| Aspect | What You Get From a Tech Stack Audit |
|---|---|
| Primary Goal | Cut unused or low‑value SaaS and reduce recurring costs |
| Time Required | 1 to 3 weeks for a first full audit, then quarterly reviews |
| Typical Savings | 10% to 35% of total SaaS spend in the first year |
| Who Should Own It | Founder, COO, or head of finance with input from team leads |
| Main Risks | Canceling tools people still need, losing key data, team pushback |
| Best Frequency | Quarterly mini audit, annual deep audit |
You probably pay for more SaaS tools than you think. Almost every founder I talk to underestimates their stack. Your tech stack audit is just a structured way to face that reality, clean it up, and then keep it under control. It is not about being cheap. It is about making sure every subscription ties to revenue, productivity, or risk reduction. If it does not, it probably should not be there.
What a Tech Stack Audit Actually Is
A tech stack audit is a full review of every software product, app, and subscription you pay for.
Not just your main CRM.
Not just your project management tool.
Everything.
Your goal is simple: figure out what to keep, what to upgrade, what to consolidate, and what to cut.
A good stack audit is less “cost cutting” and more “focus.” You are cleaning your tools so your business can move cleaner and faster.
You are asking three simple questions about each tool:
1. What does this do for the business right now?
2. Who uses it, how often, and for what?
3. How does that compare to what we are paying?
Pretty basic. But when you actually run this process with discipline, the results are usually not basic at all. You often find:
– Duplicate tools
– Seats for people who left months ago
– Free plans that would cover what you need
– Tools that solved a problem you do not have anymore
It is normal. SaaS is built to grow into your budget without you feeling it.
Why Unused SaaS Subscriptions Quietly Kill Growth
In theory, one extra SaaS bill for 29 dollars a month does not matter. In practice, you do not have one. You have a stack of them.
You have:
– Tools marketing bought
– Tools sales tested
– Tools the founder signed up for one weekend
– Tools a consultant added during a project
Most of them auto renew. Many offer discounts for annual plans. So you commit up front, then forget.
Your SaaS stack is not just a line on the P&L. It also shapes the way your team works, communicates, and wastes time.
Here is why unused SaaS hurts growth more than the raw spend suggests.
1. Hidden compounding cost
Subscription creep is quiet.
That 29 dollar tool becomes 79 with “pro” features.
Your 49 dollar plan becomes 490 because you added seats as you hired.
Then there is tax, currency conversion, and the fact that you often have two or three tools that do similar things.
On their own, each feels small. Together, they can rival a full salary.
This is money you could put into:
– Paid acquisition
– Content
– Sales hires
– Product improvements
You do not see the tradeoff clearly, so it does not feel urgent. The audit makes that tradeoff visible.
2. Cognitive clutter for your team
Every tool adds:
– Another login
– Another place where information lives
– Another app that sends notifications
Your team already has limited attention. When you spread their work across ten different tools that overlap, they:
– Spend longer finding things
– Miss messages
– Duplicate work
Technically, this is not always a huge problem in tiny teams. But it grows quickly. The more tools you use, the more process debt you create.
3. Process decay over time
When you add new tools without removing old ones, your processes decay.
Half of your team uses one tool.
The other half uses another.
New hires are confused.
Documentation goes out of date.
Suddenly your reports are inconsistent, data lives in silos, and small tasks take longer because no one is sure where to do them.
The cost is hard to measure. But you feel it in slower projects, broken communication, and constant “where is that file again?” questions.
Step 1: Build a Complete SaaS Inventory
You cannot cut what you do not see. The first step looks boring, but it makes the rest work.
You want a single list of every SaaS subscription your company pays for.
If the subscription charges a recurring fee and lives in the cloud, it goes on the list. No exceptions.
Here is how to build that list.
Pull from accounting and banking
Start with where the money leaves.
Export 6 to 12 months of data from:
– Company bank accounts
– Corporate credit cards
– PayPal, Stripe, or any other payment gateway you use for spending
– Expense tools if you have them
Search for:
– Vendor names (like “HubSpot”, “Asana”, “Slack”)
– Generic categories like “SOFTWARE”, “SUBSCRIPTION”, or “SERVICE”
Add every recurring charge to a spreadsheet with:
– Tool name
– Vendor / billing descriptor
– Amount
– Currency
– Billing frequency (monthly, annual, etc.)
