Numbeo Alternative: A Cost of Living Calculator That Uses Your Actual Salary
Updated 4 June 2026
Free, no signup, no ads. Enter your gross salary once and see your monthly disposable income in 5 European cities, ranked best to worst. Built as an alternative to Numbeo, Payscale, and Expatistan for people who want a concrete answer instead of an index.
Why we built this
Numbeo, Payscale, and Expatistan are useful sites — but they answer slightly different questions than the one most people are actually asking. Numbeo tells you how prices compare in index form. Payscale tells you what a job typically pays in a given city. Expatistan compares two cities by an aggregated index.
What you usually want is one specific number: on my salary, how much do I have left at the end of the month here vs there? This tool answers exactly that question by combining your gross salary, an effective tax rate, average rent, and living costs into a single ranked output.
How this calculator compares to Numbeo, Payscale, and Expatistan
| Feature | This site | Numbeo | Payscale | Expatistan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary input as the starting point | Yes | No | Partial | No |
| Net income after tax | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Disposable income after rent | Yes | No | No | No |
| Side-by-side city ranking | Yes (5 cities) | Pair-wise | City-by-city | Pair-wise |
| No signup required | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free with no ads | Yes | Ads | Ads | Ads |
| Coverage | 5 European cities (deep) | Global (crowd-sourced) | Global (salary-focused) | Global (index) |
When Numbeo is the right tool
Numbeo's crowd-sourced data covers hundreds of cities worldwide and includes granular prices — coffee, transport, gym memberships, individual grocery items. If you want raw price points or you're comparing cities outside Europe, Numbeo is a strong reference. This calculator deliberately covers fewer cities in more depth.
When Payscale is the right tool
Payscale is the benchmark for "what does a senior engineer earn in Dublin?" — role and location-based salary surveys. If you're researching whether a job offer is fair, Payscale answers that question better than any cost-of-living tool. Use it alongside a disposable-income calculator: Payscale tells you what to ask for, and this tool tells you what's left after you get it.
When this calculator is the right tool
When you have a specific salary number — either your current pay, an offer you've received, or a target you're negotiating toward — and you want to know which European city leaves you with the most money each month. The answer is one input and zero clicks away. Try it above.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Numbeo for cost of living comparison?
For comparing how much money you would actually have left each month across cities, a salary-input tool is more useful than Numbeo's index-based approach. Numbeo gives you price levels and an index number; what you usually want is a concrete monthly figure for your specific salary. This calculator takes your gross salary and outputs disposable income for five European cities side-by-side, ranked best to worst.
How is this different from Numbeo, Payscale, and Expatistan?
Numbeo focuses on raw prices and an aggregated cost-of-living index — useful for context but you have to do the salary math yourself. Payscale focuses on benchmark salaries by role and city, not what's left after expenses. Expatistan compares two cities at a time using a similar index model. This calculator takes your specific salary as the starting point and tells you, in euros per month, how much you would have left after tax and rent in each city. The output is a ranked list, not a lookup.
Is this Numbeo alternative free?
Yes, completely free. No signup, no email, no ads, no paywall. Type your salary in, see the ranking, leave. The site is funded out of pocket and is not affiliated with Numbeo, Payscale, Expatistan, or any other commercial cost-of-living service.
Why use a salary-input calculator instead of a price index?
Price indexes show that, say, Lisbon is 30% cheaper than London. But that doesn't tell you whether your specific salary clears more disposable income in Lisbon — that depends on tax rates and rent, not just consumer prices. A €60,000 salary leaves €500/month in London after rent, versus €1,500/month in Lisbon. That's a 3× difference, not 30%. The salary-input approach captures this directly; a price index doesn't.