Gravity
The State of Subscriptions 2026
Updated June 2026
Subscriptions are now the default way we pay for entertainment, software, fitness, and news, and the data shows most people have lost track of how much that adds up to. Every figure below is from a named, linked third-party source. You can cite this page; it links straight back to each original study.
Key findings
- 1US consumers estimate $86 a month on subscriptions but actually spend $219 — a $133 monthly gap (C+R Research, 2022).
- 2The gap compounds to roughly $1,596 per household per year.
- 342% have forgotten about a subscription they were still paying for (C+R Research, 2022).
- 474% say recurring monthly charges are easy to forget (C+R Research, 2022).
- 572% have at least one subscription set to auto-renew (C+R Research, 2022).
- 647% of US streaming subscribers changed services within a year to cut costs (Deloitte, 2023).
How much do people actually spend on subscriptions?
When researchers asked people to estimate their monthly subscription spend and then added up what they actually paid, the gap was striking: an estimate of about $86 a month against a real total of about $219 a month, a blind spot of roughly $133 every month, or about $1,596 a year.
Source: C+R Research, 2022 (survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers); reported by CNBC, 2022.
Why the gap is so wide
The spend gap is really a memory-and-autopilot problem: subscriptions are easy to forget and almost always renew on their own.
| Finding | Share | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Have forgotten about a subscription they were still paying for | 42% | C+R Research, 2022 |
| Say it is easy to forget about recurring monthly charges | 74% | C+R Research, 2022 |
| Have at least one subscription set to auto-renew | 72% | C+R Research, 2022 |
| Changed streaming services in the past year to save money | 47% | Deloitte Digital Media Trends, 2023 |
Streaming is where the churn shows up
U.S. households spend about $48 a month on paid video streaming services, and nearly half have changed those services in the past year specifically to cut costs, a sign that people increasingly add, drop, and re-add streaming subscriptions rather than keep them indefinitely.
Source: Deloitte Digital Media Trends, 2023.
Methodology
- How figures are selected
- Only figures published by a named third party are included, each linked to its primary source. Gravity conducted none of these surveys.
- Data collection window
- Source studies published 2022-2023; see each citation for its own fieldwork dates.
- Sample
- C+R Research surveyed 1,000 US consumers (22 April - 2 May 2022). Deloitte Digital Media Trends 2023, as reported by Variety.
- Update cadence
- Reviewed when a cited study publishes a newer edition, or at least annually.
Changelog
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-27 | Replaced two dead citation URLs (CNBC and Variety/Deloitte both returned 404) with verified ones from the central registry; added a data table beside the chart, machine-readable downloads, key findings and a citation block. |
| 2026-06-28 | Report published. |
Download the data
Each row carries its own named source and year so attribution travels with the file.
Cite this report
This report and its underlying data are licensed for reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0). Please link back to the canonical URL.
Viral App Labs LLC. "The State of Subscriptions 2026." cancelsubscriptionsapp.com, updated 2026-07-27. https://cancelsubscriptionsapp.com/research/state-of-subscriptions-2026
Methodology & sources
This page summarizes publicly reported, third-party research. Gravity did not conduct these surveys; every figure links to its original source so you can verify it. The spend-gap figures come from a C+R Research survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers; the streaming figures come from Deloitte's Digital Media Trends report.
- C+R Research — Subscription Service Statistics and Costs (2022)
- CNBC — Americans underestimate subscription spending (2022)
- Deloitte Digital Media Trends, via Variety (2023)
See also our subscription spending statistics and the free subscription cost calculator.
Find out your own number
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