How to use SaaSpend

Getting Started: Preparing your SaaS inventory

Before you run SaaSpend, gather a complete list of every SaaS product your team currently pays for. Export this data from your finance system, procurement tool, or expense reports into a simple CSV or plain‑text format. Each line should contain the product name, the owning department, the monthly or annual cost, and the primary business function it serves. Keep the file under 5 MB to ensure quick processing.

Collect data from multiple sources

- Export subscription details from your accounting software (e.g., QuickBooks, Xero). - Pull license counts from your identity provider (e.g., Okta, Azure AD). - Ask team leads to confirm any shadow‑IT tools they use but that are not recorded centrally. - Combine all exports into one master sheet, removing duplicate rows for the same product.

Standardize the format

SaaSpend expects a plain‑text paste where each record is separated by a line break. Use the following pattern:

Example:

Make sure there are no extra commas or semicolons inside the fields, as they can break the parser. If a field contains the pipe character, replace it with a forward slash or omit it.

Validate the paste

After you build the paste, open a new browser tab and paste the content into a plain‑text editor. Verify that:

- Every line has exactly three pipe characters. - Cost values are numeric and use a period as decimal separator. - Department names match the list used in your org chart (e.g., Marketing, Sales, HR). - Function descriptions are short (one to three words) to help the algorithm group similar tools.

When the paste looks correct, copy the entire block to your clipboard. You are now ready to run the analysis.

Running the paste analysis in SaaSpend

Open the SaaSpend web app and locate the large text area labelled “Paste your SaaS inventory”. Paste the clipboard content directly into this field. The app will instantly count the number of lines and display a summary badge showing total apps, total monthly spend, and distinct functions detected.

Initiate the scan

- Click the blue “Analyze” button below the text area. - Wait for the progress bar to complete; the time depends on file size but usually finishes under ten seconds for 500 lines. - When the scan ends, the UI switches to a results view with three tabs: Overlaps, Recommendations, and Audit Log.

Interpret the initial feedback

The Overlaps tab shows a matrix where each row and column represents a SaaS function (e.g., “Project Management”, “File Storage”). Cells contain a number indicating how many products in your inventory share that function. High numbers suggest potential redundancy.

The Recommendations tab lists each product with a suggested action: Keep, Cut, or Review. The suggestion is based on:

- Cost per user compared to the median for that function. - Usage signals if you have integrated activity logs (optional). - Contract renewal dates – products nearing renewal get a higher priority for review.

If you have enabled the optional AI‑risk module, SaaSpend will also flag any product that appears in the OWASP LLM Top 10 list, prompting you to review its data handling practices.

Interpreting category overlap results

The overlap matrix is the core diagnostic tool. It helps you spot where multiple tools solve the same problem, which often leads to wasted spend and user confusion.

Reading the matrix

- Each cell shows the count of apps that belong to both the row function and the column function. - The diagonal cells (where row = column) indicate how many apps are tagged with a single function only. - Values of 2 or higher mean at least two apps share that combination. - Hover over a cell to see the exact product names that contribute to the count.

Spotting patterns

Look for clusters of high values in a specific region of the matrix. For example, if the “Design”, “Prototyping”, and “Wireframing” rows and columns all show counts of 3 or more, you likely have several design‑focused tools that could be consolidated.

Another common pattern is a high count in the “Storage” column paired with multiple rows such as “Backup”, “File Sharing”, and “Collaboration”. This often points to separate storage subscriptions when a single enterprise‑grade solution could cover all needs.

Using the matrix to drive decisions

- Select a cell with a count of ≥ 3. - Click the cell to open a modal that lists the contributing apps. - Review each app’s cost, renewal date, and user count from the Recommendations tab. - Decide whether to keep one app and cut the others, or to negotiate a multi‑user license that replaces the set.

If you want to export the matrix for further analysis, click the “Download CSV” button in the top‑right corner of the Overlaps tab. The file includes the raw counts and can be opened in Excel or Google Sheets for pivot‑table work.

Reviewing cut/keep recommendations

Once you have examined the overlaps, move to the Recommendations tab. Here SaaSpend gives a concrete action for each product, but you should treat these as starting points for discussion, not final orders.

Understanding the recommendation logic

- Keep – the app’s cost per user is below the 25th percentile for its function and its renewal is more than six months away. - Cut – the app’s cost per user is above the 75th percentile, it has low usage signals (if available), and its renewal is within three months. - Review – the app falls in the middle range or has conflicting signals (e.g., low cost but upcoming renewal).

