Q1 2024 SaaS Category Benchmarks Report

Our 2023 SaaS Benchmarks Report uncovered that IT Infrastructure, Security, Operations, and Sales accounts for the largest portion of SaaS spend for the average company, making up 44.72% altogether. Therefore, building the right tech stack and maximizing every dollar spent is crucial, particularly as you think about scaling headcount and revenue efficiently.

Whether you’re planning to purchase new tools, considering renewals, or rightsizing your tech stack, it helps to know how other businesses are structuring their tech stacks. That means you need comprehensive, unbiased data on the subcategories companies are investing more or less in and what the top tools are.

This next iteration of the Benchmarks Report dives deeper into the IT Infrastructure, Security, Operations, and Sales tech stacks in Q1 across businesses of different sizes so you can benchmark your current tooling and create a data-driven strategy for future growth.

Tropic manages over $6B in spend across SaaS and other purchasing categories. This report analyzed over 58,000 active and new contracts to bring you the most up-to-date, comprehensive, and bias-free data in the market. Tropic doesn’t accept kickbacks from suppliers, so you can be sure this report brings you the most unbiased data in the market.

Initial Startup Phase

1-100
employees

Late Stage Startup

101-250
employees

High Growth Stage

251-1000
employees

Early Enterprise Phase

1001+
employees

IT Infrastructure

How the IT Infrastructure Tech Stack Changes as Companies Grow

Data Center Infrastructure Management tooling shows significant volatility throughout the growth stages of a company.

Tropic benchmarks report graph

Tropic Insights

  • No matter the growth stage, companies keep these five tools as top priorities in their IT Infrastructure tech stack:

    • Cloud-Based Integration, Data Monitoring, Hosting Provider, Data Integration, and Database Management

  • As companies mature from the startup phase to early enterprise:

    • They invest significantly more in: Database Software, Communications Platforms, Link Management, and Security Testing.

    • They invest less in: Service Desk, Productivity Bots, Cloud Platforms, Email Management, and Data Labeling.

  • Some tools, such as Security Training and Data Labeling, are present in the startup phase but drop off and don’t reappear in the IT Infrastructure stack until companies reach 251+ employees.

IT Infrastructure Tech Stack Distribution

The most popular IT Infrastructure categories in Q1 were Cloud-Based Integration, Data Monitoring, Data Integration, and Hosting Providers. 

Tropic benchmarks report graph

The top subcategories are based on active contracts within the Tropic platform for Q1 2024. The other subcategories make up the following portion of SaaS spend:

Tropic benchmarks report graph
  • 6.85%
    Database Software
  • 6.67%
    Service Desk
  • 6.62%
    Database Management
  • 6.07%
    ETL Tool
  • 4.92%
    Content Delivery Network
  • 3.66%
    Data Warehouse
  • 3.29%
    Productivity Bots
  • 2.63%
    Link Management
  • 2.32%
    Cloud Platform
  • 2.3%
    API Management
  • 6.65%
    Other

IT Infrastructure Insights: Popular Tools

These were the most popular IT Infrastructure tools within the top 10 subcategories:

Tropic benchmarks report chart

This data is an aggregate view of all customers purchases and is not broken down by business size.

"Snowflake is an industry leader in data warehousing and analytics. It is important to accurately estimate the capacity needed as they use a consumption-based pricing model. Over-committing will lead to unused credits at the end of the term. Snowflake will allow rollover of unused credits, but typically only if the renewal spend is the same or more than the past term. The recommended approach in low to no growth periods is to be conservative with capacity commitments to ensure the ability to roll over any unused credits. Snowflake allows midterm true-ups and early renewals in situations where usage is consumed earlier than the end of term."
Isabelle Farrell Headshot

Isabelle Farrell

Senior Commercial Executive, Tropic

Security

How the Security Tech Stack Changes as Companies Grow

The Security tech stack changes significantly in the startup phase and levels out around 251+ employees.

Tropic benchmarks report graph

Tropic Insights

  • No matter the growth stage, companies keep these seven tools as consistent priorities in their Security tech stack:

    • Access Management, Incident Management, Device Management, Cloud Security, Email Protection, Security Training, and Device Protection

  • Data Privacy software becomes increasingly more prominent as companies scale while Developer Security Platforms take a dip.

  • Fraud Prevention software doesn’t get introduced into the Security tech stack until companies reach 101+ employees.

Security Tech Stack Distribution

The most popular Security subcategories in Q1 were Password Management, Incident Management, Device Management, and Cloud Security.

The top subcategories are based on active contracts within the Tropic platform for Q1 2024. The other subcategories make up the following portion of SaaS spend:

Tropic benchmarks report graph
  • 6.52%
    Email Protection
  • 5.05%
    Compliance Management
  • 4.98%
    Security Training
  • 4.75%
    Data Privacy
  • 3.77%
    Device Protection
  • 3.21%
    Supplier Sec & Risk Mgt
  • 2.78%
    Security Testing
  • 2.46%
    Developer Security Platform
  • 2.19%
    Data Recovery
  • 1.35%
    Threat Intelligence
  • 0.77%
    Other

Security Insights: Popular Tools

These were the most popular Security tools within the top 10 subcategories:

Tropic benchmarks report chart

This data is an aggregate view of all active customer contracts and is not broken down by business size.

