What changed at Strava
Three things, all in 2026, all covered in more depth in the developer program changes post.
- Since June 1, a Strava subscription is required to create and use an API app on the Standard tier. Existing developers had until June 30.
- The same day, Strava moved its usage rules into a separate API Policy, incorporated into the agreement. It limits an app to showing a user their own data (section 2.3), bans using Strava data in the development, training, evaluation or operation of any AI application, retrieval-augmented generation and context windows included (section 5.3), and prohibits any proxy, intermediary or aggregator that re-exposes the API (section 5.16). Only Strava’s own MCP connector is exempt.
- On September 1 the Club Activities, Club Members and Club Admins endpoints were removed, and Explore Segments moved to the Extended Access tier.
If Strava data is all you need, keep using Strava
A lot of people search for a Strava API alternative expecting a drop-in replacement. There isn’t one. Strava is two things at once: a social network with segments, kudos and a feed, and the place activities land from every device. Nothing else has that graph, and no aggregator is allowed to hand you Strava’s data any more.
So if your app reads a user’s own activities and shows them back, the Strava API is still the simplest path, and the new cost is a Strava subscription, $79.99 a year in the US, not the hundreds of dollars a month the aggregators below charge. What you can’t do is feed it to an AI feature or show one user another user’s data. Start with our getting-started guide.
If you need device data, option A: aggregators
These give you one API and one schema across many devices. Connect a user once and workouts, sleep, heart rate and body data flow in by webhook, which saves wiring up Garmin, Oura, WHOOP, Fitbit and Apple Health one at a time. Most price in credits, where a credit is roughly one data event. The trade-off is that none of them has a free tier, and entry starts at $300 a month.
| Aggregator | Entry price | Model | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terra | $499/mo, or $399/mo billed yearly, for 100,000 credits | Credits | Fitness-first, about 70 integrations (Terra says 500+ devices); WebSocket streaming is a $99/mo add-on |
| Junction (was Vital) | $300/mo flat, up to 500 connected users | Flat, then custom Enterprise | Wearables plus at-home and lab testing; healthcare-leaning |
| Spike | From $450/mo | Usage | 60 providers including Suunto and COROS; MCP server on the Enterprise tier |
| ROOK | $399/mo, up to 750 users | Tiered by active users | 15 sources; HIPAA and FHIR framing; Latin America footprint |
Terra is the fitness-focused one and the one most indie developers try first. REST, webhooks and SDKs, with WebSocket streaming as a paid add-on. Pricing is $499 a month, or $399 a month billed yearly, for 100,000 credits. There is no free plan and no free sandbox, whatever the marketing implies; Terra’s own community answer is a 30-day money-back window.
Junction (formerly Vital, rebranded in 2025 after an $18M raise) pairs wearables with at-home and nationwide lab testing and leans toward healthcare. Its pricing is the simplest of the group: $300 a month covers up to 500 connected users, then it’s a custom Enterprise deal. Under 500 users, that’s the cheapest hosted option here.
Spike lists 60 providers, including Suunto and COROS, which Junction and ROOK don’t cover, and does historical retrieval. Its MCP server, for piping health data into an LLM, sits on the Enterprise tier rather than the $450-a-month entry plan, so ask before you count on it. ROOK is smaller, 15 sources, priced by active-user tier from $399 a month for up to 750 users, with a Latin America footprint and HIPAA and FHIR language throughout.
All four still list Strava as a source, and Terra and Junction make you bring your own Strava app credentials to use it. Don’t. Strava’s API Policy prohibits exactly that path (section 5.16), and its developer update says apps routing Strava data through intermediaries are no longer supported. Use aggregators for the data Strava doesn’t have.
