{
 "study_id": "aibm-r01-pricing-transparency",
 "slug": "saas-pricing-transparency-2026",
 "title": "Report 01: SaaS Pricing Transparency",
 "type": "market_observation",
 "edition": "2026-10-07",
 "first_published": "2026-07-09",
 "population": "513 business-software tools with a hand-researched pricing dossier in our corpus on 2026-10-07; skewed toward tools with affiliate programmes.",
 "population_short": "513 researched tools",
 "selection": "Every dossier in the corpus on the edition date. A tool enters the corpus when we research and review it.",
 "measurement_period": {
  "start": "2026-07-01",
  "end": "2026-10-07"
 },
 "headline": {
  "text": "of the researched tools carry at least one documented cost caveat",
  "numerator": 398,
  "denominator": 513,
  "metric": "caveat_share"
 },
 "metrics": [
  {
   "id": "quote_only",
   "label": "Hidden pricing",
   "numerator": 29,
   "denominator": 513
  },
  {
   "id": "per_seat",
   "label": "Per-seat pricing",
   "numerator": 125,
   "denominator": 513
  },
  {
   "id": "usage_metered",
   "label": "Usage-metered",
   "numerator": 237,
   "denominator": 513
  },
  {
   "id": "renewal_jump",
   "label": "Renewal jump",
   "numerator": 9,
   "denominator": 513
  },
  {
   "id": "addons_extra",
   "label": "Add-ons extra",
   "numerator": 139,
   "denominator": 513
  },
  {
   "id": "annual_lock",
   "label": "Annual commit",
   "numerator": 115,
   "denominator": 513
  },
  {
   "id": "free_tier",
   "label": "Free tier",
   "numerator": 172,
   "denominator": 513
  },
  {
   "id": "quote_enterprise_only",
   "label": "price everything except an enterprise tier (not counted as hidden pricing)",
   "numerator": 4,
   "denominator": 513
  },
  {
   "id": "annual_required",
   "label": "annual or quarterly contract required",
   "numerator": 16,
   "denominator": 513
  },
  {
   "id": "annual_optional",
   "label": "annual billing optional",
   "numerator": 99,
   "denominator": 513
  }
 ],
 "limitations": [
  "Not a random sample of the software market: the tools we research and review.",
  "A dossier without a flag has no documented caveat; that does not prove the entry price is the whole bill.",
  "Evidence sentences carry their own reading dates, which can be later than the edition's first month."
 ],
 "method_url": "#method",
 "evidence_url": "#flags",
 "verification": {
  "last_verified": "2026-10-07"
 },
 "next_full_recheck": "monthly: a new edition is computed at most once per calendar month",
 "schema": "aibm-research-manifest/1",
 "files": [
  {
   "name": "stats.json",
   "url": "/research/saas-pricing-transparency-2026/data/2026-10-07/stats.json",
   "bytes": 5213,
   "sha256": "302d51dbb05f9099bb79f051f9ef986e4841a022a4308876da07bf258b5fbcd3"
  },
  {
   "name": "tools-flags.csv",
   "url": "/research/saas-pricing-transparency-2026/data/2026-10-07/tools-flags.csv",
   "bytes": 197692,
   "sha256": "13bd66ffe37e02dd2f82dcaeac7ef27ecb1aa659c297c18ff96bd8089282e959"
  }
 ],
 "author": {
  "name": "Daniel Haket",
  "url": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/about/",
  "email": "daniel@aibuildermarketplace.com"
 },
 "reviewer": null,
 "license": {
  "name": "CC BY 4.0",
  "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "scope": "Our own data, analysis, tables and charts. Quoted vendor text and screenshots of vendor pages remain the vendor's; we reproduce them as evidence."
 },
 "contact": "daniel@aibuildermarketplace.com",
 "corrections": [],
 "fingerprint": "5135cc59dc6f10f7",
 "edition_published": "2026-10-07"
}