AI & SaaS spend review
First-pass findings & owner-validation list
SAMPLE – illustrative findings for a fictional agency. Figures invented to show the format and depth of a first-pass review. No real client data.
From a redacted 90-day export we identified €1,890 / month (≈ €22,700 / year) in likely-cuttable or duplicated software & AI spend across 12 vendors – about 13% of the spend reviewed.
€990 / month is high-confidence and actionable today: idle Adobe and ChatGPT seats, a dormant Semrush subscription, two duplicate note-takers, and personal ChatGPT subs doubling the team plan. The rest hinges on 4 owner-validation questions in §2 – chiefly whether you need two project-management tools and two AI copy tools.
- Reviewed / mo
- €14,400
- Identified / mo
- €1,890
- Actionable today
- €990
- Owner checks
- 4
What we found
Twelve items worth attention. “Seats” shows paid vs. active in the last 30 days. Confidence reflects how sure we are before an owner confirms; anything below High carries a question in §2.
| Vendor | Monthly | Seats p/a | Finding | Conf. | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adobe Creative Cloud Design | €1,140 | 20 / 12 | 8 seats idle 30 days+. Reclaim and downsize the plan. | High | Reclaim |
Monday.com Project mgmt | €384 | 24 / – | A second project tool alongside Asana – same job, two bills. | Med | Validate |
Grammarly Business Writing | €300 | 25 / 14 | 11 seats inactive 30 days+. Right-size to active users. | Med | Right-size |
Asana Project mgmt | €270 | 18 / – | Two PM tools running in parallel. Pick one. | Med | Validate |
ChatGPT Team AI · LLM | €240 | 10 / 5 | 5 of 10 seats unused 30 days+. | High | Reclaim |
Semrush (Guru) SEO | €229 | 3 / 0 | No logins in 60 days; no owner on record. Dormant. | High | Cancel |
Loom (Business) Video | €150 | 20 / 6 | Most seats dormant. Right-size to actual users. | Med | Right-size |
Midjourney ×3 AI · Image · reimbursed | €144 | 3 pers. | On personal cards; ownerless. Sanction or cut. | Low | Validate |
ChatGPT Plus ×6 AI · LLM · reimbursed | €126 | 6 pers. | Personal subscriptions duplicating the Team plan you already pay for. | High | Consolidate |
Canva Teams Design | €120 | 30 / – | Overlaps Adobe for non-designers. Decide who needs which. | Low | Validate |
Otter.ai + Fathom AI · Meetings | €119 | – | Two meeting note-takers running in parallel. Pick one. | High | Cut one |
Jasper AI · Writing | €99 | 5 / 2 | Duplicates ChatGPT for copy; little use. | Med | Validate |
| Identified | €1,890 | €990/mo High-confidence · €900/mo pending owner checks |
Conf. = confidence before owner validation · Seats p/a = paid / active-30d · reimbursed = expensed on a personal card
Needs owner validation
Four findings we will not act on until a named owner confirms. These gate the larger savings – deliberately, so nothing live gets cut by mistake.
- Two project-management tools – Monday and Asana – do you need both? Most teams standardise on one; consolidating recovers €270-384/mo. (ref: Monday, Asana)
- Jasper or ChatGPT for copywriting? Two AI writing tools overlap for the same work; Jasper sees little use. ~€99/mo. (ref: Jasper, ChatGPT)
- Canva across 30 seats on top of Adobe – who needs which? Fine for non-designers, wasteful if it doubles Adobe seats. up to €120/mo. (ref: Canva, Adobe)
- Three Midjourney subscriptions on personal cards – sanctioned or stray? Small individually, but ownerless and unmanaged. €144/mo. (ref: Midjourney)
The picture
Six of the twelve findings are AI tools – and most of that waste isn't a bad deal, it's scatter: ChatGPT and Jasper bought for the same copy, three Midjourney subs on personal cards, idle ChatGPT seats. But the biggest lines aren't AI at all – two project-management tools running side by side, overbought Adobe and Grammarly seats, and a Semrush subscription no one logs into.
This is the layer finance sees as line items but not as usage, and your teams see as logins but not as cost. Pulling both together is where the €1,890 surfaced. It also grows back – which is why most teams re-run a light check each quarter rather than once.
Scope & next step
What this is
- A first-pass read of redacted spend lines – vendor, amount, date, seats
- Findings ranked by confidence, with the exact owner checks that gate them
- Advice you can act on the same day for the High-confidence items
What it isn't
- Not contract renegotiation – these are cuts you control, not vendor deals
- Not based on admin access – no SSO, no card, no source files
- Not acted on for you – you (or we, if engaged) make the changes after owner sign-off
First-pass review is a flat fee, and the deal is simple: if the memo doesn't surface at least 3× the fee in cuttable spend, you don't pay for it.