AMA: Can One Setup Their Digital Life to Be Subscription Free?
Sanjay asked me in a comment on my AMA post:
I am a fellow reader of multiple blogs of yours and others. But somehow I have been searching for any article where any one can setup of his entire digital life using subscription free model.
I am not talking about to get everything FREE and become a PRODUCT. If you think you can setup everything using opensource then how would you setup all of your essentials. You can write a post anytime when you have a time.
For example.
- Free domain based email via MX Routing
- Hosting on Github or Cloudflare Pages
- RSS feed
- CDN
- Database
- Note App
- Reminder
- Music
- OS - most important using Linux
- Document, Spreadsheet, Presentation
- Video Editing
And so on.. There may be many more things. I always think what would happen to my subscriptions if I will no more or I will have some issue or financial constraint. Will the subscription be a burden to my family when I will not be there. Or any of my important services will stop working for not paying suddenly?
Currently I am not paying any subscription for any of my services as I have reduced as minimum services I can opt.
Regards,Sanjay
I think the short answer to your question, Sanjay, is mostly yes. But I'd advise against it for some things*.
The easy things
Some of the items on your list are really easy to get without a subscription, for example:
- RSS feed reader - there are many feed readers you can install locally for free. Vivaldi has one built right into their browser, for example. Or you could self-host something like FreshRSS, or Miniflux.
- Notes app - my recommendation here would be Obsidian. I personally sync via WebDAV to my server at home. If you don't have the ability to do that, most operating systems have a note taking app pre-installed.
- Reminders - you can use the calendar app on your device, or on mobile, the built-in reminders/to-do apps.
- Document editing - LibreOffice is great, as is Only Office if you want something more modern looking.
- Operating system - Ubuntu for the win. It's what I use.
- Video editing - Kdenlive is available for all major operating systems, and works really well.
The not-so-easy things
Unfortunately, some things on your list are either going to cost you money, privacy, or time somewhere along the line.
Email with a custom domain
Domains cost money. I know some don't but they tend to be very spammy and have poor email delivery as a result. Also, any email service worth their salt will require you to pay. If not, they're probably sniffing your mail.
You could self-host your email at home, but there's then a cost associated with the hardware to host the mail server, or your time administering the system. Email is notoriously difficult for self-hosters too.
Website hosting (GitHub or Cloudflare)
As with most things that are free on the web, if it's free, you're probably the product. And that's true with both GitHub and Cloudflare, in my opinion.
You can host a site for free on either service, but you would either need to buy a domain, or be happy using one of their free sub-domains. There's also the technical debt required to create the static sites that these services support. So there's a time cost.
Again, you can host at home, but there's the same hardware or time costs that are associated with self-hosting email.
CDN & Databases
Like email hosting, any service worth their salt is going to charge. Some may have initial tiers that are free, but I doubt they will be very generous. I personally use Bunny for my CDN needs. They're reasonably priced and have a pay-as-you-go model, so no subscription involved. Obviously you can't host a CDN at home, as that would defeat the object of the whole thing.
For databases; same story as above. You can host at home, but there's a hardware/time cost associated, or you can pay for a reputable host to do it for you.
Music
I think this one is easy. Your options are threefold:
- A self-hosted media library that will consist of:
- Ripped music from a physical collection.
- Buying digital music from services like Bandcamp where you actually own the music, but this can get expensive.
- Pirated music 🏴☠️.
- A free account on a streaming service like Spotify, but it will be riddled with ads.
- A paid subscription to a streaming service.
Final thoughts
I think these decisions ultimately come down to personal preference, and a compromise in one of three things - cost, time, or privacy.
- A service can be free and private, but it will be time consuming to manage.
- It can be quick to get started (hosted) and private, but it won't be free.
- It can be quick to get started (hosted) and free, but it won't respect your privacy.
There's always a trade off with this stuff. It just boils down to what you're willing to trade off, personally.