The SaaS Spend Index (Q3 2026)

The SaaS Spend Index tracks what companies actually pay for software, measured from real, anonymized company payments on Cledara — not list prices or surveys. As of 23 July 2026, 12:44 UTC, the typical company runs 32 paid tools. Reported separately for UK (GBP), EEA (EUR) and US (USD) buyers, with no currency conversion. Data as of 23 July 2026, 12:44 UTC.

The SaaS Spend Index — UK

As of 23 July 2026, 12:44 UTC, UK companies' median software spend is up 19% versus a year ago.

Median per-company software spend, indexed to 100 at Jul 2020. Headline values are a trailing 3-month rolling median; months with incomplete data coverage are excluded and shown as gaps.

MonthSpend index (100 = baseline)
Jul 20241523
Aug 20241537
Sep 20241523
Oct 20241441
Nov 20241406
Dec 20241441
Jan 20251444
Feb 20251444
Mar 20251398
Apr 20251387
May 20251345
Jun 20251345
Jul 20251345
Aug 20251362
Sep 20251445
Oct 20251464
Nov 20251464
Dec 20251480
Jan 20261510
Feb 20261601
Mar 20261602
Apr 20261615
May 20261677
Jun 20261677

How much companies spend on software

Half of UK companies spend between £23k and £149k a year on software, with a median of £71k.

Annual software spendP25MedianP75
Per-company spend£23k£71k£149k

The typical UK company runs 32 paid tools (17–47 for the middle half).

Categories with the fastest-rising spend

CategoryP25Median /monthP75YoY
AI Platforms & Model Ops£0k£1k£2kup 245%
Engineering & DevOps£0k£1k£2kup 33%
IT & Security£0k£0k£1kup 27%
Legal, Risk & Compliance£0k£0k£0kup 18%
Collaboration & Productivity£1k£2k£4kup 12%
Sales & Revenue£0k£0k£1kup 3%
Data & Analytics£0k£0k£1kup 2%
Marketing & Growth£0k£1k£2kup 1%
Finance & Accounting£0k£0k£1kdown 1%
Customer Success & Support£0k£0k£1kdown 11%
People Ops & Talent£0k£0k£1kdown 13%
Operations & Supply Chain£0k£0k£0kdown 25%

The shift to usage-based billing

As of 23 July 2026, 12:44 UTC, 66% of software payments follow a usage-based billing cadence.

MonthUsage-based share of software payments
Jul 202559%
Aug 202558%
Sep 202559%
Oct 202560%
Nov 202560%
Dec 202560%
Jan 202663%
Feb 202665%
Mar 202668%
Apr 202668%
May 202667%
Jun 202666%

Methodology

Source: real, anonymized company payments made through Cledara — not surveys, list prices or estimates. "Spend" means the actual payment amounts companies made for their software subscriptions.

Currencies are never converted or blended. UK buyers are reported in GBP, EEA buyers in EUR and US buyers in USD, so each figure is a true single-currency measurement rather than an FX-blended estimate.

Every figure aggregates at least 20 companies, and we publish only the 25th percentile, the median and the 75th percentile — never averages, extreme percentiles, or any individual company's data.

Coverage gate: a month enters the index only when its transaction data covers at least 90% of calendar days, including the first and last days of the month. Months with incomplete coverage are excluded entirely and appear as gaps in the chart — the line is never interpolated across missing months.

Smoothing: the headline index line is a trailing 3-month rolling median of the monthly figures, which damps single-month noise. The raw monthly values are shown as a faint underlay so nothing is hidden.

We do not claim to measure vendor list prices, and no individual company is ever identifiable in any figure on this page.

Frequently asked questions

How much do companies spend on software in 2026?

The median company on Cledara pays £71k a year across 32 tools (UK, GBP), based on real payments as of 23 July 2026, 12:44 UTC. Figures are reported separately for GBP, EUR and USD with no currency conversion.

Is software spend going up or down?

Median per-company software spend is up 19% versus a year ago among UK companies (GBP). The fastest-rising category is AI Platforms & Model Ops at up 245% YoY.

Where does this spend data come from?

From real, anonymized payment data from companies that run their software spend through Cledara. It measures what businesses actually pay — not vendor list prices, surveys or estimates. Individual companies are never identifiable.

Why are UK, EEA and US spend shown separately?

Because they are paid in GBP, EUR and USD. We never convert between currencies, so each figure is a true single-currency measurement rather than an FX-blended estimate.

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