I Almost Offered to Pay for My Own JetBrains License. Here's Why.

Let me tell you about 2019. Fresh off landing a new consulting gig, I went absolutely wild with subscriptions. Any tool with a slick landing page promising to "10x my productivity" got my credit card number. By December? Seventeen active subscriptions. Couldn't remember what half of them did.

That expensive lesson taught me something that took three decades of writing code to fully appreciate: the best tools aren't the ones packed with features. They're the ones that disappear into your workflow and let you focus on actual engineering problems.

Thirty-plus years in this industry. Started with COBOL at IBM when Reagan was still president. I've watched tools come and go. "Revolutionary" IDEs became abandonware. Entire categories of software got absorbed into free alternatives. Along the way, I learned exactly what's worth paying for.

Today my annual tool spend sits around $2,000. Every dollar earns its place. Here's exactly what I pay for, what I stopped paying for, and the framework I use to evaluate any new tool that catches my attention.

The 10-Hour Rule: My Framework for Evaluating Any Paid Developer Tool

Before breaking down my stack, you need this framework. It's saved me thousands of dollars and countless hours of tool-hopping.

The rule is simple: if a tool doesn't save me at least 10 hours per month, it's not worth a monthly subscription. Period.

Track your pain first. Spend one week noting every time you think "this is tedious" or "there has to be a better way." Write it down. Actually write it down.

Then calculate the time sink. How many hours per month does this pain point cost you? Be honest here. Most people overestimate.

Do the math next. A $20/month tool saving you 10 hours means you're paying $2 per hour saved. Your time's worth more than that. But what if it only saves 2 hours? Now you're paying $10 per hour for convenience. That math rarely works out.

Finally, trial with intention. Don't just "try" a tool. Set a specific task: "I'm going to use this for all my database queries this week." Then evaluate honestly.

Whether you're wondering which developer subscriptions are actually worth it or deciding between free and paid tiers, this framework applies.

Tier 1: The Non-Negotiables ($800/year)

My boss once threatened to switch our entire team to Eclipse during a budget crunch in 2021. Almost offered to pay for my own JetBrains license out of pocket. Thankfully it didn't come to that, but the moment made me realize which tools I genuinely couldn't live without.

JetBrains All Products Pack: $289/year (first year for individuals)

Look, I know VS Code is free. I've used it. It's good. But after using IntelliJ products for over a decade, switching would cost me hundreds of hours in muscle memory and workflow adjustments.

Refactoring tools alone justify the cost. When you're working on a legacy codebase (which, let's be honest, is most of the time), the ability to safely rename across an entire project with confidence is worth every penny. Database tools built into DataGrip save me from needing a separate database client.

Everything bundles into one subscription. Pricing decreases in subsequent years and differs for organizations.

Saves me 15 to 20 hours monthly, minimum.

GitHub Copilot Business: $19/month ($228/year)

I was skeptical. Very skeptical. I've seen too many "AI will replace programmers" headlines since the 1990s to get excited about every new thing.

But Copilot has genuinely changed how I write boilerplate code. It's not replacing my thinking. It handles the typing for patterns I've written a thousand times. And that difference matters.

Why does Copilot sit at the top of AI coding assistants worth paying for? One reason: it stays out of my way until I need it. No context switching. No chat windows. It just suggests, and I tab to accept or keep typing to ignore.

Monthly time savings hover around 8 to 12 hours.

Warp Terminal: $22/user/month for Teams (free for individuals)

Paying for a terminal? I resisted for years. Why would anyone do that? Then Warp's AI command search and collaborative features changed my mind. Being able to share terminal sessions with junior engineers I mentor has transformed how I teach. Seeing exactly where someone gets stuck, in real time, beats any screen share.

Warp offers a free tier for individual users. The paid Team plan unlocks the full collaborative features.

The command palette also helps when I can't remember the exact syntax for some arcane Git command I use twice a year. That alone saves me countless trips to Stack Overflow.

Claws back 5 to 8 hours monthly.

1Password Individual: $4/month ($48/year)

Yes, this counts as a developer tool. Between API keys, database credentials, SSH keys, and service accounts, I manage hundreds of secrets. Having them organized, searchable, and accessible is worth far more than $4/month. Team sharing features through 1Password Teams run significantly more at $19.95/user/month, but the individual plan handles my solo consulting needs.

Reclaims 3 to 5 hours monthly.

Tier 2: The Force Multipliers ($600/year)

These tools multiply my effectiveness in specific areas. They're not daily drivers, but when I need them, nothing else comes close.

TablePlus: $89 one-time purchase

TablePlus strikes the perfect balance between power and simplicity for database work. I've used DBeaver, DataGrip, pgAdmin, and a dozen others. TablePlus just feels right. Clean interface, fast connections, and I can switch between PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, and SQLite without learning different interfaces. Best part: it's a one-time purchase, not another subscription draining your account monthly. There's also a free tier with limited features if you want to try before you buy.

Any developer productivity tools guide would be incomplete without a solid database client. You'll use it more than you think.

Saves roughly 6 to 8 hours monthly.

Postman Pro: ~$12–15/user/month

Basic API testing? The free tier handles it fine. Documenting APIs for clients, collaborating with teams across time zones, or running automated tests as part of CI/CD? That requires the paid tier.

Mock servers have saved me countless times when a dependency goes down during development. Being able to spin up a fake response in seconds keeps momentum going when everything else falls apart.

