Rent vs Buy Calculator
Compare buy net cost against rent total over a timeframe you set, from home price, down payment, mortgage rate, and monthly rent. Figures never leave your device — every calculation runs locally in your browser.
How to Use the Rent vs Buy Calculator
Similar Tools You Might Need
See allMortgage Calculator
Calculate monthly mortgage payments with amortization schedule. Enter loan amount, interest rate, and term to see total interest paid. Figures never leave your device — every calculation runs locally in your browser.
Car Loan Calculator
Calculate monthly car loan payments, total interest, and total cost. Enter loan amount, rate, and term for a complete auto financing picture. Figures never leave your device — every calculation runs locally in your browser.
Simple Interest Calculator
Calculate simple interest using principal, rate, and time. Find total interest earned and final amount for basic interest calculations. Figures never leave your device — every calculation runs locally in your browser.
Seat License Calculator
Calculate total cost of software licenses by seats, price per seat, and billing cycle with annual discount. Budget and plan your SaaS subscription costs. Numbers never leave your device — every calculation runs locally in your browser.
Churn Rate Calculator
Calculate customer churn rate by dividing customers lost by total customers. Monitor retention health for your subscription business. Numbers never leave your device — every calculation runs locally in your browser.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is the break-even horizon computed?
Simply: buy net cost (mortgage payments plus down payment minus 3%-per-year appreciation) against rent total (monthly rent times years). Whichever is lower wins — lengthen the years to find the crossover.
What is the 5% rule?
Unrecoverable buying costs run ≈5% of home value yearly (interest + tax + maintenance, excluding principal). If annual rent is well below 5% of the price, renting wins financially. $400k × 5% = $20k/yr vs $26,400 rent → close call, decided by appreciation.
Does appreciation change the answer?
Dramatically, and the tool fixes it at 3% yearly on the home price. In flat markets renting usually wins under 7 years; in hot markets buying wins sooner — judge the fixed assumption against your market.
What about the down payment's opportunity cost?
Not modeled: the tool compares mortgage-plus-down-payment cost against rent total with no investing counterfactual. A $40k down payment invested at 7% becomes ~$79k in 10 years — weigh that yourself before deciding.
When using Rent vs Buy Calculator, is my financial data stored?
No. All calculations run locally in your browser. No amounts leave your device.
Last updated October 2026