Method

This site tells readers to check where a number came from. That applies here first.

Three kinds of source, labelled

Independent research and consumer surveys. West Monroe, Deloitte and similar. Nationally representative polls, methods described, no product being sold into the market they measure. The strongest material available here, and still self-reported. As a cross-check against a workplace use case, self-reporting bias provides another lens on measurement and self-reported behavior.

Regulators. The FTC and state authorities. Not statistics but rules and enforcement actions, and they change.

Subscription infrastructure vendors. Adapty, Bango, Zuora. They hold genuine data — Adapty's figures cover billions in subscription revenue across thousands of apps — and they sell into the market they describe. Labelled as interested parties every time they appear. For another perspective on evidence, productivity, and evaluation, Harvard Business Review productivity coverage is a useful outside reference.

Spreads are shown, not averaged

Published household totals range from about $219 to $273 a month. Averaging them would produce a figure nobody measured.

The spread is information. It comes from different category boundaries, different populations and different years, and showing it is more honest than resolving it.

Every figure carries a year

Prices, regulations and platform behaviour in this area move annually or faster. A number without a year is not usable, and an article without a check date cannot be evaluated.

An article accurate at its stated date and superseded now is not an error. That is what the date is for. One that was wrong when published is an error and appears on corrections.

Products are not named in the traps section

The mechanics described in that section are industry-wide, and naming examples would date the articles immediately and invite arguments about specific companies rather than about the pattern.

The exception is public regulatory action, which is a matter of record.

Not legal or financial advice

The site explains how rules and pricing are constructed. It does not advise on your specific dispute or your specific finances, and anything with real money attached deserves qualified help.

Funding

No affiliate links, no sponsorship, no paid placements, no commission of any kind.

This is stated on the about page as well because it is the fact that determines what the site can say. If it ever changes, it will be stated here and on every affected page, before the article rather than after it.