- Author
- Martin Alderson
- Published
- December 15, 2025
- Kind
- Personal newsletter essay, opinion with anecdotes
- Original
- martinalderson.com/posts/ai-agents-are-starting-to-eat-saas/
- Subject
- Harnesses and agent loops
- Themes
- Who holds the power
What it is
Martin Alderson writes a personal blog and newsletter. This post follows an earlier one on software costs. It looks at what falling build costs mean for SaaS demand.
What it says
- The post says agents already replace simpler paid tools, such as dashboards.
- Teams are starting to question yearly price rises and ask whether to build instead.
- The post says agents lower maintenance cost, and that much expensive SaaS is poorly maintained.
- It warns net revenue retention may fall as customers build in-house.
- It names moats: high uptime, huge data volumes, network effects, proprietary data and regulation.
- Back-office CRUD tools and simple dashboards are called the most exposed products.
What evidence it gives
The evidence is the author's own habits and a few anecdotes from friends. The post cites no survey, sales data or study. It calls the renewal behavior very early.
Interests and limits
The post is opinion and makes forecasts. It does not test any claim or give figures. The author admits it is hard to predict how fast agents will improve. The post expects limited effect on firms without technical skill.