Build Your Own Year in Running Recap
Strava moved Year in Sport behind an $80 subscription. Type in your own numbers and get a shareable recap card in under a minute, free, no login, no API.
In December 2025, Strava put its annual Year in Sport recap behind a paid subscription, around $80 per year, after eight years of it being free. This tool is a free workaround: enter your own mileage, run count, hours, and other totals, and it draws a shareable recap card right in your browser using the same numbers Strava would have shown you, with no subscription, no login, and no data leaving your device.
Enter Your Year
Every number here comes from you typing it in, not an automated import. Pull your totals from your Strava profile, your watch app, or your own log, then enter them above.
Renders entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.
Why This Is Manual Entry, Not an Auto-Import
It would be technically possible to try to pull your stats automatically from Strava's API. We chose not to build it that way, for two specific and verifiable reasons.
Reason one: Year in Sport is now a paid Strava feature
For the first time since the feature launched in 2016, Strava made Year in Sport a subscriber-only perk starting in December 2025, part of a roughly $80 per year subscription. Strava has said core activity tracking stays free, but the storytelling layer, Year in Sport and monthly recap cards, now sits behind the paywall. Building a tool that quietly reconstructs a paywalled Strava feature using Strava's own data would defeat the purpose of offering a genuinely free alternative, so this tool works entirely from numbers you provide yourself.
Reason two: Strava's API now charges developers directly
Separately, as of June 2026 Strava began charging developers a monthly fee, $11.99 per month for standard API access, specifically citing a flood of scraper tools and low-effort apps built on its platform without a direct relationship with users. Even setting the cost aside, that policy shift signals Strava does not want third-party tools reconstructing its data automatically. A manual-entry tool respects that boundary completely: it never touches Strava's servers, your account, or your API tokens, it only uses numbers you choose to type in.
Sources: Strava's Year in Sport paywall was reported by road.cc and Gadgets & Wearables. The June 2026 API fee change was detailed by Apps for Strava and covered in Strava's own developer community update.
A Running App Where Your Stats Are Never Behind a Second Paywall
Making a recap card should not require a subscription, and neither should seeing your own running history. Motera tracks every run, tile captured, and milestone hit on your personal map, and none of it sits behind a premium tier.
You will not be building recap cards by hand forever, either. Motera's territory map, XP history, and leaderboard standing already tell the story of your year visually, updated after every single run.
MoteraThe Full Timeline: How Year in Sport Went From Free to $80
The paywall did not appear out of nowhere. Here is how the feature went from a free annual tradition to a subscriber perk, and how Strava's own users reacted when it happened.
- 2016
Year in Sport launches
Strava introduces an annual recap showing every user their yearly totals, best month, and highlights, free for everyone with an account.
- 2016 to 2024
A free annual tradition
For eight straight years, Year in Sport ships every December as a free feature, becoming one of the most anticipated and widely shared moments on the platform each year.
- December 2025
The paywall announcement
Strava confirms Year in Sport is moving behind its paid subscription tier, roughly $80 per year, for the first time in the feature's history. Strava states core activity tracking remains free.
- December 2025
User backlash
Reaction is swift and largely negative, especially on Reddit. One widely quoted user asked Strava to "let the plebs see their Year in Sport too." Coverage frames the move as charging users to see data they generated themselves, and draws direct comparisons to a similar paywall move by Garmin shortly before.
- 2026
Where it stands now
The paywall remains in place, and Strava has not reversed the decision. This recap tool exists as a direct response: the same kind of shareable year-end card, built from your own numbers, with no subscription required.
"Strava is essentially charging users to view data they generated themselves."
A widely echoed sentiment from Strava's own user base after the December 2025 announcement, reported alongside similar reactions from athletes across Reddit and fitness forums.
Sources: road.cc, Gadgets & Wearables, and Slashdot on the backlash and user reaction.
Are there tools that auto-import from Strava instead of typing your own numbers?
