One-time purchase or subscription: the five-year maths
A subscription at $15 a month costs $900 over five years. At $10 a month it is $600, and at $5 a month it is $300. The arithmetic is trivial and almost nobody does it, because a monthly figure is designed to be compared against a coffee rather than against the thing it adds up to.
That isn't an argument against subscriptions. Some software genuinely has to be one. It's an argument for doing the multiplication before you start, rather than in year four.
The maths
What a monthly fee becomes
- $5 a month, over five years $300.00
- $10 a month, over five years $600.00
- $15 a month, over five years $900.00
- $20 a month, over five years $1,200.00
Sixty payments, at the current price. Any increase over five years pushes these higher. Worked example, not a recommendation.
For context on real budgeting software as at August 2026: YNAB lists US$14.99 a month or US$109 a year, which is about US$545 across five years on the annual plan. PocketSmith's paid tiers start at US$9.99 a month billed annually, roughly US$600 over five years, with a free tier below that. Both bill in US dollars, so the Australian dollar cost moves with the exchange rate.
Those are not unreasonable prices for what they do. They're just larger numbers than the monthly figure suggests, which is the point of quoting things monthly.
What you are actually buying
With a subscription you're buying access, and access is a live arrangement. It includes ongoing costs the vendor genuinely carries: servers holding your data, bank connections that break and need repairing, support, and continuous development. Those costs recur, so the charge recurs. That's coherent.
With a one-time purchase you're buying a version. It keeps working because nothing expires. There's no server holding your data, which is usually why the model is possible at all, and it's also why the vendor can't be funding much in the way of ongoing infrastructure on your behalf.
The models describe different products, not different levels of generosity.
The questions that matter more than the price
What happens if you stop paying is the first one. Read-only access, export-and-leave, or nothing at all are all real answers, and they're very different outcomes for something holding years of your financial history.
What happens to a one-time purchase when a major new version arrives is the mirror image. Included at no extra cost, a paid upgrade with the old version still working, or quiet abandonment are all real answers there too.
And in both cases: can you get your data out in a format something else can read? A CSV is an exit. A proprietary file only that app opens is not.
When a subscription earns its keep
Honestly, often.
Anything with a live bank feed carries a recurring cost that someone has to pay, and pretending otherwise usually means it is being recovered somewhere less visible. Collaboration needs a server. Heavy ongoing development needs funding, and a subscription is the transparent version of that.
The case for one-time pricing is narrower: software that does its work on your own device, with no per-user running cost. That's the category the maths above actually applies to, and it is why the pricing question and the wider comparison tend to answer each other.
My own position, stated
EachPayday is a one-time purchase, which is a decision I have an obvious interest in defending, so here it is with its costs attached.
It's possible only because there's no server. Your data stays on your device, which means no hosting bill, no bank connections to maintain, and no per-user cost that would need covering month after month. Take away any of those and the model wouldn't work.
What that buys you is an app that keeps working and a number that doesn't compound. What it costs you is entering your own bills and keeping your own backups, which is the same trade-off described in local-first or cloud. If you want automatic transaction feeds, a subscription app is the right tool and I'd rather say so than pretend the models compete on price alone.
Questions people ask
How much does a $15 a month subscription cost over five years?
$900, being 60 payments at the current price. At $10 a month it is $600 and at $5 a month it is $300. Any price increase during that period pushes the total higher.
Is a one-time purchase always cheaper than a subscription?
Over a long enough period, usually, but the two models describe different products. A subscription typically funds servers, bank connections and ongoing support. A one-time purchase is generally only viable where the software runs on your own device with no per-user running cost.
What happens to my data if I stop paying for a subscription app?
It varies and is worth checking before you start. Common answers are read-only access, export-then-lose-access, or losing access entirely. The related question is whether the export is in a format another program can read.
When is a subscription the better model?
When the software carries genuine recurring costs on your behalf, such as live bank feeds that need maintaining, server storage, collaboration between users, or heavy ongoing development. In those cases the cost recurs for the vendor, so a recurring charge is the transparent way to cover it.
What is the catch with one-time purchase software?
Usually that it does its work on your own device, which is what removes the running costs. That tends to mean no automatic bank feeds, no effortless sync, and backups being your responsibility. It is also worth asking what happens when a major new version arrives.
This article is general information about software pricing, not financial advice, and does not take your circumstances into account. See the disclaimer.