Last updated:
Quick answer
Search your inbox for words like 'receipt', 'renewal', and 'free trial', then let AI turn the results into a list of every service charging you, with cost and renewal date. Cancel the ones you forgot about.
At a glance
All outcome figures are estimates from cited sources, not independent verification by us.
- What it is allowed to do
- Read-only
Only reads, researches, or summarizes. It never drafts outbound content or changes anything.
- Time saved (estimate)
- Estimate: about 30 minutes for the full sweep, once a year
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Tools needed
- ChatGPT
- Typical cost
- Free. Email search and free chatbot tiers are all you need. Paid subscription finders exist but are not required.
Reviewed Oct 19, 2026
Basis (estimate): Based on about 5 inbox searches at 2 minutes each, 10 minutes collecting results, and 10 minutes reviewing the AI-built list. The review against card statements adds extra time.
What does this setup do?
Builds a complete list of subscriptions and trials found in your inbox
Who is it for?
Anyone who has signed up for free trials and suspects they are paying for things they forgot
How do you set it up?
Tools
- An email account (free)
- ChatGPT or Gemini (free tier works)
- Optional: your phone's app store subscription page for phone-billed apps
Steps
- In your email, search these phrases one at a time: 'receipt', 'renewal', 'your subscription', 'free trial', 'auto-renew'.
- Look at results from the last 12 months. You are hunting for two kinds of email: signup confirmations and billing receipts.
- Copy the sender names, service names, amounts, and dates into a note. Do not organize yet, just collect.
- Paste the collected list into ChatGPT or Gemini with the prompt below. The AI turns it into a clean table.
- Check the AI's table against your list. Add anything it missed, especially annual subscriptions that only bill once a year.
- For each subscription you do not use, cancel it now. Trials converting to paid plans are the top priority, since they start billing silently.
- Check phone-billed subscriptions too. On iPhone go to Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. On Android, open Play Store, tap your profile, then Payments and subscriptions.
Example output
Illustrative. Your results will differ.
- This month's spending sorted into 6 categories
- 3 subscriptions you forgot about, flagged for review
- You decide what to cut. Nothing moves on its own.
Where to paste this prompt
ChatGPT: ChatGPT → Project instructions, or ChatGPT Tasks for scheduled reminders (once a day on Free)
Copy-paste prompt
Adapt bracketed fields to your situation.
Here is a messy list of subscription and receipt emails from my inbox. Turn it into a table with these columns: Service name, Monthly or annual cost, Last billed date, Renewal date if known, and Keep or Cancel with a one-line reason. My rule: cancel anything I have not used in 3 months, keep streaming or tools I use weekly. Emails: [PASTE YOUR COLLECTED LIST]Newsletter
Get the free starter pack
Free starter pack with five beginner copy-paste prompts after you confirm, plus three sourced setups in your inbox each week. Unsubscribe anytime.
What usually goes wrong?
Where agents tend to stall on this job. More patterns in Where AI gets stuck.
- The AI misreads a receipt and lists the wrong amount. Verify every cost against the original email before canceling or keeping.
- PayPal subscriptions hide the service name. Your statement just says PayPal. Check PayPal's preapproved payments page directly.
- Apple and Google store subscriptions do not always send email receipts. Check the subscription pages on your phone, as step 7 says.
- Family members subscribed with your email. Confirm who owns each subscription before canceling someone else's plan.
Which chat tools work with this prompt?
Paste the prompt into any of these assistants (free or paid tiers).
- ChatGPT
- Gemini
Common questions
- What about subscriptions under a different email?
- Repeat the searches in every email account you use. Most people need to check two or three addresses before the list is complete.
- Should I use a paid subscription-finder app instead?
- They exist and can save time, but they need access to your inbox and bank data. The free manual method works fine for a once-a-year sweep.
- How do I cancel a free trial that already converted?
- Most services let you cancel in account settings and will prorate or refund recent charges if you ask support. Cancel first, then request the refund.
Where should you go next on this site?
What tips make it smoother?
- Search for dollar amounts too, like '$9.99' or '$14.99'. Those are the most common subscription price points and surface forgotten charges.
- Cross-check the AI list against one credit card statement. Inbox searches miss subscriptions billed to email addresses you forgot.
- Annual plans are the sneaky ones. Sort your search by oldest first to catch things that only bill once a year.
- Set a calendar reminder for each trial's billing date. The AI list becomes a cancellation calendar.
Where do the claims come from?
Summaries use public sources linked below, not independent verification. How setups are picked.
- Read Substract’s write-up (www.substract.co)
Substract: Lists the exact inbox search terms (receipt, renewal, free trial) and notes that app-store subscriptions hide under bundled Apple or Google charges.
- Read Subscription Insider on Medium’s write-up (medium.com)
Subscription Insider on Medium: Gives the email-first method with specific search phrases and the tip to search common price points like $9.99 and $14.99.
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