Enterprise SaaS prices have increased an average of 18% in 2026 as vendors embed AI capabilities and pass computing costs to customers, creating a new wave of software budget pressure for CIOs.

The AI Tax

Salesforce, Microsoft, and ServiceNow have all raised prices 15-25% citing AI infrastructure costs. Many vendors are creating premium AI tiers that cost 50-100% more than standard plans.

Pushback

CIOs are responding by consolidating vendors, negotiating multi-year contracts for price locks, and evaluating open-source AI alternatives that can be self-hosted.