– Payment method
– Next renewal date
Some tools bill through app stores (Google, Apple), some through resellers. You might need to click through statements line by line. It is a little painful. Still worth doing right.
Cross check with SSO and email
Next, look where access is controlled and where confirmations arrive.
– Your SSO provider or identity tool if you have one
– Admin view of Google Workspace or Microsoft 365
– Email search in your admin inbox for “receipt”, “invoice”, “subscription”, “trial ended”, “payment processed”
Add anything you find that did not show up in your bank data yet. Sometimes trials convert to paid using a different card. Sometimes a team member used a company email with their own card, then expensed it.
Ask team leads to submit their tools
Then, go to the people.
Ask each team lead to list every tool their team uses that:
– Requires a login
– Has premium features
– Involves any kind of subscription or auto payment
Include tools they “think” might still be on a trial or an old card somewhere. You want awareness first. Clean data later.
This step often surfaces:
– Old agency tools
– One-off lifetime deals that no one uses
– Side projects that turned into paid plans
Normalize and clean the list
Once you have everything, consolidate duplicates.
Different descriptions might point to the same tool. For example:
– “GSUITE” and “Google Workspace”
– “Zapier*123456” and “Zapier”
– “MICROSOFT ONLINE” and “Microsoft 365”
Make one row per tool, with total spend per year.
Now you have your baseline.
Step 2: Measure Usage and Business Value
Now you know what you pay for. Next question: what do these tools actually do for you?
Do not guess. Get as close to real usage data as you can.
Check admin dashboards
Most SaaS tools show:
– Active users
– Last login time
– Feature usage
– Overages and unused allotments
For each tool, capture:
– Total licensed seats
– Active users in the last 30 days (or 90, if the tool is used less often)
– Main features used (for example: just email, or email + automation)
– Storage or usage vs capacity
Then compare what you see with your contract. If you pay for 50 seats and only 21 people logged in last month, that is a clear gap.
Map tools to business outcomes
Usage alone does not tell you enough. A tool might have few users but still be critical. For each tool, you want to answer one simple question:
“What business outcome would suffer if we removed this?”
Here are common categories:
– Revenue (sales, marketing, checkout, upsell)
– Cost reduction (automation, support tools, cloud resource control)
– Risk or compliance (security, backups, legal)
– Support tools (communication, documentation, scheduling, etc.)
– Nice to have (quality of life but not critical)
Avoid vague answers like “makes things better.” Be concrete.
For example:
– “CRM: Tracks pipeline and revenue. Removing it would break sales forecasting.”
– “Email finder tool: Helps SDRs find new leads. Removing it would slow top of funnel by 20 to 30 percent.”
– “Team mood app: Sends fun polls. Removing it would not hurt a key metric.”
You will end up with a simple line per tool:
Tool X -> Outcome Y
This mapping sets you up for real decisions.
Ask the team how they use each tool
There is always a gap between what the admin data shows and what the team feels.
Run short interviews or a simple form. For each tool, ask:
– Who actually uses this?
– What tasks do you rely on it for?
– What do you like about it?
– What frustrates you?
– Could you do this in another tool we already own, without creating a bigger problem?
You are looking for patterns like:
– Multiple teams using different tools for the same task
– Tools that people hate but feel stuck with
– Tools barely anyone knows how to use fully
Sometimes the best savings come not from canceling, but from consolidating three weak tools into one strong one that people actually like.
Step 3: Classify Your Tools by Priority
Now you combine cost, usage, and business impact. You want a clear visual picture of where your money goes.
An easy way is to place tools into four buckets.
Bucket A: Critical, high value
These are tools that:
– Directly tie to revenue, legal, or core operations
– Have strong usage
– Would hurt the business if removed
Examples:
– Primary CRM
– Payment processing and invoicing
– Core email and calendar
– Security and backup tools
– Your main project management system
For these tools, your question is not “do we cancel?” It is:
– Are we on the right plan for our usage?
– Are we overpaying for unused features or seats?
– Are there multi year discounts for tools we are certain to keep?
Bucket B: Useful, moderate value
These are tools that help but are not critical. If you lost them, work would slow down but not stop.
