What are subscriptions that add the most value in 2020?

[BogleMelon]

I know there are old threads about subscriptions but wanted to see some fresh recommendations in case I missed something.
I currently have:
1- 1Password (on trial but plan to pay after it ends, coming from Lastpass and can see the better product)
2- Idrive for backup
3- YNAB
4- Costco
5- Occissionly I do 1 month of Amazon Prime when I really need it.
6- B2 (Backblaze) secondary backup (Yes, I am paranoid when it comes to loss of data)
7- Netflix

Thanks!

[jebmke]

Spotify for me.

[Broken Man 1999]

In no particular order:

Amazon Prime
Costco
AAA
W$J print edition (for my current rate of $109.69/year)
City Journal
Bloomberg BusinessWeek (for my current rate of $2.00/year)
Microsoft365 for six users
Hulu (for my current rate of $2.27/month)
The Economist (for my current rate of $47.99/year)
LastPass (free version)

Broken Man 1999

[rjbraun]

In no particular order:

Amazon Prime
Costco
AAA
W$J print edition (for my current rate of $109.69/year)
City Journal
Bloomberg BusinessWeek (for my current rate of $2.00/year)
Microsoft365 for six users
Hulu (for my current rate of $2.27/month)
The Economist (for my current rate of $47.99/year)
LastPass (free version)

Broken Man 1999

Is The Economist rate for print or digital?

We used to get print only but miraculously scored print + digital for, I think, $200 for a 2-year subscription. Would do that again in a heart beat, but I doubt that rate will be possible again. Also, one of us probably prefers digital while the other would want print. If we can't find an acceptable compromise I suspect we may end up not renewing, at all.

[bmritz]

In no particular order:

Amazon Prime
Costco
AAA
W$J print edition (for my current rate of $109.69/year)
City Journal
Bloomberg BusinessWeek (for my current rate of $2.00/year)
Microsoft365 for six users
Hulu (for my current rate of $2.27/month)
The Economist (for my current rate of $47.99/year)
LastPass (free version)

Broken Man 1999

Is The Economist rate for print or digital?

We used to get print only but miraculously scored print + digital for, I think, $200 for a 2-year subscription. Would do that again in a heart beat, but I doubt that rate will be possible again. Also, one of us probably prefers digital while the other would want print. If we can't find an acceptable compromise I suspect we may end up not renewing, at all.

You may want to Give them a call and look into it again. We have been print only for years, and recently with coronavirus they’ve been having some delivery issues (to us at least). We complained and they acknowledged they’re having some troubles with delivery and gave us a free digital subscription to go with our print.

[jebmke]

The Economist is available from my library in digital version through Libby.

[rjbraun]

In no particular order:

Amazon Prime
Costco
AAA
W$J print edition (for my current rate of $109.69/year)
City Journal
Bloomberg BusinessWeek (for my current rate of $2.00/year)
Microsoft365 for six users
Hulu (for my current rate of $2.27/month)
The Economist (for my current rate of $47.99/year)
LastPass (free version)

Broken Man 1999

Is The Economist rate for print or digital?

We used to get print only but miraculously scored print + digital for, I think, $200 for a 2-year subscription. Would do that again in a heart beat, but I doubt that rate will be possible again. Also, one of us probably prefers digital while the other would want print. If we can't find an acceptable compromise I suspect we may end up not renewing, at all.

You may want to Give them a call and look into it again. We have been print only for years, and recently with coronavirus they’ve been having some delivery issues (to us at least). We complained and they acknowledged they’re having some troubles with delivery and gave us a free digital subscription to go with our print.

Interesting. Will keep that in mind. While our current subscription still has time remaining, it might be a good idea to do some planning now and see what offers may be on the table. Thank you for the tip!

[runner3081]

The only subscription we have and pay for is AAA (towing and insurance discount)

Not a single other subscription we have is paid. I despise recurring monthly costs for "things" not required

We do have free LastPass, Credit Karma, etc., however.

On a sidenote, I do read WSJ daily, but that was a one-time $25 fee for a 5-year term, so I don't consider that a subscription, technically.

[rjbraun]

The Economist is available from my library in digital version through Libby.

