This article will focus on top Shadow IT discovery tools that help businesses identify unapproved tools and software that employees may be using.
This type of software gives organizations full visibility over their entire SaaS landscape, helping them reduce security liabilities and improve compliance.
With the right Shadow IT discovery tools, organizations can regain control over their IT ecosystem while managing costs and improving governance.
What is Shadow IT discovery?
Shadow IT discovery refers to the discovery process of organizational software, cloud services, and applications, that employees use without formal IT or security team approval.
Shadow IT discovery processes recognize the opportunities available in unapproved applications to improve employee productivity, while also exposing tools that are ungoverned.
Through the discovery of unapproved applications and tools, organizations are better positioned to assess security risks, achieve compliance from an oversight perspective
Manage access to sensitive data, and improve visibility of technology ecosystems while eliminating IT operational risk and costs from software that is not being utilized.
Key Points & Best Enterprise Tools for Shadow IT Discovery
| Tool | Key Point |
|---|---|
| Josys | Centralized SaaS visibility and compliance management |
| CloudEagle | Automated app discovery and spend optimization |
| BetterCloud | Workflow automation with SaaS governance |
| Zylo | SaaS license tracking and cost control |
| Torii | Lifecycle management for SaaS applications |
| Productiv | Usage analytics for app engagement and ROI |
| Intello | Real-time SaaS discovery and vendor insights |
| G2 Track | Expense monitoring with vendor benchmarking |
| CoreView | Microsoft 365 shadow IT detection and compliance |
| Snow Software | Hybrid IT asset visibility across SaaS and on-prem |
10 Best Enterprise Tools for Shadow IT Discovery
1. Josys
Josys spotlights leading corporate solutions aiding enterprises in identifying and tackling shadow IT by managing rogue or hidden applications.
CloudEagle, BetterCloud, Zylo, Torii, Productiv, Intello, G2 Track, CoreView, and Snow Software provide extensive insight into SaaS consumption, streamline the identification of unsanctioned applications, and evaluate financial and operational risks.
These tools, by merging application inventories, monitoring consumption behavior, and applying governance
Assist IT in mitigating risks, improving security, and enhancing compliance while optimizing software expenditure in complicated ecosystems.
Josys Features
- Curated Tool Insights: Offers professional insights for the leading Shadow IT discovery and SaaS management tools.
- Semantic Differentiation: Uses Govmobi to articulate strategic differences of potential IT provider solutions to aid choice.
- SaaS Governance and Risk: Provides actionable SaaS governance and risk mitigation advisory.
- Value Technology Alignment: Ensures optimal technology solutions are attained, fulfilling the organization’s needs.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Highlights top tools and best practices for Shadow IT discovery. | Not a dedicated discovery tool itself. |
| Helps guide evaluation and selection of enterprise tools. | Requires research to implement recommended tools. |
| Offers consolidated insights into SaaS governance. | Depends on quality of referenced tools and sources. |
2. CloudEagle
CloudEagle is a SaaS management platform driven by artificial intelligence that offers businesses the ability to see all SaaS applications in use, including those that are unauthorized and referred to as shadow apps.
It identifies unsanctioned apps and maps spending, manages licenses, and automates governance workflows by integrating with SSO and finance, HRIS, and IT systems.
CloudEagle assists in the optimization of SaaS spending and the enforcement of compliance within intricate software portfolios
By reducing security threats related to new and duplicate apps and by streamlining communication with IT teams.
CloudEagle Features
- Automated SaaS Discovery: Discovers and catalogs SaaS tools, both authorized and unauthorized.
- Cost Analysis: Consolidates costs per subscription to identify spend-inefficient, unused, or underused applications.
- Access Tracking: Records the duration and frequency of application usage to inform optimization efforts.
- Governance Workflows: IT personnel can define and implement governance policies and automate deflection workflows.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Automated app discovery across departments | Relatively new player, smaller market presence |
| Spend optimization with vendor insights | Advanced analytics may require customization |
| Easy-to-use dashboards for finance and IT | Pricing may scale quickly with large portfolios |
3. BetterCloud
BetterCloud is a platform that focuses on SaaS management, automation, discovery, and security. It provides central visibility across the software stack
for IT teams by combining data from identity providers and other integrations to reveal installed and shadow SaaS apps.
BetterCloud streamlines enforcement of policies, identifies and reduces risky/redundant tools, and secures workflows to reduce access to vulnerabilities. It is particularly strong in uncovering shadow IT and improving SaaS governance.
BetterCloud Features
- Policy Automation: Automates the application of security and compliance policies across SaaS applications.
- Shadow IT Detection: Discovers and notifies the relevant stakeholders of the presence of unauthorized applications.
