Finding your subscriptions is the easy half. The hard part is the judgment call on each one: is this a plan I genuinely use, or one I keep paying for out of habit and a vague sense I might? Unused subscriptions cost the average person at least a couple hundred dollars a year, and they survive precisely because that question never gets asked plainly. Here's a clear test you can run on every plan so the keep-or-cancel decision stops being a guess.
For each subscription, ask one concrete question: when did I last actually use this? Not "would I miss it" — that question flatters every plan, because almost anything feels worth keeping in the abstract. Last-used is harder to fool. If you can't remember opening it in the past month, that's a strong signal. If it's been three months or more, the plan has effectively become a donation. Many services show your usage history or last login inside your account settings, and your devices remember it too: check the last-opened date of the app on your phone, or your browser history for the site.
A plan being idle isn't automatically a cancel — a cheap one you use twice a year might still be worth it. The decision gets clear when you line up two numbers side by side: how much it costs, and how long since you last touched it. A $15-a-month app you haven't opened in seven months is an easy cut; a $2 plan you use occasionally can stay. Looking at one without the other is how people either keep paying for dead weight or cancel something they actually valued.
| Plan | Last used | Cost / mo | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Music app | Today | $10.99 | Keep |
| News site | 5 weeks ago | $8.00 | Review |
| Workout app | 7 months ago | $14.99 | Cancel |
Sometimes the honest answer isn't yes or no — it's "maybe later." That's worth taking seriously, but not by paying every month for a maybe. If you genuinely expect to come back, cancelling and re-subscribing when you actually need it usually costs far less than carrying the plan idle for months. The exceptions are plans with a locked-in legacy price you'd lose on re-signup, or ones where pausing keeps your data and settings — in those cases, downgrading or pausing can beat a clean cancel. Either way, the choice is deliberate instead of default.
Add your subscriptions to SubScan and it lists each one with its cost in a single monthly and yearly total — so the plans you can't justify stand out next to the ones you use. It runs entirely in your browser: no bank login, no account, nothing uploaded.
Open the free trackerAsk one concrete question for each plan: when did I last open it? Avoid "would I miss it," which flatters every plan in the abstract. If you can't recall using it in the past month it's a warning sign; three months or more and it's effectively a donation. Many services show your last login in account settings, and your phone's app screen and browser history remember it too.
You were surprised to see it on your statement; the app has unread notifications you never check; you signed up for one specific show, course, or feature and finished it long ago; you have a newer plan that overlaps with it; or you'd have to look up how to even log in. Any of these means the plan has drifted from "use" to "habit."
Usually yes — paying every month for a "maybe" rarely pays off. Cancelling and re-subscribing when you actually need it tends to cost far less than carrying it idle. The exceptions are a locked-in legacy price you'd lose on re-signup, or a plan where pausing preserves your data and settings; in those cases downgrading or pausing can be the better call.
Because the keep-or-cancel question is never asked plainly. The charge is small, it bills automatically, and nothing forces a decision — so the plan survives by default. Putting each plan's cost next to how long since you last used it is what surfaces the dead weight, because it turns a vague hunch into two numbers you can actually compare.
SubScan lists every plan you add with its cost in one monthly and yearly total, which makes the expensive plans you can't justify stand out beside the ones you rely on. It doesn't track your usage automatically — you bring that judgment — but it has no account and never connects to your bank, running entirely in your browser with nothing uploaded.
For informational purposes only. SubScan is a free, on-device tool and does not provide financial advice. Figures are illustrative and used only to demonstrate the method; your own plans and amounts will differ.