My $108 Wake-Up Call with Rocket Money
I'll be honest: I was a Rocket Money fan for almost two years.
The app is slick. The subscription detection is genuinely impressive. And the promise of "we'll cancel subscriptions for you" sounds amazing when you're staring at a bank statement full of forgotten $9.99 charges.
Then I asked them to cancel a $29.99/month software subscription I'd forgotten about.
They did it successfully. Great! But then I looked at my statement and saw a charge from Rocket Money for $107.96 - their commission on the first year of savings ($359.88 x 30%). That's on top of the $6-12/month I was already paying for the premium subscription.
I sat there thinking: "Wait... I could have just logged into that software's website and clicked 'Cancel Subscription' myself. It would have taken 3 minutes."
That's when I realized the actual hard part isn't cancelling subscriptions - it's knowing what you're subscribed to in the first place. And there had to be a better way to get that visibility without the commission fees.
Rocket Money vs BankSync: Full Feature Comparison
Let's cut to the chase. Here's how these two tools actually stack up:
Rocket Money vs BankSync Feature Comparison
| Feature |
|---|
The Real Cost: Rocket Money's Hidden Commission Model
Rocket Money's pricing looks simple on the surface, but there's a catch most people don't discover until it's too late:
True Cost Comparison
Including the fees they don't advertise upfront
Rocket Money Free
Basic subscription tracking
- View subscriptions
- Cancel subscriptions for you
- Bill negotiation
- Smart Savings
- Custom budgets
Rocket Money Premium
Plus 30-60% commission on savings
- View subscriptions
- Cancel subscriptions (+commission)
- Bill negotiation (+commission)
- Smart Savings
- Dedicated mobile app
BankSync
Zero commission, ever
- All transactions synced
- Full subscription visibility
- Investment tracking
- Works in Notion/Sheets/Airtable
- Keep 100% of savings
What Rocket Money Does Exceptionally Well
Before I explain why I switched, let me be fair: Rocket Money (formerly Truebill) is a genuinely useful product for the right person. Here's what they do better than almost anyone:
Automatic Subscription Detection
Rocket Money scans your transactions and automatically identifies recurring charges. No manual setup required - just connect your accounts and see everything.
Bill Negotiation Service
They'll call Comcast, your insurance company, or your cell carrier and negotiate lower rates on your behalf. This is genuinely valuable if you hate making those calls.
Done-For-You Cancellations
For people who genuinely won't cancel subscriptions themselves, having someone else handle it removes the friction entirely.
Price Increase Alerts
Get notified when a subscription raises its price so you can decide if it's still worth keeping.
Smart Savings Feature
Automatically moves money to savings based on your spending patterns. Useful if you struggle with manual saving.
Polished Mobile Experience
The iOS and Android apps are well-designed and easy to use. Everything feels professional and trustworthy.
The Problem: You're Paying for Convenience You Don't Need
Here's the uncomfortable reality most Rocket Money users eventually face:
The hard part of managing subscriptions isn't the cancellation. It's the visibility.
Most people have no idea what they're subscribed to. That $9.99 charge from six months ago? You forgot what it's for. The $14.99 that hits every month? You're not sure if you still use it. The $4.99 that snuck in during a free trial? You didn't even notice.
Once you actually see all your subscriptions in one place, cancelling the ones you don't need is trivially easy:
- Log into the service's website
- Find Account Settings or Subscription
- Click Cancel
- Confirm (maybe answer a survey)
- Done. 5 minutes max.
Is that worth paying 30-60% of your annual savings for someone else to do? For most people, absolutely not.
"The real value isn't in having someone cancel subscriptions for you. It's in having complete visibility into what you're paying for in the first place."
The Alternative: Full Visibility Without the Middleman
BankSync takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of being a subscription cancellation service, it's a data connector that gives you visibility - the part that actually matters.
It syncs your bank transactions directly to the tools you already use:
Sync Your Bank Data To
Notion
Build custom subscription trackers with rollups, formulas, and views. See recurring charges alongside your projects and goals.
Google Sheets
Full spreadsheet power for subscription analysis. Create pivot tables, charts, and share with your partner or accountant.
Airtable
Relational database features for power users. Link subscriptions to budgets, categories, and build automations.
Once your transactions are syncing, you can create a simple view that shows all recurring charges. Group by merchant, sort by amount, and suddenly you can see exactly what you're paying for - without giving anyone a cut of your savings.