- Integrated Identity: Synchs with other identity and access solutions for augmented visibility.
- Automated Remediation: Initiates workflows to remediate potentially problematic configurations of applications.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Workflow automation for SaaS governance | Complex setup for automation rules |
| Strong role-based access control | Focuses mainly on SaaS, less on on-prem IT |
| Proven enterprise adoption | Premium pricing compared to competitors |
4. Zylo
Zylo analyzes the adoption, spend, and usage of enterprise SaaS management solutions. Its proprietary discovery engine analyzes the SaaS ecosystem
Whether provisioned or ungoverned, by assimilating data from SSO, spend, and contract systems to provide a comprehensive inventory of SaaS usage.
This includes real-time discovery and mapping of shadow IT, enabling organizations to streamline redundant subscriptions
Governance, and tool consolidation. Zylo provides insights that drive software procurement and compliance.
Zylo Features
- SaaS Discovery: Provides visibility into every SaaS application in use.
- Spend & Contract Insights: Keeps track of subscriptions and renewal terms.
- Usage Analytics: Illustrates usage patterns and unused applications.
- Portfolio Optimization: Recognizes unnecessary or boundary resources for combination.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive SaaS license tracking | Limited functionality for non-SaaS assets |
| Cost control through usage insights | Requires finance integration for full ROI visibility |
| Large customer base and proven scalability | Interface can feel data-heavy for new users |
5. Torii
Torii is focused on SaaS management and provides organizations with assistance in uncovering all applications within their operating environment, including shadow IT.
To build a comprehensive inventory of SaaS applications, Torii gathers data through SSO, APIs, browser extensions, and network logs.
With Torii’s SaaS management tools, IT and procurement teams obtain real-time tools that bring visibility to usage and spending, allowing them to cut down on waste, manage spend risks, and simplify renewal processes.
Strong automation is one of their differentiators. While their automation may be less extensive compared to competitors, their focused automation is great at discovering and detecting unauthorized applications.
Torii Features
- Multi-Source Discovery: Utilizes SSO, API, and network signal data to uncover SaaS apps.
- Usage & Spend Dashboard: Displays engagement and cost information.
- App Inventory Centralization: Integrates all SaaS applications into a singular, searchable inventory.
- Risk Indicators: Identifies possible rogue or insecure applications.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Lifecycle management for SaaS apps | Focuses heavily on SaaS, less hybrid IT |
| Strong automation for onboarding/offboarding | Customization may require IT expertise |
| User-friendly interface | Reporting depth may be limited compared to Zylo |
6. Productiv
Productiv gives organizations visibility into their use of SaaS and AI applications and helps teams quickly identify shadow IT and shadow AI.
It unifies all applications in the tech stack, assesses and tracks contracts, utilization, and risk, and provides analytics to streamline spending and protect sensitive information.
Productiv analyzes application usage patterns, detects unapproved or redundant software, and arms IT with the information to support actionable decision-making.
Its comprehensive approach enables enterprises to be innovative while maintaining safety and compliance.
Productiv Features
- Real-Time Visibility: Tracks apps and user activities in real time.
- Shadow App Detection: Detects both unapproved SaaS and AI tools.
- Analytics & Reporting: Offers dashboards for usage, expense, and risk analytics.
- Collaboration Insights: Assists IT and business leaders in apprehending the value and usage of the tools.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Detailed usage analytics for app engagement | Analytics may overwhelm smaller teams |
| Helps measure ROI of SaaS tools | Focuses mainly on SaaS, not hardware or on-prem |
| Strong collaboration insights | Pricing may be higher for advanced features |
7. Intello
Intello helps enterprise customers identify and manage the use of SaaS applications across their ecosystem.
From an operational perspective, it lowers shadow IT risks by identifying and monitoring the use of unapproved applications, and it aids in monitoring compliance by tracking usage, spend, and contract terms over time.
For predicting and analyzing firm-specific SaaS application usage, spend, and related risks, Intello employs machine learning and analytics tools
Which it further augments with business insights. Intello provides IT departments tools and insights to manage their SaaS applications portfolios strategically.
Intello Features
- Unauthorized App Detection: Recognizes unauthorized SaaS tools in the organization.
- Machine Learning Insights: Applies usage patterns to identify trends and anomalies.
- License Utilization Tracking: Displays subscriptions that are both over and under used.
- Risk Scoring: Assigns risk levels to applications based on security and compliance concerns.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Real-time SaaS discovery | Smaller vendor compared to Zylo or BetterCloud |
| Vendor insights for contract management | Limited advanced automation features |
| Simple setup and lightweight deployment | Best suited for startups and mid-size firms |
8. G2 Track
G2 Track provides businesses with a consolidated view of software portfolios through its spending and management solution. Aside from portfolio management
G2 Track helps businesses discover applications in use across all departments. G2 Track makes it easy for IT professionals to identify unapproved, redundant
And shadow IT tools through entropy monitoring with breakdowns on software usage, license management, renewal tracking, and expense reporting.