Time reclaimed: 5 to 7 hours monthly.

Raycast Pro: ~$8/month (billed annually)

Alfred exists, I know. Used it for years. But Raycast's extensions ecosystem pulled me over, especially the snippet expansion and clipboard history. Having all my frequently used code blocks, SQL queries, and boilerplate accessible through a quick keyboard shortcut speeds up everything.

Nets me 4 to 6 extra hours monthly.

Charles Proxy: $50 one-time

Technically not a subscription, but I'm including it because it's paid software I recommend constantly. Debugging network traffic, inspecting SSL connections, understanding exactly what an app is sending over the wire: Charles handles all of it.

Free alternatives exist. They're not as good. Sometimes the choice between paying for tools and using free alternatives comes down to polish and reliability.

When needed, saves 3 to 5 hours monthly.

Tier 3: The Situational Investments ($600/year)

Your mileage will vary here. My current consulting work requires these tools, but they depend entirely on what you're working on.

Tuple: ~$25/month

Remote pair programming software that actually works. Screen sharing with Zoom or Meet is fine for meetings but terrible for coding together. Latency matters. Both people controlling the screen matters. Tuple gets this right.

Do you pair program regularly, whether with colleagues or mentees? Worth investigating. Work solo? Skip it.

Linear: ~$8/user/month

I've used Jira. I've used Asana. I've used Trello. Linear is the only project management tool that doesn't make me want to throw my laptop across the room.

It's fast. Keyboard-first. GitHub integration is seamless. Solo consulting work or small teams? This is my top pick.

Saves 5 to 8 hours monthly on project management overhead.

Loom Business: ~$15/month

Not strictly a developer tool, but hear me out. Explaining a complex architecture decision to a client? A 5-minute Loom beats a 30-minute meeting every single time. Reviewing code and want to explain my thinking? Recording my screen while I talk through the logic is more effective than writing paragraphs of comments.

Spending half your week explaining things to people who don't code? Loom pays for itself in a week.

Eliminates 4 to 6 hours of meetings monthly.

The Overrated List: 5 Popular Paid Tools I Stopped Paying For

Here's where I might ruffle some feathers. These are popular tools, well-reviewed, that just aren't worth my money anymore.

1. Notion (Paid Tier)

The free tier does everything I need. Paid tier adds features like unlimited file uploads and version history that sound useful but never mattered in practice. Switched to the free tier two years ago. Haven't noticed a difference.

What I use instead: Notion free tier plus local Markdown files for anything truly important.

2. Grammarly Premium

Shelling out $140 to $150 a year, I expected magic. What I got was aggressive upselling and suggestions that made my writing sound like everyone else's writing. The free tier catches obvious typos. That's enough.

What I use instead: Grammarly free tier plus reading my work out loud.

3. Multiple Cloud IDE Subscriptions

Had subscriptions to Replit, CodeSandbox, and Gitpod all running simultaneously. Absurd overlap. Now I use GitHub Codespaces when I need a cloud environment, which is rarely.

What I use instead: Local development plus occasional Codespaces.

4. Productivity Tracking Apps

RescueTime, Timing, WakaTime: I've tried them all. They all told me I spent too much time in Slack. Already knew that. Guilt-inducing dashboards didn't help me change behavior.

What I use instead: A Pomodoro timer and honest self-assessment.

5. Premium Note-Taking Apps

Bear, Obsidian Sync, Craft: been through them all. My notes don't need to look beautiful. They need to be searchable. Apple Notes does that fine.

What I use instead: Apple Notes plus a folder structure I've used since 2010.

How to Get Your Company to Pay: Email Template and ROI Calculator

Most companies will cover developer tools if you ask correctly. Frame it as an investment, not an expense.

Here's the email template I've used successfully:

---

Subject: Request: [Tool Name] Subscription – Estimated 10+ Hours/Month Productivity Gain

Hi [Manager],

I'd like to request a subscription to [Tool Name] at $[X]/month ($[Y]/year).

Problem it solves: [One sentence about the pain point]

Time saved: Based on [specific task], I estimate this will save approximately [X] hours per month.

ROI calculation: At my loaded cost of ~$[hourly rate]/hour, [X] hours saved = $[monthly savings] in productivity. The tool costs $[monthly cost], resulting in [X]x ROI.

Risk mitigation: [Tool Name] offers a [trial period/money-back guarantee]. I'll evaluate during this period and cancel if it doesn't deliver expected value.

Happy to track and report on actual time savings after 90 days.

Thanks, [Your name]

---

Why does this approach work? It speaks manager language: ROI, risk mitigation, and accountability. I've helped junior engineers in my mentoring programs use this template successfully at companies of all sizes.

Wondering how to choose your first paid developer tool stack? Start small. Really small.

Pick one tool. Address your biggest daily frustration. Use the 10-Hour Rule to evaluate it honestly over 30 days. Passes the test? Keep it. Doesn't deliver? Cancel and try something else.

My roughly $2K/year stack took years to refine. Yours will look different based on your tech stack, your role, whether you're managing people or writing code all day, and a hundred other factors.

Great tools aren't about having the most subscriptions or the fanciest setup. They're about removing friction from the work that matters.

Start with the pain. Find tools that address it. Cut everything else.

And for heaven's sake, set calendar reminders for your subscription renewals. That $4K lesson I mentioned? Half of it was auto-renewals I forgot to cancel.

Now stop reading about tools and go build something. Tools are just there to help you do that faster.