Contracts containing auto-renewal clauses by category

Which software contracts are most likely to auto-renew in 2026?

Auto-renewal is quickly becoming the default across almost every software category, not the exception. Vertice's Q2 2026 data shows the average auto-renewal rate across categories has climbed from 60.6% to 72.3% – a jump of 11.7 percentage points in a single quarter and the increase holds true across every category tracked.

• CRM is now almost universally auto-renewed: 96.1% of CRM contracts now auto-renew, up from 84.2% in Q1 2026. This is the highest rate of any category tracked and only of only a handful of categories now above 80%.
• Marketing saw the sharpest rise: Marketing’s auto-renewal rate jumped 15.2 points, from 46.9% of contracts containing this clause to 62.1% – a 32.4% relative increase, the largest of any category.
• Artificial Intelligence and Development remain the least likely to auto-renew: At 55.2% and 57.2% respectively, these two categories still auto-renew less often than the rest of the market, though both saw meaningful increases this quarter. This is consistent with the shorter average contract lengths already seen in these categories, as organizations continue to prefer more frequent, active renewal decisions in fast-moving markets.

A rising auto-renewal rate cuts both ways. It reduces the risk of an unplanned service lapse, but it also means more contracts are rolling over by default rather than being actively renegotiated – which matters given that starting renewal negotiations early can secure meaningfully better pricing. A contract that quietly auto-renews is a contract that missed that window entirely.

This risk is compounded by the fact that the average company's tech stack is growing by roughly 10% year-over-year, meaning there are more contracts than ever to track, and more chances for an auto-renewal to slip through unnoticed. Contract management tools that track renewal and notice-period dates in one place help ensure auto-renewal is a deliberate choice, not a default one procurement finds out about after the fact.

Working with an outsourced negotiation provider like Vertice adds another layer of protection, combining AI-powered contract review that flags auto-renewal clauses and price uplift language automatically, with negotiators who know vendor playbooks and can often get those clauses removed entirely during the negotiation itself. On the rare occasion a vendor won't budge, Vertice can instead negotiate protective language in its place – for example, a clause requiring the vendor to notify you in writing at least 90 days ahead of the renewal date – so the renewal never catches your team off guard, even if the auto-renewal clause itself stays in the contract.

Data source: These insights are derived from over$75bn of global processed spendmanaged by Vertice in 2026.