From Chaos to Control: Why I’m Building My Own Subscription Manager
Rejecting the noise of modern apps to build a silent, private “cockpit” for my finances.
Can you answer this question instantly? “How many subscriptions do you currently have, and exactly how much do they cost you per year?”
If you hesitated, it’s not your fault. It’s by design. Apple ID, Google Play, Amazon, direct credit card payments... our financial data is scattered across so many platforms that it is impossible to see the full picture. We are living in a state of information chaos.
I wanted to end this. I didn’t just want to “save money.” I wanted to regain control.
Why not use existing apps? There are plenty of subscription management apps out there. But they all felt wrong to me. They are too loud. Too many notifications, too many ads, and too many features I don’t need. Worse, many rely on linking your bank accounts to the cloud. Trading privacy for convenience wasn’t a deal I was willing to make.
Enter “Subscrippy” So, I decided to build my own tool. Subscrippy is a web app designed to be my personal “Subscription Cockpit.”
My philosophy for this project is simple:
Local-First: No data is sent to a server. Your financial data stays on your device. It is a digital safe.
Silence: No ads. No nagging notifications. Just a clean tool.
Visualization: A bird’s-eye view of your recurring costs.
The Journey Begins I am building this as a solo developer using React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. This is not just about building a product; it’s about upgrading my own engineering skills through the struggle of creation.
I will be documenting the entire process—the code, the bugs, and the design decisions—right here. If you are tired of the chaos and want to see how a “Local-First” app is built, I invite you to follow along.
Let’s regain control, one subscription at a time.
This post is based on an article from my personal blog. If you prefer reading in Japanese, you can check it out here:
https://suzushinlab.com/why-build-subscrippy/
Connect with me: I tweet about my development progress in Japanese.