Who wrote this: the team that makes SIMPL, a budgeting app with a subscription tracker, so we have a stake in this topic. Every price below links to where we read it, on 2026-10-20. The free ways to find forgotten subscriptions come first.

What your news & media subscriptions cost

5 common news & media services run from $11.67 to $32.50 a month at today's prices. All 5 together would be $86.14 a month, $1033.64 a year. Nobody pays for all of them: add up the ones on your own statement.

What surveys say

16% of US respondents said they paid for online news in the last year, down 4 points (Digital News Report 2026, based on a March 2026 repoll; the original data showed 13%). (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (Digital News Report 2026), 2026) reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk

Today's prices

Service	Per month	Per year	Cancel
New York Times All Access (individual) recurdash.com (report)	$32.50	$390	how to cancel
Washington Post Digital (Core) pricetimeline.com (report)	$11.67 billed yearly	$140	how to cancel
Apple News+ Apple News+ apple.com	$12.99	$155.88	how to cancel
Spotify Premium Individual spotify.com	$12.99	$155.88	how to cancel
YouTube Premium Individual 9to5google.com (report)	$15.99	$159.99	how to cancel

Regular US prices, read on 2026-10-20, before tax. Introductory rates are left out. No price rises are assumed. Prices change, and the vendor's page is the final word.

Left out because we could not confirm a current price: Wall Street Journal.

2 of these prices come from the company's own pricing or help page. 3 come from a news or price-tracking report, because the company's site would not show us a price; those rows say "report" next to the source link, and the report's own date is in our notes. When a company has renamed a plan, we use its current name.

Cheaper ways to keep what you use

Most news sites start with a cheap first year: The New York Times is $4 every four weeks for a year, then $30 every four weeks. recurdash.com
Billed every four weeks means 13 bills a year, not 12.
YouTube Premium costs more when billed through Apple (reported at $20.99 a month); subscribing on the web avoids that. 9to5google.com
Put a calendar reminder on the date an introductory rate ends.

How to find the ones you forgot

Free, and enough for most people:

Your bank or card statement. Scroll the last three months and mark every charge that repeats at the same amount. Many banks also have a "recurring payments" or "subscriptions" list in their app.
Your phone's app store. iPhone: Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. Android: Google Play, tap your profile, then Payments & subscriptions.
Your email. Search for "receipt", "renewal" or "your subscription". Annual renewals are the easiest to forget.

In SIMPL:

Drain Guard reads your expenses (from a linked bank, an imported statement, or ones you type in), finds the charges that repeat, and totals them by the month.
Keep or Cut takes you through each one, with how to cancel it where we have the steps.
Once you have cut, the budget's envelopes give the money you freed up a job, so it doesn't drift into the next subscription.

Before you renew any of these

When did you last use it?

If you can't remember, that is your answer. Most of these let you sign up again in a minute if you miss it.

Is there a smaller plan for how you actually use it?

An ad-supported tier, a smaller storage plan or a single-person plan is often half the price.

Would you pay yearly?

If you are keeping it anyway, a yearly plan usually costs less than twelve monthly bills. If you are not sure you will keep it, stay monthly.

Would you sign up today at this price?

Prices on several of these went up in 2026. Judge it on what it costs now, not what it cost when you joined.

How fast one cancellation covers SIMPL

SIMPL is $199 once. Cancel one of these and the money you stop paying covers it in:

New York Times ($32.50/mo): 7 months
YouTube Premium ($15.99/mo): 13 months
Apple News+ ($12.99/mo): 16 months
Spotify ($12.99/mo): 16 months
Washington Post ($11.67/mo): 18 months

Can it pay for itself?

SIMPL is $199 once, about $17 a month over its first year. Its Drain Guard reads your expenses (from a linked bank, an imported statement, or ones you type in), finds the charges that repeat, and adds them up by the month. Keep or Cut then walks you through them one at a time. Cancel $17 a month of charges you'd forgotten about and SIMPL has paid for itself inside the first year.

It depends on what you find and what you cancel, so we don't promise a number.

Questions

What is the cheapest news & media subscription here?

Washington Post (Digital (Core)) at $11.67 a month, billed yearly, as of the date above.

Do I need an app to find my subscriptions?

No. Your bank statement and your phone's subscription list find most of them for free. An app helps if you have several cards or want a running total.

Is SIMPL a subscription?

No. SIMPL is $199 once. Cloud Sync, which keeps it on more than one device, is optional at $4.99 a month, and the first three months come with the purchase.

Will SIMPL cancel subscriptions for me?

No. It finds them, totals them and walks you through each one. You cancel with the service yourself, using the cancel links on this page.

$199 once. No subscription.

Get SIMPL: $199