Act on the result
Choose a billing cadence only after checking the retention curve, refund assumption and service cost against one cohort.
Educational only: Business decision support, not accounting, tax or legal advice.
Privacy: No account is required. Tool inputs and results stay in this browser. Anonymous categorical usage analytics send only governed page, tool, cluster and action identifiers; tool inputs and results are never sent. Error monitoring is disabled. Optional saved state stays only on this device.
Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.
Scope: Market-neutral small-business planning using your own assumptions.
What this planner helps you decide
Best for
Subscription businesses comparing annual upfront cash with retention-weighted monthly contribution.
Outputs
Expected monthly and annual cash and contribution, plus an embedded annual-discount and payment-fee sensitivity.
Start here
Enter both prices, the annual discount and separate payment fees, then record exactly 12 non-increasing monthly retention shares.
Use a different tool when: Do not use this to reconcile recurring-revenue movements and inspect closing MRR, ARR, GRR and NRR on one cohort basis; use Recurring Revenue MRR and ARR Planner for that decision. Use this tool to compare upfront annual cash and contribution with a retention-weighted monthly subscription cohort.
Cash & growth
Annual vs Monthly Plan: expected monthly and annual cash and contribution
Expected monthly and annual cash and contribution, plus an embedded annual-discount and payment-fee sensitivity.
Amounts use the same currency as your inputs. No currency conversion is performed.
Subscription economics assumptions
Use one consistent cohort, period, currency and tax basis.
Your numbers stay in this browser
Customer price charged in each active month. Use one consistent currency, tax and period basis.
Discount used to derive the annual upfront price from twelve monthly payments.
User-entered payment fee share on the annual contract.
User-entered payment fee share on monthly payments.
Service cost for one active account-month. Use one consistent currency, tax and period basis.
Expected refunded share of the annual plan.
Acquisition cost applied to either plan. Use one consistent currency, tax and period basis.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Additional decision inputsOpen the assumptions you are less likely to change on every comparison.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time.
Decision result
All outputs come from the registered exact subscription engine.
- Expected monthly-plan cash
- 1,200.00
- Expected monthly-plan contribution
- 824.00
- Annual-plan upfront cash
- 1,080.00
- Expected annual-plan cash after refunds
- 1,080.00
- Expected annual-plan contribution
- 707.60
- Annual contribution difference
- -116.40
| Plan | Cash | Expected contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | 1,200.00 | 824.00 |
| Annual upfront | 1,080.00 | — |
| Annual expected after refunds | 1,080.00 | 707.60 |
| Annual minus monthly | — | -116.40 |
Scenario comparison
Each row names the assumption axis changed from the baseline.
ScenarioResultDifference
Entered scenario-116.40Baseline
Lower Annual contract discount-104.76Not available
Higher Annual contract discount-128.04Not available
Save these results, change an input, then compare the updated figures with this baseline.
The baseline is temporary in this tab and is not added to shared scenario links or generated reports.
Calculation details
View calculation detailsView the formulas and inputs used for these results.
Expected monthly-plan cash
Expected monthly-plan cash
monthly price × sum of 12 retained shares1,200.00Result1,200.00
Uses user-entered subscription economics on one consistent cohort, period and currency basis. The engine retains raw precision; display formatting does not feed calculation.
Annual vs Monthly Plan Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Expected monthly-plan cashMonthly Price
- 100
- Expected monthly-plan cashAnnual Discount Rate
- 0.1
- Expected monthly-plan cashAnnual Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Expected monthly-plan cashMonthly Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Expected monthly-plan cashMonthly Service Cost
- 20
- Expected monthly-plan cashAnnual Refund Rate
- 0
- Expected monthly-plan cashAcquisition Cost
- 100
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month1
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month2
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month3
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month4
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month5
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month6
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month7
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month8
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month9
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month10
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month11
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan cashRetention Month12
- 1
Expected monthly-plan contribution
Expected monthly-plan contribution
monthly cash after fees − retained service cost − acquisition cost824.00Result824.00
Uses user-entered subscription economics on one consistent cohort, period and currency basis. The engine retains raw precision; display formatting does not feed calculation.
