SUBSCRIPTION COST CALCULATOR · 2026
What your subscriptions really cost.
Your 129 kr Netflix doesn't feel expensive. Over 40 years, with the money invested instead at 7% — it's 270,000 kr you'll never see. Try your own numbers.
Try a real subscription
Tap any to load it into the calculator. Prices are typical 2026 Norwegian rates.
The 40-year view
A taste of what compounding does to seemingly modest recurring costs. All figures: 7% real return, 40 years, Norwegian prices.
This isn't an argument to cancel everything — just a nudge to audit what you're actually paying for. Most people find they're subscribed to 2–3 things they forgot about.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you calculate the 40-year cost of a subscription?
Direct cost is simply monthly price × 12 × years. The more interesting number is opportunity cost: if you'd invested that monthly amount instead at 7% annual return (historical S&P 500 real return after inflation), you'd have a much larger number by the end — we show both.
Isn't 7% annual return optimistic?
7% is the real (after-inflation) long-term return of the US stock market since 1900. It's optimistic vs cash savings (~0%), conservative vs nominal returns (10–11%), and realistic as an expected-value proxy for a broad index fund held 30+ years. Adjust the slider to see other scenarios.
Should I cancel all my subscriptions?
No — this tool is not an argument for ascetic living. It's for surfacing costs that compound silently. Music subscription at 109 kr/mo feels tiny; over 40 years with opportunity cost it's 270,000+ kr. Keep the ones that genuinely improve your life. Cut the ones you forgot you had.
Why Norwegian kroner and not dollars?
We're a Norwegian company and most of our users are in Norway. The underlying math is currency-agnostic — the ratios and percentages are the same for USD, EUR, or GBP. Multiply by your local currency to translate.
Does this account for inflation?
The 7% default return is the real return (already inflation-adjusted), so yes — the final number is in today's purchasing power, not future nominal kroner. This means if you set 0% return, you get the 'bank savings' real value: a 129 kr/mo Netflix over 40 years is ~62,000 kr in today's money, not the nominal 62,000 kr that gets eroded by 40 years of inflation.
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