Until a few years ago, the concept of “subscription” was linked to a few very specific activities: the gym, the public transport and train card, or at most the “favourite” newspaper. Today, however, our financial habits have changed radically. We’ve gone from a “buy and own” model to a “pay monthly to use” model, which has also incorporated other product categories into a long list of monthly dues to pay. From streaming platforms for sports and films to video games, from coffee capsules to work software, to storage space for photos on the phone and fitness apps, our monthly resources are now fragmented by many automatic withdrawals, some micro, others less so.
The Subscription economy
The apparently negligible sums that we pay every month give us the illusion of spending less, but in reality the total of these outlays generates a silent hole in the finances of users, who in many cases continue to pay even for the least used services. The trend of the so-called Subscription economy was also confirmed by September 2026 data from the Bank of America Institute: in the US, spending on subscriptions grew by 7.7% on an annual basis, a trend driven by young people from Gen Z and Millennials, now accustomed to an economic model based on the payment of periodic fees. One of the “problems”, as highlighted in a study by the specialized platform Just Pricing, is the perception of spending little. According to the US Consumer Survey, on average people estimate they spend around $86 a month, but when the actual bank statement is analyzed the sum jumps above $200.
The annual waste
The United States leads the trend, but Europe is not far behind. According to data from SubscripKiller, a platform capable of monitoring recurring charges on accounts, on average a European citizen manages around 12 active subscriptions at the same time. In first place is streaming (at least 3-4), followed by other software, news and fitness apps. The most alarming data that emerges from the study is that on waste. Due to automatic renewals and the many expiries that we often forget about, on average we spend around 487 euros every year on subscriptions to services that we don’t use.
Difficult cancellations
According to the study, 48% of forgotten subscription charges arise from free trials that are automatically converted to paid plans: the average cost to convert from a free to a paid trial is €11.99 per month, or €143.88 per year for a single forgotten trial. Furthermore, some services require complex cancellation procedures, an “obstacle course” that often discourages users, who ultimately give up on canceling. A strategy which, according to estimates by the European Consumers Union, costs European users around 2.3 billion euros per year.
Subscription fatigue
The pressure of dozens of deadlines and ever-increasing expenses have generated a side effect, the so-called “subscription fatigue”, which together with budget issues is among the first reasons that push users to cancel. EU Directive 2023/2673 has also come to the rescue of consumers, which came into force on 19 June 2026, which introduces the obligation of the “withdrawal button” (click to cancel) to simplify the cancellation of digital services, as also recalled by the Ecc-Net Italia consumer protection guides. The measure requires e-commerce platforms and online subscription managers to allow cancellations with the same ease with which they were activated.
Watch the bill
In the digital age, where much of our spending is channeled into our accounts monthly, avoiding waste is key. For this reason, the advice is to carefully analyze your bank statement, trying to identify the “ghost” items linked to services that are not used or that you can do without. Furthermore, it is important to set a reminder when you start the free trial of a service, so as not to forget the deadline and avoid unwanted payments. Even in an economy that operates on monthly quotas, awareness remains the most effective form of saving.