Never in my life have I imagined that WhatsApp would want to put some of its features behind a paywall. I am sure that most of its users didn’t see it coming a few years ago.
I’m not worried about companies putting their services behind a paywall as long as the features I use remain free for everyone.
However, I’m wary of this becoming a trend in the near future. If this happens, it’ll surely hurt the consumers in the long run.
I started preparing for those days by trying out open source alternatives to many of my favorite apps, which I don’t want to ever come under a paid subscription.
During my first few days with open source apps, I wasn’t sure whether this was too much work to solve something that might become a problem in the future.
A few months have passed since then, and I’m glad I have become more open to open source apps because they saved me money.
I saved $50 a month by switching to these five open source Android apps.
10 apps and services I’m absolutely happy to pay for
You get what you pay for
Syncthing
I’m not a fanboy of any ecosystem, and I like to explore Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS.
While I love the diversity, being a user of multiple ecosystems has its own challenges. The biggest one for me is file transfer between two different operating systems.
For a long time, I used a cloud subscription to solve this particular issue. A Google One Basic plan with 100 GB storage costs $1.99 month.
After learning about Syncthing, I canceled my cloud subscription.
It’s worth switching to Syncthing not because of its open source nature, but because of how good it is.
Syncthing isn’t an open source cloud storage app. Instead of storing anything on someone else’s servers, it syncs files and folders directly across your devices in real-time.
This is one of my favorite ways to transfer files from my Android phone to my PC and Mac. You can also transfer from your computer to your phone.
Bitwarden
Bitwarden saves me even more. Its free plan is enough for most people who want to stop paying money to manage passwords.
Premium password managers can cost between $3 and $7 a month. I can now save this much after switching to Bitwarden, without compromising on features I once considered premium.
Bitwarden has pretty much everything that I need from a password manager. It supports unlimited passwords, 2FA, password generator, autofill, and can sync across unlimited devices.
Bitwarden also offers a paid tier, which costs $10 a year. So, you can save money even with its Premium plan and get more advanced features that you can’t access as a free user.
Jellyfin
If you pay for multiple streaming subscriptions, Jellyfin is an open source alternative to those apps. Jellyfin is free to use, so you can save a decent amount every month.
Instead of buying Spotify, Netflix, and Disney+, if you have all your favorite media content stored on your device, Jellyfin can read those files and organize everything automatically.
You can open the Jellyfin app on your phone and stream content you saved on your PC, NAS, or any other device.
Spotify costs $12.99 a month for an Individual plan, while the ad-supported Netflix plan sets you back $8.99 a month. That’s almost $21 savings a month if you use Jellyfin.
Grocy
Grocy doesn’t replace anything to save you money. It saves money by fixing your habits.
Grocy is an open source grocery management app that helps you prevent overbuying of your grocery items.
While it’s a free app, you’ll need to put some effort into scanning items, tracking usage, and maintaining inventory.
But it’s worth putting in this much effort because before you shop for your groceries, you already know what you have at home and what you need to buy.
You can also set minimum stock levels for grocery items. Grocy also alerts users when the stock drops below the minimum value they set.
I use Grocy to prevent waste.
Joplin
Joplin is my favorite open source note-taking app. For what I use a note-taking app for, I don’t need paid note apps like Evernote or Notion.
Zero subscription cost isn’t its only advantage. Joplin has the best offline support if we compare it with Evernote and Notion.
You can also export your notes and install plugins to add more features. You can also sync your notes using services like OneDrive and Dropbox.
If you expect the same from a note app as I do, you can save $10 more a month by ditching Notion and embracing Joplin.
I went easy on my wallet with these apps, and you can, too
Open source alternatives exist for many popular paid apps we use every day, and they can even outperform the big names.
However, switching to open source alternatives isn’t easy, as you’ll have to relearn everything. That’s the price you need to pay to cut down your monthly subscription cost.
It’s still worth the effort if you plan your migration well.
