Software Buying Statistics 2026

Worldwide IT spending is expected to reach $6.37 trillion in 2026, up 14.2% from 2025, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.

Software 1,271 13.9 1,468 15.5

Median SaaS spend per employee is $9,455, as rising AI adoption continues to influence SaaS economics.

81% of Australian businesses plan to increase software spending by 5–15% in the next year.

Preference for outcome-based pricing more than doubled in a single year, from 11% to 23%.

Looking ahead five years, 95% of senior leaders whose organization is investing in AI project that their organization's relationship with traditional software vendors will change, and 82% anticipate that the traditional enterprise per-seat Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) pricing model will become less relevant in their industry.

Bain/KLAS's annual survey of 303 US healthcare executives finds that nearly 95% of providers and payers alike rank software and digital technology among their top five strategic priorities, and most expect to increase spending.

Half of B2B software buyers (51%) now start their research with an AI chatbot more often than with Google.

71% rely on AI chatbots at some point in their research process.

Over half (53%) of buyers say research done with AI chatbots is more productive than traditional search, up from 36% just seven months ago.

Simply being mentioned by an AI chatbot carries real weight; 85% of buyers think more highly of a vendor when AI includes them in an answer.

82% of B2B software buyers sourced software recommendations from an AI chatbot in the last two years.

A survey of 646 B2B buyers conducted from August through September 2025 found the shift is already underway, with 45% reporting they used AI during a recent purchase.

The report found that 63% of buyers used AI during their purchase journey, making AI one of the fastest-growing research resources.

94% of buyers who used AI said they fact-check its responses at least some of the time, underscoring that AI is accelerating research and not replacing critical evaluation.

74% of buyers use reviews to inform their purchase decisions.

Analyst reports were only used by 13% of buyers to make their purchase decisions, a 63% decrease since 2022.

Seek expert and peer input over GenAI User reviews and software comparison sites are top resources for successful buyers, with 51% relying on them during their research to help them filter options and make informed decisions.

Buyers want to engage on their own terms as 67% of B2B buyers state that they prefer a rep-free experience, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.

While chief sales officers (CSOs) look for ways to enhance the quality of engagement with their buyers, 61% of B2B buyers prefer an overall rep-free buying experience, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.

Although many organizations have increased investment in outreach to reach hard-to-access buyers, 73% of B2B buyers actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach.

In fact, 69% of B2B buyers report inconsistencies between information on the sales organization’s website and that provided by sellers.

More than 60% of business buyers now make use of a trial — ranging from paid bespoke sandboxes to usage-based trial periods — to evaluate potential solutions.

This trend is even more pronounced for larger investments, with 78% of buyers who make purchases of $10 million or more engaging in a trial first.

IT security review is the single biggest source of delay after a vendor is selected, cited by 39% of buyers, rising to 50% among enterprise buyers.

83% of buyers shortlisted 3 or fewer products.

The typical buying decision now includes 13 internal stakeholders and nine external influencers, with that number rising for more complex or strategic purchases.

Although large buying groups may seem challenging, 94% of buyers with groups of six or more report clear benefits, including broader perspectives, shared effort in validating solutions, better ability to secure budget, and greater likelihood of approval.

Procurement professionals are decision-makers in 53% of business buying cycles, engaging from the start of the process.

49% say a CFO vetoed an already-approved software purchase in the last 12 months.

Business units now control 81% of SaaS spend, while IT directly manages just 15%, reducing centralized oversight at a time of increasing pricing volatility.

Coupa's recent survey of 600 CFOs , 42% cited siloed spend data across ERPs as a top challenge, even as 65% plan to lean on data-based sourcing insights to improve margins in 2026.

In fact, about three-quarters (76%) of senior leaders whose organization is investing in AI say that "off-the-shelf" software solutions no longer meet their organization's specific needs.

This view is deeply embedded across the business landscape, with 87% of senior leaders whose organization is investing in AI saying they have either fully deployed or are piloting programs to develop in-house, AI-built software for internal organizational use.

This was the majority view across six of the seven markets surveyed where two in three (68%) businesses said off-the-shelf AI doesn't adequately address their industry's needs.

Capterra’s 2026 Software Buying Trends Report , based on survey responses from 281 Australian decision-makers, reveals that under one-third (30%) of local companies are successful software adopters, while the majority face setbacks that impact budgets and productivity.

Successful adopters are less likely to increase their software budgets than disappointed buyers (74% vs 89%), suggesting that making the right choice the first time can help control costs and prevent unnecessary replacements.

Just over half of successful adopters in Australia create a formal implementation plan, compared to only 31% of disappointed buyers, helping them avoid common pitfalls among disappointed buyers, such as data migration problems (41%), delays (40%), and budget overruns (36%).

AI chatbots are now the top source influencing buyer shortlists, ahead of review sites, analyst firms, and vendor websites — and 69% of buyers chose a different vendor than initially planned, simply because it was part of the chatbot’s recommendation.

Nearly 80% of acute provider organizations surveyed, for example, believe GenAI advances will increase their switching costs or have no impact.

Audit activity remains high and costly: Nearly half (48%) were audited in the last year and only slightly less (44%) report spending over $1 million on software audits over the past three years, a figure that has stayed stagnant for the past three reports.

Measured against industry-recommended utilization levels, organizations leave an average of 36% of their SaaS licenses unused, compounding cost pressure as AI-driven pricing expands.

In the last 12 months, 78% of IT leaders reported unexpected charges tied to consumption-based or AI pricing models, and 61% were forced to cut projects due to unplanned SaaS cost increases, according to a survey of 218 IT leaders.

In the last 12 months, 78% of IT leaders reported unexpected charges tied to consumption-based or AI pricing models, and 61% were forced to cut projects due to unplanned SaaS cost increases, according to a survey of 218 IT leaders.

INDIANAPOLIS, September 23, 2026 — New data from Zylo , the enterprise leader in SaaS and AI spend optimization, shows spending on AI-native software like ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor surged 334% year over year, while spending on SaaS applications with AI functionality jumped 143%.

While nearly half of organizations are already tracking AI as part of their software spend, only one third (31%) reported having accurate visibility into AI software.

At the same time, 59% of respondents say wasted AI spend has increased year over year

Alongside this shift, the report shows cloud-based AI workloads are surging, causing an increase in wasted cloud spend (29%) for the first time in five years.

The ongoing struggle with visibility and complexity : 85% of IT leaders say gaps in IT visibility pose a risk to their organization, and 58% have encountered issues due to unsanctioned SaaS usage.

Although the proportion of enterprises with internet access was at similar near saturation levels in most EU countries, more than half (52.74%) reported that they used paid cloud computing services, with an increase of 7.42 percentage points (pp) compared with 2023 (see Figure 1).

Of the EU enterprises using paid cloud computing services, the majority (96.44%) purchased at least one cloud Software as a Service (SaaS), i.e. at least one of e-mail, office software, finance or accounting software applications, ERP, CRM or security software applications as a cloud service (Figure 5).

Among small businesses, the share of enterprises using paid cloud computing services increased in the same time period by 7.48 pp to 49.3% (Figure 3).

Most importantly, via the cloud, enterprises have access to relatively more sophisticated end customer software applications, for finances/accounting (58.16%), for planning their processes and resources (enterprise resource planning - ERP) (30.12%) and for managing information about their customers (customer relationship management – CRM) (27.91%).

In 2025, 19.95% of enterprises in the EU, with 10 or more employees and self-employed persons, used at least one of the following AI: