How to cancel The Athletic

Cancel directly with The Athletic. Stopping your card payment does not end the contract, so you could still owe money.

Steps

Sign in with the email address linked to your subscription and go to your The Athletic account settings at nytimes.com/athletic/settings
Select Cancel Subscription and follow the instructions
You can also cancel by contacting New York Times Customer Care by chat or phone
If The Athletic came with a New York Times Home Delivery or All Access subscription, check Subscription Overview in your account, where the What's included section lists it, and change or cancel that subscription instead
If you move from a direct The Athletic subscription to All Access, cancel the separate The Athletic subscription afterwards, or both will keep billing
Cancelling The New York Times does not cancel a separate The Athletic subscription, and the other way round
If you subscribed through Google Play or the Apple App Store, cancel with them

Notice period

Terms of Sale, which cover The Athletic, say you can cancel at any time and the cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, or straight away during a free trial. Except where the terms or the law say otherwise, there is no refund for time left.

Checked November 2026. Read The Athletic's terms

Paying through Apple or Google?

If you signed up in an app, cancel in that store instead: Apple or Google Play.

Before you finish

Check your next billing date, so you cancel in time.
Keep the cancellation confirmation, and check your statement after the end date. If you are charged again, ask for a refund.
Save or export anything you want to keep from your account.

Charged after cancelling, or stuck?

Contact The Athletic through its own help and contact page, and keep your cancellation confirmation to show them.

Need it in writing?

If The Athletic asks you to email, or you want a record, copy this and fill in the parts in brackets. Send it from the email on your account, and keep a copy.

Subject

Cancellation of my The Athletic subscription

Hello,

I am ending my The Athletic subscription. Please confirm in writing that it is cancelled, and stop all further payments.

My account details:
Account email: [the email on your account]

Please reply to confirm the date the cancellation takes effect.

Thank you,
[your name]

Your rights when cancelling

Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 29 (legislation.gov.uk)You may cancel a distance or off-premises contract in the cancellation period without giving a reason.
Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 30 (legislation.gov.uk)For services and digital content, the period ends 14 days after the day the contract was entered into.
Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights, consolidated text as amended in 2019 (EUR-Lex)Articles 9 and 11: 14 days to withdraw, counted for services from the day the contract was concluded, by any unequivocal statement. Article 14(3): a proportionate payment for a service started at your request. Article 16(m): exception for digital content once supply starts with your prior express consent, your acknowledgement that the right is lost, and the trader's confirmation.
FTC: Getting in and out of free trials, auto-renewals and negative option subscriptionsKeep a copy of your cancellation request, check your statements afterwards, and dispute a charge you did not agree to with your card issuer.

With an account, we fill this in with your plan, price and dates, and write a refund request if you are charged after cancelling. This is general information, not legal advice.

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Subscriptrack is not affiliated with The Athletic. Steps can change, so check The Athletic's own help pages. We do not cancel for you.