The Pricing Page Doesn't Tell the Whole Story
When you're evaluating enterprise planning software, you'll see pricing that looks manageable. Maybe $3,000 per month for the platform. Maybe $50,000 per year for a mid-tier package.
What you won't see is the iceberg beneath the surface: implementation costs, consultant fees, customization charges, training programs, and the internal resources required to keep the system running.
By the time you're live and operational, that $50,000/year system has cost you $150,000-$200,000. And the ongoing costs? They never end.
Here's a breakdown of where the money actually goes.
Implementation Costs
The software license is the down payment. Implementation is where the real spending begins.
Project Management
Enterprise implementations require dedicated project management. If the vendor provides this, you're paying for it—either as a line item or baked into the implementation fee.
Expect 10-20% of your first-year costs to go toward project management alone.
Data Migration
Your historical data doesn't transfer itself. Someone needs to extract it from your existing systems, clean it, transform it into the new format, and validate that nothing was lost in translation.
For a typical mid-market brand, data migration runs $15,000-$50,000 depending on complexity. If you're coming from multiple source systems, add 50% to that estimate.
System Integration
The planning software needs to talk to your ERP, your WMS, your e-commerce platform, and possibly your accounting system. Each integration is a mini-project with its own scope, development, and testing.
Standard integrations might be included, but anything custom starts at $10,000 per connection. Complex integrations can run $50,000 or more.
Environment Setup
Development environments, staging environments, production environments—enterprise software often requires multiple instances for testing and deployment. Each environment has licensing and infrastructure costs.
Implementation Timeline
Here's the hidden cost nobody mentions: time. Enterprise implementations take 6-12 months. During that period, you're paying for software you can't use while still maintaining your existing processes.
That's 6-12 months of license fees with zero value delivered.
Consultant and Partner Fees
Most enterprise software vendors don't implement their own products. They rely on a network of system integrators and implementation partners.
Implementation Partner Markup
The partner does the actual work of configuring and deploying the system. They bill anywhere from $150-$300 per hour, and a typical implementation requires hundreds of hours.
A 500-hour implementation at $200/hour is $100,000—before you've paid for the software itself.
Ongoing Support Contracts
Many partners offer (or require) ongoing support contracts. These cover configuration changes, troubleshooting, and system updates.
Expect to pay $2,000-$10,000 per month for partner support, depending on your system complexity and support level.
Training Development
Enterprise software requires custom training materials: user guides, video tutorials, process documentation. Someone has to create these, and it's usually the implementation partner at their standard hourly rate.
Customization Charges
Off-the-shelf enterprise software rarely fits your processes exactly. The gap between what the software does and what you need creates customization requirements.
Configuration vs. Customization
Configuration (adjusting settings within the system's capabilities) is usually included. Customization (writing code to change how the system works) is not.
The line between these two is rarely clear until you're mid-implementation and discovering that the feature you need requires "custom development."
Development Costs
Custom development starts at $10,000 for simple modifications and scales quickly from there. A moderately complex customization—say, a custom report or a non-standard workflow—can run $25,000-$75,000.
Change Orders
Once implementation starts, you'll discover requirements you didn't anticipate. Each change order adds scope, timeline, and cost.
Budget an additional 20-30% over your initial implementation estimate for change orders. It's not pessimism—it's realism.
Technical Debt
Customizations create technical debt. When the vendor releases updates, your customizations need to be tested and potentially reworked. This ongoing maintenance cost compounds over time.
Internal Resource Requirements
Enterprise software doesn't run itself. You need people to maintain it, and those people cost money.
System Administrator
Someone needs to manage users, configure settings, troubleshoot issues, and coordinate with the vendor. This isn't a full-time role at smaller companies, but it's a significant chunk of someone's job.
Figure 25-50% of a headcount dedicated to system administration.
Power Users
Beyond the administrator, you need people who deeply understand the system and can train others. These power users spend significant time learning the platform and supporting their colleagues.
IT Support
Enterprise software often requires involvement from your IT team for security reviews, access management, integration troubleshooting, and infrastructure maintenance.
Training Time
Every new hire needs to learn the system. Every process change requires retraining. The ongoing training burden is easy to underestimate but adds up over years.
