What is the cost per use formula?

Cost Per Use = Total Cost ÷ Number of Uses. Total cost includes the purchase price, plus any recurring fees (subscriptions, memberships) and ongoing upkeep (repairs, cleaning, replacement parts).

What is a good cost per use?

There is no universal number. A useful benchmark: if the cost per use is less than a cup of coffee in your area, the item is paying you back well. Under $1 per use is excellent for most everyday items.

Should I include maintenance costs in cost per use?

Yes. The true cost per use includes everything the item pulls from your wallet: purchase price plus dry cleaning, repairs, subscriptions tied to the item, replacement parts, and any other upkeep. Ignoring maintenance can understate the real cost by 20-50%.

Pillar guide

What is cost per use?

Q: What is cost per use?

Cost per use is the price of something divided by the number of times you actually use it. It is the simplest way to tell whether something you own is worth what you paid for it.

Cost per use is the price you paid for something divided by how many times you actually use it. It is the smallest possible measure of whether the thing was worth buying.

The formula

Cost Per Use = Total Cost ÷ Number of Uses

Total cost includes everything the item pulls from your wallet: the sticker price, plus any recurring fees if it's a subscription or membership.

The full formula: including upkeep

Most calculators stop at the purchase price. But dry cleaning, repairs, replacement parts, and subscriptions tied to the item are real costs too. The full formula is:

True Cost Per Use = (Purchase Price + Maintenance Costs) ÷ Number of Uses

A $1,800 coat dry-cleaned twice a year for three years costs $1,800 + $360 = $2,160 total. That's $24 per wear instead of $20 — a 20% gap most people miss. Sometimes maintenance lowers the cost per use by extending the item's life far beyond what you'd get without care. Read the full breakdown in our maintenance cost guide.

Examples in three categories

Gadgets and gear

$249 AirPods Pro, used 500 times → $0.50 / use.
$2,695 connected bike plus a $49.99 / month membership assumption, ridden 60 times in a year → $54.91 / ride. Keep riding to bring it down.
$300 standing desk, used every workday for 2 years → roughly $0.60 / use.

Memberships

$70 / month gym, visited 8 times → $8.75 / visit. Fine for some people, expensive if a day pass or class pack would cost less.
$22 / month Netflix, watched 90 times → $0.24 / watch. Cheap and worth it.

Subscriptions

Per-month pricing hides everything. The right unit is per actual use. Use our calculator with the monthly fee × 12 as the cost, and the number of times you actually opened the app or watched a show as the uses.

How to think about "good"

There's no universal number — a $5 cost per use on a $50 shirt means something different than $5 on a $2,000 laptop. A practical benchmark: compare each use to something you already spend on without thinking.

Under $5 per use — less than a coffee. The item is paying for itself.
$5–$20 per use — a meal out. Fine for premium gear, occasion wear, or specialized tools.
Above $20 per use — you haven't broken in the item yet. Use it more, or reconsider whether it belongs in your life.

Cost per wear vs cost per use

Same formula, different context. "Cost per wear" is the fashion world's name for it. "Cost per use" generalizes to anything else. If you mostly buy clothes, see the Cost Per Wear guide.

The simplest way to actually track it

Add the thing to Worth It: name + price.
Tap +1 when you use it.
Done. The math updates and the color of the number changes from red to green over time.

FAQ

Should I include maintenance and accessories?

Include anything required to keep the item working: cables, cases, batteries, repairs, cleaning, subscription fees. Skip cosmetic upgrades like a fancier strap.

What if I rarely use something?

Cost per use stays high. That is the honest answer. You can decide whether to use it more, sell it, or accept it as a one-off cost.

Does cost per use account for the time value of money?

No, and it doesn't need to. The whole point is plain math anyone can do in three seconds.