We have a good public library system. I'm not sure Libby is offered, but perhaps The Economist is still offered digitally in some fashion.

How does accessing digital periodicals work? Can you download them for, say, 2 weeks, or must you be logged in and online for the duration of the time you want to access the material?

[HoosierJim]

Hulu - buy it on Black Friday - 2 years ago was $1/month - now it's $2/month.

[OldSport]

Amazon Prime
Costco
Netflix
Disney+ (We are BIG Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars fans)
AAA+
Amazon Music HD

[Broken Man 1999]

In no particular order:

Amazon Prime
Costco
AAA
W$J print edition (for my current rate of $109.69/year)
City Journal
Bloomberg BusinessWeek (for my current rate of $2.00/year)
Microsoft365 for six users
Hulu (for my current rate of $2.27/month)
The Economist (for my current rate of $47.99/year)
LastPass (free version)

Broken Man 1999

Is The Economist rate for print or digital?

We used to get print only but miraculously scored print + digital for, I think, $200 for a 2-year subscription. Would do that again in a heart beat, but I doubt that rate will be possible again. Also, one of us probably prefers digital while the other would want print. If we can't find an acceptable compromise I suspect we may end up not renewing, at all.

This is for the print edition. It renewed without a hitch for the initial price. So, two years so far.

I will say I believe The Economist is sliding left, but for the price I can accept that. They were never in the center, anyway.

Broken Man 1999

[chuckb84]

Amazon Prime, for sure.
Netflix.
NY Times.
Wa. Post.
Pandora.

[jebmke]

The Economist is available from my library in digital version through Libby.

We have a good public library system. I'm not sure Libby is offered, but perhaps The Economist is still offered digitally in some fashion.

How does accessing digital periodicals work? Can you download them for, say, 2 weeks, or must you be logged in and online for the duration of the time you want to access the material?

Libby is the app on my iPad. It connects to the library by registering my library cards (I have cards two cities in MD). In the case of the Economist, I can borrow an issue for 14 days and read it with the Libby app. In the case of books, I can check out Kindle versions and borrow them for 21 days and download them to my Kindle.

[carolinaman]

Costco
WSJ (digital)
Netflix
AAA
Microsoft 365

[MillennialFinance19]

LastPass Premium (YubiKey)
Amazon Prime
Hulu w/Live TV
Disney Plus (kids 2 and 4)
Edit: forgot Costco

We had Netflix, but cancelled and started using the in-laws account.

[OldSport]

In no particular order:

Amazon Prime
Costco
AAA
W$J print edition (for my current rate of $109.69/year)
City Journal
Bloomberg BusinessWeek (for my current rate of $2.00/year)
Microsoft365 for six users
Hulu (for my current rate of $2.27/month)
The Economist (for my current rate of $47.99/year)
LastPass (free version)

Broken Man 1999

Is The Economist rate for print or digital?

We used to get print only but miraculously scored print + digital for, I think, $200 for a 2-year subscription. Would do that again in a heart beat, but I doubt that rate will be possible again. Also, one of us probably prefers digital while the other would want print. If we can't find an acceptable compromise I suspect we may end up not renewing, at all.

This is for the print edition. It renewed without a hitch for the initial price. So, two years so far.

I will say I believe The Economist is sliding left, but for the price I can accept that. They were never in the center, anyway.

Broken Man 1999

I'm one of the few people I know these days that are actually in the Center.

[OldSport]

Costco
WSJ (digital)
Netflix
AAA
Microsoft 365

Is Microsoft 365 worth it? I get HEAVILY discounted Office 2016 for personal use through my work. Is there anyway to get low or now cost Teams for personal use?

[stan1]

Is Microsoft 365 worth it? I get HEAVILY discounted Office 2016 for personal use through my work. Is there anyway to get low or now cost Teams for personal use?

If you get a perpetual Office license at very low cost then probably no. Do you and other family members pay for cloud storage? M365 with OneDrive costs about the same as Dropbox but you don't get Office with Dropbox. Getting entire family with up to 6 devices on M365 is where it really pays off.

Teams is available at no cost, but I don't think its the first messaging platform I would use for family messaging if that's your intent. How would you want to use it?