Preparing for a partner meeting

Before you meet with ops and finance, create a short briefing document that includes:

- A table of all “Cut” candidates with current monthly cost, projected savings, and renewal date. - A table of all “Keep” candidates with justification (e.g., unique feature, compliance requirement). - A list of “Review” items that need additional data from the owning team.

You can generate these tables directly from the Recommendations tab by selecting the rows and clicking “Export selected”. The export includes the columns: Product, Department, Cost, Function, Recommendation, Renewal Date.

Running a mock decision session

- Share your screen and open the Recommendations tab. - Walk through each “Cut” item, showing the cost per user and the alternative(s) that could replace it. - Ask the owning team to confirm whether the alternative meets their functional needs. - Record any objections or additional requirements in a shared notes file. - After the session, update the Recommendations tab with any new “Keep” or “Cut” decisions based on the feedback.

Remember that SaaSpend is decision‑support only. The final authority to cancel a subscription rests with the budget owner or the procurement committee.

Collaborating with ops and finance partners

Effective SaaS spend reduction requires input from both the teams that use the tools and the teams that manage the budget. Structure your collaboration to capture technical feasibility and financial impact.

Setting up a recurring review cadence

- Schedule a 30‑minute sync every month after the finance close. - Invite the SaaS admin, the finance analyst, and a representative from each major department. - Use the same agenda: review new purchases, examine the latest SaaSpend output, agree on any actions, and assign owners.

Sharing data securely

When you need to share the raw inventory paste or the export files, use your organization’s approved file‑share with access‑link expiration. Do not paste sensitive cost data into public chat tools. If you must discuss specifics in a meeting, refer to products by their internal ID rather than the vendor name.

Documenting decisions

After each review cycle, update a living SaaS‑inventory register that includes:

- Product name - Current status (Active, Scheduled for Cut, Under Review) - Monthly cost - Owner team - Notes on why the decision was made - Link to the SaaSpend session ID for traceability

This register becomes the source of truth for future audits and helps you avoid re‑introducing duplicates.

What this is NOT

SaaSpend is a decision‑support tool, not an autonomous system that will cancel subscriptions for you. It does not guarantee that you will save a specific percentage of your SaaS budget, nor does it promise that every redundant tool will be surfaced. The analysis depends on the quality and completeness of the inventory you provide; missing or inaccurate entries will lead to incomplete results.

The service does not replace the need for human judgment. You must still verify that a suggested cut does not break a critical workflow, violate a compliance requirement, or remove a feature that a team relies on. SaaSpend also does not provide legal advice; if you are unsure about contract termination clauses, consult your legal or procurement department before acting.

Finally, SaaSpend does not track usage metrics unless you explicitly connect an activity‑log source. Without that data, the tool relies solely on cost and functional overlap, which may miss subtle cases where a low‑cost app is heavily used or a high‑cost app is rarely touched.

Advanced tips: scheduling regular reviews

To keep SaaS spend under control over time, turn the manual paste‑and‑review process into a lightweight automated routine.

Export inventory from your finance system

Many ERP platforms allow you to schedule a CSV export of subscription charges. Set up a nightly job that writes the file to a secure internal location. Use a simple script to read the file, strip any extra columns, and produce the pipe‑delimited paste that SaaSpend expects.

Automate the paste step

If your organization permits internal tooling, create a small web form that reads the latest inventory file and automatically populates the SaaSpend text area. This removes the chance of manual copy‑paste errors and ensures that the analysis always runs on the most recent data.

Integrate with change‑management workflows

Link the SaaSpend review outcome to your ticketing system. When the tool flags a product for Cut, auto‑create a ticket that includes the product name, cost, and renewal date. Assign the ticket to the SaaS admin, who then follows the standard procurement cancellation process.

- Finance export runs at 02:00 UTC and writes saas_inventory_2026-09-24.csv. - A cron job transforms the CSV to inventory_paste.txt using pipe delimiters. - At 02:15 UTC, a lightweight service posts the paste to the SaaSpend API and stores the JSON result. - If any “Cut” recommendations appear, the service creates a Jira ticket with the details and notifies the finance channel. - The team reviews the ticket during the weekly sync and either approves the cut or adds a comment to retain the app.

By embedding SaaSpend into your regular ops loop, you turn a periodic project into a continuous improvement habit.

References

- https://owasp.org/www-project-top-10-for-large-language-model-applications - https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework