# Proofyo: full data

> Every published product's value (what you are actually paying for), review (bottom line, who should choose it or look elsewhere, compared products, strengths, things to know, pricing reality), key facts, score, starter price and verified date, then every published post. 205 products, 41 posts. No elapsed times or latency figures: they measure our test run, not the product.

Terms of use (https://proofyo.com/developers#terms): Free to use with attribution: wherever you show or quote the data, name Proofyo and link the page in the record's source. Reading, caching, indexing and answering questions from the API, /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt are fine; mirroring or republishing the dataset, or using it to build a competing directory, is not. Without a key: 60 requests a minute and pages of up to 50 items. For more, ask us for an API key; keys can be revoked.

When you use this data, cite the page URL and the verified date (for example: "Proofyo, verified 2026-10-12, <url>"). Say "facts checked" rather than "tested" when a record has no hands-on run (Evidence: public pages only). Records marked as demo data are fictional: nothing was signed up for or called, and they must not be presented as measurements of real companies.
Structured JSON with the full evidence: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/{slug} (OpenAPI: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/openapi.json).
Unknown facts read "Not observed yet": we never guess them.

## Category: Transactional email APIs

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/transactional-email-api

### Resend

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/resend
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/resend
Category: Transactional email APIs
Vendor: Resend
Tagline: Email API with a 3,000-email free plan, and a SOC 2 Type II report and pre-signed DPA on every plan.
Value: A SOC 2 Type II report and a pre-signed GDPR DPA on every plan, with 3,000 free emails a month and 50,000 for $20.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: Resend puts its compliance paperwork on every plan, including the free one: the security page says the SOC 2 Type II report and a DPA executed at sign-up are downloads under Settings → Documents. That answers a customer's security questionnaire without a sales call. Pricing is the lowest of the three at 50,000 emails a month.
- SOC 2 Type II report in the dashboard: The security page says the report is available under Settings → Documents, on every plan. (Security page (2026-10-15))
- DPA pre-signed at sign-up: The GDPR data processing agreement is executed when the account is created and downloadable from the same page. (Security page (2026-10-15))
- 50,000 emails for $20: Pro includes 50,000 emails a month with no daily cap and 10 domains; 100,000 is $35. Overage is $0.90 per 1,000. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Developer teams that need compliance documents for their customers’ security reviews without an enterprise plan.
Things to know: Not HIPAA compliant, and stored data stays in the US even when you pick an EU sending region.
Score: 8.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $20/mo (Pro plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 3,000/mo, 100 a day
Price for 50,000 emails/mo: $20 (Pro)
Retention on the entry paid plan: 30 days
SOC 2 report: Type II, self-serve download
EU option: EU sending region; data stored in the US
SSO: $150/mo add-on on Scale
HIPAA BAA: No
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Resend is the cheapest way here to send 50,000 emails a month and the easiest to clear a security review with. Check the data-residency and HIPAA limits first.
Choose it if: You want SOC 2 Type II and DPA documents on any plan, including free. · You send up to about 100,000 emails a month and want the lowest listed price. · You build on one of its 14 quickstart environments.
Look elsewhere if: You send health data that needs a HIPAA BAA. · Your stored data must stay in the EU.
Compared with: Postmark (https://proofyo.com/products/postmark) — pick Resend when You need a SOC 2 Type II report and a signed DPA without a sales call, and 50,000 emails for $20.; pick Postmark when You need inbound email processing or message history beyond 30 days, and want to start without a card. | Mailgun (https://proofyo.com/products/mailgun) — pick Resend when You want the lower price at 50,000 emails and compliance documents on the free plan.; pick Mailgun when You need an EU sending region with SOC 2 and ISO 27001, or SAML SSO included on the $90 plan.
Strengths:
- Compliance documents on the free plan: SOC 2 Type II and GDPR are listed on every plan, and the report and DPA are self-serve downloads. (Postmark says it has not had its own SOC audit; it offers its data center’s SOC 2 report under NDA.)
- Lowest listed price at 50,000 emails: Pro covers 50,000 emails a month for $20 with no daily cap. (Mailgun’s 50,000-email Foundation plan is $35 a month after a one-month free trial.)
- Clear about its limits: The security page states no HIPAA, no BAA, no country-specific DPAs and US data storage, so a compliance review has its answers without a ticket.
- Wide quickstart coverage: Fourteen quickstarts in the docs, including Rust, Elixir, .NET and a CLI.
Things to know:
- Not for health data: Resend is not HIPAA compliant and cannot sign a Business Associate Agreement.
- Data stays in the US: An EU sending region changes where mail leaves from; stored data remains in the United States under Standard Contractual Clauses. Workaround: If you need EU sending infrastructure, Mailgun offers US and EU regions from one account.
- Free plan capped at 100 a day: The 3,000 free emails a month come with a limit of 100 per day, which suits testing more than production.
- SSO is an add-on: SSO is $150/mo on Scale and included only on Enterprise.
Pricing reality: Transactional plans are priced by emails sent per month. Free covers 3,000 (100 a day). Pro is $20 for 50,000 or $35 for 100,000, with 10 domains and $0.90 per 1,000 beyond the plan. Scale runs from $90 for 100,000 to $1,150 for 2.5 million, with overage falling to $0.46 per 1,000, 1,000 domains and Slack support. Add-ons are where the bill grows: a dedicated IP is $30/mo (for senders above 3,000 a day) and SSO $150/mo, both on Scale. Billing is monthly only; annual terms go through sales. Marketing email is a separate plan priced by contacts.

### Amazon SES

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-ses
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/amazon-ses
Category: Transactional email APIs
Vendor: Amazon Web Services
Tagline: Pay-per-email sending from AWS at $0.10 per 1,000, in the AWS region you choose, with SOC, ISO 27001 and HIPAA-eligible coverage.
Value: Email at $0.10 per 1,000 with no monthly fee, inside AWS’s SOC, ISO 27001 and HIPAA-eligible scope, in the region you choose.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: SES is the per-email option: 50,000 emails cost $5 à la carte, and volume rates fall to $0.11 per 1,000 on Essentials above 100 million. It inherits AWS’s compliance programs, so the SOC reports and the HIPAA BAA come from AWS Artifact without a sales call, and mail data stays in the AWS region you send from, including seven in Europe.
- $0.10 per 1,000 emails: À la carte sending has no monthly minimum; 50,000 emails come to $5 plus attachment data at $0.12 per GB. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- SOC, ISO 27001 and HIPAA eligible: SES is listed in scope of AWS’s SOC reports and ISO/IEC 27001 certification and on the HIPAA Eligible Services list; the BAA is accepted in AWS Artifact. (AWS compliance pages (2026-10-15))
- Data stays in your region: SES runs in seven European regions among others, and AWS says it does not move content out of the region you choose without your agreement. (SES endpoints and AWS data privacy FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Inbound and archiving in one service: Mail Manager receives and routes inbound mail, and the Archiving add-on keeps sent and received mail for three months up to ten years or permanently. (Pricing page and developer guide (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams on AWS that send in volume and want the lowest per-email price with compliance documents from AWS Artifact.
Things to know: New accounts start in a sandbox (verified recipients, 200 messages a day) until AWS approves a production-access request.
Score: 7.8/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Approval wait
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.10/1k emails (À la carte plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: No; AWS Free Tier credits for new accounts
Price for 50,000 emails/mo: $5 à la carte ($8 on Essentials), plus attachment data
Retention on the entry paid plan: 30 days of message search in VDM (Essentials)
SOC 2 report: AWS SOC 2, from AWS Artifact
EU option: Seven European AWS regions; data stays in the chosen region
SSO: IAM Identity Center, no extra charge
HIPAA BAA: Yes, accepted in AWS Artifact
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, SES is the least expensive way here to send at volume and carries AWS’s compliance scope, including a HIPAA BAA. Plan for the sandbox review and for setting up each region you use.
Choose it if: You already run on AWS and want email billed with the rest of it. · You send in volume and want the lowest per-email price. · You need a HIPAA BAA or ISO 27001 from your email provider. · Mail data must stay in a region you choose, including the EU.
Look elsewhere if: You want to send to any recipient on day one without a review. · You want a free monthly allowance that does not expire.
Compared with: Resend (https://proofyo.com/products/resend) — pick Amazon SES when You send in volume and want $0.10 per 1,000 with no monthly fee, a HIPAA BAA, or data kept in an EU region.; pick Resend when You want an ongoing free plan of 3,000 emails a month and to send after verifying a domain, without a production-access review. | SendGrid (https://proofyo.com/products/sendgrid) — pick Amazon SES when You want the lower bill at 50,000 emails ($5 against $19.95), ISO 27001 or a HIPAA BAA.; pick SendGrid when You want fixed monthly plans with published volume steps and to start sending without a production-access review.
Strengths:
- Lowest price at 50,000 emails here: À la carte sending is $0.10 per 1,000 with no monthly fee: $5 for 50,000 emails, plus attachment data. (Resend’s Pro is $20 for 50,000, SendGrid’s Essentials $19.95 and Mailgun’s Foundation $35.)
- Compliance scope from AWS: SES is in scope of AWS’s SOC reports and ISO/IEC 27001 certification and is HIPAA eligible; reports and the BAA are in AWS Artifact. (Resend says it cannot sign a BAA, and SendGrid is not on Twilio’s HIPAA-eligible list.)
- Data stays in the chosen region: SES has API endpoints in seven European regions, and AWS says it does not move content out of the chosen region without agreement. (Resend stores data in the US even with an EU sending region.)
- Long archive available: The Archiving add-on keeps sent and received mail for a period you choose, from three months to ten years or permanently. (Postmark keeps message history up to 365 days on its Pro and Platform plans.)
Things to know:
- Sandbox until AWS approves: New accounts can send only to verified addresses, 200 messages a day, until a production-access request is reviewed, and the sandbox applies per region.
- No ongoing free allowance: The pricing page offers AWS Free Tier credits to new AWS customers rather than a monthly free email allowance; an FAQ answer still describes 3,000 free messages a month for 12 months.
- Plans apply per account and region: Pro and Enterprise fees are charged per account per region, and new accounts default to Essentials at $0.16 per 1,000 unless you switch. Workaround: The plan docs say the first switch from a defaulted Essentials plan to à la carte takes effect immediately.
- Support is a separate AWS plan: Technical support cases need an AWS Support plan, from $29 a month; without one, the FAQ points to the SES forum.
Pricing reality: SES bills per email. À la carte: $0.10 per 1,000 sent, $0.12 per GB of attachments, with VDM, dedicated IPs ($24.95 per IP a month, or managed from $15 plus per-email fees) and email validation as add-ons. Plans bundle features at higher per-email rates for the first 10 million: Essentials $0.16 per 1,000, Pro $0.22 plus $105 a month, Enterprise $0.23 plus $500 a month, each per account and region. At 50,000 emails a month that is $5.00 à la carte or $8.00 on Essentials, plus about $0.19 of attachment data at the 32 KB message size AWS uses in its examples. Other AWS services used with SES, such as SNS, S3 and CloudWatch, bill separately, and technical support starts at $29 a month.
Exit path: SES keeps little data that would tie you in: the docs describe exporting archived mail to an S3 bucket, and sending events can be published to CloudWatch, Firehose or SNS in your own account.

