Alcohol Cost Calculator
List the drinks you buy in a typical week with their prices to see the cost per week, per month and per year.
Free · runs in your browser · nothing is uploaded
How to use the Alcohol cost calculator
Start with the first row, then add a row for each other drink you have in a typical week.
- Open the Drink preset list and pick the drink closest to yours, such as beer 12 fl oz can 5% or wine 750 ml bottle 12.5%. Choose Custom drink if none of them match.
- Check the Size box and the Unit dropdown. Type the size from your can, glass or bottle, and select the unit that matches it.
- Check the Strength (% ABV) box. Presets fill this in, so only change it if the label on your drink shows a different figure.
- Type the price you actually pay for one drink into the Price per drink box.
- Type how many of that drink you have in a week into the Drinks per week box.
- Click Add a drink to add another row. You can have up to 12 rows.
- Read the headline total, then the two tables below the result.
- Use Remove to delete a row you no longer need, or Reset to go back to a single row.
- Set the Currency symbol box to the symbol you want shown, such as £ or $.
Your rows and currency symbol are kept only in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
How much do I spend on alcohol a year?
Add up what you spend on all your drinks in one week, then multiply that weekly total by 52. The headline figure on the result is that yearly total. A weekly spend of 29 comes to 1,508 a year.
Each row costs its price per drink multiplied by drinks per week, and the tool adds the rows together to get the weekly figure. The monthly figure uses month = week x 52 / 12, which is 4.33 weeks, so a month is slightly more than four weeks.
How do I calculate the cost per drink?
Cost per drink is the price you paid for one drink. Use the real price, not a guess. If you buy a bottle and pour several drinks from it, divide the bottle price by the number of drinks you pour. You can also enter the whole bottle as one drink.
- Find the price you paid for the container.
- Count how many drinks you pour from it.
- Divide the price by that count and type the answer into Price per drink.
Prices in bars, shops and online differ, so the tool only reflects what you enter.
What is the cost per unit of alcohol?
Cost per UK unit is your weekly cost divided by your weekly UK units. One UK unit is 10 ml of pure alcohol. For each drink, units equal ABV x ml / 1,000, so a 355 ml can of 5% beer holds 1.775 units. The tool adds up units for every drink you enter each week.
The result also shows cost per US standard drink. A US standard drink contains 14 grams of pure alcohol. Grams are calculated as ml x ABV / 100 x 0.789, and cost per standard drink is the weekly cost divided by the number of standard drinks.
| Measure | How it is worked out | Example result |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per UK unit | Weekly cost / weekly UK units | 1.45 |
| Cost per US standard drink | Weekly cost / (grams of pure alcohol / 14) | 2.57 |
| UK units a week | Sum of ABV x ml / 1,000 for each drink | 20 |
These figures come from the example weekly spend of 29, with six 12 fl oz 5% cans at 2.50 each and one 750 ml 12.5% wine bottle at 14.00.
How much would I save by drinking less?
The tool shows what you would keep each year if you spent 10, 25 or 50 percent less than your current yearly total. It takes that share off your yearly cost, so the saving is simply the percentage applied to the annual figure. On the example year of 1,508, cutting 10 percent keeps 151, 25 percent keeps 377, and 50 percent keeps 754.
| Reduction | Kept each year |
|---|---|
| 10% less | 151 |
| 25% less | 377 |
| 50% less | 754 |
The tool does not suggest which cut suits you. It only shows what each one would be worth in money.
How much do I spend on alcohol in a year?
Multiply what you spend in a typical week by 52. Six cans of beer at 2.50 and a 14.00 bottle of wine each week is 29.00 a week, about 125.67 a month and 1,508 a year. The table shows what 10, 25 and 50 percent less would keep from that spend.
| Spend | Per week | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your example week | 29 | 125.67 | 1,508 |
| 10% less | 26.1 | 113.1 | 1,357.2 |
| 25% less | 21.75 | 94.25 | 1,131 |
| 50% less | 14.5 | 62.83 | 754 |
How this tool works and where the numbers come from
Weekly cost = sum of price x drinks per week. Month = week x 52 / 12; year = week x 52. Cost per UK unit = weekly cost / weekly units (ABV x ml / 1,000). Cost per standard drink = weekly cost / (grams of pure alcohol / 14 g).
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Is my spending saved on the site?
No. Your drinks, prices and currency symbol are kept only in this browser using local storage. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Does the tool check prices against bars or shops?
No. It uses only the prices you type. Prices differ between bars, shops and online, so enter the amount you actually paid.
Does the result tell me how much I should drink?
No. The tool counts money and alcohol. It makes no health claim and does not say any amount is right for you.
Can I use a currency other than pounds or dollars?
Yes. Type any symbol into the Currency symbol box. It is only a label, and the tool does not convert amounts between currencies, so enter every price in the same currency and the totals will all be in that currency.
What if I share a bottle with friends?
Divide the bottle price by the number of drinks you pour and enter that figure as the price per drink. Alternatively, enter the whole bottle as one drink with its full price. Both give the same weekly total if you count them the same way, so use whichever matches how you remember the purchase.
Related tools
- Money saved not drinking calculator: use it when you want to see the money you would keep by stopping altogether.
- Cut down drinking planner: use it when you are planning a gradual reduction in how much you drink.
- Drinks per week calculator: use it to total up how many drinks you have in a typical week before entering them here.
- Alcohol unit calculator: use it to work out the UK units in a single drink or a pour.
- Alcohol tracker: use it to keep a record of drinks you have over time.
- Standard drink calculator: use it to count how many standard drinks are in a given serving.