Examples:
– Survey platform
– Secondary communication tools
– Report builders
– Internal social apps
For bucket B, the question is:
– Can we consolidate this with another tool?
– Are there free or cheaper alternatives that meet 80 percent of our needs?
– Are we using key features that justify the current spend?
Bucket C: Overlapping or low usage
These are your main targets.
Signs a tool belongs here:
– Similar feature set to another tool you already have
– Very few active users
– People are not sure what it is for
– It solved a short term project that is already finished
For bucket C, your first instinct should be: this probably goes. You still do due diligence, but the bar is high for keeping them.
Bucket D: Unknown / needs investigation
Some tools will not fit cleanly.
– No one remembers who bought it
– There is no clear owner
– You cannot log in
– The vendor is obscure
Treat these as red flags. Until someone takes ownership and explains the value, they should be at risk.
The goal of this classification is not perfection. It is clarity. When you look at the list, it should be obvious where you can save, where you can renegotiate, and where you should keep things stable.
Step 4: Find Redundant and Overlapping Tools
Overlap is where a lot of waste hides. You do not always see it until you look at features, not just tool names.
Group tools by function
Instead of listing tools alphabetically, group them by what they do:
– Sales and CRM
– Marketing automation and email
– Communication and meetings
– Project and task management
– File storage and collaboration
– Finance and accounting
– HR and hiring
– Developer tools
– Analytics and tracking
– Support and helpdesk
Now, within each group, ask:
“How many tools do we have that solve the same basic job?”
For example:
– Do you have three different survey tools?
– Are you using two different chat platforms?
– Does each team have its own project tool?
This is where consolidation opportunities show up.
Evaluate feature coverage
Redundancy is not always one to one.
Sometimes you have:
– A big product that does many things
– Smaller tools that solve slices of that product
For example, you might have:
– A CRM that supports email campaigns
– A separate email marketing tool
– A third tool for landing pages and forms
Ask:
– Could we move campaigns into the CRM and cancel the standalone email tool?
– Could one project platform host both software and marketing work?
You do not want to cram everything into one tool if that hurts your team. But often you can cover 90 percent of use cases with fewer platforms.
Watch for “ghost” tools
Ghost tools are products that are technically “on” but practically unused.
Signs of a ghost tool:
– Zero or near zero logins in the last 60 to 90 days
– No current process depends on it
– No one on the team can explain its purpose
These tools are the fastest wins. Get a backup of any data, confirm with the team that you are safe, then put them on the cut list.
Step 5: Decide What to Cut, Downgrade, or Keep
This is the heart of the audit. You have your data. You have your classification. Now you need decisions.
Treat SaaS decisions like hiring decisions. Each tool should have a clear job description. If it is not performing that job, you let it go.
A simple three column framework works well: cut, change, keep.
Tools to cut
A tool belongs here if:
– It is in bucket C or D
– It has clear overlap with a better tool you already use
– It has low or no usage
– It does not tie to a measurable outcome
For each cut, define:
– Cut date
– Owner responsible for offboarding
– Data to export or archive
– Replacement process if there is one
Be firm but not reckless. If someone pushes back with “we might need it one day,” ask:
“What specific scenario are you worried about, and what is the cost if we do not have it ready that day?”
Soft attachment to tools is common. Your job is to challenge that gently.
Tools to downgrade or consolidate
Some tools are useful but oversized.
Maybe you:
– Have more seats than active users
– Pay for enterprise features you do not touch
– Paid for add ons that no one needed
For each of these tools:
– Match your current usage to the vendor’s pricing tiers
– Look for the smallest plan that still covers your real needs
– Check if annual is worth it based on confidence you will keep it
You can also look at vendor bundles.
For example:
– Multiple products from the same company that are cheaper in a package
– Suite offers that cover separate tools you pay for now
Again, you do not want to buy more just to feel smart. But sometimes a suite makes sense when you grow.
Tools to keep and invest in
Some tools deserve more, not less.
Usually they:
– Tie directly to revenue or cost savings
– Have strong adoption
– Are key parts of your internal playbook
For these, ask:
– Are there features we are not using that could save time?
– Do we need better training or internal documentation?
– Can we negotiate better terms given our usage and commitment?
