Agency technology and software statistics (2026)
Companies spent an average of $4,830 per employee on SaaS in 2025, and 34% of digital agencies have implemented AI across their business. This page collects agency technology statistics on software spend, app counts, unused licenses, manual work and AI adoption, with the source and data year for each figure.
Key Takeaways
- •Average SaaS spend reached $4,830 per employee in Zylo’s 2025 index, up 21.9% year over year.
- •Companies averaged 106 SaaS apps in BetterCloud’s 2025 report, down from 112 in 2023.
- •Zylo’s 2026 index says 36% of SaaS licenses go unused, while 78% of IT leaders saw unexpected SaaS charges in the last 12 months.
- •BetterCloud found 60% of IT teams have too much manual work and 70% prefer unified platforms over disconnected point solutions.
- •Promethean says 34% of agencies have already implemented AI across the business and another 28% are implementing it now.
Table of contents
SaaS spend and app sprawl
Software is now a cost line worth reviewing every quarter. SaaS-management vendors Zylo and BetterCloud publish the most detailed public data on spend, app counts and waste. Their data covers companies in general, not agencies.
| Stack benchmark | Current level | Trend / context |
|---|---|---|
| Avg. SaaS spend per employee | $4,830 | Up 21.9% year over year (Zylo 2025 index, $40B of SaaS spend analyzed) |
| Avg. SaaS apps per company | 106 | Down from 112 in 2023 (BetterCloud 2025, about 600 IT professionals) |
| Unused SaaS licenses | 36% | Against recommended utilization levels (Zylo 2026 index, 40M+ licenses) |
| IT leaders hit with unexpected SaaS charges | 78% | Tied to consumption-based or AI pricing, last 12 months (Zylo 2026, 218 IT leaders) |
| Cut projects due to unplanned SaaS cost | 61% | Zylo 2026 survey of 218 IT leaders |
Sources: Zylo 2025 SaaS Management Index; Zylo 2026 SaaS Management Index; BetterCloud 2025 State of SaaS Trends.
$4,830
Zylo says average SaaS spend reached $4,830 per employee in 2025.
Up 21.9% year over year, based on the $40 billion of SaaS spend Zylo’s platform manages. For a 15-person agency, $4,830 per head is about $72,000 a year. Promethean’s 2023 tools survey put agency tool spend at 3.7% of revenue. Zylo’s 2026 index reports a median of $9,455 per employee; it is a median from a larger, different data set ($75 billion of spend), so do not read the two figures as a one-year jump.
Source: Zylo, 2025 SaaS Management Index
106 apps
BetterCloud reports the average company still runs 106 SaaS apps.
Down from 112 in 2023. BetterCloud notes the pace of consolidation slowed from 14% to 5% year over year.
36%
Zylo says organizations leave 36% of SaaS licenses unused against recommended utilization levels.
Unused seats are the easiest software saving to find. Check seat counts against active users before every renewal.
Source: Zylo, 2026 SaaS Management Index
78% / 61%
Unexpected SaaS charges are now common enough to disrupt operating plans.
Zylo says 78% of IT leaders saw unexpected charges tied to consumption-based or AI pricing in the last 12 months, and 61% had to cut projects because of unplanned SaaS cost increases. Usage-priced AI tools need a monthly budget cap.
Source: Zylo, 2026 SaaS Management Index
AgencyPro’s reading: put one person in charge of software renewals and review seats and usage quarterly. A one-off cleanup does not hold.
Manual work and platform consolidation
More tools often means more manual work moving data between them. BetterCloud’s IT survey and Gartner’s spending forecast show both sides of that trade-off.
60%
BetterCloud found 60% of IT teams have too much manual work.
In an agency, the same problem shows up as status chasing, duplicate data entry and manual invoicing. Automation pays off when it removes a recurring task, not when it adds another tool.
51% / 70%
More than half say point solutions are harder to manage, and 70% prefer a unified platform.
BetterCloud asked IT teams about SaaS management tools specifically: 51% find point solutions harder than an all-in-one platform, and 70% prefer a unified platform. The same logic applies to agency operations stacks.
14.7%
Gartner expects worldwide software spending to grow 14.7% in 2026.
Gartner revised this down slightly from 15.2%, with total software spending above $1.4 trillion. Software prices and budgets are both still rising.
Source: Gartner, Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (February 3, 2026)
95%
BetterCloud says 95% of companies have already made investments in AI use cases.
AI tools now arrive in the stack faster than most teams review them. Add them to the same renewal and seat review as everything else.
AgencyPro’s reading: if your team copies data between tools every week, count those hours. At a $50 internal cost per hour, 5 hours a week is $13,000 a year, which is the budget for a better-connected system.
Agency AI adoption
Agency-specific AI data is limited. Promethean Research’s 2026 survey is the main agency source; McKinsey and Asana add context on how clients and knowledge workers use AI and tools.
| AI adoption stage | Digital agencies | Cross-industry enterprise |
|---|---|---|
| Already implemented across the business | 34% | 78% use AI in at least one function |
| Currently implementing | 28% | 71% regularly use gen AI |
| Companies investing in AI use cases | Not measured | 95% (BetterCloud) |
Sources: Promethean Research, 2026 State of Digital Services FAQ; McKinsey, The State of AI 2025; BetterCloud 2025 State of SaaS Trends.
34% / 28%
Promethean says 34% of agencies have implemented AI across the business and 28% are implementing it now.
From Promethean’s February 2026 survey of 119 agency leaders. It measures implementation across eight functions, including coding, design, copywriting, project management and sales.
78%
McKinsey says 78% of organizations used AI in at least one business function, up from 72% in early 2024.
From a July 2024 survey of 1,491 participants, published March 2025. Your clients use AI too, so agencies need to sell judgment and quality control rather than tool access.
71%
McKinsey also says 71% of organizations regularly used gen AI in at least one function, up from 65%.
Regular use means clients can produce first drafts in-house. Agency value moves toward strategy, editing and integration.
58% / 10 apps
Asana says knowledge workers spend 58% of their day on “work about work” such as status updates and searching for information, and director-level employees use 10 apps a day on average.
From a survey of more than 9,600 knowledge workers in six countries. It is not agency-only data and it comes from a work-management vendor, but coordination overhead is the main cost a connected agency stack should cut.
AgencyPro’s reading: most agencies now use AI somewhere. The useful question is whether it shortens delivery or just adds another subscription. Measure hours per deliverable before and after.
Methodology notes
- •AgencyPro did not survey agencies for this page and has no original technology data of its own. Every figure is secondary: it summarizes published third-party research and links each figure to its source. Paragraphs marked “AgencyPro’s reading” are AgencyPro commentary.
- •Only the Promethean Research figures are agency-specific (2026 State of Digital Services, 119 agency leaders, February 2026). Zylo, BetterCloud, Gartner, McKinsey and Asana figures cover companies in general and are labeled as context.
- •Zylo and BetterCloud sell SaaS-management software and Asana sells work-management software. Their reports are widely cited but come from vendors with an interest in the findings.
- •Populations and samples: Zylo’s 2025 index analyzes $40 billion of SaaS spend under its management and its 2026 index $75 billion and 40 million+ licenses, plus a survey of 218 IT leaders; BetterCloud surveyed about 600 IT professionals (published April 2025); McKinsey surveyed 1,491 participants in July 2024; Asana surveyed 9,600+ knowledge workers in six countries; Gartner’s figure is a spending forecast, not a survey.
- •The Asana figure of 10 apps a day for director-level employees is shown on Asana’s Anatomy of Work 2023 report page (asana.com/resources/anatomy-of-work); the 58% figure is from the same survey’s press release.
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