How to track subscriptions in multiple currencies

If you pay for tools in US dollars, euros, pounds or other currencies, record each subscription in the currency it bills in and convert only when you add them up. That gives you one monthly and one yearly total in your main currency, and a list that doesn't change every time an exchange rate moves. The sections below cover which amount to record, where to find a rate, why your card charges a slightly different amount and how to set it all up.

Last updated October 15, 2026

Which currency should I record a subscription in?

Record the currency and amount on the invoice or receipt, which is what the service bills you, not the converted amount on your card statement.

The billed amount is the price you signed up for, and it usually stays the same from one charge to the next. The statement amount is that price after conversion, so it moves with the exchange rate: a plan billed at €20 a month, for example, can show up as a slightly different dollar amount every month. Recording the billed amount has a few advantages:

When an amount in your list changes, you know the price changed, not the exchange rate.
You can recalculate your totals at any rate without going back to old statements.
Any fee your bank adds stays separate from the price of the subscription.

The billing currency is on the receipt, the invoice or the billing page of your account, and it is not always the one you expect. Google Play, for example, says it charges you in the currency of your home country if possible, based on the home address you added. If that isn't possible, it charges a different currency, which for people outside the United States usually means US dollars. Google says you always see the currency you'll be charged in before you complete the purchase.

Conversion is only one reason a charge can differ from the price you remember. Why your subscription charge changes each month covers the others, such as tax, price increases and plan changes.

How do I convert all my subscriptions into one currency?

Pick one main currency, usually the one you are paid in or keep most of your money in, convert each subscription into it with a recent exchange rate, then add them up.

Check which way the rate is quoted before you use it. A rate of 1.10 US dollars per euro means you multiply a euro amount by 1.10 to get dollars. If the rate is given the other way around, as euros per dollar, divide the euro amount by it instead.

A few suggestions keep the total useful without much upkeep. They are habits rather than rules, so adjust them to your own currencies and card:

Take a recent rate for every currency from one source, and note the date you took it.
Recheck the rates now and then, for example once a month or whenever you review your subscriptions, and update them all at the same time.
Add a small buffer of a few percent to the converted amounts, to allow for rate moves and any foreign transaction fee. If you know your card's fee, start from that.

The result is an estimate for planning. What you actually pay depends on the rate used for each charge and on any fees your card adds, which are covered below.

Where can I find an official exchange rate?

Central banks publish daily exchange rates you can use for an estimate. Two you can check are the European Central Bank (ECB) euro reference rates and the US Federal Reserve's H.10 rates against the dollar.

ECB euro reference rates: every currency on the page, including the US dollar and the pound sterling, is quoted against the euro. The ECB says the rates are usually updated at around 16:00 CET every working day, except on TARGET closing days, and are based on a daily concertation procedure between central banks across Europe.
Federal Reserve H.10: a weekly release with daily rates of major currencies against the US dollar. The Fed says the data are noon buying rates in New York for cable transfers payable in the listed currencies. Most rates in the table are currency units per US dollar, while a few, including the euro and the pound, are marked with an asterisk and shown as US dollars per currency unit.

These rates tell you roughly what a currency is worth, but they are not necessarily the rate a charge is converted at. The ECB says: "The reference rates are published for information purposes only. Using the rates for transaction purposes is strongly discouraged." For a subscription budget that is fine, since you need a reasonable estimate of the total rather than the exact amount of each charge.

Why doesn't my card charge match the rate I used?

Because each charge is converted at the rate that applies when it goes through, which may not be the rate you looked up, and your bank may add a fee on top.

Visa says it applies the exchange rate available when a payment is authorized, or the rate when the transaction is processed if it can't use that one. It also says your bank may or may not use the rate shown by Visa's exchange rate calculator to bill you, and may add fees for foreign transactions. The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) says in its credit card contract definitions that when a charge in a foreign currency is converted to US dollars, the card network uses a government-mandated or wholesale rate in effect on the date it processes the transaction, which may differ from the rate on the day you made the transaction or the day it posts to your account.

In its guide to prepaid card fees, the CFPB says a foreign transaction fee, sometimes called a currency conversion fee, is usually a percentage of the transaction rather than a flat fee. In an example in the CFPB's official commentary on Regulation Z, the card network may charge 1% and the card-issuing bank another 2%, for 3% in total. Your own card's fee may be different, so check your cardholder agreement.

