How to reduce your SaaS stack costs

Software spend grows one trial at a time and never shrinks on its own. An hour of deliberate review, twice a year, is usually worth more than any negotiation.

Step one: list everything

Pull the last three months of card and bank statements, not your memory. Most teams find two or three subscriptions nobody remembers starting.

Step two: name the job

Next to each tool write the one job it does. Two tools with the same job is a decision waiting to be made — keep whichever the team actually opens.

Step three: check seats and tiers

The two quiet leaks:

Per-seat plans still billing for people who left or never logged in.
Upgrades bought for one feature during one project, never downgraded.

Step four: cancel, don't consolidate for its own sake

Moving three tools into one platform sounds efficient and often costs more once you price the tier that covers all three. Cancel what isn't earning; only consolidate when the math is clearly better.

What not to cut

Anything directly touching revenue or customer trust — payments, support, the thing that generates pipeline. Cut overhead first; the savings are usually there anyway.