5 min read

100 Real (and Ridiculous) Reasons B2B SaaS Customers Cancel Their Subscriptions

Picture of Brian Polackoff Brian Polackoff : Mar 5, 2025 9:47:00 AM

Analytics and KPI Retention Customer Success
100 Real (and Ridiculous) Reasons B2B SaaS Customers Cancel Their Subscriptions
100 Real (and Ridiculous) Reasons B2B SaaS Customers Cancel Their Subscriptions
9:12

Churn is inevitable, but have you ever wondered why B2B SaaS customers really cancel? Some reasons are predictable, budget cuts, poor adoption, switching to a competitor. Others? Well, let’s just say they range from questionable IT policies to a CEO’s psychic advising against renewal.

Understanding why customers leave is the first step in reducing churn. Some cancellations come down to pricing, usability, or missing features. Others are completely out of your control. By analyzing common (and not-so-common) cancellation reasons, you can improve customer retention, refine onboarding, and ensure your product stays indispensable.

Below, we’ve compiled 100 real, ridiculous, and downright bizarre reasons why companies cancel B2B SaaS products. From legitimate concerns to outlandish excuses, this list will give you insights, and maybe a few laughs along the way.

# 100 Real Reasons Given to B2B SaaS companies, curated by Churn Assassin over the years.
1 Budget cuts—CFO found the subscription and had a mild panic attack
2 No one actually used it. Like, at all.
3 Switched to a competitor because their UI had slightly rounder buttons.
4 Product didn’t meet expectations. The demo promised magic; reality was… meh.
5 IT flagged it as a "security risk" without further explanation.
6 Our internal champion left, and no one else knew why we had it.
7 New leadership means new tools that look suspiciously like the old ones.
8 Too many logins. Not remembering passwords is a lifestyle choice.
9 Vendor got acquired, and suddenly everything got worse.
10 Company went out of business. Can’t pay for SaaS when you don’t exist.
11 The software worked too well, eliminating the need for our entire department.
12 The CEO’s nephew built something “better” in a weekend. It’s not better.
13 We got acquired, and the parent company uses their own outdated software.
14 The vendor changed their pricing model. We took it personally.
15 We only needed it for a one-time project. That project ended 18 months ago.
16 The new CFO used to work for a competitor. Awkward.
17 We were guilt-tripped into switching by a more aggressive sales team.
18 The UX redesign was so bad, our team started calling it “The Incident.”
19 The renewal email went to spam. Guess it wasn’t meant to be.
20 We realized we were paying for two tools that did the exact same thing.
21 Nobody wanted to admit they didn’t understand how to use it.
22 The name of the software was too hard to pronounce. Seriously.
23 Someone read an article about “vendor consolidation” and got way too excited.
24 The onboarding process was so long, we quit before finishing.
25 We’re switching back to spreadsheets. Yes, really.
26 The key feature we needed was moved to the enterprise plan. Rude.
27 The pricing went up 400%. We respect the hustle, but no.
28 The system kept logging us out. We took it as a sign.
29 It only worked in Internet Explorer. That’s a dealbreaker.
30 A major bug wiped out weeks of work. IT is still crying.
31 The new AI feature suggested something so bad, we lost all trust.
32 The CEO saw an influencer tweet about a competitor. That was enough.
33 It was impossible to cancel, so we had to cancel the credit card instead.
34 Someone thought it was a phishing scam and deleted all our accounts.
35 The product mascot freaked people out. Nobody wants that in their emails.
36 We hired a consultant who told us we didn't really need it.
37 It didn’t integrate with our main tool. Whoops.
38 Legal said the terms of service made them “deeply uncomfortable.”
39 The support team was so slow, we built a workaround instead.
40 Finance found out we were expensing it under “Office Snacks.”
41 We finally checked the analytics and… yeah, no one was using it.
42 The tool kept breaking. We thought it was us. It wasn’t.
43 A rogue intern canceled it by accident. No one noticed for 6 months.
44 Someone got fired, and this was their final act of revenge.
45 We lost the admin login. Forever.
46 We asked for a small feature update. They quoted us $100k.
