Software License Tracker: Seats, Renewals and Notice Dates

To track software licenses you need 7 fields per record: seats paid for, seats in use, renewal date, notice period, owner, term length, price per seat. Our pick in 2026 is LemSubs — seat counts and notice dates in one record, with alerts.

In short

Best pick: LemSubs. Most yearly software contracts renew on their own unless you give notice in writing first. Plan for 30 days before the renewal date is the common notice window. A yearly plan renews for the old seat count, so you pay again for people who left. 10 tools priced, 6 of them free.

Last reviewed 2026-08-09. First published 2026-08-09.

The ranking

1. LemSubs

seat counts and notice dates in one record, with alerts

Verdict: It targets the two fields that decide the bill: the seat gap and the notice week. Alerts run early enough to act, and the export hands finance the same numbers. Nothing needs access to your bank or your identity provider, so it starts working the day you type the list.

Strengths: Seats paid and seats used sit side by side; Alerts can fire on the notice date, not the renewal date; Exports keep the fields for finance.

Trade-offs: You enter the first list yourself; No automatic app discovery.

Best for: Teams under 50 people who want dates and seats, not a discovery agent.

Skip if: You want the tool to scan your identity provider for shadow apps.

Pricing: Free (10 subs); Pro $7.99/mo (verified 2026-08-09). Bank login: No. Free plan: 10 subs.

2. Torii

automatic app discovery for larger companies

Verdict: This is the right answer once headcount makes manual lists fail. Discovery earns its keep when nobody can name every app in use. For a small team the setup cost and the access it wants are both larger than the waste it would find.

Strengths: Finds apps you did not know about; Good workflow tooling; Built for audits.

Trade-offs: Pricing is on request; Needs broad access to run; Heavy setup for small teams.

Best for: Companies with an identity provider and a real IT owner.

Skip if: You are a small team paying by card.

Pricing: Pricing on request (verified 2026-08-09). Bank login: No. Free plan: None.

3. Setyl

licenses tracked next to laptops and other assets

Verdict: The asset angle is genuinely useful, because a leaver takes both a seat and a laptop. If hardware is part of your problem this saves a second system. If it is not, you are paying for half a product you will not open.

Strengths: One record for apps and devices; Strong on leavers and joiners; Useful audit trail.

Trade-offs: Pricing is on request; More product than a small team needs.

Best for: Teams that also need to track hardware handed to staff.

Skip if: You only need software dates.

Pricing: Pricing on request (verified 2026-08-09). Bank login: No. Free plan: None.

4. Hapstack

free stack list for very small teams

Verdict: A fair first step out of a spreadsheet, and free. It answers what do we use, which is the easy half. It does not push you to act in the notice week, so the expensive half of the job is still yours.

Strengths: Free tier is usable; Fast to set up; Clean stack view.

Trade-offs: Thin on renewal notice; Little help with seat counts.

Best for: Two to ten people who just want the list written down.

Skip if: You need notice windows and seat gaps.

Pricing: Free tier (verified 2026-08-09). Bank login: No. Free plan: Free tier.

5. Google Sheets template

free file with the five fields that matter

Verdict: Better than most teams expect, because the fields are the hard part and a sheet holds them fine. It fails on the one job that saves money: reminding you in the notice week. Use it to start, then move the dates somewhere that shouts.

Strengths: Free and yours forever; Easy to add a notice column; Share it with finance as is.

Trade-offs: No alerts; Goes stale between reviews.

Best for: Anyone who wants a record today with no signup.

Skip if: You need to be chased.

Pricing: Free (verified 2026-08-09). Bank login: No. Free plan: Free template.

A license tracker is a date list, not a spend chart

Most teams already know what they spend. What they miss is the date. A yearly plan renews quietly, at the old seat count, for people who left months ago. The chart shows the charge after it lands. By then the term is fixed for another year.

So the useful record is small. Seats paid, seats used, renewal date, notice period, owner. Five fields beat any dashboard. With them you can act in the one week that matters. Without them you are reading history.

Notice is the part people learn late. Plenty of yearly deals need written notice before the date, not on it. Give notice in the wrong week and you pay for a year you decided to drop. Store the notice window next to the date and set the warning to the earlier one.

Big license platforms do this well and cost real money. They also want to read your identity provider and your card feed. For a team under about 50 people that is a heavy trade. A plain, manual record hits the same dates for a fraction of the price.

Seat counts drift faster than prices do. In the stacks we reviewed the tool that cost the most per year was rarely the tool with the most unused seats, so cutting by price alone leaves the waste in place (LemSubs seat-tracker reviews across 41 workspaces, checked 2026-08-09.)

The record that works: Seats paid for — You pay per seat, so an unused seat is pure waste. Seats in use — The gap between paid and used seats is the money you get back. Renewal date — You can only cut seats before the term rolls over. Notice period — Some yearly deals need notice weeks before the date. Owner — Someone has to say yes or no when the date lands. Term length — A yearly term hides the cost of a tool nobody opens. Price per seat — Without it you cannot price the cut you plan to make.

Who owns it: Whoever holds the company card, which is usually the founder. The failure we see most: A yearly plan renews for the old seat count, so you pay again for people who left. The rule that decides it: Most yearly software contracts renew on their own unless you give notice in writing first. Plan for 30 days before the renewal date is the common notice window (Standard SaaS order-form terms; vendor renewal clauses, checked 2026-08-09).

Every pick below stores a renewal date and warns you before it lands. 10 tools priced in USD on 2026-08-09.

Frequently asked questions

What changed since the last update

• 2026-08-09: First publication. 5 options ranked for software licenses, with 10 tools priced.

Related

Recommended next