How Trailbot makes money (updated for 2026)

A lot has changed this year with Trailbot. The project has expanded beyond just trail conditions (though that's still the main feature) with member management, volunteer tracking, expanded issue tracking, and more. The app has also seen improvements for riders with checkins and local events. There's more to come.

I am still 100% committed to keeping the app as-free-as-possible, and building a complete toolset for trail managers to operate their organizations for free. There are no ads or paywalls in the app and no subscription fees for trail management features. It feels unfair to put the (mostly unpaid) work of trail organizations behind a paywall like other apps or management tools.

But running an app like this isn't free. Historically I have offset costs a few ways, as documented in the previous iterations of this post: How does Trailbot make money?. Some very generous people became supporters through the app and that was very much appreciated. However, in order to allow 'tipping' in the app, I had to use the App/Play Store's in-app purchases feature, which is shown on the app listing. This indicator can be a big deterrent to downloads because it has become so commmonplace for apps to be free to download, only for users to be hit by a subscription paywall immediately or down the road.

Instead I wanted to create a model in which I only made money when trail organizations make money. This has become possible with the member management system and donations feature. When a rider becomes a member of an organization using member management or makes a one-time donation, Trailbot takes a small cut of the transaction fee. These features are completely optional; all other tools for trail managers can be used for free.

Adoption so far has been good and before long transaction fees will be covering all my current expenses. This will keep everything else free sustainably long-term.

If you'd still like to make a financial contribution, you can do so here. There are still no ads to remove, or other premium benefits, but the money will go toward building more features and more tools for trail managers. You can also show your support for free with a rating or review of the app in your device's app store. High fives are cool too. This is a fun project to work on and it's always satisfying to know people appreciate it.