Enterprise Software Spending in the US reached $751.3 billion in business software investment in 2025, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, up 9.5% from 2024, while Gartner forecasts worldwide software spending of $1.47 trillion in 2026 (up 15.5%) inside a record $6.37 trillion IT market. Zylo’s 2026 index puts the average organization’s SaaS bill at $55.7 million a year, or $9,455 per employee at the median, with business units controlling 81% of that spend.
Enterprise Software Spending in America 2026 – Introduction
Enterprise Software Spending in the US is measured in two ways. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) counts private business investment in software, including packaged, custom and in-house code. Industry analysts such as Gartner and Zylo track what organizations pay vendors for licenses, subscriptions and cloud services. The two views move in the same direction, but they do not match dollar for dollar.
This report uses BEA data for the US total, Gartner’s July 2026 forecast for the worldwide software and IT picture, and Zylo’s 2026 SaaS Management Index and Vertice transaction data for SaaS costs. Gartner’s release covers the world, not the United States alone, so the tables label each scope. Every table lists its source, and calculations are marked as report calculations.
Interesting Facts About Enterprise Software Spending in the US 2026
WORLDWIDE IT SPENDING BY SEGMENT, 2026 FORECAST (BILLIONS USD)
IT services ████████████████████████████████████████ 1,570
Software █████████████████████████████████████░░░ 1,468
Communications ██████████████████████████████████░░░░░░ 1,354
Devices ██████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 868
Data center systems █████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 822
IaaS (cloud) ███████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 287
| Metric | Latest Data Point |
|---|---|
| US private software investment, 2025 (BEA) | $751.3 billion |
| Growth, 2025 vs 2024 (BEA) | +9.5% |
| Worldwide IT spending, 2026 forecast (Gartner) | $6.37 trillion (+14.2%) |
| Worldwide software spending, 2026 forecast | $1.47 trillion (+15.5%) |
| Worldwide IaaS spending, 2026 forecast | $287 billion (+29.3%) |
| Worldwide AI spending, 2026 forecast | $2.59 trillion (+47%) |
| Average annual SaaS spend per organization (Zylo) | $55.7 million (+8%) |
| Median SaaS spend per employee (Zylo) | $9,455 |
| Average SaaS apps per organization (Zylo) | 305 |
| Share of SaaS spend controlled by business units | 81% |
| AI-native SaaS spend growth (Zylo) | +108% |
Data source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (updated 30 September 2026); Gartner, Inc. (27 July 2026 and May 2026 forecasts); Zylo 2026 SaaS Management Index (29 January 2026).
BEA’s September 2026 update puts private software investment at $751.3 billion for 2025, a 9.5% gain over 2024. Gartner’s worldwide numbers dwarf that figure because they include every country and count vendor revenue, not just investment. Software, at $1.47 trillion, is the second-largest of Gartner’s six segments, behind IT services at $1.57 trillion.
The SaaS rows show the cost side. The average organization in Zylo’s index pays $55.7 million a year for 305 applications, and the median employee costs $9,455 in SaaS. Business units control 81% of that spend. Gartner’s AI forecast of $2.59 trillion counts hardware, software and services together, so do not compare it directly with the software line. These rows frame Enterprise Software Spending in the US as both a macro trend and a line-item fight.
US Software Investment 2026: BEA Data From 2021 to 2025
US PRIVATE FIXED INVESTMENT IN SOFTWARE (BILLIONS USD)
2021 ████████████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░ 533.1
2022 ████████████████████████████████░░░░░░░░ 601.0
2023 ██████████████████████████████████░░░░░░ 638.0
2024 ████████████████████████████████████░░░░ 686.0
2025 ████████████████████████████████████████ 751.3
| Year | Software Investment | Change vs Prior Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $533.1 billion | Not applicable |
| 2022 | $601.0 billion | +12.7% |
| 2023 | $638.0 billion | +6.1% |
| 2024 | $686.0 billion | +7.5% |
| 2025 | $751.3 billion | +9.5% |
Data source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, private fixed investment in nonresidential software, annual, current dollars, retrieved from FRED (updated 30 September 2026). Year-over-year changes are report calculations.
Private software investment grew from $533.1 billion in 2021 to $751.3 billion in 2025, a gain of $218.2 billion, or 40.9% (report calculation). Growth peaked at 12.7% in 2022, slowed to 6.1% in 2023 and accelerated again to 9.5% in 2025. The series covers packaged software, custom software and software built in-house by private businesses and nonprofits.
