The Best App for Subscription Tracking

For many, the consumer landscape today includes subscriptions in lots of areas, for news. TV channels, music services and software. Was life better when we all just paid a single cable bill instead of cord cutting? Was it better when you had to pay an upfront price on any software you wanted to use? I don't know the answer to that. I remember when it cost nearly $300 to get a copy of Microsoft Office with Outlook Included, which didn't include anything like cloud storage or a free email account. Cable bills got to be well north of $100 a month. These days, you can use Office in about five minutes for less than $10. If you get a good deal and sign up for a full year, you can often get a premium TV subscription for roughly the same amount per month.

Keeping track of all this is challenging though. An old-fashioned spreadsheet might do the trick, but for a polished experience with a few extra bells and whistles, I use an app from Touchbits, Inc. It's called (wait for it) Subscriptions, and it cost either $1.99 a year or $7.99 for a lifetime purchase ($14.99 for a family license). It is a universal app, so it works on your phone, iPad and on your Mac.

For me, it ticks all the boxes. It lets me categorize each subscription (entertainment, software etc.). I also have the option of using tags for further categorization. It can handle weekly, monthly and annual subscriptions. There is a place for the URL associated with my account information for each sub. You set a renewal date for when the next bill is due and for what amount. There is a reminders option for those due dates. You can select a payment account if you want to track that. The Subscriptions app saves a price history so you can see what changes vendors make over time. Finally, there is also a notes field.

The app has analytics to help you track spending over time and by category. There are several view and sorting options as well. The data syncs via iCloud across all platforms. You can export your data via a CSV. It has a backup and restore feature, but it is a proprietary database file and there doesn't look there is a way to import data from anywhere. I've been using it for nearly a year, and I've recommended to lots of people.