The 5 Subscriptions That Power My Brain (and My Business)

Let me confess something: I’m a subscription hoarder.

Over the years I’ve signed up, tried, canceled, re-signed - you name it. But there are five subscriptions I’ve kept through thick and thin. These are not the “maybe I’ll use it sometime” kind , they’re the workhorses that deliver value week after week.

In 2025, when AI tools, SaaS, and cloud services are everywhere, knowing which subscriptions to keep and which to cancel is half the battle. It’s not about spending more however, it’s about investing in tools that amplify your time, sanity, and output.

In this post I’ll walk you through the five subscriptions I will never cancel, digging into why they matter, how they save me money or time in the long run, and when they nearly lost me (and why I stayed).

If any of these lines up with your own stack, I hope it helps you decide whether to keep, cancel, or double down.

What Makes a “Never Cancel” Subscription?

Before I list the five, let me define what “never cancel” means for me. These are services I will fight to keep and under most circumstances they justify their cost, and any decision to drop them would feel like a downgrade. ( like literally )

Here are the criteria I use:

1. Regular, tangible return — I see value every week or month (not once in a blue moon).
2. Time saved > cost — The time these tools save me offsets what I pay.
3. Hard to replace or integrate — Switching is painful or involves risk.
4. Evolving instead of stagnating — The service keeps improving.
5. Emotional or workflow stability — When you remove it, there's friction.

If a subscription meets most of these, it earns its spot on my “never cancel” list.

1. PhpStorm by JetBrains: My Daily Coding Sanctuary

I write most of my code in PHP (yes, I still love PHP), and PhpStorm is the IDE I rely on every single day. It’s not just an editor, it’s a full development environment that helps me think less about tooling and more about logic which is always good.

Why I’ll Never Cancel It

• Built for PHP + web stack: autocompletion, refactoring, debugging, live previews. It’s more PHP-aware than general IDEs.
• Smart tooling and integrations: database editors, Kubernetes / Docker integration, version control, testing workflows - all baked in.
• Constant updates: The team keeps improving performance and adding new features.
• Perpetual fallback license: If you maintain a subscription for at least 12 consecutive months, you earn a perpetual license for the version as of that date, so you never lose baseline access. (This is a known JetBrains licensing model)
• ROI in reduced friction: When your tooling is reliable, you avoid distractions, environment mismatches, plugin bugs, etc.

How It Almost Didn’t Make the Cut

There was a year when I seriously considered moving to a free editor (VSCode + many plugins) to save cost. But the friction started to pile up: when debugging failed, when the linting plugins conflicted, when context switching between plugins slowed me down. PhpStorm handled all that out of box.

So I stayed ( that does not mean that VSCode is bad, it's one of the best ). And over that year, the time saved far outweighed the subscription price.

Practical Tip for Others

If you’re on the fence:

• Use the 30-day free trial and push it hard.
• Compare your typical “wasted time” with plugin setup, configuration, integrating linters, etc.
• If your dev work is central to your income, PhpStorm is not a splurge - it’s a foundation, treat it like a investment in you and your business.

2. GitHub Copilot (or Similar AI Code Assistants)

I treat Copilot like my junior developer (a very fast, obviously brilliant junior). It writes code snippets, suggests tests, completes boilerplate, and helps me move faster not perfectly, but far more than manual.

Why I’ll Never Cancel It

• Speed & momentum: It helps avoid “what’s the API signature?” or “how to iterate over this structure?” moments.
• Idea sparking: When I’m stuck, I prompt Copilot and often get a path I hadn’t considered.
• Better readability: Sometimes it rewrites sections more cleanly; not always, but often.
• Cheaper than hiring help: For small tasks, it performs like a 24/7 coder.
• PR Reviews: It automatically checks for errors and bugs in the PR that i create. Isn't it cool.

Caveats & My Guardrails

• I never accept suggestions blindly. I always review logic, types, and side effects.
• For complex algorithms or domain logic, I don’t lean on AI it’s a brainstorm tool.
• Occasionally Copilot suggests bad patterns those are learning moments.

Copilot’s net effect: fewer repetitive lines, fewer wasted keystrokes, fewer context switches.

3. GPT (OpenAI’s Chat / API)

If Copilot is my junior dev, GPT is my research assistant, writing coach, brainstorming partner, and sometimes even design co-pilot.

Why I’ll Never Cancel It

• Knowledge on demand: I prompt GPT to summarize docs, generate pseudo-code, write drafts, or explain abstractions.
• Prompt chaining: I often escalate a small idea with GPT into a spec, then to test cases, then to implementation ideas.
• Versatility: Use it for writing marketing copy, help system content, internal docs, blog posts.
• Evolving model: New versions + better context windows keep improving the experience.

How It Adds Real Value

• A few minutes saved in spec writing or brainstorming compound over weeks.
• When teams ask me a nuance, I use GPT to double check or give examples.
• It keeps me “in the zone” I don’t switch to browsers to search manually as often.

