By Catherine Mulholland, Head of Key Accounts, Otivo
More than three in four Australians pay for at least one subscription, and the average subscriber hands over $136 a month for the privilege. That is $1,637 a year, and an estimated $26.5 billion nationally, according to ING research published in April 2026. The striking part isn't the total. It's that most people, asked to list what they're paying for, can't get past the third one.
Australians who pay for subscriptions spend an average of $136 a month, or $1,637 a year, according to ING research released in April 2026. More than three in four Australians hold at least one subscription, averaging two each, and the national total is estimated at $26.5 billion a year.
How much does the average Australian spend on subscriptions?
The average Australian subscriber spends $136 a month on paid subscription services, which works out to $1,637 a year. ING's April 2026 research puts the number of paid subscriptions nationwide at around 43 million, with 78% of Australians holding at least one and the typical subscriber holding two.
Averages flatten a wide spread. Around 8% of subscribers, roughly 1.7 million people, spend $250 or more a month. At the other end, plenty of households carry a single streaming service and nothing else. Age matters more than most people expect. Gen Z subscribers average $178 a month and Millennials $174, against $101 for Gen X and $82 for Baby Boomers.
These are self-reported figures from a national survey, which means they capture what people believe they are spending. The gap between that and what actually leaves the account is the whole point of the exercise.
Why is subscription spending so hard to see?
Subscriptions are difficult to track because they are designed to be forgettable. A subscription that needed re-approving every month would be cancelled far more often, so the business model depends on the payment being quiet, small and automatic.
Three features do most of the hiding. The amounts are individually trivial, so no single line looks worth investigating. The payment recurs on a date nobody remembers choosing. And the merchant name on a bank statement often bears no resemblance to the service, so a $17.99 line from a payment processor tells you nothing about what you bought.
The three places subscriptions hide
Most forgotten subscriptions turn up in one of three places. Knowing the categories makes a review much faster than scrolling through a year of transactions hoping something jumps out.
- Annual renewals. A service billed once a year is invisible in a monthly scan of an account. Cloud storage, antivirus software, domain names, professional memberships and some insurance add-ons all tend to renew this way, and often at a higher rate than the introductory year.
- Platform and app store billing. Several services bought through the same app store arrive as one merchant line. Five subscriptions can look like one payment, and cancelling the app doesn't cancel the billing.
- Cards nobody checks. The old debit card still linked to a free trial, a partner's account covering a service used by neither of you, a business card carrying a personal subscription. These are the ones that run longest, because nobody is looking.
What does a subscription audit actually involve?
A subscription audit is a review of every recurring payment across all accounts, usually covering twelve months so annual charges are captured. It generally runs in four steps.
- Pull twelve months of transactions across every account and card, not just the everyday one. A shorter window misses annual renewals entirely.
- Sort by merchant rather than by date. Recurring payments become obvious the moment the same name appears twelve or four or one time at the same amount.
- List each one against what it is and when it was last used. The last-used column is where the surprises live.
- Decide on each, then diarise the renewal dates for the ones that stay, so the next review takes ten minutes instead of an afternoon.
For a 34-year-old paying the Millennial average of $174 a month, the exercise covers about $2,088 a year of spending. Whether that is good value or not isn't a question a statistic can answer, but it is a question worth being able to answer deliberately.
Which subscriptions are actually earning their keep?
The most useful test isn't cost, it's cost per use. A $19 a month streaming service watched three nights a week costs roughly $1.50 a viewing. The same $19 on a gym visited twice a year costs about $114 a visit.
Cost per use also explains why cancelling isn't always the answer. Some people find that moving from a monthly to an annual plan on a service they genuinely use saves more than cancelling two they barely think about. Others find the opposite. The arithmetic is personal, which is exactly why it repays doing rather than assuming.
Duplicate coverage is the other common finding. Two services carrying much of the same content, two cloud storage plans, a standalone music subscription sitting alongside a bundle that already includes one.
How does subscription spending fit into the wider picture?
Subscriptions are a small share of household spending but an unusually visible one, because they are among the few costs a household can change this week without changing anything else. Australian household spending reached $82.3 billion in July 2026 on a seasonally adjusted basis, 7.0% higher than a year earlier, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Recreation and culture was among the categories driving the rise.
Set against annual inflation of 3.5% in the twelve months to July 2026, that gap is where the cost-of-living squeeze actually lives. Rent, groceries and insurance are difficult to move quickly. A forgotten $14 a month is not.
Frequently asked questions
Does the $1,637 figure include things like utilities and insurance?
No. The ING figure covers discretionary subscription services, including streaming, fitness, apps and dating platforms. Utilities, insurance premiums and phone plans sit outside it, which means the full value of a household's recurring payments is usually higher than the subscription number alone.
Do younger Australians spend more on subscriptions?
Yes, on average. ING's April 2026 research found Gen Z subscribers spend around $178 a month and Millennials $174, compared with $101 for Gen X and $82 for Baby Boomers. Millennials are also the most likely to hold three or more services, at 41%.
How far back should a review go to catch everything?
Twelve months is the usual window, because anything shorter misses annual renewals. Two years of history makes it easier to spot services that quietly stepped up in price after an introductory period, and to see whether a subscription has been used at all since it started.
Is cancelling subscriptions the fastest way to cut spending?
It is often the easiest, which isn't quite the same thing. Subscriptions can usually be changed immediately and without renegotiating anything, so they tend to be the first place people look. Larger savings frequently sit in insurance, energy and interest costs, which take longer to move.
Sources
- ING, "Australia's love for subscriptions adds up to $26.5 billion annually", media release, 24 April 2026. newsroom.ing.com.au
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Monthly Household Spending Indicator, July 2026, released 27 August 2026. abs.gov.au
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Consumer Price Index, Australia, July 2026. abs.gov.au
- ASIC MoneySmart, Budgeting. moneysmart.gov.au
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Otivo is an Australian digital financial advice platform holding AFSL and Australian Credit Licence No. 485665. Once the recurring payments are visible, the next question is usually what to do with whatever they free up, and Otivo's debt advice module can help work through how that money is best put to work against what you owe.
Disclaimer
The information in this communication is current as at September 2026 and has been prepared by Otivo Pty Ltd ABN 47 602 457 732, AFSL and Australian Credit Licence No. 485665. This content is general information only and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not personal financial or taxation advice and should not be relied on as such. Before acting on any information, you should consider its appropriateness having regard to your personal circumstances. This material must not be reproduced in whole or in part, or posted on any social media platform, without the prior written consent of Otivo Pty Ltd.