The SaaS slowdown: why subscription growth is stalling in 2025-2026
For more than a decade, SaaS felt unstoppable. Subscription software became the default business model for startups and enterprises alike. Investors rewarded recurring revenue with premium valuations, CFOs accepted rising software costs as the price of digitisation, and companies enthusiastically added new tools every year.But something changed between 2023 and 2025: the foundation beneath the SaaS model began to shift. Growth rates slowed. Renewal cycles tightened. CFOs started auditing every tool. And for the first time in years, the number of SaaS applications in use at the average company began to decline.Below, we explore the key drivers behind…