I would only have use for Parallels Desktop. If anybody needs one or more of the other apps we could split it. Just send me a PM 
“just a password manager” — Strongly disagree. 1Password is a password manager with an extremely long history in the Mac community and an excellent reputation for making great apps with great features and having extremely good track record when it comes to security.
I’ve never even heard of “SafeInCloud”. Maybe they’re great. Maybe we’ll find out in 2 years that they were doing something incredibly stupid that no one knew about.
It also stores way more than just passwords. It stores identities and credit card information and secure notes and software registrations and even files if you want.
“with an expensive subscription” — neither $36/year for individuals nor $60/year for a family plan are that expensive for most people. If you’re a student or unemployed or have some other unstable financial situation, then it might be. But I suspect that for most people reading this forum, the biggest hurdle to overcome is that some people just have a kind of default hatred towards software subscriptions or think that free always equals better.
Yes, I agree that there are a lot of options around.
No, I don’t agree that they are all basically the same and just as good as what 1Password has to offer. There’s a reason that 1Password is as well-regarded as it is. That didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen because they sponsor podcasts. It happened because they built a good app and kept making it better for a long time, and proved themselves. Now they have a great app, and have earned themselves a good reputation.
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Most, if not all, password managers are based on the same principle: storing information in an encrypted database. No rocket science. Also, quite a few password managers are able to store more than just passwords. Basically any information you throw at it. Why should a creditcard number be different from a website password?
SafeInCloud is indeed not the most well-known in the area. That is probably in part because the developer doesn’t have the marketing budget that 1Password has. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t any good.
This discussion is actually broader than just password managers. The same could be said for text expansion, and pdf editors, a.o. There’s hardly any competition in these areas because one software company gets all the praise and attention from the influencers. aText is just as good as TextExpander. And much cheaper. But becuase of commercial interests is hardly mentioned.
Oh, and $36/year is actually quite some money for some people. And compared to a one time investment of $3.99 a lot of money.
Just saying there are good alternatives in the software market. But it almost sounds 1Password is the only player in that space.
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Just get Bitwarden. It is e2ee, open-source and free 
Oh dear. No, that’s not accurate. Security vulnerabilities in password managers are amongst the most dangerous ones around. Most have had them – even 1Password – but some, like LastPass, have had a lot of them. Underestimating the complexity of this sort of software would be a serious mistake.
1Password doesn’t have a good reputation because of its marketing budget, it has a marketing budget because it built a good reputation.
SafeInCloud might be good. It might be terrible. It might eventually be great. But in late 2019, there’s no way that it is thoroughly tested, refined, and hardened against security flaws as 1Password is.
They might be similar, but they aren’t equivalent.
Actually it isn’t. If you check this forum, you’ll see that I had spoken highly of aText awhile back. That was because I was using it myself. I switched all of my snippets over to it and used it exclusively.
Then I started noticing random CPU spikes that would cause my entire system to lock up.
I emailed the developer about the issue. No reply.
Someone suggested that the CPU problem might be a specific way that such an app could be developed (I admit that I don’t remember the particulars anymore). I contacted the developer again with this information, and asked if it might apply to aText, and if it might explain the CPU issues that I was facing. My recollection was that he replied with something along the lines of “Yes, that’s how the app works, but I’ve never seen the CPU issue that you’ve mentioned.”
That was the end of the conversation. Since the app worked for him and he had not seen the problem, I was left with no real option other than to switch back to TextExpander. I haven’t seen the CPU issue since.
Yes, aText does roughly the same thing as TextExpander, and it is definitely cheaper than TextExpander, but that doesn’t make it just as good as TextExpander.
I don’t have any “commercial interest” in TextExpander either. I’m a paying customer just like anyone else would be. (I’ve also been critical of TextExpander which has not, IMO, developed nearly as much since it went subscription as it had been before it went subscription. If you don’t use Windows or “Teams” there’s been very little new in TextExpander for several years. Not nothing, just not much.)
Yes, I said as much. But for most people reading this forum, I bet the cost isn’t nearly as much of the issue as is the dislike of subscriptions.
No one said only. Just best. And best implies that there are alternatives.
Are there cheaper alternatives to TextExpander and 1Password? Sure.
Are there functionally better alternatives to TextExpander and 1Password? Not that I’ve seen.
We’ve moved into philosophical discussions about software in a thread meant to help people find deals. We should probably move this discussion elsewhere if you wish to continue it.
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Regarding the bundle with Parallels and TextExpander:
If you use the code BFSAVE60 the price is reduced to $24!
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Note the fine print for Parallels: “Length of access: 1 year (then will be $79.99/yr thereafter).”
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Amazing has a lightning deal on iTunes gift cards - $50 Card for $40, but only for a couple more hours.
The URL I needed for this deal was:
Already 32% claimed.
Seems like I’m not eligible for this subscription, since I bought a license for an older version some years ago:
- Only available to new users
If you like good binders, Bindertek has 20% off and free shipping until midnight EST.
Not related to Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but a “regular” Two Dollar Tuesday discount:
Expressions is now $1.99 instead of $7.99:
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I find Patterns to be a much better app. It supports different flavors of regex (PCRE, Emacs, Ruby, etc…) and expression replacement. Patterns is currently $2.99.
If anybody is looking for the ultimate (best that I’ve seen, so far) regex helper, BBEdit’s new “Pattern Playground” is the best around. It uses open documents in the playground window to show you matches, what the replacement text will be and a button to move your perfectly crafted regex over to its Find window.
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Thanks for the pointer. Will have a look at both programs.
(Currently I experiment in Sublime Text when I need to play with regular expressions)
BBEdit is overkill if you are just looking for regex playground, but it’s awesome. I’ve tried many text editors over the years and I keep coming back to BBEdit. Mostly because size doesn’t matter in BBEdit, I can throw huge text files at it and it always handles them.
All Obdev apps. Micro snitch and Launch bar too.
I just bought a 1T NVME SSD from WesternDigital for US$130, which is less than generics on Amazon.
https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-black-sn750-nvme-ssd
Use a different email address, then you should be able to buy another license/subscription
9to5Mac’s Stacktrace Podcast 067: “The Year of the Pro”, with special guest Myke Hurley not only looks like a good episode, but it also includes an offer for 20% off Setapp (which, if I have done my math right, means the annual cost is about $86.30 instead of $107.88).
I didn’t see a big Black Friday discount for Setapp this year, so I think this might be the best opportunity to get on Setapp if you’re interested. There’s also a 7-day trial.