Annual vs Monthly Plan Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Expected monthly-plan contributionMonthly Price
- 100
- Expected monthly-plan contributionAnnual Discount Rate
- 0.1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionAnnual Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Expected monthly-plan contributionMonthly Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Expected monthly-plan contributionMonthly Service Cost
- 20
- Expected monthly-plan contributionAnnual Refund Rate
- 0
- Expected monthly-plan contributionAcquisition Cost
- 100
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month1
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month2
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month3
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month4
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month5
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month6
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month7
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month8
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month9
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month10
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month11
- 1
- Expected monthly-plan contributionRetention Month12
- 1
Annual-plan upfront cash
Annual-plan upfront cash
monthly price × 12 × (1 − annual discount)1,080.00Result1,080.00
Uses user-entered subscription economics on one consistent cohort, period and currency basis. The engine retains raw precision; display formatting does not feed calculation.
Annual vs Monthly Plan Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Annual-plan upfront cashMonthly Price
- 100
- Annual-plan upfront cashAnnual Discount Rate
- 0.1
- Annual-plan upfront cashAnnual Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Annual-plan upfront cashMonthly Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Annual-plan upfront cashMonthly Service Cost
- 20
- Annual-plan upfront cashAnnual Refund Rate
- 0
- Annual-plan upfront cashAcquisition Cost
- 100
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month1
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month2
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month3
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month4
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month5
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month6
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month7
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month8
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month9
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month10
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month11
- 1
- Annual-plan upfront cashRetention Month12
- 1
Expected annual-plan cash after refunds
Expected annual-plan cash after refunds
annual upfront cash × (1 − annual refund rate)1,080.00Result1,080.00
Uses user-entered subscription economics on one consistent cohort, period and currency basis. The engine retains raw precision; display formatting does not feed calculation.
Annual vs Monthly Plan Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsMonthly Price
- 100
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsAnnual Discount Rate
- 0.1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsAnnual Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsMonthly Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsMonthly Service Cost
- 20
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsAnnual Refund Rate
- 0
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsAcquisition Cost
- 100
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month1
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month2
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month3
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month4
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month5
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month6
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month7
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month8
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month9
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month10
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month11
- 1
- Expected annual-plan cash after refundsRetention Month12
- 1
Expected annual-plan contribution
Expected annual-plan contribution
expected annual cash after annual payment fee − 12 months of service cost − acquisition cost707.60Result707.60
Uses user-entered subscription economics on one consistent cohort, period and currency basis. The engine retains raw precision; display formatting does not feed calculation.
Annual vs Monthly Plan Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Expected annual-plan contributionMonthly Price
- 100
- Expected annual-plan contributionAnnual Discount Rate
- 0.1
- Expected annual-plan contributionAnnual Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Expected annual-plan contributionMonthly Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Expected annual-plan contributionMonthly Service Cost
- 20
- Expected annual-plan contributionAnnual Refund Rate
- 0
- Expected annual-plan contributionAcquisition Cost
- 100
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month1
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month2
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month3
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month4
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month5
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month6
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month7
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month8
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month9
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month10
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month11
- 1
- Expected annual-plan contributionRetention Month12
- 1
Annual contribution difference
Annual contribution difference
annual contribution − monthly contribution-116.40Result-116.40
Uses user-entered subscription economics on one consistent cohort, period and currency basis. The engine retains raw precision; display formatting does not feed calculation.