[atikovi]

I know there are old threads about subscriptions but wanted to see some fresh recommendations in case I missed something.
I currently have:
1- 1Password (on trial but plan to pay after it ends, coming from Lastpass and can see the better product)
2- Idrive for backup
3- YNAB
4- Costco
5- Occissionly I do 1 month of Amazon Prime when I really need it.
6- B2 (Backblaze) secondary backup (Yes, I am paranoid when it comes to loss of data)
7- Netflix

Thanks!

Subscriptions are traditionally for magazines, papers and other periodicals. Some on you list are memberships and services.

[Broken Man 1999]

In no particular order:

Amazon Prime
Costco
AAA
W$J print edition (for my current rate of $109.69/year)
City Journal
Bloomberg BusinessWeek (for my current rate of $2.00/year)
Microsoft365 for six users
Hulu (for my current rate of $2.27/month)
The Economist (for my current rate of $47.99/year)
LastPass (free version)

Broken Man 1999

Is The Economist rate for print or digital?

We used to get print only but miraculously scored print + digital for, I think, $200 for a 2-year subscription. Would do that again in a heart beat, but I doubt that rate will be possible again. Also, one of us probably prefers digital while the other would want print. If we can't find an acceptable compromise I suspect we may end up not renewing, at all.

This is for the print edition. It renewed without a hitch for the initial price. So, two years so far.

I will say I believe The Economist is sliding left, but for the price I can accept that. They were never in the center, anyway.

Broken Man 1999

I'm one of the few people I know these days that are actually in the Center.

Ah, so there are two of us!

Broken Man 1999

[02nz]

Tidal for music. $10 or 20/mo depending on whether you want lossless, but Best Buy often has discounted deals (e.g., currently $100/year for the higher tier if you have the free My Best Buy membership).

[OldSport]

Tidal for music. $10 or 20/mo depending on whether you want lossless, but Best Buy often has discounted deals (e.g., currently $100/year for the higher tier if you have the free My Best Buy membership).

How does Tidal Hi-Fi compare to Amazon Music HD. Right now BB is showing $120/year for the higher tier. Do they discount it further?

[sharukh]

Walmart delivery subscription

[celia]

AAA
Tracfone
Membership in societies that support my hobby (genealogy)
A few magazines

[02nz]

Tidal for music. $10 or 20/mo depending on whether you want lossless, but Best Buy often has discounted deals (e.g., currently $100/year for the higher tier if you have the free My Best Buy membership).

How does Tidal Hi-Fi compare to Amazon Music HD. Right now BB is showing $120/year for the higher tier. Do they discount it further?

Log in with your Best Buy account (join My Best Buy if you haven't already, free) and it will show $100/year.

There's a lot of overlap in the music selection between Amazon and Tidal, but I prefer the latter and with Best Buy it's cheaper.

[Bogle7]

For us. A retired couple.

Shopping
Amazon Prime
Costco
AMEX Platinum
Chase Sapphire
Instacart

TV
Hulu with Live TV
Disney+
HBO Max
Amazon Prime Video
IMDBTV
RMPBS
Netflix
Apple TV+

Print Magazines
5280
Architectural Digest
Departures
Dwell
Fine Cooking
Fine Homebuilding
Kitchen & Bath Design News
Milk Street
Modern in Denver
New Yorker
NY Times
Washington Post (digital only)
Qualified Remodeler
Residential Design
Travel & Leisure
Vanity Fair
Wall Street Journal
Wine Spectator

House
Xcel Energy
Denver Water
RE Taxes
Metro Security
Homeowners’ Insurance

Medical
Kaiser - Obamacare
Medicare - Kaiser

Computers
CenturyLink
Local ISP
GoDaddy
T-Mobile - 55+
Backblaze

Miscellaneous
Car Insurance
Apple Music
Apple Arcade
Memrise

[Broken Man 1999]

For us.

