Saying Good-Bye to Zwift as it Raises its Subscription to $20 a Month

I had already been wondering whether Zwift, the app I use to “gamify” my exercise bike usage, was worth the $15 a month fee it was charging.

Ride On?  Screw off!

If I had been more hardcore, a dedicated rider that used many of the features the app offers to keep myself in competitive shape, I might see some real value in the options Zwift offers.  But as a causal 2-3 day a week rider that basically uses two features and just likes the fact that it tracks my totals… well, there are cheaper alternatives out there I am sure.

So when I received the following message from Zwift this week I sprang into action.

We’re writing to inform you of changes to your Zwift Subscription pricing. The monthly Zwift subscription price will be increased to $19.99, plus applicable taxes.

Your first payment at the new price will be on your next billing date after June 6th.

We hope you’re enjoying your time on Zwift. We have worked hard to keep prices locked since 2017 and have made this change to allow us to continue making indoor cycling fun with more content experiences and product innovation.

And by “sprang into action” I mean I went straight to their site and cancelled my subscription.

Just to belabor the point I made above, the value proposition for Zwift relative to other $15 a month options… things that include our Valheim server rental, my WoW subscription, a number of streaming channels we might watch, or even my Daybreak all access subscription where I am doing little more than touring old zones in EverQuest… was dubious to start with.

Add in that I am already feeling quite a bit of subscription fatigue in the current economy where literally everything and everybody online is asking me to fork over a recurring subscription fee for content… and I get it, content costs money to make, but money is also a limited resource so I can’t give everybody money and still pay the mortgage… and I am suddenly pretty price sensitive.  Also, the price of everything is going up a lot faster than my salary since the pandemic.  Thanks to the magic of inflation and a decade of 1% raises, I effectively make less than I did fifteen years ago.

Anyway, Zwift is off the menu.  It was only inertia that kept me from cutting it previously.  The price increase just cemented my feelings about it.

They sent me a survey to ask why I cancelled and I was pretty clear that the price increase was the reason.  I am sure that will go into the bin as I have found that any company that makes a suddenly price increase without any warning it is coming has already convinced themselves that they are making the right decision and any complaints can be brushed away as outliers.

Of course, the funny thing is that if they decided tomorrow that the price hike was a huge mistake and they declared that they were rolling back to $15 a month, I wouldn’t go back.  I was bothered by the old price, but not enough to be moved to action.  But now that the price change has made me reflect on the value of Zwift, I wouldn’t go back, even at the old price.

It is generally a mistake to make users think too hard about the value your service offers.

Anyway, I am now in the market for an exercise app that works with the BlueTooth connection to our Schwinn IC4 exercise bike, preferably something without a recurring subscription model.  And if such a thing doesn’t exist, then I can just peddle away without an app.  I’ll just use the timer on my phone or listen to a podcast that is about the right length and not worry about it.