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In Q3 2026, Tropic’s benchmarking data showed a 133-point spread between what buyers at the 25th and 75th percentiles paid for DocuSign. Figma showed no spread at all. The vendor you’re negotiating with decides how much effort pays off.
Key takeaways:
- DocuSign had the widest spread at 133 points, followed by Box (47), Salesloft (45), Okta (42), and HubSpot (40).
- Figma (0), Datadog (5), and LinkedIn (7) priced nearly the same for every buyer.
- A spread above 30 points means real room on price. A spread under 10 points means you should negotiate terms, not discounts.
- Consumption pricing is narrowing spread on the usage layer, so caps and tiers matter more than discounts there.
Which software vendors have the most pricing spread?
DocuSign, by a wide margin. Buyers at the 25th percentile paid about 68% below the median for comparable contracts, and buyers at the 75th percentile paid about 66% above it. That means some companies paid more than twice what others paid for the same product at similar volume.
After DocuSign, the vendors with the most room were:
The direction of the spread matters as much as the size. Box and Okta lean toward discounts, so most of the opportunity sits below the median. HubSpot leans the other way. Its biggest risk isn’t a missed discount. It’s paying 26% over the median without knowing it.
Which vendors aren’t worth negotiating on price?
Figma showed zero spread in H1 2026, so every buyer paid the same rate. Datadog (0% to +5%) and LinkedIn (-4% to +3%) were close behind. Zoom offered discounts down to 18% below median, but nobody paid above it, so the ceiling is firm.
Time spent pushing these vendors for a lower unit price is time taken away from a DocuSign or Box renewal where the same effort could save six figures. With low-spread vendors, put your energy into payment terms, seat flexibility, renewal price caps, and exit rights.
Why does pricing spread vary so much by vendor?
Spread usually reflects how a vendor sells. Wide spreads tend to show up where sales teams have discount authority, where the category is competitive, or where the vendor is in the middle of a pricing model change. Narrow spreads tend to come from product-led vendors with published pricing and little rep discretion. For a full definition, see [What is price variability?
How does consumption pricing change where you can negotiate?
Consumption pricing narrows the spread where it matters most. In Q2 2026, Tropic saw discounts on usage and token components tighten to 0–7%, down from 5–20% or more.
Consumption models work. The problem comes when a marketing team runs out of Clay credits in the middle of a campaign. The CFO can approve more spend or stall the work. Only one of those is realistic, and it isn’t the one the annual budget planned for. With consumption vendors, the leverage is in the structure: negotiated caps, tiered pricing, and usage visibility from day one.
What this means for you:
- Rank your renewals by spread, not by contract size. A mid-size DocuSign renewal can offer more savings than a large Figma one. Put your strongest negotiators and earliest start dates on the vendors with the widest spread.
- Know which side of the median you’re on. For vendors that lean high, like HubSpot, the first job is confirming you’re not overpaying. For vendors that lean low, like Box and Okta, anchor your ask at the 25th percentile.
- Stop discounting where there’s no discount. For Figma, Datadog, and LinkedIn, accept the unit price and negotiate terms instead.
- Ask every new vendor: seats or consumption? If it’s consumption, decide who owns usage visibility and what triggers a budget conversation before you sign.
Tropic’s price benchmarks show where your current pricing falls against comparable companies for each vendor, and Tropic’s renewal management flags high-spread renewals early enough to use that data.
