Is JR pass worth it for a long trip?

Hello!

I'm planning a summer trip to Japan and every website or guide recommends the JR Pass, but getting some info with the new pricing I came across this website.
Using the calculator I get that it does not pay off, but to be fair there are some destinations that I cannot add and also the transport inside cities...

Tried using google maps to get an estimate total and got aprox 120.000 jpy, which will make the 21 day JR Pass worth it. The trip is 23 days long, so I guess I should pay for the first and last day, which are mostly the tickets from/to airport.
If not choosing the JR pass I also thought about using a couple of 5 day kansai-hiroshima area pass.
I'm also worried that I find don't get a pass the process of purchasing all the tickets will be more troublesome especially for last-minute changes, is that true?

My planned trip is more or less like this:
Narita -> Tokyo
5 days in Tokyo
Tokyo -> Nikko round trip
Tokyo -> Kamakura round trip
Tokyo -> Kanazawa
Kanazawa -> Shirakawago
Shirakawago -> Takayama
Takayama -> Hida round trip
Takayama -> Matsumoto
Matsumoto -> Narai
Narai -> Magome
Tsumago -> Shin-Osaka
Shin-Osaka -> Universal round trip
2 days in Osaka
Shin-Osaka -> Hiroshima
Hiroshima -> Miyajima
Miyajima -> Hiroshima
Hiroshima -> Okayama
Okayama -> Himeji
Himeji -> Shin-Osaka
Shin-Osaka -> Shingu
Kumano Kodo transport
Shingu -> Kushimoto
Kushimoto -> Kyoto
5 days in Kyoto
Kyoto -> Koyasan round trip
Kyoto -> Nara round trip
Kyoto -> Kansai Airport

Any help or advice will be really appreciated, thanks!

I havenft done the maths (you have) but there are a lot of days in your itinerary without any use of the JRP (Tokyo city - yes you can use it on JR lines but realistically youfll be using subway or a mix and anyway the cost saving is marginal and the entire Kanazawa - Matsumoto part. There ainft any train there.

JRP also has the disadvantage that unless you pay a hefty surcharge you can take Nozomi and Mizuho Shinkansen (The fastest of them all).

"Every website" does not recommend the JR pass, and if they do, they are offering pretty terrible advice.
The route yu have mapped out should get nowhere near 120,000 yen. My rough estimate is somewhere less than 80k.
Sure you have some really inefficient back-tracking and you should re-position Koya, but you also have a lot of links that are either non-JR trains and/or should be done by bus. For example, Kanazawa to Takayama is easy by train, but if doing Shirakawa-go, bus would be preference. Similarly, Takayama to Matsumoto is hugely expensive by train, but the bus is pretty affordable.

Forgot to say:
a) a long duration trip does not justify a rail pass, and,
b) as Likebike also noted, you have lots of days where you are not travelling meaning an expensive pass is of no value - especially at the beginning.

Trip= 23 Days Long
5 Day in tokyo.so 18 Days traveloutside tokyo
Tokyo subway pass(Toei+Tokyo metro) 1 day
Pass =900 yen @ 5days= 4500 yen
You can consider this subway pass

Thanks all for the advice!

Then, do you guys think it will be worth using the Kansai-Hiroshima pass then? It's 17k yen for 5 days and with a couple of them I could cover the later part of the trip, from Shin-Osaka to the end. It will cover the Sanyo Shinkansen to Hiroshima and back (including Nozomi and Mizuho) and the Kumano Kodo days, which are the most expensive trips. Maybe even with one of them I can fit both...

Also, any suggestions to avoid some of the back-tracking or re-positioning Koya? Thought the direct bus between Kyoto and Koyasan was the best option, instead of doing Koyasan before/after the Kumano Kodo part.

Thanks again for the help!

Narita to Tokyo: You can buy nonbiri holiday suica pass 1 day =2670 yen for unlimited travel between narita airport to Tokyo by JR

do you guys think it will be worth using the Kansai-Hiroshima pass then

Yes, a round trip from Osaka to Hiroshima by itself costs more than a Kansai Hiroshima pass, and you are going to Shingu on top of that. Also, no restrictions on which type of shinkansen you can ride.

I had done my own calculations for my trip for 21 days and it barely pays off from my calculations, on some webs not worthy.

In the end I will pick it, why? I travel with a tight schedule, and is very inconvenient to go exchanging different passes when I can arrive the first day of my trip and book almost all the trains, consider that I'm going to some countryside places where train schedules are not like the ones in the most touristy places so I can't risk not being able to pick a specific train.

But that's for my own trip, of course that depends on what you prioritise.

Many of those websites or blogs or whatever you are referring to are using outdated prices and info, and some of them are ill-informed cheerleaders that everyone going to Japan should get a JR Rail Pass no matter what. JR jacked up its pass price 70% from last October, making it very hard to break even on now.
Plus, not just money, but time matters as well. You can go by train between Matsumoto and Takayama, but you have to go around a whole mountain chain, taking 4½ hours with a good connection. But if you go directly by highway bus (not covered by the pass), it just takes a bit over 2½ hours. For Shirakawago, you don't have any choice - there is no rail access at all.
The longest 21-day pass is also that much harder to make worthwhile, unless you're dashing across the country. Without extensive shinkansen travel, breaking even on the pass is simply impossible. People with such passes are generally traveling at a slower pace, and that makes it very tough. So impossible, no. But the primary goal is to see a lot of nice places and not simply make a pass pay off.
As mentioned, the Kansai-Hiroshima Pass would save you some money (as well as be able to take Nozomi trains with it), and if you are staying put in one place like Tokyo, you're really not helping yourself make a pass break even (yes you can use it locally on JR, but it doesn't amount to that much). There are many other regional rail passes you might look at also.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

By the way, you don't appear to be spending any time in Kyoto or Nara at all. Have you been there before? If not, you are really shortchanging yourself.

@Peter1986 - In the end I will pick it, why? I travel with a tight schedule, and is very inconvenient to go exchanging different passes when I can arrive the first day of my trip and book almost all the trains, consider that I'm going to some countryside places where train schedules are not like the ones in the most touristy places so I can't risk not being able to pick a specific train.
None of that is a justification for getting a pass when you can go to a ticket office and do exactly what you said without a pass. In fact, the pass it more limiting given what you have said.

None of that is a justification for getting a pass when you can go to a ticket office and do exactly what you said without a pass. In fact, the pass it more limiting given what you have said.

If something unexpected happens for example that you could not reach on time it's more convenient, of course you can get a refund if you don't use that ticket, but I thing they apply charges. Anyway I feel more safer in my "own case" and the "route" I had planned that way, I used it in the past and just for the convenience is something I consider a lot if there's only a small difference, ok let's end this discussion, I said my way not meaning it should be like this, for most people is obvious after the increase of prices is difficult to cover the cost of it specially the 7 day one.