sayhushFor uneven usage, subtract each month’s free allowance separately, then add the paid minutes you need across the period. Compare whole-pack purchases and leftover balance. Do not subtract a combined free allowance from the total if some quiet months use less than their allocation.
Write a forecast that includes quiet months
Start with the work you actually expect: perhaps a light month of messages, a moderate month of notes and a busy month of drafting. Use a range when you are uncertain. A rough forecast is useful for deciding how much balance to buy, but it is not a reason to prepay for a large amount of unused capacity.
On a small screen, scroll the table sideways to see all columns.
| Month | Forecast minutes | Free minutes used | Paid minutes needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quiet month | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| Regular month | 120 | 30 | 90 |
| Busy month | 450 | 30 | 420 |
| Total | 590 | 80 | 510 |
Apply the free allowance month by month
Sayhush includes 30 free minutes each calendar month, with the allowance resetting in UTC. Unused free minutes do not become paid balance. In an illustrative forecast of 20, 120 and 450 minutes across three months, the paid requirements are 0, 90 and 420 minutes. The total is 510 paid minutes, not 500: ten unused free minutes in the quiet month do not carry forward.
Compare actual purchases, not fractional packs
At the listed pack prices, two 300-minute packs cost $10 and provide 600 paid minutes, leaving 90 after the example’s 510-minute requirement. One 1,000-minute pack costs $12 and leaves 490. The larger pack has a lower unit price, while the smaller combination requires less cash for this forecast. These examples use listed pack prices before any checkout tax or currency conversion.
Keep balance and spending in separate columns
Paid Sayhush minutes do not expire, so leftover paid balance can cover later use. That does not make the unused portion a cash saving today. Track opening balance, paid usage, new purchases and closing balance. If your future workload is uncertain, buying closer to actual need can be easier to manage than optimizing for a large annual estimate.
Account for the way sessions are measured
Usage is measured from recorded audio, with seconds rounded up for each segment. Pausing ends a recording segment, and resuming starts another. A forecast based on broad minute estimates will not reproduce a bill down to the second. Use actual account usage to refine the forecast, and keep enough room for normal variation instead of treating the illustrative totals as an exact bill.
Use the calculator for the right question
The cost calculator models a repeated monthly usage amount over a chosen horizon and compares full-pack purchases. For a strongly uneven schedule, use a month-by-month worksheet like this example as well. Compare a subscription against the same period and expected workload, including any commitment. The right choice depends on what you use and what you pay upfront, not just the lowest advertised per-minute rate.