How to find the AI seats nobody uses, and what they cost you
A one hour check to find the ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Cursor seats nobody uses, what they cost a year, and how to cut them without upsetting anyone.
AI seats are easy to buy and easy to forget. Someone asks for Claude, someone else needs Copilot, a team tries Cursor, and a year later nobody knows who still uses what. Each seat is small. Together they add up fast.
Here is a check you can run in about an hour, with nothing but your invoices and each tool's admin page.
What unused seats cost
An example: a 50 person company pays for these seats, at monthly list prices.
| Tool | Seats paid | Used last month | Unused | Unused, per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Business, $25 | 30 | 21 | 9 | $2,700 |
| Claude Team, $25 | 15 | 11 | 4 | $1,200 |
| GitHub Copilot Business, $19 | 20 | 14 | 6 | $1,368 |
| Cursor Teams, from $30 | 10 | 9 | 1 | $360 |
| Total | 75 | 55 | 20 | $5,628 |
One seat in four is unused, and that's $5,628 a year for nothing. Run your own numbers in our free AI cost calculator.
1. List every AI tool you pay for
Start from money, not from memory. Go through last month's invoices, card statements and expense reports, and write down every AI tool. Look for personal plans on expense reports too: they are often the same tool the company already pays for.
2. Get the list of seats for each tool
Open each tool's admin page and export or copy the list of members. You want one list per tool: who has a seat, and since when.
3. Find out who really uses each seat
This is the step that saves money.
- GitHub Copilot shows when each seat was last used, in your organization's Copilot settings and its API.
- Other tools often show active users in their admin or analytics page. If yours doesn't, ask the people on the list.
Mark every seat with no use in the last 30 days.
4. Look for people with every tool
Some people have ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Cursor at once. That's sometimes right. Often they use one or two. Ask them which ones they need, and keep those.
5. Ask before you cut
Send a short message to each person with an unused seat: "You have a Claude seat you haven't used in a month. Do you still need it?" Most people answer the same day. Give a week, then remove the seats nobody claims.
Before you buy a new seat, check the unused list first. Moving a seat to someone who asked for one costs nothing.
6. Do it again every month
New people join, others leave, and seats come back. A monthly check keeps the list clean.
See what your AI seats cost
Join the waitlistFrequently asked questions
A seat you pay for that nobody used in the last 30 days. Some people only use a tool now and then, so ask them before you remove their seat.
Once a month, and every time someone joins, leaves or changes teams. Most unused seats come from people who left or moved and kept their access.
Check your contract first. On yearly billing, removing a seat may only lower the bill at renewal, so plan the cut before the renewal date.