Tech subscriptions are out of control. What are you NOT subscribed to and why?

DontReuseUserNamesAcrossSites

 I'm currently subscribing to:

1) Twinkl: An educational content website. ~£15/month. 
2) Brainpop: Another educational website: ~£15/month.
3) Patreon: £5/month for various people I want to support. One of these is for educational support for work. 
4) Another educational site, more technical, only for older students and adults: £10/month

AI: I don't subscribe to ChatGPT or any AI. Instead I call the API's so I can get billed for what I use. I don't subscribe to the various specialised AI services because at the moment I can spread the load across them and use freebies. There are just too many to subscribe to! 

YouTube: I don't subscribe to YouTube because it doesn't stop all adverts. Instead I am looking at finding ways to block all ads.
Music: I don't subscribe to any music service because I decided that even as a music lover, music is just too expensive and art shouldn't be about money. 
I don't subscribe to Adobe, because I use Affinity. Netflix seems to be dumbed down, child-level stuff aimed at the lowest intelligence, so that's been easy to drop. 

This person pays $4k/yr in subscriptions:
https://mlemma.medium.com/the-subscription-business-model-is-getting-out-f-cking-control-heres-why-89623a972cd6

I'm interested in FREE alternatives, single-fee alternatives and ways to avoid these costs. 

Neil_Jones

Well surely the obvious solultion is don't pay for those websites?

The educational sites, well if this is for a school, Isn't it something the school should be doing?

I'm sure free alternatives are available, and Patreon is entirely voluntary.

There is no obligation to subscribe to anything.  If you really need something you can almost certainly find a free alternative.

The YouTube adverts can be fixed with something like uBlock, the music can be played through YouTube and as for ChatGPT APIs...  well again you don't have to use it so...  and brainpower is relatively free so...

Sarahspangles

The guy in the article is counting things like broadband and pet insurance, which I think in the UK we’d consider as just another household bill paid by direct debit. If it’s the monthly payment he objects to, then some of these can be paid annually.

He subscribes to multiple streaming and gaming services and dating apps. If he didn’t, or just chose one of each type, he would definitely miss out on the dropped platforms’ current ‘must-see’ or ‘must play’ offering and he would limit his choice of potential partners from thousands to fewer thousands. His problem is fear of missing out! Maybe some peer pressure as well.

I’d say he would benefit from a lifestyle makeover based on looking at how he spends his time and whether he feels fulfilled, versus how he could be spending it - and then aligning his financial decisions with that life. Once you’re making conscious choices, some subscriptions may make sense.

We're trying to reduce the amount of time we sit! We don’t subscribe to any streaming services, unless you count the TV Licence for OH to watch news and terrestrial channel sport, which covers my use of BBC Sounds too. OH follows ‘his’ team on 5 Live or goes to the local and watches matches in a social setting. We go to live music venues regularly, and some paid gigs, mostly by new artists I’ve heard on Sounds. I buy a block of Audible credits once a year. That’s a switch from buying books/ebooks.

We don't subscribe to software, apart from YNAB. I am a power user of MS Office at work but the free Apple equivalents are fine for home use - I use Numbers every day. I pay monthly for iCloud data, that and our mobile plans are the only monthly subscriptions and I’d happily pay for these annually.

We don’t subscribe to memberships/charity apart from the RHS which includes an app. Certainly there is nothing that is online only, though I expect organisations to have some online presence. We sometimes pay for a year’s membership of something, but without intending to continue. This requires organisation to avoid automatic renewing! We’ve ‘done’ NT at Home this year and discovered we probably aren’t interested in becoming regular theatre-goers. Maybe we’ll see a musical comedy once a year going forward and I look out for plays on BBC iPlayer. Other years we’ve ‘done’ the local National Trust and English Heritage sites.

Emmia

I'm subscribed to lots of things, news apps/websites like the FT, Reuters, The Economist, The Guardian, The NYT, The New Yorker. 

Recently axed the Telegraph and a few months ago The Times, not for cost reasons but content.

I'm currently doing a Masters, so I've got an Office 365 subscription, full Adobe, Grammarly... 