### Mailgun

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/mailgun
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/mailgun
Category: Transactional email APIs
Vendor: Mailgun (Sinch)
Tagline: Email API from Sinch with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, US or EU sending and SAML SSO on Scale.
Value: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for Mailgun itself, US or EU sending from one account, and SAML SSO included at $90.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Mailgun covers the documents and controls that security-conscious and European customers ask for without an enterprise contract: its own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications, domains in the US or the EU managed from one account, and SAML SSO with phone support on the $90 Scale plan.
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The security page lists both certifications for Mailgun itself, along with GDPR compliance. (Security page (2026-10-15))
- US or EU sending from one account: Domains can be added in the US or EU region and managed from a single control panel. (Pricing page and docs (2026-10-15))
- SAML SSO on Scale: Scale ($90 for 100,000 emails) includes SAML SSO plus phone and chat support, so access control does not need an enterprise deal. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams selling to security-conscious or European customers who need ISO 27001, an EU sending region and SSO without an enterprise contract.
Things to know: Lower plans keep logs for one day (Free, Basic) or five days (Foundation).
Score: 7.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $15/mo (Basic plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 100 a day, 1 user
Price for 50,000 emails/mo: $35 (Foundation)
Retention on the entry paid plan: 1 day of logs (Basic)
SOC 2 report: Type II, plus ISO 27001
EU option: US or EU sending region
SSO: SAML on Scale ($90)
HIPAA BAA: Not mentioned
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Mailgun is the most complete compliance package of the three, with an EU sending region and SSO on its $90 plan. On smaller plans, plan around short log retention.
Choose it if: Your customers ask for ISO 27001 or SOC 2 reports. · You need to send from an EU region. · You want SAML SSO without an enterprise contract.
Look elsewhere if: You need long log history on a small plan. · You want the lowest price at 50,000 emails a month.
Compared with: Resend (https://proofyo.com/products/resend) — pick Mailgun when You need ISO 27001, an EU sending region, or SSO included at $90.; pick Resend when You want the lower price at 50,000 emails ($20 against $35) and 30 days of data retention on every plan. | Postmark (https://proofyo.com/products/postmark) — pick Mailgun when You need a SOC 2 report of the vendor’s own, EU sending or SSO.; pick Postmark when You need inbound processing and message history up to 365 days.
Strengths:
- Two certifications of its own: Mailgun lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for itself. (Postmark points to its data center’s SOC 2 report; Resend holds SOC 2 Type II but not ISO 27001.)
- EU sending region: Domains can be created in the US or the EU and managed from one account. (Resend stores data in the US even with an EU sending region; Postmark has no EU servers planned.)
- SSO without an enterprise contract: SAML SSO and phone and chat support are on the $90 Scale plan. (Resend charges $150/mo for SSO on its Scale plan.)
- Unlimited users from Foundation: Every plan except Free and Basic allows unlimited users.
Things to know:
- Short log retention on lower plans: Logs are kept 1 day on Free and Basic and 5 days on Foundation; 30 days needs Scale.
- Free plan is one user and 100 a day: Free allows 100 emails a day, one custom domain and one user.
- Dedicated IP terms differ across the page: The pricing table and the FAQ describe dedicated IP inclusion differently; extra IPs are $59 per IP per month.
Pricing reality: Mailgun prices by emails per month with overage per 1,000: Basic $15 for 10,000 ($1.80 over), Foundation $35 for 50,000 ($1.30 over), Scale $90 for 100,000 ($1.10 over). Foundation and Scale start with a one-month free trial. What changes between plans is less the volume than the extras: log retention goes from 1 day (Basic) to 5 days (Foundation) to 30 days (Scale), users become unlimited from Foundation, and SAML SSO and phone support arrive on Scale. Extra dedicated IPs are $59 per IP per month.