Shopping
Amazon Prime
Costco

TV
Hulu with Live TV
Disney+
HBO Max
Amazon Prime Video
IMDBTV
RMPBS
Netflix
Apple TV+

Print Magazines
5280
Architectural Digest
Departures
Dwell
Fine Cooking
Fine Homebuilding
Kitchen & Bath Design News
Milk Street
Modern in Denver
New Yorker
NY Times
Washington Post (digital only)
Qualified Remodeler
Residential Design
Travel & Leisure
Vanity Fair
Wall Street Journal
Wine Spectator

House
Xcel Energy
Denver Water
RE Taxes
Metro Security
Homeowners’ Insurance

Medical
Kaiser
Medicare

Computers
CenturyLink
T-Mobile
Backblaze

Miscellaneous
Car Insurance
Apple Music
Apple Arcade

Goodness! When do you find the time to watch/read all those streaming services/mags?

Hey, I am a graduate of Evelyn Wood speed reading course, but I couldn't read that many mags.

Broken Man 1999

[abuss368]

Upcoming Apple subscriptions that will be bundled.

[Luckywon]

For us.

Shopping
Amazon Prime
Costco

TV
Hulu with Live TV
Disney+
HBO Max
Amazon Prime Video
IMDBTV
RMPBS
Netflix
Apple TV+

Print Magazines
5280
Architectural Digest
Departures
Dwell
Fine Cooking
Fine Homebuilding
Kitchen & Bath Design News
Milk Street
Modern in Denver
New Yorker
NY Times
Washington Post (digital only)
Qualified Remodeler
Residential Design
Travel & Leisure
Vanity Fair
Wall Street Journal
Wine Spectator

House
Xcel Energy
Denver Water
RE Taxes
Metro Security
Homeowners’ Insurance

Medical
Kaiser
Medicare

Computers
CenturyLink
T-Mobile
Backblaze

Miscellaneous
Car Insurance
Apple Music
Apple Arcade

Holy moly! You know you're allowed to say no?

[LilyFleur]

In no particular order:

Amazon Prime
Costco
AAA
W$J print edition (for my current rate of $109.69/year)
City Journal
Bloomberg BusinessWeek (for my current rate of $2.00/year)
Microsoft365 for six users
Hulu (for my current rate of $2.27/month)
The Economist (for my current rate of $47.99/year)
LastPass (free version)

Broken Man 1999

Is The Economist rate for print or digital?

We used to get print only but miraculously scored print + digital for, I think, $200 for a 2-year subscription. Would do that again in a heart beat, but I doubt that rate will be possible again. Also, one of us probably prefers digital while the other would want print. If we can't find an acceptable compromise I suspect we may end up not renewing, at all.

This is for the print edition. It renewed without a hitch for the initial price. So, two years so far.

I will say I believe The Economist is sliding left, but for the price I can accept that. They were never in the center, anyway.

Broken Man 1999

I'm one of the few people I know these days that are actually in the Center.

Ah, so there are two of us!

Broken Man 1999

Three of us. Hated equally by both sides.

My subscriptions:
Amazon Prime
Spotify
Netflix (for four people, I share with a widow friend and my two young adult children)
WSJ digital (a friend shares with me) Leans right. Have read it my entire adult life.
NYTimes digital. Leans left but probes more in depth than the WSJ on many stories.
Acorn (the best $6/month I've ever spent!!!!!)
match.com
monthly membership in two artist/painter online educational groups

I am debating a zoom membership; I live alone and it is really fun to paint virtually in a group, just painting and chatting and sharing our work. Last time I did this we had someone from Australia, two from Canada, one from upstate New York, and two from California.

[celia]

Goodness! When do you find the time to watch/read all those streaming services/mags?

Hey, I am a graduate of Evelyn Wood speed reading course, but I couldn't read that many mags.

Maybe that poster has a huge household or one of them is a doctor that needs fresh material for the waiting room. Or they work in the architecture/ urban design/ interior design field and have a waiting room.

But I wouldn’t call recurring bills ‘subscriptions’. Medicare? Homeowner’s insurance? Why not just list your entire spending? I think food and filling the gas tank would be just as valid as some of the things listed.

I would list meal delivery services and anything you have as a regular WalMart/Amazon delivery (toilet paper, meds, fresh produce, etc)

[Madboggle]

Costco
WSJ (digital)
Netflix
AAA
Microsoft 365

Is paying $35 for WSJ worth it. Do you consume that much content?

