Table of Contents
Introduction: How I Ended Up Paying $100/Month for AI Tools
"$20 for ChatGPT, $20 for Claude, $20 for Perplexity… wait, that's already over $60 a month." Sound familiar? The moment I asked myself whether I was actually using all of them was the moment my subscription audit began.
Social media is full of people flexing their "$500/month AI stack," but the reality for freelancers is a lot less glamorous. Redundant subscriptions just eat into your margins. Unless you're doing heavy-duty video production or enterprise-scale development, going all-in on every AI tool is plain overkill.
In this post, I'm laying out my entire subscription setup as of May 2026 — what I pay for, what I canceled, and what my costs look like after trimming the fat. If you're drowning in subscription fees, hopefully this gives you a useful reference point.
Start by identifying overlapping features. If you can use GPT on Genspark without spending any credits, there's no reason to pay for ChatGPT separately. I break down the strengths of each tool in my AI tool comparison post — worth reading before you start cutting.
My Full AI & SaaS Subscription List as of May 2026
| Service | Plan | Monthly Cost | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude | Pro | $20 | Code generation & web development (Main #1) |
| Genspark | Plus (annual) | $19.99 | Research & document creation (Main #2) |
| Cloudflare Workers | Paid | $5 | Blog infrastructure & app backend |
| Gemini API | Pay-as-you-go | $3–10 | Automated code review & Google Workspace integrations |
| Microsoft 365 | Family (annual) | ~$10.83 | Office apps & Genspark add-in integration |
| Canva | Pro (annual) | ~$9.17 | Social media & web graphics |
| CapCut | Pro (as needed) | $7.99 | Video editing |
Total: approximately $75–82/month
Compared to the setups you see on social media, mine looks pretty modest. But this is what's left after cutting everything that wasn't earning its keep. For Genspark plan details, check the Genspark official pricing page.
My Typical Day: Which AI I Use for What
The most common question I get is "so when do you actually use each one?" Here's a breakdown of a typical workday.
| Time of Day | Task | Tool | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | Blog outline & research | Genspark | Can query multiple AI models simultaneously in one chat |
| Late morning | Client code & website builds | Claude | Long context window + great at generating full HTML/CSS in one shot; cost-effective |
| Midday | Proposal decks (PowerPoint) | Genspark → PowerPoint | Paid plan lets you export directly to .pptx files |
| Afternoon | Code quality review | Gemini API | Using a second AI to review Claude's output |
| Evening | Social media graphics | Canva | Templates are faster than starting from scratch |
| Night | Video editing (client months only) | CapCut Pro | Auto-captions + effects |
Claude and Genspark are my two workhorses, and I keep them clearly separated by use case. For a deeper comparison of how they stack up, see my AI tool comparison post.
What I Actually Use Each Service For
Claude Pro ($20/month) — Primary tool for code & web work
Claude handles all the client-facing technical work: custom scripts, website builds, landing pages. Its standout strength is holding a long context while generating complete HTML/CSS/JavaScript in one go. Multi-file refactoring and test code generation both work reliably without constant hand-holding.
Genspark can write code too, but the credit consumption is steep and starts requiring paid top-ups quickly. So I keep code and web development in Claude's lane, and leave research and document work to Genspark. That division has been rock-solid. (Claude does have a 5-hour usage limit — when I hit it, I just wait it out.)
Genspark Plus ($19.99/month) — Primary tool for research & documents
Genspark is the other half of my core stack. Annual plan works out to $19.99/month. Blog outlines, technical research, first drafts of client proposals — all text-based work starts here.
The PowerPoint, Excel, and Word add-ins are a genuine game-changer: AI-generated content gets polished directly inside Office. For a look at how that workflow plays out in practice, see my post on using Genspark for PowerPoint. AI chat also doesn't consume credits at all, so I use it freely as a thinking partner — including bouncing the same question off multiple AI models to pressure-test the answer.
Zero-credit AI chat is a meaningful differentiator. You never have to worry about hitting a paywall mid-brainstorm. For a full breakdown of what you get, see my honest Genspark review.
Cloudflare Workers Paid ($5/month) — Blog & app infrastructure
People often ask what it costs to run this blog. The honest answer: $5 a month. This site (ai-dev-blog.com) runs on a serverless stack — Cloudflare Workers + Pages + D1 (database) + R2 (storage).
The free tier (100k requests/day) is more than enough for a personal blog, but since I'm running a few small apps alongside it, I upgraded for the peace of mind. Five dollars a month covers all of it. I haven't found anything that comes close on value.
