The Small Business SaaS Trap
Small businesses often end up paying for more software than they use. A team of 5 can easily spend €3,000–5,000 per year on SaaS subscriptions. Many of these tools overlap, some go unused after the first month, and pricing that seemed cheap per seat adds up fast.
Principles for a Lean Stack
One tool per function. Define what each tool must do, then find the best single tool for it. Avoid paying for two tools that do the same thing. Prefer tools with generous free tiers or flat pricing over per-seat pricing when your team is growing.
Core Stack for a 5-Person Team (Lean Options)
Communication: Slack Free or Discord (free). Project management: Linear ($8/seat) or Notion ($8/seat). Design: Figma Free (3 files) or Figma Pro ($15/seat). Video: Zoom Free (40-min meetings) or Google Meet (free with Workspace). Email: Google Workspace ($6/seat/month). Storage: Google Drive (included with Workspace). Version control: GitHub Free or €4/seat/month.
Centralise Payment Methods
Put all business subscriptions on a single company card. This makes it easy to track, audit, and cancel. It also protects personal cards from business charge creep.
Assign Subscription Ownership
Each subscription should have a named owner in your team — someone responsible for evaluating its value and deciding whether to renew. Subscriptions with no owner tend to auto-renew forever.
Quarterly Business Subscription Review
Every quarter, review your full subscription list as a team. Ask: Is every tool still being used? Is the pricing tier appropriate for actual usage? Are there cheaper alternatives that have emerged? Are there subscriptions from departed employees that were never cancelled?