How long does a first SaaS subscription audit take?

About ten minutes for a small team if you already have the tool list. Most of the time is spent finding the forgotten tools, not entering the obvious ones. SaaSpend runs the grouping and flagging the moment you paste the list.

What format should the tool list be in?

One tool per line as 'Name, monthly USD' (for example 'Notion, 10'). Use the monthly figure even if you pay annually, so every line is comparable. SaaSpend accepts exactly this format.

Should I include free tools in the audit?

Include them if they have a paid plan you might expand, or if a paid tool overlaps them. Free tools rarely cost money directly, but they matter for the duplicate-category check — two free chat apps may mean one paid one is redundant.

Is the suggested savings number a guarantee I will save that much?

No. It is an estimate based on the list you enter, assuming you consolidate each duplicate category to one tool. Actual savings depend on which subscriptions you cancel or migrate and on your real contract terms, which the audit cannot see in the Free tier.

How is the duplicate-category flag calculated?

SaaSpend groups tools by function (chat, docs, meetings, and so on) and flags any category with more than one tool. The check is deterministic — the same input list always returns the same flags — so you can re-run it and compare across audits.

How to audit your team's SaaS subscriptions (step by step)

Before you start

You do not need a finance degree or a procurement system to run a first SaaS subscription audit. You need one honest list: every tool your team pays for, with its monthly cost. If you only have annual prices, divide by twelve so everything sits in the same unit.

The point of the audit is not to produce a pretty report — it is to find the two or three decisions (cancel, consolidate, or keep) that you have been putting off.

Step 1 — list every tool with its monthly cost

Open a plain list and write one tool per line as Name, monthly USD:

Slack, 8
Notion, 10
Coda, 12
Zoom, 15
Loom, 12
Discord, 7

Do not worry about categories yet. The only rule is honesty — include the forgotten trial and the tool only one person uses. A SaaSpend audit takes this exact format, so you can paste it directly.

Step 2 — group tools by what they do

Sort the list by function: chat, docs, meetings, video, design, project management. This is where overlaps become obvious. Two chat apps and two doc tools in one company is common, and most teams never see it until the list is grouped.

SaaSpend does this grouping automatically and produces a deterministic duplicate-category checklist — the same list always returns the same flags, so the result is reproducible rather than a guess.

Step 3 — flag the duplicate categories

For each category where you run more than one tool, ask one question: "Do we need both?" A chat app and a docs app rarely justify two paid versions each. The duplicate-category flag is the highest-leverage signal in the whole audit, because consolidation there tends to be the largest recoverable spend.

Step 4 — surface forgotten and low-use tools

Mark any tool with no clear owner, no recent activity, or a renewal nobody approved. These are the quiet leaks: a $9 trial that became a $9 monthly charge, a seat count that tripled during a project and never came back down.

SaaSpend adds forgotten-tool flags so these surface without you having to remember which intern set them up.

Step 5 — read the suggested savings, then decide

The audit returns a suggested savings estimate — what consolidating each duplicate category to a single tool could remove from your monthly bill. Treat it as an upper-bound opportunity, not a bank deposit. Real savings only land when someone actually cancels or migrates, and your real contract terms (annual lock-ins, seat minimums) may change the math.

What to do after the audit

Turn each flag into an owner and a date. "Consolidate chat apps" with no owner becomes "still paying for both" next quarter. Re-run the audit after every renewal wave so the list stays current instead of decaying into another stale spreadsheet.