Ben's Top 5 Essential Apps and Services of 2025
Below are what I consider to be my top 5 essential apps and services of 2025. These apps and services respect my privacy and help me control what I focus on. If you are not using them or on the fence about one of them, I recommend you check them out in 2026.
Number 1: Kagi
I was given a 3 month subscription to Kagi towards the beginning of the year. At first I ignored the code, who needs another service? By the end of the 3 months, I was hooked and am now a yearly Ultimate subscriber.
I use Kagi and the Kagi [AI] Assistant daily to help me find answers. Towards the end of the year, they rolled out Kagi News which I am now using for news aggregation.
There's no doubt in my mind it's worth the cost. As the expression goes, "if you're not paying for the product, you are the product." Kagi has changed/restored the way I find information on the internet.
Number 2: NextDNS
NextDNS is a service I have used and paid for 5 years. This is an absolutely essential service for me. For only $20 a year, it allows me and my family better privacy and security on the internet. To me, that's a huge bargain.
I have our home router using NextDNS as our DNS provider. This setup blocks all sorts of nefarious things on the internet and can be set to block ads. When I'm on my phone outside of the house, it's amazing how "gunky" the web is.
The DNS logging has allowed me to pinpoint services that are frequently phoning home and shut that traffic off. It's alarming how much traffic apps generate.
Number 3: Actual Budget
After attempting to create a budget for years, using different apps, spreadsheets, or services, I finally found one that clicked with me: Actual Budget. It's both free and open source!
The interface does take a little getting used to and it did take me a few months to get the hang of the "month ahead" strategy but I stuck with it. For years, I've known I needed and wanted better control over my finances. For the first time I finally have that total awareness of my financial situation.
I track all of my accounts in the app. All of my data is stored locally and shared with no one else/no other service or company.
If you are looking for a way to manage your finances, give Actual Budget a try for a couple of months and see if it works for you.
Number 4: GrapheneOS
At the end of 2024, I changed my Pixel 8 from stock Android to GrapheneOS as part of my de-Googling. There has been some challenges. For example, I was unable to use the Turo app for renting a car but everything else I do works great. I am not a heavy phone user so there's probably other apps out there that don't work the best. For me, the privacy is worth the trade off that I might have to jump through some hoops.
Number 5: Pen and Paper
Finally, to close out my top 5, something that is not a digital technology- pen and paper.
I use a simple Moleskine notebook and pen to record my thoughts, create dopamine inducing checklists, and capture the 3 things I want to focus on.
A notebook doesn't leak my information to the web, is portable and not locked in to a vendor, and I can change my format at any time depending on what's going on in life. Some days I can only plan out a day, some days I can plan a week.
I know there are many digital tools out there for capturing the above. I even wrote one myself. But for me, nothing beats pen and paper.
That wraps up my top 5 essential apps and services of 2025. As I was writing about each of them, I came up with two additional recommendations.
Bonus #1: The Pragmatic Engineer
I have subscribed to the Pragmatic Engineer for a couple of years now. I value the insights, technology updates, and interviews with industry leaders. All delivered straight to my inbox. The knowledge gained makes this an easy recommendation to anyone who works with software. The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter is what got me started with Kagi.
Bonus #2: AntennaPod
When I swapped over to GrapheneOS, I also started listening to a lot of podcasts again and have been using AntennaPod. AntennaPod is an excellent app and it's both open source and respectful of your privacy. If you listen to podcasts, I recommend you switch over to AntennaPod. Their year end "Echo" (generated all locally on your device) is a super cool recap of your stats from last year.
If you have a privacy-focused app or service recommendation, I'd love to hear about it. If you use one of these services, please share your thoughts about them.
I hope you find something essential in my list for your 2026!
-Ben