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Best Subscription Boxes Guide

Nothing is better than coming home to find a box full of your favorite items waiting for you. The best subscription boxes have found the perfect way to combine surprise, anticipation, and fun in a simple monthly package.

Today subscription boxes exist for almost every interest, from the outdoors to glamour makeup. Whether you want to give yourself a monthly treat or the perfect gift for the people in your life with unique tastes, a subscription box exists for you.

Find the best subscription box for you or your friends, with our quick shopping guide.

Top 21 Best Subscription Boxes in 2023

1. HelloFresh

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HelloFresh is a premier weekly subscription service that allows you to customize and tweak your favorite meal choices from 20 different selections. Rather than send you heavily preserved or freeze-dried food, HelloFresh works to get you fresh and ready food that you can quickly get to cooking and eating.

This specialized meal subscription service allows you to choose from veggie, pescetarian, family-friendly, low-calorie options, and select meals made to be extra quick and easy for those on the move. If you want food subscription boxes, you will struggle to do better than HelloFresh.

Savings Tip: Get Hello Fresh promo codes and $20 cash back for the best deal.

2. Fabfitfun

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Many subscription boxes try to utilize a bunch of flashy goodies to keep people’s interest, while Fabfitfun takes this to the next level. You will choose a quarterly box chock-full of trendy and seasonal products, including skincare, beauty, and accessories. While each box only costs you fifty-dollars, they are packed with two-hundred-dollars’ worth of goods.

In addition to the great deal on the boxes, Fabfitfun members will also benefit from increased discounts and sales while on site. You can also return items in the boxes that you don’t plan on using or keeping.

Savings Tip: Get FabFitFun promo codes and $20 cash back for the best deal.

3. Bespoke Post

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This is a highly customizable monthly subscription service that allows you to get quality items and unique keepsakes centered around a certain theme or function.  A membership gives you discounts on each gift box and allows you to swap which box you will be receiving. Men’s grooming supplies, outdoor items, and bar accessories are just a small sample of what you can expect.

A monthly subscription to Bespoke Post will get you an email at the beginning of each month that will detail what each item in your box will be. From there you can either remove items or skip the box altogether, and only pay for what ships.

Savings Tip: Get BespokePost.com promo codes and $25 cash back for the best deal.

4. KiwiCo

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DIY sets and activities for growing brains! Kiwi Crate is a fantastic way to introduce your kids to new games, lessons, and experiments. All the activities are made to be fun and to boost learning in the fields of creativity, STEM, and the sciences -they are also made to offer you and your child quality time together.

KiwiCo will help you decide what activities and boxes are best for your child’s age group and interests, and you will then receive a monthly activity package to partake in. These are truly premier subscription boxes for kids with a creative side.

Savings Tip: Get KiwiCo promo codes and 15% cash back for the best deal.

5. Birchbox

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Receive high-quality samples tailored to your hair and skin. You fill out a beauty profile and sign-up, and then a stylist and other beauty experts curate the perfect selection of products for you. A subscription entails a monthly box of these specially chosen beauty products and samples as well as information on where they are from and how to use them.

This is the zest your beauty routine needs to take it to the next level. Professional beauty guidance has never been more convenient.

Savings Tip: Get Birch Box promo codes and 5% cash back for the best deal.

6. Winc

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Finally, a wine subscription! Winc lets you receive selected wines based on your taste preferences and ratings of past selections. You fill out a questionnaire and give feedback on each wine you receive, and over time you are left to find the perfect options for your palette.

The wines tend to start around thirteen dollars a bottle, and you are presented with a wide assortment of options. There are hundreds of hand-crafted wines – though the curated flavor profiles are probably your best bet.

Savings Tip: Get Winc promo codes and$18 cash back for the best deal.

7. BarkBox

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Want a way to give your dog a monthly surprise? Does your puppy get tired of the same old treats and toys? BarkBox is the perfect solution for you and your canine companion! These monthly subscriptions are a great mixture of toys, samples, and full-size products.

There are a number of adorable themes of gift boxes all tailored to various dog sizes and needs. After answering a series of simple questions about the pup, you will be ready to purchase one of the best monthly pet experiences you can have.

Savings Tip: Get BarkBox.com promo codes and $18 cash back for the best deal.

8. Fabletics

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Fabletics helps women get perfectly sculpted leggings and Yoga pants every month. This is a very simple process that provides great results. You fill out the size chart and sign up as a part of the Fabletics membership. Then, every month you will be offered a great deal on premier leggings. Each month you can choose to opt out or get the current pair being promoted.

This is one of many subscription boxes for women that are taking shopping, fashion, and high-value curation to the next level. They just announced a men’s line as well, meaning perhaps Fabletics may become promising subscription boxes for couples who work out together also.

Savings Tip: Get Fabletics promo codes and $20 cash back for the best deal.