4. Perplexity (Pro + Browser)

I use Perplexity daily as an intelligent search companion. The Pro plan and browser integration make it far more useful than regular Google search in many contexts.

Why I’ll Never Cancel It

• Faster research: It returns summarized results with evidence citations. Also, a quick summery of the website.
• Browser integration: Instead of switching tabs, I can query directly from context.
• Focus mode: Less noise, fewer ads, fewer irrelevant hits.
• Nimble exploration: For new frameworks, obscure topics, or deep dives, it often finds niche resources I’d miss with Google.

My Experience

When exploring a new service, I’ll query Perplexity first. It gives a condensed overview and links. That alone saves me 5–10 minutes. Over weeks that adds up.

5. Gemini Enterprise (for AI + G-Suite Work)

Gemini is now deeply integrated with Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Chat, Meet). The Enterprise plan gives powerful AI features, better control, and more advanced capabilities. (Google Workspace)

This is a big one I rely on Gemini for nearly all productivity tasks in my Workspace ecosystem.

Why I’ll Never Cancel It

• Native AI in core tools: Features like summarizing emails, drafting docs, prompt helpers inside Gmail/Docs reduce friction.
• Better AI model access: Enterprise gives access to advanced Gemini models and features that regular tiers may not.
• Security & compliance: As part of Workspace, it aligns with enterprise controls, permissions, and data policies.
• Seamless context: Because Gemini lives with your existing docs, emails, chats, you avoid copy/paste friction or juggling between tools.

The Transition Story

When Google rolled out Gemini integration into Workspace, I migrated many tasks (drafting, research, summarization) into it. Because my work is deeply on Docs, Gmail, Sheets, having AI directly in those apps made life smoother.

I also observed that Gemini’s evolution isn’t stagnant, Google continues embedding more AI smarts and features over time.

Comparing the Five 😎 Why These, Not Others?

You might wonder: why these five and not Spotify, Netflix, Notion, or some other tool? Here’s how they differ from subscriptions I might cancel later:

• Many entertainment or content subscriptions have a low utilization rate for me.
• Tools that are redundant, overlapping, or brittle tend to get dropped.
• These five are deeply embedded in my workflow, not peripheral.

If I had to plot them on a “value vs friction to replace” chart, they’re all in the top quadrant: high value, high cost to replace.

Deep Dive: Value Analysis & Metrics

Let’s break down their bearing on time, cost, risk, and net ROI.

*Costs depend on region, plan, discounts, etc.

Example: PhpStorm ROI

PhpStorm saves me ~30-60 minutes daily over inferior tooling, that’s ~12.5-24 hours/month. At even a modest billing rate, that easily offsets the annual cost many times over.

Example: Gemini ROI

Imagine drafting and revising an email manually takes 20 minutes. Gemini helps generate a first draft in seconds, then you polish. If this repeats across 50 emails a month, the time savings are significant, all within tools you already use.

When I Nearly Cancelled (And What Held Me Back)

A pretty good test of a subscription’s worth is watching it almost go.

• PhpStorm: When costs rose or I felt “maybe VSCode could do it,” I tried shifting. But conflicts, missing context, plugin brittleness pushed me back.
• Copilot: In low-activity months I considered pausing it. But I found I reuse prompts, snippets, and the mental overhead of turning it off and on was annoying.
• GPT: When APIs cost spiked, I reconsidered, but then relied on it heavily for specs and docs, so I kept it.
• Perplexity: I tried substituting it with aggressive Google use. The noise, clickbait, or low-signal content made me revert.
• Gemini Enterprise: The integration risk was always the blocker. Removing it would break context in my docs, email flows, and squish productivity.

Each cancellation thought forced me to confront my real cost (time lost, friction) and reaffirm why I held on.

Tips for Readers: How to Decide Which Subscriptions to Keep

If reading this makes you reflect on your own stack, here’s a mini guide.

1. List your active subscriptions (tools, SaaS, Ai browsers).
2. For each, ask:
   • Do I use it weekly or daily?
   • Does it replace or remove friction I’d otherwise feel?
   • How painful is switching or replacing it?
   • Do I get improvements over time?
3. Start a “trial pause” - stop one for a month and see the drag. If productivity dips, you’ve found a keeper.
4. Negotiate or leverage annual pricing. Many tools discount if you commit yearly.
5. Audit overlap - do two tools do the same thing? Drop the weaker one.

Final Thoughts: Subscriptions Should Be Assets, Not Liabilities

In 2025, subscriptions are the building blocks of modern productivity. But they can also be financial candy that is easy to sign up, hard to cancel, and easy to lose track of. 😉

My rule: only keep subscriptions that pay me back (in time, sanity, output, or opportunity). The five I’ve listed do that for me. They anchor my workflow, reduce friction, and help me scale what one person can do 🚀

If you use any of these already, test their value. If not, try one for a serious stretch. You might find a new “never cancel” in your stack.