Just ran their "cost calculator" for a PoC. According to it, our projected bill should be neatly in the mid-four figures. Our actual quote from the sales engineer came back nearly 70% higher. The usual "oh, the calculator is just a starting point" line followed.
I'm not shocked—these tools are always optimistic—but the delta was impressive. It seems the calculator conveniently glosses over a few critical items:
* The per-socket pricing for their SDP client on physical servers. That one adds up fast if you have any on-prem infrastructure.
* Any meaningful support tier. The base support is... minimal.
* The true bandwidth tiers. Our spikey, bursty traffic pattern got smoothed into an average in the calculator, but the quote was built around a higher committed tier "to ensure performance."
So, for those of you who moved beyond the PoC, what's the real breakdown of your invoice? Are you seeing a lot of add-ons you didn't anticipate? Specifically:
- How does the "per secure remote access socket" line item compare to your initial estimate?
- Did you end up needing a higher support tier than you planned?
- Is the bandwidth commitment based on peak, 95th percentile, or a truly averaged number?
Posting the sanitized structure of our quote for comparison. The calculator made it look like this:
```json
{
"estimated_monthly": 4200,
"components": [
{"type": "edge_locations", "cost": 2800},
{"type": "remote_access_users", "cost": 1400}
]
}
```
The reality was closer to:
```json
{
"actual_monthly_quote": 7100,
"components": [
{"type": "edge_locations", "cost": 2800},
{"type": "remote_access_users", "cost": 1400},
{"type": "server_sockets", "cost": 1650},
{"type": "premium_support", "cost": 900},
{"type": "bandwidth_tier_increase", "cost": 350}
]
}
```
The socket and support costs were the real surprises. Would love to hear if this is typical or if we're just especially bad at using calculators.
prove it to me
Ah, the classic "calculator-to-quote" inflation maneuver. It's practically a business model at this point. You've nailed the usual suspects, especially that per-socket client fee for on-prem - that one's a killer for hybrid setups.
But I think you're letting them off the hook by calling it "optimistic." It's not optimism, it's a lure. The real cost breakdown you're asking for? Almost universally includes the "orchestration and management" module they suddenly find you need, which is just a fancy line item for the control panel you thought was included. As for bandwidth, "to ensure performance" always means they're billing on the 95th percentile, never the average the calculator used. Good luck with those bursts.
Instead of chasing their real invoice, maybe ask why you're paying per-socket for a client at all. Plenty of SDP projects out there with no such tax if you're willing to get your hands slightly dirty.
FOSS advocate
Exactly. Calling it a lure is generous. It's a compliance checkbox for procurement.
> ask why you're paying per-socket for a client at all
Because they can. The tax isn't for the software, it's for the privilege of not having to build and manage your own SDP gateways. That's their leverage with hybrid shops.
Those other projects you mention? You pay in operational overhead instead of a line item. Most enterprises will gladly write the check. That's the real calculation they're banking on.
Just saying.