Yes, honestly. A free third-party site called My Workout Companion connects to your Strava account and builds its own Strava Wrap-Up style stats, including a yearly recap, by syncing your activities automatically once you authorize it. It is a real option and it works. The tradeoff is what you are actually choosing between: granting a third-party app ongoing API access to your Strava account, versus typing six or seven numbers you already know into a form that never talks to Strava at all. Neither choice is wrong. If you trust a tool enough to connect it, auto-import saves a few minutes of typing. If you would rather not connect anything to your account, manual entry is the option with zero access granted, period.
How to Build Your Recap Card
- 1
Gather your numbers
Open your Strava profile stats tab, your watch app yearly summary, or your own training log. You need total miles, total runs, and total time at minimum.
- 2
Type them into the form
Enter your name, year, and stats above. The preview card updates instantly as you type, so you can see exactly how it will look before downloading anything.
- 3
Pick a color theme
Choose from three card colors to match your personal style or the season you are recapping.
- 4
Download and share
Click download to save a 1080x1350 PNG sized for Instagram feed posts and stories. Post it anywhere you would have shared Strava's own Year in Sport card.
Do I need a Strava account to use this?
No. This tool never asks for a Strava login and never connects to Strava's servers in any way. Strava is simply the most common place people already have their yearly totals sitting, so it is the fastest place to go look them up. If your numbers live somewhere else, a Garmin, Coros, or Apple Fitness summary, or your own training log, that works exactly the same way.
Strava Year in Sport vs This Tool vs Motera
| Feature | Strava Year in Sport | This Recap Tool | Motera In-App Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | ~$80/year subscription | Free | Free |
| Data source | Automatic from Strava account | Manual entry by you | Automatic from your Motera runs |
| Requires login | Yes, Strava account | No | Yes, Motera account |
| Custom time period | No, fixed calendar year | Yes, any period you choose | Yes, view any range |
| Shareable image | Yes, in-app | Yes, PNG download | Yes, territory map screenshots |
This Tool vs an Ongoing Training Log Like Intervals.icu
These solve different problems, so "which is better" is the wrong question to ask. Intervals.icu is a free, ongoing training-analytics platform: it syncs automatically from Strava, Garmin, and other sources, then tracks fitness, fatigue, and form over time on a running performance chart. This recap tool does one narrow thing well: it produces a single shareable image summarizing a period you choose, and then it is done. One is a live log you check every week, the other is a one-time card you post once and move on from.
| Factor | This Recap Tool | Intervals.icu-Style Training Log |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | One shareable year-end image | Ongoing fitness and fatigue analytics |
| Data source | Manual entry, one time | Automatic sync from Strava, Garmin, and others |
| Updates itself | No, re-enter to update | Yes, continuously as you train |
| Cost | Free | Free for the core platform |
| Best for | A single shareable recap card | Tracking training load and fatigue week to week |
Source: Intervals.icu, on its free ongoing training-analytics feature set.
Bottom line: if the last thing you look at is a single graphic you post once a year, this tool is built for that. If you want to open a dashboard every Sunday and see your training load trending up or down, use a proper training log instead, and treat this tool as the fun, shareable summary at the end of that log's year. Plenty of runners reasonably use both: a training log for the week-to-week grind, and a recap card like this one for the moment they actually want to share something.
Tips for a Recap Card People Actually Stop and Read
Lead with one honest highlight
The best recaps are not a wall of every number you have. Fill in your best month or longest run field with something specific rather than skipping it, a specific detail sticks in a viewer's mind more than a raw total.
Round numbers for readability
A card is a glance-length format. 612 miles reads faster than 612.4, and either is fine, but consistency in how you round across fields makes the whole card look more intentional.
Match the theme to the story
A high-mileage marathon year fits the sunset theme's energy, a steady consistency-focused year might read better in the calmer midnight theme. There is no wrong choice, but a considered one shows.
Re-download after every edit
The preview updates live, but you have to click download again after changing a field, the last downloaded file does not update itself. Double-check the preview matches what you intend to post before saving.
Who This Tool Is For, and Who Should Skip It
This Fits You If
- You just want a shareable year-end graphic and do not need ongoing analytics.
