AI agents won't kill SaaS apps — they'll kill per-seat pricing, argues viral thread
alex_verem · x · 2026-09-24
Countering the popular "SaaSpocalypse" take that customers will vibecode their own apps and drop SaaS, the author argues the bigger risk is AI agents taking over the interface while SaaS becomes underlying infrastructure.
Example: a business paying for 200 CRM seats has an agent update records, log conversations, pull pipeline reports and prepare forecasts via the API, with humans only approving decisions and handling exceptions. The CRM's data, permissions, business rules and audit trail still do real work — the software survives.
But at renewal, why keep 200 seats? That question arrives long before the UI becomes obsolete, and "we'll charge for API usage" kicks off a difficult transition requiring billable units customers understand and costs they can budget for.
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