Try the Rent vs Buy Calculator Widget
Free for any site, including commercial ones. Keep the small credit line at the bottom of the widget so readers can find the full version. Nothing is stored about the people who use it. See the disclaimer.
How to add it to your site
- Copy the code Use the copy button in the Embed code box so nothing is lost to line wrapping. It is a single iframe tag and it does not need anything else.
- Open the page you want it on In WordPress add a Custom HTML block, in Wix use the Embed HTML element, in Squarespace use a Code block, and on a hand-built site paste it straight into your HTML.
- Paste and publish The widget appears immediately. If you see an empty space instead, your editor has stripped the iframe tag, which the HTML embed guide explains how to work around.
- Adjust the look if you want to Add the parameters in the table below to the iframe URL to change the theme, the accent colour or the height. Nothing needs to be configured on our side.
Customisation options
| Parameter | Values | What it does |
|---|---|---|
theme | auto, light, dark | Default follows the reader's own system setting, so the widget looks right on a dark site and a light one without you choosing. |
accent | Six hex digits, e.g. accent=1A56DB | Recolours the header bar and the primary button to match your brand. |
header | 1 or 0 | Set to 0 to hide the title bar when your page already has a heading above the widget. |
breakdown | 1 or 0 | Set to 0 to hide the calculation breakdown for a more compact block. |
corners | 1 or 0 | Set to 0 for square corners if your design has no rounding anywhere else. |
width | full | Removes the 520px maximum so the widget stretches to its container. |
Parameters are added to the iframe URL as a normal query string, for example
/embed/rent-vs-buy-calculator.html?theme=dark&accent=1A56DB&header=0. The
widget builder lets you set all of them visually and hands you the finished code.
What the widget calculates
Compares renting a home with buying one over the number of years you plan to stay. The buyer pays the deposit, the 2026/27 SARS transfer duty, buying costs, the bond repayment, rates, levies and maintenance; the renter pays rent and invests everything the buyer spent beyond that.
It shows net worth for both choices year by year, the break-even year when buying overtakes renting, and the effect of selling costs and capital gains tax with the R3 million primary residence exclusion. Readers can see quickly why short stays usually favour renting and long stays usually favour buying.
The embedded version keeps the inputs and the result. The full Rent vs Buy Calculator on TradeAnswers adds worked examples, the method behind the numbers and a long FAQ.
Who this widget suits
Trading education sites
Drop it into a lesson on risk management so readers can test the concept immediately instead of reading the formula and moving on.
Finance blogs and newsletters
A working tool in a post gives readers a reason to return to that page, which tends to help both time on page and repeat visits.
Course and membership pages
Embed it in a module on money management. It works inside most course platforms that allow a raw HTML block.
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The full library of free trading widgets has more than a hundred tools, and the widget builder lets you preview and configure any of them before you copy the code.