{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://build.ms/2026/1/26/ai-agents-are-starting-to-eat-saas-really/",
  "description": "AI is making it cheaper and easier for anyone to build custom software solutions. The changes from this shift will be drastic, especially for SaaS companies.",
  "path": "/2026/1/26/ai-agents-are-starting-to-eat-saas-really/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-01-26T12:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:b6eke66r3vbmnegg73qgprl6/site.standard.publication/3mmypfmg4sx2d",
  "tags": [
    "Top",
    "AI",
    "Industry",
    "Business",
    "AI Economics"
  ],
  "textContent": "A few weeks ago I read an essay titled AI Agents Are Starting To Eat SaaS. SaaS businesses have thrived by solving specific problems — outsourcing domain-specific knowledge so companies don't have to build it themselves. A software company buys Workday instead of building HR software. A healthcare company uses Salesforce instead of maintaining a custom CRM. A piano teacher pays $9.99/month for Calendly instead of building their own booking system.\n\nThe responses to that essay were full of skepticism — people saying they haven't noticed any real decline in SaaS adoption. That may be true for them, but the most important word in the title is Starting. It's too early to see a trend, but I've already heard dozens of stories where people are building internal solutions through prompting rather than turning to a SaaS tool. I've done this myself quite a few times since I'd rather spend 30 minutes building something personalized to my needs than pay $4.99 every month for a generic solution.\n\n---\n\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at://did:plc:b6eke66r3vbmnegg73qgprl6/app.bsky.feed.post/3mc3hq477jk2n\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreiablauwd6dkws3glacx7nqzg7aw6qeeyrg5y2vfezvp5uqc5fimr4\" data-bluesky-embed-color-mode=\"system\"><p lang=\"en\">I was wondering how long exactly it&#x27;s been since I first articulated this exact scenario, and it turns out the answer is 33 months.<br><br><a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:b6eke66r3vbmnegg73qgprl6/post/3mc3hq477jk2n?ref_src=embed\">[image or embed]</a></p>&mdash; Joe Fabisevich (<a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:b6eke66r3vbmnegg73qgprl6?ref_src=embed\">@mergesort.me</a>) <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:b6eke66r3vbmnegg73qgprl6/post/3mc3hq477jk2n?ref_src=embed\">January 10, 2026 at 11:49 AM</a></blockquote><script async src=\"https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\nI've been called the boy who cries wolf for three years, predicting that soon enough building your own app would become cheaper and easier than buying SaaS — and that custom solutions would be better because they're tailored to your needs. The main pushback has always been that it requires skill to prompt effectively, and most people lack that know-how. But LLMs keep improving while AI tools keep getting easier to use. This is really important because these improvements compound, lowering the barrier to entry for millions of people.\n\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at://did:plc:b6eke66r3vbmnegg73qgprl6/app.bsky.feed.post/3mc3eq6pnks2u\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreih26ass24xwfj3mrsgqf2uvade5fm5oqmdf6lpx2e6dmloetusyci\" data-bluesky-embed-color-mode=\"system\"><p lang=\"en\">As a software developer who spends his days building a link-saving app and his nights telling everyone that in the very near future people will be able to easily build their own software to solve their personal problems — this is my existential crisis coming to life.  <br><br><a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:b6eke66r3vbmnegg73qgprl6/post/3mc3eq6pnks2u?ref_src=embed\">[image or embed]</a></p>&mdash; Joe Fabisevich (<a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:b6eke66r3vbmnegg73qgprl6?ref_src=embed\">@mergesort.me</a>) <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:b6eke66r3vbmnegg73qgprl6/post/3mc3eq6pnks2u?ref_src=embed\">January 10, 2026 at 10:55 AM</a></blockquote><script async src=\"https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\nAs the boy who cried wolf, I feel confident that a wolf has finally walked into a town full of software developers building SaaS products. The person who wrote the thread I'm quoting isn't a software developer — it's Kevin Roose, a reporter for The NY Times. He missed Pocket after it shut down, so he tried every link-saving app available. None met his needs, so over the Christmas break he built his own replacement in 12 prompts. It worked perfectly for him — so well that people begged him to open-source it. As the developer of Plinky — another link-saving app — I'm watching this moment like a dinosaur looking up at the sky wondering about the impending meteor.