The "Contact Sales" Problem
You've seen it a hundred times. You find software that looks promising. You check the pricing page. And there it is:
"Enterprise: Contact Sales"
Translation: "We're going to charge you as much as we think we can get away with."
This pricing model is broken. Not just annoying—fundamentally broken. And it's time someone said it out loud.
(I should clarify: I'm not saying companies who do this are evil. Many are just following the playbook they were handed. But the playbook itself? That's the problem.)
How Enterprise Pricing Actually Works
Let me pull back the curtain on how "contact sales" pricing really works:
Step 1: Qualification
A sales rep determines how big your company is, how desperate you are, and how much budget you might have. This isn't about finding the right solution—it's about maximizing extraction.
Step 2: Artificial Scarcity
Features get locked behind tiers. Basic functionality becomes "premium." Integrations that cost nothing to provide become upsells. The software could work better for you, but they'd rather you pay extra.
Step 3: The Dance
Now begins the negotiation theater. They quote high, you push back, they "check with their manager," and you both pretend this isn't a ridiculous waste of everyone's time.
If you've ever spent 42 days in back-and-forth emails just to get a straight answer, you know this dance.
Step 4: Lock-In
Once you're in, switching costs keep you trapped. Prices creep up annually. Features you relied on move to higher tiers. The relationship that started with a handshake becomes a hostage situation.
This is not how software should work.
Why We Chose $15/Seat
Here's our radical proposition: what if we just... told you the price?
$15/seat/month. That's it.
We're inspired by companies like Basecamp, who've been transparent about pricing since before it was cool. They proved you can build a sustainable business without pricing games. We're following their lead.
No Tiers
Everyone gets everything. We're not going to charge you extra for the features that make the product actually useful.
"But what about large enterprises?" They pay $15/seat too. If they want 1,000 seats, that's $15,000/month. The math isn't complicated.
No Negotiations
The price is the price. We're not going to charge you more because you have a bigger budget or because you seem desperate. That would be disrespectful—and frankly, exhausting.
No Surprise Fees
No "implementation fees." No "training costs." No "premium support tier." We'll help you get set up because we want you to succeed, not because we see another revenue line item.
"But How Can You Afford This?"
Fair question. Here's the honest answer:
1. We Don't Have a Sales Team
Those enterprise negotiations require expensive salespeople. By publishing our price, we eliminate that cost entirely. The savings go to you. Don't overthink it.
2. We Build Efficiently
We're not a venture-backed company burning cash on growth-at-all-costs. We build carefully, ship what matters, and don't maintain features nobody uses.
(Shoutout to the indie hacker movement and folks like DHH who've shown that profitable, sustainable software companies are not only possible—they're preferable.)
3. We're Not Trying to Get Acquired
A lot of pricing insanity comes from companies optimizing for acquisition multiples rather than sustainable business. We're building something we want to run for decades. Your subscription isn't our exit strategy.
The Hidden Cost of "Free"
Speaking of pricing: let's talk about free tiers.
"Free" software isn't free. You pay with:
- Your data being sold to advertisers or aggregators
- Your time dealing with limitations designed to frustrate you into upgrading
- Your trust as the company pivots, gets acquired, or shuts down
We don't have a free tier. We have a free trial. Try everything for free, then decide if $15/month is worth it.
If it's not, no hard feelings. If it is, you know exactly what you're paying. Allons-y.
A Challenge to the Industry
Here's my challenge to other B2B software companies: just publish your price.
If you're confident in your value, you don't need negotiation theater. If your pricing is fair, you don't need to hide it. If your product is good, the price won't scare people away—the mystery will.
The way most enterprise software is priced? It's broken. It doesn't have to be.
Josh has sat through enough "let me check with my manager" calls to last a lifetime. He firmly believes pricing should be simple, transparent, and fair. He once calculated that negotiating his last software purchase took 1.21 gigawatts of mental energy. cStar is his attempt to prove there's a better way.