The 'End of SaaS' Discourse: What's Really Happening
In 2024, Klarna's announcement that it had cancelled 1,200 SaaS subscriptions, including Salesforce and Workday, in favor of in-house AI systems sent shockwaves through the industry. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski revealed that "AI is doing the work of 700 customer service agents" and disclosed $10 million in annual marketing savings.
This trend isn't just about cost-cutting. The real driver is that AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot) have reduced in-house build costs to 1/10 of previous levels. The core SaaS value proposition—"cheaper than building yourself"—is collapsing, shaking the standardized SaaS market.
What's at Risk: Which SaaS Will Be Replaced
Not all SaaS is at risk. The following three categories are being replaced fastest:
According to a16z research, 38% of US mid-sized companies in 2025 reported "replacing at least one SaaS with AI." The most cancelled categories were chatbots (42%), content generation (35%), and internal workflow automation (29%).
Survivors: Vertical SaaS and Data Network Effects
Meanwhile, the following SaaS categories are actually growing:
These have barriers to entry that in-house builds cannot replicate. Salesforce's general CRM is threatened, but Health Cloud remains robust.
Build-vs-Buy Decision Framework
When deciding which SaaS to replace with in-house builds, evaluate these four scores:
A total of 70+ points justifies in-house builds. 50-70 suggests hybrid (API-only integration); below 50 favors keeping SaaS.
How POLYGLOTSOFT's Subscription Development Enables AI-Native Transformation
POLYGLOTSOFT supports SaaS replacement projects through subscription development starting at ₩290,000/month (~$200). With 80-92% cost savings versus outsourcing, what would cost ₩30M as a SaaS license can be built in-house with our ₩1.19M (~$800) Pro plan. Our dedicated team handles AI-native architecture design, LLM API integration, and data pipeline construction continuously. Request a free PRD consultation to receive an in-house build ROI assessment within 24 hours.