Ask HN: What software subscriptions are worth paying for? • Hacker News Board

Leynos wrote: post #3

Obsidian Google (for Deep Research, Gemini and NotebookLM) ChatGPT (For ChatGPT and Codex) GitKraken CodeRabbit Novelcrafter (for fiction) Wondercraft (wrapper around Elevnlabs and Googles TTS) Seriously considering Elevenreader as well Raindrop (bookmarks) OutdoorActive (maps for hiking) YouTube Premium Sanebox (Email triage)

Curious about GitKraken, I've tried it around ~2018 and couldn't see why i'd pay for it. I has nice "visualisations" but nothing that actually helped my workflow.

Re: Ask HN: What software subscriptions are worth paying for?

#34

Post by notpushkin » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 6:29 AM UTC

Kagi, PurelyMail, and a VPS of your choice to host everything else you might need (I’ve settled on SSDNodes [1], good performance and pretty cheap). Probably also something for backups (Backblaze B2 or rsync.net seem decent).

[1]: https://ale.sh/r/ssdnodes (affiliate link)

Re: Ask HN: What software subscriptions are worth paying for?

#35

Post by leykwan0610 » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 6:33 AM UTC

Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #16

Sublime (contribution rather than subscription) Excalidraw ChatGpt ExpressVPN

What makes you pay for Sublime instead of sticking to free tools like Notion?

Re: Ask HN: What software subscriptions are worth paying for?

#36

Post by almosthere » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 6:36 AM UTC

I pay for GH Copilot, but mostly because I haven't bothered to stop. I'm probably going to switch to paying for Cursor.

I used to pay for the following:

  * Home Designer Pro (upgraded to fully purchased at some point)
  * JRebel (circa 2010ish)

I will never pay for

  * Youtube Premium

Re: Ask HN: What software subscriptions are worth paying for?

#37

Post by ragebol » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 6:41 AM UTC

Obsidian Sync

Re: Ask HN: What software subscriptions are worth paying for?

#38

Post by iansinnott » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 6:42 AM UTC

klntsky wrote: post #15

Leynos wrote: post #3

Obsidian Google (for Deep Research, Gemini and NotebookLM) ChatGPT (For ChatGPT and Codex) GitKraken CodeRabbit Novelcrafter (for fiction) Wondercraft (wrapper around Elevnlabs and Googles TTS) Seriously considering Elevenreader as well Raindrop (bookmarks) OutdoorActive (maps for hiking) YouTube Premium Sanebox (Email triage)

YouTube premium is equivalent to uBlock Origin

That was my experience as well, but I pay for it.

I think the family plan has great value if you have family members that wouldn't otherwise pay for it. Gifting others with less ads in their lives is a significant win.

Re: Ask HN: What software subscriptions are worth paying for?

#39

Post by rhubarbtree » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 6:48 AM UTC

kqr wrote: post #29

- FastMail for email, calendar, and contact book. - Kagi for search and translation. - rsync.net for backup (although I took their lifetime subscription offer so I no longer actively pay them). - Self-hosting related costs (rented servers and domain names). - Buttondown for sending out blog updates. (I was generously gifted a lifetime subscription, but had I not been I would likely have paid for it eventually anyway.…

YouTube subscription is great but very overpriced. Streaming services are much cheaper and they produce original content. I just can’t justify double the price of Apple TV so I can watch content Google hasn’t produced.

Re: Ask HN: What software subscriptions are worth paying for?

#40

Post by rhubarbtree » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 6:49 AM UTC

adithyassekhar wrote: post #13

People are commenting services as well, guess I'm adding to it. These are the only services I pay for. Google One. Google photos is just magic, cheaper storage elsewhere just doesn't cut it. Also why I won't be switching to ios anytime soon. First party solutions always feel better. Youtube Premium.

Vote for Apple One here. Exceptional value if you have a few people sharing it.