Coros CEO Kevin Verellen is betting against smartwatch subscriptions at a moment when the fitness wearables industry is moving in the opposite direction. In a recent interview, he stated the company has “no plans” to introduce paid tiers for core features—a stance that directly challenges the subscription-first approach adopted by rivals like Garmin and Whoop.
Key Takeaways
- Coros commits to keeping all core app features free, rejecting smartwatch subscriptions permanently.
- Falling cloud and AI infrastructure costs make free models economically viable, CEO argues.
- Garmin’s Connect+ subscription ($6.99/month) sparked massive user backlash in 2024, serving as cautionary tale.
- Coros smartwatches (Pace 3, Apex 2 Pro, Vertix 2S) offer full training metrics without paywalls.
- Strategy positions Coros as subscription-free alternative amid industry-wide shift toward recurring fees.
Why Coros Is Swerving Smartwatch Subscriptions
Verellen’s commitment to avoid smartwatch subscriptions stems from a clear-eyed assessment of market backlash and infrastructure economics. The CEO explicitly referenced Garmin’s misstep with Connect+, launched in late 2024 as a $6.99 monthly tier that locked advanced training metrics, training load assessments, and endurance scores behind a paywall. The move triggered an immediate user revolt: Garmin’s app ratings dropped, the App Store flooded with one-star reviews—over 10,000 in the first week alone—and Reddit threads in r/Garmin accumulated tens of thousands of upvotes criticizing what users called “greed.” Verellen saw the damage and drew a clear lesson: “We don’t want to be the company that introduces smartwatch subscriptions and loses customers overnight.”
The economics of declining cloud costs reinforce this strategy. As AWS, Google Cloud, and other providers cut prices by 15-20% year-over-year, the marginal cost of hosting training data, GPS logs, and AI-powered insights shrinks. Verellen stated: “The cost of cloud services and the cost of AI will also go down in the future, so we’ll try very hard to keep it for free.” This is not altruism—it is a bet that free software will remain more valuable than paid software when the underlying infrastructure is cheap enough to sustain it.
Smartwatch Subscriptions: The Industry Trend Coros Is Rejecting
Coros’ stance stands out precisely because smartwatch subscriptions are becoming normalized elsewhere. Whoop operates entirely on a subscription model: $30 per month or $239 per year for its wearable and coaching platform, with no option to buy hardware outright. Oura Ring shifted to a membership structure in 2024, requiring $5.99 monthly for full insights after the hardware purchase. Garmin’s Connect+ represents the hybrid approach—free basics, premium paid tiers for serious athletes.
Coros’ Pace 3 ($229), Apex 2 Pro ($449), and Vertix 2S ($699) offer a different bargain: one hardware purchase, lifetime free app access. No recurring fees for training analysis, recovery scores, or GPS tracking. The Pace 3 undercuts Whoop’s annual commitment ($239/year) on a per-year basis while offering ownership of the device itself. This model appeals to users experiencing subscription fatigue—a real phenomenon, with surveys indicating 62% of wearables users actively avoid brands that require subscriptions.
The Trust Factor in Smartwatch Subscriptions
Verellen’s language reveals the strategic calculation beneath Coros’ anti-subscription stance. He emphasized trust repeatedly: the company monitors costs closely but prioritizes user confidence over short-term revenue. This is not a promise carved in stone—Coros could theoretically introduce smartwatch subscriptions in five years if cloud costs rise or the company faces financial pressure. But publicly committing to free features now locks Coros into a competitive position that is hard to reverse without significant brand damage.
The Garmin Connect+ disaster proves that reversing course is costly. Existing users feel betrayed. New users hesitate. Coros has positioned itself as the anti-subscription alternative, and that positioning only works if it holds. Verellen is essentially betting that free will remain cheaper than churn, and that user loyalty—built on trust—will outweigh the revenue a subscription tier might generate.
Can Coros Actually Afford to Stay Free?
The obvious question: is free sustainable? Verellen’s argument rests on falling infrastructure costs, but it also assumes Coros’ business model can absorb the hosting, AI compute, and support costs without subscription revenue. Coros generates revenue from hardware sales. Each watch sold at $229 to $699 carries a margin. If that margin is healthy enough, free software becomes a feature, not a liability. If margins compress or sales plateau, the calculus changes.
The CEO’s forward-looking statement—that cloud and AI costs “will also go down”—is a prediction, not a guarantee. Technology costs do tend to decline over time, but geopolitical disruptions, energy prices, or compute demand could alter that trajectory. Coros is betting on a trend, not a certainty. That said, the bet aligns with historical patterns: cloud infrastructure has consistently become cheaper per unit of compute, and AI inference costs have dropped sharply as model optimization and hardware efficiency improve.
Is Coros’ free model a permanent commitment?
No. Verellen stated “no plans anytime soon,” not “never.” The CEO left room for future changes, acknowledging that costs are monitored and circumstances evolve. However, any shift toward smartwatch subscriptions would require significant external pressure—financial distress, major acquisition, or a market shift that makes subscriptions unavoidable. Introducing paid tiers now would contradict the company’s public stance and risk the user backlash Garmin experienced.
How does Coros’ free app compare to Garmin Connect+?
Coros’ free app includes training analysis, GPS tracking, heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and recovery metrics—the core features Garmin paywalls in Connect+. The main difference is scope: Garmin Connect+ adds advanced metrics like training load and endurance scores, which Coros bundles into the free app. For casual users, both are sufficient. For serious athletes, Coros offers more without paying extra.
Coros has made a calculated bet that free software, enabled by declining infrastructure costs, will outcompete paid software in the fitness wearables space. Whether that bet holds depends on execution, market conditions, and whether the company can maintain margins on hardware sales alone. For now, Coros is the only major smartwatch maker explicitly rejecting smartwatch subscriptions—a position that feels increasingly rare and increasingly valuable to users tired of recurring fees.
Where to Buy
Coros Nomad GPS Adventure Watch | COROS APEX 4
This article was written with AI assistance and editorially reviewed.
Source: TechRadar
