Things I (Happily) Pay For
I think it’s important to support good software and good people.
This post is just a list of the things that I pay for and a brief explanation of why. Obviously, I pay for more things than this, but I don’t like those things as much as these things.
I update this periodically.
Last updated Sept 19, 2025.
Donations
WRIR
One of my local community radio stations. I spent a good chunk of my career working in public media, and the people that make it happen work tirelessly for little (or no) money and are one of the few forms of truly local media left.
mastodon.social
I first learned about Mastodon way back in 2019 and signed up for an account on this instance to check it out. I have been a lurker, but plan to participate more (see Why I’m Doing This). I only donate a few dollars a month, but wanted to help support the development and hosting costs.
Blindboy Podcast
I’ve spent a couple of summers in western Ireland over the last few years and fell in love with the culture, mythology, people, and landscape of that country. While I was there, I was curious about Irish podcasters and was fortunate to discover Blindboy. It’s a podcast rich with kindness, curiosity, and weirdness that has become one of my favorite ways to spend time. I’m so happy to be a tiny part of supporting his ability to continue it.
My Analog Journal (MAJ)
A YouTube channel that “curates vinyl-only mixes, focusing on diverse genres, countries, regions, eras, and themes”. I almost always start my mornings with MAJ and have discovered a lot of interesting music there.
Eric Haugen Guitar
Another YouTube channel by a patient and talented guitar teacher who happens to share my musical tastes with nearly terrifying precision. He’s a joy to watch and doesn’t monetize his channel.
Software
I support/pay for a lot of software that isn’t on this list, usually because I begrudgingly need to use it for a work project.
The ones listed below I wanted to call out for their software philosophy and user focus.
Kagi
Google is cooked and the other alternatives are only moderately better. Kagi has completely restored the utility of search that was taken away from all of us via the perverse incentives of the modern web. This is certainly the best $10 a month I spend on software.
Obsidian
I’ve tried a lot of note taking software over the years, but Obsidian was the first one that has stuck. I use it for journaling and keeping track of personal and work tasks. I definitely don’t use it to its full potential yet. I also love the philosophy and attitude of the company. Here’s a great interview with the CEO
I’m happy to support closed-source software like Obsidian that has a long-term view of its relationship with its customers.
Alfred
Alfred has been my go-to since I started using MacOS ~9 years ago. It’s the kind of software that becomes so embedded in your workflow it disappears. If you know a bit of almost any programming language, you can extend it to do almost anything. I’m always excited when a new major version comes out because I trust the developers to be focused on their users and not their investors.
SmartTube
For better or worse (let’s be honest, worse), YouTube is my primary media consumption. I watch a lot of it in the mornings on my aging Nvidia Shield TV and the SmartTube app makes it a much more pleasant experience. It’s maintained by a solo developer that lives in Ukraine.
I pay for YouTube Premium, so I don’t use the ad-skipping functionality, but the other features make browsing YouTube an unusually pleasant experience.
WezTerm
A no-nonsense terminal emulator + multiplexer that is fast, reliable, and intuitive to configure with Lua.
Neovim
I’m only about six months into using Neovim at the time of writing this sentence, having come from VS Code. It was a steep learning curve, but after a month I had gotten good enough at motions and keybindings that I was substantially more productive.
(After about two months, the time I spent coding actually exceeded the time I spent obsessing about my Neovim config.)
Bruno
Like a lot of people I have been burnt by the last few API testing tools I’ve used as their quality collapsed under VC pressures or were purchased by sketchy owners. Bruno is MIT licensed, local only (no account required), and stores configuration as simple text files that are easy to track in git. I paid for it back when it was a one-time purchase, but plan to budget the pro plan into my next API heavy project.
Affinity Suite
I don’t have a need for this type of software often, but these have replaced Adobe tools on my laptop. They are purchased software with no cloud component and no AI to train on your creative work.