Sports social networking platform Strava is tightening access restrictions on its website and developer interfaces, citing increased system load and user data management pressures from AI companies scraping its public website and APIs. The company will also charge developers a flat monthly fee for access, a move that comes after it filed for an IPO.
More public information is now visible only after logging in.
Strava stated that some content previously accessible without login will now be available only to verified users, including public profiles and lists of running clubs. The company said this move is to reduce unauthorized AI scraping and enhance website security.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Strava CEO Michael Martin said that the company has experienced website performance degradation due to crawling on multiple occasions in recent months, in some cases even affecting normal use. Besides publicly accessible web pages, some organizations are also attempting to bypass the API terms of service to obtain data.
Developer access changed to a unified subscription fee
Regarding its API policy, Strava previously allowed developers to access the platform through a tiered free plan, initially requesting basic permissions and then requesting more permissions as their applications grew. Now, the company is switching to a unified pricing model, requiring developers to pay $11.99 per month, with the exact price potentially varying by region.
Strava stated that its developer community has grown from 185,000 last year to 241,000 this year, and the company hopes to maintain this ecosystem. To this end, Strava plans to support the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing AI assistants and applications to access external data in a more structured way, while the platform decides what content to share.
- Developer community size: increased from 185,000 to 241,000
- New pricing: $11.99 per month
- Transition period: A 90-day buffer period will be maintained before policy adjustments.
Some interfaces will be taken offline, and dependent applications may be affected.
In addition to charging fees, Strava also plans to shut down some API endpoints. These interfaces originally allowed external applications to access specific data, such as club details. The company stated that reducing the scope of the interfaces is to further protect user data.
Strava tightened its API rules back in 2024, including prohibiting the use of its data for AI training and restricting third-party applications from displaying other users' data. At the time, these changes sparked opposition from developers, some of whom believed their applications would be significantly impacted. This time, while a uniform subscription fee might be more acceptable than pay-per-call billing, the API shutdown could still affect applications that rely on this data.
Martin also mentioned that some applications rapidly generated with AI assistance have inefficient API call designs, putting additional pressure on Strava servers. The company believes that these issues, along with large-scale crawling, are driving the platform to redefine how external access is handled.
Strengthening data control before IPO
Strava had previously filed for an IPO. This simultaneous tightening of website access restrictions, adjustment of API fees, and reduction of the scope of its APIs are seen as part of its efforts to strengthen data management and platform control before its IPO.
Martin stated that the company had rejected data licensing requests from some leading AI labs. He also specifically named Perplexity, claiming that the company continued to scrape data through aggregation services after being rejected, in order to conceal the source. Strava's stance is that users should be clear about how their data is controlled and protected, and that the developer ecosystem must continue to function.
