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Ask HN: What's your total monthly SaaS spend? What products are you using?

49 points by tanmaydesai89 ↗ HN
Recently I was looking at how much we spend on SaaS, and it made me wonder -

For those who don't mind sharing, what's your total monthly SaaS spend? Where?

Here're some SaaS expenses that I can share off the top of my head: (amount in USD)

- Video Calling/Screensharing: 60

- Internal Docs: 80 (docs, spreadsheet)

- Emails: 60

- Team Communications: 60

- Customer Success: 90

- Survey/Feedback: 35

- Calendar Scheduling: 30

- CRM: 90

- Email Client: 60

- Lead Enhancement: 50 (get more details about given email/domain)

- Accounting: 70

- Private Beta Launch: 75

- Project Management: Free

- Analytics: Free

Total -> ~750 USD

+ PLUS Few hundred dollars every month, while testing out a few SaaS, that requires credit card upfront, which you forget to cancel. (Q2 - Does this happen to you often?)

PS. • This does not include tech expenses. I'll sync up with our tech team and update soon.

18 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 44.1 ms ] thread
softwarefounder
- JIRA

- Figma

- GSuite (Business)

- SendGrid

- JetBrains

- Jamf (*Free)

- Bitbucket

- AWS (hosting infra)

tanmaydesai89
Thank you for sharing this. I have a follow-up question:

Q - What products do you use for sales & marketing?

codingdave
This data would be easier to put into context if anyone who replies also includes the number of employees that are supported by their SaaS budget.
tanmaydesai89
Completely agree with you. I'm trying to ask this in a follow-up question if one is comfortable.

We're a 10 people team.

chupa-chups
- JIRA

- GSuite

- Bitbucket

- Azure (cancelled, running for another 2 months)

- AWS

- JetBrains

- JFrog

This is obviously per person, so count yourself :)

tanmaydesai89
Thank you for sharing this. I have 1 follow-up question:

Q - What products do you use for sales & marketing?

johnmarcus
Yup, about the same amount for about the same set of tools.
tanmaydesai89
Thanks for sharing. How do you manage SaaS expenses? human/sheet/accounting s/w?
johnmarcus
accounting software is used for formal bookkeeping, but i don't think it categorizes in this way.

good'ol spreadsheet is how we keep track of them. the spreadsheet also allows input for the terms/renewal period, purpose, and whom owns the relationship.

There probably is a small product to be created here, but im not sure people would pay for it in itself, maybe as a bonus feature with something of more utility.

tanmaydesai89
Thanks for the info! The spreadsheet is a way to go!
aidanlister
We spend ~$7k/month on SaaS relating to employees.

  Google 20.90
  Travis C 1,494.96
  InVision 150.73
  Base CRM 452.46
  1password 209.78
  Rsync.net 15.27
  Abstract 50.91
  Adobe 79.29
  Balsamiq 12.40
  StatusPage.io 44.38
  Github 10.68
  Balsamiq 0.00
  Zendesk 904.57
  Chart.io 303.21
  Github 157.42
  Hubspot 1,536.15
  Google - GSuite 373.68
  Intercom 155.60
  Xero 141.25
  Browserling 28.98
  Microsoft 26.40
  Slack 337.40
  Open Test 15.30
  Atlassian 628.60
  BuildKite 46.30
We spend a further $8k/month on SaaS relating to customer hosting, eg SaaS subscriptions like SendGrid but not including AWS spend.
tanmaydesai89
Thank you for sharing this. I've 2 follow-up questions:

Q1 - I see some overlapping as well? ie. Base vs Hubspot? Is it the case or false assumption? Q2 - (If you're comfortable) How big is the team?

orky56
-Heroku (36)

-Constant Contact (60)

-Github (Free)

-Box (10)

-Asana (Free)

-CRM (built in-house)

-Accounting (built in-house)

~50 employees ~1mm ARR

tanmaydesai89
Impressive! I've 2 follow-up questions for you?

Q1 - Why not go for SaaS products available in the market for accounting and CRM? (really curious)

Q2 - how much time and energy was spent building in-house CRM/accounting? and is it worth?

cm2012
Around $1000 per month and the best money I spend.
tanmaydesai89
Thank you for sharing. I've 2 follow-up questions:

Q1 - (If you don't mind sharing) how many people does $1K supports? Q2 - how do you manage SaaS expense? human/sheet/accounting s/w?