Business software spending
Are businesses still paying for software?
Contributes to: Is software cheaper and more reliable?. Signal score: 0 / 100. Relative weight within this question: 1.
StatusStill rising
Latest value$986B
Year over year+13%
Distance from highAt its high
Caution
Higher spending can also mean software is more useful, so a rise does not prove it is far from solved. This counts investment by US businesses, and not all software purchases.
Observed trend
US real private fixed investment in software, in billions of 2017 dollars a year.
US real private fixed investment in software, in billions of 2017 dollars a year. · 2016-01 – 2026-07
View data table
| Period / observation | US real private fixed investment in software, in billions of 2017 dollars a year. |
|---|---|
| 2016-01 | 326 |
| 2016-04 | 335 |
| 2016-07 | 346 |
| 2016-10 | 355 |
| 2017-01 | 366 |
| 2017-04 | 376 |
| 2017-07 | 389 |
| 2017-10 | 401 |
| 2018-01 | 414 |
| 2018-04 | 429 |
| 2018-07 | 441 |
| 2018-10 | 452 |
| 2019-01 | 450 |
| 2019-04 | 459 |
| 2019-07 | 470 |
| 2019-10 | 487 |
| 2020-01 | 503 |
| 2020-04 | 501 |
| 2020-07 | 509 |
| 2020-10 | 530 |
| 2021-01 | 559 |
| 2021-04 | 580 |
| 2021-07 | 595 |
| 2021-10 | 614 |
| 2022-01 | 646 |
| 2022-04 | 668 |
| 2022-07 | 682 |
| 2022-10 | 702 |
| 2023-01 | 704 |
| 2023-04 | 709 |
| 2023-07 | 718 |
| 2023-10 | 735 |
| 2024-01 | 754 |
| 2024-04 | 762 |
| 2024-07 | 766 |
| 2024-10 | 777 |
| 2025-01 | 814 |
| 2025-04 | 867 |
| 2025-07 | 873 |
| 2025-10 | 878 |
| 2026-01 | 932 |
| 2026-04 | 963 |
| 2026-07 | 986 |
What it measures
- Metric
- US private investment in software, adjusted for inflation, latest quarter, in billions of dollars a year
- Solved if
- Businesses spend less because software gets cheap
- Signal score
- 0 / 100. Against real GDP: Up 28% since ChatGPT launched. How it is scored
- Status rule
- Still rising when real investment is higher than a year before.
Update history
The reading on each date we checked, separate from the historical observations above.
| Date | Value | Year over year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-02 | $986B | +13% | Still rising |
| 2026-11-01 | $986B | +13% | Still rising |
Source
| Source | Role | Measures | Latest data |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEA software investment | Scored measurement | US real private fixed investment in software | Q3 2026 |