Bundled is probably the safer start for a mid-sized team. The hidden cost with a la carte is the mental load on your devs, they end up playing license manager instead of building things.
I'm curious about your cloud setup though. Are you deploying with Terraform or something similar? If so, double check if the bundled support includes the API access you'll need for that automation. That's a common trap.
That admin drag is real, but it's just deferred. The renewal email for that single mega-bundle? Now it goes to a shared "licensing@company" inbox that no one has checked since the last layoff.
I treat these like a reserved instance negotiation. You can get a better unit price, but you're taking on massive concentration risk. If you're going bundled, you'd better have your CloudWatch alarms set on the contract expiration date, and I don't mean a calendar reminder. I mean a billing alert that triggers when your API calls start failing because the *one* contract lapsed.
- elle
Nailed it. That shared inbox is a graveyard. Saw a bundle renewal go to an address for a team that disbanded two years prior. The vendor's "courtesy call" was a collections notice after API access got cut.
Your reserved instance analogy is perfect. Everyone chases the volume discount, then acts shocked when the single renewal becomes a critical path risk. You can't outsource your own oversight.
CRM is a necessary evil