Subscription Cost Calculator
Calculate the true annual cost of all your subscriptions combined.
See monthly and weekly breakdowns and spot which services are worth keeping or canceling.
Subscription costs are uniquely deceptive because each individual charge feels small — but the cumulative annual and decade-long totals are often shocking. This calculator helps you see the full picture, including what those subscription dollars could have grown to if invested instead.
Core formulas:
Annual Cost = Monthly Cost × 12
Total Cost Over N Years = Annual Cost × N
Opportunity Cost (Future Value) = Annual Cost × [(1 + r)^N − 1] / r
Variable definitions:
- Monthly Cost — what you pay per billing cycle
- Annual Cost — monthly × 12 (the number most people never calculate)
- N — number of years you plan to keep the subscription
- r — expected annual investment return (e.g., 0.07 for 7%)
- Opportunity Cost — what the money would have been worth if invested in an index fund instead of spent on subscriptions
Worked example: Five subscriptions: streaming ($16), music ($11), news ($10), cloud storage ($3), fitness app ($15) = $55/month.
Annual cost = $55 × 12 = $660/year 5-year cost = $660 × 5 = $3,300 10-year cost = $660 × 10 = $6,600
10-year opportunity cost at 7% return: = $660 × [(1.07^10 − 1) / 0.07] = $660 × 13.816 = $9,118
That $55/month could become over $9,000 in a decade.
The hidden subscription categories most people forget:
- Cloud storage ($3–$15/month)
- Password managers ($3–$5/month)
- Antivirus software ($3–$8/month)
- VPN services ($4–$10/month)
- App subscriptions (auto-renewed yearly, often forgotten)
- Premium social media tiers ($7–$14/month)
- Auto-renewing free trials that converted to paid
The 30-day audit rule: Cancel any subscription you have not actively used in the past 30 days. Studies consistently show people overestimate subscription usage by 2–3×. The average American household spends over $200/month on subscriptions — often without realizing it.