4 Under-The-Radar Tech Subscriptions I Never Regret Paying For

Subscriptions are just about everywhere in modern tech, from gaming to movie watching. But for many, it's becoming too much, leading to what is called subscription fatigue. In fact, I've recently written about how to get around subscriptions by building a home server for apps like Plex, Jellyfin, or even comic hosting with apps like Komga. However, as I try to unsubscribe from a majority of services as prices get hiked, there are some that I don't think I can let go of.

These are the underpinnings of my day-to-day, hobbies, and work. Rather than espouse how I'm entangled with Google — for now — by having a Google Workspace, or how my partner can't get enough of "American Horror Story" on Disney+, these are the low-key options that I keep paying for every month. Without these, a lot of what I do could essentially fall apart. From file and web hosting to my favorite comic book reader, these are the subscriptions I never regret paying for.

Panels is a comic reader for iOS that costs $1.49 a month or $14.99 for a full year. So why this over established readers such as those from Marvel, DC, or even those from Japan with apps like Shonen Jump? Or why not free options like Chunky? Well, updates on it have been slow or nonexistent, and when I moved my digital comics from iCloud to my own personal server with Komga, I found that Chunky was no longer supported. Swapping to Panels not only brought more frequent updates, but it's also just a lot simpler.

I could use Komga's built-in reader, but it's via the web and quite ugly. What I wanted was to fill my screen with the comic on iPad or iPhone, for minimal distractions. I didn't even need the app to be especially fancy, simply delivering the files to me without much hassle, and supporting OPDS (Open Publication Distribution System). Panels delivers a smooth, clean interface that doesn't get in the way. It also now supports a bunch of independent comics that can be streamed via the app itself. Primarily, it works as intended and was incredibly easy to set up. The only time I have to look at Komga is to update it with what I'm reading, and Panels delivers it without any issues whatsoever after around two years of use.

Billed as a seedbox, Seedr is a $19.99-a-month subscription for 2TB of online storage and a built-in torrent client. I love to play old video games, as well as digging through tons of old software and the materials around it. All of that comes from the Internet Archive, which provides torrents for peer-to-peer downloading, which can be far faster than straight downloads. However, not everyone is seeding everything all the time at the Internet Archive, and even torrenting obscure files can take some time. Rather than leaving a PC on or having to reboot and start up the torrent over and over, Seedr sits elsewhere and does it for me, even after I've exited the web app.

Files that the system recognizes as already acquired by other users are sometimes cached on Seedr's end and will "automatically" download, rather than fetching the files again. So for ROM sets or acquiring BIOS for systems like the SuperStation One or other retro projects, it can be done in minutes in some cases. Yes, actual torrents can be slotted in too, perfect if, like me, you sometimes find that an official method for more obscure pieces of entertainment can wind up only being found on the high seas. On top of that, its recent updates have brought additional storage with no extra costs, as well as a "Version 2" of the web app that functions very much like a typical online cloud file system.

Saying that my Apple One subscription is low-key or under-the-radar would be a stretch. What isn't is the often-forgotten Apple Arcade, which either has games pulled in from the App Store and modified into "+" variants without ads or microtransactions, or some games are wholly new to the platform. Where this comes in handy is that some of those incredibly addictive mobile games litter Apple Arcade, like Block Blast!+, Balatro+, or Bloons TD 6+, no longer cost cash or are filled to the gills with ads, and are simply downloadable without any other strings attached.

I no longer even look at the wider App Store for games, outside of maybe whatever gacha title is running hot, and head straight into Apple Arcade. The sheer amount of titles in it that could keep me busy for days is astonishing, and it's a shame it never really gets the praise it deserves. A top recommendation would be 2019's Grindstone, perfect for a commute or that one game you play while mindlessly watching TV.

Hosting my portfolio, or other blogs, has been one of the best subscriptions I've kept going since 2019. There are many different hosts out there; I'm with iFastNet, which offers a low-cost web server that I can hook my domains into or host various files for different projects. It has come in the clutch one too many times, especially in previous moments in my career, where the team I was on used it to host a web tool for other members of staff.

Since 2019, I've been using iFastNet, and the low cost of $10 a month, nets me a server with unlimited storage and bandwidth. I've always assumed that's within reason, not like hosting terabytes of files. Outside of never having my service go down for any extended amount of time, I've found the customer service to be exceptional when needed, even solving a payment problem — I'd overpaid for several months — by simply returning the cash back to me.

I'd love to host my website in my own home, and one day maybe I will. That said, with the recent PHP and other web hacking issues cropping up thanks to everyone using the equivalent of an electron microscope to inspect every ounce of code that exists, my host updated the server themselves en masse, so that no one else had to worry about it. I've worked with PHP before and can definitely upgrade it via the graphical interface provided on cPanel, which iFast uses for client-side management, but deploying the patch that's needed without even thinking about it? Money well spent.