AI agents and the end of per-seat software.

For twenty years, enterprise software has been priced by the seat. More staff meant more licences. AI agents break that link. When an agent qualifies leads, resolves tickets or chases invoices, the work grows without the headcount, and the logic of paying per person starts to fail.

What are the analysts saying?

In July 2026, Gartner said USD 234 billion of enterprise application spend, roughly 20% of enterprise SaaS spending by 2030, is at risk from what it calls agentic arbitrage: agents completing tasks across systems, so people need fewer software screens. Gartner's George Brocklehurst put it plainly. Agentic AI “breaks the link between user growth and revenue growth.”

Deloitte, citing Gartner, expects at least 40% of enterprise SaaS spend to shift toward usage-based, agent-based or outcome-based pricing by 2030. The software does not disappear. It changes shape, and so does the invoice.

What does this mean for your software budget?

Three things change. The question at renewal moves from how many users to how much work the tool did. Overlapping tools get harder to justify when one agent can work across them. And the platform that holds your customer context becomes more valuable, not less.

Is HubSpot moving this way?

Yes. HubSpot's agents run on HubSpot Credits, bought in packs or pay as you go, which HubSpot describes as “pay when work gets done” (HubSpot). Seats remain for people, and agent work is metered separately. That is a sensible model to plan with: licences for the team, credits for the agents. See how HubSpot Credits work.

What are the risks?

Usage pricing can surprise you. Without a cap and a monthly report, a busy agent becomes an unplanned bill. Outcome pricing needs tight definitions: Deloitte notes that vendors and customers must agree what counts as an agent, a task and an outcome. Write those into the contract before you sign.

Should you cut seats now?

Not yet. Cut seats where the work has already moved to an agent and the numbers show it. Everywhere else, consolidate first. Fewer platforms sharing one customer record will do more for agent performance than any licence saving.

What should you ask your vendors?

Four questions belong in every renewal conversation this year. How is agent work priced, and how is it capped? What happens to our seat count as agents take on tasks? Can the agents work across our other systems, or only inside yours? And who owns the customer context and history the agents build up over time? The last question matters most. Gartner advises CIOs to capture and retain customer-specific knowledge, not just raw data. If that knowledge sits in a tool you are about to retire, it leaves with the tool. Choose the platform you want to keep it in, and make that the centre of your estate. For most of our clients, that platform is HubSpot, and licences can be bought through Azend.

What to do on Monday.

1. Ask finance for every software contract, its renewal date and what it is priced on.
2. Flag the tools whose main users do work an agent could take on.
3. Name the one platform that holds your customer context, and plan consolidation around it.
4. Set a monthly usage cap and report for every agent you run.
5. Add outcome definitions to the next renewal you negotiate.