What Apps Actually Cost

89% of people underestimate their subscription spending. Two thirds are wrong by more than $200 a month.

That is not carelessness. Each charge is small, the billing is spread across six systems, auto-renewal removes the decision, and no single place shows the total. The gap is structural, and a large part of the subscription economy lives inside it. For comparison with software bought by teams rather than households, Monitask is a useful example of how recurring software is packaged around ongoing work.

This site is about seeing the number and deciding deliberately.

What the figures say

About $273 a month per US household, across an average of 11.2 active subscriptions. Different surveys give different totals, and the spread is worth seeing rather than averaging. For additional context on work software and recurring tools, Teamwork blog provides an outside reference point.

Weekly subscriptions are now roughly 56% of app subscription revenue, up from 43% two years earlier. $4.99 a week reads as trivial; $259 a year does not.

And nearly half of US consumers actively cancelled something last year, up from 31% in 2024. That is not fatigue — it is people adding it up.

Start here

Why everyone underestimates — five structural reasons the estimate is always low.

An install is a financial decision — around 90% of trials start in the first session, before evaluation is possible.

Where click-to-cancel stands — the FTC rule was vacated in July 2025, and most articles say otherwise.

The audit: one hour, once a year — six sources, three decisions, and what to expect from the list.

The five sections

What it costs — the real totals, annual figures, duplication and the audit.

Traps — cancellation mazes, trial design, price rises, and what protects you.

Time tracking — one category examined closely, because it shows every mechanic at once.

Choosing — what to check before installing, and when not to install anything.

Notes — positions, including why nobody writes about cancelling.

No affiliate links, no sponsorship, no paid placements. Every figure carries its source, its year and who produced it, and vendor figures are labelled as vendor figures.

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