Software Prices Climbed 17% in Two Years—Then Hit a Wall in 2026

Software prices surged 17 points from early 2023 to late 2024, driven by forced AI bundling. They peaked in October 2025, then dropped 5 points by August 2026 amid collapsing AI costs and market fears.

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The data tells a three-act story. From January 2023 through December 2024, the index climbed steadily from 88.4 to 100.6—a 14% increase in 24 months. The acceleration was particularly sharp in mid-2024: the index jumped from 93.2 in March to 99.8 in July, then crossed 100 for the first time in September. By November 2024, it hit 101.4. For context, the index had spent the previous three years (2020–2022) oscillating between 85 and 88, making the 2023–2024 climb an unmistakable break from the pattern. Then came 2025, when volatility replaced consistency. The index started the year at 100.2 and spent the first half bouncing between 95.8 and 100.2, hitting a sharp low of 96.2 in April. It recovered in the second half—peaking at 102.9 in October—before sliding back to 100.7 by December. The decline accelerated in 2026: from 98.0 in January to 97.7 in August, with a brief uptick to 99.8 in April–July. That August 2026 figure sits 5.2 points below the October 2025 peak and 3.7 points below the November 2024 high.

The 2023–2024 surge was driven by a specific, aggressive tactic: forced AI feature bundling. According to the PricePulse H1 2026 report, vendors like Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion, and Asana added AI tiers in 2024–2025, then began sunsetting legacy plans, forcing customers onto more expensive "AI-enhanced" packages regardless of whether they used the features. This alone accounted for an average 24% price increase for affected customers. The report found that 73% of SaaS vendors raised prices between August 2022 and June 2026, with AI-driven increases representing 73% of the modeled cost growth in a typical 50-person company stack. Design tools saw a 275% increase (Figma), project management tools climbed 127% (Asana), and CRM platforms doubled in price (Salesforce Einstein). The result: a hypothetical $84,000 annual software stack in January 2024 ballooned to $123,000 by June 2026—a $39,000 increase with no change in headcount or usage. That explains the relentless climb through late 2024.

But the 2026 downturn signals something more fundamental than cyclical pricing pressure. Enterprise AI token pricing collapsed 35–55% between early 2025 and early 2026, as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google slashed rates to compete for market share. That deflation undercut the AI bundling premium that had justified earlier price hikes. Meanwhile, software stocks cratered in early 2026—Workday, Adobe, and Autodesk each fell 30–50% from year-to-date highs—amid fears that AI agents could automate tasks previously handled by SaaS tools. The concern, informally dubbed "SaaSpocalypse," erupted after Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 4.6 in February 2026, triggering billions in market cap losses. Vendors facing stock pressure and customer resistance had little room to maintain aggressive pricing. The index decline from October 2025 to August 2026—5.2 points in 10 months—reflects the market adjusting to a new reality: AI is commoditizing, not premium-izing, software.

The warning for buyers is clear: the pricing power vendors wielded in 2023–2024 has weakened, but the structural shift to usage-based and AI-bundled models hasn't reversed. The August 2026 index of 97.7 still sits 11% above the January 2023 baseline of 88.4, meaning the net cost increase from the boom years remains embedded in most contracts. Companies renewing now have negotiating leverage they didn't have 18 months ago—VendorBenchmark reports that enterprises secured flat or declining Oracle maintenance pricing in 2026 as vendors competed for renewals—but the downward trend isn't guaranteed to continue. If AI features prove ROI or vendors consolidate pricing power, the index could stabilize or reverse. For now, the data shows a market in correction, not collapse, and buyers should use the 2026 softness to lock in better terms before the next cycle begins.