Almost exactly two years since the last time TrainingPeaks increased prices, they’ve announced today an increase for annual Premium subscribers (only) by 8%, going from $124.99/year to $134.99/year. This change will only take effect once your subscription renews, as well as for new renewals, from April 2nd, 2025. If you renew prior to that, you’d be under the existing pricing. And to reiterate that both monthly ($19.95/month) and quarterly ($49/quarter) remain the same.
Of course, there are undoubtedly many reasons for this. Like all companies, inflation is a reality. Both in terms of national/global costs, but also local costs (TrainingPeaks is based in the greater Boulder, CO area). Equally, TrainingPeaks also likely feels that some of the newer features, like TrainingPeaks Virtual (the renamed IndieVelo since the acquisition), is adding a pretty substantial feature into the Premium subscription package. Though I wouldn’t overthink the IndieVelo piece driving costs much here, I suspect TrainingPeaks would have increased prices regardless.
A two-year cycle since the last price increase seems reasonable, if we use Netflix price increases as the calibration baseline. I’m not sure if that’s the right approach or not, but it’s one method. Netflix just announced a price increase last month, and it was 1 year since the last Premium Tier price increase (8%), and 3 years since the last Standard Tier price increase (16%).
As I said two years ago, I’ll give credit to TrainingPeaks again for doing this properly. A bit over 30 days notice, with a reasonable enough price increase, and clear communications via e-mail. All users have (or are currently receiving) an e-mail with the details. Note that if you’re in Australia, Canada, or Switzerland, TrainingPeaks will continue to have applicable location taxes applied as well to your monthly billing.
Lastly, TrainingPeaks has confirmed that TrainingPeaks Virtual (IndieVelo) will only remain free through the end of March. Starting in April, it’ll require a Premium subscription to TrainingPeaks. Note that IndieVelo Founders members received a 1-year TrainingPeaks Premium subscription back this past fall (which had to be started/redeemed by Nov 30th, 2024).
Once the free level goes away in a month, TrainingPeaks Virtual would still be substantially cheaper than the $199USD on Zwift, though, I think we’d all agree it’s got far more features than TPV. That said, the TrainingPeaks subscription of course includes the foundational training log piece, which has always been worth what it costs. This just gets you an indoor cycling platform atop that, for pretty close to free.
With that, thanks for reading!
FOUND THIS POST USEFUL? SUPPORT THE SITE!
Hopefully, you found this post useful. The website is really a labor of love, so please consider becoming a DC RAINMAKER Supporter. This gets you an ad-free experience, and access to our (mostly) bi-monthly behind-the-scenes video series of “Shed Talkin’”.
Support DCRainMaker - Shop on Amazon
Otherwise, perhaps consider using the below link if shopping on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot. It could simply be buying toilet paper, or this pizza oven we use and love.
The only issue I see as an end user is that they have not really added any features or functionality to their core product in years. And their apps and website are in dire need of a refresh.
Can we renew early to avoid the price rise?
Did you read the article?
Price increase on a program/app that you use on your own device, if anything the price should go down.
To me, that’s kinda like saying that because you own your house, you shouldn’t have to pay the water, electricity, or gas company for their services. ;)
Zwift definitely doesn’t have more features than TPV. More worlds, and more human users, sure. More features – absolutely not.
Not sure I see that. In a software world, tons of things are considered features that might not be super obvious. That’s everything from gamification features, to routes, worlds, and events. All of which are vastly bigger than TPV.
Sure, there are certain areas that IndieVelo does better (e.g. sensor pairing), but beyond that, there are very few features they have that Zwift doesn’t. Yet boatloads of things TPV doesn’t have that Zwift does.
Im really happy with my mywhoosh subscription for zero $/month and the price increase for yearly subscription to zero $/year. :-)
Sure, mywhoosh is not the best but for zero $ is acceptable.