The 40-Point SaaS Spend Audit Checklist

This is a 40-item checklist for a thorough SaaS spend audit — the kind you run once to get control, then revisit quarterly. Work top to bottom. Each item is a yes/no you can actually check off. If you only have 90 minutes, see the time-boxed version; this is the complete one.

Phase 1 — Discovery (find everything)

1. ☐ Searched the primary billing inbox for receipt, invoice, payment, subscription, renewal, trial.
2. ☐ Searched for signup language: welcome to, your account is ready, you've been invited.
3. ☐ Exported the last 90 days from the company card(s).
4. ☐ Checked the founder's personal card for legacy subscriptions.
5. ☐ Checked employee cards and expense reports for recurring software reimbursements.
6. ☐ Checked PayPal and app store (Apple/Google) billing.
7. ☐ Checked any spend platform (Ramp/Brex) for card-based recurring charges.
8. ☐ Listed every distinct vendor found across all sources.
9. ☐ De-duplicated the list into one row per tool.
10. ☐ Captured cost and billing cadence (monthly/annual) for each.

Phase 2 — Categorize & assess

11. ☐ Assigned each tool a category (AI, dev, design, PM, comms, analytics, marketing, security, finance).
12. ☐ Marked each tool's usage: active / occasional / unknown / dead.
13. ☐ Flagged tools where nobody can confirm active use.
14. ☐ Identified duplicate-job tools (two PMs, multiple AI writers, etc.).
15. ☐ Identified tools your main platform now covers natively.
16. ☐ Calculated total monthly spend.
17. ☐ Calculated total annualized spend.
18. ☐ Calculated your waste ratio (dead + unknown + inactive seats ÷ total).

Phase 3 — Renewals

19. ☐ Identified every annual contract.
20. ☐ Recorded each annual renewal date.
21. ☐ Set a calendar reminder 30 days before each renewal.
22. ☐ Flagged renewals in the next 60 days for immediate review.
23. ☐ Noted any prices that increased at last renewal.
24. ☐ Identified renewals where you have negotiation leverage.

Phase 4 — Seats & tiers

25. ☐ Listed all per-seat tools and their paid seat counts.
26. ☐ Pulled last-active dates for seats in each tool.
27. ☐ Identified orphaned seats (former employees).
28. ☐ Identified inactive seats (no login 30–60+ days).
29. ☐ Identified never-activated seats.
30. ☐ Identified users over-provisioned at premium tiers.
31. ☐ Calculated recoverable seat spend.

Phase 5 — Ownership & security

32. ☐ Assigned an owner to every tool.
33. ☐ Flagged tools with no clear owner.
34. ☐ Identified tools tied to former employees (billing or admin).
35. ☐ Noted which tools have access to sensitive data (customer data, code, financials).
36. ☐ Checked which tools are outside SSO.

Phase 6 — Act & sustain

37. ☐ Canceled the confirmed-dead tools (export data first — see safe cancellation).
38. ☐ Started consolidation on the clearest duplicate-job tools.
39. ☐ Removed orphaned and inactive seats.
40. ☐ Set up a billing inbox and a recurring monthly review so this doesn't decay.

How to use this checklist

• First pass: expect to leave some boxes unchecked — the blanks are your findings (an unknown owner, an unconfirmed usage, a renewal you can't find a date for).
• The waste ratio (item 18) is the headline metric. It tells you, in one number, how much of your spend you can't account for.
• Phases 1–2 are the hard part; 3–6 are mostly execution. Most of the value is in discovery — you can't act on what you can't see.

Phases 1–3 (discovery, categorization, renewals) are exactly what InvoiceAgent automates by scanning your connected billing inbox — surfacing recurring vendors, flagging trial conversions, and catching renewals — so each audit cycle starts from a complete, current list instead of a blank page. Run the full 40 once; let the scan keep the picture current between audits.