BEA’s annual update trimmed the earlier numbers. The 2025 figure fell from $754.8 billion in the March vintage to $751.3 billion, and 2024 fell from $693.0 billion to $686.0 billion. BEA’s advance second-quarter 2026 estimate showed investment in intellectual property products, which includes software, up 8.8%, and real GDP grew 2.2% in the third estimate. That pace points to another year of strong Enterprise Software Spending in the US, though BEA has not yet published 2026 totals.
Worldwide Software Spending 2026: Gartner Segment Forecast
2026 GROWTH BY SEGMENT, WORLDWIDE (%)
Data center systems ████████████████████████████████████████ 62.5
IaaS ██████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 29.3
Software █████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 15.5
Devices ██████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 9.8
IT services ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 5.3
Communications ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 4.4
| Segment (Worldwide) | 2025 Spending | 2026 Forecast | 2026 Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data center systems | $506 billion | $822 billion | +62.5% |
| Devices | $790 billion | $868 billion | +9.8% |
| Software | $1,271 billion | $1,468 billion | +15.5% |
| IT services | $1,492 billion | $1,570 billion | +5.3% |
| Infrastructure as a service | $222 billion | $287 billion | +29.3% |
| Communications services | $1,296 billion | $1,354 billion | +4.4% |
| Overall IT | $5,577 billion | $6,369 billion | +14.2% |
Data source: Gartner, Inc., Worldwide IT Spending Forecast, Table 1 (27 July 2026). Shares of growth are report calculations.
Gartner expects worldwide IT spending to rise $792 billion in 2026. Data center systems supply $316 billion of that rise, or 39.9% (report calculation). Software adds $197 billion, or 24.9%, and IaaS adds $65 billion, or 8.2%. Software’s 15.5% growth is well above IT services at 5.3% and communications at 4.4%. Software now makes up 23.0% of the total, and its growth rate beats the 13.9% Gartner recorded for 2025.
Gartner’s chief forecaster, John-David Lovelock, tied the growth to AI-ready software, to AI features that vendors add to existing products and to rising hardware and memory costs. Software growth of 15.5% is not a pure volume story. Price increases at renewal inflate it, a point the renewals section below covers. Anyone building a budget from this table should remember that the figures count the whole world and that vendor revenue includes price changes.
Gartner 2026 Forecast Revisions: How IT and Software Budgets Climbed
GARTNER 2026 WORLDWIDE IT SPENDING FORECAST BY RELEASE (TRILLIONS USD)
Oct 2025 ██████████████████████████████████████░░ 6.08
Feb 2026 ██████████████████████████████████████░░ 6.15
Apr 2026 ███████████████████████████████████████░ 6.31
Jul 2026 ████████████████████████████████████████ 6.37
| Forecast Release | 2026 IT Spending | 2026 Software Spending |
|---|---|---|
| October 2025 | $6.08 trillion (+9.8%) | $1.433 trillion |
| February 2026 | $6.15 trillion | About $1.43 trillion |
| April 2026 | $6.31 trillion (+13.5%) | $1.444 trillion (+15.1%) |
| July 2026 | $6.37 trillion (+14.2%) | $1.468 trillion (+15.5%) |
Data source: Gartner, Inc. press releases (22 October 2025, February 2026, 22 April 2026, 27 July 2026). Revision totals are report calculations.
Gartner has raised its 2026 forecast every quarter. Total IT spending went from $6.08 trillion in October 2025 to $6.37 trillion in July 2026, an increase of $285 billion, or 4.7% (report calculation). Software rose from $1.433 trillion to $1.468 trillion, a gain of $35 billion, or 2.4%. Total growth accelerated from 9.8% to 14.2%.
Gartner builds its forecast from sales data at more than a thousand vendors, so each revision reflects reported revenue, not survey intent. The pattern shows forecasters underestimating demand. Gartner said stronger-than-expected AI infrastructure, software and IaaS spending drove the April and July upgrades. Software was revised less than the whole market, because most of the extra money flowed to data center hardware. For Enterprise Software Spending in the US, the lesson is to treat any single forecast as a snapshot. Budgets built in early 2026 on the February numbers would now be too low.
SaaS Portfolio and Spend Control 2026: What the Average Organization Pays
WHO CONTROLS SAAS SPEND (%)
Business units ████████████████████████████████████████ 81
IT (direct) ███████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 15
Other (calculated) ██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 4
| Metric | 2026 Value |
|---|---|
| Average annual SaaS spend per organization | $55.7 million (+8% year over year) |
| Median annual SaaS spend per organization | $20.6 million |
| Average SaaS applications per organization | 305 (median 240) |
| Change in application count year over year | –0.07% |
| Apps added per month, large enterprises | 21 |
| Spend growth at large enterprises | About 16% |
| SaaS spend controlled by business units | 81% |
| SaaS spend managed directly by IT | 15% |
| Shadow IT share of portfolio / of spend | 34% / 4% |
Data source: Zylo 2026 SaaS Management Index (29 January 2026), built on more than 40 million licenses and $75 billion in spend under management. The “other” share is a report calculation.
