How much do a small business's software subscriptions really cost?
Per-user licences, forgotten accounts, yearly price rises: a method to work out what your SaaS tools really cost, with an example for 15 people.
Nobody signs up for "€15,000 a year of software". You sign up for €7 per user for email, €14 for the office suite, €15 for the CRM... and the bill quietly grows. Here is how to lay the numbers out flat in an hour.
Why the bill spirals without anyone noticing
Software subscriptions have three properties that make them hard to manage:
- They are billed per user. Every hire adds a line on five or six tools at once.
- They are scattered. The CRM is on the salesperson's card, video calls on the management's, the design tool on marketing's. Nobody has the full picture.
- They go up. Vendors revise their price lists regularly, often by moving a useful feature to a higher tier.
As a result, most SMBs underestimate their software spend, sometimes by half.
The four-step method
1. List all subscriptions
Start from bank statements and expense reports for the last twelve months, not from memory. Look for recurring payments: office suites, email, CRM, video calls, storage, e-signature, automation, design, emailing.
2. Count the seats actually used
For each tool, compare the number of licences paid for with the number of people who really use it. Accounts of former employees and "just in case" licences are very common.
3. Bring everything to an annual figure
A "per user per month" price is multiplied by headcount, then by 12. This annual figure is the one to compare.
4. Identify what can be replaced
For each tool, ask: is there an open source alternative that covers the team's real uses? For email, file storage, CRM, automation or forms, the answer is often yes.
An example for a team of 15 people
Using public small-business prices (annual billing, as listed in October 2026):
| Tool | Public price | Annual cost for 15 people |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard | €11.70 / user / month | €2,106 |
| Slack Pro | €6.75 / user / month | €1,215 |
| Notion Plus | €9.50 / user / month | €1,710 |
| HubSpot Starter | €15 / user / month | €2,700 |
| Zoom Workplace Pro | €13.33 / user / month | €2,399 |
| Total | €10,130 |
Over €10,000 a year, not counting niche tools, and this figure rises with every hire.
What an open source alternative changes
An open source alternative costs nothing in licences: you pay for hosting and maintenance, with no per-user price. For the same team, you would typically replace:
- Slack with Mattermost;
- the files in Google Drive or OneDrive with Nextcloud;
- Notion with Outline;
- HubSpot with Twenty;
- Zoom with Jitsi Meet.
The saving is never 100%: you need a server, backups, updates and someone to look after them. But this cost is fixed: it does not climb with every hire.
Where to start
Take stock, then test the calculation with your own tools in our simulator. If you want the exact figure, the free 30-minute audit starts from your real statements.
