Daily, weekly or monthly SIP?
Frequency barely matters. Investing the same annual amount daily instead of monthly changes a 10-year outcome by well under 1%. This calculator lets you check that for your own numbers — and shows why the answer disappoints people who were hoping for a trick.
Amount, and how often
Per instalment, not per month. Switch the frequency below and this stays as typed.
A daily SIP debits on trading days, so a year is about 250 instalments rather than 365.
An assumption, not a promise. Equity funds are usually modelled at 10–12%; see what rate to assume.
What frequency buys you
What you investWhat compounding adds
| Year | Monthly | Invested so far | Returns | Value at year end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ₹5,000 | ₹60,000 | ₹4,047 | ₹64,047 |
| 2 | ₹5,000 | ₹1,20,000 | ₹16,216 | ₹1,36,216 |
| 3 | ₹5,000 | ₹1,80,000 | ₹37,538 | ₹2,17,538 |
| 4 | ₹5,000 | ₹2,40,000 | ₹69,174 | ₹3,09,174 |
| 5 | ₹5,000 | ₹3,00,000 | ₹1,12,432 | ₹4,12,432 |
| 6 | ₹5,000 | ₹3,60,000 | ₹1,68,785 | ₹5,28,785 |
| 7 | ₹5,000 | ₹4,20,000 | ₹2,39,895 | ₹6,59,895 |
| 8 | ₹5,000 | ₹4,80,000 | ₹3,27,633 | ₹8,07,633 |
| 9 | ₹5,000 | ₹5,40,000 | ₹4,34,108 | ₹9,74,108 |
| 10 | ₹5,000 | ₹6,00,000 | ₹5,61,695 | ₹11,61,695 |
The short answer, before the detail
Changing SIP frequency at the same annual outlay moves the final number by a fraction of a percent over a decade. Nothing about the arithmetic rewards you for investing more often.
Two small effects pull in opposite directions and nearly cancel. Investing more often means the average rupee is invested very slightly earlier, which helps. It also means slightly more compounding periods at a smaller rate each, which is close to neutral. What is left is noise.
So if you were hoping a daily SIP was a free upgrade: it is not. Do the thing that actually matters instead — invest more, for longer.
The practical differences, which are real
Frequency is a convenience and behaviour decision, not a returns decision:
- Monthly matches your salary. One debit, a few days after payday, when the money is actually there. This is why it is the default and why it is usually right.
- Daily and weekly generate a lot of paperwork. Every instalment is a separate purchase with its own date, cost and holding period. Redeem after ten years of daily SIP and your capital gains statement has 2,500 lines, each with its own tax treatment.
- More debits means more chances to fail. A daily mandate against a current account that dips can rack up failure charges.
- Quarterly is worse than monthly in one real way — it is easier to skip. A quarterly commitment feels optional in a way a monthly one does not.
The tax point is the one people never consider until they redeem, and it is covered in SIP taxation in India.
Before you rely on this
An estimate, not a forecast
This is arithmetic applied to assumptions you chose. Mutual funds carry market risk, returns are not guaranteed, and past performance does not indicate future results. Nothing here is personalised advice — for decisions of any size, speak to a SEBI-registered investment adviser.
Questions people actually ask
Is a daily SIP better than a monthly SIP?
Not meaningfully. On the same annual outlay the difference over ten years is a fraction of a percent, and it is swamped by the effect of your instalment size and your holding period.
Daily also multiplies your transaction records by roughly twenty, which makes tax reporting genuinely tedious. Monthly is the sensible default.
Does a weekly SIP average my cost better?
Slightly, in a volatile market — more purchase dates means your average cost sits closer to the period's average price. But "slightly" is the operative word, and it cuts both ways: tighter averaging also means less benefit from an unusually good entry.
It is a real effect and a tiny one. Not a reason to restructure.
Why 250 days for a daily SIP rather than 365?
Because a mutual fund SIP only transacts on days the market is open. Weekends and holidays are not investable, so a "daily" SIP produces roughly 250 instalments a year.
Calculators that use 365 overstate a daily SIP's annual outlay by about 45%, which makes daily look far better than it is. The assumption is stated on the methodology page.
What changes the outcome, if not frequency?
In descending order: how long you stay invested, how much you invest, whether you increase it over time, and the return the fund delivers. Frequency is not on the list.
The cost of waiting calculator shows how much the first of those is worth compared to everything else.