Ransomware. It’s the No. 1 thing that keeps CTOs, CIOs, and IT professionals up at night. Major corporations regularly appear in embarrassing headlines, the victims of ransomware attacks. Attacks in the United States cost $7.9 billion in 2019. In 2020 alone, Denmark-based ISS World, Cognizant, Sopra Steria, and other companies fell victim to ransomware attacks. 

While there are various methods hackers can use to gain access to companies’ networks and systems, “brute force” remains the No. 1 approach. That is, hackers like to find weak passwords and use them to gain entry.

The threat of ransomware is just one of the many reasons why single-sign-on software is so popular in 2021. Not only does single-sign-on software (SSO for short) help with security, it also enhances convenience and transparency, it speeds up the process for gaining access to new platforms, and it reduces the burden on IT teams to reset passwords and otherwise help users with administrative tasks.

But there’s one huge problem with SSO in 2021: It’s expensive.

Your company’s SSO capabilities are only as good as the many SaaS tools that allow your SSO platform to manage passwords. Unfortunately, many SaaS tools hide SSO capabilities in enterprise-level pricing tiers. That’s fine if you’re an enterprise-level business that needs the highest level of service.

But what about small- and mid-size businesses? What about startups? What about companies that are doing just fine with 30 or fewer employees?

These types of businesses don’t need to pay for an enterprise-level package that includes dozens if not hundreds of licenses and other features that smaller companies simply don’t require.

The placement of SSO in these enterprise-level pricing tiers is becoming a problem. The issue is starting to pop up in Reddit threads and Medium posts, and the rest of the technology industry is beginning to notice.

The SSO wall of shame

Visit sso.tax to discover some of the worst offenders — the SaaS tools hiding SSO in highly expensive packages. This list includes details on each platform’s base pricing per user vs. the pricing per user in the first tier that includes SSO. Some of the increases are staggering. Here’s a look at the biggest jumps: 

• Hubspot: 6300%
• Redash: 818%
• Raygun: 721%
• Checkly: 586%
• NationBuilder: 586%
• Airtable: 500%
• CoderPad: 500%
• Github: 425%

No company can rationalize spending 500% more on a given tool just for access to SSO. And so smaller companies are left to fend for themselves on the security front, continuing to do their best to prevent attacks without SSO to lean on. In addition, these smaller companies lose out on the speed, convenience, and transparency that SSO offers. Is it all fair?

The debate: Is this SSO pricing approach fair?

There’s a debate raging in the software community about SSO capabilities placed into high-priced, enterprise-level tiers. On one side, you have defenders who say that SSO is valuable and that it’s being priced as a valuable feature with its placement in high-end tiers. Others say that the security and convenience SSO provides should be a basic necessity for all users — something available to much smaller businesses in lower-level pricing tiers.

Unfortunately, there’s no sign that the democratization of SSO is forthcoming. And there are a few good solutions for companies that need SSO but can’t afford to pay for the tiers that include it.

There’s good news, though, for companies that find themselves stuck in this unenviable situation: Sastrify offers a service that can help you overcome these SSO pricing challenges.

The solution no one talks about

It’s notoriously difficult to find enterprise-level pricing for a number of SaaS tools. And that’s by design. First and foremost, SaaS providers want you to contact their sales teams for enterprise-level pricing so that they can enforce their sales cycle on your purchasing decision. They want to show you a demo and get you started with a free trial. The last thing they want you to do is to test out the competition’s platform. 

But there’s another reason why enterprise-level pricing is hard to find: It’s negotiable.

If you’re a small- or mid-sized business or a startup that’s beginning to scale, the best solution is to gain access to SSO by negotiating an enterprise-level package at the lowest possible rate. These SaaS tools don’t put their enterprise pricing in writing because they don’t have hard-and-fast numbers in the highest tiers — you pay the best price that you can negotiate.

Sastrify: let us help you negotiate enterprise pricing

At Sastrify, we exist to help companies navigate the complexities of SaaS procurement and management. For each of the common problems with SaaS evaluation and usage, we provide a solution.

Can’t find enterprise-level pricing? We offer a benchmarking service that reveals what companies like yours should be paying. 

Tired of renewing at higher rates? We alert you in advance to expiring contracts so that you can right-size your subscriptions and renew at prices that work for your business.

Need enterprise-level service at low prices? We support the negotiation of both new and existing contracts, using our benchmarks and data to back our case for a lower rate.

And we commonly help our clients with leading SaaS tools like Atlassian, AWS, Dayforce, Google Workspace, Looker, Salesforce, and others. We even let users upload their SaaS invoices for analysis so that we can let them know how their expenses compare to others. There’s no reason why a company should go blind to new contracts or renegotiations with their SaaS providers.

When you are able to access enterprise-level packages and low prices, you’re able to access the 3 major benefits of SSO capabilities:

1. Savings: You need fewer IT team members to help with password management and resets, which helps reduce your IT spend.
2. Efficiency: Your employees have a single hub for accessing all the platforms they need in their day-to-day work. No more time wasted on waiting for access to SaaS tools.
3. Security: Best of all, you can rest easy knowing that it’s unlikely your company’s name will pop up in headlines as the victim of a ransomware attack.

While others engage in a debate over SSO — Is it a basic security need or a luxury to be paid for? — you can enjoy the benefits of SSO at a price that fits your business model. Find out how it works.