Tips and tricks for managing your online subscriptions
Don't let your pounds trickle away each month
Staying on top of subscriptions can feel like fighting off attacks on all sides – some keep you distracted with retention offers and freebies, while others sneak in from behind and chip away at your finances bit by bit. Here's how to keep them under control, and stop your money joining the £1.6 billion UK consumers spend every year on unwanted subscriptions.
New subscription rules are coming
From spring 2027, the Government is expected to bring into force new subscription rules contained within the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. These are designed to make it easier for consumers to avoid subscription traps.
Key changes are expected to include:
Making subscriptions as easy to cancel as they are to sign up to – including being able to cancel online if you signed up online.
Requiring clear, prominent information before a consumer enters a subscription, such as pricing, renewal terms and cancellation rights.
Sending regular reminders about auto-renewals and upcoming subscription charges.
Starting the 14-day cooling-off period after any free or discounted trial ends, rather than at the moment you first sign up.
Many subscription services don't currently meet one or more of the above upcoming regulations. That's why until this legislation comes into play, you'll need to remain extra-vigilant.
Know your rights with online subscriptions
Your rights with online subscriptions vary depending on whether the subscription is for digital services (such as TV streaming, digital game passes, Spotify) or physical goods.
Your return rights with online subscriptions for physical goods
Changed your mind about an online subscription? If it involves physical goods, such as beauty products or clothing, then you have 14 days from the first delivery of your subscription to request a refund, and then another 14 days to return the item.
Companies can offer you longer return windows if they like, but by law they cannot offer less (though some still try to). It's different if the item is faulty – see our Consumer Rights guide for more details.
After the 14-day cooling off period, unless an item is faulty, any returns you might want to make for future deliveries are subject to the terms of your subscription contract, so you're at the mercy of whatever cancellation policy that company has in place.
There are also a few product categories that are excluded from the 14-day cooling-off period, including perishable goods such as food, drink, beauty products, flowers, and other items with short shelf life – our Consumer Rights guide has the full list. Hygiene-sensitive goods meanwhile, like underwear, require that the product remain sealed in its packaging.
Let's say you sign up to a t-shirt subscription, and initiate a return within 14 days. In theory, this should automatically cancel the subscription for subsequent t-shirts, but make sure to double-check this, and ensure your subscription is cancelled as well, otherwise the company may continue charging you.
Of course, if you received your first t-shirt for free as part of your trial period for the subscription, you don't need to return it - just cancel the subscription and keep your freebie.
If you get to the third t-shirt in your subscription and decide you don't like the design, you won't be entitled to a refund unless it's faulty.
Many online subscriptions use rolling monthly contracts (though it can be longer), in which case after the 14-day cooling off period you may need to give 30 days' notice to cancel your subscription, during which time another payment might come out and another t-shirt might be delivered before your subscription ends.
Your rights with online subscriptions for digital goods
The rules are a little different for digital goods and services (this includes streaming platforms such as Netflix, gaming subscriptions such as Xbox Game Pass and Playstation Plus, and digital newspaper subscriptions).
While you technically still have 14 days to claim a no-fault refund, that's only if the supply of the service hasn't started within that window (which it pretty much always does).
You lose the right to a refund once "the supply of digital content has begun," on condition that you've given express consent to receive the content supply and acknowledged that you waive the right to cancel (again, the supplier will usually state this in the terms and conditions before you sign up to a trial).
If you're really determined to get a refund for a digital subscription, do read through the T&Cs to make sure they definitely mention the waiver. It should say something like:
"“By clicking subscribe, you agree that your digital content will be available immediately and you will lose your right to cancel.”
If you don't see text along those lines in the subscription acknowledgement, then you may have a case for a refund.
So unless the provider messes up with their wording, you effectively waive your right to a refund for a digital subscription as soon as you sign up, even if you haven't directly used the digital content - such as watching a film on Netflix or reading an article on a paywalled newspaper site.
