In today’s economy, every decision comes down to one thing: money.
Businesses must constantly evaluate how to price their products and services in a way that maximizes profitability while staying competitive.
The art of setting the right price is one of the most critical, yet often misunderstood, aspects of business strategy. It isn’t just about covering costs or making a profit—it’s about positioning your product in the market, attracting the right customers, and ensuring long-term success.
Yet, costs, market dynamics, and customer expectations make it a challenging puzzle to solve.
For web development agencies, the issue is even more frustrating. Many headless CMS platforms have pricing models based on technical metrics like API calls or storage usage. These models are confusing and unpredictable, making it difficult for agencies to plan and manage their budgets. This unpredictability complicates budgeting, disrupts client conversations, and creates frustration for everyone involved.
As agencies increasingly recognize the importance of cost clarity and control, it's becoming clear that more transparent and flexible pricing models are essential for long-term success and client satisfaction.
After all, time is money, and complexity wastes both.
Why headless CMS pricing models are complex?
Technical metrics drive cost
Many web development agencies struggle with the complex pricing models of headless CMS platforms, which are often based on technical metrics. While these metrics may make sense from a technical perspective, they are difficult to predict and manage, leading to unexpected costs as projects scale.
Some of the key technical metrics include:
- API calls: The number of requests made to the CMS API, which can fluctuate depending on traffic or content updates.
- Models and components: The more models or content types an agency creates, the higher the price. This is often a barrier for agencies aiming to build flexible, robust content structures.
- Asset sizes and records: Pricing can also be tied to the volume of assets (images, videos, etc.) or records (data entries), adding another layer of complexity. ****
Costly developer-focused features
To add to the challenge, services that improve the developer experience, such as access to staging environments, production environments, or dedicated technical support, are often locked behind higher pricing tiers. Agencies that need these tools to streamline their workflows may find themselves paying significantly more than expected just to access essential features.
SSO Tax
Beyond the technical metrics, agencies often face hidden fees for features that should be standard, such as single sign-on (SSO) functionality. Known as the 'SSO tax,' this surcharge is common in traditional pricing models, forcing agencies to pay extra just to provide secure and convenient access for their teams or clients. This adds frustration and makes pricing even harder to predict.
The tech community has criticized this practice, arguing that SSO is a basic security feature that shouldn’t come with extra fees. While some vendors defend the cost as necessary for maintenance, many believe it’s excessive and creates unnecessary barriers.
The problems with complex headless CMS pricing models
Web development agencies often struggle with the limitations and unpredictability of these headless CMS pricing models, which can impact the quality of client solutions, service delivery and communication.
The above challenges result in the following key issues for agencies:
- Constraints on building optimal client solutions: Agencies often aim to create the best possible content architecture for their clients. However, the technical pricing metrics can limit their ability to use more models, components, or assets, forcing them to settle for suboptimal solutions in order to stay within budget. This results in a compromise on the quality of the final product as agencies work around the pricing restrictions.
- Barriers to efficient service delivery: Efficient service delivery is vital for agencies. Many rely on a development, staging, and production workflow to test and refine solutions before going live. However, many CMS platforms reserve access to these environments for higher-tier pricing plans, making it difficult for smaller agencies to maintain these standard processes without incurring additional costs. This lack of flexibility can slow down development cycles and reduce overall productivity.
- Difficult client explanations: The technical nature of headless CMS pricing models makes it challenging to explain costs to clients, especially when the pricing is based on things like API calls, models, or records. Clients often don’t have the technical knowledge to understand these terms, leaving agencies to spend valuable time explaining pricing structures that feel arbitrary or confusing. This adds another layer of complexity to client communications and can result in frustrations on both sides as agencies try to justify costs that may not be clearly understood.
Prepr’s solution: A simplified and flexible pricing model
At Prepr, we’ve always believed in working closely with web development agencies to understand their needs and challenges. Through direct collaboration and in-depth customer research, it became clear that traditional headless CMS pricing models were not only restrictive but also created unnecessary hurdles for agencies and their clients.
This insight inspired us to develop a radically new approach to pricing. Instead of relying on technical metrics that are hard to explain or predict, Prepr’s pricing model, called FLEX, is designed with simplicity, flexibility, and transparency in mind.
1. Unlimited models and components
A standout feature of Prepr’s FLEX pricing model is the inclusion of unlimited models and components. With FLEX, agencies no longer need to worry about limits on the number of data models or components they can use. This freedom allows them to create the perfect solution for their clients without extra costs or the need to upgrade to a higher plan.
FLEX also includes essential features like single sign-on and staging environments, eliminating hidden fees. This transparency lets agencies focus on delivering exceptional results without the stress of unexpected charges.
2. User- and business-focused parameters
Prepr’s pricing is structured around user- and business-focused parameters, such as the number of users, locales, and other factors that are more intuitive for both agencies and clients to understand. Rather than dealing with the complexity of API calls or data models, agencies can focus on what matters most: how many people will be using the system and what geographic or language requirements exist. These parameters are much easier to explain to clients, making budgeting and conversations around pricing more straightforward.
3. Transparency and flexibility for agencies and clients
With Prepr’s transparent pricing model, agencies no longer have to guess how their costs will scale as a project evolves. The clarity of the pricing structure ensures that agencies can plan effectively, while clients can better understand what they are paying for and why. This creates a foundation of trust, making it easier to manage expectations and avoid unexpected costs.
Why FLEX is the solution to CMS pricing complexity
Prepr’s approach to pricing is designed to cut through that complexity, allowing agencies to focus on delivering great solutions for their clients without worrying about anything. Here's why:
1. Freedom to build without restrictions
Prepr’s unlimited models and components mean that agencies have the freedom to design and build the solutions that best fit their clients’ needs. Whether they’re working on a small project or a large-scale enterprise solution, they can focus on creativity and functionality rather than worrying about pricing limits.
2. Clearer budgeting and planning
By using user- and business-centric parameters, Prepr’s pricing model aligns more closely with how agencies plan their work. They can estimate project costs more accurately, make decisions about resources with confidence, and provide clients with clear and predictable pricing. This ease of planning helps reduce financial surprises and allows agencies to deliver projects on time and on budget.
3. Simplified client conversations
With a transparent pricing structure, agencies can explain costs to clients in a way that’s easy to understand. Instead of getting bogged down in technical jargon, they can focus on the core factors that matter to clients—such as the number of users or the locations where the CMS will be used. This simplifies the sales process, makes negotiations easier, and ensures that both parties are aligned throughout the project.
For web development agencies, the challenges posed by complex, technical pricing models can be overwhelming. These models often create unnecessary barriers to optimal solutions, make workflows more difficult, and lead to confusion in client conversations. But today, web development agencies don’t have to settle for restrictive, confusing pricing models anymore.
With Prepr’s simplified and transparent pricing, agencies can finally have the flexibility they need to deliver top-quality solutions without the constant worry of hidden fees or technical limitations. With Prepr, agencies stay in control.
