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A subscription audit is a 20-minute session: list every recurring charge, sort each into keep, pause or cancel, and see what the year really costs. A free check of your bank statements does the job. Emma, a budgeting app, is an optional shortcut.

Prices checked 10 October 2026. MyHotips has not tested Emma.

Quick Overview

  • The audit takes 20 minutes: collect charges, sort them, annualise, confirm cancellations, then book a review.
  • The manual statement check is free and needs no bank account linking.
  • Emma Basic is free; paid plans only pay for themselves if they help you avoid more than their yearly fee (prices checked 10 October 2026, can change).
  • Per Emma's own page, Basic supports up to two bank logins.
  • Subscription-trap rules announced for January 2027 are a future change, not a current right.

The 20-minute manual audit

Step 1: Collect the repeat payments

Open the last two or three months of bank and card statements and highlight anything that repeats. Include app stores, PayPal and the small amounts you stopped noticing, because small amounts are easy to overlook. A note or simple spreadsheet is enough: name, amount, and the date it leaves.

For scale, the UK government estimated in August 2026 that unwanted subscriptions cost UK consumers about £1.6 billion a year. That is a national estimate, not your bill, but it is a fair reason to look.

A person at a desk with a laptop, a notepad and highlighted printed statements, checking repeat payments in warm daylight.

Step 2: Sort each charge

Next to every line, write keep, pause or cancel. Do not agonise: the rule in the next section settles most of them in seconds. Anything you cannot name or explain goes into cancel for now, and you can reverse that later if you miss it.

Step 3: Annualise

Multiply each monthly charge by 12. Say you pay £8 a month for an app you open twice (a made-up figure): that is £96 a year. Small sums look harmless monthly, and the yearly number is the one that helps you decide.

Step 4: Confirm every cancellation

Cancelling is not finished until the provider confirms it. Save the confirmation email or note the reference, then check that your next statement shows no further charge. If one still appears, you have the evidence to raise it.

Step 5: Book a monthly review

Add a ten-minute calendar slot each month and note the renewal date beside every charge you kept. One short, regular session replaces the low-level worry of not knowing what leaves your account. If reminders and routines like this appeal, our guide to automation and mental load covers more.

Related read: Automation for Busy Home Workers and Mental Load

Keep, pause or cancel: a simple sorting rule

Three small piles of sticky notes on a wooden desk, sorted beside a laptop, with a hand placing one note on the middle pile.

The three piles

Give every charge one quick test, and take the first pile that fits:

  • Keep: used in the last month, and you would miss it or replace it at once.
  • Pause: seasonal or occasional use, and the provider offers a pause or an easy restart.
  • Cancel: unused, duplicated by another service, or you cannot say what it gives you.

The tie-breaker question

If a charge sits between piles, ask: would I sign up today, at today's price? If the answer is no, cancel it. Compare this month's amount with earlier statements too, because a quiet price rise can turn a fair deal into one you would not choose now.

Start with wellness and fitness

Gym memberships, meditation apps and fitness streaming are a common place to apply the rule, because they are often signed up to in a burst of motivation and then drift. Our guide to wellness subscriptions goes deeper on cost, routine fit and cancellation terms.

Related read: Wellness Subscriptions for Busy Home Workers

What UK rules cover now, and what is only coming

Today

As of 10 October 2026, the new subscription-trap rules are not yet in force, so rely on each provider's terms and your existing consumer rights for now. Check each provider's cancellation route before you rely on a free trial or a renewal.

Note where cancellation sits in your account, whether you must email or phone, and what notice is required. Save a copy of the terms you agreed to.

From January 2027 (announced)

The government has announced subscription-trap protections due from January 2027. According to that announcement, they include clearer information, renewal reminders, simpler exits and a 14-day cooling-off period after certain renewals.

How they will apply in practice is not something to count on yet. The takeaway: audit now rather than wait.

Manual check or Emma: which route suits you?

Manual statement check

Free, needs no account linking and stays entirely in your control. The trade-off is effort: you spot the patterns yourself, so a charge with a changing name or an irregular date can slip past.

A monthly ten-minute review keeps it current. If you are uneasy about linking accounts, you lose nothing by staying here.

