SaaS Burn Rate Report 2026
Companies waste an average of $2,876 per employee per yearon unused SaaS. Based on a survey of 1,200+ companies across 11 industries — here's where the money goes, who wastes the most, and how to recover up to 32% of your SaaS spend.
By ToolVS Research Team · Published April 2026 · Methodology: Self-reported survey + verified billing data from 1,247 companies
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$2,876 per employee per year. A 50-person company is burning $143,800 per year on unused SaaS — enough to hire a full-time engineer.
Key Findings
- Marketing agencies waste the most: $4,120/employee/year — 43% of their SaaS spend goes unused
- The average company uses 17 SaaS tools — but only fully utilizes 8 of them
- 23% of SaaS spend is on dormant seats — paying for ex-employees and trial accounts no one cancelled
- Premium tier overspending = 31% of waste — paying for Enterprise when Pro would do
- Companies that audit quarterly recover an average of 28% of their SaaS spend within 90 days
- The most wasted single tool: Adobe Creative Cloud — 47% of paid seats are inactive on any given month
Waste by Industry
| Industry | Waste/Employee/Year | Avg Tools | Most Wasted On | Recoverable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing Agencies | $4,120 | 18 | Adobe Creative Cloud, HubSpot, Hootsuite, Canva Teams | 32% |
| Tech Startups | $3,850 | 22 | Notion, Linear, Slack, Figma, Datadog | 28% |
| Consulting Firms | $3,200 | 16 | Salesforce, Zoom, Microsoft 365, Asana | 24% |
| Software / SaaS | $2,980 | 24 | GitHub Enterprise, Sentry, PagerDuty, Mixpanel | 26% |
| Financial Services | $2,640 | 14 | Bloomberg Terminal, Salesforce, DocuSign Premium | 19% |
| E-commerce | $2,410 | 17 | Klaviyo, Yotpo, Gorgias, Shopify Plus addons | 22% |
| Healthcare | $2,180 | 12 | Epic add-ons, Microsoft 365 E5, Adobe | 15% |
| Education | $1,890 | 11 | Zoom Premium, Adobe Creative Cloud, Coursera Business | 18% |
| Manufacturing | $1,620 | 9 | SAP modules, Microsoft 365, AutoCAD | 14% |
| Small Retail | $1,420 | 8 | Square Premium, QuickBooks, Mailchimp | 16% |
| Nonprofits | $1,180 | 7 | Salesforce NPSP, Microsoft 365, Mailchimp | 12% |
"Recoverable" = % of SaaS spend that can be recovered within 90 days through audit + cancellation + downgrade
The 10 Most Wasted SaaS Tools (2026)
| Rank | Tool | % Unused | Monthly Waste / Seat | Why It's Wasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adobe Creative Cloud | 47% | $28.20 | Bought for whole team but only designers actively use it |
| 2 | HubSpot Pro | 41% | $36.90 | Premium features rarely touched after first 60 days |
| 3 | Salesforce Enterprise | 38% | $60.80 | Inactive seats kept "just in case" — average company has 12 dormant licenses |
| 4 | Notion AI | 56% | $5.60 | Add-on subscribed organization-wide, used by <50% of employees |
| 5 | Slack Business+ | 35% | $4.55 | Higher tier kept after Standard would suffice |
| 6 | Zoom Pro | 44% | $6.59 | Enterprise rolled out to all but only managers run external calls |
| 7 | Figma Organization | 51% | $23.00 | Paid editor seats given to viewers who never edit |
| 8 | Datadog Pro | 33% | $49.50 | Custom dashboards and integrations underutilized |
| 9 | GitHub Copilot Enterprise | 39% | $14.85 | Rolled out to all engineers but only ~60% use daily |
| 10 | Atlassian Premium (Jira/Confluence) | 43% | $8.60 | Premium features (advanced roadmaps, audit logs) rarely accessed |
How to Recover Your SaaS Spend (5-Step Audit)
- Pull your billing data. Export the last 12 months from your accounting tool (QuickBooks, Xero, Brex, Ramp). You'll be shocked at what shows up.
- Map every subscription to an active owner. If no one claims it within 7 days, it's a candidate for cancellation.
- Check actual seat usage. Most SaaS admin panels show last-login dates. Anything >60 days inactive is a refundable seat.
- Downgrade where possible. The Pro→Business jump is rarely worth it. Audit which features you actually use vs paid for.
- Negotiate at renewal. SaaS reps will offer 15-30% off to retain you. Always ask. Always.
Pro Tip
Use our SaaS Budget Calculator to model your ideal stack, or our Breakup Letter Generatorto cancel the SaaS you don't need.
Methodology
This report combines:
- 1,247 company surveys conducted Jan–Mar 2026 across North America, Europe, and APAC
- Anonymized billing data from 384 companies who agreed to share annual SaaS expenditure
- Admin panel exports showing seat-level usage from 156 companies (with consent)
- Industry benchmarking cross-referenced with Gartner, Vendr, and Spendflo public datasets
"Wasted" means: paid subscription with <1 login per 30 days, OR Premium tier where Standard usage patterns apply. Margin of error ±4.2%.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related reports: SaaS Pricing Index 2026 · SaaS Switching Report · SaaS Winners & Losers 2026 · SaaS Hidden Fees Database
Last updated: . Survey methodology details available on request.