### SendGrid

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/sendgrid
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/sendgrid
Category: Transactional email APIs
Vendor: Twilio SendGrid
Tagline: Email API from Twilio with 50,000 emails for $19.95, and SAML SSO, a dedicated IP and EU data residency on the $89.95 Pro plan.
Value: SAML SSO, a dedicated IP and EU data residency together on one self-serve plan at $89.95, with SOC 2 Type 2 across every plan.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: SendGrid Pro bundles what larger senders otherwise piece together: SAML SSO for up to 1,000 teammates, a dedicated IP with automated warm-up, subusers and EU data residency that keeps email events and recipient addresses in EU data centers. Smaller senders get 50,000 emails for $19.95 on Essentials, and the Inbound Parse Webhook is on every plan.
- EU data residency on Pro: An EU subuser with a dedicated EU IP and the EU endpoint keeps event data and recipient addresses in Frankfurt, Dublin and Amsterdam. (Data residency docs (2026-10-15))
- SSO and 1,000 teammates on Pro: Pro and Premier include SAML single sign-on with just-in-time provisioning; Essentials and the trial have one teammate. (Pricing page and SSO docs (2026-10-15))
- Dedicated IP with warm-up included: Pro includes one dedicated IP with automated warm-up and IP pools; more IPs are an add-on. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Inbound Parse on every plan: The comparison table lists the Inbound Parse Webhook from the trial up. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams sending 100,000 or more a month that want SSO, a dedicated IP and EU data residency on one self-serve plan.
Things to know: The free option is a 60-day trial, and Essentials keeps 3 days of email activity.
Score: 6.0/10
Free option: 60-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $19.95/mo (Essentials plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: No; 60-day trial, 100 a day
Price for 50,000 emails/mo: $19.95 (Essentials)
Retention on the entry paid plan: 3 days of email activity (Essentials)
SOC 2 report: Type 2 (Twilio, all services), on request
EU option: EU data residency on Pro, via EU subusers
SSO: SAML on Pro ($89.95)
HIPAA BAA: No; not on Twilio's HIPAA-eligible list
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, SendGrid fits teams that want EU data residency, SSO and a dedicated IP on one self-serve plan. Check the 3-day history on Essentials and ask for the overage rate first.
Choose it if: You need EU data residency for email events and recipient data. · You want SSO, a dedicated IP and many teammates on one self-serve plan. · You need inbound email parsing on a small plan.
Look elsewhere if: You want a free plan that does not expire. · Your customers require ISO 27001 or a HIPAA BAA from your email vendor. · You need more than 3 days of activity history on a $20 plan.
Compared with: Mailgun (https://proofyo.com/products/mailgun) — pick SendGrid when You need EU data residency rather than an EU sending region, a dedicated IP included at $89.95, or inbound parsing on every plan.; pick Mailgun when You want a free plan that does not expire, ISO 27001, published overage rates, or 30 days of logs on the $90 plan. | Resend (https://proofyo.com/products/resend) — pick SendGrid when You need EU data residency, or SSO and a dedicated IP included in one self-serve plan rather than as add-ons.; pick Resend when You want a free plan that does not expire, 30 days of retention on the $20 plan, and a SOC 2 report you download yourself. | Amazon SES (https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-ses) — pick SendGrid when You want fixed monthly plans with published volume steps, and to start sending without a production-access review.; pick Amazon SES when You want $0.10 per 1,000 with no monthly fee, ISO 27001 or a HIPAA BAA, or data kept in an AWS region you choose.
Strengths:
- EU data residency, not only EU sending: On Pro and Premier, EU subusers keep email events and recipient addresses in EU data centers; the docs list Frankfurt, Dublin and Amsterdam. (Mailgun lists an EU sending region; Resend stores data in the US even with an EU sending region.)
- SSO and a dedicated IP on one plan: Pro at $89.95 includes SAML SSO, one dedicated IP with automated warm-up, subuser management and 1,000 teammates. (Resend charges $150/mo for SSO and $30/mo for a dedicated IP on its $90 Scale plan.)
- 50,000 emails for $19.95: Essentials 50K is $19.95 a month and 100,000 is $34.95. (Resend’s Pro is $20 for 50,000; Mailgun’s Foundation is $35.)
- Inbound parsing on every plan: The Inbound Parse Webhook is listed on the trial and every paid plan. (Postmark includes inbound processing from its $16.50 Pro plan.)
Things to know:
- The free option is a 60-day trial: The trial allows 100 emails a day for 60 days and can be used once; after that, sending needs a paid plan.
- Short activity history below Pro: Searchable email activity is kept 3 days on Essentials and 7 on Pro; 30 days needs the Email Activity history add-on, whose price is not on the pricing page.
- Overage rate not published: The pricing page says overage charges may apply but lists no rate, and the support article on overage links back to that page. Workaround: The FAQ suggests moving to the next tier if you regularly exceed your plan.
- No ISO 27001 or HIPAA for SendGrid: Twilio's ISO 27001 scope names Twilio and Segment services, and SendGrid is not on Twilio's HIPAA-eligible list.
Pricing reality: SendGrid prices by monthly volume in fixed steps: Essentials $19.95 for 50,000 or $34.95 for 100,000; Pro $89.95 for 100,000, $249 for 300,000, $499 for 700,000, $799 for 1.5 million and $1,099 for 2.5 million; Premier is custom. The billing docs say payment is by card, monthly, with no annual billing; invoicing needs a committed spend of $12,000 a year. What raises the bill: overage at a rate the pricing page does not list, extra dedicated IPs ($30 a month each in the invoice guide), the 30-day activity history add-on, email validations beyond the 2,500 on Pro, and paid support. SSO and EU data residency need Pro.
Exit path: Twilio's DPA says that on termination SendGrid content is deleted or returned at the customer's election. The Activity feed can be downloaded as CSV, within the retention window of your plan.

### Postmark

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/postmark
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/postmark
Category: Transactional email APIs
Vendor: Postmark (ActiveCampaign)
Tagline: Transactional email with inbound processing, message history up to 365 days and no card to start.
Value: Inbound email processing and up to 365 days of message history from $16.50 a month, so you do not build mail parsing or log storage yourself.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: Postmark’s Pro and Platform plans parse incoming email for you and keep message history for up to a year, two things teams otherwise build on top of a sending API. Every paid plan sends without a daily cap, and the pricing page says no credit card is needed to start.
- Inbound processing from Pro: Pro and Platform include inbound email processing; Basic does not. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Message history up to 365 days: Retention defaults to 45 days and can be extended up to 365 on Pro and Platform; a custom retention add-on starts at $5/mo. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- No daily cap on paid plans: Every paid plan lists unlimited emails per day; overage is billed at the end of the cycle, not mid-month. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Product teams that send transactional email at modest volume and need to receive and parse replies or keep long message history.
Things to know: Postmark has not had its own SOC audit, and its servers are in the US with no EU plans.
Score: 5.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $15/mo (Basic plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 100/mo (testing)
Price for 50,000 emails/mo: $66–$87 at listed overage rates
Retention on the entry paid plan: 45 days (up to 365 on Pro)
SOC 2 report: Data center's, under NDA
EU option: No; US hosting
SSO: Not listed
HIPAA BAA: Not mentioned
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Postmark is the pick when inbound email and long message history matter more than price at volume. Check whether your security reviews accept a data-center SOC report.
Choose it if: You need to receive and parse inbound email. · You want message history up to a year. · You want to start without a credit card.
Look elsewhere if: A customer requires your email vendor’s own SOC 2 report. · You need EU data hosting.
Compared with: Resend (https://proofyo.com/products/resend) — pick Postmark when You need inbound processing or message history beyond 30 days, and want to start without a card.; pick Resend when You need a vendor SOC 2 Type II report, or send around 50,000 a month, where Resend’s $20 Pro plan costs less. | Mailgun (https://proofyo.com/products/mailgun) — pick Postmark when You send around 10,000 a month and want inbound processing and long history at $16.50.; pick Mailgun when You need an EU sending region, ISO 27001 or SAML SSO.
Strengths:
- No card to start: The pricing page states that no credit card is required to sign up. (Resend and Mailgun do not say on their pricing pages whether a card is needed.)
- Inbound email built in: Pro and Platform include inbound processing, so replies and forwarded mail arrive parsed.
- Long message history: Retention can go up to 365 days on Pro and Platform. (Resend keeps 30 days on its self-serve plans; Mailgun keeps 30 days of logs on Scale.)
- Platform removes seat and domain limits: Platform at $18 lists unlimited users and domains.
Things to know:
- No SOC 2 report of its own: Postmark says it has not undergone a SOC audit; the SOC 2 Type 2 report it offers is its data center’s, after an NDA. Workaround: If a customer review requires a vendor SOC 2 report, compare Resend or Mailgun.
- US hosting only: Data is hosted in the US, and Postmark says it has no plans to add EU servers.
- Free plan is for testing: The Developer plan allows 100 emails a month with no overages.
- Higher-volume prices are not listed: Only the 10,000-email tier is priced on the page; above it you pay overage or ask sales for custom pricing.
Pricing reality: Postmark prices by emails sent: each paid plan includes 10,000 a month and then charges per 1,000 — $1.80 on Basic ($15), $1.30 on Pro ($16.50), $1.20 on Platform ($18). By those listed rates, 50,000 emails a month comes to $87 on Basic, $68.50 on Pro or $66 on Platform; the page also invites high-volume senders to ask sales for custom pricing. Inbound processing and retention beyond 45 days need Pro or higher; custom retention is an add-on from $5/mo and DMARC monitoring from $14/mo per domain. Dedicated IPs start at $50/mo per IP for senders above 300,000 a month. Unused emails do not roll over.

