One in three Australians feel guilty about how much they spent in 2025. According to ING's January 2026 research, 72% say building an emergency fund is their top financial priority this year, and roughly three in ten plan to cut back on recurring costs. Subscriptions are near the top of the list.
The problem isn't that any single subscription is expensive. It's that most people have 8 to 15 of them, and half haven't been reviewed since they were signed up for. Deloitte's 2025 report found the average Australian household now spends $78 per month on digital entertainment subscriptions alone, up 24% from the year before.
Here are seven specific subscriptions that, for most Australians, are either costing more than they should or not delivering enough value to justify the price. Each one has a free or cheaper alternative.
Australians could save an average of $1,261 per year by cutting unused subscriptions and forgotten outgoings. Nationally, that's over $8 billion. (ING Australia, 2023)
1. Your second (or third) streaming service
What you're paying: Netflix Standard $18.99/mo, Stan Standard $18/mo, Disney+ Standard $13.99/mo, Binge Standard $18/mo, Paramount+ Standard $13.99/mo.
If you're subscribed to three services at once, that's $45-55/month ($540-660/year). Most people aren't watching all three regularly. One tends to sit idle for weeks at a time.
The alternative: Rotate instead of stacking. Subscribe to one service for a month or two, watch everything you want, cancel, move to the next. Most services keep your watchlist and history when you come back. This cuts your streaming bill by two-thirds without missing anything.
Free options also exist. ABC iview, SBS On Demand, 7plus, 9Now, and 10 Play all have substantial libraries at no cost. Tubi launched in Australia with a free, ad-supported catalogue.
Savings: $25-40/month by dropping two services.
2. A gym you don't go to
What you're paying: Anytime Fitness $16-20/week ($64-80/month). Fitness First $19-25/week. F45 $60-70/week. Even budget chains like Plus Fitness and Jetts charge $12-15/week.
Industry data shows that up to 67% of gym memberships go unused and 50% of new members stop going within six months. Australian fitness centres average 38% annual churn. The business model depends on people paying without attending.
The alternative: If you haven't been to the gym in the last month, cancel. For general fitness, bodyweight workouts at home or outdoor exercise cost nothing. If you need equipment, a one-off purchase of a kettlebell or resistance bands pays for itself within weeks.
If you do use a gym, check whether you're on the right plan. Many people stay on a premium tier (with classes, multiple locations) when a basic membership would cover what they actually do.
Savings: $60-80/month.
3. Adobe Creative Cloud
What you're paying: Creative Cloud Pro (all apps) is $113.49/month AUD on the annual plan, or $1,191.60/year. Even the Photography plan (Lightroom + Photoshop) is $30.99/month.
Unless you're a professional designer or photographer who uses multiple Adobe apps daily, this is one of the most expensive subscriptions most people carry. Adobe's default "Annual, Paid Monthly" plan also comes with an early termination fee of 50% of remaining payments if you try to leave before the year ends.
The alternative: For photo editing, Photopea is a free browser-based Photoshop clone. Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer are one-time purchases (around $120 AUD each) that cover most of what Photoshop and Illustrator do, with no ongoing fees. For PDF work, free options like Smallpdf or your browser's built-in reader handle most tasks.
Canva (free tier) handles basic graphic design for social media, presentations, and documents. It's not Photoshop, but for 80% of what non-professionals use Photoshop for, it's enough.
Savings: $30-113/month depending on your plan.
4. ChatGPT Plus (or other AI subscriptions)
What you're paying: ChatGPT Plus is $35/month AUD. Google Gemini Advanced is $32.99/month. Claude Pro is around $30/month AUD. Some people have two of these running simultaneously.
AI tools have become the latest subscription creep category. They're useful, but the free tiers have expanded significantly. ChatGPT's free tier now includes access to GPT-5.2 (with limits). Google Gemini is free with a Google account. Claude offers a generous free tier.
The alternative: Try the free tier for a month. If you hit the usage limits regularly, the paid plan is worth it. If you don't (and most casual users won't), you're paying $35/month for a safety blanket. Also check whether you're paying for overlapping AI services. If you have both ChatGPT Plus and Gemini Advanced, pick one.
Savings: $30-65/month.
