๐ 2 min read
I was spending $387/month on AI tools. Most of them were doing the same thing slightly differently. So I ran an experiment: cancel everything, then only re-subscribe to the ones I actually missed after 30 days.
Three survived. Here is exactly why.
๐ง Want more like this? Get our free AI Tool Cheat Sheet: Replace Your Entire Software Stack for Free โ Shared 3,000+ times on Twitter
The 11 Tools I Was Paying For
ChatGPT Plus $20 – KEPT | Claude Pro $20 – KEPT | Cursor Pro $20 – KEPT | Midjourney $30 – CANCELED | Jasper $49 – CANCELED | Copy.ai $49 – CANCELED | Notion AI $10 – CANCELED | Grammarly Premium $30 – CANCELED | Otter.ai $17 – CANCELED | Descript $33 – CANCELED | Runway $76 – CANCELED
Before: $387/month. After: $60/month. That is $3,924/year saved.
Why These 3 Survived
ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) – The Swiss Army Knife
I missed it within 48 hours. Not for writing – Claude is better at that. But for quick lookups, image generation (DALL-E is good enough for 90% of needs, killing my Midjourney sub), web browsing, and the mobile app convenience.
๐ง Want more like this? Get our free AI Tool Cheat Sheet: Replace Your Entire Software Stack for Free โ Shared 3,000+ times on Twitter
ROI: Replaces Midjourney ($30), partially replaces Grammarly, handles all casual AI tasks. Saves 5 hours/week.
Claude Pro ($20/mo) – The Quality Machine
Claude is simply better at writing and analysis. Every article on this site goes through Claude first. The extended thinking feature catches logical gaps that GPT misses.
ROI: Replaces Jasper ($49), Copy.ai ($49), and produces better output than both combined.
๐ง Want more like this? Get our free AI Tool Cheat Sheet: Replace Your Entire Software Stack for Free โ Shared 3,000+ times on Twitter
Cursor Pro ($20/mo) – The Coding Multiplier
If you write any code at all, Cursor pays for itself in the first hour. I build automations 5-10x faster. It replaced my need for a junior developer on small projects.
ROI: Saves 15-20 hours/month of coding. At $50/hr, that is $750-1000/month in value for $20.
What I Thought I Would Miss But Did Not
Midjourney: DALL-E handles 90% of needs. Free Flux models cost pennies for the rest.
Jasper + Copy.ai: Just worse Claude with templates bolted on.
Grammarly: Claude catches grammar AND improves actual writing.
Otter.ai: Whisper API costs $0.006/minute vs $17/month for Otter.
The Consolidation Rule
If an AI tool does one thing, it will be replaced by a general AI that does everything. The only specialized tools worth paying for deeply integrate into a workflow (like Cursor in VS Code). Everything else is a wrapper.