Short answer: a SaaS audit lists every software subscription your business pays for, what it costs per year, who uses it, and what it overlaps with. Each tool then gets one decision: keep, cut, consolidate, or replace with custom software.
Step 1: find every subscription
- Pull 12 months of company card, bank, and accounting records and filter for recurring charges.
- Search email for "receipt", "invoice", "renewal", and "your subscription".
- Ask each team lead what they pay for on personal or department cards.
- Check single sign-on or Google/Microsoft admin consoles for connected apps.
Step 2: record the facts for each tool
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Yearly cost (all seats and add-ons) | Monthly prices hide the real number. |
| Seats paid vs. seats used | Unused seats are the easiest saving. |
| Renewal date and notice period | Miss it and you are locked in for another year. |
| Owner | Someone has to decide, and know how it is used. |
| Features actually used | Shows whether a cheaper tier or a custom tool would do. |
| Overlap with other tools | Two tools doing one job is common. |
Step 3: decide keep, cut, consolidate, or replace
- Cut tools nobody has logged into for 60 days.
- Right-size seats and tiers to what is used.
- Consolidate overlapping tools onto the one your team prefers.
- Replace per-seat tools where you use a small slice of the features and the three-year cost is high. See our build-vs-buy guide.
- Keep payroll, accounting, and anything with heavy compliance. Payment tools that add their own fee on top of the processor's are worth replacing.
Step 4: put renewals on the calendar
Add every renewal date, minus the notice period, to a shared calendar. Most overspending comes from renewals that happen before anyone thinks to ask whether the tool is still needed.
Step 5: estimate what a replacement would save
For each "replace" candidate, plug the numbers into the SaaS savings calculator to compare three years of subscription cost with building software you own.
Common questions
How often should a small or medium business audit its software subscriptions?
Once a year at minimum, and before any large renewal. A quick quarterly check of new charges on the company card catches subscriptions that slip in between audits.
What is the fastest way to find all our SaaS subscriptions?
Search the last twelve months of company card and bank statements, plus your accounting software, for recurring charges. Then search email for words like "receipt", "invoice", "renewal", and "subscription" to catch tools paid on personal cards.