Updated February 2026 · 12 min read
The average American spends $219/month on subscriptions — that's $2,628/year. But for almost every paid subscription, there's a free alternative that does 80-100% of what you need. Here are 50 swaps organized by category, with potential annual savings of $3,000-6,000+/year.
💰 How to Use This List
You don't need to cancel everything. Pick the 3-5 subscriptions where the free alternative is "good enough" for your needs. That alone saves most people $50-150/month.
Netflix ($7-23/mo)
→ Tubi, Pluto TV, Kanopy (library card)
Spotify Premium ($12/mo)
→ Spotify Free, YouTube Music Free, SoundCloud
YouTube Premium ($14/mo)
→ uBlock Origin (browser extension)
Audible ($15/mo)
→ Libby/OverDrive (library card), LibriVox
Kindle Unlimited ($12/mo)
→ Libby/OverDrive, Project Gutenberg, OpenLibrary
Apple News+ ($13/mo)
→ Google News, Flipboard, library digital access
Microsoft 365 ($7-10/mo)
→ Google Docs/Sheets/Slides, LibreOffice
Adobe Creative Cloud ($55/mo)
→ Canva Free, GIMP, DaVinci Resolve, Figma
Grammarly Premium ($12/mo)
→ LanguageTool, Hemingway Editor, built-in spellcheck
Notion Pro ($10/mo)
→ Notion Free (unlimited pages), Obsidian, Logseq
Todoist Pro ($4/mo)
→ Todoist Free, Microsoft To Do, TickTick Free
1Password ($3/mo)
→ Bitwarden (free tier), KeePass
Zoom Pro ($13/mo)
→ Google Meet (free 60min), Jitsi Meet (unlimited)
Slack Pro ($7/user/mo)
→ Slack Free, Discord, Google Chat
Photoshop ($21/mo)
→ GIMP, Photopea (browser-based), Canva
Illustrator ($21/mo)
→ Inkscape, Vectr, Canva
Premiere Pro ($21/mo)
→ DaVinci Resolve (professional-grade!), Shotcut
After Effects ($21/mo)
→ HitFilm Express, Blender motion graphics
Canva Pro ($13/mo)
→ Canva Free (very capable), Figma, Penpot
Figma Pro ($12/mo)
→ Figma Free (3 projects), Penpot (unlimited)
NordVPN ($12/mo)
→ Proton VPN Free (unlimited data), Windscribe Free
Norton ($8/mo)
→ Windows Defender + Malwarebytes Free
McAfee ($8/mo)
→ Windows Defender + common sense
LastPass Premium ($3/mo)
→ Bitwarden Free, KeePass
Planet Fitness ($10-25/mo)
→ YouTube fitness (Blogilates, THENX), Nike Training Club
Peloton ($13-44/mo)
→ YouTube workouts, Nike Training Club, Fitness Blender
Headspace ($13/mo)
→ Insight Timer, Medito, YouTube meditation
Calm ($15/mo)
→ Insight Timer (free), Medito, Smiling Mind
MyFitnessPal Premium ($10/mo)
→ MyFitnessPal Free, Cronometer Free, FatSecret
Noom ($60/mo)
→ MyFitnessPal + r/loseit community
iCloud+ ($1-10/mo)
→ Google Drive (15GB free), Proton Drive
Dropbox Plus ($12/mo)
→ Google Drive (15GB), pCloud (10GB), Proton Drive
LinkedIn Premium ($30-60/mo)
→ LinkedIn Free (still powerful), Indeed, Glassdoor
Xbox Game Pass ($10-17/mo)
→ Epic Games Free (weekly freebies), Steam Free-to-Play
PlayStation Plus ($6-18/mo)
→ Free-to-play games (Fortnite, Warzone, Apex)
Nintendo Switch Online ($4-8/mo)
→ Free-to-play Switch games, mobile gaming
NYT/WSJ ($4-12/mo each)
→ Google News, AP News, Reuters, library digital access
Masterclass ($10-15/mo)
→ YouTube tutorials, Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare
Skillshare ($14/mo)
→ YouTube tutorials, freeCodeCamp, Coursera audit mode
Duolingo Super ($7/mo)
→ Duolingo Free (still works!), Anki, Language Transfer
A free library card replaces $500+/year in subscriptions: Audible (Libby has audiobooks), Kindle Unlimited (OverDrive has ebooks), streaming (Kanopy and Hoopla), newspapers/magazines (PressReader), and even some online courses. If you don't have a library card, find your nearest library.
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