

Ask HN: Subscriptions on lots of apps/services starting to add up - albahk

Am I alone in getting a bit concerned about subscribing to so many different paid online services/apps? Each one is valuable and necessary at the time I sign up but I am looking at the amount of cash going out on solutions such as bug-tracking, project collab, CRM and accounting/billing and wonder if anyone else has turned away from them to go back to less polished but fully free OSS alternatives? Has the pendulum swung for others or is it just me being cheap?<p>Would love to hear solutions from anyone that has a fully free stack running their business.<p>(Edit: formatting)
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ordinaryman
As a fellow hacker, I would like to welcome you to check out the apps I have
been working on iFreeTools :: <http://crm.ifreetools.com> (alpha) and
<http://creator.ifreetools.com> (preview release).

The apps are ad-supported and free, but not open-source. You can export you
data at any time (and also use that feature as a off-line backup).

While the CRM app includes the core modules, with more in the works, you can
extend or build your own apps with Creator, like this simple bug-tracker :
[http://ifreetools.blogspot.com/2010/03/building-simple-
bug-t...](http://ifreetools.blogspot.com/2010/03/building-simple-bug-tracker-
application.html)

Ad-free version will be coming a bit later. Paid & customized deployments over
your own Google App Engine instance is also possible.

If the apps are not yet up to your requirements, feel free to tell me what it
lacks and what feature(s) you would like to see added soon.

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pedalpete
I haven't gone to using free sources, but I do consistently look at a number
of services, and don't sign-up because I recognize that many of these services
are going to add up to a lot of money each month.

I also suspect that I would be more likely to sign-up if one service offered
everything, as it would end up appearing as only one line-item on a budget.

Do you feel the same way? Is one service with multiple tools better than many
different tools? Even if just form a billing perspective?

~~~
albahk
I think a single service may not perfectly satisfy my needs for each category
of service - but in terms of billing, to be more aware of just how much it was
all costing would help.

I know the psychological advantage of subscriptions for the seller, as the
monthly figure is lower and so doesn't trigger a thorough pre-purchase
evaluation like a $900 application would. From the point of view of a buyer, I
am just realising its not as good a deal as I initially thought.