It's always worth asking for a refund
Some digital subscriptions offer a bit more leeway on refunds, though they're not legally obliged to. For example, The Guardian offers a full refund if you cancel in the first 14 days of your subscription, while Amazon offers a full refund for Prime memberships if you haven't used any of the membership's perks (or a partial refund if you've used Prime delivery but not Prime Video, Music, Gaming or other perks).
Others, such as Netflix and Apple TV+ don't offer refunds in their policies, but if you've just realised you've been subscribed for months accidentally, and they can see you haven't used the service, contact them to explain your situation, and you may get a refund (we've seen plenty of reports of this working).
Turn off auto-renew as soon as you subscribe
If you've only signed up to a subscription for a free trial, to use a service temporarily, or for other introductory benefits, then you should always cancel right away. Otherwise you might be stung with fees like customers of Microsoft 365, Tastecard and many other subscriptions in the past.
Don't put it off until tomorrow and don't get deterred by any obscure instructions on how to cancel. Get used to cancelling (or, more accurately, turning off auto-renewal for) your subscription as part of the signing-up process.
Even during a free trial period, it's very rare that a digital subscription will cut you off as soon as you cancel (and certainly not if you've already paid), and you'll generally retain access to the content until the end of the trial or current billing period.
If you wait to cancel until just before the end of the billing cycle, it might be too late. For example, sports streaming platform DAZN has a 30-day notice period, which means that if you don't turn off auto-renew the day you subscribe, you'll already be tied into paying (pro rata, in this case) into the next billing cycle. We've seen other subscriptions require three or five-day notice periods. The sooner you turn off auto-renew, the less likely you are to be tripped up by these.
Watch out for annual auto-renewals
Some subscriptions auto-renew you for a year when your trial period runs out (or once you've been on the subscription for a year). For example, The Independent auto-renews at £99 after your cheap trial, with no option of a refund.
Be extra-vigilant around these, because they might not be detected by your banking or subscription management app. A monthly payment is easier to recognise as a recurring payment, so don't assume your apps will pick up everything, and make sure to do your own subscription tracking as well.
If a company isn't making cancelling a subscription easy, it might be tempting to simply cancel your direct debit or CPA (continuous payment authority) via your bank. But be aware this won't cancel any contract you have with the company, and you may still be liable for future payments.
Dip in and out of subscriptions
When looking at your list of subscriptions, think about which ones you genuinely use all the time (there are still ways to save on those you keep), and which you use more intermittently. For the latter, try getting into 'on-demand' subscribing – turn off auto-renew, then after your subscription lapses, only resubscribe when you want to actually use it.
This is worth doing even if you want to keep using the subscription, because you'll save on the days, weeks, or months between renewal periods that you're not using it.
Streaming services are one of the easiest to hop between, though many of us are guilty of subscribing to lots at once. Subscribe to four of the biggest, and it'll cost you about £30 a month. But if you're bingeing all seasons of Only Murders In The Building on Disney+, it's unlikely you've time to watch another service you're paying for.
Instead, pay £6 to £10 a month for just one service and when you've seen what you want, cancel it and move on to a different one. See our TV MoneySaving tricks for more ways to save.
Gaming subscriptions, such as PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass, are another good example. Dip in when there's a particular game you want to play, then dip out again. MSE Rob likes to write about himself in the third-person, he also likes to save money by dipping in and out of Game Pass:
I use Game Pass on PC to play specific games from its catalogue, but then go through long phases of not using it. By turning off auto-renew, then reactivating when I actually want to use the service, I only pay for about six months staggered throughout the year, amounting to half the price I'd pay if I just let the subscription run continuously – a saving of around £90.
Bluff a cancellation to save money
If you have a subscription that you're happy to stick with, and find dipping in and out too much hassle, then you may still be able to find ways of saving money. Haggling is one – and we've plenty of guides (and success stories) on haggling down your Sky, broadband, mobile bills and more.
