A small magazine about things that claim to work
4 pieces
What things cost over time, what renews, and what the free tier is actually for.
The annual figure
The same arithmetic, performed by seven companies, priced from $34.99 to around $209. Over three years that is a difference worth a moment's thought.
What renews, and at what
We tried to establish the renewal price for nine subscriptions. For four of them we could not, so we have said so rather than guessing.
What free actually means
A plan that never expires, a trial with the expiry buried, and a reduced-database version that is quietly worse rather than visibly smaller. Only the first is free, and only two apps here offer it.
The exit
We subscribed to nine things and then cancelled all of them. The distance between the easiest and the hardest exit was about forty minutes and one phone call.