Original research · checked 2026-10-18 to 2026-10-29
Monthly vs Annual SaaS Pricing: What 27 Sales Tools Charge (2026 Study)
We read the pricing pages of every tool in the RevOps Agent Index and kept every plan that publishes both a monthly price and an annual price for the same tier. That left 63 plans across 29 sales and RevOps tools. Paying month-to-month costs a median 26.7% more than the annual-equivalent rate.
- Median monthly markup: 26.7% (mean 31.4%). Range 7.2%–111.1%.
- 63 plans · 29 tools with both monthly and annual prices published on the vendor site.
- In 16 of 23 multi-plan tools, the cheapest plan has the biggest markup.
- Break-even at the median: about 9.5 months of monthly billing equals one prepaid year.
- Highest markup in the set: Close Solo at 111.1% ($19/mo vs $9/mo annual).
Sources: vendor pricing pages recorded in our index. Full methodology and CSV below.
Why this matters for RevOps buyers
Sales and RevOps stacks are full of tools that look cheap on the annual tile and expensive when you want to try them for a quarter. The markup is rarely labelled as a percentage. Teams that start on monthly to de-risk a rollout often stay there past the break-even point without noticing.
This study only counts plans where the vendor shows both numbers for the same tier, so every row can be checked on the source page. We did not invent prices, apply FX conversion, or include "talk to sales" quotes.
How the markups are distributed
Number of plans by monthly markup bucket. Most plans sit between 15% and 35%.
Monthly markup % = (monthly − annual-per-month) ÷ annual-per-month × 100.
Markup by category
Median monthly markup among dual-priced plans in each RevOps category we cover.
| Category | Tools | Plans | Median markup | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deal Desk / CPQ | 2 | 2 | 40% | 40%–40% |
| Meeting Notes | 5 | 9 | 34.5% | 25%–80% |
| Lead Routing & Enrichment | 6 | 12 | 33.5% | 25.3%–44.1% |
| Copilots & CRMs | 4 | 12 | 25.8% | 7.2%–111.1% |
| CRM Hygiene | 1 | 2 | 25.4% | 25.4%–25.5% |
| Outbound | 11 | 26 | 23.5% | 8.9%–50% |
How much do RevOps / sales tools cost?
Separate from the markup study: among 74 tools in our index with a parseable public monthly price, the median cheapest paid plan is about 35/mo (mixed $ and €, no FX conversion). 39 of 133 listings advertise a free plan; 31 are quote-only.
| Category | Tools w/ public /mo price | Median entry price | Range (cheapest plan) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting Notes | 6 | ~16/mo | 8–30/mo |
| Copilots & CRMs | 18 | ~24/mo | 5–165/mo |
| Forecasting | 3 | ~30/mo | 19–249/mo |
| Deal Desk / CPQ | 7 | ~35/mo | 11–250/mo |
| Outbound | 16 | ~43/mo | 8–600/mo |
| Lead Routing & Enrichment | 18 | ~52/mo | 12–2500/mo |
| CRM Hygiene | 5 | ~99/mo | 25–300/mo |
| Renewals | 1 | ~250/mo | 250–250/mo |
Entry price = lowest published paid /mo figure on the vendor page we recorded. See each category and buyer's guide for tool-level detail.
Every plan in the study
Sorted by markup, highest first. Annual column is the effective monthly rate when billed annually. Click a tool for the full listing.
Download the same rows as CSV (63 plans). Partner links on tool listings use rel="sponsored noopener" where we have an affiliate URL; this study page does not wrap the table in affiliate links.
Methodology
- Source: Vendor pricing pages, as recorded in RevOps Agent Index (data/agents.json). Each row links to the vendor pricing URL we recorded, with the check date.
- Inclusion: A plan is included only when the vendor publishes both a monthly price and an annual price (or annual-equivalent per month) for the same named tier. Percent-only discounts, annual-only plans, and quote-only pricing are excluded.
- Markup: Monthly markup % = (monthly_price − annual_per_month) / annual_per_month × 100. annual_per_month is the effective monthly rate when paying annually.
- Break-even: Months of monthly billing whose total equals 12 × annual_per_month at the median markup: 12 / (1 + median_markup). After that many months, annual would have been cheaper.
- Currency: Prices stay in the vendor's published currency ($ or €). Markups are ratios, so mixed currencies do not affect the percentage stats. Entry-price medians mix $ and € without FX conversion and are labelled as such.
- Coverage window: pricing strings last checked between 2026-10-18 and 2026-10-29. The index has 133 listings in total; only dual-priced plans enter the markup table.
- What we excluded: annual-only tiers, free plans, percent-only "save X% yearly" claims without both dollar figures, and contact-sales quotes. PhantomBuster's published yearly totals currently match 12× the listed monthly rate (0% markup), so those tiers are out.
We recompute the dataset from agents.json whenever prices are re-checked. If a vendor changes a page, the next index update refreshes the study.
Cite this study
Suggested citation:
Hjorth, E. (2026). Monthly vs Annual SaaS Pricing: What 29 Sales Tools Charge (2026 Study). RevOps Agent Index. https://revopsagentindex.com/research/monthly-vs-annual-pricing/
License for the dataset and the citable stats: CC BY 4.0. Link back to https://revopsagentindex.com/research/monthly-vs-annual-pricing/ when you reuse a number.
Permalink: https://revopsagentindex.com/research/monthly-vs-annual-pricing/ · Dataset: https://revopsagentindex.com/research/monthly-vs-annual-pricing-2026.csv
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