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Every month, recurring charges for forgotten subscriptions mindlessly consume your cash. Fortunately, there are strategies to put these “zombie subscriptions” to rest before your budget gets bitten.
Unused services and no-longer-free trial memberships are a large problem. Not only are we paying for subscriptions we don’t use, but many of us are not aware of how big a bite zombie subscriptions take. According to a 2024 market survey by C+R Research, the average individual underestimates their monthly spending on subscription services by nearly 2 ½ times than actual cost. In dollar terms, respondents estimated they were spending an average of $86 per month on subscriptions, but after an itemized review, the average was really $219. CNET’s 2025 subscription survey found that the average U.S. adult spends $1,080 on subscriptions annually — with nearly $200 of that figure going to subscriptions they are not actively using.
Beware The Zombie Subscription
Today nearly everyone needs to subscribe to multiple services for personal or business uses. These subscriptions can range from streaming entertainment, like Netflix or Spotify, to professional software suites, like Intuit QuickBooks or Google Workspace. And it’s not only services: meal preparation kits, pet supplies, toiletries and many other products can arrive on your doorstep at regular intervals.
There is nothing wrong with subscribing to services or products you find useful. But automatic, recurring payments for services, apps or memberships can become zombie subscriptions when you keep paying for those that you no longer use or outright forgot. Individual monthly charges may appear small and insignificant — perhaps less than $20 for a single subscription — but they can quickly multiply and consume a significant portion of your budget before you realize the full extent of the damage. If you have just five such unused subscriptions, that amounts to paying more than $1,200 annually for services you never use.
Zombie subscriptions can be especially costly for business owners and self-employed individuals. Professional software licenses, membership fees and specialized programs are often much more expensive than personal or entertainment services. Business subscriptions can routinely run hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars per year. When professionals use the services they pay for, these subscriptions are a reasonable business expense. But the financial drain for business owners or sole proprietors can become substantial if they pay for forgotten or unused tools. Just as a business would not keep employees on the payroll after they had resigned, zombie subscriptions should be removed to prevent them from feeding on a business’s bottom line.
The Accumulation Problem
How did zombie subscriptions become such a widespread problem? The core issue stems from a combination of consumer behavior and tactical business practices.
When subscribing to a service, most people choose a monthly payment plan with the charges set up for automatic withdrawal. Many services require such automatic payments. Even those that don’t often encourage customers to opt in for convenience’s sake. It may be convenient, but automatic payment makes it easy for customers to fall into a “set it and forget it” mentality. Since the costs for individual services are typically modest, it is easy to overlook the combined impact on your budget. With monthly charges out of sight and out of mind, you become more susceptible to forgetting which subscriptions you currently pay for.
This situation can be amplified for subscriptions that offer an annual payment plan, often at a discount. While an annual plan may offer savings over a monthly plan, pairing it with automatic payments can make it easy to lose track of when your renewal date is approaching. Automatic payments are good for companies, as they don’t lose revenue to customers’ forgetfulness. However, they set up the potential for zombie subscriptions to flourish.
Additionally, consumers generally follow the path of least resistance, which is why many companies intentionally make the sign-up process simple and the cancellation process difficult. You may not be aware, but many companies use similar methods designed to keep you subscribed to their services.
One common tactic is a free trial. Free trials typically require you to provide payment information up front. Trial periods usually run between 30 and 60 days, but some can be as short as a week. Week-long trials are the most dangerous, as these are the easiest to forget to cancel. Once the trial expires, you are automatically enrolled into a paid subscription. You may have had the best of intentions to cancel before you were charged, but inertia can work against you.
Good businesses will often send a reminder before they charge you, whether at the end of a free trial period or at your regular renewal date. However, not every business makes it easy to cancel before you’re charged. Gym memberships are notoriously difficult to quit, historically requiring customers to jump through hoops such as sending certified mail, appearing in person or paying a hefty cancellation fee. While gyms are particularly bad, companies often make the subscription cancellation process purposely difficult. These processes may require additional phone calls, emails or a waiting period before you can stop a recurring charge.
Business owners face unique challenges when it comes to accumulating unused subscriptions. A significant drain comes from failing to track and cancel professional software or service subscriptions for former employees. Many enterprise subscriptions are billed on a per-user basis. If business owners fail to remove former employees from a subscription, even one the business uses, excess charges can continue long after the employee has left. Professional subscriptions are especially likely to involve annual billing, too. A small business owner who lacks proper tracking and planning can miss the chance to make adjustments before the annual renewal period.
