A fair comparison includes what each option asks you to give up afterward.

Choices are usually compared at the moment of choosing, when the differences are cleanest and the costs are still theoretical. What each option requires of you later rarely makes it onto the list: the upkeep, the commitments it locks in, the things it quietly rules out. An option can win on the day and lose over the following year.

For the decision in front of you, write down what each path will still be asking of you in a year. Sometimes the cheaper answer is the one that leaves more of your future free.