9. SprezzaBox

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Monthly subscription boxes from Sprezza take all of the best bits from women’s glam and high-end beauty subscriptions, and tweak it for men. These ‘curated goods for the modern man’ are made to get him going outside in something a little more flashy than sweatpants.

The beauty box for men offers trendy socks, ties, collar stays, and a ton of other accessories to help him look his best. You are able to select from a number of boxes so what you get is always relevant to your needs.

Savings Tip: Get SprezzaBox.com promo codes for the best deal.

10. CAUSEBOX

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Causebox is another quarterly box that allows you to tweak and customize exactly what you are getting. They specialize in bringing you the best in sustainable and environmentally conscious products made by women. The boxes are themed on the seasons they arrive in (spring, fall, etc.) and contain everything from lamps and display pieces to grooming products, all from conscious companies.

Since this isn’t a month subscription system, the actual items you get are of a higher quality. Each box contains roughly $250 worth of goods at a fifty dollar price point!

Savings Tip: Get the best Causebox.com promo codes for the best deal.

11. Pop Sugar Must Have

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Regularly considered amongst the very best boxes for women, this is a box packed to the brim with the best in “fashion, beauty, haircare, self-care, home, and more.” You pay $75 per seasonal box, and each one comes out to about $300 in value.

You can even begin to customize your add-ons amongst the specially curated items. Items are built around fun, trendy products that will make people take notice. These are arguably the best beauty subscription boxes when weighed by value-per-box.

Savings Tip: Get PopSugar promo codes and $10 cash back for the best deal.

12. Man-Crates

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While Man Crates is perhaps the most famous of the item-box style gift packages, they operate a little differently. Rather than offer monthly subscriptions, Man-Crate specializes in bespoke and especially curated boxes built around a specific hobby or task.

They have simple starter kits from everything from barbecuing to smoking jerky, to roasters, car repair, even distilling your own whiskey and there is nothing stopping you from getting boxes on a monthly basis. These gift boxes are amazing for the guys in your life who are hard to buy for, as even the crate itself provides some nice fun (comes with a crowbar you have to use to pry it open).

Savings Tip: Get Man crates promo codes and 7.5% cash back for the best deal.

13. Stitch Fix

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Stitch Fix was made with the goal of providing a personal stylist for everyone. Men, women, kids – they have clothes for everyone. The clothing experts at Stitch Fix will take into account your size, age, sex, and personal style and will put together a lineup of clothes perfect for you. You even get to try on the clothes at home and send back the ones you don’t like.

You can go about getting your style upgraded in a number of ways as well. You can opt for monthly items carefully selected for you, or opt into the service a single time to get some new threads. There is no longer any excuse for lacking style.

Savings Tip: Get StitchFix promo codes and %10 cash back for the best deal.

14. Gentleman’s Box

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Subscription boxes for men are not rare, but the Gentleman’s box focuses more on the upscale, refined man rather than the bearded lumberjack types.  While both Gentlemen’s Box and the Man-Crate types do have some overlap, the Gentleman’s Box is where you should focus if you are prone to wearing suits and designer shoes.

There are various subscription options revolving around fitness, lifestyle, and fashion, with a heavy emphasis on city and urban living.

Savings Tip: Get Gentleman’s Box promo codes and 10% cash back for the best deal.

15. Trunk Club

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The Nordstrom Trunk Club is an interesting twist on the clothing subscription boxes. Just as with some of the others on this list, the Trunk Club has you fill out a size and style sheet that is then taken in by a personal stylist who selects the perfect clothes for you.

You are able to schedule the trunks whenever you like, giving you many more options than other services. With the Nordstrom name you also get a more reliable corporate entity should you have any issues or problem with the service,

Savings Tip: Get Trunk Club promo codes and 7% cash back for the best deal.

16. Gwynnie Bee

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While many of the options listed make for great subscription boxes for college students, the Gwynnie Bee set-up might be what every young lady on a budget needs. Just as with other clothing services you will fill out a profile and style sheet and will then receive a carefully selected choice of clothing.

The difference here is that the full outfits are much more affordable and can keep even those living off of Ramen soup looking good each month and never wearing the same outfit twice!

Savings Tip: Get the best Gwynnie Bee promo codes for the best deal.

17. Frank And Oak

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The last of our clothing subscriptions on this list. Like the others, you pick a style and fill out some questions and then stylists will be on the job curated items for your monthly box. Frank and Oak provides a nice balance between casual and formal that many of the other boxes have issues with.

Unlike the crates focused on suit accessories or specialized gear, this is a box full of clothes you will actually wear the next day. Casual is convenient yet again.

Savings Tip: Get Frank and Oak promo codes and 5% cash back for the best deal.

