You opened a Notion template last January, added eight subscriptions, and haven't touched it since. Sound familiar?
Quick answer
A spreadsheet or Notion template is genuinely enough if you have five to eight subscriptions, don't need phone reminders, and are willing to update the list once a month. Switch to a dedicated app when you keep forgetting to update, you pay in foreign currencies, or your subscription count has crept past ten. And if you do go the app route, prefer a one-time-purchase option — using a $13/month app to track subscriptions is its own kind of irony.
Why the gap keeps widening
A 2022 C+R Research survey of 1,000 US consumers found that the average American estimated spending $86 a month on subscriptions but actually spent $219 — a 2.5× miss. The same survey found 74% of respondents said recurring charges are easy to forget, and 42% admitted they were still paying for something they had stopped using.
None of that is caused by tool choice. It's caused by not looking. The real question is: which tool makes you more likely to look?
Where a spreadsheet genuinely wins
Google Sheets is free, works offline, runs on every platform, and shares with a partner in two clicks. A Notion Free template costs nothing, requires no account setup beyond what you likely already have (Notion passed 100 million users in August 2024), and is as flexible as you need it to be.
Multi-currency is a genuine spreadsheet strength. Google Sheets can call external exchange-rate APIs via Apps Script, which means technically comfortable users get auto-converting multi-currency tracking at zero cost — a feature some paid apps lock behind premium tiers.
There is also an argument that the friction of manual entry is a feature, not a bug. Having to type in a new charge makes you confront it; automated detection hands you a list without making you engage with it. I find this argument more convincing than it first sounds — the moment the list updates itself, you stop reading it.
If you have a small, stable set of subscriptions — say, five or fewer — and you naturally review them when your bank statement arrives, a spreadsheet is not a compromise. It is the right tool.
Where a spreadsheet quietly fails
Two weaknesses compound each other.
First, push notifications. Notion's mobile reminders work, but with a catch: they only fire if the Notion app is installed, mobile notifications are enabled, and — critically — the app is not open at reminder time. For reliable date-based alerts on your phone's lock screen, you need a third-party automation tool like Make or Zapier. That is a meaningful setup overhead for something that should be simple.
Second, update drift. The moment a template feels like a chore, the entries stop. A spreadsheet only shows what you already know about. Bank-linked apps like Rocket Money automatically surface subscriptions from transaction history, including trials you signed up for and forgot. If your list includes a service you set up two years ago on a card you no longer check, a spreadsheet will not catch it.
This is also where the monthly review ritual matters — any tool, spreadsheet or app, needs a habit behind it to stay accurate.
The app irony worth naming
Some dedicated subscription trackers are themselves subscriptions. Rocket Money charges $6–14/month on its premium tier. Copilot costs $13/month or $95/year. YNAB runs $14.99/month. These are not dedicated subscription trackers — they're full budgeting suites that include subscription detection as one feature — but the irony stands: you are adding a recurring charge to manage recurring charges.
If you want an app without that contradiction, look at one-time-purchase options. Bobby (iOS) costs roughly $1.99–$3 as a single in-app purchase with no recurring fee. Tilla (Android) is $2.99 lifetime. Both require manual entry and no bank connection — closer in spirit to a Notion template, but with proper push notifications. For a broader comparison of apps that don't require linking a bank account, see this post on bank-connection-free trackers.
The honest decision rule
| Your situation | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| 5 or fewer subscriptions, stable | Spreadsheet or Notion template |
| 6–10 subscriptions, good manual habits | Either works — spreadsheet is free |
| 10+ subscriptions, foreign currencies | Dedicated app |
| You forget to update your list | Dedicated app with push reminders |
| You want automatic detection from bank | Bank-linked app (Rocket Money, Copilot) |
| Privacy-first, no bank linking | Bobby or Tilla (one-time purchase) |
The 10% figure from the same C+R Research survey is telling: only 1 in 10 consumers use any subscription tracking service or app. The remaining 90% are not failing for lack of features — they are failing for lack of habit. A perfect template that nobody opens loses to a mediocre app that someone checks weekly.
What a dedicated app actually adds
The genuine advantages are narrower than app marketing suggests:
- Push reminders that land on your lock screen without any automation setup
- Currency conversion if your subscriptions span multiple countries
- Automatic detection of subscriptions you forgot signing up for (bank-linked apps only)
- A shared view if you manage household subscriptions across more than one person
The pricing page shows what Subnesio costs — it's worth comparing against the time you'd spend maintaining a spreadsheet once your list grows past ten.
If your list is small and you will actually maintain it, keep the spreadsheet. The best tracker is the one you open.
P.S. If you start with a Notion template and find yourself six months in with half the entries stale, that is the sign to switch — not a reason to feel bad about trying the free option first.
