Subscription Creep Calculator
Total up your recurring subscriptions, project their rising cost as prices climb, and see what the money could earn if invested instead.
How it works
Year-k cost = monthly × 12 × (1 + increase)^k · Total = Σ year costs · Invested = Σ year cost × (1 + return)^(years − k)
Subscriptions renew silently and their prices tend to drift upward, so a modest monthly total can balloon over time and slip out of your budget’s attention. This calculator sums the growing cost year by year and contrasts it with what the same money could earn if invested. Reviewing and pruning unused subscriptions is one of the easiest recurring savings to capture.
Worked example
Starting at $80/month ($960/year) and rising 5% annually, ten years of subscriptions cost about $12,072. Invested at 7% instead, that stream would grow to roughly $16,900 — and the final year alone costs about $1,489, up from $960.
Frequently asked questions
What is subscription creep?
It is the gradual accumulation of recurring charges — streaming, apps, memberships — combined with periodic price hikes, so your total monthly spend rises without a single big decision. Because each charge is small, it often goes unreviewed.
How can I control it?
Audit your statements once or twice a year, cancel anything you have not used recently, and consider annual plans or shared family plans for services you keep. Even trimming a few unused subscriptions compounds meaningfully over time.
Why include an investment comparison?
To show the true opportunity cost. Every dollar spent on a forgotten subscription is a dollar that could have been growing, and over a decade the forgone growth is often larger than you would expect.
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Educational estimate, not financial advice.