But many online subscriptions shower you with retention offers with just a few clicks, if you start the cancellation process online – no phone call or haggling required. Now TV has been known to offer half-price streaming for several months, while Audible sometimes gives out free credits or reduced pricing. Other companies known to do this include Disney+, HelloFresh, DAZN, Uber One, and most digital newspapers.
So try it with whatever online subscription you have. Here are some of the successes reported by MSE readers who've tried to cancel:
Uber One! Went from their standard £4.99 a month to an offer of six months at £1.50! Well worth it and saved loads in the process.
The i Paper - £2 a month but £8.99 or £79.99 a year once intro subs finishes. Cancelled today online and was offered another 12 months for £2, a £56 saving.
Use an app to track your subscriptions
A growing number of banking apps include a section to keep track of your monthly subscriptions. Monzo, Revolut, and Halifax are some of the banks to do this, though they don't always clearly identify online subscriptions, as many are set up as CPAs (Continuous Payment Authorities) rather than direct debits.
Budget-planning apps tend to be better at this, letting you link your bank accounts then automatically identify and track your online subscription costs. The problem is that many of these apps aren't free.
Little Birdie (iOS, Android) is an exception, and we found it to be one of the best budget planners designed for UK customers. While it has a paid tier that automatically tracks your online subscriptions, the free version lets you enter your subscriptions manually (or select them from a list of known companies).
You can add in details such as whether it's a free trial, the payment due date, and when the contract ends. You can also use this to get a notification when your trial is ending.
... or use a free subscription tracker template for Excel
If you prefer to do things manually (and for free), you can create your own subscription-tracking spreadsheet, or download a free template for Excel or Google Sheets.
There are some good ones at Smartsheet – we like the 'Monthly Subscription Tracking Sheet', which lets you categorise your subscriptions. Each time you enter the cost it automatically calculates the total you've spent in the year on that subscription or category, and your total across all subscriptions.
When you download a spreadsheet from Smartsheet, remember to create a copy so you can edit it, delete that big box at the top imploring you to get the Smartsheet software, and convert all the dollar symbols to pounds.
Alternatively, you could ask ChatGPT, Claude, or other AI chatbot to create a subscription-tracking spreadsheet for you. It might take a few attempts, but this way the end result will be tailored to your specific needs.
Take screenshots as you go
With the upcoming changes to the law, these are hopefully the dying days of the 'wild west' era of online subscriptions, but in the meantime you'll have to wade through a lot of ambiguous wording, misleading introductory offers, and confusing cancellation instructions.
Taking screenshots at key junctures as you sign up to (and cancel) a subscription means you've got a digital paper trail you can use as evidence in case of any issues.
Here are the keyboard shortcuts to instantly save whatever's on your screen to your device.
Windows: Win + Print Screen
macOS: Shift + Command + 3
Android: Power button + volume down (varies by device)
iPhone: Side button + Volume up button
While researching this guide, MSE Rob encountered an egregious introductory offer from On That Ass, which claimed you get "not one, but two free boxers". What they don't tell you until after you subscribe is that you only get your second 'free' pair with your first paid pair. He found this very misleading, and it's exactly why it's worth taking screenshots as you go.
Watch out for gift card rollover
If you've received a gift card or prepaid code for a subscription, always be wary of services that ask for your payment details upon subscribing, because that makes it very likely you'll automatically roll over onto a paid subscription once your prepaid period expires.
For example, you can get prepaid codes for Xbox Game Pass, but they still require you to have a Microsoft account with card details on there, so you'll need to manually turn off recurring billing to make sure you don't roll over into monthly payments.
You also need to watch out if you're using a prepaid card at a company where you're not actively subscribed, but have a card on file. On Facebook, Helen shared with us her tribulations with Playstation: "Paid on gift card so assumed would not renew. Took annual membership from card on file. Had to email CEO, awful experience!"
For more ways to save online, see our cheap online shopping guide and our latest deals and discounts.
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