First, set expectations
A lot of people search for a “Strava API alternative” expecting a drop-in replacement. There isn't one, because Strava is two things at once: a social network with segments, kudos, and a feed, and a place your activities land. Nothing else gives you that social graph. What most developers actually want when they hit the Strava API is the underlying data: workouts, heart rate, sleep, recovery, steps, from whatever device a person wears. For that, the answer is a wearable data aggregator, not a Strava clone.
Why look past Strava's own API at all? Because of what changed in 2026. Standard-tier access now requires an active Strava subscription, and the November 2024 API agreement already limited apps to showing a user their own data (no cross-user leaderboards or heatmaps) and banned using Strava data to train AI. Strava has also said it no longer supports routing its data through third-party intermediary platforms. So if your goal is multi-device health data, you are better off going to the devices, through an aggregator or directly.
Important: these aggregators are for the data Strava does not give you (heart rate, sleep, recovery from Garmin, Oura, Whoop, and the rest). Do not treat them as a back door to Strava's own data. Some still list Strava as a source, but Strava's 2024–2026 terms restrict routing its data through third-party platforms, so that path is on shaky ground.
Option 1: wearable data aggregators
These give you one API and one data schema across hundreds of devices and apps. You connect a user once, and workouts, sleep, heart rate, and body data flow in by webhook. It saves you from wiring up Garmin, Oura, Whoop, Fitbit, and Apple Health one at a time. The trade-off is price: none of the serious ones have a free tier, and entry pricing starts a few hundred dollars a month.
| Aggregator | Entry price | Model | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terra | $499/mo (or $399/mo billed yearly) | Credits | Fitness-first, 500+ sources, WebSocket streaming |
| Junction (was Vital) | $0.50/user/mo, $300 min | Per connected user | Wearables plus lab testing; healthcare-leaning |
| Spike | from $450/mo | Usage | 500+ sources, covers Suunto and Coros, has an MCP server |
| ROOK | $399/mo (up to 750 users) | Tiered by active users | Health-grade framing, strong Latin America coverage |
Terra is the fitness-focused option most indie developers reach for first. Broad device coverage, REST plus webhooks plus WebSocket streaming, and SDKs. Pricing is credit-based ($499/month, or $399/month billed annually, for 100,000 credits). Note that some of Terra's marketing mentions a free tier, but the pricing page and their own community answers say there is no free plan, only a 30-day money-back window and a request-based sandbox.
Junction (formerly Vital, rebranded in 2025 after an $18M raise) pairs wearables with at-home and nationwide lab testing, and leans toward healthcare use cases. Its pricing is the cleanest per-user model of the group: $0.50 per connected user per month, with a $300 minimum. If you expect a small number of high-value users, per-user can beat credits.
Spike is the AI-forward one. It supports 500+ sources (including Suunto and Coros, which some others miss), does historical retrieval, and ships an MCP server so you can pipe health data into an LLM. Entry is around $450/month. ROOK is a smaller, health-grade aggregator priced by active user tier (from $399/month for up to 750 users).
If per-user or per-month pricing is a dealbreaker, the escape hatch is open source. Metriport is an open-source health-data API you can self-host (it is records-first, with a secondary devices API), and Wearipedia is a free Python package from Stanford that unifies a few dozen wearable APIs, though some of its connectors use unofficial endpoints, so it is better for research than production.
Option 2: go direct to the device APIs
If you only need one or two devices, skip the aggregator and use the manufacturer's own API. Direct access is usually free, but you wire up and maintain each one yourself, and some are gated behind approval or a business relationship. Here is the honest state of play for an indie developer in 2026.
| Device / platform | Access | Indie-friendly? |
|---|---|---|
| Apple HealthKit | Open, needs an iOS app ($99/yr program) | Yes |
| Android Health Connect | Open to build; Play health-data review to ship | Yes, stricter in 2026 |
| Polar AccessLink | Open, free, self-serve | Yes, the friendliest |
| Oura (v2) | Self-serve OAuth2 (personal tokens removed Dec 2025) | Yes |
| Whoop | Self-serve up to 10 users, free approval beyond | Yes |
| Fitbit → Google Health API | Restricted-scope review; legacy API off Sept 2026 | Harder now |
| Garmin (Health / Activity) | Business-only, application-gated | Hard for solo devs |
| COROS | New 2026 application process, plus an MCP server | Gated |
| Suunto | Build free; partner programme to publish (opened Mar 2026) | Yes, for watch apps |
The friendliest direct APIs for a solo project are Polar (free and fully self-serve), Oura, and Whoop (self-serve for small user counts). The ones to plan around: Fitbit is migrating to the Google Health API with a restricted-scope review, and the legacy Fitbit Web API shuts down in September 2026. Garmin's Health and Activity APIs are business-only and gated, which is why most indie apps reach Garmin data through an aggregator instead. Ignore the “Garmin charges a $5,000 setup fee” claims floating around; that number comes from third-party integrators, not Garmin, whose own program pages say there are no access fees.
So which should you use?
- You just need one user's Strava activities: the Strava API itself is still the simplest path (it now needs a Strava subscription). See our getting-started guide.
- You need data from many wearables: use an aggregator. Pick Terra for fitness breadth, Junction if per-user pricing or lab data fits, Spike for AI/MCP and Suunto/Coros, ROOK if its user tiers are cheaper for you.
- You only care about one or two devices: go direct. Whoop, Oura, and Polar are the easy ones; Garmin and Fitbit are the gated ones.
- You want to avoid recurring per-user fees: self-host Metriport, or use Wearipedia for research.
- You're building for AI: Spike and COROS expose MCP servers, and Strava has its own MCP connector.
Common questions
Is there a free wearable data API?
Not among the hosted aggregators, they all start in the hundreds of dollars per month. The free routes are open source (self-host Metriport, or use the Wearipedia Python package) and the native device APIs, most of which are free but which you have to integrate one by one.
Can I get Strava data through one of these aggregators?
A few list Strava as a source, but treat it with caution. Strava's 2024–2026 terms restrict routing its data through third-party platforms and limit how that data can be shown and used. Use aggregators for the wearable data Strava doesn't expose, and use the Strava API directly for Strava's own data.
What's the most indie-friendly option?
For a single device, Polar, Oura, or Whoop, which are self-serve and free (or free for small user counts). For many devices without wiring each one yourself, an aggregator, accepting the monthly cost.
Does Garmin have a free API?
Garmin's official program pages say there are no access fees, but the Health and Activity APIs are business-use and application-gated, with no documented self-serve personal tier. For a small project, an aggregator is usually the faster route to Garmin data.
Related reading
For Strava's own API, start with our getting-started guide and the developer docs, and see what changed in 2026.