Spending rose 8% while app counts barely moved, down 0.07%. Prices and AI add-ons, not new tools, drove the increase. Large enterprises still add 21 applications a month, which suggests heavy turnover under a flat count. The gap between the $55.7 million average and the $20.6 million median shows a few very large buyers pulling the average up. The index covers more than 40 million licenses, but it reflects Zylo’s customers rather than a random sample of US companies.
Control sits outside IT. Business units direct 81% of SaaS spend, and IT manages 15% directly. Shadow IT makes up 34% of the application portfolio but only 4% of spend, which means many small unsanctioned apps carry low cost and high visibility risk. Anyone tracking Enterprise Software Spending in the US by looking only at central IT budgets will miss most of the money. Gartner puts 2025 worldwide IT spending at $5.58 trillion, so the 2026 forecast is a record by a wide margin.
SaaS Cost Per Employee 2026: Zylo and Vertice Benchmarks
SAAS SPEND PER EMPLOYEE (USD PER YEAR)
Vertice Q3 2023 ████████████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░ 6,900
Vertice Q1 2026 █████████████████████████████████████░░░ 9,200
Vertice Q2 2026 ███████████████████████████████████████░ 9,324
Zylo median (2026) ████████████████████████████████████████ 9,455
| Source | Period | SaaS Spend per Employee |
|---|---|---|
| Vertice transaction data | Q3 2023 | $6,900 |
| Vertice transaction data | Q1 2026 | $9,200 |
| Vertice transaction data | Q2 2026 | $9,324 |
| Zylo SaaS Management Index (median) | 2026 index | $9,455 |
| Cost for 1,000 employees at Zylo median | Annual | $9.46 million |
| Cost for 5,000 employees at Zylo median | Annual | $47.3 million |
Data source: Vertice SaaS spend data as reported for Q2 2026; Zylo 2026 SaaS Management Index. Totals for 1,000 and 5,000 employees are report calculations.
Two independent datasets agree within about 1.4%: Vertice’s $9,324 in the second quarter and Zylo’s $9,455 median. Vertice’s figure climbed from $6,900 in the third quarter of 2023, a rise of 35.1% in about two and three-quarter years (report calculation). It rose 1.3% from $9,200 in the first quarter of 2026, after holding flat for three quarters.
Per-employee cost scales quickly. At the Zylo median, a 1,000-person company spends $9.46 million a year on SaaS, and a 5,000-person company spends $47.3 million. Vertice measures transaction data from its customers and Zylo measures spend under management, so each carries its own sample bias. Use the pair as a range when you benchmark Enterprise Software Spending in the US against peers.
AI Software Spending 2026: GenAI, AI-Native SaaS and Enterprise Budgets
AI-RELATED SPENDING GROWTH, 2026 (%)
AI-native SaaS, 10,000+ employees ████████████████████████████████████████ 393
AI-native SaaS, all organizations ███████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 108
GenAI model spending (Gartner) ████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 80.8
Worldwide AI spending (Gartner) █████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 47
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Worldwide AI spending, 2026 | $2.59 trillion (+47%) | Gartner, May 2026 |
| GenAI model spending growth, 2026 | +80.8% | Gartner, February 2026 |
| AI-native SaaS spend growth, all organizations | +108% | Zylo, January 2026 |
| AI-native SaaS spend growth, 10,000+ employees | +393% | Zylo, January 2026 |
| Combined jump, data center systems plus IaaS | $728 billion to $1.109 trillion | Gartner, July 2026 |
| Most expensed application | ChatGPT | Zylo, January 2026 |
Data source: Gartner, Inc. (February, May and July 2026 forecasts); Zylo 2026 SaaS Management Index.
Gartner’s AI figure of $2.59 trillion is a cross-category total. It includes servers, services and software, so it cannot be compared with the $1.47 trillion software line. Within software, GenAI models are the fastest-growing piece, at 80.8% growth in Gartner’s February forecast. The July update added that data center systems and IaaS together rise from $728 billion to $1.109 trillion, a jump of $381 billion (report calculation from Gartner’s figures).
Inside organizations, AI is entering through side doors. Zylo found AI-native app spend up 108% overall and 393% at companies with more than 10,000 employees, and ChatGPT became the most expensed app. Expense-based purchasing bypasses procurement, which cuts visibility. That is a budget risk and a security risk. AI is also reshaping Enterprise Software Spending in the US by pushing vendors to bundle AI features into existing contracts at higher prices.
