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Research12 min read

The State of Shadow IT in 2025: Mid-Market Report

Your company uses 275 SaaS applications. Your IT team knows about 159 of them.

Mike Carroll
CEO & Founder
State of Shadow IT 2025 dashboard visualization

Photo by Lukas from Pexels

The Research That Changes Everything

Between January and July 2025, we conducted the most comprehensive study of Shadow IT in mid-market companies to date. Unlike surveys that rely on self-reporting, we performed actual discovery scans across 247 organizations.

275 SaaS applications with 42% unknown to IT visualization

275 Apps - 42% Unknown to IT

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The 42% Blind Spot

  • 200-300 employees: 186 applications (35% unknown)
  • 301-500 employees: 275 applications (42% unknown)
  • 501-1000 employees: 412 applications (48% unknown)

"We discovered 312 applications. I knew about maybe 100. The scariest part? Some had been running for years with no oversight."

— CISO, 450-employee fintech
Shadow IT growth and 14-day discovery timeline

Shadow IT Growth - 14-Day Discovery

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The $127,000 Wake-Up Call

The average mid-market company wastes between $25,000 and $150,000 annually on duplicate licenses, orphaned applications, and zombie subscriptions. One manufacturing company discovered they were paying for seven different video conferencing tools.

Your 30-Day Action Plan

Based on our research, modern automated discovery can achieve 90% SaaS visibility in under 14 days with less than 10 hours of IT effort. The question isn't whether you have a Shadow IT problem—our research proves you do. The question is: what are you going to do about it?

Department usage and SaaS breakdown analysis

Department Usage - SaaS Breakdown

Photo by Lukas from Pexels

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