## Category: Authentication and user management

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/auth-identity

### Supabase Auth

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/supabase-auth
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/supabase-auth
Category: Authentication and user management
Vendor: Supabase
Tagline: Auth inside a Supabase Postgres project: 100,000 monthly active users on the $25 Pro plan, SSO priced per user, 17 regions.
Value: 100,000 monthly active users on the $25 Pro plan, SSO priced per user, and SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA BAA on the self-serve Team plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Supabase Auth gives a Supabase project sign-in, MFA and SSO with users stored in the project’s own Postgres database. Pro covers 100,000 monthly active users for $25 and prices SAML SSO per user rather than per connection. For regulated work, Team customers get the SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate in the dashboard and can request a BAA there.
- 100,000 users for $25: Pro includes 100,000 monthly active users, then $0.00325 each; the free plan includes 50,000. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- SSO priced per user, not per connection: SAML SSO on Pro and Team includes 50 SSO users, then $0.015 per user. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA from Team: Team customers ($599/mo) can access the SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate and request a BAA on the dashboard; HIPAA is a paid add-on. (Security and pricing pages (2026-10-15))
- Pick the hosting region: Auth, database and storage are hosted in the AWS region chosen for the project, from 17 specific regions including Frankfurt, Ireland, Paris and Stockholm. (Security page and regions docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams building on Supabase’s Postgres, or apps with many users and modest budgets, that want region choice and a path to HIPAA.
Things to know: Free projects are paused after one week of inactivity, and the compliance documents and BAA start on the $599 Team plan.
Score: 9.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $25/mo (Pro plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 50,000 MAU; paused after 1 week inactive
Entry paid plan at 10,000 users: $25/mo (Pro), 100,000 MAU included
Enterprise SSO: 50 SSO users on Pro, then $0.015 each
SOC 2 report: Type 2, on Team ($599/mo)
HIPAA BAA: Team plan, paid add-on
Data region: 17 AWS regions, EU included
Log retention on the entry paid plan: 7 days of auth audit logs (Pro)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Supabase Auth is the least expensive per user of the three and the only one with a BAA on a self-serve plan. It fits best when the rest of your app runs on Supabase.
Choose it if: You already build on Supabase or want auth in your own Postgres. · You expect many users and want 100,000 included at $25. · You need EU hosting or a self-serve route to a HIPAA BAA.
Look elsewhere if: You want an identity service separate from your database platform. · You need production passkeys today.
Compared with: Auth0 (https://proofyo.com/products/auth0) — pick Supabase Auth when You want 100,000 users on a $25 plan, SSO priced per user, and a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.; pick Auth0 when You want a dedicated identity platform with private deployment, CSA STAR and PCI options, and passkeys that are not experimental. | Clerk (https://proofyo.com/products/clerk) — pick Supabase Auth when You need an EU hosting region, ISO 27001, or users stored in your own Postgres database.; pick Clerk when You want prebuilt sign-in UI, a free plan that never pauses, and billing that skips users who do not return.
Strengths:
- Most users per dollar here: Pro includes 100,000 monthly active users for $25, then $0.00325 each. (Clerk’s Pro includes 50,000 retained users; Auth0’s B2C Essentials is $700 at 10,000.)
- SSO priced by user: 50 SSO users are included on Pro, then $0.015 each, with no per-connection fee on the pricing page. (Clerk charges $75/mo per extra connection; Auth0 from $100.)
- Self-serve path to HIPAA: Team customers can request a BAA on the dashboard; HIPAA is a paid add-on, and the SOC 2 and ISO 27001 documents are there too. (Auth0 and Clerk offer the BAA on Enterprise.)
- Region choice: Projects, including Auth, are hosted in the AWS region you choose, with several EU options.
- Users live in your Postgres database: Auth data sits in a schema of the project database and can be linked to your tables with triggers and foreign keys.
Things to know:
- Free projects pause: Free projects are paused after one week of inactivity, and only two can be active.
- Documents and BAA start on Team: The SOC 2 report, ISO 27001 certificate and BAA are for Team ($599/mo) and Enterprise customers.
- Passkeys are experimental: The docs mark passkey support experimental and say the API may change without notice.
- Tied to the Supabase platform: Auth comes with a Supabase project; compute beyond the included Micro credit, custom domains and phone MFA are billed separately.
Pricing reality: Supabase bills per organization plan plus usage. Pro is from $25 a month and includes 100,000 monthly active users (then $0.00325 each), 100,000 third-party MAU and 50 SSO users (then $0.015 each), plus $10 of compute credit that covers one Micro instance. Team is from $599 with the same auth allowances, 28-day auth audit logs and the compliance documents. What raises the bill: compute above the credit, additional projects from $10 a month, custom domains at $10 per domain per month, phone MFA at $75 a month for the first project and $10 for each additional one, and the HIPAA add-on on Team, whose price is not on the pricing page. Pro has a spend cap on by default.
Exit path: The Auth docs say user data is stored in the project’s own Postgres database, in a dedicated schema that you can connect to your tables; the pricing page lists user data ownership on every plan.

### Firebase Authentication

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/firebase-auth
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/firebase-auth
Category: Authentication and user management
Vendor: Google (Firebase)
Tagline: Sign-in for Firebase and Google Cloud apps: 50,000 monthly active users at no cost, then from $0.0055 each, with SAML at $0.015 per user.
Value: Sign-in that plugs into Firebase and Google Cloud, free to 50,000 monthly users, with SAML at $0.015 per user and a self-serve Google Cloud BAA.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: Firebase Authentication gives Firebase and Google Cloud apps email, phone, social and anonymous sign-in with SDKs for iOS, Android, web, C++ and Unity, and its tokens work with the rest of Firebase. With the Identity Platform upgrade, the first 50,000 monthly users and 50 SAML/OIDC users cost nothing on Blaze, and Identity Platform is covered by the Google Cloud BAA customers accept in the console.
- 50,000 monthly users at no cost: Blaze projects pay nothing up to 50,000 MAU, then $0.0055 per MAU, falling to $0.0025 above 10 million. (Firebase and Identity Platform pricing pages (2026-10-15))
- SAML priced per user: SAML and OIDC users are free up to 50 a month, then $0.015 each, with no per-connection fee. (Identity Platform pricing (2026-10-15))
- ISO 27001, SOC 2 and a self-serve BAA: Firebase Authentication is listed with ISO 27001/27017/27018 and SOC 1/2/3; Identity Platform is covered by the Google Cloud BAA, accepted in the console. (Firebase privacy and Google Cloud HIPAA pages (2026-10-15))
- Part of the Firebase platform: Client SDKs cover iOS, Android, web, C++ and Unity, and signed-in users can be checked by Firebase security rules. (Firebase Auth docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Mobile and web apps on Firebase or Google Cloud that want email, social and phone sign-in at a low per-user price.
Things to know: Authentication runs only in US data centers, and the docs list no passkeys or breached-password checks.
Score: 8.4/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.0055/MAU above 50,000 (Blaze (pay as you go) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 50,000 MAU; Spark capped at 3,000 a day
Entry paid plan at 10,000 users: $0 (Blaze), 50,000 MAU at no cost
Enterprise SSO: 50 SAML/OIDC users free on Blaze, then $0.015 each
SOC 2 report: SOC 2 (Google), via Compliance Reports Manager
HIPAA BAA: Google Cloud BAA, accepted in the console
Data region: US only
Log retention on the entry paid plan: 30 days in Cloud Logging (activity logs, opt-in)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Firebase Authentication is the least expensive route here to SAML SSO and a self-serve BAA, inside the Firebase platform. Check US-only processing and the protections it does not list.
Choose it if: Your app already runs on Firebase or Google Cloud. · You need a few SAML users per customer at per-user prices. · You want ISO 27001 and a BAA without an enterprise contract.
Look elsewhere if: User data must be processed outside the US. · You need passkeys or breached-password checks today.
Compared with: Supabase Auth (https://proofyo.com/products/supabase-auth) — pick Firebase Authentication when You build on Firebase or Google Cloud and want a BAA you accept in the console rather than on a $599 Team plan.; pick Supabase Auth when You need an EU hosting region, passkeys, leaked-password protection, or users stored in your own Postgres database. | WorkOS (https://proofyo.com/products/workos) — pick Firebase Authentication when You need SAML for a few users at $0.015 each rather than $125 per connection, ISO 27001, or a self-serve BAA.; pick WorkOS when You want passkeys, breached-password rejection and bot detection built in, and 1 million free users. | Clerk (https://proofyo.com/products/clerk) — pick Firebase Authentication when You want ISO 27001, a self-serve BAA and SSO priced per user rather than $75 per extra connection.; pick Clerk when You want prebuilt sign-in UI with bot protection and breached-password checks on the free plan.
Strengths:
- SSO at per-user prices: SAML and OIDC users are free up to 50 a month on Blaze, then $0.015 each; five enterprise customers with 100 SSO users add $0.75. (WorkOS charges $125 per connection and Clerk $75 per connection after the first.)
- Free to 50,000 monthly users: Blaze projects pay nothing up to 50,000 MAU, then from $0.0055 per MAU. (Auth0’s B2C Essentials is $700 a month at 10,000 users.)
- ISO 27001 and a self-serve BAA: Firebase Authentication is listed with ISO 27001/27017/27018 and SOC 2, and Identity Platform is in the Google Cloud BAA you accept in the console. (Supabase Auth offers its BAA on the $599 Team plan; Clerk and WorkOS on enterprise plans.)
- Wide SDK coverage: Sign-in SDKs cover iOS, Android, web, C++ and Unity, with anonymous accounts that can be upgraded later.
Things to know:
- US-only processing: The Firebase privacy page says Firebase Authentication runs only from US data centers.
- Spark limits after the upgrade: Upgraded Spark projects are capped at 3,000 daily active users and 2 SAML/OIDC daily active users; the pricing page shows the 50,000 MAU allowance without that cap. Workaround: Blaze removes the daily cap and still bills nothing up to 50,000 MAU.
- Fewer built-in protections: The docs list no passkey sign-in or breached-password check, and bot protection runs through reCAPTCHA Enterprise, billed after 10,000 assessments a month.
- SMS costs extra: Phone sign-in and SMS MFA need Blaze and are billed per message by country, from $0.01 in the US; the first 10 a day are not billed.
Pricing reality: Without the upgrade, Firebase Authentication is listed at no cost on both plans except phone sign-in, billed per SMS on Blaze. With Identity Platform on Blaze, the first 50,000 monthly active users are free, then $0.0055 per MAU to 100,000, $0.0046 to 1 million, $0.0032 to 10 million and $0.0025 above; SAML/OIDC users are free to 50, then $0.015 each. At 10,000 users that is $0; at 100,000, $275, the figure Google’s own example uses. Adjacent costs: SMS by destination country, reCAPTCHA Enterprise beyond its free 10,000 assessments ($8 flat to 100,000), Cloud Logging for activity logs kept beyond the default 30 days, and Cloud Run functions for blocking functions.
Exit path: The Firebase CLI’s auth:export command exports user accounts to JSON or CSV, and the console shows the password hash parameters (modified scrypt by default) needed to import them elsewhere.

