Nobody sets out to pay for four different apps to run a small studio. It happens one Tuesday at a time: Canva Pro for the treatment menu design, Bitly for the QR code on the window, Invoice Simple once three invoices a month stops being enough, and a PDF tool once the daily free tasks run out on a busy week. Six months later the card is quietly paying for four subscriptions that each cover a job taking a few minutes.
Three subscriptions that creep into a studio's card bill
- Canva Pro, mainly for the one-click Magic Resize on social and listing photos.
- Bitly or a similar service, once a QR code needs editing after it is printed.
- Invoice Simple, once more than three invoices go out to clients a month.
The free options compared
| Job | Paid market leader | Paid price | Jobbit tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF compression | Smallpdf Pro | $15 a month or $108 a year | Free plan, no daily task cap |
| Image resizing | Canva Pro | £13 a month or £100 a year plus VAT | Free plan, a whole folder per message |
| QR codes | Bitly Core | $10 a month billed annually | Free plan, unlimited static codes |
| Invoices | Invoice Simple Premium | $19.99 a month | Free plan, no monthly invoice count |
A salon example
Petal & Co Beauty added up its card statement one quiet Sunday and found Canva Pro, a QR code subscription and Invoice Simple's mid-tier plan running quietly every month for jobs that each took a few minutes to do. Nobody at the studio could remember signing up to two of the three, only that a free trial had turned into a recurring charge. Switching the QR code and the invoicing to a free tool cut two subscriptions immediately, and Canva stayed only because the studio designs its social posts there anyway.
Our pick and why
Add the cheapest paid plans for these four jobs together and a one-person studio pays roughly £30 a month, about £360 a year, for tasks that each take a few minutes. Jobbit's free tools cover the same four jobs with no card and no watermark, though Canva Pro still earns its keep for a studio that designs there daily. Jobbit is worth checking before renewing any of the other three, and the full price comparison has the numbers for every plan.
