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and DCRainmaker is not happy! https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2025/03/komoot-acquired-history-says-this-wont-end-well.html
explains the direction Komoot are going in with their paywall stuff (need to be a Premium member now to even sync a route with a device!) I believe if you bought anything prior to Feb of this year (map, etc) you are "grandfathered" in and don't need the Premium membership for that. Luckily I did, although tbh I don't use Komoot much (and will be using it even less now by the sounds of it!)
I skim-read the comments, there's some interesting info, apparently Komoot was one of the few services of this kind not set up with VC money (instead, generous loans/grants from the German government apparently!) which meant they were profitable/sustainable without having to be silly about things (Strava, I'm looking at you...) Looks like that's all going to change now unfortunately.
Yeah... I'm only a premium member for the collections feature, which I could and should probably replicate as Blog content instead as Komoot gives horrible exposure anyway. Don't like the sound of the new lot so likely to cancel on principle. Assuming if I cancel now I'll get the remainder of the year that I've paid up tor...
For only slightly more than the cost of Komoot Premium you could buy an OS digital subscription AND (I think, haven't researched fully) pay for a publishing license should you wish to 'publish' OS content.
Still paying for Strava premium for the route planner, Heatmap is worth the cost alone I reckon.
Yes, I actually really like the Strava route planner, and agree Heatmap is awesome (both while planning & just while free riding out & about!)
DCRainmaker having a bit of a rant there. Not sure why they feel entitled to better press releases about company ownership? How much time did they spend worrying about the ownership before the change? Probably not much if they believe Komoot was entirely funded on grants and soft loans - the press release itself lists KRW Schindler, Outdoor Secondary, MBG Beteiligungsges. Berlin-Brandenburg, and LP Capital (Liquid Partners), as the backers - they all expect a return somehow. Thats almost always by selling to someone who wants to do something different with the business - grow it, kill it, exploit the tech and get rid of the costs etc. 21st century capitalism - don’t like it? Well you could try to recreate the offering with your own money as a social enterprise. Probably not that hard - until you try to scale it!
Heatmap works fine even without a subscription!
Just as i was getting my head round Komoot this happens
My hunch is that for commercial reasons they will increase the elevation numbers for rides and runs. They are rubbish at the moment
DCRainmaker having a bit of a rant there.
Fair enough! I give him a pass as he's one of the few sources online I trust for actual impartial info. Time will tell though if he's right and it all goes to shite, or just carries on business as usual.
Heatmap works fine even without a subscription!
not in the route planner!
If Garmin software was anywhere close to being as good as it should be, I don’t see where any of these third party companies would have a market.
You got the feeling they were really into cycling.
Difficult to understand their model back when they sold the region maps so cheap.
This stuff costs money you know, more than you think. Reckon I've posted that sentence on many an IT service cost/benefit thread now.
The community poi are their killer feature, hope that continues.
But.
Why pay more for komoot subscription when I already pay for strava?
If Garmin software was anywhere close to being as good as it should be
Something that always amazes me is that they have an aviation division including fully electronic cockpits. I can only assume their good devs work there and the lifestyle/fitness division get the rejects.
I do wonder how quickly the one off purchases of the maps on komoot will somehow become redundant.
I can’t imagine they were ever profitable and must have hit a cash crunch otherwise why would you sell? Probably like most other modern “businesses” where you burn a load of cash and hope someone will buy you out before you go bust. It’s a shame that it’s so hard to get a business like this going on the basis of having 5% of your customers paying whilst the rest freeload*, but there we are.
* That’s me after paying £20 back in the day for all of world mapping
** Tried Strava premium and didn’t see the value
Don't need to be profitable necessarily. Just need to have built enough brand and goodwill to sell on, with a shareprice valuation based on future expectation. There are multibillion $ companies out there that have never made a profit.
I was surprised they took so long to sell tbh. I was expecting the sale to be within about 3 years of when they had a massive marketing budget, sponsoring practically every outdoor sport activity Youtube channel.
I expect it to last about as long as Endomondo from the actual moment of sale.
I was surprised they took so long to sell tbh. I was expecting the sale to be within about 3 years of when they had a massive marketing budget, sponsoring practically every outdoor sport activity Youtube channel.
Apidura are still around too and they must have given away all of their first production run.
I'm thinking of the staff, not the users, at the moment.
Thank you Kelvin 💚, and anyone else who shares this sentiment. I know this can be a compassionate place when the chips are down.
You got the feeling they were really into cycling.
I can tell you this is true, komoot at it's heart is full of outdoor enthusiasts (I mean I'm on singletrack forum as a paid member?!). Whilst we might not have made the same product and business choices that seem to get critiqued when announcements like this are made, what I can tell you is we worked extremely hard and passionately to make it the best we could - we poured a lot into it. We're all heartbroken to see it end this way.
Really sucks for the staff who were instantly let go. My annual sub was meant to renew in a couple of weeks but I've cancelled it now.
