Annual vs monthly billing: how much SaaS vendors really discount
We ranked the yearly-billing discounts of the business tools we track. The median is smaller than the marketing suggests.
The short answer: across the 31 business tools we track that publish both prices, the median discount for paying yearly is 20%. The biggest is Close Solo at 53%.
Almost every SaaS vendor shows a monthly price and a lower "billed annually" price. The gap is the price of flexibility: pay monthly and you can cancel next month, pay yearly and you are committed for twelve. The question is whether the discount is worth the lock-in, and the answer depends heavily on the tool.
The discounts, ranked
| Tool | Plan | Monthly billing | Yearly billing | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Solo | $19 | $9 | 53% |
| Expensify | Control | $36 | $18 | 50% |
| Zoho CRM | Professional | $35 | $23 | 34% |
| RingCentral RingEX | Core | $30 | $20 | 33% |
| monday CRM | Basic | $18 | $12 | 33% |
| Box (business plans) | Business | $24 | $17.30 | 28% |
| Intercom | Essential | $39 | $29 | 26% |
| LinkedIn Sales Navigator | Core | $119.99 | $89.99 | 25% |
| Smartsheet | Pro | $12 | $9 | 25% |
| Apollo.io | Basic | $65 | $49 | 25% |
| Zendesk Suite | Support Team | $25 | $19 | 24% |
| Canva Pro | Pro | $12.99 | $10 | 23% |
| Attio | Plus | $44 | $35 | 20% |
| Instantly | Light Speed (Outreach) | $358 | $286.30 | 20% |
| Dropbox (business plans) | Advanced | $30 | $24 | 20% |
| ChatGPT Business | Business (Standard seat) | $25 | $20 | 20% |
| Claude Team and Enterprise | Team (Standard seat) | $25 | $20 | 20% |
| Trello | Premium | $12.50 | $10 | 20% |
| Asana | Starter | $13.49 | $10.99 | 19% |
| Slack | Pro | $8.75 | $7.25 | 17% |
Largest discount on any plan for each tool. US list prices, checked October 2026.
When yearly billing makes sense
- Tools everyone uses every day, like email, chat and docs. Headcount drives the seat count, and you will not cancel them.
- Discounts above 15%. That is close to two months free, more than most teams save by cancelling early.
- Stable teams. If you expect to shrink, most yearly contracts will not let you drop seats until renewal.
When monthly is the better deal
- Tools you are still evaluating, or a seat for a contractor on a three-month project.
- Discounts under 10%. The flexibility is usually worth more than the saving.
- Anything priced by usage or contacts, where next quarter's plan is a guess.
Some tools give you no choice
14 of the business tools we track publish only a yearly price on at least their main plans, including Microsoft Teams Essentials, Calendly, Pipedrive, DocuSign eSignature, Freshdesk. On those, "per month" is a yearly contract billed in twelve slices. Read it that way when you compare.