Last year we were spending $4,200 a month on software. Slack, Notion, Asana, Intercom, Zendesk, analytics tools, the works. My co-founder asked a simple question: “Do we actually need all this?”

So I ran an experiment. For three months, I systematically tried to replace paid tools with AI alternatives. Some worked brilliantly. Others failed spectacularly.

Here’s the honest breakdown.

What We Actually Replaced

Customer support triage: Intercom → ChatGPT + Zapier

We were paying $300/month for Intercom. Most tickets were the same five questions. I set up a ChatGPT-powered bot through Zapier that handles first-line support.

Cost now: About $40/month in API calls.

Catch: It can’t handle refunds or anything requiring judgment. But it handles 60% of tickets, which means our one support person isn’t drowning.

Meeting notes: Otter.ai → Whisper API + Claude

Otter was $20/month per seat. With 8 people, that’s $160/month. I built a simple script that records meetings, transcribes with Whisper, and summarizes with Claude.

Cost now: Maybe $15/month total.

This one was a clear win. The summaries are actually better because I customized the prompts for our specific needs.

Content first drafts: Jasper → Claude

Jasper was costing us $125/month. Claude Pro at $20/month does the same thing, honestly better. We still edit everything heavily, but the first drafts come out cleaner.

What Completely Failed

Project management: Asana → Various AI experiments

I tried using ChatGPT to manage tasks through a Notion database. Disaster. Projects slipped, things got missed, nobody trusted the system.

We went back to Asana within two weeks. Some tools exist for a reason.

CRM: HubSpot → Custom AI solution

Don’t even try this. Seriously. I spent three weeks building something that kind of worked, then it broke, then we lost track of a $50K deal.

Back to HubSpot. Lesson learned.

Slack replacement: Nope

I briefly considered whether AI could help us communicate less. This was a stupid idea. We still use Slack.

The Real Numbers

Before: $4,200/month ($50,400/year) After: $2,800/month ($33,600/year)

Savings: $1,400/month ($16,800/year)

Not the dramatic transformation some LinkedIn gurus promise. But $16K is $16K.

What I Learned

The tools that replaced well had something in common: they were handling repetitive, pattern-based tasks. Customer FAQs. Meeting transcription. First draft content.

The tools that failed were ones requiring context, judgment, or real-time collaboration. Project management. CRM. Team communication.

AI is brilliant at doing the same thing a thousand times slightly differently. It’s terrible at making decisions that matter.

My Advice

Start small. Pick one tool that handles repetitive work. Build a replacement. Run it for a month. If it works, great. If not, you’ve only lost a few hours.

Don’t try to replace your entire stack at once like some AI zealot. That’s how you lose deals and credibility.

And for the love of everything, don’t touch your CRM. That was my $50K lesson.

The boring truth: AI can save you money, but probably less than you think. And the implementation time isn’t free either. Calculate your hourly rate and factor that in.

Still worth doing. Just don’t expect miracles.