Exactly what a free athlete can and cannot do

What "free athlete" means in the code

A free athlete has UserProfile.role = 'athlete'. Premium athletes have role = 'premium_athlete'. Endpoints and views that need premium are gated by the @premium_or_coach_required decorator (or its equivalent). Everything below comes from that gating, not from a marketing list.

What a free athlete CAN do

Account and identity

• Sign in at /athlete-login/.
• Edit basic profile (name, email, password).
• Set notification preferences at /settings/notifications/.

Race calendar

• Add races at /my-races/.
• View past and upcoming races.
• See race details (date, distance, priority tag).
• File race recaps after each race.

Wellness logging

• Full daily wellness form at /my-wellness/.
• All fields (sleep, HRV, soreness, mood, motivation, illness, alcohol, menstrual cycle).
• See your own concerning flags.

Equipment inventory

• Add and edit bikes, swim equipment, run equipment.
• Mark a primary bike.
• All fields editable.

Activity uploads

• Drop FIT, TCX, or GPX files.
• Parser extracts all standard metrics (AdjP, IF, Load, best efforts, zone time).
• Activity detail page is fully accessible.

Sport analytics

• Power and pace curves on a default window.
• Best efforts ladder.
• Weekly volume chart.
• HR zone distribution.

Coach notes

• Read any CoachNote your coach flagged visible_to_athlete = True.
• Reply in the activity comment thread.

Help center

• All articles. Help is public.

What a free athlete CANNOT do (premium-only)

Calculator catalog

• The catalog page itself loads, but running any calculator to produce a saved result requires premium tier. Calculators are gated by the @premium_or_coach_required decorator.
• This includes CSS, Critical Power, CdA, Bike Power Plan, Finish Time, Calorie, Fueling, Sweat Rate, RSI, and others.

Race planning wizard

• The wizard page is admin-only. Free athletes do not see the wizard dashboard at all. Saved wizard outputs are visible on the race detail page but cannot be generated by a free athlete.

Deeper analytics windows

• Free athletes get a default analytics window (typically 90 days). Longer windows (180, 365, custom) require premium.
• Environmental adjustments (wind-corrected power, heat- corrected pace) require premium.
• Some swim deep-dive views (PDC, EO history) require premium.

Macrocycle plan visibility beyond the current week

• Free athletes see the current week's targets if the coach has deployed a plan.
• Premium athletes see the full season.

How to find out which features you have

Visit /settings/billing/. Your current tier, source, and expiry are shown there.

Path to premium

Three independent paths, only one required:

• Pay directly: $49 / yr at /settings/billing/. Source becomes direct_payment.
• Coach grant: your coach toggles Coach grant premium on your profile. Source becomes coach_grant.
• Admin grant: a Yousuli admin grants it during a beta or sponsorship. Source becomes admin_grant.

See Upgrading from free to premium for the direct-payment flow specifically.

See also: Free vs Premium athlete, Roles in the Hub.