Tally total-system cost

Add up everything the choice costs beyond its sticker price and its performance: moving your existing material in, checking its output, keeping it working, getting stuck inside it, cleaning up when it breaks, and the skill you stop practicing.

Add up everything the choice costs beyond its sticker price and its performance: moving your existing material in, checking its output, keeping it working, getting stuck inside it, cleaning up when it breaks, and the skill you stop practicing.

Example

For the note app: 14 hours to move three years of notes, 10 minutes a day spot-checking summaries for errors, export locked to their format, and roughly 40% less self-testing because the app hands you answers. The $12 a month was never the real cost.