeloton $129.00 $12.99 $26.88Rolla Free Free N/ARouvy $149.00 $14.99 $30.88Tacx App $99.99 $9.99 $19.89TechnoGym$98.51 $9.84 $19.57TrainerRoad $189.99 $19.99 $49.89Wahoo X/SYSTM$149.00 $14.99 $30.88Xert $99.95 $9.99 $19.93Zwift $149.99 $14.99 $29.89
As you can see, things are actually pretty close across the board – with TrainerRoad the clear outlier. Of course, they’ve long positioned themselves as the premium training option for more serious cyclists, and their ‘optional price increase’ last year somewhat solidified that long-time grandfathered-in users.
Of course, not all platforms are created equal. Some of that is obvious from the pricing they set for themselves above, and some of it is optimistic on the part of various companies. Still, for most people, it’ll depend on how you prefer to ride indoors. For some people, watching blue blocks in ERG mode is all they care about. While others want virtual world racing, and another group wants real-world outside videos. To each their own!
With that – thanks for reading!