Most marketing teams accumulate AI tools the same way they accumulate streaming service subscriptions: with plenty of initial enthusiasm, and no follow-up to check whether they’re still being used or delivering the promised value.
A marketing AI stack audit is the exercise of systematically evaluating every tool you are paying for, measuring whether it is generating ROI, and deciding what to keep, what to cancel, and what to replace.
The stack inventory: what you probably have
A mid-sized marketing team in 2025typically has between 8and 15active subscriptions to tools with AI components. The combined monthly cost is usually between 500€ and 3.000€ per month, but many of the tools are used sporadically or not used to their full potential.
Typical categories:
- Content generation (ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, Jasper, Copy.ai)
- SEO (Ahrefs, Semrush, Surfer SEO, Clearscope)
- Advertising (Madgicx, Smartly, AdCreative.ai)
- Email marketing (Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Brevo)
- Analytics (Hotjar, Mixpanel, Supermetrics)
- Automation (Make, n8n, Zapier)
- CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce)
- Social media (Buffer, Later, Hootsuite)
The audit questions
For each tool in the stack, answer these five questions:
1. How many members of the team use it actively (at least once a week)? If the answer is zero or just one person, the tool probably doesn’t justify its cost.
2. What specific process does it solve? If you can’t clearly articulate what process it improves or what it does that couldn’t be done before, it’s a sign that the tool isn’t integrated into the workflow.
3. What would happen if you cancelled it tomorrow? If the answer is "nothing", cancel it. If the answer is "we’d have to do X differently and it would take Y longer", that gives you the real value of the tool.
4. Does it duplicate the functionality of another tool in the stack? It’s common to have three tools doing variations of the same thing. Identify the best one and cancel the rest.
5. Does it generate output that improves the business in a measurable way? If the tool produces content, analysis or automations, are those outputs correlated with improvements in business metrics?
The decision framework: keep, optimise, or cancel
Keep: the tool generates measurable ROI, is actively used by the team and there is no duplication with another.
Optimise: the tool has potential but isn’t being used well. Before cancelling, invest in training or better configuration.
Cancel: the tool isn’t being used, generates no measurable ROI, or its functionality is duplicated by another tool in the stack.
A six-monthly audit cycle of the AI stack is sufficient for most teams. The typical result of a well-executed audit: a 30–40% reduction in tool spend with no loss of functional capacity, simply by eliminating duplications and tools that never integrated well into the workflow.
For a full audit of your digital presence, including your tools stack, our AI Brand Auditor includes this review as part of the process.