All of these subscriptions are fine if you a)can afford them b)use them.

prowla

I subscribe to a service to store my security camera footage, otherwise I can't be doing with subs.

I occasionally take up free offers, but sometimes get gaught out failing to cancel.

RumRat

Hope this isn't going to turn into a BBC bashing thread by the usual suspects!!! 
Tech subscriptions will exist as long as there are those willing to pay for them. I find that most that I would use have a free or cheaper version.
Netflix is about to hike prices again, so that will go. Prime is kept for the next day delivery etc more than the streaming. Disney, is shared (at the moment) as is Apple TV.
My wife and I have a joint Spotify account, which is still good value IMO.
I use MS 365 via a Charity I volunteer for, but even with that I find I use Libre Office more at home.
As for A.I there are far too many choices at the moment and the free versions suit most people.
I subscribe to a VPN, which will continue.
Apart from my sim subscription I think that's about all I pay for.
As for YouTube ads, I never see them on the P.C.

mavenmim

Emmia said:

I'm subscribed to lots of things, news apps/websites like the FT, Reuters, The Economist, The Guardian, The NYT, The New Yorker. 

Recently axed the Telegraph and a few months ago The Times, not for cost reasons but content.

I'm currently doing a Masters, so I've got an Office 365 subscription, full Adobe, Grammarly... 

All of these subscriptions are fine if you a)can afford them b)use them.

I hope you are paying the student rate for Adobe!

I’ve always bought one off lifetime Microsoft office licenses as I hate monthly subs. But we do have prime, Netflix and Disney, as well as three mobile internet connections (landline is rubbish here and no fibre option). If any one was reliable enough I could cancel one of the others. 

Emmia

mavenmim said:

Emmia said:

I'm subscribed to lots of things, news apps/websites like the FT, Reuters, The Economist, The Guardian, The NYT, The New Yorker. 

Recently axed the Telegraph and a few months ago The Times, not for cost reasons but content.

I'm currently doing a Masters, so I've got an Office 365 subscription, full Adobe, Grammarly... 

All of these subscriptions are fine if you a)can afford them b)use them.

I hope you are paying the student rate for Adobe!

I’ve always bought one off lifetime Microsoft office licenses as I hate monthly subs. But we do have prime, Netflix and Disney, as well as three mobile internet connections (landline is rubbish here and no fibre option). If any one was reliable enough I could cancel one of the others. 

I've mostly got student licences, but tend to pay annually rather than monthly if it offers a better deal.

I'm currently trying to work out if I need an Endnote 21 licence. It's a one off charge but non student is £286 and a student one about £150 but I haven't been able to work out if the OU qualifies me. Currently on a free 30 day trial.

Vitor

From memory, subscriptions 

VPN
YouTube Premium, cheaper as I VPNed to Indonesia to pay
ChatGPT
Arlo security cams
Adobe (student)
Amazon Prime (student)
M365 Business Standard

Neil49

Emmia said:

I'm subscribed to lots of things, news apps/websites like the FT, Reuters, The Economist, The Guardian, The NYT, The New Yorker. 

Recently axed the Telegraph and a few months ago The Times, not for cost reasons but content.

I'm currently doing a Masters, so I've got an Office 365 subscription, full Adobe, Grammarly... 

All of these subscriptions are fine if you a)can afford them b)use them.

My local library provides me with free access to most of those that you list including the NYT, Economist, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Telegraph, the list goes on and on. 

Check out your own library to see if they offer e magazines and newspapers etc via PressReader or Libby.

Emmia

Neil49 said:

Emmia said:

I'm subscribed to lots of things, news apps/websites like the FT, Reuters, The Economist, The Guardian, The NYT, The New Yorker. 

Recently axed the Telegraph and a few months ago The Times, not for cost reasons but content.

I'm currently doing a Masters, so I've got an Office 365 subscription, full Adobe, Grammarly... 

All of these subscriptions are fine if you a)can afford them b)use them.

My local library provides me with free access to most of those that you list including the NYT, Economist, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Telegraph, the list goes on and on. 

Check out your own library to see if they offer e magazines and newspapers etc via PressReader or Libby.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I prefer the convenience of my own subscriptions.

Not very MSE, but there it is.