Emma Basic

Free. Emma describes its account aggregation as read-only Open Banking access, though the wider app also offers payment functions. Per Emma's own page, Basic supports up to two bank logins, so check which banks and account types Emma supports before relying on it.

Emma's recurring-payments page describes tools for grouping bills and subscriptions and spotting price rises. That is Emma's description, MyHotips has not tested it, and no app guarantees every charge is found.

Before you link a bank account: a short permissions check

Know what read-only covers

Emma describes its account aggregation as read-only Open Banking access. That description applies to pulling in your account information. The wider app also offers payment functions, so the whole app is not read-only.

Read the permissions

Before approving, read what is being requested and how long the consent lasts. If anything is unclear, stop there and keep to the manual route.

A person at a kitchen table holding a phone in one hand and reading carefully, a notebook and mug beside them in evening light.

Know how to disconnect

Find out how to remove a bank connection in the app, and how to revoke access from your bank's side, before you need to.

It is your decision

None of this is a security guarantee or financial advice. If linking accounts feels wrong, the manual audit gives you the same decisions.

Emma plans and prices

Basic

Free. Per Emma's own Basic page, it supports up to two bank logins. The sensible starting point if you want to try the app before paying anything.

Plus

£4.99 a month or £41.99 a year. On monthly billing that totals £59.88 over 12 months. Check Emma's plan comparison for what it adds over Basic.

Pro

£9.99 a month or £83.99 a year. On monthly billing that totals £119.88 over 12 months. Check Emma's plan comparison for what it adds over Plus.

Ultimate

£14.99 a month or £124.99 a year. On monthly billing that totals £179.88 over 12 months. Check Emma's plan comparison for what it adds over Pro.

Emma advertises a seven-day free trial. These prices were checked on 10 October 2026 and prices can change, so confirm them on Emma's official plan comparison before you subscribe.

Does a paid plan pay for itself?

A notebook with handwritten sums beside a calculator and a mug on a kitchen table, in calm afternoon light.

Worked example: Plus

A paid plan only pays for itself if it helps you avoid more than its yearly cost. Using Emma's prices as checked on 10 October 2026 (prices can change), Plus costs £59.88 over 12 months on monthly billing, or £41.99 on annual billing.

If the charges you cancel because of the app add up to less than that, it has cost you more than it saved. If you would have cancelled them anyway in the manual audit, it saved you nothing.

Monthly or annual billing

Annual billing for Plus is £17.89 (about 30%) cheaper than paying monthly, which works out at about £3.50 a month. The catch is the commitment: annual billing ties you in for a year, even if you stop opening the app after a few weeks.

Pro, Ultimate and the trial

Annual billing is about 30% cheaper on Pro (£35.89 less) and 31% cheaper on Ultimate (£54.89 less) than the monthly totals in the prices section above.

Count only charges you have actually cancelled, not hoped-for savings. If you use the seven-day trial, put a diary note in to cancel before it converts.

Subscription audit FAQ

How often should I audit subscriptions?

Do the full 20-minute audit once, then run a ten-minute review each month. Repeat the full version if your outgoings change, for example after a free trial ends or a new subscription starts.

Is Emma free?

Emma Basic is free, according to Emma's plan comparison checked on 10 October 2026. Plus, Pro and Ultimate are paid, and prices can change. Use the break-even test before paying for any of them.

Do I have to link my bank to audit?

No. Your bank and card statements record your recurring payments, so you can find them yourself, and a note or spreadsheet is enough. Linking an app is a convenience you can choose, not a requirement.

Can an app guarantee it finds every subscription?

No. Emma describes tools for grouping bills and spotting price rises, but that is a vendor description, and no app guarantees every charge is found or cancelled. Check your statements yourself as a backstop.

Do the 2027 rules protect me now?

No. They are announced for January 2027, so for now rely on each provider's own terms and cancellation route, and keep your confirmations.

Verdict

Start with the free manual audit this week: you can make keep, pause or cancel decisions without linking anything. Try Emma Basic only if you are comfortable linking accounts and your bank is supported, and pay for a plan only if the break-even test is met. The biggest reservation is that MyHotips has not tested Emma, and no tool guarantees savings. Next step: book your first monthly review now.

Related read: The Busy Worker Guide to Buying Less But Better