Rent vs buy calculator
Compare renting against buying over any period — including stamp duty, interest, maintenance and the opportunity cost of your deposit. Free, private, no signup.
Open the rent vs buy calculator →Rent or buy, over the years you will stay
Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, and there is nothing to sign up to.
Assumptions — change any of them
Stamp duty depends on the price and on whether you are a first-time buyer — work it out with the stamp duty calculator and put the total in buying costs. Growth, rent and return figures are before inflation, and they are guesses, not forecasts.
| Lower estimated cost under these assumptions | — |
|---|---|
| Estimated cost of renting | — |
| Estimated cost of buying | — |
| Buying is estimated to cost less from | — |
| Mortgage a month | — |
| Your equity when you sell | — |
How much the answer depends on the guesses
The lower-cost option if house prices and investment returns turn out 2 points higher or lower than your assumption.
| — |
How it works
Most rent-versus-buy comparisons flatter buying by ignoring the costs that make it expensive. This one counts them. Enter your rent, the property price, your deposit, the mortgage rate and how long you expect to stay, and it shows the total cost of each path over that period — not just the monthly payment.
The result that matters is usually the break-even point: the number of years after which buying becomes cheaper than renting. Below that point, renting is often the better financial decision, however unfashionable that sounds.
What it includes
- Stamp duty, legal fees and survey costs
- Mortgage interest across the period, not just the first year
- Ongoing maintenance (commonly estimated near 1% of value per year)
- Buildings insurance, service charge and ground rent where relevant
- The opportunity cost of your deposit and buying costs — what they could have earned invested
- House price growth, and the cost of selling at the end
- Rent inflation over the same period
Palarid runs entirely in your browser. There is no account, no adverts on this page, and no server copy of anything you enter. Export everything as JSON whenever you like.
Common questions
Is buying always cheaper than renting?
No. Over short periods buying is usually more expensive, because stamp duty, legal fees and early mortgage interest are heavily front-loaded — in the first years, most of a repayment goes on interest, not capital. The longer you stay, the more buying tends to win.
What is the opportunity cost of a deposit?
Money used as a deposit could otherwise have been invested. A fair comparison counts what that deposit might have earned had you rented and invested it instead. Ignoring this is the most common way rent-versus-buy comparisons mislead.
What costs do people forget?
Stamp duty, surveys, legal fees, moving costs, buildings insurance, service charges, ground rent, and maintenance. Owners also carry the risk of a boiler or roof failing — a cost renters do not bear.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is arithmetic on the assumptions you supply, for planning purposes. Property values can fall as well as rise. Speak to a regulated adviser before committing.
Related calculators
Buying a home: Mortgage calculator · Stamp duty calculator · Loan repayment calculator · Savings goal calculator
Doing this for real? The Buy my first home mission in Palarid lines these up as steps.
More free tools
Mortgage calculator · Net worth tracker · Compound interest · UK tax estimator · Debt payoff · Stamp duty calculator
Palarid is free and private. See all tools → · Embed this calculator · Trust Centre