A seat nobody uses costs the same as one everybody does. Right-sizing is the least disruptive saving there is: no migration, no new tool, just a smaller number on the next bill. The work is finding the idle seats with evidence and knowing what your contract lets you do about them.
Cut and negotiate · guide 4 of 6 · Reviewed Oct 25, 2026
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Paid seats against seats in use: what the idle ones cost a year, and what you save by right-sizing at renewal.
Arithmetic only, not tax, accounting or legal advice. Check the figures against your own order form.
Every admin console has some version of an activity view. These are the ones we read, with the steps as published on the checked date. Menu names move, so search the vendor's help center for the report by name.
Pick the window to match the work. Thirty days misses a quarterly process; ninety days or more catches it. Last sign-in is a clue, not proof: a person who only receives notifications may show little activity and still depend on the tool.
Many tools price by role. If a person only views, comments or approves, ask whether a cheaper or free role exists and whether the plan allows mixing roles. Check the vendor's published plan page and your order form, since not every plan allows it. Moving ten occasional users to a viewer role beats removing them and hearing about it on Monday.
Per-seat billing charges for people who could use the tool. Usage billing charges for what is used. Seats are easier to forecast and easier to waste; usage is closer to the work and harder to cap. Read how the vendor measures usage and whether there is a ceiling, and compare both on your actual numbers, not on the headline rate.
In the books both sit in the same place: a vendor expense that recurs. A seat count that drifts up shows as a rising line in the general ledger with no new invoice to explain it. Watch the line, not just the invoice.
Contracts differ, so read yours. Three terms decide how far you can go:
We can only point to what we read. Slack's pricing page says that when a paid member becomes inactive, a prorated credit is added to the account for the unused time. Microsoft's admin center lets you reduce the license quantity on a subscription and choose when the change takes effect; its help page does not say what happens to money already paid. For any other vendor, treat a refund or credit as unknown until the vendor confirms it in writing.
If you removed seats on an annual plan that was prepaid, the unused part sits in prepaid expenses until it releases, so the saving shows at renewal. See annual vs monthly billing.
Then remove the seat in the console. In Microsoft 365 that is Users, Active users, the person's Licenses and Apps tab, clear the license, save. To lower the number you pay for, use Billing, Your products, and Remove licenses on the subscription.
Send us the export and see which lines are worth a second look. A connected version is planned.
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Result
“In use” is your call: last sign-in in the past 30 or 90 days from the vendor's admin report. A seat for someone on leave is not idle.