The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) digital subscription runs from $5 to $7.20 per week depending on your plan. That's $260 to $374 a year for a news site where half the articles are behind a paywall. If you're not reading it regularly, here's how to cancel.
Cancel by phone
Call 13 66 66 (or +61 2 7966 6900 from overseas).
Subscriber Services hours: Monday to Friday 7:30am - 5:30pm, weekends 7:30am - 10:30am (AEST).
Tell them you want to cancel. Have your subscription email address or account number ready. Ask for confirmation in writing.
Cancel online
- Go to smh.com.au and log in
- Go to your account or profile settings
- Click Subscriptions or Billing
- Click Cancel
You need to give at least 72 hours' notice before your next billing date, or you'll be charged for another period.
Cancel if you subscribed through an app store
If you signed up through the SMH app on your phone, your billing might go through Apple or Google rather than Nine (the publisher). In that case, cancelling on the SMH website won't work.
iPhone/iPad: Settings > your name > Subscriptions > The Sydney Morning Herald > Cancel Subscription
Android: Google Play Store > profile icon > Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions > The Sydney Morning Herald > Cancel
PayPal: If you set up payment via PayPal, log in to PayPal > Settings > Payments > Manage Automatic Payments > find "The Sydney Morning Herald" or "Fairfax Media" > Cancel
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Digital | $5/week | Weekly |
| Premium Digital | $7.20/week | Weekly |
| Student | $1/week | Weekly (with UNiDAYS verification) |
SMH is published by Nine Entertainment. The same account and cancellation process applies to The Age (Melbourne) if you subscribe to both.
Your access continues until the end of your current billing period. After that, you hit the paywall again. Your account and reading history are retained, so you can resubscribe later without starting from scratch. No data is deleted.
The free alternatives
Before you cancel, consider whether the free tier is enough. SMH lets you read a limited number of articles per month without a subscription. If you only check it occasionally, that might be all you need.
For breaking news and general coverage, ABC News and SBS News are free with no paywall and no subscription required.
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