Strava is tightening access to its API to stop AI companies from scraping user data. The move comes as the platform sees a surge in developer interest, with applications up 448% year-to-date. The new policy introduces two developer tiers with different rate limits.
New developer tiers introduced
The Standard tier now requires developers to hold an active Strava subscription to access the API. Existing Standard tier developers must subscribe by the end of June 2026. The Extended tier offers higher limits but also requires subscription.
Key endpoints including Club Activities, Club Administrators, and Club Members will be deprecated on September 1, 2026. Strava also launched an official Model Context Protocol tool for subscribers. These changes aim to protect athlete data from unauthorized scraping.
Key endpoints to be deprecated
Strava CEO Michael Martin told TechCrunch that Perplexity had routed its scraping through third-party aggregators to harvest athletic data after Strava refused licensing proposals. The new API policy directly addresses such practices.
The policy update reflects a broader industry trend of platforms restricting data access to prevent AI training without permission. Strava's move is among the most aggressive, requiring subscriptions even for basic API use.
Developers who fail to meet the subscription requirement by the deadline will lose API access. The deprecation of key endpoints will further limit data availability. Strava's new MCP tool offers an alternative for legitimate data use.
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