For Femi*, a civil engineer based in Lagos, maintaining his digital life costs approximately ₦76,500 per month, or ₦918,000 per year (~$674).
ChatGPT Plus supports his work. LinkedIn Premium supports his career. Google One stores his files and device backups. And a monthly mobile-data plan keeps all three accessible.
“Individually, none of my subscriptions looked expensive. It was only when I added them together that I realised how much I was spending every month,” he said in an interview with Techloy.
Femi’s experience reflects a broader change in how people pay for technology.
A consumer in the United States currently pays $52.98 a month for Netflix Standard, Spotify Premium Individual and ChatGPT Plus. That is $635.76 a year before cloud storage, YouTube Premium, design software, fitness apps or delivery memberships enter the bank statement.
But even though subscriptions lowered the upfront cost of accessing digital products, the lower entry price introduced a different relationship: the most convenient parts of digital life increasingly remain available only for as long as the payments continue.
The subscription stack is getting wider
The number of subscription-based products competing for space in household budgets is growing.
RevenueCat reports that new subscription-app launches increased from about 2,000 a month in January 2022 to more than 14,700 in January 2026, a more than sevenfold increase.
More choice does not mean household incomes are expanding at the same rate. It means more companies must persuade consumers that their service deserves to remain active after the free trial, introductory offer, or first useful project has ended.
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