Cutting Software Costs Without Losing Tools
Software is one of the easiest places for a small business to waste money. Unlike hardware, it does not sit on a shelf gathering dust. It just quietly charges your card every month, and because no one person owns the software budget, no one notices.
The good news is that the savings are straightforward to find. Here is how.
Review Your Subscriptions
Start by listing every software subscription your business pays for. The best sources are:
- Your credit card statements from the last three months
- Your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace admin console
- Receipts or invoices in your accounting software
For each subscription, record the name, the monthly cost, and the number of seats or users you are paying for.
Check Who Actually Logs In
For each tool, check how many of your paid users have actually logged in during the last 30 to 60 days. Most SaaS tools have an admin panel that shows last login dates.
If you are paying for 30 seats on a tool and only 18 people have logged in this month, the other 12 are candidates for removal.
Cancel or Downgrade
Once you know which seats are unused:
- Remove users who have left the company. This is the most common source of wasted spend. When someone leaves, their licences should be reassigned or removed the same day.
- Cancel unused seats. If you have 30 seats but only need 20, reduce your plan.
- Downgrade plans where possible. Many tools offer tiered pricing. If most of your users only need basic features, move them to a lower tier.
- Cancel tools nobody is using. If a subscription has had zero logins for three months, cancel it.
A Worked Example
Consider a 30-person company with the following unused licences:
- Microsoft 365: 4 unused seats at £18 per user per month = £72 per month
- Adobe Creative Cloud: 3 unused seats at £25 per user per month = £75 per month
- Slack Pro: 6 unused seats at £6 per user per month = £36 per month
- A project management tool nobody uses: 10 seats at £9 per user per month = £90 per month
That is £273 per month, or £3,276 per year. None of these tools are being used by the people assigned to them.
This is not an unusual scenario. Most small businesses have at least a few subscriptions in this state.
Set Up a Regular Review
Software costs creep up because no one checks them. To prevent this:
- Review your software subscriptions every quarter.
- Check login activity before renewing annual contracts.
- Assign one person to be responsible for the software budget.
- Remove licences the same day someone leaves the company.
Practical Takeaways
- List every subscription and what it costs.
- Check login activity to find unused seats.
- Remove licences for former employees immediately.
- Downgrade or cancel where you can.
- Review quarterly so costs do not creep back up.
Software should support your business, not drain it. A few hours of review every quarter is enough to keep costs under control.
What this looks like in practice
Google Workspace: Gmail receives “Google Workspace renewal – 12 Business Standard seats, £145.20/month, renews 1st March”. AssetGraph flags 3 seats with no sign-in for 60 days. Cancel those before the 1st and save £36.30/month – £435.60/year.
Microsoft 365: Outlook receives “Microsoft 365 invoice – 25 Business Premium seats, £438.75/month”. AssetGraph flags 6 seats with zero activity. Downgrade or cancel and save up to £105.30/month – £1,263.60/year.
Total identified savings: £141.60/month or £1,699.20/year – from reading emails you already receive.