I just let my thermostat alert me, based on run time. It worked with my old programmable, it works with my Nest (yeah, I know). And since I buy 3-packs of the filters, when I get down to the last one, I just add "16x20x1 filters" to my shopping list. When I'm at Wallyworld or Home Despot/Blowes, I'm there for a reason, open my shopping list, and see the filters listed...
I signed up for Amazon's repeat delivery, which not only reminds me to change it (oh look a filter showed up time to change!) but it saved me money too. It's way cheaper than that subscription program (I looked at that too).
No affiliation, not even a subscriber -- just had a "duh" moment when I saw their ad.