5. Kayo Sports (outside of season)
What you're paying: Kayo Basic is $32/month. Kayo Premium just increased to $45.99/month (up from $40, a 15% hike timed for the start of the 2026 AFL and NRL seasons). If you're on the premium tier year-round, that's $552/year.
Kayo is genuinely good value during the AFL/NRL season if you watch regularly. Outside of season, it's less clear. If you're paying through the cricket off-season and the AFL pre-season for a service you barely open, that's two to three months of charges with minimal return.
The alternative: Cancel between seasons and resubscribe when the footy starts. Kayo doesn't penalise you for this. Your settings and preferences carry over. If you only watch one sport, calculate whether the per-month cost makes sense compared to attending a few games or watching free-to-air coverage.
Savings: $96-138/year by cancelling for 3 off-season months.
6. A news paywall you opened once
What you're paying: The Australian Digital $8/week ($32/month). SMH/The Age $7/week ($28/month). News Corp mastheads (Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph) range from $5-8/week.
News subscriptions are one of the most common "lazy tax" charges. You sign up for an introductory rate ($1/week for the first month is a common hook), intend to cancel before the full price kicks in, and forget. Six months later, you're paying $32/month for a newspaper you read once a week or less.
The cancellation process makes it worse. News Corp requires a phone call to cancel. The SMH buries the cancel option deep in your account settings. Neither makes it simple.
The alternative: For general news, ABC News and SBS News are free, funded by taxpayers, and cover national and international stories without a paywall. The Guardian Australia is free (donation-funded). For financial news, the ASX website and the RBA's publications are free.
If you genuinely read a news publication daily and it informs your work or decisions, keep it. If you signed up for one article six months ago, cancel today.
Savings: $20-32/month.
7. Cloud storage you're barely using
What you're paying: iCloud+ 200GB is $4.49/month. Google One 200GB is $4.49/month. Some people pay for both, plus Dropbox Plus at $17.99/month.
Cloud storage subscriptions tend to accumulate because different services are tied to different ecosystems. Your iPhone backs up to iCloud. Your email uses Google. Your work files are on Dropbox. Each one charges separately, and the overlap is significant.
The alternative: Check how much storage you're actually using. Go to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud (on iPhone) or drive.google.com/settings (for Google). Most people use far less than their plan allows, especially if they clear out old photos and files.
If you're under 15GB total, Google's free tier covers it. If you're under 5GB, Apple's free iCloud tier works. For file sharing and backup, Google Drive's free 15GB is generous. Consolidate into one service instead of paying for three.
Savings: $5-22/month by consolidating or downgrading.
The total
If you're carrying all seven of these in some form, the potential savings look like this:
| Subscription | Monthly cost | Monthly saving |
|---|---|---|
| Two extra streaming services | $26-37 | $26-37 |
| Unused gym | $60-80 | $60-80 |
| Adobe Creative Cloud | $31-113 | $31-113 |
| AI subscription | $30-35 | $30-35 |
| Kayo (off-season months) | $32-46 | $32-46 |
| News paywall | $20-32 | $20-32 |
| Duplicate cloud storage | $5-22 | $5-22 |
| Total | $204-365 | $204-365 |
That's $2,448 to $4,380 per year. Not theoretical savings on hypothetical subscriptions. Real money leaving real bank accounts for services that aren't being used enough to justify the cost.
The pattern
Every subscription on this list shares two features: autopay and low individual cost. The $13.99/month streaming charge doesn't feel urgent enough to deal with today. Neither does the $4.49 cloud storage or the $8/week news paywall. So they roll over, month after month, compounding quietly.
The cost-of-living crisis hasn't made subscriptions more expensive (though many have raised prices). It's made the existing waste harder to ignore. When grocery bills are up 20% and rent keeps climbing, that $200-300/month in subscriptions stops being background noise.
The fix isn't complicated. Open your bank statement. Find the recurring charges. Cancel anything you haven't used in the last 30 days. It takes 15 minutes, and for most people, it's worth more per hour than any side hustle.
You could save hundreds a year. But first you need to find every recurring charge.
Most people find 3-5 subscriptions they forgot about when they actually look. Upload a bank statement to Subtracker and see every recurring charge in 2 minutes. No bank login. No manual entry. $12.99 once.
See what you're paying forChris Raad
Chris is the founder of Subtracker. He built this tool after experiencing the pain of discovering thousands of dollars in unused SaaS sprawl just before tax time.