How to audit your subscriptions

Build one complete list

Review recent statements, email receipts, app-store subscriptions, and — especially — annual renewals, which are the ones people forget and the ones that tend to be largest. For each service, record the name, the current price, the billing cycle, the next renewal date, and how it is paid.

Completeness matters more than speed here. A subscription audit that misses the yearly charge on a card you rarely check is an audit of the wrong number.

Put every price on annual terms

Monthly, quarterly, and yearly prices cannot be compared as written. Multiply monthly prices by 12 and quarterly prices by 4; keep yearly prices as entered. This exposes the real scale of small recurring charges without pretending they all share one billing date.

The annual figure is usually the useful shock. No individual subscription feels expensive. The yearly total rarely feels cheap.

Judge current use, not past intent

For each service, mark when you last actually used it — not whether you might. Note whether somebody in the household still depends on it, and whether a cheaper tier or a service you already pay for meets the same need.

"I might use it again" is the sentence that keeps most subscriptions alive. The audit is the place to notice how often you say it.

Choose a dated next action

Decide, for each one: keep, downgrade, cancel, or review again on a specific date. Write the decision down with the date. An uncertain charge that stays on the list "for now" will still be there at the next audit, and the one after.

Worked example: three small prices, one €663 decision

Consider a €12 monthly streaming plan, a €99 yearly cloud plan, and a €35 monthly gym membership. On the statement they look unrelated. On annual terms they become one number.

• Streaming: €12 × 12 = €144 per year
• Cloud storage: €99 per year
• Gym membership: €35 × 12 = €420 per year
• Combined estimated annual cost: €663

Whether €663 is well spent is a different question — and a better one than whether €12 a month is.

Questions for every recurring charge

• When did I last use it?
• Would I subscribe again at today's price?
• Does another service already cover the same need?
• Is a cheaper billing tier enough?

Limits of this review

Annual totals are estimates based on the prices you enter. They do not include taxes, exchange-rate changes, future price increases, cancellation terms, or financial advice. Check the provider's current terms before changing a plan.

And nothing here cancels anything for you. No tool reliably does, and the ones that claim to are asking for access to your accounts to try. The decision and the cancellation are both yours.