How to save thousands on your monthly SaaS bill

I went down a rabbit hole of how to save on SaaS costs. I ended up finding so many software providers that offer free self hosting (i.e you install the software on your own servers), are completely open sourced or ways where you pay once and have access forever.

Despite the opens you may still decide on the ‘premium’ options due to better functionality or ease of access. (not all of us want to install and manage our own services)

⚠️ Disclaimer: I am unaffiliated with all of the tools below and many of these tools are unused by me so explore at your own risk.

Communication / Messaging

Slack Pro Subscription Plan costs $7.25 USD per person/month (yearly), or $8.75 USD per person/month (monthly)

Campfire is a one time fee of $299 but self-hosted. Discord is free, monetizing less integral features like server boosting.

Signing Documents

Docusign Standard plan: $25/month or $300/yr.

SignHouse Lifetime Basic deal: $199 for 5 users, unlimited contracts.

No Code Website Builder

Webflow subscription: $14/month for more than 2 pages and a custom domain.

Webstudio Pro Lifetime T2: $499/lifetime. Also a hobby self-hosted version: $0 with custom domain.

Mass Emails / Newsletters

If you’re small, Beehiiv or Brevo makes sense. Sendy is good as you scale big. Still need Amazon SES (paid per email).

Brevo
Free: 300 emails/day. Paid: $28/m for 20k emails/m.

Beehiiv
Launch Tier: $0 for 2500 subs, unlimited sends. Scale: $39/m.

Sendy
One-time $69. Self-host + Amazon SES = $0.10/1000 emails.

Email Marketing Automation

If you’re sending SMS then you might still use Klaviyo!

Klaviyo free: 500 monthly sends. Paid from $45/m.

Dittofeed can be free if self-hosted.

Accounting

Xero from $16 AUD/m.

Akaunting free on-prem for 1 user/1 accountant. Lifetime licenses available.

Design Software

Figma free for 3 collaborative designs. Pro starts at $12/m.

Penpot is a free Figma alternative (online or self-hosted).

Nice Looking Forms

Typeform free: 10 responses/form. Paid: $29/m for 100 responses.

Youform free: unlimited responses. Pro: $29/m or $399 once-off.

Screen Recording on Mac

Loom is easy but Screen Studio is cheaper (lifetime). Loom might be worth it for ease of sharing.

Ecamm Live from $16/m.

Screen Studio Lifetime: $89 for 1 device, $189 for 3 devices.

Customer Support

Intercom from $39/seat/m.

Papercups is open-source & self-hostable for no cost.

Personal & Company Notes / Documentation

Notion free for individuals. Great free plan.

AppFlowy is free, open-source, and self-hosted.

Anytype has self-hosted options with fewer restrictions.

Wait! Do you want to subscribe?

Put your email below and I’ll send you my personal collection of 100+ mental models, my startup validation toolbox & more! (It’s all freshly baked, GMO free and gluten free!)

https://embeds.beehiiv.com/...

Trigger → Effect Automations

Zapier free for 100 zaps. More requires payment.

n8n self-hosted is free. Automatisch also open-source & self-hosted.

Link Shortener

Bitly Free: 10 links/month, unlimited clicks.

Dub free plan: 25 new links/mo, 1K tracked clicks/mo, custom domains.

Search Engine Position Tracking & Keyword Research

Ahrefs & Semrush are paid SEO tools.

SerpBear self-hosted for free, pay only for scraping.

Data Pipeline

Segment free for 1000 visitors/m. Paid from $120/m.

Jitsu free self-hosted version with a generous free plan.