CITABLE STATISTICS · UPDATED OCTOBER 2026

SaaS pricing statistics, verifiable by design

The corpus figures below come from Report 01, edition 2026-10-07: 513 hand-researched business tools — not scraped, not estimated, not invented. Cite freely (CC BY 4.0): each card has a ready-made citation, and the raw data lets you re-run the analysis.

22%
carry no documented cost caveat in our reviewed corpus of 513 tools

In Report 01 (edition 2026-10-07), 22% of 513 hand-researched business tools carry no documented cost caveat beyond the sticker price. That counts caveats we found on the pricing pages; it does not show the price is complete.

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78%
carries at least one documented cost caveat

78% of 513 researched business tools carry at least one documented cost caveat — usage meters, per-seat scaling, paid add-ons, lock-ins or hidden pricing.

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46%
meters usage on top of the subscription

46% of 513 researched business tools meter usage on top of the subscription (credits, overages or percentage fees).

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24%
charges per seat

24% of 513 researched business tools scale their price with every user added.

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27%
sells key features as paid add-ons

In 27% of 513 researched business tools, key features are paid add-ons on top of the plan.

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6%
publishes no usable price at all

6% of 513 researched business tools publish no usable public price — a quote or sales call is required.

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22%
requires an annual commitment for the advertised price

22% of 513 researched business tools only offer their advertised price with an annual (or longer) commitment.

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34%
has a genuinely free tier

34% of 513 researched business tools offer a genuinely free tier — a real plan, not a trial.

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513
hand-researched pricing dossiers

The AIBM research corpus covers 513 hand-researched business-tool pricing dossiers, each cost-trap flag backed by an evidence sentence.

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14
award winners — zero pay-to-play

The Honest Software Awards 2026 name 14 winners, drawn from researched dossiers; vendors cannot apply or pay.

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245+
pricing pages snapshotted monthly

Since July 2026, AIBM snapshots every monitored SaaS pricing page monthly and archives receipts, so price changes are documented with evidence.

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Method & limits. Percentages describe our research corpus (tools we review, which skews toward tools with affiliate programs) — not a random market sample. Classification rules and evidence sentences: the full report · how we review. Press: daniel@aibuildermarketplace.com.

AIBuilder Marketplace earns affiliate commissions on some tools it covers; these statistics count partners and non-partners by exactly the same rules.