About & methodology

Last updated: September 18, 2026

What this site is

True Cost of SaaS is an independent research site for people who already pay for business software and are deciding whether to keep paying. We start with project management and CRM tools — what they cost per seat, what the free plans really include, and which cheaper tool does the same job for a team your size.

Why we price at checkout, not on the marketing page

Vendors publish a headline number and then add conditions. The number that decides your budget is the one the payment page asks for: per-seat minimums, annual-only billing, contact-count tiers, setup fees, and the add-on you only discover after your team is already using the product.

So for every tool we cover we buy or trial the entry tier, walk through the checkout flow, and record what it shows. Where a plan cannot be bought without paying, we capture the price in the cart and stop before the payment step. That is the standard we hold ourselves to, and it is why our tables sometimes disagree with what a vendor advertises.

How we test

1. Buy or trial the lowest paid tier — so the billing details and product screens come from inside the product, not from a press kit.
2. Walk the checkout flow — noting per-seat minimums, forced annual billing, tax handling and any mandatory add-ons.
3. Use it for the job it claims to do — the workarounds, the missing views, and the settings that take three menus to find.
4. Re-check the price — when a vendor announces a change, and in any case on a rolling basis. Every table carries a "last verified" date, and we would rather show an older date than a wrong number.

What we do not do

• We do not take payment for placement or for a better ranking.
• We do not rank a tool higher because it pays a bigger commission — several tools we recommend have no affiliate programme at all.
• We do not describe a product we have not opened.
• We do not publish a price we have not seen on a checkout or billing screen.

How we make money

Through affiliate commissions and, later, advertising. If you follow a link to a vendor and buy, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This never changes the order of our picks or the figures in our tables — see our affiliate disclosure for the specifics.

Corrections

Software pricing moves constantly, and a site like this is only useful if it admits when it is out of date. If a number here is wrong, tell us — we will correct it and re-date the page.

Who writes this

The True Cost of SaaS editorial team: a small independent group that buys, trials and uses the tools it writes about. Every page lists the date it was last verified so you can judge how current it is.

Contact

Corrections, questions, or a vendor who wants to point out a mistake: contact@truecostofsaas.com