SaaS Price Comparison 2020–2026
We pulled the lowest-priced monthly subscription from 65 SaaS vendor pricing pages in January 2020, then repeated the exercise in April 2026. 2020 prices were verified against the closest available Wayback Machine snapshot for each tool. 2026 prices were taken from live pricing pages captured in the same month. The result is a like-for-like record of entry-tier price movement across 12 software categories over six years.
The pattern is consistent: tools whose core function can be approximated by a vibe-coded side project have no pricing power. The categories most exposed to AI replication — CRM, project management, productivity, dev tooling — show median price changes at or below zero. Categories that require human process, compliance, or integrations that AI cannot yet replicate — HR, accounting, support, analytics — raised prices well above inflation.
By Daniel Grainger, founder of Ranking Atlas
Published April 2026 · 65 tools across 12 categories
Archived Source Snapshots
Two examples of Wayback Machine snapshots used to verify 2020 pricing. Full set of source snapshots available on request.
Kayako — Entry Tier 2020 vs 2026
Kayako's lowest paid monthly subscription rose from $15 per agent per month in January 2020 to $79 per agent per month for Kayako One in April 2026, a 427% increase.
Asana — Six Years Unchanged
Asana's Premium tier (now Starter) has held at $10.99 per user per month since January 2020.
Full Dataset
All 65 tools, ranked by percentage change. Prices in USD, monthly billing cycle, lowest-priced standalone paid subscription published on the vendor's default pricing page each year.
| # | Tool | Category | Jan 2020 | Apr 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kayako | Support | $15.00 | $79.00 | +426.7% |
| 2 | Klipfolio | Analytics | $49.00 | $140.00 | +185.7% |
| 3 | JazzHR | HR | $39.00 | $110.00 | +182.1% |
| 4 | Later | Marketing | $9.00 | $25.00 | +177.8% |
| 5 | Hiver | Support | $14.00 | $35.00 | +150.0% |
| 6 | Xero | Accounting | $11.00 | $25.00 | +127.3% |
| 7 | Zoho Books | Accounting | $9.00 | $20.00 | +122.2% |
| 8 | Deputy | HR | $2.50 | $5.50 | +120.0% |
| 9 | Wishpond | Marketing | $49.00 | $99.00 | +102.0% |
| 10 | Sprout Social | Marketing | $99.00 | $199.00 | +101.0% |
| 11 | Airtable | Project Mgmt | $10.00 | $20.00 | +100.0% |
| 12 | MailerLite | Marketing | $10.00 | $20.00 | +100.0% |
| 13 | Geckoboard | Analytics | $31.00 | $60.00 | +93.5% |
| 14 | ClickUp | Project Mgmt | $4.00 | $7.00 | +75.0% |
| 15 | Todoist | Project Mgmt | $4.00 | $7.00 | +75.0% |
| 16 | Hotjar | Analytics | $29.00 | $49.00 | +69.0% |
| 17 | When I Work | HR | $1.50 | $2.50 | +66.7% |
| 18 | Weebly | Ecommerce | $6.00 | $10.00 | +66.7% |
| 19 | Twist | Comms | $5.00 | $8.00 | +60.0% |
| 20 | Benchmark Email | Marketing | $11.89 | $19.00 | +59.8% |
| 21 | AWeber | Marketing | $19.00 | $30.00 | +57.9% |
| 22 | FreshBooks | Accounting | $15.00 | $23.00 | +53.3% |
| 23 | QuickBooks | Accounting | $25.00 | $38.00 | +52.0% |
| 24 | Pipedrive | CRM | $12.50 | $19.00 | +52.0% |
| 25 | Help Scout | Support | $20.00 | $30.00 | +50.0% |
| 26 | Webflow | Ecommerce | $12.00 | $18.00 | +50.0% |
| 27 | Re:amaze | Support | $20.00 | $29.00 | +45.0% |
| 28 | Chanty | Comms | $3.00 | $4.00 | +33.3% |
| 29 | Shopify | Ecommerce | $19.00 | $25.00 | +31.6% |
| 30 | Ahrefs | Marketing | $99.00 | $129.00 | +30.3% |
| 31 | Crazy Egg | Analytics | $24.00 | $29.00 | +20.8% |
| 32 | Volusion | Ecommerce | $29.00 | $35.00 | +20.7% |
| 33 | Kajabi | Ecommerce | $149.00 | $179.00 | +20.1% |
| 34 | SurveyMonkey | Productivity | $25.00 | $30.00 | +20.0% |
| 35 | Nimble | CRM | $25.00 | $29.90 | +19.6% |
| 36 | LiveChat | Support | $16.00 | $19.00 | +18.8% |
| 37 | Sentry | Dev | $26.00 | $29.00 | +11.5% |
| 38 | Breezy HR | HR | $171.00 | $189.00 | +10.5% |
| 39 | Mailjet | Marketing | $8.69 | $9.00 | +3.6% |
| 40 | Wrike | Project Mgmt | $9.80 | $10.00 | +2.0% |
| 41 | RingCentral | Comms | $29.99 | $30.00 | +0.0% |
| 42 | Sellfy | Ecommerce | $29.00 | $29.00 | +0.0% |
| 43 | Insightly | CRM | $29.00 | $29.00 | +0.0% |
| 44 | Asana | Project Mgmt | $10.99 | $10.99 | +0.0% |
| 45 | Datadog | Dev | $15.00 | $15.00 | +0.0% |
| 46 | Grammarly | Productivity | $12.00 | $12.00 | +0.0% |
| 47 | Agile CRM | CRM | $8.99 | $8.99 | +0.0% |
| 48 | Loggly | Dev | $79.00 | $79.00 | +0.0% |
| 49 | Vercel | Dev | $20.00 | $20.00 | +0.0% |
| 50 | Otter.ai | Productivity | $8.33 | $8.33 | +0.0% |
| 51 | Teachable | Ecommerce | $39.00 | $39.00 | +0.0% |
| 52 | Moz | Marketing | $99.00 | $99.00 | +0.0% |
| 53 | Gusto | HR | $51.00 | $49.00 | -3.9% |
| 54 | Harvest | Accounting | $12.00 | $11.00 | -8.3% |
| 55 | Smartsheet | Project Mgmt | $14.00 | $12.00 | -14.3% |
| 56 | Framer | Visual Design | $12.00 | $10.00 | -16.7% |
| 57 | Drip | Marketing | $49.00 | $39.00 | -20.4% |
| 58 | BigCommerce | Ecommerce | $39.00 | $29.95 | -23.2% |
| 59 | Nutshell | CRM | $22.00 | $15.00 | -31.8% |
| 60 | Paymo | Project Mgmt | $9.56 | $5.90 | -38.3% |
| 61 | Constant Contact | Marketing | $20.00 | $12.00 | -40.0% |
| 62 | CircleCI | Dev | $30.00 | $15.00 | -50.0% |
| 63 | Copper | CRM | $24.00 | $12.00 | -50.0% |
| 64 | Venngage | Visual Design | $49.00 | $19.00 | -61.2% |
| 65 | Vtiger | CRM | $42.00 | $15.00 | -64.3% |
Sample of 65 tools. Changes above +27.1% beat US CPI over the period. Negative values indicate price cuts. Download as CSV.
