The Cost Per Use Test: Which Subscriptions Are Worth Keeping

The keep or cancel argument goes in circles because both sides are using feelings. One person says it is only a few dirhams. The other says nobody uses it. Neither can prove anything.

The cost per use test ends that. Divide what a subscription costs you per month by the number of times you used it that month. The result is what each use actually cost, and you compare it with what the same thing costs without a subscription. If a single use is cheaper than a subscribed use, cancel.

That is the whole method. The rest is applying it honestly.

Getting the two numbers right

The cost. Use the amount that leaves your account, not the advertised price. Add joining fees spread over the term, add any currency conversion or cross border fee if it bills abroad, and divide annual plans by twelve. Fees differ by bank and card, so check your own.

The uses. Count real uses over a real month, not a good month. If you cannot remember, count for the next thirty days before deciding. Guessing here is what keeps bad subscriptions alive, because everybody rounds their own usage up.

Then divide. Write the result next to the subscription name.

Applied to the usual suspects

Streaming video. Uses means evenings watched, not apps opened, which is how households discover they are paying for three services and watching one. Compare with renting or buying the specific film or series you actually wanted. A service used twice a month often costs more per evening than simply renting the two things.

Gym. Uses means sessions you turned up to. Compare with the walk in or day pass rate for the same gym, or a class booked individually. This is the one where the numbers are most brutal, because attendance falls and the fee does not.

Cloud storage. Uses is the wrong unit here, since it runs silently in the background. Ask a different question: what would it cost to hold the same files another way, and what would losing them cost? Storage often survives the test, and the tier usually does not. Most people pay for far more space than they fill, and the plan step below is worth checking.

Delivery memberships. Count the orders you placed in the month, then work out the delivery fees you would have paid without the membership. If the fees avoided are less than the membership fee, it is losing. Watch for the second effect too: memberships encourage more ordering, so compare your total food spending before and after, not only the delivery line.

Music. Uses is hours listened, which is usually high, so this one tends to pass easily. Check the plan tier rather than the service.

Software and productivity apps. Uses means sessions where it did work for you. For anything work related, also ask what an hour of your time is worth to you, since a tool that saves an hour a month can be worth keeping at a poor cost per use.

The three outcomes

Once every subscription has a number, sort them.

• Clearly worth it. Cost per use well below the alternative. Leave it alone and stop thinking about it.
• Clearly not. Cost per use above the casual rate, or zero uses. Cancel today, in the same sitting, before the list goes cold, and use the longer route for the ones that hide the button.
• In between. Do not cancel these yet. Downgrade the tier, switch to the annual plan only if usage is proven, or move it to seasonal use and rotate. Most of your money is recovered in this middle group, because it is the group people avoid deciding about.

Where the test does not apply

Be honest about the exceptions rather than forcing everything through the formula.

Insurance and anything protective is not measured by use. You want zero uses. Price it against cover, not frequency.

Backups and storage of things you cannot replace fall into the same category.

And a subscription with a genuine non financial payoff, like something that keeps you exercising or learning, can be worth keeping at a bad cost per use. The test still helps, because it tells you exactly what you are paying for that benefit, and you can then decide with the number in front of you rather than without it.

Run it twice a year

Usage drifts. The service you watched constantly in March goes quiet in September, and nothing in your bank alerts you to that.

Put a reminder in the calendar for two dates a year. Pull one statement, list the recurring charges, count last month's uses, divide, sort into three piles, act on the same day. New lines appear between passes, usually free trials that renewed quietly. Twenty minutes, twice a year.

Getting the list without the hunting

The tedious part is finding every recurring charge in the first place, since they hide behind billing platform names and odd amounts.

Wealthwise, our card and spending tool for the UAE, is built to make that read quick. It reads a card statement on your own device, keeps it there and uploads nothing, and shows what you actually spend on in dirhams. It also ranks nineteen UAE cards from eight banks against your real spending and shows the annual cost of using the wrong card. It gives information and never moves money. It launches early 2026.

Pick the subscription you argue about most and run the division tonight. The number usually settles it in one line.