SaaS sprawl is the unchecked growth of software-as-a-service tools across an organization
It happens when an organization uses more SaaS tools than it can track, manage, or secure.
Think overlapping tools, unused licenses, rogue sign-ups, and teams adopting software without IT’s knowledge.
At first, it looks like flexibility. Over time, it becomes a mess.
Expensive, insecure, and hard to govern.
But what is causing this mayhem?
SaaS sprawl does not happen overnight.
It builds up due to a mix of factors:
Teams buy tools on company cards without going through procurement or IT.
Anyone with an email address and a budget can start a free trial or sign up.
As orgs grow or hire fast, software usage expands without a system in place.
Most IT teams can’t see what SaaS apps are in use until something breaks or a security issue surfaces.
The more SaaS stacks up, the harder it is to manage.
Here is what gets worse:
Orgs pay for tools they no longer use or don’t need, often across multiple teams.
Shadow IT leads to unsanctioned apps storing sensitive data, creating attack surfaces IT cannot monitor.
When tools are not centrally managed, audits become nightmares.
Teams use different tools for the same job, hurting collaboration and data consistency.
The real impact?
It is not just annoying or worrisome, SaaS sprawl is costly and risky for these four reasons:
1.) Budgets balloon with redundant or underused tools.
2.) IT loses control, making it harder to enforce policies or respond to incidents.
3.) Onboarding/off-boarding breaks down, leaving former employees with access they shouldn’t have.
4.) Decision-making stalls, as data gets fragmented across disconnected tools.
The best way to manage SaaS sprawl is by using a SaaS security like Perimeters.io.
Taming SaaS sprawl does not mean locking everything down.
It means gaining visibility, control, and automation.
Perimeters continuously scans your environment to detect every SaaS app in use - authorized or not.
It gives IT and procurement a real-time view of:
From there, Perimeters helps you:
The result?
Less waste. Fewer risks. More control.
SaaS stays flexible, but on your terms.
Book a demo to see the Perimeters difference.
