Auditing Your Company's Software Subscriptions
By CodexierPublished 4 min read
Few small companies can say how many software subscriptions they pay for. Tools are bought on company cards by whoever needs them, seats are added and never removed, trials convert to paid plans, and renewals happen automatically. Each charge is small, which is why nobody looks. This guide gives a method to find every subscription, compare what you pay for with what you use, cut the overlaps and consolidate without disrupting the team.
Finding every subscription
- Export twelve months of supplier costs from Fortnox, Visma or your ledger and filter for software and online services.
- Go through company card statements for smaller charges booked as miscellaneous, often in foreign currency.
- Check the Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace admin for connected apps and sign-in with company accounts.
- Ask each team lead which tools their people use, including free ones that hold company data.
- Merge everything into one sheet, one row per tool.
Seats in use vs paid
Unused seats are the easiest money to recover. People leave and their licences stay. A tool bought for a whole team is used by two people. Premium tiers are paid for everyone when only a few need the extra features. Most tools show last login per user in the admin; anyone who has not logged in for two or three months is a candidate for removal. Check whether the tool charges for the remaining period or only at renewal, and whether you can downgrade individual users.
| Column | What to record | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | One named person | Someone must decide and answer questions |
| Cost | Per month and per year, excluding VAT | Compare on the same basis |
| Seats paid vs used | From the admin, last login | The quickest saving |
| Renewal and notice | Date and required notice | Miss it and you are bound another year |
| Data held | Customer, staff or financial data | GDPR processor list and exit planning |
Overlapping tools
Overlap happens when teams solve the same problem separately. Typical examples: Teams and Slack, Dropbox and OneDrive, two project tools, a CRM plus a spreadsheet of leads plus an email tool with its own contact list. Group the list by job, such as chat, file storage, projects, customer data, email marketing, e-signature and forms, and look for jobs with more than one tool. Pick the tool that fits the most people and connects best to your core systems, not the one with the most features.
Renewal dates and notice periods
Business subscriptions usually renew automatically, and consumer protection rules on cancellation do not apply between companies. Annual plans often require notice one to three months before renewal, and some contracts extend for a full year if you miss it. Read the terms for your larger tools, put each notice date in a shared calendar with a reminder a few weeks earlier, and decide before the reminder fires whether to renew, renegotiate or leave. Price increases at renewal are common; the notice date is also your negotiation window.
Consolidating without disruption
Export first
Export data from the tool you are leaving before cancelling, in a format the new tool can import.
Move integrations
Check what the old tool was connected to, such as forms, webhooks and automations, and rebuild them before switching off.
Set a date
Announce a switch date, train the team briefly and make the old tool read-only for a short period.
Consolidation often reveals that the real cost was not the licences but the manual work between tools: copying leads from forms into the CRM, retyping orders into Fortnox. Fixing those connections can save more than cancelling a tool. When you do not need outside help: a small team can run this audit in an afternoon with the steps above. When the list shows many tools that do not talk to each other, our integration and automation optimisation consolidates and connects them. See the pricing page or book a call.
Frequently asked questions
How often should we audit subscriptions?
Once a year for the full list, plus a check whenever someone leaves the company. The renewal calendar handles the rest by prompting a decision before each tool renews.
Who should own the software list?
One person, often in finance or operations, with each tool also having its own named owner. Central ownership of the list does not mean central decisions on every tool.
Can we cancel an annual plan early?
Usually not with a refund. Business terms rarely allow it. Reduce seats where allowed, then set the plan to not renew and use the remaining time to move data out.
Does GDPR require a list of our software suppliers?
Your record of processing must identify the processors that handle personal data, and you need data processing agreements with them. The subscription list is a natural starting point for that record.
Turn your subscription list into savings
Book a short call and tell us roughly how many tools you use and where the manual work sits between them. We tell you where consolidation or integration would pay off.
Book a free 15-minute call