Reviewing my subscriptions $

I’ve just taken a look at the monthly or annual subscriptions I’m paying for. I’m thinking through which ones are essential and which I could strike off my list and not miss.

Essential:

  • 1Password
  • Amazon Prime
  • Canva
  • iCloud
  • LinkedIn
  • Office365
  • Plausible
  • Webflow
  • Xero

Under review:

  • Blaze (but I’m also using aText)
  • Google One
  • Lucidchart (just started but not convinced)
  • Netflix
  • PandaDoc

What’s on your essential list? What’s under review for you?

This topic pops up every few months or so. I have a very simple principle based on value. If the subscription is useful to me because it saves me time or provides me joy, I keep it.

I review every subscription yearly at least a month before expiry (scheduled in Omnifocus) and take a hard call

Often it takes more than the free evaluation period to really settle on something, so I take the plunge of the first year, which is a fair deal to the developer to convince me of the value and/or joy their subscription provides. I do normally try at least 1 or 2 alternatives before I settle.

Subscriptions are nowadays unfortunately the main earnings model for the modern software and services industries.

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That’a a good idea to extend the evaluation period. I often feel pressured to give it a full test in the trial period and it’s rarely long enough to evaluate properly.

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Essential

  • 1Password
  • SetApp
  • 1Blocker
  • Dropbox
  • Office365
  • iCloud storage
  • Apple Fitness
  • Freshbooks
  • Nintendo Switch Online
  • Fantastical
  • Spotify
  • Adobe Creative Cloud
  • Overcast

Under Review

  • iTunes Match
  • Netflix
  • Evernote
  • AppleTV+
  • Amazon Prime

Between home, work, church, and kids I spend $195.54/mo in subscriptions (says Bobby). Yikes.

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A good opportunity to take another look. I’ve cut back a bit…:

Essential/Current:

  • Ulysses (use daily!)
  • Amazon Prime
  • Office 365 (for work)
  • iCloud storage
  • Runkeeper (although currently injured!)
  • The Great Courses (on Prime)
  • Bible Gateway +

Recently cancelled:

  • Highlights
  • Bear (after trialing - back to Apple Notes)
  • Netflix
  • Mindnode

Possible future:

  • Balance

@stevek I’m thinking about Canva as a tool my wife and I can use. Can you tell me what make it an Essential product for your needs? I’d appreciate it.

I did a similar review. I’m cutting the following:

  1. MindNode
  2. Drafts
  3. Disney Bundle
  4. Netflix

Keeping:

  1. iCloud 2 TB
  2. Amazon Prime
  3. Spotify
  4. HBO Max
  5. DayOne
  6. 1Password

Two Netflix cancellations in this thread alone… I guess the exodus is actually happening.

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Essential :

Amazon Prime/Business- I rely on fast shipping
1Password- Keep everything in this app. It’s rarely failed me.
Tidal - Need for my Roon account
Infuse Pro - Plex is too “busy” for me.
Tweetbot - I don’t want to change to anything else
Scores - track college football games/scores

On the Outs:

Evernote - Out of nostalgia I keep it but I’ve exhausted reasons to need to keep Evernote
Deliveries - Slow development, reduced features. Last hurrah
Airmail - Last hurrah
1Blocker - Not that I don’t like it but i’m going to a dedicated Firewall appliance

Investigating:

Setapp for my Business computers
Readwise
YouTube Premium
Carrot Weather Premium

I don’t see internet and a regular TV provider. You have an antenna on your roof?

Sorry - didn’t know we were including home utilities! :wink:

We have internet (AT&T Fiber).
We do not have a regular TV provider. I turn YouTubeTV or DirecTV Stream off and on as I need it.

Just checking. “Bobby’s” list includes YouTubeTV, YouTube Premium, and Comcast for me and he was laughing because my total is twice yours. :grinning:

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Gotcha!

Yeah, I think that’s why the total felt so high to me. I don’t have any services in Bobby over $20/mo and most are $2.99-$4.99/mo. Adds up fast!

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thanks for introducing this to me, just downloaded and seems to be a great app for the family

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I quit Netflix too. Excessive violence.I picked up Hulu instead. Love their old tv series- Odd Couple, Wonder Years, Golden Girls, Bob Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore.

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We also just quit Netflix. Quality is down, they’ve lost most of their streaming rights now that the studios have all started streaming services, and yet they keep raising the price. It also irks me that they keep complaining yet never mention that they might be losing customers because of the price increases.

Amazon and Costco pay for themselves. (I don’t think anyone has ever mentioned Costco or Sam’s Club subscriptions)

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Yes - feel like the majority of shows on Netflix are dark/violent.

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Essential

iCloud (although I will go down from 200 gb to 50 gb)
Amazon Prime

Investigating

Overcast. Might go back to stock app.
Bitwarden or 1password. Not sure here whether I need more than iCloud Keychain
Audible. Here I usually go on and off bc I don’t manage a full 25 h book every month

Axing

Netflix. Prices keep going up while quality goes down. Might try different services once in a while.
Mailbox.org. Nice provider but with hide my mail i use iCloud Mail because the mails go through Apple anyway.

I use it a lot for work to create social media tiles, infographics, presentations etc. for clients. I’ve got Affinity Publisher and have used Illustrator but I love the range of templates available.

Essential:

  • Medium (I write there)
  • Fantastical
  • Amazon Prime
  • Fastmail
  • Spotify (I did look at other services, but I keep coming back for the Duo sharing and playlists)
  • iCloud

Under Review:

  • Sanebox
  • Netflix
  • Readwise (I like it, but it’s expensive. A lot will depend on what their reader ends up being like)
  • Drafts
  • The Athletic (I really enjoy their in-depth writing, but it’s not ‘essential’)