What I Built After Ditching Rocket Money
Here's my actual subscription tracking setup in Notion after switching to BankSync:
1. Transactions Database (Auto-Synced)
Every transaction from all my accounts automatically appears as a database entry. BankSync handles this completely - I don't do anything. Each transaction includes date, amount, merchant, account, and category.
2. Recurring Charges View
I created a filtered view that groups transactions by merchant and shows monthly averages. Any merchant appearing regularly with the same amount is obviously a subscription. This took 10 minutes to set up.
3. Keep/Cancel Status Field
I added a simple select field: "Keep", "Review", or "Cancel". During my monthly review, I flag subscriptions I want to look at more closely or cancel.
4. Monthly Subscription Total
A rollup formula shows my total recurring monthly charges. Watching this number go down as I cancel unused subscriptions is genuinely satisfying.
Total setup time: about 30 minutes. Total monthly cost: $7. Commission on cancelled subscriptions: $0.
Who Should Stick with Rocket Money
I'm not here to trash Rocket Money. For certain people, it's genuinely the right choice:
You have genuine phone anxiety
Some subscriptions (gyms, cable companies) require phone calls to cancel. If you absolutely won't make those calls, paying commission might be worth it.
You want bill negotiation services
Rocket Money will call Comcast, your insurance company, or cell carrier to negotiate lower rates. BankSync doesn't offer this.
You prefer a dedicated mobile app
If you don't use Notion, Sheets, or Airtable and want a standalone subscription tracker, Rocket Money's app is polished.
You want Smart Savings automation
Rocket Money can automatically move money to savings. This is useful if you struggle with manual saving habits.
You genuinely value done-for-you convenience
Some people prefer paying for convenience. If that's you and the commission doesn't bother you, Rocket Money delivers.
Who Should Switch to BankSync
BankSync is the better alternative if:
You can cancel subscriptions yourself
If you're capable of logging into a website and clicking 'Cancel Subscription,' you don't need to pay 30-60% commission.
You already use Notion, Airtable, or Google Sheets
See your subscriptions in tools you already check daily. No new app to remember to open.
You hate hidden fees and commissions
BankSync is $7/month flat. No commission, no percentage cuts, no surprises.
You want to track more than just subscriptions
BankSync syncs all your transactions plus investments, balances, and holdings. Full financial picture, not just recurring charges.
You want full data control
Your financial data lives in your tools, not locked in someone else's app. Export, query, build on it however you want.
You want to keep 100% of your savings
Cancel a $500/month subscription and keep all $6,000/year. No middleman taking a cut.
What BankSync Doesn't Do (Being Honest)
I want to be upfront about what you're giving up if you switch:
No Bill Negotiation
If you want someone to call Comcast and negotiate your rate down, BankSync won't do that. You'll need to call yourself or use a separate service.
No Done-For-You Cancellations
BankSync shows you what you're paying for. Actually cancelling is on you (but it's usually much easier than you think).
No Dedicated Mobile App
You access your data through Notion, Sheets, or Airtable apps. Great if you use those; not ideal if you don't.
No Smart Savings Feature
BankSync focuses on visibility, not automated savings. You'll need a separate tool for auto-saving.
For most people, the savings from avoiding commission fees far outweigh these trade-offs. But if bill negotiation is essential to you, Rocket Money might still be worth it for that specific feature.
What BankSync Users Are Saying
"I switched from Rocket Money after they took a $215 commission on cancelled subscriptions I could have cancelled myself in 20 minutes. BankSync gives me the same visibility into my recurring charges, but I keep 100% of my savings. Plus my transactions are right in Notion where I manage everything else."
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bottom Line: Keep Your Savings
Rocket Money solves a real problem - subscription creep is expensive, and most people have no idea what they're paying for. But their solution comes with a significant catch: commission fees that can cost you hundreds of dollars for work you could do yourself in minutes.
The real value isn't in having someone cancel subscriptions for you. It's in having complete visibility into what you're paying for in the first place.
BankSync gives you that visibility in tools you already use, at a price that never changes, with zero commission on your savings.
The $847/year I was wasting on forgotten subscriptions? I kept every penny of that when I cancelled them myself.
No credit card required. Cancel anytime. Your data stays in your tools even if you stop using BankSync.