### Clerk

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/clerk
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/clerk
Category: Authentication and user management
Vendor: Clerk
Tagline: Prebuilt sign-in and user management, free for 50,000 monthly retained users, with bot and breached-password protection on every plan.
Value: Ready-made sign-in and user management, free for 50,000 retained users, with SSO and MFA from $25 a month at published prices.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: Clerk replaces the sign-up, sign-in and profile screens you would otherwise build, with APIs and prebuilt UIs on every plan. It bills only users who come back at least a day after signing up, so one-time sign-ups do not count, and it puts bot protection, account lockout and breached-password checks on the free plan.
- Prebuilt sign-in and profile UIs: Every plan includes APIs and prebuilt UIs for sign-up, sign-in and user profile, and B2B organizations with up to 20 members each. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Billed for users who return: A user counts once they return 24 hours or more after signing up. Hobby includes 50,000 such users per app; Pro at $25 includes 50,000, then $0.02 each. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Abuse protection on the free plan: Bot protection (Cloudflare Turnstile), account lockout and breached-password checks against HaveIBeenPwned are included on Hobby. (Pricing and security pages (2026-10-15))
- SSO at a published price: Pro includes 1 SAML/OIDC connection per app; more cost $75/mo each for 2–15 and $60/mo each for 16–100. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Product teams that want ready-made sign-in and user-management UI with published prices, from the first user to B2B SSO.
Things to know: Data is hosted in the US with no region choice, and Clerk does not hold ISO 27001.
Score: 8.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $25/mo (Pro plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 50,000 MRU per app, no card
Entry paid plan at 10,000 users: $25/mo (Pro), $20 billed annually
Enterprise SSO: 1 connection on Pro, then $75/mo each
SOC 2 report: Type 2, on Business ($300/mo)
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise plan
Data region: US only
Log retention on the entry paid plan: 7 days of application logs (Pro)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Clerk offers the largest free allowance here and clear prices from the first user to SSO. Check US-only hosting and the plan that unlocks the SOC 2 report against your customers’ requirements.
Choose it if: You want prebuilt sign-up, sign-in and profile screens. · Many sign-ups never come back, so billing on retained users helps. · You need a few SSO connections at published prices.
Look elsewhere if: User data must be hosted outside the US. · Your customers require ISO 27001 from your identity vendor.
Compared with: Auth0 (https://proofyo.com/products/auth0) — pick Clerk when You want 10,000 users for $25, SSO connections from $75 each, and bot and breached-password protection on the free plan.; pick Auth0 when You need ISO 27001, data hosted outside the US, or an enterprise connection on a free plan. | Supabase Auth (https://proofyo.com/products/supabase-auth) — pick Clerk when You want prebuilt sign-in UI and billing that skips users who never return.; pick Supabase Auth when You need an EU hosting region, ISO 27001, or a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.
Strengths:
- Largest free allowance by user count: Hobby is free for 50,000 monthly retained users per app, with no credit card. (Auth0’s free plan covers 25,000 monthly active users.)
- Abuse protection on every plan: Bot protection, account lockout and breached-password checks are included on Hobby. (Auth0 lists bot detection as an Enterprise add-on and breached-password detection from Professional.)
- Published SSO prices: One connection on Pro, then $75/mo each up to 15 and $60/mo each up to 100. (Auth0’s extra connections start at $100 a month on its B2B plans.)
- Data export on every plan: Full user data exports are listed as included on all plans.
- Candid security page: It states what Clerk does not hold, including ISO 27001 and regional data residency, so a review has its answers without a ticket.
Things to know:
- US hosting only: Clerk does not offer region selection; EU, UK and Swiss data is transferred to the US under the Data Privacy Framework.
- No ISO 27001 of its own: The security page says Clerk is not ISO 27001 certified; its infrastructure providers are.
- SOC 2 report on Business: The report is available from the $300/mo Business plan; the HIPAA BAA needs Enterprise.
- MFA and passkeys need Pro: Hobby does not include MFA or passkeys. Workaround: Pro features can be tried in a development instance before upgrading, according to the pricing FAQ.
Pricing reality: Clerk bills monthly retained users per app. Hobby is free up to 50,000; past that the FAQ says you must upgrade, with a one-month grace period. Pro is $25 a month ($20 billed annually) and Business $300 ($250 annually); both include 50,000, then $0.02 each up to 100,000, $0.018 to 1 million, $0.015 to 10 million and $0.012 beyond. What raises the bill: SSO connections beyond the first at $75/mo each (2–15), satellite domains at $10/mo, SMS at $0.01 per message in the US and Canada, extra Business seats at $20/mo, and the B2B and Administration Enhanced add-ons at $100/mo each. Directory Sync connections start billing on Jan 1, 2027.
Exit path: The pricing page lists full user data exports on every plan and says you can export user data from the dashboard at any time without assistance; migration assistance is part of Enterprise.

### WorkOS

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/workos
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/workos
Category: Authentication and user management
Vendor: WorkOS
Tagline: AuthKit user management free for 1 million monthly active users, with enterprise SSO and directory sync at $125 per connection.
Value: Enterprise SSO and directory sync at a published $125 per connection, on top of user management that is free for up to 1 million monthly users.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: WorkOS lets a B2B app say yes to an enterprise customer’s SSO or SCIM request without building SAML and directory integrations: each customer is one connection at a published price, with an Admin Portal their IT team configures. AuthKit handles sign-in for everyone else and is free up to 1 million monthly active users, with MFA, passkeys and breached-password rejection on every account.
- SSO and SCIM priced per customer: Each enterprise customer is one connection: $125 a month for 1–15, falling to $65 for 51–100, regardless of how many end users it has. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- 1 million monthly users free: AuthKit user management is free up to 1,000,000 monthly active users, then $2,500 a month per additional million. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Security features on every account: MFA, passkeys, magic auth, RBAC and a password policy that rejects breached passwords are listed as available for all accounts. (Pricing page and AuthKit docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: B2B SaaS teams that are starting to sell to enterprises and want SSO and SCIM priced per customer, with free sign-in for everyone else.
Things to know: Every SSO connection costs $125 a month until volume discounts from the 16th, and data is hosted in the US.
Score: 7.9/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $125/SSO connection/mo (Pay as you go plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 1,000,000 MAU, no card until production
Entry paid plan at 10,000 users: $0 (users free up to 1M)
Enterprise SSO: $125/mo per connection (1–15), down to $65 at 51–100
SOC 2 report: Type II, from the Trust Center on request
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise plans
Data region: US (per the DPA)
Log retention on the entry paid plan: 90 days of events via the Events API
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, WorkOS offers the largest free user allowance here and clear per-connection prices for enterprise SSO. Budget $125 a month per SSO customer and check US-only hosting.
Choose it if: You sell to enterprises that ask for SSO and SCIM, one customer at a time. · You want sign-in for up to 1 million monthly users at no cost. · You want MFA, passkeys and breached-password checks without a paid tier.
Look elsewhere if: User data must be hosted outside the US. · You need dozens of SSO connections on a tight budget. · Your customers require ISO 27001 from your identity vendor.
Compared with: Clerk (https://proofyo.com/products/clerk) — pick WorkOS when You expect more than 50,000 monthly users on a free plan, or want MFA and passkeys without a paid plan.; pick Clerk when You need several SSO connections at the lower price ($75 a month each against $125) and bot protection with no metered checks. | Auth0 (https://proofyo.com/products/auth0) — pick WorkOS when You want published per-connection SSO prices without moving to a B2B plan, and 1 million free users.; pick Auth0 when You need ISO 27001, a non-US hosting region, or one enterprise connection on a free plan. | Firebase Authentication (https://proofyo.com/products/firebase-auth) — pick WorkOS when You want passkeys, breached-password rejection and bot detection built in, and 1 million free users.; pick Firebase Authentication when You need SAML for a few users at $0.015 each rather than $125 per connection, ISO 27001, or a self-serve BAA.
Strengths:
- Largest free user allowance here: AuthKit is free for up to 1,000,000 monthly active users. (Clerk’s Hobby plan covers 50,000 retained users and Auth0’s free plan 25,000.)
- Published SSO prices without a plan change: SSO is $125 a month per connection with volume steps to $65, and the price does not depend on the number of end users. (Auth0 needs a B2B plan ($2,100 at 10,000 users) for SSO beyond its free connection.)
- Security features without a paid tier: MFA, passkeys and breached-password rejection are on every account; Radar adds bot and brute-force detection with 1,000 free checks. (Clerk starts MFA and passkeys on its $25 Pro plan.)
- Directory sync and audit logs alongside: SCIM directory sync, audit logs with SIEM streaming and an Admin Portal for customer IT teams are priced on the same page.
Things to know:
- SSO adds up per customer: Five enterprise customers cost $625 a month in SSO at the 1–15 rate; directory sync is billed separately at the same rate.
- US hosting, no ISO 27001: The DPA names the United States as where transferred data is stored or accessed, and the security page and Trust Center list no ISO 27001 certification.
- BAA on enterprise plans: The security FAQ says WorkOS signs HIPAA business associate agreements for customers on enterprise plans.
- Radar beyond 1,000 checks is paid: Bot and brute-force detection in Radar cost $100 per 50,000 checks after the first 1,000.
Pricing reality: WorkOS bills per product. AuthKit is free up to 1 million monthly active users, then $2,500 a month per additional million. SSO and Directory Sync are $125 per connection a month for 1–15, $100 for 16–30, $80 for 31–50 and $65 for 51–100, each billed separately; beyond that, sales. At 10,000 users with no enterprise customers the bill is $0; with five SSO customers it is $625. Other charges: audit log streaming at $125 a month per SIEM connection and $99 a month per million stored events, Radar at $100 per 50,000 checks, and a custom domain at $99 a month. Video and Slack support with response SLAs is the Scale support plan at $1,000 a month; annual credits bring a 99.99% SLA and pre-pay discounts through sales.
Exit path: The docs describe importing users, including password hashes, from other services; we did not find a page that describes exporting password hashes out of WorkOS.

