Strava fights AI scrapers by pricing out devs at $12/mo
strava is locking its api behind a new $11.99 monthly subscription to curb ai-driven scraping. this paywall could stifle third-party fitness app innovation while preserving data exclusivity for the company's upcoming ipo.
strava has ended free access to its developer api, instituting a $11.99 monthly subscription to combat what it describes as aggressive scraping from ai-powered tools. the company reports that developer applications jumped 448% year-to-date, largely due to low-code ai bots that overload infrastructure, prompting stricter controls similar to reddit's 2023 policy shift. although users can still link data to anthropic's claude and download personal archives for free, creators of third-party fitness apps must now pay. this creates a dilemma for the ecosystem: higher barriers may block innovative apps, but the toll ensures stability and data control as strava prepares for its ipo.