[Artful Dodger]

Periodicals -
The Atlantic
International Living
Foreign Affairs
Bon Appetit
St. Louis Magazine
St. Louis Post Dispatch (digital)
New York Times (digital)
Washington Post (digital)

TV stuff -
Disney
Apple TV
Hulu
Netflix
Amazon Prime
Unverse (includes all basic channels plus HBO, Showtime, Etc)
Sirius /XM in two cars

That’s all I can think of. I’d like to get that Economist deal. Used to get the print version years ago. I often pick up a copy in the airport and carry on the plane to read when traveling.

[Luckywon]

Acorn (the best $6/month I've ever spent!!!!!)

I've been thinking of trying this-what have you watched on this that was good?

[Invest4lt]

Hulu
Google Music/YouTube Music
Netflix
WSJ
NYT

[sperry8]

I subscribe to Pandora & Amazon Prime.

And just tonight, I subscribed to CVS Carepass. First month free, then they charge $5 per month, but give you a $10 coupon off all purchases each month and 20% off CVS brands (totalhome, etc.). So if you spend at least $10 per month at CVS, then you're making $5 per month with their subscription. Probably they're banking on the fact that people will shop well over the $10 credit.

[wootwoot]

Walmart+ and Amazon prime, although I'm looking to drop prime in the near future.

[quantAndHold]

Prime
Netflix
NY Times (digital)
My local newspaper (digital)
SiriusXM. We use it in the motorhome.

Then we switch off between other streaming services. A month here, a month there. Watch what they have, then move on to something else. It was Disney+ to watch Hamilton. Now, we’re about to get AppleTV+ to see what they have.

Other magazines, the library has digital subscriptions to. There’s several I read from time to time, but they aren’t really worth paying for. The library actually has the NYTimes as well (all California libraries do, apparently), but it’s such a pain to access that I just pay.

[SmileyFace]

Amazon Prime
NetFlix
Spotify
Adobe's Photographer Plan
Ring

[SmileyFace]

I know there are old threads about subscriptions but wanted to see some fresh recommendations in case I missed something.
I currently have:
1- 1Password (on trial but plan to pay after it ends, coming from Lastpass and can see the better product)
2- Idrive for backup
3- YNAB
4- Costco
5- Occissionly I do 1 month of Amazon Prime when I really need it.
6- B2 (Backblaze) secondary backup (Yes, I am paranoid when it comes to loss of data)
7- Netflix

Thanks!

Subscriptions are traditionally for magazines, papers and other periodicals. Some on you list are memberships and services.

The OP didn't specify whether he/she meant software subscriptions, service subscriptions, or news/magazine subscriptions - so I assumed all since that is what was listed. (Software and services are now sold as "subscriptions").

[Xrayman69]

For us.

Shopping
Amazon Prime
Costco

TV
Hulu with Live TV
Disney+
HBO Max
Amazon Prime Video
IMDBTV
RMPBS
Netflix
Apple TV+

Print Magazines
5280
Architectural Digest
Departures
Dwell
Fine Cooking
Fine Homebuilding
Kitchen & Bath Design News
Milk Street
Modern in Denver
New Yorker
NY Times
Washington Post (digital only)
Qualified Remodeler
Residential Design
Travel & Leisure
Vanity Fair
Wall Street Journal
Wine Spectator

House
Xcel Energy
Denver Water
RE Taxes
Metro Security
Homeowners’ Insurance

Medical
Kaiser
Medicare

Computers
CenturyLink
T-Mobile
Backblaze

Miscellaneous
Car Insurance
Apple Music
Apple Arcade

Goodness! When do you find the time to watch/read all those streaming services/mags?

Hey, I am a graduate of Evelyn Wood speed reading course, but I couldn't read that many mags.

Broken Man 1999

I suspect it’s for the household with several genders and generations (such as parents and children). Several appear to be special interest specific.

[AllMostThere]

Okay, I'll play:
1) Amazon Prime
2) Costco
3) Netflix
4) Disney + (Pre-paid for 3 years at launch)
5) HULU (Thinking of letting this one go....)
6) AAA Membership
7) Shipt (This one has been great value allowing us to avoid big box grocery store during current times)

[Kagord]

AAA, why so popular? I mean the internet has kind of taken over triptiks and all those paper tourbooks and maps. The magazine ain't so great. And auto insurance policies add towing/help labor..etc for a buck or 2, and I haven't found their auto insurance to be competitive. The AAA decal may have some reflective properties that prevents an accident though.