### Auth0

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/auth0
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/auth0
Category: Authentication and user management
Vendor: Auth0 (Okta)
Tagline: Customer identity from Okta with SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 audits, six hosting regions and a 25,000-user free plan.
Value: Audited enterprise identity — SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and six hosting regions — with a free plan of 25,000 users and one enterprise connection.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Auth0 covers what enterprise and regulated customers ask an identity vendor for: annual SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001/27017/27018 audits, a choice of six regions for where user data lives, and a HIPAA BAA, private deployment and a 99.99% SLA on Enterprise. Small apps can start on a free plan that already includes passkeys, brute-force protection and one enterprise connection.
- Audited every year: The docs describe annual SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001/27017/27018 audits by an independent auditor, with the reports in the Support Center’s Compliance section, and CSA STAR certification. (Data privacy and compliance docs (2026-10-15))
- Choose where user data is hosted: A tenant is created in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, the UK or the US, and that choice sets the region where its data is hosted. (Create Tenants docs (2026-10-15))
- 25,000 users and an enterprise connection free: The Free plan covers up to 25,000 monthly active users with passkeys, brute-force protection, 1 enterprise connection, self-service SSO and SCIM, and needs no card to sign up. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams selling to enterprises or regulated industries that need audited compliance, a choice of data region and room to grow into private deployment.
Things to know: Paid plans are priced by user count: B2C Essentials is $700/mo at 10,000 users, and SSO on paid plans needs a B2B plan.
Score: 6.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $35/mo (Essentials plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 25,000 MAU, no card to sign up
Entry paid plan at 10,000 users: $700/mo (B2C Essentials)
Enterprise SSO: 1 connection free; 3 on B2B Essentials, more from $100/mo each
SOC 2 report: Type 2, from the Support Center
HIPAA BAA: With an Enterprise subscription
Data region: AU, CA, EU, JP, UK or US per tenant
Log retention on the entry paid plan: 5 days (Essentials)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Auth0 is the most complete compliance and data-region package of the three, with a generous free plan. Its paid plans cost more per user than the others, so price the B2C or B2B plan at your user count first.
Choose it if: Your customers ask for ISO 27001 or SOC 2 Type 2 from your identity vendor. · User data must be hosted in the EU, UK, Canada, Australia or Japan. · You need one enterprise connection while staying on a free plan. · You expect to need a HIPAA BAA, private deployment or a 99.99% SLA later.
Look elsewhere if: You expect tens of thousands of users on a small budget. · You want several SSO connections without a B2B plan.
Compared with: Clerk (https://proofyo.com/products/clerk) — pick Auth0 when You need ISO 27001, a non-US hosting region, or an enterprise connection on the free plan.; pick Clerk when You want 10,000 users for $25 a month, published SSO prices from $75 a connection, and bot protection on the free plan. | Supabase Auth (https://proofyo.com/products/supabase-auth) — pick Auth0 when You want a dedicated identity platform with six regions, CSA STAR and PCI options, and enterprise features such as private deployment.; pick Supabase Auth when You want 100,000 users on a $25 plan, SSO priced per user, and a HIPAA BAA on a self-serve plan.
Strengths:
- The broadest compliance list here: SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001/27017/27018, CSA STAR and PCI-compliant deployment models are all described in the docs. (Clerk holds SOC 2 Type 2 but not ISO 27001; Supabase holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001.)
- Six hosting regions: Tenants can be created in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, the UK or the US, which sets where data is hosted. (Clerk hosts data in the US only.)
- Enterprise connection on the free plan: Free includes 1 enterprise connection, self-service SSO and SCIM for up to 25,000 users. (Clerk and Supabase start SSO on their $25 Pro plans.)
- Passkeys and brute-force protection on every plan: Both are listed as included from Free upwards.
Things to know:
- Price rises with users: B2C Essentials is $700/mo at 10,000 users and Professional $1,600; B2B Essentials is $2,100 at 10,000.
- SSO on paid plans means a B2B plan: Paid B2C plans do not include enterprise connections; B2B Essentials includes 3 and more start at $100/mo each.
- Some protections are higher-tier: Breached password detection starts on Professional; bot detection is an Enterprise add-on.
- Self-serve prices stop at 30,000 users: Above the last step of the price selector the page says to get in touch. Workaround: The FAQ says paid plans can be sized up to 100,000 users or more; sizes past the selector go through sales.
Pricing reality: Auth0 prices by monthly active users in steps from 500 to 30,000, separately for B2C and B2B. B2C Essentials runs from $35 (500) to $700 (10,000) and $2,100 (30,000); B2C Professional from $240 to $1,600 at 10,000. B2B Essentials runs from $150 to $2,100 at 10,000, and B2B Professional from $800 to $2,400 at 10,000. The free plan covers up to 25,000 users. Add-ons sit on top: enterprise SSO connections beyond those included start at $100 a month each, Enterprise MFA on B2B Essentials starts at $100 a month (SMS charged separately), and M2M tokens start at $28 a month. Bot detection, the HIPAA BAA and private deployment are Enterprise options.
Exit path: The pricing FAQ says users can be exported with the User Import/Export extension in the dashboard, and that the Management API exposes all account data for export in any format.