\n\n<blockquote class=\"text-post-media\" data-text-post-permalink=\"https://www.threads.com/@crumbler/post/DTRX5P7ie3w\" data-text-post-version=\"0\" id=\"ig-tp-DTRX5P7ie3w\" style=\" background:#FFF; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: #00000026; border-radius: 16px; max-width:650px; margin: 1px; min-width:270px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"> <a href=\"https://www.threads.com/@crumbler/post/DTRX5P7ie3w\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif;\" target=\"_blank\"> <div style=\" padding: 40px; display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: center;\"><div style=\" display:block; height:32px; width:32px; padding-bottom:20px;\"> <svg aria-label=\"Threads\" height=\"32px\" role=\"img\" viewBox=\"0 0 192 192\" width=\"32px\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"> <path d=\"M141.537 88.9883C140.71 88.5919 139.87 88.2104 139.019 87.8451C137.537 60.5382 122.616 44.905 97.5619 44.745C97.4484 44.7443 97.3355 44.7443 97.222 44.7443C82.2364 44.7443 69.7731 51.1409 62.102 62.7807L75.881 72.2328C81.6116 63.5383 90.6052 61.6848 97.2286 61.6848C97.3051 61.6848 97.3819 61.6848 97.4576 61.6855C105.707 61.7381 111.932 64.1366 115.961 68.814C118.893 72.2193 120.854 76.925 121.825 82.8638C114.511 81.6207 106.601 81.2385 98.145 81.7233C74.3247 83.0954 59.0111 96.9879 60.0396 116.292C60.5615 126.084 65.4397 134.508 73.775 140.011C80.8224 144.663 89.899 146.938 99.3323 146.423C111.79 145.74 121.563 140.987 128.381 132.296C133.559 125.696 136.834 117.143 138.28 106.366C144.217 109.949 148.617 114.664 151.047 120.332C155.179 129.967 155.42 145.8 142.501 158.708C131.182 170.016 117.576 174.908 97.0135 175.059C74.2042 174.89 56.9538 167.575 45.7381 153.317C35.2355 139.966 29.8077 120.682 29.6052 96C29.8077 71.3178 35.2355 52.0336 45.7381 38.6827C56.9538 24.4249 74.2039 17.11 97.0132 16.9405C119.988 17.1113 137.539 24.4614 149.184 38.788C154.894 45.8136 159.199 54.6488 162.037 64.9503L178.184 60.6422C174.744 47.9622 169.331 37.0357 161.965 27.974C147.036 9.60668 125.202 0.195148 97.0695 0H96.9569C68.8816 0.19447 47.2921 9.6418 32.7883 28.0793C19.8819 44.4864 13.2244 67.3157 13.0007 95.9325L13 96L13.0007 96.0675C13.2244 124.684 19.8819 147.514 32.7883 163.921C47.2921 182.358 68.8816 191.806 96.9569 192H97.0695C122.03 191.827 139.624 185.292 154.118 170.811C173.081 151.866 172.51 128.119 166.26 113.541C161.776 103.087 153.227 94.5962 141.537 88.9883ZM98.4405 129.507C88.0005 130.095 77.1544 125.409 76.6196 115.372C76.2232 107.93 81.9158 99.626 99.0812 98.6368C101.047 98.5234 102.976 98.468 104.871 98.468C111.106 98.468 116.939 99.0737 122.242 100.233C120.264 124.935 108.662 128.946 98.4405 129.507Z\" /></svg></div><div style=\" font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; color: #000000; font-weight: 600; \"> View on Threads</div></div></a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://www.threads.com/embed.js\"></script>\n\nNow I know that not everyone will build their own app. My mother-in-law certainly won't build her own Plinky-replacement and will happily keep supporting her son-in-law's work. But for companies like Squarespace, reporters vibe-coding their own websites in just a few hours rather than paying $200/year ought to be a red-alert moment. This won't affect every SaaS product — enterprises rely on SaaS tools for stability and dependability that you may not want to in-source — but AI will drastically chip away at many businesses.\n\n---\n\nI've written several posts about how on-demand software is already here and that people are already capable of building their own solutions even if not everyone knows it yet. More and more people are catching on, and tools like Claude Code are evolving into new modalities like Claude Cowork that let any knowledge worker access the power developers have had for most of 2025.\n\nThe changes from this shift will be drastic and will disrupt many professions and industries. How this plays out deserves deeper exploration, but one thing is clear: it will upend many SaaS businesses. It's no longer a question of if, but when. Especially for companies that don't adapt to this new reality.",
  "title": "AI Agents Are Starting To Eat SaaS (Really)"
}