Software Renewal Costs 2026: Price Increases and Budget Pressure
ESTIMATED RENEWAL SPEND AT THE AVERAGE ORGANIZATION (MILLIONS USD)
Total SaaS spend ████████████████████████████████████████ 55.7
Renewals (87%) ██████████████████████████████████░░░░░░ 48.5
Uplift at 15% █████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 7.3
Uplift at 10% ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 4.8
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| SaaS renewals as a share of SaaS spend | 87% |
| Typical price increase at software renewal | 10%–15% |
| Organizations that cut projects after unplanned SaaS cost increases | 61% |
| Spend growth versus app count change | +8% versus –0.07% |
| Renewals at the average $55.7 million organization | $48.5 million (report calculation) |
| Uplift range at 10%–15% | $4.8–$7.3 million (report calculation) |
Data source: Zylo 2026 SaaS Management Index; Gartner commentary by John-David Lovelock, as reported by TechTarget (2026); report calculations.
Renewals account for 87% of SaaS spend, so price terms at renewal drive most of the bill. Lovelock said software contracts tend to rise 10% to 15% when they come up. Applied to the average organization’s $48.5 million in renewals, that uplift adds $4.8 million to $7.3 million a year. Zylo also found that 61% of organizations cut projects after unplanned SaaS cost increases.
The mismatch between 8% spend growth and a 0.07% drop in app count points the same way. Companies are paying more for roughly the same set of tools. The renewal calendar is therefore the most direct budget lever in Enterprise Software Spending in the US: consolidating overlapping tools, right-sizing seats and negotiating multi-year terms all work on the 87%.
Enterprise Software Spending in the US 2026 FAQ
How Much Do US Companies Spend on Enterprise Software in 2026?
BEA counted $751.3 billion in private software investment for 2025, up 9.5%. BEA has not yet published 2026 totals. Gartner forecasts worldwide software spending of $1.47 trillion for 2026.
How Big Is the Enterprise Software Market in 2026?
Gartner’s July 2026 forecast puts worldwide software spending at $1,468 billion, up 15.5%, or about 23% of the $6.37 trillion global IT market.
How Fast Is Software Spending Growing in 2026?
Gartner expects 15.5% growth in software, faster than total IT spending at 14.2% and IT services at 5.3%. Data center systems grow fastest at 62.5%.
What Is the Average SaaS Spend per Employee in 2026?
Zylo’s 2026 index reports a median of $9,455 per employee per year. Vertice measured $9,324 in the second quarter of 2026.
How Many SaaS Apps Does the Average Company Use in 2026?
Zylo reports 305 on average and 240 at the median. Large enterprises add about 21 applications a month.
How Much Does the Average Organization Spend on SaaS in 2026?
Zylo’s index shows $55.7 million a year on average, up 8%, with a median of $20.6 million.
Who Controls Enterprise Software Budgets in 2026?
Business units control 81% of SaaS spend, and IT directly manages 15%, according to Zylo.
How Much Is Global IT Spending in 2026?
Gartner’s July 2026 forecast is $6.37 trillion, up 14.2% from $5.58 trillion in 2025.
How Fast Is AI Software Spending Growing in 2026?
Gartner forecasts worldwide AI spending of $2.59 trillion, up 47%. Zylo found AI-native SaaS spend up 108% overall.
Why Do Software Costs Keep Rising in 2026?
Renewals make up 87% of SaaS spend, and Gartner’s Lovelock says contracts typically rise 10% to 15% at renewal. AI features bundled into existing products add to the increase.
Is Gartner’s Software Forecast a US Number in 2026?
No. The July 2026 forecast covers the world. The BEA series measures US private business investment in software, so the two differ in scope and in definition.
How Much Did Gartner Raise Its 2026 IT Spending Forecast?
Gartner raised its 2026 total from $6.08 trillion in October 2025 to $6.37 trillion in July 2026, an increase of $285 billion.
How Much Is Worldwide Cloud Infrastructure Spending in 2026?
Gartner forecasts infrastructure-as-a-service spending of $287 billion in 2026, up 29.3% from $222 billion in 2025.
How Much Does SaaS Cost a 1,000-Person Company in 2026?
At Zylo’s median of $9,455 per employee, a 1,000-person company spends about $9.46 million a year on SaaS.
How Much of Enterprise Software Is Shadow IT in 2026?
Zylo reports that shadow IT makes up 34% of the average SaaS portfolio but only 4% of spend.
Did BEA Revise US Software Investment in 2026?
Yes. The September 2026 update lowered 2025 software investment from $754.8 billion to $751.3 billion and 2024 from $693.0 billion to $686.0 billion.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.