Average Monthly Subscription Spending: $111 or $219, and How to Check Yours
One survey says $111 a month, another says $219. Both are right about different things. Here is why, and a 20-minute way to count your own.
Average monthly subscription spending in the US is $111, according to CNET’s 2026 survey of people who paid for at least one subscription in the past year. An older C+R Research study found $219 when people listed every charge line by line. The gap comes from the method, and your own number is about 20 minutes away.
Search for the average and you get a spread from under $100 to over $300 a month. That looks like nobody knows. In fact the studies measure different things: some ask people to guess, some ask them to itemize, some count only digital services, and some only people who pay for anything at all.
Below are the two numbers worth knowing, what each one actually measured, and a quick way to find out where you sit.
What is the average monthly subscription spending in 2026?
The most recent large survey is CNET's 2026 subscription survey, run with YouGov. Among US adults who paid for a subscription in the past year, the average is $111 a month, or $1,332 a year. That is up 23 percent from $90 a month in CNET's survey the year before.
The same survey found people waste an average of $21 a month, $252 a year, on subscriptions they do not use. In 2025 that figure was $17 a month.
Why do other studies say $219?
The $219 comes from a 2022 study by C+R Research. It asked people twice. First they had ten seconds to estimate what they spend; the answers averaged about $86. Later the same people broke their spending down service by service, and the total came to $219, more than two and a half times the guess.
So the two numbers answer different questions. CNET's is a recent survey average. C+R's shows how far a quick guess can sit from an itemized count.
| Study | Fieldwork | Sample | Method | Monthly figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNET 2026 subscription survey (YouGov) | April 29 to May 1, 2026 | 2,522 US adults | Online survey, weighted to all US adults | $111 among people who paid for a subscription |
| C+R Research | April 22 to May 2, 2022 | 1,000 consumers | Ten-second estimate, then itemized breakdown | About $86 guessed, $219 itemized |
Who spends and wastes the most on subscriptions?
In CNET's 2026 data, millennials and Gen Z waste the most on subscriptions they do not use: $29 and $27 a month. Streaming is the most common kind of subscription; 61 percent of respondents had paid for one in the past year.
What counts as a subscription?
Anything that charges you again without a new decision: streaming, music, cloud storage, apps, news, software, delivery memberships, gym and fitness apps, and yearly plans billed once. Yearly charges are the ones guesses forget, because they appear once on a statement.
Why subscription spending keeps rising
CNET's average went from $90 to $111 a month in one year. Three things push a personal total up even when you add nothing new.
Price increases on plans you already have. In 2026 Peacock Premium went from $10.99 to $12.99 a month and Disney+ Premium from $18.99 to $21.49. Each step is small, and it arrives by email weeks before the bill changes.
Trials that turn paid. A free week becomes a monthly charge on a date you saw once, at checkout.
Yearly renewals. A plan bought once renews at whatever the price is now, often after a promotional first year ends.
None of these needs a decision from you to happen. That is why a yearly count is worth doing even if you think nothing changed.
How to check your own subscription spending in 20 minutes
- Open twelve months of card and bank statements. Twelve, not one, so yearly plans show up.
- Copy every repeating charge into one list. Name, amount, monthly or yearly.
- Check the app stores and PayPal. On an iPhone, Settings, your name, Subscriptions. On Android, subscriptions in Google Play. They bill for apps under their own name.
- Divide yearly plans by twelve. Add them to the monthly ones for one honest number.
- Mark anything you did not use last month. That is your version of CNET's $21.
Then compare. If you land near $111, you are typical. If you are well above it, the marked lines are where to start.
At CNET's average of $21 a month in unused subscriptions, a year of not noticing is $252. A single $12.99 plan left running for six months is about $78.
Keep the count from going stale
A count is right on the day you make it. Then a trial turns paid, a price goes up, a yearly plan renews, and the list is out of date in a few months.
We built dEssence for this kind of follow-through. Send Tracy your list, the renewal emails, or screenshots of the store subscription screens. Ask her what you pay in total, or to remind you before the plans you marked. She keeps the dates and writes first when one is close. Turning documents into dates and reminders is part of the Pro plan, $10 a month. She does not connect to your bank, so the list is what you send her.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the average person spend on subscriptions per year?
CNET's 2026 survey puts it at $1,332 a year for people who paid for a subscription, or $111 a month.
Is $100 a month on subscriptions a lot?
It is a little under CNET's 2026 average of $111. What matters more is how much of it you do not use.
How much do people waste on unused subscriptions?
About $21 a month, or $252 a year, in CNET's 2026 survey, up from $17 a month in 2025.
Why is my number higher than I expected?
Because guesses run low. In the C+R Research study, people's quick estimates were less than half of their itemized totals. Yearly plans and app store charges are the usual surprises.