Shelfware Index · Updated 2026-06-29

How much of your SaaS stack is paid for and unused?

The Shelfware Index is a public benchmark of inactive-seat rates across the most-used SaaS apps — anonymized from real audits run on SeatMap.AI. Use it to gut-check whether your stack is in the normal range, or quietly leaking.

Apps tracked
12
Avg inactive seats
21–36%
Highest waste category
Design & Video

2026 benchmark by app

"Inactive" = paid seats with no meaningful activity in the last 60 days. Ranges reflect the 25th–75th percentile across audits.

AppCategory% inactive seatsSeat cost / moAnnual waste / 100 seats
SlackCommunication1731%$12.50$3,600
Microsoft 365Productivity1224%$22.00$4,752
SalesforceCRM2339%$165.00$61,380
ZoomVideo2946%$16.00$7,200
NotionDocs2440%$10.00$3,840
GitHubDev1326%$21.00$4,914
FigmaDesign3148%$15.00$7,110
HubSpotCRM2035%$50.00$16,500
AsanaPM2338%$13.50$4,941
LinearPM1122%$8.00$1,584
Adobe CCDesign2745%$60.00$25,920
DropboxStorage2035%$15.00$4,950

Annual waste assumes 100 paid seats × midpoint inactive % × list seat cost × 12 months. Real numbers vary by tier and negotiated discount.

What the data shows

Slack

1731%

Ex-contractors and dormant guests dominate the waste.

Microsoft 365

1224%

Shared mailboxes counted as seats inflate the bill.

Salesforce

2339%

Highest dollar waste — every reclaimed seat is ~$2k/yr.

Zoom

2946%

Pandemic-era over-provisioning still hasn't washed out.

Notion

2440%

Guest seats from one-off doc shares accumulate fast.

GitHub

1326%

Former contractors with active seats — common security gap too.

Figma

3148%

Highest inactive rate — designers churn, viewer seats linger.

HubSpot

2035%

Paid seats outlive the campaigns that needed them.

Asana

2338%

Project-archive seats rarely get reclaimed.

Linear

1122%

Lowest inactive rate — usage tends to track real engineering activity.

Adobe CC

2745%

Enterprise plans rarely audited; one of the biggest dollar wastes.

Dropbox

2035%

Departed employees keep storage seats far past their last login.

Methodology

  • Data is aggregated and fully anonymized — no customer is identifiable in any number on this page. Single-tenant medians are excluded; we only publish ranges where the sample is large enough that no row reveals a single workspace.
  • "Inactive" means no qualifying activity in 60 days — defined per app (login + message for Slack, login + commit for GitHub, login + file action for Figma, etc.). Activity definitions match the ones used inside the SeatMap.AI product.
  • Seat cost figures are public list prices for the most common business tier as of Q1 2026. Customers on negotiated pricing or annual discounts will see lower waste in dollars, similar percentages.
  • The index is refreshed quarterly. Customers who'd rather not have their data included can opt out at any time from workspace settings.

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