Some non-Apple but indispensable paid apps offer free trials MailChimp:
It recently occurred to me that some of my most useful Mac apps are not traditional Mac apps at all. Rather, they’re only sold via monthly (or annual) subscriptions.
Some call this “software-as-aservice” because you pay for it the same way you pay for services such as water, gas or electricity.
To make this list of my three favorite software-as-a-service apps: I’ve used the app for at least two years without complaint; I can recommend the app without hesitation; and the app includes a free trial of at least 14 days.
Here they are:
SaneBox
SaneBox brings intelligence to your inbox by intelligently filtering incoming mail. Only the most important messages land in your inbox; the rest are automatically sorted into folders such as SaneLater, for lessimportant messages, and SaneNews for newsletters and messages from mailing lists.
This feature diverts at least 70 percent of my incoming mail to one of these special folders, leaving only the important messages in my inbox.
As wonderful as that may be, it’s the ability to “snooze” a message until tomorrow, next week or any date and time, has to be my favorite SaneBox feature. If a message doesn’t need to be dealt with today, I can snooze it with couple of clicks, knowing it will reappear in my inbox on the appropriate time.
SaneBox has many other features, but these two alone make its $7/month cost a bargain to me.
Backblaze
You know that you should have at least two backups of important files, and one shouldn’t be stored in the same location as your computer.
Backblaze provides unlimited storage for online backups for just $5/month or $50/year. It’s idiot-proof: Install the Backblaze software and it backs up your files to the cloud in the background. You’ll hardly notice it’s running until you need a file that’s no longer in your Time Machine backup.
You do have at least one backup already, don’t you?
The upside is that it’s reliable, inexpensive and unobtrusive. The downside is that uploading your files for the first time can take days or weeks, and downloading files is always going to take more time than restoring from a local backup.
That said, I feel much better knowing there are copies of all of my important files in the Backblaze cloud should I need them.
I’ve been a happy customer for years and expect to be one for many more.
Mail Chimp
Finally, Mail Chimp is an email marketing platform for small businesses. It differs from others by offering a Forever Free option rather than a trial. So you can send up to 12,000 emails to up to 2,000 contacts each month for free.
If you exceed 2,000 contacts, Mail Chimp is quite reasonable, with prices starting at $10/ month.
If you manage a startup, small business, nonprofit or other entity just starting a mailing list, you won’t find a better deal than Mail Chimp.