Benzodiazepine Taper Calculator
Build a personalized week-by-week reduction schedule — with dates, diazepam equivalents, and a printable chart to bring to your prescriber.
Tapering a specific medication?
Each calculator below is pre-configured with drug-specific guidance — half-life, tablet strengths, and crossover notes.
How this benzo taper calculator works
The calculator follows the approach described in the Ashton Manual and echoed by modern deprescribing guidelines: reduce by no more than 5–10% of your current dose, hold long enough to stabilize (usually 1–4 weeks), then repeat. Because each cut is a percentage of the current dose, reductions get smaller in milligrams as you descend — an exponential taper that keeps each step's impact on your nervous system roughly constant.
For each medication, the schedule also shows the approximate Ashton Manual diazepam equivalent of every dose, so you and your prescriber can see the true size of each step, and it flags the point where cuts become too small to achieve by splitting tablets.
The last stretch: getting to zero
Every taper eventually reaches doses that tablets can't measure. That's not a dead end — it's a planned phase. Common approaches include water titration, compounded liquid prescriptions, precision-scale micro-tapering, and switching to a medication with smaller dose forms. The calculator marks where this phase is likely to begin for your medication. Holding longer — or briefly pausing the taper — during this stretch is normal and often wise.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate a benzodiazepine taper?
The standard approach, based on the Ashton Manual and modern deprescribing guidelines, is to reduce by 5-10% of your current dose every 1-4 weeks. Because each cut is a percentage of the current (not original) dose, the cuts get smaller in milligrams as you go down. Enter your medication, daily dose, cut percentage, and hold time above, and the calculator builds the full schedule for you.
What is a 10% taper?
A 10% taper removes 10% of your current dose at each step. From 20mg that first cut is 2mg; by the time you reach 10mg, the cut is only 1mg. This exponential pattern keeps each reduction proportionally the same size, which most people tolerate far better than fixed-size cuts, especially at lower doses.
How long does it take to taper off benzodiazepines?
With 10% cuts held for two weeks each, a typical schedule runs about 9-12 months; 5% cuts roughly double that. The Ashton Manual notes that tapers from long-term use commonly take 6-18 months or more. Speed should always yield to symptoms - slowing down is a normal part of a successful taper, not a failure.
Does this calculator work for Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, and Valium?
Yes. Select your medication from the dropdown and the calculator uses its Ashton Manual diazepam equivalence and available tablet strengths. We also have dedicated calculators with drug-specific guidance for Xanax (alprazolam), Klonopin (clonazepam), Ativan (lorazepam), and Valium (diazepam), plus an Ashton Method calculator for planning a crossover.
What if the cuts get too small to measure?
Every schedule reaches a point where cuts become smaller than anything you can achieve by splitting tablets - the calculator marks that step for your medication. From there, options include a manufactured or compounded liquid, water titration, or weighing doses with a precision scale. This 'last stretch' is normal and plannable.
Can I taper off benzos without a doctor?
You should not taper alone. A prescriber keeps your supply stable, can authorize liquid formulations or smaller tablet strengths, and can help distinguish withdrawal from other conditions. If your current doctor won't support a gradual taper, it is reasonable to seek one who will - a printed schedule from this calculator is a strong starting point for that conversation.
Why do the cuts get smaller as the dose goes down?
GABA-A receptor occupancy is not linear with dose - at low doses, each milligram produces a proportionally larger effect. Percentage-based (exponential) reductions keep each step's impact on the nervous system roughly constant, which is why the Ashton Manual's schedules shrink cut sizes as the dose falls.
Sources
- Ashton, C.H. (2002). Benzodiazepines: How They Work and How to Withdraw (“The Ashton Manual”) — equivalence table and slow-withdrawal schedules.
- U.S. FDA (2020) class-wide boxed warning update on benzodiazepine dependence and the risks of rapid discontinuation.
- Our guides: implementing the Ashton Method, micro-tapering vs. cut-and-hold, and talking to your doctor about a prescribed taper.