With a US credit card, a fee can apply even when a subscription bills in US dollars. The same commentary counts fees on credit card purchases from a foreign merchant, including through the merchant's website, as foreign transaction fees, whether the purchase is in a foreign currency or in US dollars. Why your subscription charge changes each month explains these fees in more detail, including what to know when a site offers to charge you in your own currency.

How do I compare monthly and yearly subscriptions in different currencies?

Turn every price into a monthly and a yearly figure in its own currency, then convert those figures into your main currency. That way every subscription is measured the same way, whatever its billing cycle.

Monthly: the price is the monthly figure. Multiply it by 12 for the year.
Yearly: the price is the yearly figure. Divide it by 12 for a month.
Quarterly: divide the price by 3 for a month, or multiply it by 4 for the year.
Weekly: multiply the price by 52 and divide by 12 for a month, or multiply it by 52 for the year.

Converting before or after you divide gives the same result, but doing the billing-cycle step in the billing currency keeps your list matching the invoice. The subscription cost calculator shows any price per month and per year across weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly billing. It works in one currency, so use it for the subscriptions in each currency separately, or for amounts you have already converted.

A yearly plan in another currency is converted in one payment when it renews, so a small change in the rate changes that one charge by more money than it changes a monthly one. It can help to recheck the rate a few weeks before a large yearly renewal. If you are deciding whether a yearly plan is worth it at all, see monthly vs yearly subscriptions.

How do I add up subscriptions in USD, EUR and GBP?

Work out each subscription's monthly amount in its own currency, convert it with your rate, then add up the results. Here is an example with three made-up subscriptions and made-up exchange rates, using US dollars as the main currency. The rates are for this example only, not current rates.

The example rates are 1 euro = 1.10 US dollars and 1 pound = 1.30 US dollars. The subscriptions:

A design tool billed at $15 a month.
Cloud storage billed at €96 a year.
A writing app billed at £8 a month.

The sums:

Monthly amount in each currency: $15, €96 ÷ 12 = €8, and £8.
Converted to dollars: $15 stays $15, €8 × 1.10 = $8.80, and £8 × 1.30 = $10.40.
Monthly total: $15 + $8.80 + $10.40 = $34.20.
Yearly total: $34.20 × 12 = $410.40. As a check, the yearly figures are $15 × 12 = $180, €96 × 1.10 = $105.60 and £96 × 1.30 = $124.80, which also add up to $410.40.

Now add a buffer. The 3% here is only for the example. The two converted amounts come to $19.20 a month, and 3% of $19.20 is about $0.58, so you would plan for about $34.78 a month. Over a year, the converted amounts come to $230.40, or about $237.31 with 3% added, so about $417.31 in total with the $180 for the design tool.

Next month, say the example rates move to 1.12 dollars per euro and 1.33 dollars per pound. The prices you recorded stay the same: €96 a year and £8 a month. Only the conversion changes: €8 × 1.12 = $8.96 and £8 × 1.33 = $10.64, so the monthly total becomes $15 + $8.96 + $10.64 = $34.60.

How do I set up a multi-currency subscription tracker?

Give every subscription its own currency and keep the exchange rates in one place, so that updating a rate updates every total.

The subscription tracker spreadsheet already has Amount, Currency, Billing cycle, Per month and Per year columns, and its summary sheet totals each currency separately. To get one combined total in your main currency:

Add a small rates table with one row per currency: the rate into your main currency and the date you took it. Your main currency's rate is 1.
Add a column that looks up each subscription's rate from that table by its currency.
Add two converted columns: Per month multiplied by the rate, and Per year multiplied by the rate.
Add up the two converted columns for your monthly and yearly totals.
When you recheck the rates, change only the rates table.

For a buffer, you can raise each foreign rate in the table a little, for example by multiplying it by 1.03 for 3%, and leave your main currency at 1. That adds the buffer to the converted amounts only, as in the example above.

Subskim does the conversion for you: each subscription keeps the currency it bills in, and your monthly and yearly totals are converted into your main currency. It is free and needs no bank connection; you add subscriptions by hand or from a screenshot of a billing page.

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