Two paths. Real numbers.
For renters, homeowners and savers in the UK and US. Pick a money decision, one you made or one you're weighing up, and see how both choices played out with real prices, rents and rates.
Free. No signup, no account, no email.
Renting, buying and mortgages
Rent vs buy calculatorWhat if I'd bought instead of rented?
Rent vs buy in over 600 places, from London boroughs to US metros, back to 2015. Try it →
Sources: HM Land Registry, ONS, Bank of England, Zillow, Freddie Mac
- Overpay mortgage or invest calculator
What if I'd invested instead of paying off my mortgage early?
- Cash vs mortgage calculator
What if I'd taken a mortgage instead of buying with cash?
- 15 vs 30 year mortgage calculator
What if I'd taken a 15-year mortgage instead of a 30-year one?
Saving and investing
Savings vs investing calculatorWhat if I'd invested my savings instead of keeping them in cash?
Cash savings against the stock market, replayed with real savings rates, returns and inflation back to 2000. Try it →
Sources: Bank of England, ONS, Federal Reserve, BLS, S&P 500
- Stock market returns by country calculator
What if I'd invested in another country's stock market?
- Packed lunch vs buying lunch calculator
What if I'd taken a packed lunch instead of buying one?
- Latte factor calculator
What if I'd made my coffee at home instead of buying it?
- Cost of waiting to invest calculator
What if I'd started investing earlier?
- Lump sum vs dollar cost averaging calculator
What if I'd invested it all at once?
- Pay off debt or invest calculator
What if I'd invested instead of paying off my debt?
- High yield savings calculator
What if I'd kept my savings in a high-yield account?
- Weed money calculator
What if I'd invested the money I spent on weed?
Cars
Lease vs buy car calculatorWhat if I'd bought my car instead of leasing it?
Leasing, a car loan or paying cash, replayed with real loan rates and used car prices. Try it →
Sources: Bank of England, ONS, Federal Reserve, BLS, S&P 500
- True cost of a car calculator
What if I'd bought a cheaper car and invested the difference?
Moving and work
Pay and prices
Data study: where buying beat renting since 2015, for every UK and US place in the data.
Why this is different
- What happened, not a guess. Most calculators project forward from assumptions you have to guess. These replay what actually happened.
- No agenda. No ads, no affiliate links, no adviser upsells, and nothing earned from what you decide.
- Every number has a source. Each calculator names where its figures come from: Bank of England, HM Land Registry, ONS, Freddie Mac, Zillow, the S&P 500 and more.
How it works
Pick the place and the month you made the choice. The calculator fills in the real prices, rents and rates from then on, and you can type over any of them. It runs both paths side by side with the same money going in, so the gap between the two lines is the difference the choice made. Think of it as a backtest for a money decision of your own.
The newest figures are from August 2026.
Questions
Is it really free, with no sign-up?
Yes. There's no paid version, no account and no email to hand over, and the calculations run in your browser. The About page says what the site does keep.
Is this financial advice?
No. It replays what happened to real prices and rates, for illustration. It can't tell you what happens next, and it doesn't know your whole situation.
Who runs this?
It's an independent site. It isn't run by a bank, lender or broker. More on the About page.
How far back does the data go?
Rent vs buy and moving city go back to 2015. Overpaying the mortgage, cash vs mortgage, 15 vs 30 years, the two car calculators, savings, investing timing, salary, stock market, college, packed lunch and coffee calculators go back to 2000. High-yield savings goes back to 2000 in the UK and 2009 in the US, when the FDIC began publishing its average savings rate. Weed money goes back to 2004 in the UK and 2017 in the US, when legal price data begins. Each one runs up to the latest month published.
Why not just use a spreadsheet?
You could, once you'd found and lined up a dozen data sets for your place and dates. These calculators have done that part, and name the source of every figure.
Can I save a result?
Yes. Once you change anything, the address bar holds your choices, so bookmark it, or use Copy link under the result to send it to someone. Whoever opens the link sees the same result.