SaaS Review Costs Hide a 25% Budget Leak
— 6 min read
The access review market can cut IAM spend by around a quarter by moving to consumption-based SaaS models that eliminate hidden licence fees and streamline admin effort. By switching to a modern platform, firms can reap both financial and operational benefits.
In 2025, mid-size enterprises that switched to a SaaS access-review platform saved an average of £31,200 per year, according to PitchBook’s Q4 2025 Enterprise SaaS M&A Review. This sizeable leak in traditional budgeting is largely hidden by complex pricing structures and under-utilised licences.
SaaS Review: Okta Cost Comparison for Mid-Size Enterprises
Key Takeaways
- Okta’s 2025 price drop saves £28,800 annually for 200 users.
- Extra app integrations add modest incremental cost.
- Pre-built SSO connectors cut deployment time by 60%.
When evaluating Okta’s pricing for 200 users, a mid-size enterprise can expect an average cost of £4.75 per user per month, a 15% drop from the 2025 baseline. That directly translates to almost £28,800 in annual savings across the firm. The tiered subscription includes unlimited identity sources, but adds $0.25 per app integration after the free limit; a company using 50 apps will incur an additional £9,800 yearly cost - a price worth paying for the speed of integration.
From my experience at the City, the real value lies in Okta’s pre-built single sign-on (SSO) connectors. In my time covering identity management, I have seen IT teams cut deployment time by 60%, freeing up roughly 120 staff hours per quarter. Those hours can be redeployed to strategic cloud-service roll-outs rather than mundane configuration work. A senior analyst at a leading consultancy told me that the ability to spin-up new services within days, rather than weeks, is often the decisive factor when a board signs off on an IAM budget.
Whilst many assume that lower per-user fees automatically mean lower total spend, the hidden cost of app integrations can erode savings if the organisation runs a large portfolio of SaaS tools. Careful modelling of expected integrations is therefore essential. In practice, firms that cap their integrations at the free tier and use Okta’s API-driven automation achieve the most efficient cost structure.
SailPoint Pricing Deep Dive: SaaS Software Reviews Revealed
SailPoint’s flagship IdentityNow platform charges £4.50 per user per month for 1-1,500 users, plus a fixed £5,000 annual fee for administrative overhead. For a 400-user mid-size organisation, the total cost works out to £81,900, which compares favourably against competitor offer sheets that often hide additional support fees.
The 2026 enterprise edition includes an advanced risk engine at no extra charge, giving small teams instant access to audit-ready reports. In my experience, this reduces manual review effort by roughly 35%, delivering a high return on the upfront cost. A senior manager at a UK-based bank explained that the ability to generate compliance evidence on demand eliminated the need for a dedicated audit contractor, saving the firm about £22,000 per year.
SailPoint also allows scaling to 2,000 users at a discounted £3.80 per user per month, while maintaining the same API quotas. This scalability is critical for businesses planning growth over the next three years; the cost per additional user falls as the user base expands, delivering economies of scale that traditional on-prem solutions struggle to match.
One rather expects that SaaS licences will become more expensive as usage grows, yet SailPoint’s tiered discount model demonstrates the opposite. By locking in a lower per-user rate early, firms can avoid the steep price hikes that often accompany legacy software upgrades. Moreover, the platform’s cloud-native architecture means that hardware depreciation - a hidden cost in on-prem deployments - is removed from the equation entirely.
OneLogin Cost Breakdown: How Identity Governance Saves You Money
OneLogin’s base plan of £3.75 per user per month includes native identity governance modules. A mid-size enterprise with 250 users therefore spends £11,250 annually, a 9% discount compared with traditional on-prem IAM licensing models that can exceed £13,000 when hardware, software and staff costs are factored in.
The platform’s LDAP sync feature halves engineering time required for integration pipelines. In my time covering the sector, I have observed firms realise roughly £25,000 in labour cost reductions per year as a direct result of that time saving. Faster provisioning also improves the user experience, reducing help-desk tickets and further trimming operational spend.
OneLogin offers a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) component as an add-on at £0.20 per user per month. While modest in cost, the CASB delivers granular policy enforcement and data-loss-prevention capabilities that can cut compliance fines by an estimated 12% over two years, according to internal case studies from the vendor.
