Subscription Cost Calculator

Subscription cost calculator for monthly vs annual plans

Subscriptions are easy to start and easy to forget. The real cost is not the monthly number you see on a pricing page. The real cost is what you pay over the time you actually keep the service, including tax where it applies, and including the fact that annual plans lock you into paying upfront. This calculator is built for one decision: should you pay monthly or commit to an annual subscription for the same product?

Use it when you are choosing between a monthly plan and an annual plan, or when you are trying to sanity-check whether an annual discount is worth it for you. Enter the monthly price, then add the annual price if you have it. If you do not have an annual price, the calculator still estimates your yearly cost using the monthly plan. That gives you a baseline to compare against any annual offer you find later.

The results are designed to be usable, not theoretical. You will see the total you would pay over your chosen time period, the effective monthly cost of an annual plan, and the break-even point. Break-even months means: how many months of monthly payments equal one annual payment. If you expect to keep the subscription longer than that, annual pricing usually wins on cost. If you expect to cancel earlier, monthly pricing often wins because you avoid paying for months you will not use.

The default time period is 12 months, because that matches how annual plans are billed and how most people think about a year of recurring spending. If you know you will only use a service for a short burst, change the months value. The calculator will show you what that does to the comparison. For example, if you plan to use a tool for 4 months, paying annually can be a bad deal even if the annual plan looks cheaper on a monthly equivalent basis.

Tax can materially change the numbers in some regions. If your subscription price is advertised before tax, add a Tax/VAT percent in Advanced options. The calculator applies tax consistently to the monthly and annual charges so you can compare like with like. If your price already includes tax, leave Tax/VAT at 0 so you do not double count it.

When you have both monthly and annual prices, the calculator provides a direct savings figure. Savings is simply the monthly-plan total minus the annual-plan total over the chosen time period. A positive savings number means annual is cheaper. A negative savings number means monthly is cheaper for your time period. The calculator also shows the effective monthly price of the annual plan, which helps you compare it quickly to the monthly price without doing mental math.

Do not use this tool for comparing different products or different feature tiers. It is not a product comparison calculator. It assumes you are comparing two billing options for the same subscription. If the features differ between monthly and annual plans, or if annual includes bonus months, credits, or add-ons, this tool will not capture the value of those extras. It will only show cost.

Assumptions and how to use this calculator

• The monthly and annual plans are for the same product and the same feature set, so cost is the only comparison.
• If you enter an annual price, it is treated as one upfront charge that covers a 12-month period.
• If you enter a custom number of months, monthly cost scales linearly with months, while annual cost remains upfront even if you plan to cancel early.
• Tax/VAT is applied as a simple percentage to each billing charge and is assumed to be the same for monthly and annual billing.
• Refunds, prorated cancellations, trial periods, coupons, and price changes during the period are not included unless you manually adjust the prices you enter.

Common questions

Do I need the annual price to use this calculator?

No. Enter your monthly price and you will still get an estimated yearly cost based on monthly billing. To compare monthly vs annual properly, add the annual price when you have it. Without it, the calculator cannot compute savings or break-even for the annual option.

What does “break-even months” mean?

It is the annual price divided by the monthly price. If you keep the subscription longer than that number of months, paying annually typically costs less than paying monthly. If you cancel sooner, monthly billing usually costs less because you only pay for the months you use.

What if I expect to keep the subscription for more than a year?

Set “months you expect to keep it” to the total months you are realistically likely to stay subscribed. The calculator estimates monthly-plan cost for that period and compares it to paying annual upfront renewals. This is most useful when you are deciding whether to commit for the first year, since real pricing can change later.

Should I include tax/VAT?

Only include it if your listed prices are before tax and you want the total out-of-pocket cost. If your region displays tax-inclusive pricing, leave Tax/VAT at 0. The goal is to match how the charge will appear on your payment method.

Why does the annual plan look worse when I set a small number of months?

Because annual billing is paid upfront. If you plan to use the subscription briefly, you can end up paying for months you do not use. This is the main risk of annual plans. If the service is a long-term need, that risk is lower and the annual discount is more likely to matter.