Wasted SaaS spend
How much are companies wasting on software in 2026?
Shelfware and underutilized SaaS continues to drive substantial financial losses. Projected Q3 2026 figures show waste still climbing at every company size, and the pattern from earlier this year is holding: the larger the organization, the faster its waste is growing.
- The largest companies are on track to pass $20M in annual waste: Enterprises with 10,000+ employees are projected to waste $20.3M a year on unused and underutilized software in Q3, up from $18.9M in Q2 and $17.6M in Q1. That's an increase of more than 15% since the start of the year, and roughly 11 times what a 500-1,000 employee company wastes.
- Waste growth still accelerates with company size: Projected quarterly growth rises steadily across the bands, from 2.9% at 500-1,000 employee companies to 3.6% at 1,000-2,500, 5.2% at 2,500-5,000, 6.2% at 5,000-10,000 and 7.4% at 10,000+. As software portfolios keep growing, waste grows right along with them, and scale itself appears to make it harder to keep in check.
- Underutilization outweighs pure shelfware: In the latest full-quarter data, underutilized tools (those using less than 50% of their purchased capacity) accounted for a larger dollar figure than fully unused licenses in every employee band. Partial waste, not just abandoned tools, remains the biggest opportunity for savings.
These numbers highlight the challenge of managing sprawling software portfolios and the importance of tracking actual SaaS license usage. Even modest improvements in monitoring and rightsizing contracts, aligning licenses with actual usage, can significantly reduce wasted software spend and improve operational efficiency.
SaaS purchasing platforms with usage analytics capabilities help identify exactly where waste is concentrated, so rightsizing decisions are based on real usage data rather than guesswork.
Data source: These insights are derived from over $75bn of global processed spend managed by Vertice in 2026. Q3 2026 figures are modelled projections.
Are you overpaying for SaaS?
Are you overpaying for SaaS?
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Yes, across every company size. Projected Q3 2026 figures show waste rising 2.9% quarter-on-quarter for smaller mid-market companies (500-1,000 employees) up to 7.4% for the largest enterprises (10,000+ employees). Enterprises with 10,000+ employees are on track to pass $20M in annual waste, up from $18.9M in Q2 and $17.6M in Q1 – an increase of more than 15% since the start of the year.
Unused software, sometimes called shelfware, refers to tools that go completely untouched. This often happens when an employee leaves, a project ends or a tool gets replaced without the old subscription being cancelled. Underutilized software is different: it's still active, but less than 50% of purchased licenses are actually in use, meaning the company is paying for far more capacity than it needs. Since Vertice's data only captures underutilization below that 50% threshold, the true scale of underused software, including tools sitting just above that line, is likely even higher.
Reducing waste starts with visibility: knowing which licenses are sitting completely unused and which are active but underutilized, since the two problems need different fixes. SaaS spend management software surfaces both automatically, flagging shelfware for cancellation and underutilized licenses for rightsizing before the next renewal locks in the same overprovisioned contract for another term. Pairing this with budget management helps ensure any savings identified actually stay saved, rather than getting quietly reabsorbed elsewhere in the software budget.