I'm old enough to remember the value of this in the days of yore, but today? Am I missing something here?

[SpaethCo]

AAA, why so popular?

I'm old enough to remember the value of this in the days of yore, but today? Am I missing something here?

They offer one number to call for service, and provide service at a regular known fixed cost instead of a random interval variable cost.

For areas they don't directly service, they negotiate rates down to the bare minimum (I've read as low as $23/dispatch). Shops agree to this because AAA guarantees a steady stream of work, but this also means that AAA jobs end up at the bottom of the job list. If it's a typical light day, you get as good of service as you'll ever have. If it's a blizzard day and you end up in a ditch, you'll be tended to after everyone else who was willing to pay more.

We carried AAA for a few years, and then decided when we need help we'd like to arrange that as quickly as possible. Our approach is now to type "towing" into Google Maps and pick the highest rated tow operator nearby. If a tow operator is busy, we can find out right away and move down the list without having to wait on a car club CSR do that at whatever escalation interval their SLA allows.

[msi]

AAA, why so popular? I mean the internet has kind of taken over triptiks and all those paper tourbooks and maps. The magazine ain't so great. And auto insurance policies add towing/help labor..etc for a buck or 2, and I haven't found their auto insurance to be competitive. The AAA decal may have some reflective properties that prevents an accident though.

I'm old enough to remember the value of this in the days of yore, but today? Am I missing something here?

Your auto insurance company may consider it an at-fault claim. https://clark.com/insurance/when-not-to ... r-insuran/

[dukeblue219]

No AAA here, but we have (off the top of my head)

Costco (this isn't really a subscription IMO)
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime Music Family
PBS Kids via Amazon Prime video
Hulu
Netflix
Nytimes digital
Washington Post print + digital
SiriusXM
Tmobile Magenta Plus
Verizon FIOS internet + TV
A biweekly "excess/ugly food" delivery box

Probably a few more. Are they worth it? Yes, because we use them all and can budget for all of it.

[Hayden]

Microsoft Office 365 - annual subscription
CrashPlan - paid monthly, pricey, but it gives me peace of mind
Private Internet Access (VPN)
Amazon
Netflix
New York Times
Wikipedia (monthly donation)

There are several online news sources where i read their free content. I've been thinking about subscribing just to support what they are doing (e.g., Project Syndicate)

[brad.clarkston]

AT&T Uverse
T-Mo/Sprint family unlimited (my line is free/50% off everything else)

Netflix
Hulu (free from T-MO/Sprint)
Disney+
HBO MAX
Spotify (half price T-MO/Sprint - employees only)
Tidal (free from T-MO/Sprint)

Microsoft 365
BitWarden
Malwarebytes Family
Carbonite

Amazon Prime
Costco
AAA (kid is 4 hours away in college with no car mechanical ability - funny enough he's in Nuclear/Mech Eng program)


Just dropped DCUniverse as it's being rolled into HBO MAX might resub when they get all the comics added.
Also just dropped Cruncyroll, will rejoin when they have something the kid/wife wants to watch.

[Broken Man 1999]

AAA, why so popular? I mean the internet has kind of taken over triptiks and all those paper tourbooks and maps. The magazine ain't so great. And auto insurance policies add towing/help labor..etc for a buck or 2, and I haven't found their auto insurance to be competitive. The AAA decal may have some reflective properties that prevents an accident though.

I'm old enough to remember the value of this in the days of yore, but today? Am I missing something here?

Perhaps.

I certainly can't change a tire on my full-size E150 van, and I'm pretty sure my wife can't change one either.

Around my area we get a AAA badged truck, and someone I don't worry about harming my wife as most of the time I am not with her. Or, I could depend on someone sent from Cletus Towing and Tackle Shop. No thanks!

To your point, I don't care about much anything else other than a breakdown, flat tire, etc.

When DDs were at home, they also were covered by AAA. One protects what is precious.

Broken Man 1999