The Upgrade Treadmill
Enterprise software vendors release major updates every 1-3 years. Each upgrade is a mini-implementation project.
Forced Upgrades
Vendors eventually sunset older versions. When support ends for your version, you upgrade or you're on your own.
Upgrade Projects
Upgrades require testing, training, and often re-implementation of customizations. Budget $20,000-$100,000 per major upgrade depending on your configuration complexity.
Feature Creep
New versions include new features you don't need and may not want. But the features you do use might change, requiring workflow adjustments.
True Total Cost Example
Let's put real numbers to a hypothetical mid-market implementation:
Year One Costs
- Software license: $60,000
- Implementation partner: $120,000
- Data migration: $30,000
- Integrations: $40,000
- Customization: $35,000
- Training: $15,000
- Internal resources (0.5 FTE): $50,000
Year One Total: $350,000
Ongoing Annual Costs
- Software license: $60,000
- Support contract: $36,000
- Internal resources: $50,000
- Training (new hires): $5,000
- Minor customizations: $15,000
Annual Ongoing: $166,000
Five-Year Total Cost
Year one ($350,000) plus four years ongoing ($664,000) plus one major upgrade ($75,000) equals $1,089,000 over five years.
That "affordable" $60,000/year software actually costs over $200,000 per year when you account for everything.
The Alternative: Transparent, All-In Pricing
Not every planning tool follows the enterprise model. Modern SaaS platforms offer a different approach:
Flat Monthly Pricing
No implementation fees. No per-user charges. No customization costs. One price that includes everything.
At Planster, that's $1,000/month. Period. Your total five-year cost is $60,000—not $1 million.
Built-In Integrations
Integrations should be included, not add-ons. If connecting to Shopify or ShipBob costs extra, the vendor is nickel-and-diming you.
Self-Service Implementation
Modern tools connect to your data sources in minutes, not months. No implementation partners, no project managers, no consultants.
Unlimited Users
Per-seat pricing creates friction around adding team members. Unlimited users means everyone who needs access can have it.
Questions to Ask Before Signing
If you're evaluating enterprise software, get answers to these questions before committing:
- What's the total implementation cost, including partner fees?
- How many hours of partner time are included, and what's the hourly rate for overages?
- What percentage of implementations stay within initial scope and budget?
- What are the upgrade costs for the next major version?
- How many internal resources do typical customers dedicate to system management?
- What's the total cost of ownership over five years for a company my size?
If the vendor can't or won't answer these questions clearly, that tells you something.
Key Takeaways
- Software license fees typically represent 20-30% of true total cost.
- Implementation, consultants, and customization often exceed the software cost itself.
- Internal resources for system management are an ongoing expense.
- Major upgrades are mini-implementations with their own budget requirements.
- Modern SaaS alternatives offer transparent, all-in pricing without hidden costs.
- Calculate five-year total cost of ownership before making decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the hidden costs of enterprise planning software?
The major hidden costs include: implementation partner fees ($100,000+), data migration ($15,000-$50,000), custom integrations ($10,000+ per connection), customization charges ($25,000-$75,000), internal resource requirements (0.5-1 FTE), and ongoing support contracts ($24,000-$120,000/year).
How much does ERP implementation really cost?
For mid-market companies, full ERP or planning software implementation typically runs 2-4x the annual software license cost. A $60,000/year system often costs $150,000-$250,000 to implement, not including internal resources.
Why do enterprise software implementations take so long?
Multiple factors: custom development requirements, data migration complexity, integration projects, change management, training programs, and the approval processes of large organizations. Each adds timeline, and delays compound.
What's the total cost of ownership for planning software?
Calculate: (Year 1 implementation costs) + (Years 2-5 ongoing costs) + (Major upgrade costs). For enterprise software, five-year TCO is typically 8-12x the annual license fee. For modern SaaS tools with transparent pricing, it's simply the monthly fee times 60 months.
How do I avoid hidden costs when buying planning software?
Look for: transparent all-in pricing, built-in integrations at no extra cost, self-service implementation that doesn't require consultants, and unlimited user/SKU pricing. Get total cost of ownership estimates in writing before signing.