Gemini API ($3–10/month) — Using AI to review AI-written code
The use case where I've gotten the most value from Gemini API: having it review code that Claude wrote. I feed Claude's output to Gemini 2.5 Pro with a prompt like "Review this as a senior engineer — flag any issues around security, performance, and readability." The cross-AI review catches things faster than a manual pass and consistently improves the final output.
① Review Claude-generated code with Gemini 2.5 Pro
② Backup when Claude or Genspark hit their usage limits
③ Building automation tools for clients on Google Workspace (Sheets, Gmail integrations)
With the Flash model (input $0.10/1M tokens, output $0.40/1M tokens), usage stays in the low single digits per month for my workflow. You can test it for free first at Google AI Studio.
Microsoft 365 Family ($129.99/year → ~$10.83/month)
A family plan covering up to 6 people, each with 1TB of OneDrive storage and the full Office suite. My core workflow: use Genspark to draft a presentation, polish it directly in PowerPoint with the add-in, then do a final pass myself. That loop is hard to replicate with any other setup.
Canva Pro ($110/year → ~$9.17/month) — Social media & web graphics
I use it for social posts and website assets. At this point, AI image generators still don't quite match Canva templates for polished, on-brand visuals — which is why I've kept the subscription. Background removal and brand kits are genuinely useful too.
That said, OpenAI's ChatGPT Images 2.0 launched in April 2026 with significantly better text rendering and multilingual support. Depending on how AI image generation continues to evolve, I may end up dropping Canva down the line.
CapCut Pro ($7.99/month) — Subscribe only when you need it
I subscribe to the Pro tier only in months when I have video editing work, then drop back to free when I don't. The jump in auto-caption quality and effects makes the paid version worth it for client deliverables — but paying monthly year-round would just be waste. Small decisions like this add up.
For tools you don't use consistently, subscribing only when needed beats locking in an annual plan. With monthly services like CapCut, you can save a meaningful amount each year just by being intentional about when you activate them.
What I Canceled (And Why)
Knowing what to drop is just as important as knowing what to keep.
ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) → Canceled
Once I realized I could use GPT through Genspark at zero credit cost, the case for paying for ChatGPT separately evaporated. I've consolidated onto Genspark and haven't missed it. See my AI tool comparison post for the full breakdown.
Perplexity Pro ($20/month) → Canceled
Perplexity is great at search-focused tasks, but Genspark's Super Agent can now handle deep research and produce structured reports in one workflow. That made a dedicated research AI redundant. Full comparison in my Genspark vs. Perplexity post.
GitHub Copilot ($10/month) → Never subscribed
Claude Pro handles all the code generation I need. GitHub's free tier covers version control and CI/CD through Actions without any issues.
Consolidating onto Genspark + Claude actually made my workflow smoother, not worse. Paying twice for overlapping features is the single biggest driver of inflated AI costs for freelancers.
Tools I Use for Free
There's no shortage of genuinely useful tools that cost nothing.
- GitHub Free — Version control and CI/CD via GitHub Actions. The free tier is plenty for solo projects.
- Google AI Studio — Testing Gemini API integrations. The free quota is surprisingly generous.
Takeaway: Less Is More
| What I Did | Result |
|---|---|
| Canceled ChatGPT Plus & Perplexity Pro | ~$40/month saved |
| Consolidated onto Claude + Genspark | $40/month covers everything from research to shipping |
| Cloudflare handles all infrastructure | Blog + apps running for $5/month |
| CapCut only when needed | Zero wasted annual commitments |
You don't need to chase the "$500/month all-in AI stack." Pick the tools that directly serve your actual work, cut anything that overlaps, and stay ruthless about it. That unglamorous process of pruning and consolidating is what actually keeps a freelance business running lean.
Spreading thin across many AI subscriptions beats getting real value from any one of them. I'd recommend starting with Genspark and Claude as your core two, then only adding tools that fill gaps those two can't cover. Curious about Genspark? Try it free on the official site before committing to a paid plan.
Related Posts
- Genspark Honest Review After 1 Year: The Real Pros, Cons, and Surprises
- Genspark Pricing Plans & the New Claw Feature: Everything You Need to Know
- Genspark vs. Perplexity: Which Is Better for Developer Research?
- Genspark vs. ChatGPT vs. Claude: Which AI Should You Actually Use?
- Using Genspark for PowerPoint: The "80% AI, 20% Human" Workflow
