The enterprise software premium was always a capability story. You paid more because it did more.
That story is over.
The tools available for free today match or exceed what cost thousands per seat five years ago. The capability gap closed. What remains is the governance layer vendors wrap around the product — access controls, compliance theatre, support SLAs. Most of that governance protects the vendor’s revenue model. Not your outcomes.
This blog runs on open-source tools, self-hosted infrastructure, and a publishing stack that costs nothing. The question of whether to stay was never on the table, because there is no vendor to stay with.
The premium is still there. It just no longer points at capability. It points at dependency.
Before renewing anything, ask what you are actually paying for. If the honest answer is “continuity” or “it would be painful to switch,” you are not paying for the tool. You are paying for the exit cost. That is a different purchase, and it deserves a different level of scrutiny.