Subscription Auditor
Drag the sliders to your real monthly spend on each category. See your annual total — and what that money would be worth invested over 10 years.
Most people underestimate their subscription costs by 2–3×. The annual total is usually the number that finally prompts action.
$273
Average monthly subscription spend per US household — most people guess half this amount
2–3×
How much people underestimate their subscription costs — the 'subscription blind spot'
$32,700
$200/month invested at 7% over 10 years — the opportunity cost of an average subscription habit
Why subscription spend keeps growing without you noticing
Free trials, price hikes, and annual renewals all exploit the same blind spot.
Subscription creep is real
Free trials that auto-renewed. Apps you tried once and forgot. Price increases you didn't notice. Annual subscriptions that hit your card once and disappeared from memory. The average person has 12 subscriptions but can only name 5–6. An audit surfaces the rest.
Annual subscriptions are the hardest to catch
Monthly charges show up on every bank statement. Annual ones appear once, then vanish — only to reappear 12 months later as an unpleasant surprise. Services like Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, and Amazon Prime charge annually. Mark them in your calendar when you sign up.
The real cost is the 10-year number
It's easy to justify $15/month for a service you barely use. It's harder to justify $1,800 over 10 years — or $3,100 if that money had been invested. The 10-year cost and investment equivalent make the monthly charge feel real in a way that monthly billing obscures.
How the Subscription Auditor Works
Formula
Monthly Total = Streaming + Software + Fitness + News + Other
Annual Total = Monthly Total × 12
10-Year Cost = Annual Total × 10
Invested Value = Monthly Total × [(1 + r)^n − 1] / r
where r = 0.07/12 (7% annual / 12 months)
and n = 120 months (10 years)Set each category to your real spend
Be honest — check your bank or credit card statements if you're not sure. The defaults are close to US averages.
See your monthly and annual total
The monthly total shows the true recurring cost. The annual total is often the first number that prompts action.
Check the 10-year and investment figures
The 10-year cost assumes no price increases — reality is likely higher. The investment equivalent uses 7% annual return (broad market average).
Decide what to cut or downgrade
Identify subscriptions you use rarely or that overlap. Even cancelling one or two can free up $30–$50/month.
The subscription model is designed to be easy to start and easy to forget. Free trials convert automatically. Annual plans are billed once and then forgotten for 11 months. Price increases arrive quietly. The cumulative effect is a monthly spend that grows year after year without active decision-making.
The opportunity cost calculation uses the future value of an annuity formula at 7% annual return — the approximate long-run real return of a broad US stock market index fund. It's not a guarantee, but it puts the monthly subscription cost in a context that makes the trade-off visible.
Frequently Asked Questions
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