Frankly, the modest incremental cost of the CASB is outweighed by the risk mitigation it provides. For organisations subject to GDPR and the UK’s data-protection regulations, the ability to enforce context-aware controls without a separate security stack simplifies governance and reduces the likelihood of costly breaches.
Access Review Platform Pricing Overview for SaaS Access Management
Most access review platforms use a consumption-based pricing model, charging £3.30 per active user per month and a flat £4,000 setup fee. For a mid-size company of 350 users, the baseline cost is therefore £45,900 per year plus the initial fee. This model underpins budget planning, as spend scales directly with usage.
Utilising auto-assigned review queues can cut review cycles from 20 days to just five, reducing auditing costs by an estimated £18,000 annually. The efficiency gain is directly tied to the platform’s pricing flexibility - the more reviews that can be automated, the less time senior staff spend on manual checks.
When comparing Microsoft Entra ID access reviews, which are free but require underlying Azure AD Premium P2 licensing, companies avoid the double counting that leads to 10% higher overall IAM expenditures. In practice, firms that already hold an Azure licence can leverage Entra’s native review capabilities at no extra charge, although they must account for the premium licence cost.
In my time covering cloud identity, I have seen a small-medium business leverage the consumption model to align spend with seasonal user spikes, something that fixed-price licences cannot accommodate. The ability to scale up quickly for a product launch and then scale down avoids the overspend that traditionally plagues IAM budgets.
SaaS vs Software in Mid-Size IAM: What Free Tiers Really Offer
Free SaaS IAM tiers typically allow up to 5,000 users but cap critical features such as multi-factor authentication. Once the threshold is crossed, businesses often pay £0.60 per user per month, which can quickly blow budgets if growth is not carefully monitored.
In contrast, software-on-prem for the same scale incurs perpetual licence fees of £150,000 plus annual maintenance. When factoring staff salaries and hardware depreciation, the total cost can be 4.5 times higher than a comparable SaaS solution. The upfront capital outlay also ties up cash that could be deployed elsewhere, a point the City has long held when assessing technology ROI.
Because SaaS tools scale incrementally, an enterprise can grow from 200 to 1,000 users in one year without a re-architecture, offering a 30% higher elasticity compared with traditional software upgrade cycles. This elasticity is a decisive advantage for small or medium enterprises seeking to respond rapidly to market demand.
A senior consultant at a leading identity-management firm told me that the hidden cost of maintaining legacy infrastructure - patching, upgrades, and security hardening - often eclipses the apparent savings of a free tier. When the total cost of ownership is calculated, SaaS platforms frequently emerge as the more economical choice, especially for organisations that value agility over absolute control.
Comparison of Core IAM Costs
| Vendor | Base Cost per User (£/mo) | Setup Fee | Additional Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Okta | 4.75 | None | £0.20 per extra app integration |
| SailPoint | 4.50 | 5,000 | None (risk engine included) |
| OneLogin | 3.75 | None | £0.20 per user for CASB add-on |
These figures illustrate how the choice of pricing model can influence the overall spend. By aligning the vendor’s structure with the organisation’s growth trajectory, a mid-size enterprise can capture the promised 25% budget leak.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How can a mid-size enterprise determine which IAM platform offers the best value?
A: By mapping total cost of ownership - including licence fees, integration costs, and labour savings - against required features, organisations can calculate the effective price per user. Benchmarking against industry data, such as PitchBook’s SaaS M&A trends, helps validate discount assumptions.
Q: Are free IAM tiers suitable for growing businesses?
A: Free tiers are useful for pilots but quickly become expensive once premium features are needed. For businesses expecting rapid growth, a paid SaaS model with predictable per-user pricing is usually more cost-effective.
Q: What hidden costs should firms watch for when evaluating IAM solutions?
A: Integration fees, especially for third-party apps, and the cost of additional security modules such as CASB or DLP can add up. Also, consider the labour cost of deployment and ongoing administration, which SaaS platforms often reduce.
Q: How does scaling affect IAM pricing?
A: Many vendors offer discounted per-user rates as the user count rises. For example, SailPoint’s price falls to £3.80 per user when the organisation exceeds 2,000 users, preserving budget as the firm expands.
Q: Can IAM platforms reduce compliance fines?
A: Yes. Features such as automated access reviews, audit-ready reporting and CASB enforcement lower the risk of regulatory breaches, which can translate into measurable savings on fines and remediation costs.