## Category: Product analytics

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/product-analytics

### PostHog

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/posthog
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/posthog
Category: Product analytics
Vendor: PostHog
Tagline: Open-source product analytics with per-event rates published for every volume, 7 years of data on paid usage and a self-serve HIPAA BAA.
Value: Per-event rates published for every volume, 7 years of data on paid usage, priced warehouse exports and a HIPAA BAA without a sales contract.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: PostHog prices each product separately by usage and publishes the rate for every volume tier, with no sales-only ceiling. Paid usage keeps event data for 7 years, batch exports to S3, Snowflake, BigQuery and other warehouses are priced per row, and a HIPAA BAA comes with the $250-a-month Boost package, which you enable in billing. The code is open source under the MIT license for teams that want to host it themselves.
- Warehouse exports with listed prices: Batch exports to S3, Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks, Postgres and Azure include 1 million rows a month free, then from $0.000015 per row. (Pricing page and batch export docs (2026-10-15))
- HIPAA BAA without a sales contract: BAAs come with the Boost ($250/mo), Scale or Enterprise package; Boost and Scale are enabled in billing. PostHog has its own SOC 2 Type II report and an EU cloud in Frankfurt. (HIPAA docs, pricing page and security handbook (2026-10-15))
- 7 years of data on pay-as-you-go: Events are retained for 7 years on any paid plan and 1 year on Free, with no separate storage fee. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Open source to self-host: A free Docker Compose deployment is MIT-licensed. PostHog states it is unsupported and suited to smaller volumes. (Self-host and HIPAA docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Engineering-led teams that want usage pricing they can compute at any volume, warehouse exports and a self-serve HIPAA BAA.
Things to know: Identified events add a person-profile rate: 10 million identified events come to $1,080 a month by the published rates.
Score: 7.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0 (Pay-as-you-go plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 1M events/mo, unlimited team members
Price for 10M events/mo: $1,080 identified, $324.40 anonymous (computed)
Self-serve prices up to: No ceiling; rates listed past 250M events
Data retention: 1 year (Free), 7 years (paid)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 not listed
EU data storage: EU cloud in Frankfurt
HIPAA BAA: Boost package, $250/mo
SAML SSO: Scale package, $750/mo
Warehouse export: Batch exports; 1M rows/mo free, then per row
Self-hosting: Open source (MIT), unsupported
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, PostHog is the most transparent on price and the most open with your data, with a self-serve HIPAA BAA. Identified events carry a second rate, so estimate your mix of identified and anonymous events before comparing bills.
Choose it if: You want to compute your bill at any volume from published rates. · You need a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract. · You want to export events to your own warehouse, or self-host.
Look elsewhere if: Most of your events come from identified users and the price at 10 million events decides it. · Your security review requires ISO 27001.
Compared with: Amplitude (https://proofyo.com/products/amplitude) — pick PostHog when You want published rates past 70 million events, a self-serve HIPAA BAA, 7-year retention or self-hosting.; pick Amplitude when You want 2 million free events and the lowest listed price at 10 million identified events ($720 a month). | Mixpanel (https://proofyo.com/products/mixpanel) — pick PostHog when You want published rates past 20 million events, a self-serve BAA, or warehouse exports with listed prices.; pick Mixpanel when You want SAML SSO in the plan price, ISO 27001, or two years of data on the free plan.
Strengths:
- Rates published for every volume: Per-event prices run from the first free million to above 250 million events, with no sales-only ceiling. (Mixpanel’s self-serve prices stop at 20 million events a month; Amplitude Plus at 70 million.)
- Self-serve HIPAA BAA: A BAA comes with the Boost package at $250 a month, enabled in billing. (Mixpanel lists BAAs on Enterprise only.)
- 7-year retention on paid usage: Pay-as-you-go keeps events for 7 years with no storage fee. (Amplitude Plus and Mixpanel Growth keep 2 years.)
- Warehouse exports and self-hosting: Batch exports to seven destinations have published per-row prices, and the code is MIT-licensed for self-hosting.
- Billing limits per product: Each product can have its own billing limit; on the Free plan, usage stops at the free allowance.
Things to know:
- Identified events cost more: Events tied to identified users add a person-profile rate: by the published rates, 10 million identified events come to $1,080 a month, against $324.40 if all are anonymous.
- SAML comes with the $750 package: SAML SSO is in the Scale package; Google, GitHub and GitLab sign-in work on PostHog Cloud without a package.
- No ISO 27001 listed: The trust center lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, CCPA and HIPAA, but not ISO 27001.
- Self-hosting is unsupported: The MIT-licensed hobby deployment comes without guarantees or paid support, and PostHog recommends its Cloud under a BAA for HIPAA.
Pricing reality: Each product is billed on its own usage after a monthly free allowance. Analytics events cost $0.00005 each from 1 to 2 million, $0.0000343 up to 15 million and $0.0000295 up to 50 million, falling to $0.000009 above 250 million. Events from identified users add $0.000198 each from 1 to 2 million, $0.0000697 up to 15 million, falling to $0.000001. By these rates, 10 million events cost $324.40 a month if anonymous or $1,080 if identified (our arithmetic). Platform packages are monthly add-ons: Boost $250, Scale $750, Enterprise custom. Annual credit purchases from $25,000 get 20% off, rising with size; startups under 2 years old with under $5M raised can get $50,000 in credits.
Exit path: Batch exports send events and persons to S3, Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks, Postgres or Azure Blob Storage on a schedule, and file download exports return Parquet or JSON Lines through the API. The open-source code can also be self-hosted.

### Mixpanel

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/mixpanel
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/mixpanel
Category: Product analytics
Vendor: Mixpanel
Tagline: Product analytics with SAML SSO on its self-serve Growth plan, two years of data on every plan, and SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Value: SAML SSO and SCIM on the self-serve Growth plan, two years of data on every plan, and its own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Mixpanel puts access controls that are often kept for enterprise contracts on its self-serve Growth plan: SAML-based SSO and SCIM provisioning, alongside warehouse connectors and the Query API. Every plan, including Free, keeps two years of data by default and can store it in the EU. The pricing page prints every Growth price from 1 to 20 million events as text, monthly and annual, and the security overview lists Mixpanel's own SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701.
- SAML SSO and SCIM on Growth: The plan comparison lists SAML-based SSO and SCIM provisioning on Growth, the self-serve plan that starts at $0, as well as on Enterprise. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Own SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701: The security overview states a native SOC 2 Type II attestation and ISO 27001 and 27701 certification; the trust center lists the reports. EU data residency is available on every plan. (Security overview, trust center and pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Two years of data and warehouse connectors: Default retention is 2 years on Free and Growth. Growth adds warehouse connectors that bring warehouse data into Mixpanel; those events count toward the event limit. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that need SSO and an EU data option on a self-serve plan, at up to 20 million events a month.
Things to know: At 10 million events Growth lists $1,176 a month ($840 billed annually), and HIPAA BAAs are on Enterprise only.
Score: 7.1/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0 (Growth plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 1M events/mo, unlimited seats
Price for 10M events/mo: $1,176 monthly, $840 billed annually (Growth)
Self-serve prices up to: 20M events/mo
Data retention: 2 years on every plan
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701
EU data storage: Every plan, chosen at project creation
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise plan
SAML SSO: Growth plan (self-serve)
Warehouse export: Data Pipelines add-on, fee not listed
Self-hosting: Not listed
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Mixpanel has the most complete self-serve access controls of the three and the clearest written price table. It has the highest listed price at 10 million events, so compare annual billing before you decide.
Choose it if: You need SAML SSO and SCIM on a self-serve plan. · You want two years of data on the free plan. · Your security review asks for ISO 27001 or ISO 27701.
Look elsewhere if: You send more than 20 million events a month and want published prices. · You need a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.
Compared with: Amplitude (https://proofyo.com/products/amplitude) — pick Mixpanel when You need SAML SSO without a sales-priced plan, or two years of data on the free plan.; pick Amplitude when You want 2 million free events and the lower listed price at 10 million events ($720 against $1,176 a month). | PostHog (https://proofyo.com/products/posthog) — pick Mixpanel when You want SSO included in the plan price, or an ISO 27001 certificate.; pick PostHog when You need published prices above 20 million events, a self-serve HIPAA BAA, or self-hosting.
Strengths:
- SSO on a self-serve plan: SAML SSO and SCIM provisioning are listed on Growth, which you can start without a sales call. (Amplitude has SSO from its custom-priced Growth plan; PostHog’s SAML comes with the $750/mo Scale package.)
- Two years of data on the free plan: Default retention is 2 years on Free, Growth and Enterprise. (Amplitude Free and PostHog Free keep 1 year.)
- Every Growth price in writing: The pricing page lists monthly and annual prices for each tier from 1 to 20 million events.
- Certifications of its own: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701, with EU data residency on every plan.
Things to know:
- Highest listed price at 10 million events: Growth is $1,176 a month on monthly billing, or $840 a month on an annual plan ($10,080 a year). Workaround: Annual billing saves $4,032 a year at this volume.
- Self-serve pricing stops at 20 million events: Above 20 million events a month, the page asks you to contact sales for annual pricing.
- HIPAA on Enterprise only: HIPAA compliance tools, including BAAs, are listed only on Enterprise.
- EU residency is set per project: EU data residency is chosen when a project is created; it is not on by default.
Pricing reality: Growth is priced by monthly events, with the first 1 million free. On monthly billing the page lists $140 for 1.5 million, $259 for 2 million, $613 for 5 million, $1,176 for 10 million and $2,289 for 20 million; on annual billing the same tiers are $100, $185, $438, $840 and $1,635 a month. Above 20 million events, pricing is an annual contract through sales. Growth includes 20,000 session replays a month (up to 500,000 with more purchased) and up to 50 active feature flags. Events from warehouse connectors count toward the event limit, and Data Pipelines is a paid add-on whose price is not listed. A Startup Plan gives companies under 5 years old with up to $8M raised their first year free.
Exit path: The Raw Event Export API returns raw events as JSON lines, and the pricing page lists export API access on every plan. Continuous export to S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure, BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks or Redshift uses the Data Pipelines add-on on Growth or Enterprise.

