How to use the subscription cost calculator
- Add each subscription with its name, price and how often it is billed: weekly, monthly, every 3 months, every 6 months or yearly.
- Tick Drop it on any subscription you are thinking of cancelling.
- Read the monthly and yearly total, the cost per day, which subscriptions cost the most, and what dropping the ticked ones would save.
- Choose Save in this browser to keep your list, or use Print, PDF or CSV. There is no share link, so your list stays private.
Formula
Yearly cost = price x payments per year
Monthly cost = yearly cost / 12
Savings from dropping = yearly cost of the ticked subscriptions
Five-year savings = yearly savings x 5 (today's prices)
Payments per year are 52 for weekly, 12 for monthly, 4 for every three months, 2 for every six months and 1 for yearly. Each yearly cost is rounded to the cent.
Worked example
Six subscriptions: video streaming $15.49 a month, music $10.99 a month, cloud storage $29.99 a year, a news site $60 every six months, a gym $25 a month and a meal kit at $9.99 a week.
Yearly costs are $185.88, $131.88, $29.99, $120.00, $300.00 and $519.48, for a total of $1,287.23 a year or $107.27 a month, about $3.53 a day. The meal kit is the largest at 40.4% of the total.
Dropping the news site and the meal kit saves $639.48 a year, which is $53.29 a month and $3,197.40 over five years at today's prices. What remains costs $647.75 a year.
Why billing periods matter
Subscriptions bill on different schedules, so the prices you see are hard to compare. A yearly charge of $29.99 looks small beside a weekly charge of $9.99, but the weekly one is more than seventeen times larger over a year. Converting everything to a yearly cost and then to a monthly one puts them on one scale.
Weekly charges are multiplied by 52, so a weekly subscription really costs a little more than four times its weekly price each month.
Reviewing what to keep
A useful routine is to sort by yearly cost and ask three questions about each line: did I use it in the last month, would I buy it again today at this price, and is there a cheaper plan? Tick the ones you would cancel to see the savings, and untick them to see the total again.
Recurring charges also affect the rest of your finances. Enter the total in the budget planner under wants, or direct the savings toward a target using the savings goal calculator.
What this does not track
This is a calculator, not a bank connection. It does not find subscriptions for you, remind you of renewal dates or cancel anything. Free trials that convert to paid plans, price increases and taxes added at checkout are not included unless you enter them in the price.
Assumptions and limits
- Each price is what you are charged per billing period, including any tax you pay. Prices are held at today's level.
- A year has 52 weekly payments, 12 monthly, 4 quarterly, 2 twice a year and 1 yearly payment.
- The five-year figure is the yearly saving times five. It does not include price increases or interest on the savings.
- Annual discounts you would lose by switching billing periods, and free trials, are not modeled.
- Rows with no name and no price are ignored. A row with a name needs a price, even if it is 0.
- Monthly amounts are the yearly cost divided by 12 and rounded to the cent.
Frequently asked questions
How much do my subscriptions really cost per year?
Convert each to a yearly cost by multiplying its price by the number of billings per year, then add them. The example list of six totals $1,287.23, even though no single charge looks large.
How do I convert a weekly subscription to monthly?
Multiply the weekly price by 52 and divide by 12. A $9.99 weekly plan costs $519.48 a year or $43.29 a month, not $39.96, which is what four weeks would give.
Is it cheaper to pay for a subscription yearly?
Often the yearly plan has a discount, but only if you would use the service all year. Enter both plans and compare their yearly costs, then think about whether you would use it for the full period.
What is the average subscription cost per day?
Divide the yearly total by 365. For the example list that is $3.53 a day. Seeing the daily figure makes small recurring charges easier to weigh against what you use.
Will this tool remember my subscriptions?
Only if you choose Save in this browser, and only on that device. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no share link. Clear your site data and the saved list is gone.