Trim the Fat: How to Better Track and Manage Paid Subscriptions

PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

Cord cutting has long been touted as the answer to costly monthly cable bills—don't pay for channels you never watch; just stream your favorite shows and movies online. That was the dream. But TV and cable execs have caught on. If you want all the popular originals—Squid Game on Netflix, Andor on Disney+, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+—and exclusive access to deep movie catalogues on Max and Amazon Prime Video, things get expensive pretty fast.

Then there's the music you enjoy, the workouts you stream, the comics you read, and the video games you play. Every piece of consumable content has its own subscription service that will bill you on a monthly (or yearly) basis. So this begs the question: Are you paying attention? In 2024, the FTC unveiled its "Click to Cancel" law that will force companies to make it easier for consumers to cancel subscriptions and stop them from charging automatically at the end of a free trial.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be paying closer attention to what you're knowingly paying for. Subscription services keep raising their prices, so unless you meticulously examine your statement each month, a small bump in price can be easy to miss. There are apps and websites that will notify you when a service hikes its prices, help you cancel any services you're not using, and—in some cases—provide financial aid. You can also manage your subscriptions directly from the App Store or Play store on your phone.

Manage Subscriptions on Android/iOS

Android

If you subscribed to a service through the Play Store, open Google Play and tap your profile picture. Open Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions and select the service. You can then choose Cancel subscription or Manage > Pause payments to put it on hold for a specific time.

iOS

If you subscribed to a service through Apple's App Store, you can manage these subscriptions right on the device. Open the App Store app, select your profile, and tap Subscriptions. You can also open Settings, choose your name, and tap Subscriptions. Active subscriptions may be sorted by name, price, or renewal date. Tap a subscription to see more information (and cancel). Inactive subscriptions may also be renewed.

Manage Subscriptions With a Third-Party Service

It might seem counterproductive to add yet another subscription to the pile in order to keep those subscriptions organized, but some of these apps are free. A number of services will take the guesswork out of when and how much you'll be charged for your music, movies, or other subs.

Bobby

Platform: iOS
Cost: Free; in-app purchases from $0.99 to $2.99 include unlimited subscriptions, filters, etc.

Features: Bobby allows users to manually input subscriptions with a billing date and monthly price—the latter across multiple supported currencies. Display your payment cycles by month or year, and change their order by dragging and dropping them. The app makes use of passcodes and Touch ID or Face ID for added security. It also sends payment reminders and offers the option to filter using multiple categories.

Hiatus

Platform: Android, iOS
Cost: Free to download; $9.99 per month for Premium

Features: Hiatus will track your monthly bills and subscriptions, and alert you before companies charge you or if rates have increased. It'll also monitor your financial accounts and spending; it can cancel auto-billing and suggest ways to save. Hiatus Premium adds a "consolidated view of your money layered with detailed financial analysis and personalized tips." You also get bill negotiation and subscription cancellation.

PocketGuard

Platform: Android, iOS
Cost: Free; Pocket Guard Plus is $7.99/month, $34.99/year, $79.99 lifetime

Features: PocketGuard's In My Pocket feature will track your expenses and show you how much money is left for everyday spending. Upgrade to Pocket Guard Plus to create categories to track, like video-streaming services, among other things. Despite the high price of the premium plan, we found the app easy to use, with good budgeting, support, and transaction management features.

Rocket Money

Platform: Mobile app (Android, iOS), web
Cost: Free for basic app; $3-$12 per month for premium services

Features: Previously known as Truebill, Rocket Money identifies recurring transactions and helps you cancel any unwanted subscriptions. It can also keep track of free trials, so you can void them before getting billed. With a premium subscription, Rocket Money will cancel unwanted services for you and try to get fee refunds. There's also a chat feature, the option to create unlimited budgets, custom categories, and more.

Quicken Simplifi

Platform: Android, iOS, web
Cost: Currently $2.99 per month

Features: Quicken Simplifi earned a PCMag Editors' Choice stamp of approval for its "fresh, unique approach" to personal finance, including its ability to track and separate bills from subscriptions. It won't offer to cancel unwanted subscriptions for you, but it can alert you to upcoming and/or unusual bills.

Sortbilly

Platform: Android, iOS, web
Cost: Free while in open beta

Features: Sortbilly is a relatively new app that expects to charge a fee for services in the future. But for now, the free dashboard tracks active and expired subscriptions, upcoming payments, and spending stats. It also provides a daily/weekly email to notify users about upcoming bills. Subscriptions not available in app may be added manually.

Subby

Platform: Android
Cost: Free for basic version; additional features purchased in-app for $2.99

Features: Subby invites users to manually enter an unlimited number of subscriptions for free and receive notifications of upcoming bill dates. It also totals subscription expenses by month or year, and offers a way to split subscription costs among friends and family. The gratis version, of course, contains ads; a paid version includes widgets and automatic backups to Google Drive.

TrackMySubs

Platform: Web
Cost: Free to track 10 subscriptions; $10 per month for unlimited subscriptions; $30 per month for enterprise plans with multiple users

Features: Marketed to small businesses, TrackMySubs can also be used by consumers. Enter subscriptions, costs, and due dates, then slot them into categories. A calendar view provides a color-coded way to track payment dates, while easy-to-read graphs highlight subscription costs.

Trim by OneMain

Platform: Web
Cost: Free for most services

Features: Trim identifies and cancels unwanted subscription services. Personal dashboards can manage subscriptions, negotiate bills, and automate savings.