January 7, 2025
The 5 paid subscriptions I actually use in 2025 as a Staff Software Engineer
Tools I use that are cheaper than Netflix
By Jacob Bennett
4 min read
I care a lot about the tools I use. Especially when they aren't free.
Here's what I'm paying for in 2025 to improve my performance and productivity as a software engineer.
Please note: None of the links in this article are affiliate links.
Cursor: the best AI programming tool
Cursor feels like a bargain for the level-up it provides me. I'm an average programmer with a strong preference for back-end projects, but Cursor lets me work across the full stack with the clarity and quality of a much better engineer.
Along with code completion, Cursor has the best chat of any code-aware chat tool I've used. Usually I'll just highlight a code block that I'm looking at, press CMD + L, ask a question in natural language, and Cursor load all of the relevant context from the current project and external sources (e.g. package docs) and give me an immediately-useful answer.
What about GitHub Copilot?
I used Copilot for 8 months in 2024. It was great! (I even included it on my 2024 list.) But Cursor blows it out of the water. Copilot was the most accurate when I was writing generic/boilerplate code (e.g. API endpoints) or test cases with lots of repeated code blocks. Anything more complex (especially logic spanning multiple files and modules) and Copilot was unreliable. Cursor feels like an actual context-aware pair programmer with a decent understanding of the project I'm looking at.
Kagi: a better search engine than Google
I measure the effectiveness of searches by how long it takes me to find what I was actually looking for. By that measure, Google has been steadily getting worse.
When I search for something on Kagi, the correct result is in the first 2 links 95% of the time. It's in the top 5 links 99% of the time. That just doesn't happen with Google, Bing, etc.
The consistently great results page is further boosted by the search personalization I control. I've told Kagi that any results from Stack Overflow or Medium should be weighted higher, and blocked other sites I don't care to see results from.
No ads. Objectively better search results. Of all the subscriptions I pay for, this is the hill I will die on.
Why pay for search? The same reason I pay for Medium: The goals of ad-supported search (and ad-supported content generally) directly conflict with why I use search engines. If you want to get indoctrinated, read their post The Age of PageRank is Over.
But wait… there's more.
In September 2024, Kagi released the Kagi Assistant — a privacy-first integration with the most performant LLMs. It's included as part of the base Kagi subscription plan.
There's even support for custom assistants based on user-defined configurations (similar to ChatGPT's custom GPTs).
This has completely replaced my use of ChatGPT via OpenAI. All of my threads are in Kagi, some of which I continue to come back to for rich historical context.
Medium: knowledge-sharing with other engineers
My favorite platform for learning from other people in my field is this blogging platform (Medium). Here, you can read thousands of high-quality articles about programming, data science, technology, and more.
I've been a fan of Medium for years. And yes, I work here. But I chose to work here because I really love the platform! And I want to build a better internet.
Excalidraw: easy and beautiful diagrams
I make a lot of diagrams as a software engineer. Excalidraw is by far the easiest diagramming tool without too many features, and the diagrams come out looking great every time.
Granola: a pair programmer for meeting notes
I go to a lot of meetings. If I don't write things down, I forget most of what was discussed. That's where Granola saves me. Granola runs in the background, listens to my meetings, and generates notes highlighting the key discussion points and any significant decisions or action items.
Since I started using it, Granola has saved me from dropping the ball on something critical at least once a week. I can't imagine handling my meeting load without it.
I stopped paying for tools I don't use
Some things didn't make the cut. My post from last year included two tools that I no longer use.
ChatGPT has been replaced by Kagi Assistant. I cut my costs and improved the quality of my chats. The one thing I did lose was cross-conversation context. Like Claude, context from each chat with Kagi Assistant is self-contained. ChatGPT learns from each of your chats and updates OpenAI's profile of your account. I don't get that anymore. But that's a small loss for a huge gain.
GitHub Copilot has been replaced by Cursor. There's not even a legitimate comparison here. Cursor is years beyond Copilot.
I care a lot about spending money on things that improve my life. These tools bring tremendous value to me as a software engineer. Consider adding these to your toolbox!
This post follows up on my 2024 post.