SaaS Subscription Audit 2026: Stop Paying for Software You Don't Use

💸 The Average Business Wastes 20-30% of SaaS Spend

Studies consistently show that companies waste $4,000-$40,000+ annually on SaaS they don't use, barely use, or have duplicates of. The average small business runs 40-70 tools. Nobody has a complete picture of what they're paying for — until they audit.

1. 👻 Ghost Subscriptions

Tools an employee signed up for, used briefly, and forgot about. The credit card keeps getting charged. Common culprits: design tools (Canva Pro, Figma), analytics (Hotjar, Mixpanel), and AI tools (ChatGPT Plus, Jasper, Copy.ai).

2. 🔄 Duplicate Tools

Different teams or individuals bought tools for the same function. Project management is the worst offender: Asana + Monday.com + Trello + Notion. Email marketing: Mailchimp + ConvertKit + HubSpot. Each team uses "their" tool. You pay for all of them.

3. 💺 Unused Seats

Paying for 20 Slack seats when only 12 people actively use it. Per-seat pricing means every inactive user is pure waste. Audit active users vs. paid seats on every per-user tool.

4. ⬆️ Over-Tiered Plans

Paying for Zoom Pro when Google Meet (free) does the same thing. HubSpot Professional when Starter covers your needs. Slack Pro when the free tier is enough for small teams. Many businesses sign up for premium tiers "just in case" and never use the premium features.

5. 🧪 Trial Conversions

Free trials that silently converted to paid subscriptions. Someone tested a tool 6 months ago, forgot to cancel, and you've been paying $29/month since. Multiply by 5-10 tools and it's real money.

6. 🔒 Annual Auto-Renewals

Annual subscriptions that auto-renewed without anyone reviewing whether the tool is still needed. HubSpot, Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, and SEMrush are notorious for annual auto-renewals with 30-day notice requirements.

7. 🏚️ Legacy Tools

Tools that were replaced by something better but never formally canceled. Migrated from Basecamp to Asana but never canceled Basecamp. Switched from Mailchimp to HubSpot but the Mailchimp account is still active (and still billing).

1. Pull 3 months of credit card/bank statements — search for recurring charges
2. Check every team member's email for subscription confirmations and receipts
3. Review Apple/Google app subscriptions on company devices
4. Audit each tool: How many seats are used? Could you downgrade? Is there a free alternative?
5. Consolidate duplicates: Pick one project management tool, one email tool, one video tool
6. Set renewal reminders: Calendar alerts 45 days before every annual renewal
7. Assign an owner: Someone must be responsible for SaaS spend review (quarterly)

🏆 The SaaS Audit ROI

A thorough SaaS audit takes 2-4 hours and typically finds $4,000-40,000 in annual waste for small-to-mid-size businesses. That makes it one of the highest-ROI activities a business can do — $1,000-$10,000 saved per hour of work. Do it quarterly.

🔍 Start your SaaS audit in 30 seconds

Upload your business bank statement to JustCancel and we'll identify every recurring SaaS charge automatically — categorized, totaled, and ready for review. Most businesses find 5-10 subscriptions they forgot about.