- You do not want to pay Strava's roughly $80 a year, or connect a third-party app to your Strava account.
- You track your running across a watch, a spreadsheet, or memory and want one place to combine the numbers into a single visual.
- You want a card for a custom period, a training block or a specific race cycle, not just the fixed calendar year Strava uses.
- You want to make several cards, for different years, for a friend, or as a gift, with zero per-card cost.
Look Elsewhere If
- You want stats to update automatically after every run without re-entering anything, that is a training log's job, not this tool's.
- You already pay for Strava's subscription tier and are happy using the official Year in Sport feature.
- You want deep fitness and fatigue analytics like training load trends, not just a year-end summary card, an intervals.icu-style platform fits that better.
- You need aggregate multi-athlete stats for a team or club, this tool is built around one person's own numbers.
- You would rather not manually gather and re-type your own totals at all, in which case the auto-import option above is worth a look.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Strava Year in Sport free?
Not anymore for most users. In December 2025, Strava moved its annual Year in Sport recap behind its paid subscription tier, which runs about $80 per year. Before that change, Year in Sport had been a free feature available to every Strava user since it launched in 2016. Strava has said the core activity-tracking features remain free, but the storytelling recap, including Year in Sport and monthly stat cards, is now a subscriber perk.
Why does this tool not just pull my stats from Strava automatically?
Two reasons. First, Strava's own Year in Sport feature is now paywalled, and building a workaround that scrapes or re-packages paid Strava data would not be an honest way to give you a free alternative. Second, as of June 2026 Strava started charging developers a monthly fee for API access specifically to cut down on exactly this kind of app, automated tools pulling data through the API without a direct relationship with the user. Manual entry sidesteps both issues entirely: you already have your own numbers, you type them in, nothing is scraped.
Where do I find my own running stats to enter here?
Your Strava profile page shows lifetime and yearly totals under your stats tab even without a subscription. Your GPS watch app (Garmin Connect, Apple Fitness, Coros, etc.) usually has its own yearly summary too. If you track manually, your own log or spreadsheet works fine. This tool does not require Strava at all, any source of your own numbers works.
Is my data uploaded anywhere when I use this tool?
No. The recap card is drawn entirely inside your browser using the HTML canvas element. Nothing you type is sent to a server, stored in a database, or shared with anyone. The only optional action that leaves your browser is the "email me my recap" form, which only sends what you explicitly choose to submit.
What image size does the download produce?
The recap card downloads as a 1080 by 1350 pixel PNG, a portrait ratio sized for Instagram feed posts and stories, and it displays cleanly on most other platforms too. You can resize or crop it after downloading if you need a different aspect ratio.
Can I make more than one recap card?
Yes, there is no limit. Change any field and the preview updates instantly, so you can make a card for last year, this year, a specific race training block, or any custom period you want to summarize. Each download is a fresh PNG.
Does this replace Strava?
No, this is a single-purpose recap card generator, not a training log or activity tracker. It solves one specific problem: making a shareable year-in-review graphic without paying for a feature that used to be free. For day-to-day run tracking, GPS recording, and other functionality, you still need a dedicated running app.
Is this recap tool better than an ongoing training log like intervals.icu?
Neither is "better," they do different jobs. Intervals.icu is a free ongoing analytics platform that syncs automatically from Strava or your GPS watch and tracks fitness, fatigue, and training load continuously, week after week. This tool makes exactly one thing: a single shareable image summarizing a period you choose, built from numbers you enter once. If you want a live dashboard you check every week, use a training log. If you want a year-end graphic to post and move on from, this tool does that specific job and nothing else.
Who is this recap tool actually built for?
Runners who want a shareable year-end or season graphic without paying Strava's roughly $80 subscription or connecting a third-party app to their Strava account. It is not built for people who want ongoing analytics, live training-load tracking, or automatic updates after every run, those needs are better served by a dedicated training log or Strava's own paid tier. If you already pay for Strava and are happy with the official Year in Sport feature, there is no real reason to use this instead.
