Freshworks buys Torii to push Freshservice into governing AI and software spend

Freshworks sells the Freshservice IT service management platform; Torii, founded in 2017, gives companies visibility into SaaS and AI applications, licenses, users and spend.

That IT's next system of record must govern AI and software spend down to the token — and that buying the category leader beats building that layer itself.

Torii was founded in 2017 to turn hidden SaaS activity into governed, accountable operations. As AI moved from experiment to infrastructure, CIOs were left governing an estate they could only partially see: unmanaged tools, unclear costs, and security risk. 'Most CIOs still can't see it, let alone control it,' said Torii CEO Uri Haramati.

On October 12, 2026, Freshworks signed a definitive agreement to acquire Torii, extending Freshservice into software management and AI spend governance. Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside framed it as the end of finance and IT reconciling spreadsheets — one view of what is running, who is using it and what it costs. Torii tracks AI consumption to the token, attributes it to teams, forecasts where spend is heading, and supports chargebacks and limits.

AI's token-metered pricing created spend that finance systems cannot categorize, threatening both budgets and the perceived value of IT oversight.

Freshservice's installed base gave Freshworks distribution into exactly the IT teams that need software and AI spend visibility.

Torii arrived with category credentials — a 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader designation — and named enterprise customers like Hearst, Groupon and Koch.

Building token-level attribution and forecasting in-house would have cost Freshworks the two years the AI spend wave was not going to wait for.

When usage-based AI pricing breaks the budgeting stack, the fastest route into spend governance is buying the company that already maps the estate — not bolting analytics onto tickets.

The deal is expected to close in Freshworks' fourth fiscal quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions; no price was disclosed in the announcement. Freshworks says the combination will give IT visibility into every application, license and identity, clarity on cost, and faster employee access with fewer tickets. Torii's platform continues to position against the same sprawl — compliance evidence, renewals, lifecycle automation — now under Freshworks' service-operations umbrella.