How this calculator works
Subscription services are easy to start and easy to forget. Each one looks cheap on its own, and the total only becomes visible when they are added up and compared with the months you actually use them. This calculator asks two things for each subscription: its monthly price and how many months of the year you genuinely used it. The yearly cost is the monthly price times twelve, and the wasted amount is the price multiplied by the months you did not use. That treats every unused month as wasted, which is the right lens for a service you could cancel and restart. A service you use for three months to watch one series may still be good value, but if you kept paying for the other nine months the waste is real. The same logic applies to annual plans. If you pay for a year upfront and use four months, the calculator overstates the waste, because you could not have cancelled partway through; in that case, compare the annual price with twelve times a monthly plan you would have cancelled. Households often have several overlapping services, so a second column worth checking is duplication: paying for two streaming services that carry the same shows. Before cancelling, check whether a service is bundled with a phone, bank or insurance plan, because the apparent price may already be covered elsewhere.
Formula
Monthly total = sum of the monthly prices. Yearly total = monthly total x 12. Wasted amount = sum of (monthly price x (12 - months used)). Wasted share = wasted amount / yearly total. Unused months = sum of (12 - months used) for each subscription with a price above zero.
Worked example
Four subscriptions at $15.99, $12.49, $9.99 and $5.99 a month come to $44.46 a month, or $533.52 a year. If they are used for 12, 12, 3 and 12 months, the third one wastes 9 months at $9.99, which is $89.91. That is 16.9% of the annual bill. Cancelling the unused service for the nine months would save the same amount.
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Frequently asked questions
Should I include annual subscriptions?
Yes, and enter their real cost. If you pay $60 a year, enter $5 a month and the number of months you actually used the service. The yearly figure will be correct; the waste figure is a simplification because an annual plan cannot be cancelled mid-term.
What counts as using a service?
Any month in which you got value from it. A month where you opened the app once and found nothing to watch is not use. Be honest here, because the whole calculation depends on this judgement.
Does this include shared or family plans?
It counts the full price you pay. If someone else reimburses part of it, subtract the reimbursement from the monthly cost so the figure reflects your share.
How often should I review subscriptions?
Once or twice a year is enough for most households, plus after a free trial converts to a paid plan. Bank statements make this quick: list every recurring charge and question each one.