QM—001
Wisp
Private dictation and meeting notes for Mac. Talk naturally and clean text appears in any app. Everything stays on your machine.
$9 onceworks offlinemacOS
meet Wisp ↗
An independent software field guide VOL. 001 — 2026
F*ck subscriptions
Great tools.
No strings.
Another app. Another monthly bill. Seriously?Find free alternatives, pay once,
or use the apps you already have.
Hover over an app to find your way outTap an app to explore alternatives
the idea
Good software should feel like a purchase, not a relationship you have to end.
We’re collecting the best free and one-time alternatives to familiar subscription tools. No referral deals. No fake rankings. Just a useful place to begin your research.
Sometimes a subscription is the right answer. When it isn’t, this is your way out.
We make a few alternatives, too.
Two quiet machines.
No monthly bill.
QM—002
Perch
Your coding agents at the edge of your Mac. See Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor, then approve, answer, and reply without hunting for the right window.
$29 once · first 1,000launching soonlocal-firstmacOS
meet Perch ↗
Less out. More yours.
Small bills.
A big difference.
Select the paid plans you use. See what you could keep by switching to the alternatives below.
Your potential savings
$518.76per person, in the first year
Selected plans · 12 months$527.76
Alternative software · year one−$9
Following years, at these rates$527.76 / yr
An estimate for one person replacing 4 paid plans. Already using a free tier? Your savings for that app are $0.
See the prices & assumptions ↓Every number has a source. Prices checked October 22, 2026 +
USD per person, before tax. Annual plans use their yearly rate; Photoshop is an annual commitment paid monthly. Loom uses the annual quote for one creator; larger workspaces use user tiers. Standard rates exclude introductory discounts. Savings assume you cancel the selected paid plans and use these alternatives for a full year. Existing commitments, migration, hardware, storage and optional services can reduce savings. These are alternatives for specific tasks, with different features.
Swipe sideways to compare all prices and tradeoffs →
| Paid plan & official source | Price basis | Replacement & year-one cost | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wispr Flow · Flow Pro ↗ | $12 / monthBilled annually · $144/year | Wisp ↗$9 once | Wisp is Mac-only and runs locally. Flow also has a free tier; paid team features are not replaced. |
| Notion · Plus ↗ | $10 / member / monthBilled annually · $120/year | Obsidian ↗$0 · free / included | For personal notes. Obsidian’s hosted Sync and Publish cost extra; Notion databases and team workflows differ. |
| Photoshop · Photoshop single app ↗ | $22.99 / monthAnnual commitment, billed monthly · $275.88/year | GIMP ↗$0 · free / included | For image editing. Adobe AI, cloud services and exact PSD compatibility differ; cancellation terms may apply. |
| 1Password · Individual ↗ | $3.99 / monthStandard rate, billed annually · $47.88/year | KeePassXC ↗$0 · free / included | Local encrypted vaults. Configure your own sync and backups; sharing and recovery differ. First-year offers excluded. |
| Loom · Business ↗ | $15 / creator / monthBilled annually · $180/year for one creator | OBS Studio ↗$0 · free / included | For local recording. Cloud hosting, viewer analytics and collaboration are not included. |
| Todoist · Pro ↗ | $5 / user / monthBilled annually · $60/year | Apple Reminders ↗$0 · free / included | Requires compatible Apple devices. Project views, integrations and team workflows differ. |
| Dropbox · Plus ↗ | $9.99 / monthBilled annually · $119.88/year | Syncthing ↗$0 · free / included | Peer-to-peer sync using your own storage and devices. No hosted 2 TB cloud storage or equivalent backup service. |
| Grammarly · Pro ↗ | $12 / member / monthBilled annually · $144/year | Apple Writing Tools ↗$0 · free / included | Requires Apple Intelligence-compatible hardware, software and language. Grammarly’s integrations and plagiarism tools differ. |
| Evernote · Starter ↗ | $8.25 / monthBilled annually · $99/year | Obsidian ↗$0 · free / included | For local notes. Migration takes work; OCR, AI and hosted sync differ. Optional Obsidian services cost extra. |
| Raycast · Pro ↗ | $8 / monthBilled annually · $96/year | Spotlight ↗$0 · free / included | For launching and search on Mac. Raycast AI, cloud sync and extensions are not replaced. Raycast also has a free tier. |
| Fantastical · Flexibits Premium ↗ | See live pricingRegional pricing · excluded from savings total | Apple Calendar ↗$0 · free / included | For basic calendars on Apple devices. Premium scheduling and calendar sets differ. Fantastical also has a free tier. |
| CleanMyMac · 1 Mac ↗ | $39.95 / yearAnnual subscription · one Mac | Pearcleaner ↗$0 · free / included | For uninstalling apps and finding leftovers. Malware protection and the full maintenance suite are not replaced. One-time CleanMyMac licenses also exist. |