Original research
What software actually costs
Benchmarks calculated from the published pricing plans of 110 products we track. Every figure below is an aggregate of real stored prices, and each carries the number of products it was calculated from.
Median entry price
$10/mo
110 products · $1–$49
Have a free plan
59%
of 117 products
Annual billing saves
20%
median across 20 plans that publish both
Median cost for 10 people
$12.95/mo
37 products where the seat basis is known
Entry pricing by category
The cheapest paid plan of each product, aggregated. Products with no published price are excluded, so the sample is smaller than the product count.
| Category | Products | Cheapest | Median | Most expensive | Free plan | Common model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Tools | 15 | $4.99/mo | $16.99/mo | $49/mo | 87% | flat rate (1) |
| Developer Tools | 18 | $1.94/mo | $9/mo | $29/mo | 95% | flat rate (2) |
| Hosting | 20 | $1/mo | $3.85/mo | $35/mo | 5% | flat rate (4) |
| Lifetime Deals | 15 | $5/mo | $18/mo | $49/mo | 65% | flat rate (5) |
| SaaS | 22 | $3.99/mo | $15.24/mo | $39/mo | 73% | per seat (5) |
| VPN | 20 | $1/mo | $3.11/mo | $12.99/mo | 35% | tiered (4) |
How these numbers were calculated
- Entry price is the cheapest plan that costs money, per product. Free plans are counted separately rather than as $0 entries.
- Annual savingcompares a plan’s published annual rate with its published monthly rate, and only where the vendor publishes both.
- Cost for ten people multiplies a per-seat plan by ten, or takes the flat rate where a plan is not charged per seat. Products whose seat basis we have not verified are excluded.
- Prices come from each vendor’s published pricing page, recorded on the product page with the date it was read.
Last calculated 26 September 2026 at 06:09. Read the full methodology or report an error.