I’m trying to reduce my subscriptions, but I’m still paying for these apps

TwinsHeadspace, Todoist and YouTube Music These are just a few of the apps I paid for in the past and now ditch. I’m trying to keep my monthly subscriptions down, and although it’s easier said than done, I’ve managed to whittle the list down to just three.

I still use the three apps I paid for daily and don’t see myself giving up just yet. They are worth the money because they help me get things done and even offer complete privacy – at least two of them.

Claude my AI of choice is the chatbot, and for good reason. I use it practically every day, so the monthly subscription is worth it. It helps me brainstorm title ideas for posts I’m working on, helps me on my fitness journey, and comes in handy when I want to cook a new meal.

What I like is that it’s more direct and realistic than something like Gemini that I’ve subscribed to in the past. More likely to push back bad thoughts and challenge my thinking. No matter what I’m talking about with Claude, experience always trumps Gemini experience, ChatGPTor any other chatbot I’ve tried.

Then there are additional features, like Projects, which allow me to give specific instructions to the AI, any other information it needs to remember. The best part about this is that I can keep all the chats on a specific topic within the project of my choice, something that is not available in, say, Gemini Gems.

Claude is also great at coding and can create an app with voice prompts in minutes. I tried a lot of them and was really impressed with what he created.

While overall better than the competition, it does have its drawbacks. For example, there are no photo or video creation capabilities, which is one of the reasons I still occasionally use the Gemini. Hitting the usage limits is also very easy, as I was able to do it not too long ago with a few pointers. I’ve never hit the limit when using twins, so this is one area Claude needs to improve on.

In terms of price, Claude comes in at $20 a month, making it the most expensive subscription I’ve ever paid for.

I switched between many note taking programs obsidian to be my ultimate obsession. I used Keep for a long time before switching to Evernote and eventually Notion. The latter is what I used for years, but at one point it was too much for me.

Obsidian, like Notion, has a steep learning curve if you want to master all of its features. However, if the need arises, it’s very easy to use as simple note-taking programs, and if so, it’s easy to get started.

What I like about Obsidian is its offline-first approach to keeping my files private. Everything is stored on my device to make sure no big tech company has access to my private thoughts. However, the problem here is that I can’t access my files from other devices that the subscription includes.

Obsidian Sync costs $5 a month and allows me to access my files from all my devices. What’s special about it is that it uses end-to-end encryption, which means Obsidian people can’t see my files even if they want to. This is in stark contrast to most other services, including those offered by Google, where the company can see anything on its servers if it wants to. Sure, companies have privacy policies, so it’s not like employees are reading my notes on their lunch break, but end-to-end encryption gives me peace of mind knowing that my data is mine and mine alone.

I use Obsidian for both long-form posts and short notes, and it works great either way. It’s worth the subscription for me, although it can be synced via Google Drive for free, but you’ll be missing out on end-to-end encryption.

I’m kind of cheating here because it’s not just one app, it’s a suite of apps, but they’re included in just one subscription called Proton Unlimited. The one I use the most Proton Drivereplaced both Google Drive and Photos for me. I have a lot of pictures to store and I prefer cloud storage to local storage. NAS. What I like about Proton Drive and other Proton apps is its focus on privacy. No one can see my photos and files but me, which is one of the reasons I moved away from Google in the first place.

In addition to Proton Drive, I also use it Proton Mail As a replacement for Gmail. while not everyone our team is a fan, I’m impressed with the app overall. It’s easier than Gmail to see all the newsletters I’m subscribed to and cancel them. The ability to send self-destructing emails is sometimes handy, and end-to-end encryption offers complete privacy – although you’ll need to tinker with a few settings to make it work when sending emails outside of Proton’s email service.

Then there’s Proton Authenticator, which I use to log into my various online accounts. Proton VPN That often comes in handy, especially when traveling, and Proton transition to save my passwords.

The latter is particularly impressive, especially since I used Bitwarden before. Don’t get me wrong, Bitwarden is a great app, but Proton Pass is better for me. While I’ve had issues with Bitwarden not saving or autofilling passwords for certain websites, there’s zero friction anyway.

Overall, I’m happy with the Proton Unlimited despite the hefty price tag. I pay $13 a month, although I could lower the price a bit if I paid in advance for a year.

My only issue with it is that Proton Drive is a bit slow, especially compared to Google Drive and Photos. Although the speed difference is annoying after using the app for a long time, it’s not that big of a deal.

These are the three apps I currently pay for, and the total monthly cost comes to $38. It still feels like all things considered, but there’s enough value in these three apps to keep paying.

And you? What apps do you pay for? Let me know in the comments.