SaaS Spending Benchmarks

Understanding SaaS Spending Benchmarks

Every business needs to answer the question: "Are we spending too much on software?" Without benchmarks, it's impossible to know if your SaaS budget is competitive, wasteful, or leaving productivity on the table.

Our benchmark dashboard aggregates spending data across thousands of companies to show you how your software costs compare to similar organizations.

Key Benchmark Insights

Spending by Company Stage

• Startups (0-10 employees): $80-120/employee/month, 10-15 tools
• Growing (11-50 employees): $100-150/employee/month, 15-20 tools
• Scaling (51-200 employees): $130-180/employee/month, 20-28 tools
• Enterprise (200+ employees): $160-220/employee/month, 30+ tools

Spending by Industry

• Technology: Highest spend, heavy on developer tools and hosting
• Finance: High spend on security and compliance tools
• E-commerce: Focused on payments, analytics, and marketing
• Agencies: Heavy on design and project management
• Healthcare: Compliance and communication focused

Top Spending Categories

Where does the typical company's software budget go? Here's the breakdown:

1. CRM & Sales: $25-50/employee - Browse CRM tools
2. Developer Tools: $20-45/employee - Browse dev tools
3. AI Tools: $20-40/employee - Browse AI tools
4. Design: $15-35/employee - Browse design tools
5. Project Management: $10-25/employee - Browse PM tools
6. Communication: $8-18/employee - Browse communication tools

Signs You're Overspending

• Above 75th percentile: You're paying more than 75% of similar companies
• Tool sprawl: Having 2-3 tools per category doing similar things
• Unused licenses: Paying for seats that aren't being used
• Enterprise tiers: Paying for features your team doesn't use

Signs You're Underspending

• Below 25th percentile: You may be missing productivity tools
• Manual processes: If tasks take hours that tools could automate
• Missing categories: No analytics? No automation? Consider investing
• Free tier limitations: Hitting limits that slow down work

How to Optimize Your Stack

1. Audit current tools: List every tool and its monthly cost
2. Check utilization: Are all paid seats being used?
3. Identify overlap: Do you have duplicate tools?
4. Calculate ROI: Use our ROI Calculator for each tool
5. Check integrations: Use our Integration Checker to find disconnected tools
6. Consider alternatives: Compare tools to find better value

Related Resources

• SaaS ROI Calculator - Calculate the value each tool delivers
• Tech Stack Builder - Build an optimized stack from scratch
• Integration Checker - Ensure your tools connect efficiently
• Pricing Calculator - Get detailed cost breakdowns