Let’s be honest — subscription fatigue is real. With everything from newsletters to toothbrushes asking for a monthly fee, it’s easy to feel like your wallet is bleeding through a thousand microtransactions. 🩸
As a Staff Software Engineer with over a decade in the tech world, I’ve subscribed to more tools, apps, and services than I care to admit — many of which were just okay. But a few? Game-changers. 🚀
So today, I’m pulling back the curtain on the 5 paid subscriptions I actually use in 2025, and more importantly, why I keep paying for them month after month.
These tools save me time, streamline my workflow, and even help with my mental clarity. Whether you’re a junior developer climbing the ranks or already leading engineering teams, this list might just become your new productivity toolkit.
🧠 1. Raycast Pro – $8/month
The spotlight replacement that runs my desktop.
Raycast has been my go-to productivity launcher for a couple of years now, but in 2025, their Pro tier has completely won me over.
Why I use it daily:
- Superfast file search 🔍
- Snippets for code, email templates, and CLI commands
- AI-powered commands (built-in GPT-4 Turbo)
- Custom scripts (Python, JS, Bash – you name it)
- Deep integrations with GitHub, Jira, Notion, Linear, and more
As a Staff Engineer, my day flips between code reviews, design docs, debugging, and mentoring. Raycast Pro brings everything under my fingertips, cutting through context switches like a hot knife through butter 🔪🧈.
Favorite Feature: I built a custom Raycast command that fetches open PRs across my org and even summarizes them using GPT — talk about dev superpowers. ⚡
Verdict:
✅ Totally worth $8/month for power users.
🔗 https://raycast.com/
📁 2. Notion Plus – $10/month
My second brain for everything personal and professional.
Some engineers live in Obsidian or Evernote — I’m a Notion evangelist. While the free version is excellent, the Plus plan unlocks the real magic if you’re working with teams or building advanced systems.
Why it’s essential:
- Personal and team wikis
- Engineering architecture docs
- Career journaling & 1:1 prep
- Goal tracking & habit dashboards
- AI assistant for writing & summarizing
In 2025, Notion’s AI has gotten seriously good. I use it to refactor messy meeting notes, summarize long engineering retros, and even brainstorm architecture trade-offs before I put pen to paper. ✍️🧠
Pro Tip:
I maintain a “Staff Engineer Hub” inside Notion that links to my project artifacts, strategy docs, incident postmortems, and mentorship logs — one of the best ways I track my impact across teams.
Verdict:
💯 Can’t live without it.
🔗 https://www.notion.so/
💬 3. ChatGPT Plus – $20/month
Your always-available pair programmer, meeting assistant, and technical buddy.
Look — I’m not just writing this because this article is hosted on ChatGPT. I genuinely use the Pro version of ChatGPT (powered by GPT-4 Turbo) every single day. And no, I don’t believe AI is replacing engineers — but it’s definitely leveling us up. 🚀
Here’s how I use ChatGPT Plus:
- Break down unfamiliar codebases (especially in onboarding)
- Summarize technical design proposals
- Draft PR descriptions and commit messages
- Prototype scripts or utilities
- Brainstorm team strategy or OKRs
- Generate interview questions for hiring panels
2025’s GPT-4 Turbo is blazing fast, context-aware, and can now access custom GPTs — I have one that simulates a “DevOps mentor” I can ask about AWS and Terraform at 2am 😅
Is it perfect? No. It occasionally hallucinates, and I always verify its output — but it’s like having an insanely smart junior dev by your side at all times.
Verdict:
🧠 If you write code, docs, or even just emails — it’s a must-have.
🔗 https://chat.openai.com/
🧘 4. Headspace – $12.99/month
Because engineers need mental health too.
Let’s take a break from tech tools and talk about something more important: our minds.
The transition to Staff Engineer isn’t just technical — it’s deeply human. Between cross-functional communication, driving influence without authority, and mentoring others, I’ve had days where my brain felt like a 200-tab Chrome window. 🧠🔥
Headspace has helped me slow down, focus, and breathe.
How I use it:
- Morning focus meditations before deep work sessions
- Sleepcasts after late-night deployments
- Anxiety relief exercises before big presentations
- 5-minute mini-breaks between back-to-back meetings
I originally thought meditation apps were “woo-woo,” but after a particularly tough quarter, I gave it a shot. Three years later, I consider it part of my engineering toolkit.
Verdict:
🧘♂️ It’s cheaper than therapy and sometimes just as effective.
🔗 https://www.headspace.com/
📚 5. O’Reilly Learning Platform – $49/month (covered by work)
Still the gold standard for deep, technical learning.
We’ve all bought 200-page PDFs from obscure newsletters, but when I need reliable, deep, up-to-date technical knowledge, I go to O’Reilly.
Why I love it:
- Full access to industry-standard books and videos
- Hands-on coding environments (for Rust, Go, Kubernetes, etc.)
- Live online training and certifications
- Sandboxes for AWS, GCP, and Azure
- Proven content from actual experts, not AI-generated fluff
As a Staff Engineer, staying current matters. Whether I’m leading a system redesign or exploring a new architecture pattern (hello, event-driven microservices), O’Reilly is my go-to.
Bonus: Most companies will reimburse or directly provide access to this platform. If yours doesn’t — ask for it during performance reviews or L&D discussions.
Verdict:
📚 Essential for any serious technologist.
🔗 https://www.oreilly.com/
💭 Honorable Mentions
Here are a few other paid tools that didn’t make the top 5 but are still solid:
- 1Password Teams – $7.99/month: Best password manager for work & personal
- GitHub Copilot – $10/month: Useful, but I use ChatGPT more
- Grammarly Premium – $12/month: For PRs and tech blog clarity
- Linear (Pro) – $8/month: Fastest issue tracker in existence
- Tailscale – $10/month: Zero-config VPN and private networking
🎯 Final Thoughts: Don’t Pay for Tools — Pay for Leverage
It’s easy to get distracted by the shiny new thing. But here’s my philosophy:
“If a tool helps me think better, work faster, or sleep more peacefully — it’s worth every penny.”
As a Staff Engineer, your job is no longer just about pushing code. It’s about scaling yourself: your knowledge, your influence, your communication, and your decision-making.
The subscriptions I pay for help me do exactly that.
So if you’re on the fence about paying $5, $10, or even $50 a month — ask yourself this: Would you pay that much for 5 extra hours of focused output? For a calmer mind? For better code?
Because I would. And I do.
👋 Over to You!
Are you a developer or tech lead with favorite tools that make your life easier?
Drop a comment or DM me on LinkedIn — I’d love to trade tool stacks.
📲 Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/webcodder
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