The support team asked me to publish some comments I told them.
When I started with Zwift I paid 992SEK. Now the price is 140SEK a month, ie 1680SEK a year. That is an increase by almost 70%. I told the support that I terminated my membership because of this.
I also told them there is no incentive for long time user to stay since the price is the same for all.
The positive with monthly is the Zwift should get an even cash flow over the year. The problem I see is the indoor biking is seasonal, when the weather is to cold and slippery or to hot. With an monthly payment that can be cancelled anytime, means that when the outdoor season start people will cancel their membership. The reason for Zwift not noticed this yet is due to the grandfather pricing as ended in November. Where there was an incentive to members to stay and not get the increased price, and that now is the indoor season in northern hemisphere due to the cold weather and the heat season in Australia and South Africa.
My suggestion is that they should have an annual fee that is lower than the monthly since people would sign up and pay for both the indoor and the outdoor season. And that renewal fee would be even lower since that would encourage us to stay.
As it is now there are no incentive for members to stay more than the indoor season and then leave. With the increasing risk that we would choose other options next season, since there are no incentive to come back.
Personally, I am not a fan of the subscription model (Zwift, iTunes, etcā¦ ). I would much rather pay an annual fee and be done with it even if the annual fee does not include a discount.
As for āZwift not noticed this yet is due to the grandfather pricing as ended in Novemberā, I disagree. Grandfather pricing or not, I imagine that the majority of those who were seasonal users would still cancel and resubscribe with the changing of the seasons. The savings of 3mo at the old price vs 3mo at the new price is about ~1.5mo (i.e., at the new price, you could buy ~4.5mo at old price). It really is not that much of a savings or āincentiveā for those users. Many of my friends are seasonal users and have been for years. The price increase did nothing to change that.
As for the actual price increase, this has been discussed everywhere. First, every one complains about a price increase no matter what the product. I complained! No one ever said, āFinally, a price increase. Iām so happy!ā BUT, the amount of the increase in terms of raw dollars, krones, yen, etcā¦ is not much. Most of us who have the time, money, and inclination to own smart phones, computers, smart trainers and ride bikes indoors waste more money than that of the price increase in a month, if not in a week.
Lastly, you cannot get something for nothing. Zwift has been adding new worlds, map extensions, features, etc., on a regular basis. A price increase was inevitable if not overdue.
I cancelled my subscription once the grandfathering period expired in November. Iām currently Zwifting for free as they gave me 3 months for free because of a long running support ticket I had in with them. When that runs out Iāll be thinking carefully whether to pay the increased subscription or not. All very well the Yanks saying the increase is just one cup of coffee. For me the increase was 2 cups of coffee.
I would much rather pay an annual and reduced subscription as I do with Trainerroad. Iām also grandfathered in on the price I was paying 5 years ago when I first started with them.
I too have the grandfathered pricing with TR. I thought it was a very nice gesture to long term users. That said, had TR not done so, I would have continued to renew my subscription. At the end of the day, it is a value proposition for each of us. I completely understand if someone thinks it is too expensive. What I do not understand is all the hate and outrage directed at Zwift, TR, etc., due to a price increase.
p.sā¦ nice gesture by Zwift to provide you with 3mo. One might argue it is expected, but it is not! But it is the right thing to do and also how companies keep customers.
I Have no knowledge If the price is comparable to a cup of coffee or two in the mall. If it is true, it would just add another reason why I should not drink coffee.
15usd is little bit more than I pay for my lunch during a whole month. I eat porridge since it is the fastest and easiest to cook, just add hot water.
So the price is either lunch for a month then or coffee one morning or two, depending how careless you are with your hard earned income.
My conclusion is that Zwift team donāt care to have me as a member.
I know this thread is exactly 1 year old but itās still not an outdated subject. To me it was just the right price at 10$USD and nobody would mind at this amount so I bought the most expensive trainer (Tacx Neo Smart) then I donāt remember if itās right when I started using it or the year after but it went +50% which I guess wouldnāt be too much in USD but as we always get screwed over in Canada with currency exchange, here itās actually 18.50$ which is very hard to justify for basically no difference at all versus before.
