Ask HN: What is the best money you have spent on software?

12 pointsjilles5y ago28 comments

I pay for a few services such as 1Password and Fantastical. Both these services are very much worth the money for me. I was wondering if there is any other paid software / SaaS that is a must have for some.

28 comments

28 comments · 23 top-level

ng-user5y ago· 2 in thread

YNAB - it seems unnecessary to some.. but I've got into an awesome routine after using it for 4+ years.

fiftyacorn5y ago

Have u looked at buckets? It's the same principle but it desktop software. I think it lacks bank integration

digianarchist5y ago

YNAB bank integration isn't anything to write home about. Barely works in Canada.

java-man5y ago· 1 in thread

Beyond Compare (a cross-platform file/directory comparison tool) [0] is an absolute marvel. Extremely useful, and a very user-friendly license.

[0] https://www.scootersoftware.com/

the_only_law5y ago

Huh, we have licenses for this at my job, but I haven't used it much so far. I'll have to look more into it.

scott315y ago· 1 in thread

A donation to GNU project was the best money I spent on software

stockkid5y ago

Interesting point. While I sympathize with the cause, I personally wouldn't find it the best money spent, had I donated, because it is impossible to measure the impact of the money spent.

Tw98755y ago· 1 in thread

Anyone bought a bot for buying high demand items online? Is it worth it?

marm75y ago

Yes, but building one is better.

billylo5y ago

Divvy: Super efficient window management https://mizage.com/divvy/

potta_coffee5y ago

Reaper DAW has been phenomenal and is quite affordable. I've used it constantly for probably 10 years now. https://www.reaper.fm/download.php

striker_axel5y ago

Synthesia: Piano midi software

During the lockdown i thought of learning the piano and this software really helped me. Since all the classes were online now.

https://synthesiagame.com/

O_H_E5y ago

Little less than a must have, but Sublime Merge (from the makers of SublimeText) has been a great Git GUI. Especially since Linux lacks an initiative snappy one.

cotsog5y ago

TextSniper[0]: allows you to copy/paste text from images

aText[1]: keyboard shortcuts app

Super cheap (~5$) and can't work without them!

[0] https://www.textsniper.app/

[1] https://www.trankynam.com/atext/

Edit: formatting

dalacv5y ago

A few that come to mind:

FullConvert - for automating database conversions Beyond Compare - for comparing Folders, Files, Tabular Data

HomeDeLaPot5y ago

Fastmail, to remove a fat Google dependency from my life. It's been great. Its aliasing features are cool.

Bitwarden has met all my password management needs for several years now. (Donation/pro version, can't remember.)

MoYasse5y ago

Adespresso

Might be the only digital marketer comment here, but it was defiantly worth the 39$, saves tons of times and generate a lot of data that is needed for my testing

dredmorbius5y ago

$10 or so for a Red Hat Linux book circa 1996, which included an install CDROM.

flytram5y ago

iOS app Photo Pills (https://www.photopills.com/) to plan for Astrophotography.

larrykubin5y ago

Pixelmator ($39, one time) - for image editing

ScreenFlow, ($129, one time) - for recording/editing videos

Sublime Text ($59, one time in 2011) - have since moved on, but used for many years

NumberCruncher5y ago

https://cvcompiler.com/ high ROI investment

2rsf5y ago

I hardly ever pay for software, but my best one was a very subsidized MS Office one time purchase.

raptorraver5y ago

Ableton Live and Dorico for making music. Both worth every penny.

ystad5y ago

Jet brains license, Viscosity, Sublime, Lastpass, Little Snitch

deostroll5y ago

Tasker.

But, it's an android app. Helps automate your phone.

animesh5y ago

Nova launcher, pro version.

PyCharm

diehunde5y ago

My favorites:

- Jetbrains software

- 1password

- Divvy

- Dash (for docs)

runawaybottle5y ago

Very little is coming to mind, so much good free stuff out there.

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