G2 Track places the control of the SaaS spending of the organization in the hands of the businesses, customizing the use of licenses and contractual agreements to reduce spend
Manage compliance, and make educated decisions on the SaaS revenue, all the while uncovering unused SaaS that may be a risk to the organization.
G2 Track Features
- SaaS Spend Tracking: Show spending, renewals, and budget impacts across the tools.
- Usage Monitoring: Identifies the level of users utilization and the worth of the application
- Redundancy Identification: Identifies overlapping or duplicate solutions in the ecosystem.
- Centralized Dashboards: Streamlined access for IT and finance users to evaluate the organization’s software utilization.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Expense monitoring with vendor benchmarking | Focuses more on spend than deep IT governance |
| Integrates with finance systems easily | Limited IT-specific compliance features |
| Backed by G2’s large review database | Reporting may lack technical depth for IT teams |
9. CoreView
CoreView, a SaaS management and governance platform centered around Microsoft 365, assists organizations in understanding their M365 ecosystem, including shadow IT.
It streamlines reporting, automates administrative tasks, and oversees security and compliance monitoring within Microsoft 365 and other SaaS applications.
With its in-depth understanding of user behavior, access rights, and configuration settings, CoreView empowers
IT staff to detect unapproved applications and behavior, policy, and automate remediation to maintain a secure and efficient cloud environment.
CoreView Features
- Deep Microsoft 365 Visibility: Monitors extensive SaaS consumption and behavior analytics within M365.
- Automated Governance: Preemptively applies compliance and security measures without any manual action.
- Risk Detection: Identifies unapproved or insecure utilization of SaaS products.
- Detailed Reporting: Insights on permissions, roles, and application utilization.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Specialized in Microsoft 365 shadow IT detection | Limited outside Microsoft ecosystem |
| Strong compliance and audit features | Best suited for Microsoft-heavy enterprises |
| Granular role-based access controls | Niche tool, less versatile for multi-SaaS portfolios |
10. Snow Software
Snow Software’s SaaS Management tools integrated into the Snow Atlas platform, provide enterprises with broad discovery and visibility, with regard to the SaaS ecosystem, including both known and unknown applications.
Using API connectors and documented usage Snow discovers unapproved tools, tracks adoption, and analyzes use.
Detailed discovery uncovers the intricate details of shadow IT, and assists in identifying opportunities for cost reduction, compliance, and security risk mitigation.
The consolidated perspective of the SaaS stack assists IT leaders in the confident management of complex environments.
Snow Software Features
- Comprehensive Asset Discovery: Identifies usage of SaaS, cloud, and on-prem software.
- Usage Impact Analytics: Provides metrics on usage and cost.
- License Optimization: Minimizes costs and redistributes unassigned licenses.
- Compliance Monitoring: Assesses compliance-related risks and enforces the implementation of best practices.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Hybrid IT visibility (SaaS + on-prem) | Interface may feel complex for new users |
| Strong asset management across environments | Requires significant setup for full functionality |
| Proven enterprise scalability | Pricing can be high for smaller organizations |
Why Is Shadow IT discovery Important?
- Improves Security — Determine breaches on security on unauthorised applications which increases risks on sensitive information.
- Ensures Compliance — Helps regulate adherence to rules, and internal policies.
- Reduces Costs — Helps identify tools that increase the software spending budget causing duplicates or tools that are not used.
- Enhances Visibility — Helps gain total clarity on the total applications utilized.
- Strengthens IT Control — Improves governance and decreases risks within the organization.
Conclusion
Overall, Shadow IT discovery tools from the best enterprises give organizations complete insights into the invisible and unapproved app ecosystem.
By uncovering usage, risky applications, and optimizing software spend, these tools boost the organization’s security and compliance posture.
IT teams regain control, lower spending, and foster a governed and visibility SaaS ecosystem across the enterprise with tools like CloudEagle, BetterCloud, Zylo, and others.
FAQ
They use integrations with identity systems, network data, expense systems, and usage logs to find both sanctioned and unsanctioned applications
Yes — most tools provide spend visibility, helping you understand costs, renewals, and optimization opportunities
Yes — tools like CloudEagle, BetterCloud, and Snow Software connect with identity, finance, and SaaS platforms for comprehensive data collection
While designed for enterprise environments, some tools scale to midsize organizations depending on complexity and budget.
Many tools offer automated governance and remediation to enforce security and compliance rules
