Tap. Travel. Get capped.
PAYG stops charging at the applicable daily and Monday–Sunday limits. There’s no monthly cap. Use the same card or device each time.
LONDON TRAVELCARD VS PAY AS YOU GO CALCULATOR
Your London travel.
The cheaper way.
Compare a monthly Travelcard with pay as you go for your own week.
London fares. Without the faff.
A month means a month.
We compare a real monthly Travelcard period, not four weeks. Your selected days, weekly caps and time away all count.
Your discount matters.
Students, young travellers and people with free-travel passes can get very different results. Pick the card you actually use.
Is a monthly London Travelcard worth it?
It depends on the journeys you actually make: your zones, how often you travel, buses or trams, and any valid Oyster discount. London Fare Check compares your selected calendar month, including daily and weekly caps and combinations of 7-day tickets with PAYG.
Travelcard or PAYG for three days a week?
Fewer travel days can favour PAYG because you only pay when you travel. But a discounted season ticket, extra journeys or regular bus connections can change the answer. Select your own days and journeys above rather than assuming every commuter has the same week.
Does a Travelcard include buses and trams?
A Travelcard includes all London buses. It includes trams if it covers Zone 3, 4, 5 or 6. That matters for a bus–Tube commute: add both parts of the journey, and the comparison includes the bus fares in PAYG while keeping them within the Travelcard price. TfL Travelcard coverage ↗
Do students get cheaper pay as you go?
An eligible 18+ Student Oyster photocard discounts season tickets, but does not itself reduce PAYG fares. An eligible Railcard added to Oyster may separately discount off-peak PAYG. Choose the cards you actually hold in the discount section. TfL student discounts ↗
Is there a monthly Oyster or contactless cap?
TfL has daily and Monday–Sunday PAYG caps; it does not have a monthly PAYG cap. A monthly Travelcard is a separate ticket. This calculator compares the same dates for both options, rather than treating a month as four weeks. TfL capping rules ↗
What if my travel is different each day?
Use “My days are different” to set Monday’s Tube & rail trips and buses, Tuesday’s buses, and Wednesday’s trams separately. Copy a day to weekdays or all seven days, then edit the exceptions. You can share a link that reopens that week.
Which London journeys does this calculator cover?
The quick comparison covers Tube & rail journeys in Zones 1–6 and London buses and trams. Some routes, including Heathrow, need exact single fares. Rail journeys on a day use that day’s selected zone pair. Check the coverage and assumptions below before buying a ticket.
Fares, coverage & sources +
Independent estimate for regular travel in London Zones 1–6 and the TfL bus/tram network. We compare PAYG, combinations of 7-day tickets and PAYG, and a monthly pass. No purchase is made.
Travelcards cover all London buses and rail within the purchased zones. Trams need a Travelcard covering Zone 3, 4, 5 or 6. Route, interchange, pink-reader and dual-zone rules can affect fares. Enter exact fares for Heathrow and special routes. We assume no other spending in the partial Monday–Sunday weeks at either end of the comparison.
River boats, the cable car, Heathrow Express, Southeastern high-speed, journeys beyond Zone 6, group tickets, annual passes and new card/application fees are outside this comparison. TfL services extend beyond Greater London; London’s boundary and the zones are not identical.
Free travel needs the correct valid pass; age or disability alone does not establish eligibility. National Rail pass coverage differs by route. Young Visitor discounts last up to 14 days, so we do not project them across a whole month.
Railcard fares are rounded estimates unless you enter exact fares. Complex mixed-mode capping may cost less than this estimate. Check actual Oyster history when results are close. Public holidays are priced as travel days if they fall on a day you selected; use days away to remove them.
Checked 4 November 2026. Confirm fares with TfL before buying ↗
Privacy & optional analytics +
The calculator works without analytics, an account or server storage. Comparison links contain your selected travel choices in the link itself. Anyone with the link can open them.
With your permission, Google Analytics records page visits, completed comparisons and sharing actions to help improve this tool. We do not send your travel choices, concession card, comparison link or URL fragment to analytics. This uses the site's existing Google Analytics property. You can turn it off here at any time.
Optional analytics is off.