Annual vs Monthly Plan Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Annual contribution differenceMonthly Price
- 100
- Annual contribution differenceAnnual Discount Rate
- 0.1
- Annual contribution differenceAnnual Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Annual contribution differenceMonthly Payment Fee Rate
- 0.03
- Annual contribution differenceMonthly Service Cost
- 20
- Annual contribution differenceAnnual Refund Rate
- 0
- Annual contribution differenceAcquisition Cost
- 100
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month1
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month2
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month3
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month4
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month5
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month6
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month7
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month8
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month9
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month10
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month11
- 1
- Annual contribution differenceRetention Month12
- 1
Inputs used
- Monthly price
- 100
- Annual contract discount
- 0.1
- Annual payment fee rate
- 0.03
- Monthly payment fee rate
- 0.03
- Monthly service cost
- 20
- Annual refund rate
- 0
- Acquisition cost
- 100
- Month 1 retained share
- 1
- Month 2 retained share
- 1
- Month 3 retained share
- 1
- Month 4 retained share
- 1
- Month 5 retained share
- 1
- Month 6 retained share
- 1
- Month 7 retained share
- 1
- Month 8 retained share
- 1
- Month 9 retained share
- 1
- Month 10 retained share
- 1
- Month 11 retained share
- 1
- Month 12 retained share
- 1
Open this calculator with preset values
This calculator supports documented, shareable scenario URLs. Compatible assistants and applications can construct links using the parameters below.
Scenario links contain only allowlisted numeric and closed-choice inputs shown in the URL; Margin101 excludes free text and identifying fields. Anyone you share the URL with can read those numbers, so do not include private or identifying data.
| Parameter | Meaning | Unit | Allowed values | Presence | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| acquisitionCost | Acquisition cost applied to either plan. Use one consistent currency, tax and period basis. | currency units/acquired customer | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 100 |
| annualDiscountRate | Discount used to derive the annual upfront price from twelve monthly payments. | decimal share of twelve monthly payments | 0 to 1 | Required | 0.1 |
| annualPaymentFeeRate | User-entered payment fee share on the annual contract. | decimal share of annual payment amount | 0 to 1 | Required | 0.03 |
| annualRefundRate | Expected refunded share of the annual plan. | decimal share of annual plan price | 0 to 1 | Required | 0 |
| monthlyPaymentFeeRate | User-entered payment fee share on monthly payments. | decimal share of each monthly payment amount | 0 to 1 | Required | 0.03 |
| monthlyPrice | Customer price charged in each active month. Use one consistent currency, tax and period basis. | currency units/customer/month | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 100 |
| monthlyServiceCost | Service cost for one active account-month. Use one consistent currency, tax and period basis. | currency units/active account-month | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 20 |
| retentionMonth1 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 1 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth10 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 10 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth11 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 11 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth12 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 12 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth2 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 2 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth3 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 3 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth4 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 4 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth5 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 5 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth6 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 6 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth7 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 7 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth8 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 8 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
| retentionMonth9 | Expected active share of the opening monthly cohort; values must not increase over time. | decimal share of opening monthly cohort retained in month 9 | 0 to 1 | Required | 1 |
Annual vs Monthly Plan: expected monthly and annual cash and contribution
Use the contribution difference alongside cash timing; upfront annual cash is not the same as recognised revenue or earned profit.
Formula summary
- Primary formula
- annual contribution = discounted annual price × (1 − refund rate) × (1 − annual fee rate) − 12 months of service cost − acquisition cost
Data used here
- The estimate uses your inputs and the general business formula documented in the methodology.
Decision checks
Stress-test the decision
Retest weaker monthly retention, a larger annual discount and higher annual or monthly payment fees before changing contract terms.
When this estimate can be misleading
- Monthly retention weights must not increase across the 12-month horizon.
- The embedded annual-discount sensitivity is not a separate tool or recommendation.
- Use one consistent cohort, period, currency and indirect-tax basis.
- This is educational decision support, not financial, tax, legal or accounting advice.
- Use the contribution difference alongside cash timing; upfront annual cash is not the same as recognised revenue or earned profit.
Educational estimate, not advice. See all assumptions & limitations →
Related reading
Guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- Annual vs Monthly Plans: Cash, Discount and Retention
Compare annual and monthly plans on aligned price, cash timing, obligation and retained-cohort assumptions.
Read guide
Frequently asked questions
How do I compare upfront annual cash and contribution with a retention-weighted monthly subscription cohort?
Choose a billing cadence only after checking the retention curve, refund assumption and service cost against one cohort.
Which planning assumptions should I stress-test?
Compare a plausible alternative scenario and verify the decision-critical assumption that changes the plan most.