★ COMPARISONS · SOFTWARE · SUBSCRIBE VS BUY
Buy wins by $601.00 — $299.00 once beats $900.00 of subscription over 5 years. At $15 a month against a $299 licence, the licence pays for itself in 19.93 months. Enter your prices and years to work out yours.
Software comes two ways now: a monthly subscription that never ends, or a one-time licence you buy once. This calculator adds up both sides over the years you will actually use it — subscription total, buy total with paid upgrades, per-year cost, and the break-even month where buying starts to win — and says which side wins, by how much.
A subscription charges every month for as long as you use the software; buying charges once, and the software is yours. The subscription total is the monthly price times 12 times the years: $15 a month for 5 years is $15 × 12 × 5 = $900.00. The buy total is the one-time price plus any paid upgrades, one every 3 years: $299 with no upgrades is $299.00. The winner is the lower total, and the gap is the difference. Per-year cost is each total divided by the years: $900.00 ÷ 5 = $180.00 a year to subscribe, $299.00 ÷ 5 = $59.80 a year to buy. The break-even is the point where the two totals are equal: the buy price divided by the monthly price, in months.
At the defaults — $15 a month, $299 to buy, 5 years, no paid upgrades — the subscription costs $900.00 and buying costs $299.00, so buying wins by $601.00. Per year that is $180.00 against $59.80. Break-even is 19.93 months, or 1.66 years: use the software longer than that and buying wins; use it less and subscribing wins.
| Case | Subscription | Buy | Winner | Gap | Per year (sub) | Per year (buy) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Default ($15/mo, $299 buy, 5 yr) | $900.00 | $299.00 | Buy wins | $601.00 | $180.00 | $59.80 |
| $10 a month | $600.00 | $299.00 | Buy wins | $301.00 | $120.00 | $59.80 |
| $30 a month | $1,800.00 | $299.00 | Buy wins | $1,501.00 | $360.00 | $59.80 |
| Buy price $149 | $900.00 | $149.00 | Buy wins | $751.00 | $180.00 | $29.80 |
| Buy price $599 | $900.00 | $599.00 | Buy wins | $301.00 | $180.00 | $119.80 |
| 1 year | $180.00 | $299.00 | Subscription wins | $119.00 | $180.00 | $299.00 |
| 3 years | $540.00 | $299.00 | Buy wins | $241.00 | $180.00 | $99.67 |
| 10 years | $1,800.00 | $299.00 | Buy wins | $1,501.00 | $180.00 | $29.90 |
| Upgrade $99 every 3 years | $900.00 | $398.00 | Buy wins | $502.00 | $180.00 | $79.60 |
Setup: subscription $15 a month, buy price $299, 5 years, no paid upgrades.
Line 1 — the subscription total. $15 × 12 × 5 = $900.00.
Line 2 — the buy total. $299 once, no upgrades = $299.00.
Line 3 — the winner and the gap. $299.00 is less than $900.00, so buying wins by $601.00 ($900.00 − $299.00).
Line 4 — per year. $900.00 ÷ 5 = $180.00 a year to subscribe; $299.00 ÷ 5 = $59.80 a year to buy.
Line 5 — break-even. $299 ÷ $15 = 19.93 months, or 19.93 ÷ 12 = 1.66 years. At 19.93 months the subscription has cost $298.95, five cents short of the buy price; at 19.94 months it has cost $299.10, ten cents past it.
Line 6 — the check. $299.00 + $601.00 = $900.00. The buy price plus the gap is the subscription total, so the gap is right.
Reverse: the break-even subscription over 5 years is $4.98 a month (exact $4.9833: at $4.98 the subscription costs $298.80 and wins by $0.20, at $4.99 it costs $299.40 and buying wins by $0.40); the break-even buy price is $900.00 (at $899.99 buying wins by $0.01, at $900.01 subscribing wins by $0.01); break-even is 1.66 years (at 1.66 years the subscription costs $298.80, at 1.67 years $300.60) and 19.93 months.
$10 a month: the subscription costs $600.00 over 5 years, so buying still wins, by $301.00. $30 a month: the subscription costs $1,800.00, so buying wins by $1,501.00. The subscription has to fall all the way to $4.98 a month before it breaks even.
Buy price $149: buying wins by $751.00 ($900.00 against $149.00). Buy price $599: buying wins by $301.00 ($900.00 against $599.00 is still cheaper to buy). The buy price has to pass $900.00 before subscribing wins: at $999.00 the subscription wins by $99.00, and at exactly $900.00 the two sides tie.
1 year: the subscription costs $180.00 against $299.00 to buy, so the subscription wins by $119.00. 3 years: the subscription costs $540.00, so buying wins by $241.00. 10 years: the subscription costs $1,800.00, so buying wins by $1,501.00. The winner flips at 1.66 years, and the gap only grows after that.
Upgrade $99 every 3 years: over 5 years there is 1 upgrade, so buying costs $398.00 and still wins by $502.00. Over 10 years there are 3 upgrades, so buying costs $596.00 against $1,800.00 and wins by $1,204.00.
Reverse — the other way round: the break-even subscription is $4.98 a month; the break-even buy price is $900.00; break-even is 1.66 years and 19.93 months.