Two comments.... Most importantly for me, absolute sympathy for all the staff affected. Sad times. I can only wish them all the very best having had someone very close to me caught up in the Kona debacle.
At a practical level what does this mean for me as a worldwide map purchaser but not a Premium member.
Will I still be able to create routes on my laptop, import routes from others and have the map download capability.... and install these routes on my Garmin? Or does everything grind to a halt?
komoot at it's heart is full of outdoor enthusiasts (I mean I'm on singletrack forum as a paid member?!). Whilst we might not have made the same product and business choices that seem to get critiqued when announcements like this are made, what I can tell you is we worked extremely hard and passionately to make it the best we could - we poured a lot into it.
+100. I was sad to hear the news, not about a sale which would have happened at some stage, but to whom it was sold and the likely impact it would have on the people I know who work there. komoot were the host of a route I put together and they supported the foundation that the route and event was set up to benefit - it was always a pleasure to work with them and they all had a real passion for what they did and what route mapping and exploring could do for people (and the foundation they supported as part of the route hosting sponsorhip). Good things came from what komoot did and those things came from the ideas and work of the people who worked there more than the app itself.
@jaymold I hope things are working out a bit better than some are saying, can't be an easy time right now. Been through similar situations.
Not sure what all the fuss is about. Company owners get an offer and take the money. If the VC company that buy it price it out if the market then who cares if they lose thier money
If Garmin software was anywhere close to being as good as it should be, I don’t see where any of these third party companies would have a market.
And that's why you can be confident the alternatives will be around for years and years to come. Garmin's software development gets worser and worserer from my bitter experience if using their watches.
If the VC company that buy it price it out if the market then who cares if they lose thier money
I don't think anyone cares about the financial health of the VC - it's just this specific VC has a history of making all, or a large swath of, employees redundant (sometimes without notice). Not a nice way to treat the employees...
Launched my Komoot app today to navigate a hike, Neston and Parkgate on the Wirral, very nice until the stupid hound dived into a minging swamp then rolled in horse crap.
Anyway, I digress. Sent me to the Google Play store instead of the app and asked me to set up payment for £4.99/week, (per week! WTF!) or something or other a year. Didn't do this a couple of weeks ago when on holiday in Northern Ireland.
So, is this it? Have the vulture capitalists turned off any free access? Have to say, I'll be disappointed if they have, but not disappointed enough to pay that much for it.
Completely missed this news when it happened months ago, thread revival only alerted me!
Komoot did have a direct link with Lezyne GPS computers, but I've never really looked at it and so no idea what may have changed this year.
And @tthew has taken me back ~35 years when I lived not far from Wirral Way as a teen, having moved to the area at the very end of my first year of secondary school (lots of stuff about Daniel Craig attending Calday Grammar briefly, a few years before me).
I've never really gotten on with Komoot but occasionally use it on desktop. There's no nagging for payment using browser access at the moment (although that might change).
There used to be a ConnectIQ App for Garmin devices too.
It's an ad that crops up occasionally. Press the x to close it - not continue which presumably is what took you to play store
I have a national map pack that I got on a deal but I think you now need a sub for downloading routes along with other features.
Personally I don't rate the route planning UI particularly highly in Komoot. I've just gone back to OS maps in the UK for road and off road planning. About £30 a year, plot a route (and you can now do searches for other people's), export a GPX and load to Garmin.
What I don't think anyone has quite worked out yet is that people who use 3 or 4 of these mapping / tracking / recording services to get the best of each one's features are mostly not going to pay 3 or 4 subs due to affordability.
Add All Trails and a few others and somewhere the user numbers are going to be taking a hit if the plan is to compromise the app if you don't pay regularly.
I use Komoot every week or so. I've just launched it on both app (Android) and web and didn't get any pop-up window requesting payment.
I use Komoot every week or so. I've just launched it on both app (Android) and web and didn't get any the pop-up window requesting payment about every third time I use it
Oh look, it's just happened again....I just click the "use free version" and carry on with my route planning though I didn't notice the "Already purchased?" link - so I may try that next time as this begging screen is annoying. That weekly pricing is insane!
(I bought the World mapping pack years ago but have never subscribed).
Ah, I didn't notice the tiny, pale continue with free version option - I expect that's why it's tiny and pale! I went for the free trial option then immediately cancelled it. I hope I've not triggered some kind of account deletion next week as...
(I bought the World mapping pack years ago but have never subscribed).
Same.
Thanks all.
I used it for the first time in ages at weekend and noted there was a message saying my subscription had expired but I was still able to use it to find routes and download for offline use ie could use as normal??
IIRC they have grandfathered in the "feature" of limiting downloads to subscribers. So if you've ever subscribed in the past (or bought a region?) you should be able to download routes. I cancelled my sub after it was sold and they just laid most of the staff off but can still download GPXes to my Garmin via the IQ app. I assume I could also get the raw GPX. I broadly like the route planner and have a load of stuff saved in there. But if they do make it more restricted I'll swap to RideWithGPS as that seems to have a much more active developer.