Subscription cost calculator: what your apps cost each year

Ten dollars here and fifteen there do not feel like much, until you add them up. This subscription cost calculator shows the real total of the apps you pay for, per month, per year and over five years, so you can decide which ones earn their place.

How to use the calculator

1. Click the apps you pay for under Add an app. Each one adds a row with its usual plan and price.
2. Change anything that differs on your bill: the Price, whether you pay a month or a year, and how many People you pay for.
3. Add apps that are not in the list with Add another subscription, then type the name and the price.
4. Read the totals: Every month, Every year and Over 5 years.

Remove a row with its × button. Your list stays in this browser, so it is there next time.

The prices in the list

These are the plans the calculator fills in, for one person, as each company's pricing page showed them in September 2026:

"Not compared" means we did not list that billing; type your own price if you pay that way. Taxes, currency conversion and team discounts are not included.

An example: one person's tool stack

Someone who writes in Notion, chats in Slack, meets in Zoom, keeps passwords in 1Password, records in Loom, archives in Evernote and reads in Readwise, all paid monthly where offered, pays about US$87.71 a month: US$1,052.52 a year, and more than US$5,200 over five years. Teams pay that per person.

Where Barside fits

Barside is a free desktop app that does many of these jobs in one place, with your library on your own computer. Each of our comparison pages says honestly where the other app is better:

• Notes, databases and boards instead of Notion, Evernote or Obsidian: see the Notion alternative.
• Chat and communities for small teams instead of Slack: see the Slack alternative.
• Video meetings for up to 6 people instead of Zoom: see the Zoom alternative.
• A personal password manager instead of 1Password: see the 1Password alternative.
• Screen recording, reading and call transcription instead of Loom, Readwise Reader, Granola or Otter.

Barside is free on Windows, Linux and Mac. The optional Barside Plus, US$200 a year plus sales tax, adds encrypted cloud backup, sync between computers and cloud agents. The calculator shows the difference after Plus, so the comparison stays fair.

For teams: multiply by people

Most work apps charge per person. Enter the number of people under People to see the team's cost: a US$10 plan for 12 people is US$1,440 a year, and three such tools pass US$4,000. Team plans also add costs that personal ones do not, such as minimum seat counts and paid single sign-on, so check the plan names on your invoices.

How to cut your subscription costs

• Cancel what you have not opened in a month. You can come back; most apps keep your data for a while.
• Switch to yearly billing for the tools you will surely keep, and monthly for the ones you are testing.
• Look for overlap. Two note apps, two recorders, two chat apps: keep the one you use most.
• Use free plans where they are enough. Many apps have generous free tiers for one person.
• Count the people. A team plan for 10 people at US$10 each is US$1,200 a year; check who still uses it.

See also the meeting cost calculator, for the cost that never shows up on a bill.