Progress Bars vs Strautomator
Automation vs goal accountability.
Strautomator and Progress Bars both connect to Strava and write to your activities, but they solve different problems.
Strautomator automates your Strava with IF/THEN rules you set once: name rides, tag commutes, add weather, track gear wear, export to your calendar.
Progress Bars does one job: puts your goal progress on every activity, so your followers see where you stand and you see how many days ahead or behind you are.
Side by Side
| Strautomator | Progress Bars | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Automating lots of small Strava chores with rules | Keeping you accountable to a distance or time goal |
| Setup | Write rules, like "IF sport is ride, THEN..." | Pick a sport, a target and your dates |
| Goal progress | Running totals, like your distance for the year | Progress against your target (264/3000mi), a progress bar, and how many days ahead or behind you are |
| Goal options | - | Annual, monthly or custom dates, backdating, and whether e-bike or virtual rides count |
| Price | Free plan with 3 automations; PRO is $9.99/year or $39.99 lifetime | Free - no charge, no subscription, no PRO tier |
| Open source | Yes (AGPL-3.0), and you can self-host it | No |
Strautomator details from strautomator.com, checked October 2026.
When Strautomator Is the Better Fit
If you want to automate a lot of different things on Strava - activity names, commute tags, weather, gear mileage alerts - Strautomator does far more than Progress Bars, and it's open source.
When Progress Bars Is the Better Fit
- You have an annual mileage goal (or a monthly target, or hours in the gym) and want it on every activity.
- You want "2 days ahead" or "about 3 weeks behind", not just a running total.
- You want it working in a minute, without writing rules.
- You want every feature free, with no PRO tier.
Put Your Goal on Every Activity
Connect Strava, set your annual goal, and your next upload carries your progress bar.
Questions Athletes Ask
What Can Progress Bars See and Change in My Strava Account?
Progress Bars asks Strava for three permissions. "read" gets your first name and public profile. "activity:read_all" reads each activity's type, date, distance and duration - including Only You activities, so private workouts still count toward your goal. "activity:write" lets it add the progress bar to your activity description (or your private notes, if you choose).
It never reads GPS routes, heart rate, photos, comments, kudos or who you follow. You can disconnect anytime at strava.com/settings/apps. Read the privacy policy
Will It Change My Activity Descriptions?
Only on new activities that count toward one of your goals - Progress Bars writes the progress bar into that activity's description. Want to keep it to yourself? Turn on private notes for a goal and the bar goes there instead, where only you can see it. You can also pick weekly updates only, so it posts once a week instead of on every activity. Zwift rides keep Zwift's own description, with the bar added underneath.
How Fast Does the Progress Bar Show Up?
Usually within seconds of your activity landing on Strava. Strava tells Progress Bars about each new upload and the description updates right away - no extra steps. Zwift rides wait about 10 seconds so Zwift's description stays on top.
What Happens If Strava Changes Its API?
Progress Bars uses Strava's official API - the same one every approved Strava app uses - and doesn't scrape or work around anything. When Strava changes something, the app gets updated; your goals are stored here, so nothing is lost. If Strava ever shut off API access entirely, the bars would stop updating, but every description already written stays on your activities.
Is It Really Free?
Yes - no charge, no subscription, no PRO tier. Every feature is included. Why It's Free
Who Is It For - and Who Isn't It For?
It's for Strava athletes with a distance or time goal: an annual mileage goal on the bike, a monthly running target, hours of strength training, yards in the pool. It isn't a training plan or an analytics dashboard - no power curves or fitness charts. It does one thing: shows where you stand on your goal, on every activity.
Progress Bars is a third-party app that uses the Strava API and is not affiliated with Strava or Strautomator.