I’ve been evaluating analytics platforms for my team, and I keep running into the same pricing model: per-seat licensing. While I understand the rationale from a vendor perspective, it feels like it actively discourages adding more collaborators to view or discuss data.
For example, we’re currently comparing Looker and Tableau. Both scale cost directly with the number of users who need access. If I want to invite a stakeholder from marketing to view a dashboard, that’s a significant incremental cost. This makes me hesitant to broaden data access, which seems counter to the goal of being a data-driven company.
Could someone clarify if the hidden cost here is simply the licensing fee, or are there other operational burdens that emerge? I’m also curious how this compares to platforms that use a per-query or data-volume model. In your experience, does per-seat pricing end up feeling like a “tax” as your team grows, or are the benefits of user-based pricing still justified?
Thanks!