App subscriptions and Yoghurt

I recently researched and replaced many paid web app subscriptions I had with free alternatives that either perform the same function or come close enough. Here’s the list of which service I replaced with what.

1. Micro.one → flipboard.social (for the Fediverse)
2. Inoreader Pro → Inoreader Free (second feed reader)
3. Pika Pro → Pika Pup (for my third blog)
4. EchoFeed Pro → EchoFeed, MastoFeed, and Social Champ (to autoshare my blog posts on some social media)
5. Old blog on Ghost via PikaPods → DigitalPress (to maintain backwards compatibility for my space blog)
6. Umami via PikaPods → Umami Cloud (for blog stats)
7. Linkding via PikaPods → Raindrop and Anybox (for bookmarking and PDFs)
8. ArchiveBox via PikaPods → Wayback browser extension (for webpage archiving)

So how much money did I save by not continuing these subscriptions?

$20, or nearly ₹1800 a month.

That may not seem like a lot. But consider that for people like me who don’t live in the US or Europe and are affected by purchasing power parity, it’s not a small amount either. While the paid services above were all great, and Pika in particular is quite lovely, neither of them were essential for me. The alternatives I replaced them with do nearly the same work for all practical purposes, with only little manual intervention needed.

More importantly, $20 is roughly what I spend every month on greek yoghurts as part of my meals. Yoghurt is essential, and it directly maintains my health. I’d rather spend my 20-odd dollars to get the best of that. Especially that sweet organic mango yoghurt now that the crazy summer is here. 🥭