Inevitable. Subscription model is almost anywhere. All software or services that I find useful ended up being subscription model. Although alternatives are available, there are always some compromises and inconvenience that needs workaround to get it working efficiently.
I do not mind about subscription though. From the maker perspective, subscription is indeed giving a more stable business income. From my own perspective as user or buyer, as long as it's fairly priced and quality wise is keep improved, I can get away with it.
So what software and services I am subscribing to?
Primary Apps
These apps are in the category where I will always pay for the subscription because I will use it in my projects on daily basis.
Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps.
Even though many are dissing the Adobe "greedy" subscription pricing, I find that their price is relatively reasonable for like $60 a month for Adobe's All Apps package. Even sweeter, Adobe applies much cheaper price for the subscription in my country, in a mere $23 a month with tax included. Sure it's like a dream pricing, but I had subscribed the full price as well for some years previously.
Not gonna lie, Adobe is one of the most expensive monthly subscription I have. If the $60 monthly subscription is getting doubled, I will honestly pick between pirating or go for alternatives. So for now, I am fine with the subscription.
Freepik
Freepik is the best website when it comes to vector graphic, PSD mockups, isolated/transparent psd graphics, and stock photos combined. Their subscription also includes the vector icon website, Flaticon which is pretty handy for some quick icon need.
Their recent AI tool packages is also amazing and useful. All included with only $99 per year for all those graphics resources, is a bargain.
Midjourney
Though in 2025, Midjourney is no longer my primary tool for generating AI images, Midjourney artistic output is still one of the best in the industry. The Explore gallery with its own search engine makes finding resources and copy the prompt is a lot easier.
Krea.AI
It is currently, my go-to AI tool for generating images due to its live generation, significantly boosting the visual productivity. I can easily create variations of an object I want with its live rendering. Sometimes I also use its logo 3D renderer (with ChatGPT tools) for doing quick logo mockups. I think Krea.AI is one of the most unique AI tools currently.
Google Drive 2TB
I love cloud drive nowadays thanks to a faster internet. All my design project files are now sync in my cloud drive. I can now access it anywhere on my devices. I chose Google Drive because I also use other Google services like Gmail and Google Photos, that included in the subscription, which is amazing. Currently, I subscribed for the 2TB, which is enough for my design projects and other stuff.
Spotify
Listening to music is like a primary need for me. There's no day of my life without listening to music. Spotify vast library music and brilliant algorithm is the reason why I am subscribing their service. I found a lot of underrated musicians that caught my taste from it. One of the app worth subscribing for me.
Capcut
I am more of a casual video editor, and it's not my work on day-to-day basis. Although my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription includes Premiere Pro or Premiere Rush, none of them fits my needs. Premiere Pro is such an old archaic and complicated video editing tools. While Premiere Rush is way, way too minimal, and lacks usable, ready-to-use presets.
Capcut is the perfect answer. It has abundant of cool and trendy presets for text, caption, transitions, etc. Some rather complex controls and grading, they also have it. Even better than Adobe counterparts, they're available in smartphone.
Microsoft365
Yes, Google provides some alternatives. But simply I cannot replace PowerPoint with Slides, or Sheets with Excels. Word maybe, but to replace the first two is just impossible for now. I often work for corporate decks design, Powerpoint and sometimes combination of Excel for data charts, is just unmissable. The 1TB OneDrive is also a nice to have for extra backups.
Extra Entertainment.
These are the apps for escaping from stressful project works, and sometimes for a nice home cinema time with my family.
Netflix
Admittedly, I tried some pirated alternative before putting my credit card into their subscription model. But finding a good pirated source, especially some old movies, took some efforts. Some Netflix-only documentaries are also tricky to find. I do not want to add extra stress after an already stressful daily work. So paying for the subscription skips those and just relaxly watching instead.
Beinsports connect
Well I do love watching football games and F1 racing. At the moment, only BeinSport is the only reasonable streaming service.
Perpetual Software
Just in case Adobe subscription going sky-rocketed, I am better off for something more reasonably priced.
Affinity Suites
Affinity or actualy Serif's products is amazing by its own. Even in general, Affinity products is much more smoother and faster than Adobe's. But for industry, I have to admit, Adobe is a giant to beat.
Occasional subscription
Canva
Sometimes I find Canva for social media works is much smoother and snappier than doing the heavy compute workload in Photoshop or Illustrator. It also enables us to sync the work with phones is a great advantage. The subscription unlocks more assets and tools to get the job even better and more efficient.
Octane Render
Sometimes I feel that cool poster titles is better created in 3D, or some graphic assets will be much more flexible and get some variety quickly by using 3D technique. And live 3D rendering like Octane will do help greatly. I know Unreal Engine also exists for an amazing live 3D renders, but I still need time to learn it.
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