47 The sales rep who sold it to us ghosted after we signed.
48 It came with a mobile app that looked like it was built in 2004.
49 Every update broke more things than it fixed.
50 The CEO had a dream where his late Uncle Steve told him to switch vendors.
51 We realized we were paying for the wrong product for two years.
52 The dashboard was so complicated we needed a dashboard for the dashboard.
53 The sales team promised everything, but the product delivered nothing.
54 The new AI-powered feature was too powerful. HR is still dealing with the fallout.
55 It was so customizable we never actually finished setting it up.
56 The UI looked like it was designed in Microsoft Paint.
57 The vendor rebranded, and now no one knows what they do anymore.
58 It sent 7,000 notifications per day, all marked “Urgent.”
59 The CEO wanted “something more futuristic.”
60 Our industry got regulated, and now this tool is illegal.
61 The search function didn’t work. At all.
62 The software wasn’t bad, but the customer service was horrifying.
63 IT found an open support ticket from 2018 that was still “in progress.”
64 The vendor emailed us five times a day. Even after we canceled.
65 The integration was “coming soon” for three years.
66 The free trial was great—too bad the paid version was completely different.
67 We onboarded, trained the team, and then… the vendor shut down.
68 It kept autocorrecting customer names to something offensive.
69 The product had so much downtime, we thought they were running on dial-up.
70 We accidentally paid for two accounts, then realized we liked the other one better.
71 It required daily maintenance. We’re not running a nuclear reactor here.
72 The CTO’s kid built a cheaper version for his school project.
73 It required a 90-minute webinar to learn one feature.
74 The pricing tiers made no sense. “Professional” was cheaper than “Starter.”
75 We needed customer support, but the only option was a chatbot named Greg.
76 The font was so ugly that Marketing refused to use it.
77 It promised “seamless integration.” It wasn’t.
78 The product worked, but only when the wind was blowing east.
79 The CEO declared we were “going back to pen and paper.”
80 The software charged per user, and we added way too many users.
81 The vendor kept saying “It’s on the roadmap.” The roadmap was a lie.
82 The software name was too embarrassing to say on sales calls.
83 It required a training session. Every. Single. Month.
84 The VP of Sales doesn’t “believe in” software.
85 We spent so much time managing the tool, we forgot why we had it.
86 The vendor’s emails always started with “URGENT: READ NOW.” We didn’t.
87 We found out the entire thing was just a well-designed spreadsheet.
88 Our competitors use it. So now, we don’t.
89 A single user error deleted everything.
90 We only needed one feature, and they moved it to the highest plan.
91 Someone finally read the fine print in the contract. Yikes.
92 The CEO’s psychic said it was “bad for our energy.”
93 A former employee signed the contract, and now we can’t cancel.
94 IT tried to troubleshoot, gave up, and just deleted the software.
95 The last update broke everything, including our trust.
96 The vendor kept inviting us to in-person events across the country.
97 We canceled by accident. Then decided it was for the best.
98 Legal called it “a lawsuit waiting to happen.”
99 The entire platform went down on a Friday. And stayed down all weekend.
100 A talking crow landed outside the CFO’s window and whispered, “Switch vendors.”

 

Customer churn isn’t just about lost revenue, it’s a goldmine of insights. By identifying patterns in why customers cancel, SaaS companies can refine their product, improve customer success strategies, and even address the truly absurd issues before they escalate. Some churn is unavoidable (looking at you, CFO budget cuts), but the rest? With the right approach, you can turn potential cancellations into long-term customer loyalty.

Want to reduce churn before it happens and before you ever hear any of the reasons listed above? Churn Assassin helps B2B SaaS companies predict, prevent, and eliminate unnecessary customer losses. You can see if Churn Assassin is right for you here. 

Learn how we can help keep your customers engaged, before they decide to cancel.
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