SaaS Market Size Forecast

What is the size of the saas market?

Forecasts vary in estimating software-as-a-service (SaaS) market size, but there is consensus the market is poised to expand. The growth is due to organizations of all sizes becoming comfortable with cloud software offerings to add to, or at the expense of, on-premise solutions.

Some global statistics and predictions:

• Gartner sees SaaS growing 20.3% in 2016 to 37.7 billion.
• The SaaS market is poised to surpass $112.8 billion by 2019, according to IDC research.
• The overall market will reach $164.29 billion by 2022, according to Transparency Market Research (TMR).

According to IDC:

• The worldwide cloud software market reached $48.8 billion in revenue in 2014, representing a 24.4% year-over-year growth rate
• The market will surpass $112.8 billion by 2019 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3%.
• SaaS delivery will significantly outpace traditional software product delivery, growing nearly five times faster than the traditional software market
• By 2019, the cloud software model will account for $1 of every $4.59 spent on software.

The primary use for SaaS among small-to-medium businesses in the US is file sharing (35% in 2015 and expected to reach 39% in 2018), according to Statista. The next top three sectors are online backup and storage, payroll and HR, and online accounting. Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), support and help, and online customer relationship management (CRM) represented smaller, but still growing sectors.

Mature Cloud Tech

SaaS is the most matured cloud technology sector, according to TMR. "The market grew at a very strong double-digit rate, with demand in the Americas being the strongest,” according to the firm’s Mary Johnston Turner, vice president, Enterprise System Management Software.

Other TMR findings include:

• The global SaaS market will expand at a CAGR of 27.9% between 2015 and 2022.
• The market was worth $23.88 billion in 2014 (a deep drop for IDC’s nearly $50 billion).

Synergy Research Group meanwhile forecasts the market will triple in size over the next five years. Its research depicted the market share and revenue growth for the top 10 players:

Synergy’s findings concurred with TMR’s view of SaaS as a more mature market with Platform as a Service (PaaS) and cloud based infrastructure (IaaS) on its heels. Gartner meanwhile described IaaS as the fastest-growing segment in 2016, forecasting it would reach 22.4 billion.

Sources:
Gartner. (2016, January 25). Gartner Says Worldwide Public Cloud Services Market Is Forecast to Reach $204 Billion in 2016. https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3188817
IDC’s McGrath, B. & Mahowald, R. P. (2015, August). Worldwide SaaS and Cloud Software 2015–2019 Forecast and 2014 Vendor Shares. https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=257397
Statista.(n.d.). Leading uses for Software as a Service (SaaS) among small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) in the United States in 2015 and 2018. https://www.statista.com/statistics/496244/smb-united-states-saas-uses/
Synergy Research Group. (2016, April 18). Microsoft is on a Charge in the SaaS Market. https://www.srgresearch.com/articles/microsoft-charges-ahead-saas-market
Transparency Market Research. (2016, May 11). Growing Adoption of SaaS Platform Contributes to Increased Revenue for Vendors in Global SaaS Market. https://www.tmrblog.com/2016/05/software-as-service-market.html?m=0
2016 ITA Cloud Computing Top Markets Report - Page 3.