The model assumes the subscription price never rises, the buy price is paid once with no tax, and paid upgrades cost the same every 3 years. It assumes you use the software for the whole period you enter, and that the bought copy keeps working for that long with no forced upgrade. It leaves out the value of the subscription extras that buying does not include — cloud sync, new features as they ship, support — and the value of owning the bought copy forever after the comparison ends. It leaves out discounts: an annual subscription plan, a sale price on the buy, or a student discount all change the totals. With a $0 subscription the subscription costs $0.00 and wins by $299.00; with a $0 buy price buying costs $0.00 and wins by $900.00; with 0 years both sides are $0.00, a tie, because nothing has been used and nothing has been bought yet. Rounding convention: all figures are computed from unrounded values and rounded only for display — money to cents, years to two decimals, so a figure worked out from the rounded numbers can differ by a few cents from the figure shown.
| Output | Formula | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription total | monthly price × 12 × years | $900.00. |
| Buy total | one-time price + paid upgrades (one every 3 years) | $299.00 (0 upgrades). |
| Winner | the lower total | Buy wins. |
| Cost gap | the absolute difference of the two totals | $601.00. |
| Subscription per year | subscription total ÷ years | $180.00. |
| Buy per year | buy total ÷ years | $59.80. |
| Break-even months | buy price ÷ monthly price | 19.93 months. |
| Break-even years | break-even months ÷ 12 | 1.66 years. |
| Break-even subscription | buy price ÷ (12 × years) | $4.98 a month (exact $4.9833; at $4.98 the subscription costs $298.80 and subscription wins by $0.20; at $4.99 it costs $299.40 and buy wins by $0.40). |
| Break-even buy price | monthly price × 12 × years | $900.00 (at $899.99 buy wins by $0.01, at $900.01 subscription wins by $0.01). |
| Break-even years | buy price ÷ (monthly price × 12) | 1.66 years (exact 1.6611; at 1.66 years the subscription costs $298.80, at 1.67 years $300.60). |
| Break-even months | buy price ÷ monthly price | 19.93 months (exact 19.9333; at 19.93 months the subscription costs $298.95, at 19.94 months $299.10). |
| $10 a month | same model, M = $10 | Subscription $600.00, buy $299.00, Buy wins by $301.00. |
| $30 a month | same model, M = $30 | Subscription $1,800.00, buy $299.00, Buy wins by $1,501.00. |
| Buy price $149 | same model, B = $149 | Subscription $900.00, buy $149.00, Buy wins by $751.00. |
| Buy price $599 | same model, B = $599 | Subscription $900.00, buy $599.00, Buy wins by $301.00. |
| 1 year | same model, Y = 1 | Subscription $180.00, buy $299.00, Subscription wins by $119.00. |
| 3 years | same model, Y = 3 | Subscription $540.00, buy $299.00, Buy wins by $241.00. |
| 10 years | same model, Y = 10 | Subscription $1,800.00, buy $299.00, Buy wins by $1,501.00. |
| Upgrade $99 every 3 years | same model, C = $99 | Subscription $900.00, buy $398.00, Buy wins by $502.00. |
The math is exact for the numbers you enter: the subscription total is the monthly price times 12 times the years, the buy total is the one-time price plus one paid upgrade every 3 years, the winner is the lower total, and the break-even is the buy price divided by the monthly price. What the model cannot do is know the prices tomorrow: check the subscription price, because vendors raise it, and check the buy price, because licences go on sale. It assumes the bought copy keeps working for the whole period with no forced upgrade, and it leaves out the subscription extras (cloud sync, new features, support) and the value of owning the copy forever. It leaves out taxes, discounts, and annual-plan pricing. For renting against buying a home, see rent vs buy calculator; for contractor against employee pay, see 1099 vs W-2 calculator.
Bright Side Kit. "Subscribe vs Buy Software: Which Costs Less in 2026?" https://brightoolbox.com/subscribe-vs-buy-software/ Accessed October 25, 2026.Buy, at the defaults: $299.00 once against $900.00 of subscription over 5 years. Buying wins by $601.00. Per year that is $59.80 to buy against $180.00 to subscribe. The answer flips if the buy price is high or the use is short: at a $999 buy price the subscription wins by $99.00, and over 1 year it wins by $119.00.
When the use is short, the buy price is high, or the subscription is cheap. Over 1 year the subscription costs $180.00 against $299.00 to buy, so it wins by $119.00. At a $999 buy price it wins by $99.00 over 5 years. At a $0 subscription it costs nothing and wins by $299.00. The break-even is 19.93 months: use it longer than that and buying wins.
19.93 months, or 1.66 years. Break-even months are the buy price divided by the monthly price: $299 ÷ $15 = 19.93 months. The break-even subscription over 5 years is $4.98 a month (exact $4.9833): at $4.98 the subscription costs $298.80 and wins by $0.20, at $4.99 it costs $299.40 and buying wins by $0.40. The break-even buy price is $900.00.
Not at $99 every 3 years over 5 years: buying still wins, by $502.00. One upgrade in 5 years makes the buy total $398.00 against $900.00 to subscribe. Over 10 years there are 3 upgrades ($297.00), so buying costs $596.00 against $1,800.00 to subscribe and wins by $1,204.00. Upgrades only flip the answer when they are large and frequent.
At $30 a month, buying wins by even more: $1,501.00 over 5 years. The subscription total doubles to $1,800.00 while the buy price stays at $299.00. At $10 a month buying still wins, by $301.00, because $600.00 of subscription is still more than $299.00 once. The subscription has to fall to $4.98 a month before it breaks even over 5 years.
Subscribe: $180.00 against $299.00 to buy, a $119.00 saving. Buying only wins once you use the software past 19.93 months. At 3 years buying wins by $241.00, and at 10 years by $1,501.00. Short use favours the subscription; long use favours buying.
A $0 buy price wins by $900.00 over 5 years, and a $0 subscription wins by $299.00. With 0 years of use both sides are $0.00, a tie: nothing has been used and nothing has been bought yet. Free on either side ends the comparison, which is why the real question is always the price you actually pay.