The biggest shift is that software is moving from selling feature sets to solving specific workflows. If small teams can use AI to build tailored internal tools for a fraction of the cost of a SaaS subscription, niche vendors will no longer be able to compete on feature lists alone.

this is a good argument but it overlooks the hidden cost of technical debt . building an application with AI in a weekend is the easy part . the real challenge is the lifecycle management , security , patches and APi deprecations

For years, companies had to choose between paying for an existing tool or spending heavily to build their own. AI is collapsing that gap. If a business can build a narrowly focused internal application in weeks instead of months, the economics of another $50–$500 monthly subscription become much harder to justify.

AI could reduce the number of separate tools businesses need, especially when one system can handle several workflows. The interesting part will be seeing how traditional SaaS companies adapt.

The interesting part is that AI isn’t just making existing SaaS products better; it’s lowering the cost of building alternatives from scratch. I don’t think SaaS disappears, especially for critical systems where reliability and compliance matter, but the default assumption of “buy a tool for every workflow” is definitely being challenged. The real shift may be toward using SaaS for the core and AI-built software for everything that needs deeper customization.

$300/ month app looks cheap until the person who built it leaves, or it breaks at 2a.m with no vendor to call. There are implicit costs in owning your own stack (maintenance, onboarding documentation and security patches) that you skipped over.

The hidden ownership costs are definitely worth considering, building a custom tool might be cheaper upfront, but maintenance, security, updates, and having someone responsible for it can add up quickly, the interesting part will be seeing where the long term cost of AI built software actually beats SaaS, not just where the initial build is cheaper.

The advent of AI has given people or potential clients some sense of belief that they can accomplish what was previously a premium service on their own without an expert’s assistance.

Honestly, I think AI will make a lot of these SaaS tools less necessary, especially for simple tasks. But I also think people forget about the maintenance, security, and support side, so building everything yourself won’t always be the cheaper option.