There are way too many online services and subscriptions to keep track of these days, but the flip side is there’s a tool for just about everything. Time is just about up to get a physical gift shipped in time for the holidays, so below we’ve pulled together some of our favorite digital gifts and subscriptions, including time-tested video, music and gaming services as well as tools to clear your mental space and learn new skills. There are also a few subscriptions that provide ongoing, IRL deliveries, if you think your giftee will appreciate the nostalgic charm of a physical object.
Best digital gifts and subscription gifts
Disney Disney, Hulu, HBO Max bundle The big streaming video platforms just keep getting more expensive. As such, Disney’s latest content bundle feels like a breath of fresh air. For $20 a month, you can get access to Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max ($33 / month gets you ad-free playback and downloads, among other premium features). Each platform has its own benefits and particular focuses, making it a package that covers a ton of ground. Hulu is great for catching up on current programming from major networks plus a fair handful of original content like Alien: Earth, Only Murders in the Building, The Bear and Reservation Dogs; it also has a solid rotating movie library. HBO Max is, as the name suggests, the place to get HBO originals like The Pitt, The White Lotus, Succession, Game of Thrones spinoffs House of the Dragon and the forthcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and The Last of Us along with classics like The Sopranos and The Wire. It also has a vast movie catalog and remains the only place to stream Friends. And, of course, Disney+ covers the massive Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars catalogs, including new movies like Inside Out 2 and shows like Andor. All told, together it’s a massive library with a ton of content you won’t find elsewhere. — Nathan Ingraham, Deputy Editor $20/month+ at Disney+
Masterclass MasterClass You can almost think of MasterClass as an elevated streaming platform. Yes, it’s a learning app, complete with step-by-step instructions from A-list instructors, plus assignments that encourage trying new skills in the real world, but it’s also just a lot of fun to sit and idly watch. It makes a good gift for anyone you know that’s always quoting an article they just read or a documentary they just watched, but also for those who appreciate entertainment that’s a little more sophisticated than reality TV (not that there’s anything wrong with the latter). The MasterClass lineup reads like the course catalog from a mythical university: David Sedaris teaches humor and storytelling, John Legend teaches songwriting, Amy Poehler teaches improv-based life skills, Roy Choi teaches intuitive cooking. Each class ranges from about two to eight hours and is split up into manageable five- to 15-minute lessons. If you faithfully follow along, taking notes and putting effort into the assignments, you’ll come out the other end better at whatever the topic was. But I found MasterClass also lends itself to idle, popcorn-in-hand couch viewing. Everything is beautifully shot and set to lovely music, with plenty of backstory on the instructors and slo-mo close-ups. A subscription gives you access to classes on iOS and Android devices and Apple, Roku, Fire TV and Android TV interfaces. Despite its big-name instructors and high production quality, a MasterClass subscription won’t run you much more than standard ad-free streaming services. Gift subscriptions are bundled by the year and range from $120 for an individual account and $240 for a premium account, which allows offline access and up to six devices at once. Keep an eye out: The gift packages often go on sale for the holidays. — Amy Skorheim, Senior Reporter $120/year+ at MasterClass
Headspace Headspace If 2025 was a stressful year for you, you’re not alone. And while our phones aren’t exactly the best companions for our mental health, they do occasionally offer some tools that can help. The Headspace app is a great example: it features a wide variety of guided meditations, including sessions for beginners as well as specific exercises that focus on reducing anxiety, learning breathing techniques, increasing your compassion and so on. It goes beyond meditation, though, with personalized content to help manage your stress levels throughout the day via different check-ins, meditations and video content. There are also yoga and fitness sessions, and parents can also check out a “mindful parenting” category as well as play back stories for their kids. Plus, there are sleep tools like soothing music and "sleepcasts,” while other audio programs center on focusing, moving more and starting your day. For $13 a month or $70 a year, Headspace can be a great tool to add some peace of mind to your day. — N.I. $13/month at Headspace
