I recently received the type of email I dread. Yet another price hike was coming for one of my subscriptions.
Many companies are making pricey changes on a fairly regular basis. When is the last time you made a list of all your subscriptions?
If it’s been a while, or if you have never done so, it’s time.
Tracking subscription services isn’t only necessary to keep on top of your budget, but also to ensure you are actually using the services your paying for.
Think of the many subscriptions in your life. Here are some of the most common: Amazon Prime, Netflix, Spotify, Xbox Game Pass and YouTube Premium. Do any of these pop up on your credit card statement month-to-month?
I most recently got the dreaded price change email from Netflix. Here’s the price hike history for its monthly standard plan without ads, according to The Commercial Appeal:
- 2013 — $9.99
- 2014 — $10.99
- 2015 — $11.99
- 2017 — $12.99
- 2019 — $13.99
- 2020 — $14.99
- 2022 — $15.49
- 2025 — $17.99
The price of Netflix’s standard subscription has nearly doubled in a dozen years.
The average number of paid subscriptions per consumer in 2022 was right around 12, according to CNBC. You can see how the price increases can add up quickly.
If you don’t want to take the time to manually make a list or spreadsheet of your subscriptions and the associated costs, there are ways to automatic the process.
Checking monthly subscription payments
First of all, many bank apps have subscription tracking capabilities, so before downloading a new app, check there.
For subscriptions for which you used Google Play or the App Store to sign up, you can check those right on your phone.
On Android phones, open Google Play>Profile Photo>Payments & Subscriptions>Subscriptions.
From there you can choose to cancel or pause payments on any subscription for a certain amount of time.
On iOS, go to the App Store>Subscriptions to view, cancel or renew any subscriptions. Once you cancel, the app will move to the inactive section and can be easily renewed any time you like.
Apps to track subscriptions
If you want to see all your subscriptions for free, apps like Rocket Money track recurring transactions and help you cancel unwanted subscriptions.
Rocket Money will remember free trials when you sign up so you cancel them before you get billed. It’s free with an option to upgrade.
If users decide to cancel one of their subscriptions, they’ll need to handle it themselves, although they will get contact information to make it easier.
Premium users can simply tell Rocket Money to cancel a subscription and the company will handle it. The Premium version also includes Rocket Money negotiating cell phone and cable bills.
The company claims the $4-$12 per month customers spend for premium is only 30%-60% of the money they’ll get back from savings after bill negotiations.
Rocket Money notes it doesn’t negotiate electric, security or internet bills. You’ll need to link bank and credit card accounts, but it uses bank-level encryption to keep private information safe.
The Rocket Money app is available for iOS and Android and there is also an online version.
Trim also identifies and cancels unwanted subscriptions.
It can negotiate bills too and says the one-time bill negotiation fee is about 33% of total annual savings. The company will negotiate cable, internet, phone and medical bills, but not utility bills. It will also try to get users lower credit card interest rates.
Trim is available to use online and for those who only like to communicate via text, Trim has functionality through that as well. Users can also ask Trim questions via text or Facebook Messenger like how much they spent at a certain store or a credit card balance.
Like Rocket Money, users link bank and credit card accounts, but bank-level encryption keeps information safe. The website claims customers save more than $600 per year on average. Trim has a free 14-day trial and then has a $99 annual subscription.
If you don’t want to connect an app to your bank accounts and credit cards, there are options like Bobby for iOS and Tilla for Android where you enter the details of subscriptions yourself.
These apps remind you of upcoming subscription renewals. They are free to use, but limit the number of subscriptions you can track until you upgrade.
People considering these may instead just want to enter subscriptions into a spreadsheet and track them that way instead.