SaaS vendors are hiking costs, fast, but you can push back • The Register

SaaS vendors are increasing prices faster than both inflation and the typical growth rate of corporate IT budgets, but Gartner VP analyst Jo Liversidge thinks that canny buyers can reduce their bills by anticipating price hikes and planning to negotiate hard.

Speaking at the analyst firm's Symposium event in Australia last week, Liversidge said SaaS vendors have hiked prices by between 9 and 25 percent this year. While some price increases reflect exchange rate shifts or a vendor's desire just to charge more for their wares, many come after SaaS companies change the metrics they use to set prices or repackage licenses in ways that make them more expensive.

"Hidden costs are not new in SaaS – Salesforce customers have dealt with storage costs for years," Liversidge explained. "But we're n