How do I calculate our SaaS waste?
For each tool, subtract active users from billed seats, multiply by the per-seat monthly cost, then annualize — the total across all tools is your annual reclaimable waste.
Details
The clean formula: waste_annual = Σ (billed_seats − active_users) × per_seat_monthly × 12, across every tool.
'Active user' is any account with at least one login in the last 30 days for most tools. For tools with lower engagement (compliance, HR, data warehouses), use 60 or 90 days.
Industry median waste for companies without a reclamation process is 20–35% of total SaaS spend. Companies who run a monthly reclaim cycle typically drive it down to 3–8%.
Automate this with SeatMap.AI
The audit path above works. It also takes hours per month per tool. SeatMap.AI runs it on a schedule, stages the reclaim actions for review, and shows you the annualized savings in real dollars.