Libro.fm Libro.fm If you love audiobooks but want to support booksellers instead of Amazon or Spotify, Libro.fm is your best favorite option. The service works with local booksellers — when you sign up, you can choose a store to support and they’ll get a portion of the sales. That’ll happen whether it’s a monthly subscription or individual book purchases. A $15-per-month subscription provides one audiobook credit and 30 percent off of any additional titles. And if you’re a particularly avid listener, the $24/month subscription includes two book credits. Naturally, Libro has apps for iOS and Android, and you can download DRM-free files for playing on a computer or other device. In my searching, Libro’s catalog seems extensive, with plenty of new titles and classics alike. — N.I. $15/month at Libro.fm
VSCO VSCO Pro Membership The photo-editing app VSCO has been around almost as long as Instagram and has gone through several iterations over time. But its combination of comprehensive editing tools and one-tap filters and film simulations is addictive, easy to use and offers tons of flexibility in how you present your images. The $60-per-year VSCO Pro plan offers almost an overwhelming amount of tools for people who want to take their photography to the next level, whether they’re shooting with a smartphone or a more advanced camera. It unlocks VSCO’s best “pro” presets for dialing in various looks for your images, all of which can be tweaked to your liking. And if you want to create your own look you can make recipes of your own that let you apply a specific set of edits to any photo you want with one tap. You can also make edits through VSCO’s studio on the web now, for when you’re on a larger screen, and sync those changes back to your mobile devices. And VSCO now integrates with Adobe Lightroom, letting you easily move images between the two platforms depending on what you’re looking to do. If you’re mostly just interested in doing edits on your phone, though, VSCO also offers a $30-per-year Plus plan that unlocks the presets, along with editing tools, recipe creation and community access while keeping the more career-oriented features and some of the additional edit tools for the Pro tier. — N.I. $60/year at VSCO
Day One Day One Journal Sure, iOS and Android now offer built-in journaling apps of their own, but I’ve been using Day One to collect my thoughts for well over a decade now and can’t recommend it enough. For starters, it has a minimal but lovely design that’s easy to understand. But don’t assume simplicity means a lack of features — there are loads of ways to set up and customize your journaling space. I have more than a dozen individual journals in my Day One, and there’s no limit on how many you can add. You can view your entries in a calendar, by location (if you turn that on) or in a simple chronological list — or you can view just the ones you’ve added photos or videos too. There aren’t any limits on how much media you can add to your journals, either. You can add all sorts of other things to your entries too, like audio recordings, activities or workouts synced from your phone, drawings you can make with an iPad and Apple Pencil or even other files you want to associate with a particular memory. You can also naturally protect your journal via a passcode or biometric authentication like Face ID. A premium subscription ($35 annually) can encrypt and sync this all to the cloud and any devices you want to use Day One on. It’s available for iOS, Android, macOS and in your web browser. — N.I. $35/year at Day One
The Sill The Sill gift subscriptions Plants can be a lot of work, but they’re also great at bringing some tranquility and variety to a living space. A subscription to The Sill can cut out a bunch of the work getting started with such an endeavor. The company sells a huge variety of plants online, but it also offers three- or six-month subscription boxes, where you can get or gift a new plant every month. It lets you choose factors like “easy-care” for newbies or “pet friendly” if there are curious cats in the house. There’s also an orchid-specific subscription if you want to choose something a little fancier. The company also smartly does not auto-renew subscriptions, so it’s easy to avoid accidentally getting sucked into more greenery than you can handle. Shipping plants can feel perilous, but in my experience they’ve been really well-packaged, and if the plant is damaged you can just send a photo within 30 days to get it replaced. — N.I. $55/month+ at The Sill
Planta Planta Premium A Planta app subscription could make a perfect companion to some plants from The Sill. For $8 a month or $36 a year, Planta helps plant-lovers who might not have the greenest thumb take care of their flock. Using your phone’s cameras, Planta can identify plants and offer care tips. If one isn’t looking great, Planta will offer a treatment plan to get it healthy again. It also has a light meter which can analyze a room and figure out if it gets enough light to support a particular plant, and there are a variety of tools to keep a plant collecting organized. Finally, the app’s watering reminders take into account 30 different parameters as well as local weather conditions to make sure specific plants are getting the water they need. — N.I. $36/year at Planta
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