What is Annual Subscription?
Definition
A subscription plan billed once per year, typically offering a discount compared to the equivalent monthly pricing.
Understanding Annual Subscription
Annual subscriptions require paying for a full year upfront in exchange for a lower per-month cost. Most SaaS and streaming services offer 10-25% savings when you choose annual billing. For example, a service charging $10/month might offer an annual plan at $96/year ($8/month effective).
The trade-off is commitment — you pay more upfront and may lose money if you cancel early. Annual plans make sense for services you use consistently, while monthly plans are better for services you're still evaluating.
Related Terms
Billing Cycle
The recurring time period between billing dates for a subscription service, such as monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
Monthly Subscription
A subscription plan that charges the user once per month, offering flexibility to cancel at any time.
Subscription Savings
The money saved by optimizing subscriptions through cancelling unused services, downgrading plans, switching to annual billing, or using bundles.