You can sometimes lower your cost per seat or per month by:
– Committing to a longer term
– Moving to usage based pricing if you fluctuate
– Asking vendors to price match a competitor
Vendors prefer lower revenue to churn. If you come in with clear data and a plan, they often work with you.
Step 6: Run a Safe SaaS Offboarding Process
Canceling is where people get nervous. They worry about losing data, breaking workflows, and upsetting the team.
If you structure offboarding, you avoid most of the risk.
Create a standard offboarding checklist
For each tool you cut, follow the same steps:
1. Confirm owner: Who is the person responsible for this tool?
2. Identify dependencies: What processes, automations, or dashboards link to it?
3. Export data: Get a full export in a usable format (CSV, JSON, PDF, etc.).
4. Store data: Save it in a central, searchable location with clear naming.
5. Inform users: Tell everyone affected, with a date and what changes.
6. Trial run: If needed, run a week where you stop using the tool but do not cancel yet.
7. Cancel: After the trial period, cancel the subscription.
8. Document: Update your SaaS inventory and internal docs.
You do not need a long policy document. A single page checklist in your wiki is enough, as long as people follow it.
Handle data retention and access
Some tools delete data on cancel.
Others keep it for a grace period.
Before you shut down:
– Check the vendor’s retention policy
– Save any legal or compliance related data
– Confirm that critical records (for example, invoices, contracts, customer communication) live in your main systems
If there is any risk, keep a free or lowest tier plan for a short time while you fully migrate.
Communicate the changes with context
People are often attached to tools. Sometimes because they like them. Sometimes because change itself feels tiring.
When you announce cuts, explain:
– Why the audit happened
– The simple goal: “Every tool should earn its place.”
– The outcome: “We are saving X per year, and will put that into Y.”
Then give them a clear path:
– Where the new process lives
– Who to ask for help
– How to suggest tools in the future so they do not feel shut out
It does not need to be complex. Just transparent.
Step 7: Make Tech Stack Audits a Habit, Not a One Off
One audit brings relief. But SaaS creep always comes back if you ignore it.
You want two layers:
– A lightweight monthly or quarterly review
– A deeper annual audit
Set guardrails for new subscriptions
Before you think about recurring audits, fix the inflow.
You can keep it simple:
– Require a single owner for each new tool
– Set a written “job description” for the tool: what it will do, how you measure success
– Start with the smallest plan
– Set a trial period where you review adoption and value after 30 or 60 days
Make this a standard part of your internal process. For example, any new tool above a certain spend must go through a short approval form.
Run quarterly mini audits
Every quarter, spend a few hours on:
– New tools added since last time
– Tools with big changes in usage
– Tools with renewals coming up in the next 60 to 90 days
You are not rebuilding the whole inventory. You are scanning for drift.
Questions to ask:
– Did any trials convert quietly to paid?
– Did any team stop using a tool they used heavily before?
– Are there any big renewals where you should renegotiate now, not later?
This rhythm keeps surprises small.
Run a yearly deep audit
Once a year, repeat the full process:
– Inventory
– Usage data
– Mapping to outcomes
– Bucketing and decisions
Each year it gets easier. Your list is cleaner. Your team understands why you do this. Vendors know you are serious.
Over time, your stack becomes tight, purposeful, and easier to manage.
Using Tech Stack Audits for Better Negotiation
The best time to negotiate SaaS is when you know more about your usage and value than the sales rep does. The audit gives you that edge.
Know your true usage pattern
Vendors often suggest plans based on “average” customers. You are not average.
From your audit, you should know:
– Actual number of active users vs licenses
– Typical usage per month
– Features you rely on vs features you ignore
This lets you say:
“We only use A and B features, not C and D. Our real active team is 18, not 30. What plan reflects that?”
You are not arguing from feelings. You are bringing data.
Time your conversations around renewals
Vendors care most when:
– Your annual renewal is close
– You are considering moving to a competitor
– You have grown and are about to add seats
Use your inventory to:
– Start renegotiations 60 to 90 days before renewal
– Ask for new pricing if your usage dropped
– Propose multi year agreements when you know a tool is critical
You do not have to be aggressive. Just clear about what you need.
