I built SubRadar to stop forgetting subscriptions I'm paying for — first week learnings
Three months ago I noticed a €14.99 charge on my bank statement for a service I hadn't used in a year. I canceled it. Two weeks later I found another one. Then another.
I built SubRadar to solve this for myself, and apparently for a lot of other people too.
What it does:
SubRadar connects to your Gmail (OAuth, read-only), scans the last 6 months of invoice and receipt emails, and automatically identifies your active subscriptions. Netflix, Spotify, Adobe, telecom operators, SaaS tools — 120+ services detected automatically. Then it sends an email reminder 7 days before each renewal.
No manual input. No CSV imports. You connect once, it does the rest.
The business model:
- Free: up to 5 subscriptions
- Pro: €4/month, unlimited subscriptions + priority support
Why €4?
Because the average person has 8-12 active subscriptions. The tool typically surfaces 1-3 they'd forgotten about. Even one forgotten €10/month sub means the tool pays for itself 2.5x over.
What I learned in week 1:
The Gmail metadata scope is a game-changer. I initially planned to use gmail.readonly which requires Google's full security assessment (CASA Tier 2). Switched to gmail.metadata — same headers/snippets, but classified as "SENSITIVE" not "RESTRICTED." No assessment required. This removed a 2-3 month blocker entirely.
The 5-subscription free tier converts better than a 14-day free trial because users don't feel time pressure. They connect, they see their subscriptions, they decide.
What I'd love feedback on:
- Is €4/month the right price, or should it be higher?
- How do you think about freemium limits — feature-based vs. usage-based?
- Any other places to get the first 50 paying users besides IH and Reddit?
I don't think the harder question is whether €4 is too high or too low.
It's whether users mentally compare the price to another subscription or to the money they would have lost without a reminder. Those are two very different reference points, and they usually lead to very different pricing conversations.