Inspiration
As a young professional juggling streaming, cloud, and SaaS subscriptions, I kept overspending on unused services and missing trial expiration dates. I realized many friends and family faced the same issue – no centralized way to manage recurring costs. That’s when I decided to build a tool to take back control of subscription spending.
What it does
Subscription Manager is a single-page web app that centralizes all subscription tracking: it shows total monthly spending, active subscriptions, potential savings, and smart alerts for trials/price hikes. Users can add/edit subscriptions, view spending trends, and access cancellation guides to cut unnecessary costs.
How we built it
I started by mapping core user needs (tracking, alerts, analytics) to a simple dashboard layout. I used HTML/CSS for responsive UI design (stacking cards on mobile), JavaScript for form logic and data calculations, and Chart.js (via CDN) to build the spending analytics chart. I focused on clean, color-coded alerts and status badges for intuitive navigation.
Challenges we ran into
The biggest challenge was calculating monthly equivalents for annual subscriptions (dividing by 12) while ensuring accurate total spending sums. I also struggled with making the responsive layout work seamlessly across devices – small screens required rethinking multi-column card placement without breaking usability.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I’m proud of building a tool that solves a real pain point: the dashboard loads instantly with clear, actionable insights, and the alert system (warning/danger/success) makes critical subscription updates hard to miss. The UI is intuitive – even non-technical users can add and manage subscriptions in seconds.
What we learned
I learned how to balance functionality with simplicity – cutting unnecessary features to focus on core needs (tracking, alerts, savings). I also mastered responsive design for cross-device use and data visualization with Chart.js, and gained a deeper understanding of user-centric cost calculation logic.
What's next for this project
Next, I want to add EUR currency support for European users, integrate email/push alerts for critical subscription updates, and build a backend to save user data across sessions. I also plan to add a feature to suggest cheaper alternatives for overpriced subscriptions and automate cancellation script generation for more services.
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