The hardest subscriptions to cancel
Every service below has a full cancellation guide checked against the company’s own policy pages. The rating scores what those routes actually demand: a cancel button, a chat with retention offers, or a letter to your home club before a cutoff date.
| Service | Difficulty | How you cancel | The cutoff | Fee risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LA FitnessGym membership | Hardest | Online in some states; otherwise a printed form by mail or in person | 5 business days before the billing date | None |
| Planet FitnessGym membership | Hardest | At your home club in person or by letter; online only where offered | Monthly and annual-fee cutoffs both apply | A minimum-term buyout may apply |
| Adobe Creative CloudSoftware | Hard | Online from Adobe Account, per plan | Fully refundable only within 14 days of purchase | Up to 50% of the remaining contract on annual plans billed monthly |
| SiriusXMAudio subscription | Hard | Online Account Center or chat | Start at least 24 hours before renewal | Direct-billed audio plans are generally non-refundable |
| Amazon PrimeShopping membership | Moderate | Online through the Prime membership page | None | None |
| AudibleAudiobooks | Moderate | Desktop site only; app-store route when billed there | None | Unused credits are generally lost |
| HelloFreshMeal kit | Moderate | Online from account settings | 5 days before the next delivery | An already processed box still ships and bills |
| Apple SubscriptionsApp Store | Easy with caveats | Settings on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac; only you can do it | Trials need 24 hours of notice | None |
| Xbox Game PassGaming | Easy with caveats | Microsoft account services page or console settings | None | None |
| Peloton AppFitness app | Easy with caveats | Web subscription preferences; app-store route when billed there | None | None |
| Blue ApronMeal kit | Easy with caveats | Online from account settings | Before the weekly order processes | Processed orders still ship and bill |
| YouTube TVLive TV streaming | Easy with caveats | Online from membership settings | None | None |
| HuluStreaming | Easy with caveats | Online from the account page | None | None |
| Disney+Streaming | Easy with caveats | Online from the account page | None | None |
| Paramount+Streaming | Easy with caveats | Online from the account page | Free trials end at the trial end | No refund for the already paid period |
| Spotify PremiumMusic streaming | Easy with caveats | Web account page (not the app) | None | None |
| NetflixStreaming | Easy | Online from the account page, two steps | None | None |
Each service name links to the full reviewed route: the steps, policy sources, and the date it was last checked.
- LA Fitness: The route depends on your state, and the mail option needs the printed form from your account.
- Planet Fitness: The annual fee has its own cutoff date, so a badly timed cancellation still gets charged it.
- Adobe Creative Cloud: The plan type decides the fee; an annual plan billed monthly is the expensive one to leave.
- SiriusXM: The chat route runs through retention offers before the cancellation goes through.
- Amazon Prime: The flow walks through several offer pages first, and linked subscriptions stop renewing with it.
- Audible: The mobile app cannot cancel, and leftover credits disappear unless you use them first.
- HelloFresh: Miss the weekly cutoff and one more box arrives and gets charged.
The rating scores each reviewed route on the channel it requires (a cancel button, chat, phone, mail, or an in-person visit), the deadlines that catch people, and any money at stake beyond the next charge. Route facts come from each company’s published policy pages, cited on the linked guide with the date they were checked. Ratings are Steward’s judgment of those facts.
Canceling the hard ones
What makes a subscription hard to cancel?
The reliable signals are the channel and the clock. A service that requires a phone call, a letter, or an in-person visit is harder than one with a cancel button, and a service with a billing cutoff or an early-termination fee punishes bad timing. The ratings here score those facts from each reviewed route.
Which subscriptions are the hardest to cancel right now?
Gym memberships top the list. LA Fitness and Planet Fitness both route most members through mail or an in-person visit with billing cutoffs. Adobe Creative Cloud is the costliest exit among online routes, with a fee of up to half the remaining contract on annual plans billed monthly.
How are these ratings reviewed?
Each row comes from a full cancellation guide based on the company’s published policy pages, with the review date and sources shown on the guide. The difficulty score is Steward’s editorial judgment of that route.
Can Steward cancel these for me?
Finding your subscriptions is free. Steward Plus ($15/month or $120/year) handles supported vendor-billed cancellations and records the merchant response. When only you can complete a step, Steward tells you exactly what remains and picks back up when you are done.
The hard ones are the point.
Steward finds recurring charges that may be subscriptions, then handles supported cancellation routes and keeps the merchant response in Work.