Government regulation agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission have recognized the harm difficult cancellation processes can cause. In 2024, the FTC announced a “Click-to-Cancel” rule that made it easier for consumers to end recurring subscriptions and memberships. The rule required companies to make it as simple for users to cancel a subscription as it was to sign up. However, in July 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the rule on procedural grounds. Whether the FTC will try again, or legislators will take a look at this problem in the future, remains to be seen.
Strategies To Manage Unwanted Subscriptions
Managing your recurring subscriptions is an important part of improving your personal finances. Through a few simple strategies, you can take control of your spending and put zombie subscriptions to rest.
A necessary first step is understanding exactly which services you are paying for by conducting a personal audit of your subscriptions. This strategy may require a deep review of your bank and credit card statements for at least a full year, so you catch subscriptions that renew annually as well as monthly. To begin, generate a list of all the subscriptions you pay for and make a note of any that don’t sound familiar.
During this process, it can be helpful to consider the value you receive from each subscription, even the ones you haven’t forgotten. Be brutally honest with yourself about the subscriptions you actually used during the month versus those you did not. If you do not use a subscription consistently or gain value from having a service, it is a good sign you should cancel. Some subscriptions may fall in a middle ground: You do use them sometimes, but not frequently enough to justify their price. For example, if you have an Amazon Prime subscription that costs $139 per year but you rarely need items shipped quickly and find you do not use the service’s other perks, it may make more sense to budget in the occasional shipping cost and reallocate the rest of that annual fee elsewhere in your budget.
As you make your subscription list, don’t forget any subscriptions you may be sharing. If you and your spouse have a family plan, or you and your roommates pitch in for a shared streaming service account, include your contribution to those services in your audit too.
A personal audit can be a tedious process, but several websites and financial software tools offer to automatically scan your transactions for recurring charges. These can be helpful, but proceed with caution. Ironically, these services are often subscriptions, so take steps to make sure the solution doesn’t become part of the problem. You should also carefully vet the privacy policy and reputation of any company before you give it access to your financial accounts. Make sure to thoroughly read the terms and conditions before granting a service access to your transactions.
Once you’ve identified all of your subscriptions, the next step is to incorporate the ones you plan to keep into your personal budgeting system. Whether you use a simple spreadsheet, a budgeting app, or the envelope method, tracking these expenses is important for building healthy financial habits. (For more on budgeting basics, check out this podcast episode featuring my colleague Rebecca Pavese.) Keeping subscriptions visible and accounting for your exact monthly commitment is a sign of good financial planning. You can also include the average monthly cost of an annual subscription to keep track of it, even if you only actually pay for it once a year.
As for the subscriptions that don’t make the cut in your audit, make sure to follow through with cancelling. For some subscriptions, this may be easy to do online, while others may take a little extra legwork. But clearing out the zombies is important to keep your budget healthy.
When it comes to cancelling your zombie subscriptions, be prepared for at least some companies to intentionally make the process difficult. The best method is often searching online for the direct cancellation webpage or calling the company’s customer service department directly. A human representative can often be the quickest route, even allowing for wait time on hold.
To avoid being charged after a free trial period ends, set calendar reminders for the day before the expiration. You may also be able to cancel the subscription immediately after signing up, since most companies allow you to still use the service for the full trial period before revoking access. Calendar reminders can also be handy for services you only want for a particular time period (say, while a season of a particular show is airing) or to keep track of annual renewal dates.
Another method to control subscription costs is to take advantage of bundle offers for similar services. For instance, paying for multiple different streaming services simultaneously is a common and expensive habit. If you are already paying for, say, Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max, bundling may offer a reduced price. It also means, going forward, one subscription to track where you formerly had three.
Depending on your habits, you may find it worthwhile to switch out certain services on a regular basis. Depending on how much time you have for entertainment, it may make sense to switch between services, catching up on the shows and movies one offers and then moving to the next. Or perhaps you have a busy season at work (like tax season, for example), and a meal service makes sense during the crunch period but isn’t necessary at other times. This approach takes a bit more legwork and regular attention, so be honest about your own habits. But for some, rotating subscriptions can keep any of them from becoming zombies.
Fending off the attack of the zombie subscriptions requires vigilance and the commitment to a few simple strategies, such as tracking and evaluating your recurring charges. In exchange, you can ensure your money is not mindlessly feeding the undead and that your budget stays healthy.
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