18. Scentbird 

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The one thing all of those beauty subscription boxes were missing? Quality scents. Scentbird lets you “test drive” over 500 scents for the month. You pick the skincare or scented product form a large list and it is delivered to your door.

You can then get a refresh, or replace the products for the next month, allowing you to zero in on the perfect fragrance and skincare regime for you.

Savings Tip: Get Scentbird.com promo codes and 10% cash back for the best deal.

19. Glossybox

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Glossybox is a very affordable box that gets you 5 carefully chosen products each month. Over time your membership will let you access added benefits and sales across the Glossy product lines. While Glossybox isn’t as big or glamorous as some other beauty boxes, the price point means you may be able to get more products, regularly at your door, for much less than you are paying now.

It has never been easier to get a regular refill on all of your necessary skincare items for less than you are likely paying now for the same type of items.

Savings Tip: Get GlossyBox promo codes and 5% cash back for the best deal.

20. Dollar Shave Club

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Dollar Shave Club broke the mold for subscription services and never looked back. They know you need to shave all the time, your razors get dull and you run out of cream. But not anymore!

Now you will always have fresh razors, effective soothing creams, and a ton of handy accessories (like a face towel, or shaving brush) you never even knew you needed. Save money and keep your face looking great!

Savings Tip: Get Dollar Shave Club promo codes and 15% cash back for the best deal.

21. Blue Apron

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Choose your preferred meal size and the number of people enjoying it, and be helped to weekly meals you will love. Blue Apron accommodates almost any kind of diet and brings you fantastic gourmet style meals that you can prepare easily on your own.

These are great for family meal highlights or date nights when you want to do something a little different. Blue Apron also offers tons of fantastic snacks and wines on their market as well. They now also have spice blends as well.

Savings Tip: Get Blue Apron promo codes and $15 cash back for the best deal.

Tips for Buying Subscription Boxes

 While we gave you a large list of the best subscription boxes, you still need to decide which ones are right for you and your friends or family. Here are five tips to help you with your purchase.

Decide what type of subscription box is best for you

While from a consumer standpoint, subscription boxes all seem relatively similar, what goes on behind the scene of these boxes, and eventually into these boxes, couldn’t be more different. It should be self-explanatory that the first things you should check about a certain box are the reviews. You want to find boxes that are already making their current customers happy to start.

Secondly, you should look more closely at the business model behind the boxes and what types of items you can expect to receive. Some boxes will offer you very carefully selected food or clothing items, while others will give you lots of samples of various products hoping you may make bigger purchases in the future.

The more you delve into the business model, goals, and partners of a subscription box service, the more you can predict what types of items you are bound to get.

Don’t be afraid to try new things

Subscription boxes are the ultimate excuse to get exposed to new products and flavors. Signing up to a ‘Spirit of the Month Club’ may mean you will receive drinks like wines and or whiskeys you don’t typically enjoy. This is your chance to make the leap and try something new; you could even find a new favorite. If you know you really won’t enjoy a certain product, keep it around for when you entertain guests to show off your range of offerings.

Long stories made short, subscription boxes are often an excuse to find yourself with something you normally may not have, and many enjoy this unique characteristic.

Subscription boxes for pets and kids go a long way

It is no secret that kids outgrow clothes and destroy toys faster than they have any right to, luckily, the right boxes to wonders to keep up with the destruction and growth. Monthly boxes are great for their novelty value, kids love getting new things, and for many parents it is important to expose your child to new ideas constantly.

Helping your kid get a mixture of toys ranging from arts, to crafts, to really anything. It is a fun and unique way to expose them to new concepts rather than always buying them the specific toy they are sure they want.

The same logic here also applies to our furry family members as well. Being able to regularly resupply your pet’s toys and grooming supplies is great. For those with pups who are picky eaters, getting new treats and foods to try can also be a huge help in keeping your pawed diva happy.

Consider recurring needs

If you are looking to get a monthly box for yourself or someone else, perhaps consider getting one that fills some of your monthly needs. The pet based subscription boxes we talked about earlier are an example of how to get your pet a month’s worth of treats and toys, but dozens of examples exist.

Dollar Shave Club is one of the most successful recurring boxes based around filling a constant need: shaving razors and cream. Dollar shave club has figured out the average time it takes to go through one of their razors, and resupplies accordingly. These types of services are a great way to save yourself trips to the store, and to drastically improve the quality of an important aspect of your life, be it shaving, cooking or hundreds of other activities.

Weigh quality versus quantity

Some people like to get dozens of small and unique little gifts, while others appreciate highly curated and selected items much more. Once you have found a topic and price you like for a box, you should begin weighing your options around quantity and quality.

Typically, clothing and survival items (items made to last longer or look good) benefit more from a highly curated box and higher price points, while pop-culture and game-related content is usually more popular in a large assortment variety. It is the typical deluxe or small-batch option versus popular mass-produced goods.

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