The Strava/Runna Combo Subscription Is a Great Deal, but I’m Still Disappointed
When running app Strava bought running coaching app Runna earlier this year , everyone immediately responded: We can get a great deal on both, right? The answer was no at first, but now there’s a combo subscription. It’s a good price, but there are some caveats.
If you need a refresher on what Strava is, it’s a mega-popular social app for tracking and sharing your runs and bike workouts. It’s honestly the best running app out there , despite its sometimes poorly handled privacy issues . You can use it for free, but a subscription ($11.99/month or $79.99/year) unlocks a ton of extra features for mapping routes and analyzing workout data.
Runna is an app that provides customized, structured training plans to help you run better . It’s another favorite of mine — it’s easy to use and the programs are better than what you’ll get from any watch or free app. Runna is a paid app ($19.99/month or $119.99/year) with no free tier other than a free week-long trial.
How to Get a Strava/Runna Bundle (and How Much It Costs)
The Strava/Runna package costs $149.99 per year and is only available as an annual subscription. There is no monthly option.
You can buy aStrava Combo subscription here , or buy one through the Android or Apple app stores. If you already have a discount on your Strava membership, such as a military discount or family plan, those discounts will not apply to the Combo plan.
Why am I so excited about this?
First, it’s a bargain — combine the cost of an annual subscription for Runna and Strava, and you’ll pay about $200 per year. This combo deal knocks $50 off the price. (The companies advertise this deal as saving “up to 60%,” but that’s when you compare the annual combo subscription to the individual monthly subscriptions, so it’s not exactly 100 percent.)
I have some reservations about the price and the way they’re implementing it, which I’ll get to below. But overall, I’ve been pretty happy as a Runna customer since the merger. Runna continues to add new features and seems to have a ton more planned. Just yesterday, I started one of their brand new “total training” plans (still in beta), customizing how much I want to run and what workouts I want in the mix, without having to pick a distance or set a race date.
The app recently added “B-Races,” where you can schedule a low-priority race in the middle of a larger workout. They’re also revamping their mobility workout sessions and have a big old roadmap with a ton of new features on the way.
(I can’t say the same about Strava – Strava doesn’t have many Runna-inspired features yet, unless it’s something that happens inside the app. But it’s too early to tell, and perhaps more will come.)
Why I’m a little disappointed
First, I’m disappointed that there’s no monthly option. More and more companies are encouraging annual subscriptions instead of monthly, or making them the only option, and that sucks – sure, it’s a lower “monthly” cost when you do the math, but it’s still a lot of money to shell out up front. It’s way too much for an app you may not know if you’ll like, or that you may not use year-round.
Another big disappointment is that there’s nothing in this deal for people who were longtime customers of one app — longtime subscribers of Runna, or vice versa. One of the main reasons for the excitement about the merger was that customers of each app were hoping to add the other at a discount. That’s not an option. At least they thought about annual subscribers (not monthly — they’re on their own.)
If you already have an annual subscription to Runna, you can purchase a combo subscription and then contact customer service to ask them to extend your membership rather than allowing the timeframes of both options to overlap. Runna offers an FAQ for customers upgrading to a combo subscription.
If you already have a yearly subscription to Strava, it’s simpler — Strava will calculate how much time is left on your old subscription, convert that amount into dollars, and refund you some of it. (So if you subscribed for six months, you’d get half of what you’ve already paid back.) This will presumably happen automatically.
It’s important to note that the discount works differently on the Strava website than in the app. If you buy a combo subscription on the website, your refund will be applied as a discount on the combo subscription, so you only pay the difference. If you buy through the app, you’ll get a prorated refund before you’re charged the new subscription price. Either way, it’s the same outcome. Strava’s FAQ on switching subscriptions isat the bottom of this page .