usefulHQ Research

Original cost & value studies

We build tools that compute the real cost and best value of everyday things, then turn the numbers into short, citable studies. Every figure below comes from our live data and updates automatically. Free to cite with a link.

The biggest everyday markups, ranked

Where a dollar buys the least. Each of these is the same product, or an equivalent one, for a fraction of the price. The multiple is the most you can overpay; tap a row for the full study and the honest caveats.

Everyday buy	Overpay up to	vs the cheaper equal
Single bottled water	137×	the same water from the tap
Printer ink cartridges	80×	refillable tank ink
Bottled water	40×	a home water filter
AWS S3 storage	38×	the cheapest object storage
Disposable period products	30×	a menstrual cup, over a decade
Disposable batteries	25×	rechargeables
Cartridge razors	25×	a safety razor
LMNT electrolytes	25×	a homemade mix, same sodium
A barber cut with tip	21×	the same cut with home clippers
Designer sunscreen	17×	a cheap SPF, same FDA filters
Brand allergy pills	15×	the identical generic
Weekly lawn service	15×	mowing the same lawn yourself
Fresh dog-food delivery	10×	a quality kibble, same nutrition bar
Coffee pods	8×	ground coffee
A premium electric toothbrush	8×	a budget one
Creatine gummies	7×	plain monohydrate, same molecule
Incandescent bulbs	7×	an LED, same light output
Cafe drip coffee	6×	the same drip made at home
Brand pain relievers	5×	the identical generic
Hand washing under a tap	3×	a dishwasher, machine included

Multiples are the maximum overpayment found in each study, from typical US prices. Browse all the studies below.

Coffee cost per cupPod coffee costs up to 8× more per cup than ground, about $642 a year moreRead the study →Printer ink per pageInk cartridges cost up to 80× more per page than refillable tank inkRead the study →Meal kit cost per servingThe meal-kit "first box" deal hides the real price: $3.70 to $28.17 a serving deliveredRead the study →Object storage costThe hidden fee that makes AWS S3 38× pricier than the cheapest object storageRead the study →GPU value ($/frame)The best-value graphics card costs $6.95 per performance point, 5.2× better value than the worstRead the study →CPU value ($/frame)The best-value gaming CPU costs $1.36 per performance point, 5.8× better value than the priciestRead the study →LLM cost per tokenThe same month of AI costs $0.98 on DeepSeek vs $25 on Claude Opus, a 26× spreadRead the study →Paid apps vs free alternativesEvery one of these 36 popular paid apps has a free alternative, worth about $8,600 a yearRead the study →Cost of streaming everythingSubscribing to every major streaming service ad-free now costs about $247 a month, or $2,960 a yearRead the study →The web hosting renewal trapWeb hosting renews at nearly 3x its advertised price on average, and the cheapest deals jump up to 12xRead the study →Gold & silver premium over spotBuying gold and silver coins means paying a 2% to 22% premium over spot, and small silver is the worstRead the study →The domain renewal trapThe same .com domain renews for about $9.98 at the cheapest registrar but $38.38 at the priciest, nearly 4x moreRead the study →What a CGM costs nowA continuous glucose monitor now costs about $75 a month over the counter, no prescription neededRead the study →

Live used-price trackers

The cheapest used prices right now, refreshed daily from live listings, each with a value read so you can buy second-hand without overpaying.

Used GPU prices Used MacBook prices Used PS5 prices Used Switch prices Used Steam Deck prices Used iPhone prices Used iPad prices Used AirPods prices Used luxury watch prices LEGO set prices Robot vacuum prices Gaming monitor prices

For journalists & writers: these studies are free to cite. Please attribute "usefulHQ" with a link to the study page. Each figure is generated from our live comparison data and refreshed as prices are reviewed, so it stays current. Want a custom cut of the data or a chart? The methodology is on every study page.

Why "best value" beats "cheapest"

A sticker price tells you almost nothing. The cheapest coffee maker is expensive to run; the cheapest GPU is not the best value per frame; the cheapest cloud storage bill can be dwarfed by a download fee nobody quotes. Every study here ranks by the number that actually decides what you pay, the same idea that makes a price-per-terabyte table more useful than a list of drive prices.