A common claim is that you are subscribed to more than you think, and here is the yearly cost. The memory gap is real. The yearly cost in the headline is a 2022 survey, still quoted as if it were this year’s bill. C+R Research asked about 1,000 US consumers to estimate, then itemize. The guess averaged $86 a month. The list averaged $219, a gap of $133, or about 2.5 times. Times twelve, the itemized figure is $2,628. That is what people wrote down. It is not a census of card statements, and it is not a 2026 average.

Forgetting is the part that holds. In the same survey, 74% said recurring charges are easy to forget, 72% had them on auto-pay, and 42% said they had forgotten a subscription they were still paying. A separate West Monroe survey found 89% underestimated, and 66% were off by more than $200 a month. Secondary write-ups of the C+R work put the average active count near eight. The count depends on the question. A phone plan, a gym, and a streaming app are not the same product. A respondent who includes all three inflates the “subscription” total.

The newer waste figure is smaller than the viral bill. A March 2026 Self Financial survey of 1,272 US adults found 59.9% had at least one paid subscription unused in the prior 30 days. The average unused value was $26.79 a month, about $321 a year. That is the idle slice, not the $2,628. Company indexes are a third object. Zuora’s subscription-economy index tracks business revenue growth, not a household bill. A firm growing faster than the market is not proof that your list costs $219 a month.

C+R asked people to estimate, then to list. The second number is still a memory, just a prompted one. It is not a download of card transactions. A respondent who calls a phone bill a subscription and one who does not are both in the average. The sample was about 1,000 US consumers in 2022. Quoting it as this year’s cost repeats a four-year-old list.

Self Financial asked about subscriptions unused in the prior 30 days. An app opened once does not count as unused. The $26.79 is an average across the sample, including people with nothing idle. West Monroe’s 89% is a different survey and a different year. The three should not be added.

It is settled that, in the 2022 survey, people guessed $86 and itemized $219, and that a 2026 survey put unused subscriptions near $27 a month. It is not settled that you spend $2,628 a year. Use $86 and $219 as the old guess and the old list. Use $27 for the newer idle slice. Do not use $219 as a current bank average.