How to Cancel a New York Times Subscription
Cancelling Subscriptions · The Subgrove Team · · Updated · 7 min read
Sign in at nytimes.com/account, open Subscription Overview, and select Cancel your Subscription in the Manage Subscription section. That is the route the Times' own Cancel Your Subscription help page gives for eligible digital and Home Delivery subscriptions billed by The New York Times, and its Terms of Sale say every digital subscription billed through NYTimes can be cancelled from your account.
That is a change worth knowing about. For years, the Times was the standard example of a subscription you could buy in a click but had to phone to leave, and plenty of older guides (including an earlier version of this one) still tell you a call is unavoidable. For a standard digital plan billed by the Times, it isn't. A phone line and chat still exist, and you will need a different route if Apple, Google or The Athletic bills you.
Which bill is yours? Check before you click
The Times sells through several channels, and each one has its own off switch. Look at your bank or card statement, or the receipt email, and match it here:
| Who charges you | Where you cancel |
|---|---|
| The New York Times (card or PayPal on your NYT account) | nytimes.com/account → Subscription Overview |
| Apple (receipt from Apple, "APPLE.COM/BILL" on your statement) | Your Apple subscriptions settings |
| Google Play | Google Play subscriptions |
| The Athletic (billed separately) | The Athletic's account settings |
| Home Delivery (print + digital) | nytimes.com/account where eligible, otherwise phone or chat |
The help page is explicit that if you bought through a third party such as Google Play or the Apple App Store, you have to go to that company to cancel or change the subscription. The Times' terms add that it has no ability to cancel or refund those subscriptions for you, so contacting NYT customer care about an App Store charge will not stop it.
Cancelling online, step by step
- Go to nytimes.com/account in a browser and sign in with the email you subscribed under.
- Select Subscription Overview.
- In the Manage Subscription section, choose Cancel your Subscription.
- Follow the remaining prompts until you reach a confirmation screen that shows the date your access ends.
- Watch for the confirmation email and keep it.
Expect to be asked why you are leaving, and you may be shown an offer to stay before the final button. Decide beforehand whether any price would change your mind. If not, keep clicking through; nothing in the flow obliges you to accept or explain.
If there is no cancel option under Manage Subscription, the most common reasons are that a third party bills you (see the table above), that you are signed in to a different account from the one that pays, or that your plan is a Home Delivery type that isn't eligible for online cancellation.
Phone and chat, if the online route isn't there
The help page lists two other ways to cancel:
- Phone: 866-273-3612 in the U.S. The help page gives hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET on weekends and holidays. Subscribers outside the U.S. are pointed to a separate international contact list.
- Chat: select Contact Customer Care at the bottom of the help page to reach a Care Advocate, during the same hours.
The Terms of Sale list slightly longer hours than the help page, so treat the shorter set as the safe window. If you have a choice, chat beats phone: it leaves a written transcript, and typing "please cancel, no offer needed" is easier than repeating it out loud. Before you close the chat or hang up, get the end date stated plainly and make sure the confirmation email arrives.
Apple or Google is billing you
When the Times app was your sign-up route, the subscription belongs to the app store:
- iPhone or iPad: open Settings, tap your name, tap Subscriptions, choose The New York Times, then Cancel Subscription. Apple's cancellation help page notes that if there's no Cancel button or you see an expiration message in red, it's already cancelled.
- Android: go to your subscriptions in Google Play, select The New York Times and tap Cancel subscription. Google's subscription help page points out that uninstalling an app does not cancel its subscription.
The Athletic, Games, Cooking and family plans
The bundle makes cancelling less obvious than it looks, so check these before you assume everything has stopped:
- The Athletic is separate. Per the Terms of Sale, cancelling your New York Times subscription does not automatically cancel The Athletic. If it's billed separately, cancel it in The Athletic's own account settings.
- Several products, several cancellations. The terms say that if you pay for more than one product, cancelling one "may not result in the cancellation of all." Recheck Subscription Overview afterwards.
- Family subscriptions: only the primary account holder can cancel. When they do, everyone on the plan loses access. A family member who also had their own separate subscription has to cancel that one themselves.
Home Delivery: how the print rules differ
Print subscriptions follow different refund rules in the Terms of Sale:
- Monthly print + digital: you are charged only for the papers already delivered, and digital access ends when you cancel rather than at the end of the month.
- Prepaid print + digital (quarter, semester or year paid up front): the Times refunds the pro-rata amount for undelivered papers, and digital access ends immediately.
Both are the reverse of a digital-only plan, where you keep reading until the paid period runs out. If you rely on the app for the crossword or recipes, sort out a replacement before you cancel a print bundle.
When access stops, and why the date matters
For a standard digital subscription, cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period and you keep access until then. The Terms of Sale say fees are non-refundable and there are no credits for time left in the period, so cancelling a day after renewal means paying for one more cycle. Your renewal date is shown in Subscription Overview. Cancel a few days ahead of it; the same logic applies to every service, as we explain in cancel before renewal, not after.
Two timing traps specific to the Times:
- Free trials end immediately. If you cancel during a trial, the terms say the cancellation is effective right away, so you lose access that day. Cancel near the end of the trial, not the start.
- Introductory rates expire on their own. A promotional price runs for its stated number of periods and then renews at the full rate unless you cancel. The terms also say you may only get one intro offer, so cancelling and resubscribing won't necessarily get you the low price again.
If the Times raises your price, its terms commit it to telling you first and giving you a chance to cancel before the new rate is charged. That notice email is your cue to decide.
A reminder before the full-price renewal
The charge most people regret is the one where a cheap introductory year quietly turned into the full price. Subgrove lets you enter the Times with its renewal date and sends a push or email reminder as many days ahead as you choose, so the decision happens before the bill rather than after. No bank connection is involved, and the free plan covers up to five subscriptions.
If you're wondering why cancelling used to be so much harder here than signing up, and what the law does and doesn't require of companies now, our explainer on click-to-cancel and your rights covers it. For the general method across every kind of subscription, see how to cancel any subscription.
Frequently asked questions
Can I cancel the NYT online without calling? For digital subscriptions billed by The New York Times, yes: Account → Subscription Overview → Cancel your Subscription. Some Home Delivery plans still need a call or chat, and App Store or Google Play subscriptions are cancelled with Apple or Google.
Is there a cancellation fee? The Terms of Sale don't list a fee for cancelling a standard subscription. What you lose is the unused part of the current period, because digital subscription fees are non-refundable.
Will I get a refund? Usually not for a digital plan; you keep access until the period ends instead. Prepaid Home Delivery is the exception, with a pro-rata refund for undelivered papers.
I cancelled the Times but I'm still being charged. Why? The most likely causes are a separate Athletic subscription, a second product on your account, or an App Store or Google Play subscription that the Times can't see or stop. Check each one against your statement.
How do I prove I cancelled? Keep the confirmation email, and the chat transcript if you used chat. If a charge appears after your stated end date, that email is what your card issuer will ask for.