3 ms·

In the spirit of yes, and: how about a subscription similar to a pay as you go phone plan? Pay for the month, and when you don't pay, then you don't get to keep

In the spirit of yes, and: how about a subscription similar to a pay as you go phone plan? Pay for the month, and when you don't pay, then you don't get to keep going. After a couple of months, they unsubscribe you, get rid of your account, etc. More often than not, the first thing I do when I sign up for a service is cancel it (after confirming I can use it for the billing period).

steinsgatezero 5mo ago
This is one of my favorite things about Mullvad VPN.
michaelt 5mo ago
For quite a few services you can get the pay-as-you-go experience by getting yourself a gift subscription.
EvanAnderson 5mo ago
I used to use one-off "virtual" credit card numbers for this kind of thing. My bank (MBNA, at the time) let me set a balance limit and / or expiration date. It was exceedingly handy, so the feature was axed when Chase acquired them.
- deltoidmaximus 5mo ago
  Capital One has something like this but when I read the fine print I got the impression that it didn't work for this for subscription services. Something like how they automatically update businesses when you get a new card number due to fraud happens, defeating the purpose as long as it's marked as a subscription service somehow.
RandallBrown 5mo ago
> More often than not, the first thing I do when I sign up for a service is cancel it (after confirming I can use it for the billing period). That's what I loved about Apple controlling their App Store subscriptions. All subscriptions keep working through the billing period and there isn't really anything an app can do about it. It also gave me an easy centralized place to view and cancel subscriptions.
- bombcar 5mo ago
  Apple got smart on at least part of it and if you cancel a free trial/bonus for buying a thing, it cancels immediately - not at the end of the trial.
BrunoBernardino 5mo ago
Uruky [1] (a simpler and EU-based Kagi alternative) does this! You only pay once for a period of time (one, three, six, or twelve months), and there is no subscription! If, after that period, you want to keep using it, you have to pay again. [1]: https://uruky.com https://uruky.com

steinsgatezero 5mo ago

This is one of my favorite things about Mullvad VPN.

michaelt 5mo ago

For quite a few services you can get the pay-as-you-go experience by getting yourself a gift subscription.

EvanAnderson 5mo ago

I used to use one-off "virtual" credit card numbers for this kind of thing. My bank (MBNA, at the time) let me set a balance limit and / or expiration date. It was exceedingly handy, so the feature was axed when Chase acquired them.

deltoidmaximus 5mo ago
Capital One has something like this but when I read the fine print I got the impression that it didn't work for this for subscription services. Something like how they automatically update businesses when you get a new card number due to fraud happens, defeating the purpose as long as it's marked as a subscription service somehow.

RandallBrown 5mo ago

> More often than not, the first thing I do when I sign up for a service is cancel it (after confirming I can use it for the billing period). That's what I loved about Apple controlling their App Store subscriptions. All subscriptions keep working through the billing period and there isn't really anything an app can do about it. It also gave me an easy centralized place to view and cancel subscriptions.

bombcar 5mo ago
Apple got smart on at least part of it and if you cancel a free trial/bonus for buying a thing, it cancels immediately - not at the end of the trial.

BrunoBernardino 5mo ago

Uruky [1] (a simpler and EU-based Kagi alternative) does this! You only pay once for a period of time (one, three, six, or twelve months), and there is no subscription! If, after that period, you want to keep using it, you have to pay again. [1]: https://uruky.com https://uruky.com