“DataDog can accommodate seasonal fluctuations and growth, making it suitable for handling usage spikes. However, it is important to review and analyze usage reports to detect any patterns of over or under-usage. In situations where forecasting usage is challenging, the recommended approach is to commit conservatively and increase commitments mid-term if on-demand charges regularly occur. DataDog typically allows adjustments up to 2 times per year.”
Derek Degroot headshot

Derek DeGroot

Senior Commercial Executive, Tropic

OPERATIONS

How the Operations Tech Stack Changes as Companies Grow

The Operations tech stack varies massively throughout the entire growth journey based on specific company needs.

Tropic benchmarks report graph

Tropic Insights

  • Companies should expect the most volatility in the Operations tech stack as they prepare to scale.

  • As companies mature from the startup phase to early enterprise:

    • They invest more in: Office Management, Experience Management, Asset Tracking, Digital Adoption, Translation Platforms, and Online Event Hosting

    • They invest less in: Email Management, Distribution Software, and Content Management

Operations Tech Stack Distribution

The most popular Operations subcategories in Q1 were Office Suites, Document Management, Cloud-based Document Storage, and Process Automation.

Tropic benchmarks report graph

The top subcategories are based on active contracts within the Tropic platform for Q1 2024.
The other subcategories make up the following portion of SaaS spend:

Tropic benchmarks report graph
  • 6.6%
    Learning Management
  • 6.19%
    Writing Assistance
  • 4.17%
    Calendar Scheduling
  • 3.56%
    Experience Management
  • 3.4%
    Office Management
  • 2.85%
    Knowledge Management
  • 1.13%
    Email Management
  • 0.95%
    Translation Platform
  • 0.87%
    Spending Management
  • 0.67%
    Project Management
  • 3.02%
    Other

Operations Insights: Popular Tools

These were the most popular Operations tools within the top 10 subcategories:

Tropic benchmarks report chart

This data is an aggregate view of all active customer contracts and is not broken down by business size.

“Considering Google's significant market standing as the fourth-largest entity by market capitalization on the NYSE, negotiating directly with them for Google Workspace renewals can be challenging. For the most favorable pricing, it's prudent to partner with one of their reseller counterparts. These partners not only provide added support but also yield more substantial cost reductions than negotiating with Google independently. It's essential to meticulously review usage forecasts, as annual commitments typically restrict usage reductions beyond the initial agreement. Moreover, Google's proactive promotion of its Gemini AI tool (Formerly Duet AI) presents ample opportunities for cost savings”
Tyler Jackson headshot

Tyler Jackson

Commercial Executive, Tropic

SALES

How the Sales Tech Stack Changes
as Companies Grow

The Sales tech stack stays relatively consistent across the size of your business.

Tropic benchmarks report graph

Tropic Insights

  • Companies can expect limited change in the Sales category as they prepare to scale.

  • Regardless of growth stage, companies keep these four tools as consistent priorities in their Sales tech stack: Customer Relationship Management, Sales Intelligence, Lead Generation, and Partnership Management

  • As companies mature from high-growth to early enterprise:

    • They invest more in: Sales Enablement and Quote Management

    • They invest less in: Sales Engagement and Unified Communications

Sales Tech Stack Distribution

The most popular Sales subcategories in Q1 were Customer Relationship Management, Sales Intelligence, Lead Generation, and Sales Engagement.

Tropic benchmarks report graph

The top subcategories are based on active contracts within the Tropic platform for Q1 2024.The other subcategories make up the following portion of SaaS spend:

Tropic benchmarks report graph
  • 8.4%
    Sales Enablement
  • 4.26%
    Lead Management
  • 3.93%
    Conversation Recording
  • 2.6%
    Partnership Management
  • 1.75%
    Unified Communications
  • 1.47%
    Quote Management

Tropic Insights

  • The top two tools (Customer Relationship Management and Sales Intelligence) account for over half of the entire Sales tech stack.

  • While IT Infrastructure, Security, and Operations show far less variation across subcategory breakdowns, the Sales tech stack has a larger distribution from 25.86% to just 1.47%

Sales Insights: Popular Tools

These were the most popular Sales tools within the top 10 subcategories:

Tropic benchmarks report chart

This data is an aggregate view of all active customer contracts and is not broken down by business size.

“The leader in CRM software continues to be Salesforce by a large margin. Inflation has impacted Salesforce’s rates over the last 16 months. Knowing that competitive pressure is rarely a legitimate threat from their customers given the stickiness of their product, Salesforce has passed along uplifts in prices to a customer base incapable of or uninterested in taking their business elsewhere. Salesforce’s recommendation has been to counteract that uplift with organic growth in the contract. Our recommendation is to negotiate down the uplift or use product add-ons, strict budgets, and leadership escalation to waive it entirely.”

Zach Wolf

Group Manager,Tropic

Methodology

Tropic’s Q1 2024 SaaS Category Benchmarks Report is based on aggregated, proprietary data from Tropic users. We analyzed over 58,000 total contracts and 8,500 contracts created between January 1, 2024 and March 25, 2024 to identify Q1 trends.

Suppliers may appear in multiple categories based on their goods or services offered.

Sample sizes for the 1-100 and 1,001+ company size cohorts are less statistically significant and therefore could lead to volatile findings. A large portion of Tropic customers fall in the 100-1,000 cohort, and companies with over 2,000 employees often have custom deals and complex tech stacks, so this report mostly includes companies in the 50 - 2,000+ range.

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