Median Price Change By Category
Median percentage change in lowest monthly entry tier, by category, sorted by magnitude of change. All categories include at least three tools except Visual Design (n=2), disclosed below.
| Category | Tools | Median Change | AI-Replicable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analytics | 4 | +81.3% | Resistant |
| HR | 5 | +66.7% | Resistant |
| Marketing | 11 | +57.9% | Mixed |
| Accounting | 5 | +53.3% | Resistant |
| Support | 5 | +50.0% | Resistant |
| Comms | 3 | +33.3% | Resistant |
| Ecommerce | 8 | +20.4% | Resistant |
| Project Mgmt | 7 | +2.0% | Replicable |
| CRM | 7 | +0.0% | Replicable |
| Productivity | 3 | +0.0% | Replicable |
| Dev | 5 | +0.0% | Replicable |
| Visual Design | 2 | -38.9% | Replicable |
Marketing is classified as "Mixed" because individual tools within the category varied widely in their replaceability exposure (email marketing versus social media management versus SEO).
Largest Price Increases
The five tools with the largest percentage price increases on their lowest monthly entry tier.
| Tool | Category | Jan 2020 | Apr 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kayako | Support | $15.00 | $79.00 | +426.7% |
| Klipfolio | Analytics | $49.00 | $140.00 | +185.7% |
| JazzHR | HR | $39.00 | $110.00 | +182.1% |
| Later | Marketing | $9.00 | $25.00 | +177.8% |
| Hiver | Support | $14.00 | $35.00 | +150.0% |
Largest Price Cuts
The five tools with the largest percentage price declines on their lowest monthly entry tier.
| Tool | Category | Jan 2020 | Apr 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vtiger | CRM | $42.00 | $15.00 | -64.3% |
| Venngage | Visual Design | $49.00 | $19.00 | -61.2% |
| Copper | CRM | $24.00 | $12.00 | -50.0% |
| CircleCI | Dev | $30.00 | $15.00 | -50.0% |
| Constant Contact | Marketing | $20.00 | $12.00 | -40.0% |
Methodology
The dataset tracks the lowest-priced monthly subscription published on each vendor's default pricing page in January 2020 and April 2026. 2020 prices were taken from the closest available Wayback Machine snapshot to January 2020. 2026 prices were taken from live vendor pricing pages captured in April 2026.
Inclusion rules: a tool was included only if it published a monthly-billed entry-tier price on its default pricing page in both years, and if its pricing model remained directly comparable between the two dates. Tools that moved from seat-based to consumption-based pricing (or vice versa) were excluded as non-comparable. Tools where the 2020 Wayback snapshot was incomplete, missing, or ambiguous were excluded.
Price selection: the lowest-priced paid standalone subscription, on monthly billing (not annual-billed-monthly-equivalent), exact figure as published. Free tiers, trials, usage add-ons, SMS and AI credit packs, and per-user fees beyond the base plan were excluded. Where a vendor showed both monthly and annual billing, the monthly figure was taken in both years — annual discounts have widened at many vendors during the period, which would obscure underlying price movement.
Category assignment: each tool was assigned to a single category based on its primary product function in 2026. Categories with fewer than three tools were excluded, with one exception: Visual Design (n=2, Framer and Venngage) was retained as a standalone category because both tools directly represent the creative design software segment most exposed to generative AI substitution.
AI-replicability classification: categories were labelled as "Replicable" or "Resistant" based on whether the core product function could reasonably be approximated by a small team using 2026 AI coding assistants and generative AI tools. This is a judgement label, not a measurement. Marketing is labelled "Mixed" because the category contains tools with materially different replaceability profiles.
Inflation comparison: US Consumer Price Index (all urban consumers) rose 27.1% between January 2020 and March 2026, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
About the author
Founder, Ranking Atlas
LinkedInDaniel Grainger is the founder of Ranking Atlas. He runs fixed-price campaigns that earn editorial coverage on authoritative publishers, building the citation equity that puts B2B SaaS brands in AI answers. He runs ongoing original research into what moves citation equity, publishing the findings as primary-source reports.