The Actual Cost

Free life-choice calculatorsFree to use

The number you think you’re earning
is almost never the right amount.

A salary isn’t what you’re paid. A mortgage isn’t what a house costs. Four a day isn’t four a day. These calculators put the hidden inputs back in: the commute, the unpaid overtime, the depreciation, the money you’d have earned elsewhere, and hand you the figure the sticker was hiding.

Find out the real amount →
No login or registration Your numbers never leave your device Completely free, always

Find out the true numbers below

Each one takes about thirty seconds and asks for nothing but figures you already know.

Why these calculators

Every one of these is a decision people make on a single visible figure: the salary, the asking price, the nursery invoice, the price of a coffee, the price of petrol, while the numbers that actually move the outcome sit outside the frame. The maths involved isn’t hard. It’s just tedious enough that almost nobody does it, and expensive enough that everybody should.

Nothing is stored, nothing is sent anywhere, and there’s nothing to buy. Type your figures in, get the number, close the tab.


Need a different calculation?

Our AI calculator builder lets you describe any calculation in plain English and get a working calculator instantly. It is experimental, so always double-check the results before using them.

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Every decision has two numbers.
Most people only use one.

The calculators make it easy to find the right one.

What it saysWhat it actually is
31.25 Salary, per hour 22.40
4 Coffee, over 30 years 96,000
0.14 Driving, per mile 0.61