Zylo’s 2023 SaaS Management Index reported that the average organization wasted $17 million a year on unused SaaS licenses. That is a vendor-reported average—not a universal estimate for every business, or a promise of what any one company can save. Zylo’s newer 2026 figures use different wording and should be treated separately.
What does the $17 million figure mean?
BetaNews reported on April 4, 2023, that Zylo’s 2023 SaaS Management Index found 44% of business SaaS licenses were wasted or underutilized, with average annual waste of $17 million per organization. BetaNews’s report attributes the finding to Zylo.
In its own 2023 index summary, published April 13, 2023, Zylo said organizations used 56% of their SaaS licenses and characterized the remaining 44% as wasted. Zylo co-founder Ben Pippenger described the problem this way: “You’re buying stuff that’s just sitting on the shelf and no one’s even using it.”
The available summaries do not establish the index’s sample design, the precise definition of “wasted,” or how the $17 million average was calculated. Treat the number as Zylo’s reported finding for the organizations represented in its 2023 index, not as independently validated evidence about every company. Zylo co-founder and CEO Eric Christopher called software optimization “your greatest missed opportunity” for companies trying to reduce costs and navigate budget constraints; that is his characterization, not a measured guarantee of savings.
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How the 2026 figures differ
In an update published April 2, 2026, Zylo attributed to its 2026 SaaS Management Index a finding that 46% of applications were underutilized or unused, with average annual unused-license waste of $19.8 million. Zylo’s 2026 update reports those newer figures.
These are not directly interchangeable with the 2023 figures: the 2023 statistic describes the share of licenses reported as wasted or underutilized, while the 2026 update describes the share of applications underutilized or unused. The measures and study years differ, so do not combine them into one trend or treat the newer average as a forecast for a particular business.
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Why unused SaaS licenses can linger
A business may have many software subscriptions but no dependable, shared view of who owns each application, which employees still use it, how many seats are provisioned, or when the contract renews. Without that information, teams can keep paying for inactive accounts simply because nobody has confirmed whether they are still needed.
Zylo’s 2023 summary reported an average of 204 SaaS renewals per year among organizations in its index. That makes renewal reviews a practical time to compare purchased seats with current use and examine pricing and agreement terms. This is Zylo’s reported figure and guidance; the summary does not establish that every company has the same renewal volume.
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How to find and review unused licenses
Start by building a reliable picture of applications, spending, ownership, usage, risk, and renewal timing. Zylo recommends centralized visibility and usage analysis as part of optimization; these are vendor recommendations, not proof that a particular process will deliver a fixed amount of savings.
- Reconcile the application inventory. List the SaaS applications the business pays for and align the list with the records used by finance, IT, and relevant department owners.
- Assign an owner to each application. Record the person or team responsible for confirming whether the application and its access are still required.
- Compare seats with usage. For each application, review provisioned seats alongside available usage information. Flag accounts with little or no recorded activity for investigation rather than automatic removal.
- Check renewal dates and contract terms. Identify when each agreement renews, what the agreement says about seats or changes, and what access the business may need to retain.
- Confirm before reclaiming access. Ask the application owner whether a low-activity account supports seasonal work, occasional responsibilities, or another workflow that may not show up in routine usage data.
Only after those checks should the business decide whether to reclaim a seat, change a subscription, or leave access in place. A low-activity signal identifies an account to review; it does not establish that the license is unnecessary.
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What a business can reasonably conclude
The 2023 index makes a case for checking SaaS use and renewal commitments, but its average does not say how much any individual organization wastes. Actual savings depend on the company’s applications, license terms, usage patterns, and ability to change or reduce its commitments. Zylo’s findings can identify a potential cost-control issue; they cannot calculate a particular business’s recoverable spend without that business’s own records.
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