Bundle and standardize where it makes sense
Large vendors often discount:
– When you add more products from the same suite
– When you consolidate regions or teams under one contract
– When you standardize across the company
If your audit shows fragmentation, you can say:
“We want to standardize on your product across three teams, but we need pricing that reflects that commitment.”
You are offering them a bigger, more stable relationship in exchange for better terms.
Using Tech Stack Audits to Grow, Not Just Cut
On the surface, a tech stack audit sounds like cost cutting. In reality, it is capacity building.
You free budget. You cut clutter. But you also reveal where you are underinvested.
Spot gaps that hold you back
While mapping tools to business outcomes, you will see holes.
For example:
– You spend plenty on marketing tools but have weak attribution data.
– Your team wastes hours each week on manual data entry.
– You have customer success tools but no clear onboarding flow.
The audit shows you where software should support your goals but currently does not.
You might decide to:
– Add a proper analytics platform
– Invest in workflow automation
– Upgrade tools for support or training
You are not just trimming. You are reallocating.
Clean processes for faster onboarding
When your stack is lean and documented, new hires ramp faster.
They know:
– Which tools matter
– Where work happens
– What to ignore
Less confusion. Fewer rabbit holes. Better focus in the first 90 days.
This alone can justify the time you spend on audits if you are growing headcount.
Better decisions as a founder or leader
A clean view of your stack gives you:
– A real picture of where your money goes monthly
– Clarity on which tools support which goals
– A handle on risk points like security and compliance
You stop reacting to small annoyances. You start steering.
You can say:
“We cut 2,000 a month in unused SaaS. We are putting 1,000 into content, 500 into training, and 500 into a new analytics stack.”
Simple. Clear. Strategic.
Practical Example: A Simple SaaS Audit Walkthrough
To make this concrete, imagine a 25 person company doing B2B services.
They think they have:
– A CRM
– A project tool
– Email and meetings
– A few small add ons
They run an audit.
What they actually find
Their inventory shows:
– 43 separate subscriptions
– 14 tools with seat based pricing
– 6 tools in the “no one owns this” category
Group by function, and they see:
– 3 project tools (Asana, Trello, ClickUp)
– 2 communication tools (Slack, Teams)
– 3 survey tools
– 2 time tracking tools
– 2 CRMs (one used by sales, one by a legacy team)
– 2 file storage tools (Drive and Dropbox)
Plus a handful of:
– One off analytics tools
– Design tools
– Automation tools no one remembers setting up
What the usage shows
In the admin dashboards:
– Trello: 3 logins in 90 days
– Legacy CRM: 0 logins in 6 months
– Second time tracking tool: 2 active users, everyone else uses the main one
– Slack: heavy use
– Teams: a few logins from one external partner
They realize:
– Some tools are fully abandoned but still billing
– Project work is split across Asana and ClickUp
– No one uses one of the CRMs, they only kept it “just in case”
Decisions they make
They decide to:
– Cancel Trello, legacy CRM, secondary time tracker, and two survey tools
– Consolidate all projects into ClickUp and turn Asana into a short term migration project, then cancel
– Standardize on Slack internally, keep Teams on a free or minimal plan just to work with that one partner
– Downgrade a design tool from 20 seats to 8 based on actual use
– Negotiate their CRM plan based on real active seats
Yearly savings: around 18,000.
They reinvest that into:
– A better analytics setup
– A support tool that reduces churn
– Training on their core project and CRM tools to raise adoption
Their stack gets smaller. Their impact per dollar spent goes up.
How to Start Your Own Tech Stack Audit This Week
You do not need a perfect system to start. You only need a starting point.
If you want a simple plan:
Day 1 to 2:
– Export your last 6 to 12 months of bank and card statements
– Build your first draft SaaS inventory
Day 3 to 4:
– Pull usage data from admin dashboards
– Ask team leads to confirm what they use and why
Day 5:
– Bucket tools A, B, C, D
– Flag obvious cuts and downgrades
Next 1 to 2 weeks:
– Run a calm, structured offboarding for cuts
– Renegotiate with vendors where it makes sense
– Document your stack and set a date for the next mini audit
It will not be perfect. That is fine. You can iterate.
The key shift is simple: you stop treating your tech stack as a random collection of tools and start treating it as an intentional part of your business and life growth.
Every subscription should have a job. Every job should matter. Everything else can go.
