This service helped me get on top of my online subscriptions

These two messages, coming within a 24-hour gap prompted me to ask myself if I even remembered which all subscription services I had signed up for.

A few hours later, while on an evening stroll, I got my answer: The ease of automatic recurring payments makes you forget that you are paying for a service you hardly use. Being a heavy digital user — and I believe we all have become the same during the pandemic — it’s completely normal to forget how many subscriptions one has signed up for. That’s when I tried TrackMySubs, a subscription tracker that helps you take full control of your finances.

Here’s my experience of using TrackMySubs and whether or not subscription management apps are worth trying out, but this is not a review. I just want to make you realise how we can streamline online expenses and keep track of subscriptions and automated payments.

Once you add your subscriptions, as I did, you can view them along with the date of renewal on an easy-to-use dashboard. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

What are subscription management trackers?

The concept of subscription management apps is still rather new for most Indians, and the reason is understandable. A lot of people—at least those I know in my circle—began subscribing to a service during the pandemic. It could be paying a monthly fee for a food delivery app, getting a membership for Amazon Prime, or subscribing to an e-version of a newspaper like The Indian Express.

In fact, big and small companies, including Apple, started focusing on services as a business only recently. It simply means that when you charge a monthly or annual fee to use a product from its members, like Amazon selling you its Prime service, it, in return, offers its members complimentary two-day shipping and other benefits, including a free subscription to its Prime Music and Prime Video services. However, post-pandemic, many realised that they end up paying a lot more for subscriptions than they actually use. In fact, many stopped using a certain subscription service but forgot to pause the payments.

A simple Google search gives you a rough idea of subscription management trackers and what they do. There are different types of subscription management trackers that can be accessed either on the web or using their mobile apps. However, each has its pros and cons. A majority of them have a free version, but to use premium features, you have to pay a certain fee. In fact, some trackers can be connected to your bank account, credit cards, loans, and investments. Some trackers even negotiate a price reduction on certain bills, but for that, you have to opt for their premium service — another subscription at the end of the day. However, many of those trackers do not support local Indian banks and hence are not useful. After deep research and looking at each tracker with a minute lens, I settled for TrackMySubs, and I’ll tell you why.

More and more brands are looking at the “services as business” model.

My experience of using TrackMySubs

TrackMySubs works a little differently from other subscription management trackers. It’s a basic tool, and unlike other trackers, you have to manually enter as many as 10 subscriptions to easily keep track of your expenses. The process is rather simple: enter each subscription manually and add the payment due date next to it. Once you add your subscriptions, as I did, you can view them along with the date of renewal on an easy-to-use dashboard. That way, you are aware of how much you are paying each month/annually for a subscription that you have signed up for. The tracker reminds you when a bill is due.

From here, you can track subscriptions, set up notifications, and view the payment history to decide whether to continue using the app or service. The tracker also gives you the option to organise your expenditure into categories like entertainment, insurance, utilities, or even trials. I remember I once tried an app and opted for a seven-day trial, but I forgot and got charged when I was supposed to cancel my subscription.

Beyond 10 subscriptions, you have to pay a fee, which I didn’t opt for. But regardless of the free or paid version you choose, you still have to manually enter subscriptions. I liked the tracker because there are no security concerns involved, unlike other trackers. TrackMySubs doesn’t ask for confidential information like bank account numbers and debit and credit card details. Also, the company does not sell or provide personal data to any third parties.

My only gripe is that TrackMySubs doesn’t have an iOS or Android app; instead, it’s a browser-based tracker. I agree there are more advanced subscription management trackers out there, but none match the simplicity and straightforwardness of TrackMySubs.