A £100/month subscription budget is a constraint to plan around, not a speed benchmark. Define the required jobs and quote the eligible configuration before choosing tools.
This is a budget exercise, not a current GBP quote for a complete configuration. The original amounts are historical illustrations; eligibility, required features, usage and maintenance determine the actual running cost.
The constraint
Original example, not a current vendor quote: £100/month = £1,200/year. That's your budget for subscriptions. Out of scope: transaction fees (Stripe), domains (~£10/year), AI API credits if you build with them, and hardware. In scope: every SaaS that renews monthly.
A budget is useful when it forces each recurring line to earn its place. Compare the actual features you use rather than inferring capability from the size of the bill.
The stack
Original price illustration: these legacy figures are not current vendor quotes or a verified running cost. See the scoped source observations below.
| Category | Tool | Why | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Editor / coding | Cursor Pro | AI-native editor, best-in-class | £16 |
| Framework | Next.js | Free, open source | Free |
| Hosting | Vercel Free | 100GB bandwidth, plenty for launch | Free |
| Database + auth | Supabase Free | 500MB Postgres, 50k MAU auth | Free |
| Payments | Stripe | Transaction fees only, no subscription | Free* |
| Transactional email | Resend Free | 3k emails/mo on free | Free |
| Newsletter | Beehiiv Free | Up to 2,500 subs free | Free |
| Docs + planning | Notion Free | Unlimited pages for solo | Free |
| Issue tracking | Linear Free | Unlimited members, 250 issues | Free |
| Design | Figma Free | 3 files, unlimited personal drafts | Free |
| Analytics | Plausible Basic | Privacy-first, 10k page views | £7 |
| Product analytics | PostHog Free | 1M events/mo, session recordings | Free |
| Customer support | Crisp Free | Chat widget, shared inbox | Free |
| Scheduling | Cal.com Free | Unlimited personal bookings | Free |
| AI assistant | Claude Pro | Scripting, coding, research | £16 |
| Domain + DNS | Cloudflare Free | DNS, CDN, basic security | Free |
| File storage | Google Drive (via Workspace) | If needed - bundled with email | £5 |
| Total | £44/month | ||
*Stripe rates depend on seller region, payment method and enabled products. See the source-checked Stripe profile.
The original illustrative total does not establish a production configuration or a current price. Quote each required plan and include fees, usage, tax and maintenance.
What the budget allows you to add
Treat the budget remaining after current quotes as a decision limit, not as a promise that these upgrades fit it.
- For coding assistance, quote the selected Cursor plan and usage allowance. The 19 October observation is Plus at $8 USD/month (Grok models only) or Premium at $30 USD/month with third-party model usage billed separately; unlimited model use is not established.
- For newsletter growth, quote the current beehiiv plan at the actual subscriber count. The 9 October observation is Lite $49 and Pro $95 USD/month, billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers; these are not prices for every audience size.
- For collaboration, Notion Plus was $10 USD per member/month billed yearly or $12 billed monthly in the 9 October observation. Check the required features and regional currency separately.
- For design collaboration, the 9 October observation is Figma Professional Full seat $16 USD per seat/month billed annually. Other seat types and monthly billing differ.
- For additional analytics, quote the current eligible plan and expected traffic. Plausible pricing was not part of the 20-tool check.
- For shared scheduling, quote the current team features and seats you need. Cal.com pricing was not part of the 20-tool check.
Pick one or two based on the constraint that hurts most. Don't add all five.
What you're deliberately not paying for
Original example, not a current vendor quote: Under £100/mo, you're explicitly saying no to:
- For a small lead list, trial the required fields, ownership and next-action reminders in a spreadsheet or database. Add a CRM when the collaboration and pipeline requirements justify it; no contact-count threshold establishes that choice.
- For newsletter and transactional email, compare the required signup, delivery, unsubscribe, export and sending limits. Resend and beehiiv serve different roles; neither is a universal replacement for Mailchimp.
- For issue tracking, trial a small project in an eligible Linear plan and compare it with your existing Jira workflow. Team permissions, integrations and export can change the choice.
- For automation, measure the complete successful workflow, including retries and external services. Make Core was $12 USD/month for the 10,000-credit monthly view on 9 October; credits do not count complete workflows.
- Dedicated design tools beyond Figma - Canva, Adobe, etc. Check whether Figma covers your design, export and collaboration requirements.
- For individual scheduling, compare availability rules, reminders and the required integrations. Quote the eligible plan rather than assuming one service is always cheaper or better.
The real skill isn't finding cheap tools. It's recognizing which capabilities don't earn a line item yet.
When to break the £100 cap
The budget is a heuristic, not a law. Break it deliberately when:
- A paid service is worth considering when its verified quote and expected work replace a task you need. Measure the time it actually saves rather than assuming an hourly benefit.
- Consider a paid feature when it supports a defined business workflow. Validate the outcome; a scheduling subscription does not establish additional revenue.
- Upgrade when required features, usage or eligibility call for it. Vercel Hobby terms restrict free hosting to non-commercial personal use; an eligible commercial plan may be needed before traffic grows.
Don't break the cap because you "feel like" you should have more. The feeling usually fades in 48 hours; the subscription renews monthly.
How to stay under £100
- Quarterly audit. 90 minutes, every 90 days. Count every subscription. Kill anything unused. See the audit framework.
- One-in, one-out rule. Adding a new paid tool? Something else comes off. Forces the question of what you're actually replacing.
- Annual plans only for load-bearing tools. Monthly billing makes cancellation painless. Annual is fine once a tool is unambiguously working.
- Trial-date calendar block. Every trial you start goes on the calendar with a "cancel or upgrade?" reminder one day before renewal.
Define and trial the stack
Use Plan to define a small release and your acceptance checks. A generated plan does not configure vendor accounts or establish a complete running cost.
Build my stack →Further reading
- The 15 Best Free Tools for Founders in 2026 - deeper on the free-tier picks.
- The cheapest SaaS stack - even tighter budget options.
- How to Audit Your SaaS Stack in 90 Minutes - how to stay lean once you've built lean.
- The Tool Stack Problem - why the constraint matters in the first place.