SaaS

Your software bill is about to jump — and AI is the excuse

Salesforce raised prices 6%. SaaS inflation hit 11.4% — 4x general inflation.

August 26, 2025 3 min read

On 1 August 2025, Salesforce raised prices by 6%. The justification: "significant ongoing innovation" — AI features nobody asked for bundled into licenses everybody pays for.

SaaS inflation is out of control

SaaS pricing is up 11.4% year-over-year vs 2.7% general inflation. Gartner: enterprise software spending will grow 15.2% in 2026. 60% of that growth is price increases on software you already own.

The "AI tax"

Every vendor uses the same playbook: bolt on AI, call it innovation, raise prices 20-37%. Microsoft with Copilot. Salesforce with Einstein. Adobe with Firefly.

What to do

  1. Audit renewals. Check auto-renewal clauses and price escalation terms.
  2. Separate AI from core. Push vendors to unbundle.
  3. Consolidate. Cut overlapping tools.
  4. Consider alternatives. Open-source has matured fast.