Ghost contracts: the software you pay for that nobody owns.
Somewhere in your card statements there's a tool nobody has opened in years. Whoever signed up for it moved on, or forgot. It renews every year anyway, because nobody knows the company has it, and nobody's job is to ask. That's a ghost contract.
Nobody decides to keep a ghost contract. Nobody decides anything.
It starts with a reasonable purchase. Someone needs a tool for a project, signs up on a company card, and clicks through the terms. The project ends, or the person leaves, or the team switches to something else. The subscription doesn't end with them.
From then on the contract has no owner. The renewal date and the notice period are written into the agreement, but nobody has read it since the day it was signed. The charge shows up every month looking exactly like last month's, so it never stands out. Finance pays it because it's always been paid.
Multiply that by every team that has ever bought software, and you have forgotten SaaS subscriptions renewing on schedule, with nobody accountable for any of them.
Paying for software nobody uses is quiet by design.
No one owns it
If a contract has no named person behind it, every question about it belongs to everyone, which means no one. Is it still used? Is the price right? Can we leave? Nobody is asked.
The dates live in the paper
The renewal date, the notice period and the termination terms are in the agreement, not on anyone's calendar. The one date that matters is the last day to give notice, and it comes weeks or months before the renewal.
The charge looks normal
A recurring charge that matches last month's doesn't get a second look. The only time it stands out is when it goes up, and by then it has usually renewed.
A ghost contract is invisible right up to the day it renews. The charge lands for another full term, often at a higher price, and the window to say no closed weeks ago.
Every contract gets a named owner.
In Sidecar, every vendor has an owner: one person who is accountable for that contract. Renewal and deadline alerts go to the owner first. If a contract has no owner yet, they go to whoever added it, and failing that to the workspace's Owners, so a deadline never reaches nobody.
Then Sidecar reads the contract and puts in front of that person what they need to make a decision:
Renewal and notice dates
When it renews, the last day to give notice, and the last safe day to act: 7 days before the notice deadline, to leave room for sign-off and delivery.
What it costs
How you're charged, monthly or annually, as the contract states it, what changes at renewal, and where the price can rise.
Out clauses
The termination and non-renewal terms, with the clause quoted from the document, so you know how you can leave and by when.
Negotiation points
What to ask for if you keep it, ranked must-have to nice-to-have, with a fallback position for each.
Once a contract is in Sidecar, Renewal Watch warns the owner 30, 14 and 7 days before each notice deadline, not the renewal date, because the notice deadline is the one you can still act on.
During the pilot, deadline alerts are switched on per workspace by the Sidecar team. Until then your dates are still tracked, with the last safe day to act, from the day you add an agreement.
How to find unused software subscriptions in an afternoon.
You don't need a tool to start. You need a list and a name next to every line.
List every recurring charge
Pull twelve months of company card and accounts-payable statements and write down every charge that repeats. That's your real software list, whatever anyone thinks you have.
Put a name next to each one
For every line, find the one person who would notice if it disappeared tomorrow. If nobody would, you've found a ghost contract.
Find the contract and its dates
Dig out the agreement or the terms you clicked through. Note the renewal date, the notice period, and how you get out.
Decide before the notice deadline
Keep it, renegotiate it, or cancel it, but decide while you still can. After the notice deadline, the contract decides for you.
Sidecar takes over from step 2. Import your vendor list from a spreadsheet with an owner column, upload the agreements, and the dates, the cost and the out clauses come back with the clause quoted. Your first review is free.
Rather hand it off? The Vendor Stack Audit is $1,995, fixed: send up to 10 agreements and get every renewal date and notice deadline on one calendar, and a readout call. Book a stack audit
Ghost contract questions
What is a ghost contract?
A ghost contract is a vendor agreement, usually software, that your company still pays for but nobody owns. Nobody uses it, or nobody knows whether anyone does, and it keeps renewing because no one is accountable for deciding otherwise.
How do I find unused software subscriptions?
Start from the money, not from what people remember. List every recurring charge on company cards and in accounts payable over the last twelve months, then put one person's name next to each. A charge nobody claims is the first place to look.
Why do forgotten SaaS subscriptions keep renewing?
Most software agreements renew automatically unless someone gives notice by a deadline written into the contract. If nobody owns the contract, nobody reads that deadline, and the renewal goes through on its own.
Who should own a vendor contract?
The person who would notice if the service stopped: usually whoever relies on it day to day or holds its budget. What matters is that it is one named person, not a team or a shared inbox.
Is Sidecar giving legal advice about my contracts?
No. Sidecar is business decision support: it reads the agreement, quotes the clauses, and works out the dates. For legal questions about a specific contract, talk to a lawyer.
Give every contract someone to answer for it.
Start with the vendor you're least sure about. Your first review is free, with no card.