Nerang MTB is free to use. No subscription, no membership, no ads covering the map. I absolutely adore Nerang National Park, mountain biking and dabbling in web design. So this little project is a way for me to immerse myself in all of that, and possibly provide benefit to others in the process.
But free to use doesn’t mean free to run.
Behind the maps, trail data, GPS processing and everything else on the site are a bunch of servers, storage, software and services that quietly cost money every month. We’re also using some AI tools to help process data, build features and keep the site improving.
None of this is particularly expensive on its own. But it adds up.
So we’ve added a very simple option: A humble gold coin donation
We’re not asking everyone to donate. We’re not locking anything behind a paywall. And we’re not turning this project into a business where you need to pay to see a trail. I have paid for this in the basic 1st version for years.
If you use the site and find it useful, a couple of dollars helps cover things like:
- 🖥️ Server and hosting costs
- 🗺️ Map and data services
- 💾 Image and file storage
- 🤖 AI tools used to help build and maintain the site
- 🔧 Development and maintenance
- 🚵 Time spent collecting, cleaning and processing trail data
A $2 donation won’t make anyone rich — including us.
But if 100 riders who regularly use the site each chipped in $2, that’s $200 towards keeping it running and improving it.
And if nobody donates, that’s fine too. The site remains free.
Why not just put ads on it?
We could. And we might. My thought process is to essentially break even with this so if the donations route isn’t working, I might trial some adverts. But rest assured, the goal is to keep to the purpose above and not go to crazy.
Nerang National Park in my extremely biased opinion has some of the best riding in South East Queensland, is the Central Park of the Gold Coast and woefully underrated. So I’m happy to just keep supporting that.