Just renewed. 75 users, mostly Sales Cloud. Quote came in 22% higher than last year. No new features. Rep said "standard price adjustment." Had to threaten to walk to get it under 10%.
Heard from two other teams this month:
* **Team A:** 50 seats. Wanted to add Marketing Cloud. Quote was 2.5x their current spend. Not an add-on, a full re-platform.
* **Team B:** Found out their "unlimited" sandbox wasn't. Needed a partial copy for a big release, got hit with a $15k one-time fee mid-project.
Common threads:
* Hidden user minimums per "edition." You need 10 "Platform" seats before you can even buy a "Service Cloud" seat.
* "Discounts" that only apply to new seats, not renewal.
* API call limits that look fine on paper, but batch operations in your nightly sync will blow through them.
The squeeze feels intentional. You're locked in, then the real pricing starts. What's your renewal story?
Ship fast, review slower