I donāt give a **** about new content if Iām not going to use 80% of it. All I wanted was an affordable way to ride ONCE or at most TWICE a week and while I get that 15$USD is still cheap for someone who use it 15-30 days a monthā¦ paying the same price to use it only 4-10H a month is way overpriced. I can hardly believe Zwift team is too dumb even in 2020 to have thought about doing a yearly pre-paid subscription with a major discount, or a āweekend onlyā subscription at 10$USD instead of 15$USD, cause paying 5 days a week where I canāt use it piss me off big time and even more that we are forced to have a auto-renewal subscription just so we can forget about it and get stolen an extra 15$USD in April or May when we forget to unsubscribe.
Iām sure Zwift has lost thousands of ex-members and potential new members just because theyāre so stubborn and want to charge the full price for everybody with zero discount at all time for anyone.
Hi Alexandre,
I also bought a Tacx Neo, and its great, but I just worked out that the cost of the Neo is the equivalent of 7.5 years of Zwift. Itās started me thinking, who is charging too much?
Hi Truls,
you are right, running has to be one of the most cost effective forms of fitness out there. I used to run, and enjoyed it, nothing too much, 5 to 7 miles at a time, usually on the road.
Its been such a long time, that I wonder if my body could take it now? seeing that Iām older.
@Milan_Rost yes Zwift Run does not require a subscription currently, however you must have a treadmill. And if itās not a Smart Treadmill ($1,800 USD +) you need a foot pod or another sensors for cadence/speed to be able to use it. There is some cost involved in Zwift Running, albeit less than the cycling side so far.
I know, but the name of this topic is āPricing of membershipā. I am only riding on Zwift, have a road bike and direct drive (dumb) trainer.
For me is the price OK, compared with anything else I need to ride IRL.
I realize that everyone has their own perspective on this, but I am constantly amazed at the number of people who feel that a Zwift membership is too expensive. Itās cheaper than most gym memberships and offers the advantage of being able to use it at home, and possibly even away from home. Even only using it a few times a month makes it a pretty cheap āper useā item.
@Nigel_Tufnel exactly. But the same thing happened when Netflix and Hulu both increased their monthly subscription fees. People are rarely pleased when the cost of something goes up. But it is a reality with services like these. As they become more popular more resources are needed to maintain them and provide new features, this price will have to go up somewhat at some point in time.
Everyone has their own value proposition views. For me personally $15/month for unlimited riding is a great value for the cost.
Chamois Creme is pricey, too, but I cannot imagine to ride without it
Zwift is not perfect, but what (who) is it?
One month Zwift is much less than one dinner in a mid-priced restaurant here in Austria.
Well actually gyms prices have gone down dramatically with the competition, and I guess that explain why Zwift is so much, cause theyāre the most popular and the only one with āvirtual ridingā cause I could go next to my business and by next I mean literally 2 min of walk to the biggest gym of the whole province and itās only 12$CAD/Month with unlimited use on all machines while Zwift in the same Canadian currency is actually 20$/Month so almost double and I have to buy my own expensive equipment too. I donāt know much people too who will bring their extremely heavy āTacx Neoā PLUS their bike in their car to train around elsewhere. Oh, thereās even a crossfit gym across the street and yes another goddamn āeconomic gymā openning across the street straight in front of the current one. Thereās wayyy too many ******* gyms here. https://econofitness.ca/fr/abonnements
For me, Zwift offers me nothing more than when I used to pay 10$USD instead of 15$USD so itās like if I get a price increase for justā¦ nothing at all. I can buy a 35-50$ video game and have 700+ hours on it, but I would have to pay 15$USD or even 10$USD for something that I will never own?! I donāt see the value there just like I would never ever rent a bike instead of buying one, same for music or a house.
Ride more. Chamois cream is an interesting one. I get the original intention of softening a piece of leather, but Iāve never needed to use it since the late 80s or 90s when modern pads became more common. Quite possibly modern day snake oil. =)
Possibly; Iāve never done more than three days in a row. Those days did involve a decent amount of elevation though (Alpe dāHuez, Croix de Fer for example).
I guess humidity might come into the equation too. The amount of moisture around can have an effect of chafing I think.
Chamois cream is an interesting one. I get the original intention of softening a piece of leather, but Iāve never needed to use it since the late 80s or 90s when modern pads became more common. Quite possibly modern day snake oil. =)