The 30-minute SaaS audit: a checklist for founders and finance leads

Software spend grows quietly. Someone signs up with a company card, a trial converts, a contractor's seat outlives the contract. Once a quarter, run this audit. It takes half an hour and usually pays for a team lunch.

Step 1: list every recurring charge (10 minutes)

Pull the last three months of card and bank statements. Every charge that appears more than once is a subscription. Add each to the stack calculator with its plan, seats and renewal date. If a tool is not in our list, note it separately.

Step 2: compare seats to people (10 minutes)

For each per-seat tool, open the admin panel and count active users. Compare with your headcount. The calculator flags seats above team size and shows what they cost a year. Check these first:

• The CRM, where seats are expensive. See Salesforce and HubSpot prices.
• Prospecting tools like Sales Navigator, which are often assigned and forgotten.
• Design and AI tools, where seats are added for one project and never removed.

Step 3: check billing and renewals (5 minutes)

For tools you will keep for a year, check whether yearly billing is cheaper. Our annual vs monthly analysis shows typical discounts by tool. Then put every renewal on a calendar 60 days early: the calculator exports them with reminders.

Step 4: decide (5 minutes)

For each tool, pick one: keep, downgrade, cut seats or cancel. Write down who owns the decision and do it before the next renewal. A tool nobody owns is a tool nobody cancels.

Make it stick

• One person owns the software list. Usually ops or finance.
• New tools need an owner and a renewal date before the first payment.
• Offboarding checklists include removing seats from every paid tool.