What is a Groundspeak Premium Membership?

A Groundspeak Premium Membership provides you with additional features that a basic membership does not provide. Whether you go geocaching every day or only occasionally, many useful tools are available to enhance your geocaching experience.   Not to mention, you’ll be contributing to the support and maintenance of the Geocaching.com site. Thanks!   The following is a list of some of the Premium Member features available today. In the future we will be working to bring you newer and better features, yet you will always be locked in at the current rate as long as you continue to renew.

How much is a membership?
	A Groundspeak Premium Membership is $3/month, or you can pay for the full year for $30.
	We now accept credit cards for annual memberships through the alternate Groundspeak Store (This is not to be confused with Shop Groundspeak, the Groundspeak store is an alternate site for shipping via the USPS and for Premium Memberships)

We also accept subscriptions through PayPal:

Groundspeak Refund Policy

• Pocket Queries
  Hand-entering geocache coordinates is tedious, and you run the risk of developing repetitive motion injuries if you hunt more than a few caches in a day. With a Pocket Query you can download up to 500 specifically defined geocache waypoints directly to your GPS in a flash!
• Caches along a Route
  Caches Along A Route Your GPS will tell you the direction of a cache as the crow flies, which is great, if you're a crow. The rest of us, however, are hopelessly bound to the roads. The Caches Along a Route feature allows you to find caches on either side of specified route for a quick and easy geocaching diversion on your next road trip.
• Google Maps (Groundspeak Enhanced)
  If you have a few finds under your belt, chances are you've made good use of Google's superior maps to plan your geocaching expeditions. Premium Membership greatly enhances this tool by showing which caches have already been found by you, as well as allowing you to add caches to a bookmark list on the fly for later download as a Pocket Query.
• Paperless Caching
  Printer ink is more expensive than Chanel No. 5. If you have a Palm or Pocket PC handheld device you will never have to print another cache page again! You can download the cache coordinates, full description, hint, and the last 5 logs posted to the cache page using one of the many available free applications and your handheld device. Also known as “paperless geocaching”, this Premium Member feature saves you time, money, and effort in your caching preparations. With your GPS, handheld device, and the latest Pocket Query you’ll be ready to go at a moment’s notice.
• Instant Log Notifications
  For some geocachers, the weekly cache notification email is just not enough. If you absolutely must be the first to find a newly published geocache, you cannot do better than to be instantly notified by email when a new cache becomes available. You can choose to have the notification sent to any email address you like, or even your email-enabled mobile phone! With several log options to choose from, including “Found it”, “Didn’t Find It”, and “Enabled” you’ll be constantly updated on geocache happenings in any area you choose.
• Unlimited (well, 5000) Watchlist items
  Basic members are limited in the number of items they can have on their watchlist. With a Premium Membership you’ll be instantly updated on up to 5000 caches and/or Travel Bugs.
• Bookmark and Ignore Lists
  Bookmark lists can be used to group cache listings in whatever way you like. You may want a bookmark list of caches you intend to hunt, or perhaps an “all-time greatest hits” list you can share with friends. A “first to find” list is an excellent opportunity to brag about your achievements as well.
  The Ignore List is a great way to personalize the Geocaching.com website. Are you sick of seeing that impossible puzzle cache in your search results? You can “Ignore” the listing and poof!, it’s gone.
• Geocaching Maps
  With the ability to pan, zoom, and identify caches on a map you can quickly pinpoint an area of interest and visualize your caching route. In addition, caches you have already found will appear with a checkmark, and the Travel Bug icon will display for any caches containing a hitchhiker.
• Member Only Caches
  Some caches are only available to Premium Members. This has been a request of many geocachers who want to put more energy into designing a cache for dedicated geocachers. As the cache owner, you can make any of your caches "subscriber only" so folks will need a subscription to seek it out. (Note: Member Only caches may not be any better than public geocaches. Each cache is managed by its cache owner.)
• Be the *first* to see new feature enhancements
  From time to time, Groundspeak will be releasing new features to Premium Members before they are publicly announced. Sign up and don’t miss an opportunity to participate in future Groundspeak innovations!

Do I have to pay to go Geocaching now?

Never! The traditional geocaching game will always be free. Subscriptions will be for new enhancements and new games added by Groundspeak. It takes development time and resources in order to make these ideas come to life, as well as hardware upgrades to keep up with the ever-increasing traffic.

I don’t want to use the Groundspeak Store or PayPal to subscribe. How can I become a Premium Member?

If you don’t wish to use PayPal to subscribe you can send a check or money order for $30 payable to Groundspeak to the following address:

This will cover an annual subscription (sorry, no monthly subscriptions). Make sure to indicate your login name so we know which account to upgrade. We will email you once your Premium Membership has been activated. Thanks for the support of the site!