Option B: the device APIs directly
If you only need one or two devices, skip the aggregator. Direct access is usually free, but you wire up and maintain each one yourself, and some are gated behind an application or a business relationship. Two kinds here: SDKs that run on the phone, and cloud APIs that hand your server the workouts.
| Platform | Access | Indie-friendly? |
|---|---|---|
| Apple HealthKit (on device) | Open; needs an iOS app and the $99/yr developer program | Yes |
| Android Health Connect (on device) | Open to build; Google Play’s health policy, updated April 2026, adds a health-apps declaration and granular Android 16 permissions before you ship | Yes, with paperwork |
| Polar AccessLink | Self-serve, any Polar Flow user can create a client; no fee | Yes, the friendliest |
| Oura (v2) | Self-serve OAuth2; personal access tokens deprecated; 10-user limit until reviewed | Yes |
| WHOOP | Self-serve up to 10 members, app review beyond; no fee, but you need a WHOOP membership | Yes |
| Fitbit, now Google Health API | Legacy Web API being turned down this month; every Health API scope is Restricted and needs a privacy and security review | Harder now |
| Garmin Health and Activity | Business use only, by application; no fees; answered within two business days | Hard if you’re not a business |
| COROS | Partner API by application, for platforms with an established user base; official MCP for individual users since May 2026 | Gated |
| Suunto Cloud API | Free; application and a review of about two weeks for workout FIT files. Building SuuntoPlus watch apps is separately open to everyone since March 2026 | Yes, with a short application |
The friendliest for a solo project are Polar, Oura and WHOOP. The ones to plan around: the legacy Fitbit Web API is being turned down in September 2026 (no exact day published), so new Fitbit work goes straight to the Google Health API and its review. Garmin’s Health and Activity APIs are for businesses and you apply, which is why most indie apps reach Garmin data through an aggregator. Ignore the “Garmin charges a $5,000 setup fee” claims floating around; that number comes from third-party integrators. I couldn’t find it anywhere on Garmin’s site, whose program pages say there are no access fees.
Option C: open source and the rest
Wearipedia is a free, alpha-stage Python package from Stanford covering around 18 devices, built for research rather than production. Metriport used to be the open-source escape hatch for wearables, but its docs now describe only a medical-records API, so I’ve dropped it. Thryve and Validic are two more hosted aggregators I haven’t tested.
So which should you use?
- One user’s own Strava activities: the Strava API, with a subscription. The cheapest option on this page by far.
- Data from many wearables: an aggregator. Terra is the default. Junction is cheaper under 500 users. Spike if you need Suunto or COROS. ROOK if you’re in Latin America or want the healthcare framing.
- One or two devices: go direct. WHOOP, Oura and Polar are the easy ones; Garmin, COROS and Fitbit are the gated ones.
- Building for AI: Spike and COROS ship MCP servers you can build on. Strava’s MCP connector is for a subscriber’s own use in Claude, and the API Policy bars developers from putting Strava data into any AI feature, so don’t plan a product around Strava data here.
Common questions
Can I get Strava data through one of these aggregators?
No. Terra, Junction, Spike and ROOK still list Strava as a source, but Strava’s API Policy, in force since June 1, 2026, prohibits any pass-through proxy, intermediary or aggregator that re-exposes its API (section 5.16), and Strava’s own developer update says apps routing its data through third-party platforms are no longer supported. Use the Strava API directly for Strava data and an aggregator for everything else.
Does Garmin have a free API?
There is no fee. Garmin’s Connect Developer Program pages say there are no licensing or maintenance charges, but the Health and Activity APIs are for business use only and you apply for them. Garmin says it confirms an application’s status within two business days. There is no self-serve personal tier, which is why small projects usually reach Garmin data through an aggregator.
Is there a free wearable data API?
Not among the hosted aggregators, which all start at $300 a month or more. The free routes are the device APIs themselves, most of which charge nothing but have to be integrated one at a time, and Wearipedia, a Stanford research package that is still in alpha.
Sources
- Strava API Policy and API Agreement (both effective June 1, 2026), API changelog, and Strava’s developer program update
- Strava subscription pricing
- Terra pricing and integrations; Junction pricing; Spike pricing and integrations; ROOK pricing
- Apple Developer Program; Health Connect access; Polar AccessLink; Oura API docs; WHOOP app approval; Fitbit Web API and Google Health API; Garmin Connect Developer Program FAQ; COROS support (Partner API Access, Build on COROS MCP); Suunto Cloud API
- Wearipedia and Metriport docs
Related reading
For Strava’s own API, start with the getting-started guide and the developer docs. The MCP page covers what Strava’s connector does and what the policy allows.