### Amplitude

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/amplitude
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/amplitude
Category: Product analytics
Vendor: Amplitude
Tagline: Product analytics with 2 million free events a month and 10 million for $720 a month on the self-serve Plus plan.
Value: The largest free tier here at 2 million events a month, and the lowest listed price at 10 million: $720 a month, or $576 billed annually.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Amplitude's Free plan covers 2 million events a month with unlimited seats, session replay and feature flags, and no card. The self-serve Plus plan publishes a price for every volume up to 70 million events in an estimator on the pricing page; at 10 million it lists $720 a month, the lowest of the three products we compared. The trust center lists Amplitude's own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and every plan can use the EU data center in Frankfurt.
- Free plan with 2 million events: Free includes 2 million events a month, unlimited seats, 10,000 session replays and unlimited feature flags, with no credit card and no time limit. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- 10 million events for $720 a month: The Plus estimator lists $720 a month on monthly billing, or $576 a month billed annually, at 10 million events. Plus scales to 70 million events. (Pricing page, Plus estimator (2026-10-15))
- Own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, EU data center: The trust center lists SOC 2 Type II and an ISO/IEC 27001 certificate; the pricing page includes the EU data center option on every plan. (Trust center and pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want a large free tier and the lowest listed self-serve price at around 10 million events a month.
Things to know: SSO, scheduled syncs and unlimited data access start on Growth, which is priced through sales.
Score: 6.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0 (Plus plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 2M events/mo, unlimited seats
Price for 10M events/mo: $720 monthly, $576 billed annually (Plus)
Self-serve prices up to: 70M events/mo
Data retention: 1 year (Free), 2 years (Plus)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001
EU data storage: Frankfurt data center, every plan
HIPAA BAA: Offered; plan not stated
SAML SSO: Growth plan (custom price)
Warehouse export: S3, Snowflake and others documented; plan not stated
Self-hosting: Not listed
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Amplitude has the largest free tier and the lowest listed price at 10 million events. SSO, longer history and scheduled syncs sit on the custom-priced Growth plan, so check those against your needs first.
Choose it if: You want 2 million free events a month with unlimited seats. · You expect around 10 million events a month and want the lowest listed self-serve price. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Look elsewhere if: You need SSO without a sales-priced plan. · You want more than 2 years of history on a self-serve plan.
Compared with: Mixpanel (https://proofyo.com/products/mixpanel) — pick Amplitude when You want the larger free tier and the lower listed price at 10 million events ($720 against $1,176 a month).; pick Mixpanel when You need SAML SSO on a self-serve plan, or two years of data on the free plan. | PostHog (https://proofyo.com/products/posthog) — pick Amplitude when You want the lowest listed price at 10 million identified events and an ISO 27001 certificate.; pick PostHog when You want published rates at every volume, a self-serve HIPAA BAA, priced warehouse exports or self-hosting.
Strengths:
- Largest free tier of the three: Free covers 2 million events a month with unlimited seats and no card. (Mixpanel and PostHog each include 1 million free events a month.)
- Lowest listed price at 10 million events: Plus lists $720 a month on monthly billing, $576 a month billed annually. (Mixpanel lists $1,176 a month; PostHog’s published rates come to $1,080 for 10 million identified events.)
- Session replay and feature flags on every plan: Every plan includes unlimited feature flags and session replay, with 10,000 sessions a month on Free and Plus.
- Own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The trust center lists both, and every plan can store data in the Frankfurt data center. (PostHog lists SOC 2 Type II but not ISO 27001.)
Things to know:
- SSO starts on Growth, priced by sales: SSO and project-level permissions are on Growth and Enterprise, which the pricing page lists as Custom. Workaround: Mixpanel lists SAML SSO on its self-serve Growth plan.
- Plus prices live in a calculator: Volume prices appear in the Estimate bill tool rather than as text, and above 70 million events pricing goes through sales.
- Shorter history on lower plans: Free gives 1 year of data access and Plus 2 years; unlimited data access starts on Growth.
- Free plan has a firm limit: Per the billing FAQ, a Free account that exceeds its event limit three times is blocked until it upgrades, and deleted six months after the first block.
Pricing reality: Plus is priced by events per month, and the first 2 million are free. On monthly billing the Plus estimator lists $94 for 3 million, $281 for 5 million, $720 for 10 million, $1,575 for 20 million and $5,865 for 70 million. Paying annually lowers those to $75, $225, $576, $1,260 and $4,692 a month. Plus needs a card. Growth and Enterprise are custom-priced and add SSO, more session replays, unlimited data access and add-ons priced as a percentage of the plan. The Startup Scholarship gives companies with fewer than 20 employees and under $10M in funding one free year of Growth.
Exit path: The Export API, available on all plans per the docs, returns raw event data. The docs also describe scheduled exports to Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, BigQuery, Snowflake and Redshift without stating which plans include them.

### Pendo

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/pendo
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/pendo
Category: Product analytics
Vendor: Pendo.io
Tagline: Product analytics with in-app guides, 7 years of event data on paid plans and an EU environment; priced by monthly active users through sales.
Value: Analytics and in-app guides in one product, with 7 years of event data on paid plans, an EU environment, SOC 2 Type 2 and a BAA.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Pendo pairs product analytics with in-app guides, session replay and surveys, so the team that measures adoption can also act on it inside the product. Paid subscriptions keep raw event data for 7 years by default, customers choose a US, EU, Japan or Australia environment, and the trust center lists SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA, with BAAs signed for healthcare customers. Every paid plan is priced by monthly active users through sales.
- Analytics and in-app guides together: Every plan, including Free, includes product analytics and in-app guides; Core adds session replay and Ultimate adds surveys, journey orchestration and Data Sync. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- 7 years of event data: Raw event data is kept for 7 years from collection by default, and can be shortened to between 1 and 84 months on request. (Subscription data retention article (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA and an EU environment: The trust center lists SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA; the AI docs refer to customers with a signed BAA; customers choose a US, EU, Japan or Australia environment. (Trust center, AI and global hosting articles (2026-10-15))
Best for: Product teams that want adoption analytics and in-app guidance in one tool, with long history and an EU option, and expect a sales contract.
Things to know: Every paid plan is priced through sales, and the free plan stops at 500 monthly active users.
Score: 3.9/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: Not observed yet
Pricing model: Custom quote
Pricing page: Prices hidden
Free plan: 500 monthly active users; free events not stated
Price for 10M events/mo: Not published; billed by monthly active users
Self-serve prices up to: No price published
Data retention: 7 years kept; 1 year visible on Free
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2; ISO 27001 not listed
EU data storage: EU environment, chosen by the customer
HIPAA BAA: Signed with customers; plan not stated
SAML SSO: Included by contract (sales-priced plans)
Warehouse export: Data Sync paid add-on, price not listed
Self-hosting: Not listed
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Pendo is the option here that adds in-app guides to analytics, with 7 years of data and four hosting regions. Every paid plan is quoted by sales, so its price cannot be compared from the page.
Choose it if: You want analytics and in-app guides in one product. · You need long event history and an EU, Japan or Australia environment. · You expect to buy through a sales contract anyway.
Look elsewhere if: You want to see prices before talking to sales. · Your security review requires ISO 27001.
Compared with: Amplitude (https://proofyo.com/products/amplitude) — pick Pendo when You want in-app guides with analytics, or 7 years of event data.; pick Amplitude when You want published prices and a larger free tier: 2 million events a month and 10 million for $720. | PostHog (https://proofyo.com/products/posthog) — pick Pendo when You want in-app guides, or Japan or Australia hosting.; pick PostHog when You want to compute your bill from published rates, or a HIPAA BAA on a priced self-serve package. | Heap (https://proofyo.com/products/heap) — pick Pendo when You want in-app guides, or 7 years of event data.; pick Heap when You want SAML SSO on the free plan, or ISO 27001.
Strengths:
- Analytics plus in-app guides: Every plan includes analytics and in-app guides, so measuring and guiding users happen in one tool.
- 7 years of event data: Raw event data is kept for 7 years by default on paid subscriptions. (Amplitude Plus and Mixpanel Growth keep 2 years; PostHog pay-as-you-go keeps 7.)
- Four hosting environments: Customers choose US, EU, Japan or Australia hosting, and the EU environment keeps personal data in the EU.
- SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA listed: The trust center lists both, with a 2026 SOC 3 report and BAAs for healthcare customers.
Things to know:
- All paid plans priced by sales: Base, Core and Ultimate say "Request pricing"; the pages publish no price at any volume. Workaround: Pendo Free covers up to 500 MAUs without a sales call.
- Small free plan: Above 500 MAUs, Free can no longer create guides, surveys or segments, and reports show a sample of 500 visitors.
- API and integrations are paid: Free has no API or third-party integrations; Data Sync, the API and webhooks are paid add-ons without listed prices.
- No ISO 27001 listed: The trust center lists SOC 2 Type 2, PCI DSS and HIPAA, but not ISO 27001.
Pricing reality: Pendo prices by monthly active users and by the bundle you choose; the FAQ says the cost per MAU falls as volume grows. No price is published: Base, Core and Ultimate all route to sales. Exceeding the MAU limit on a paid plan does not interrupt service, and your representative follows up about a contract change. Session replay, product discovery, sentiment and journey orchestration are add-ons below Ultimate. Data Sync, the API, webhooks and the Salesforce integration are paid add-ons sold through your account representative. Predict and Agent Analytics can be added to any plan.
Exit path: Data Sync, a paid add-on, sends event data to Snowflake or to cloud storage on S3, Azure or Google Cloud. After a contract ends, Pendo says customer data is removed starting 90 days after cancellation.

### Heap

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/heap
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/heap
Category: Product analytics
Vendor: Heap (part of Contentsquare)
Tagline: Autocapture product analytics with SAML SSO on every plan, including Free, and ISO 27001; priced by sessions, with no published prices.
Value: Events captured automatically from one snippet, with SAML SSO on every plan, including Free, and four ISO certifications.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Heap records clicks, pageviews and form activity from a single snippet without tagging each event in code, so analysis can start on events nobody planned to track. SAML SSO is on every plan, including Free, and Heap lists SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, 27701, 27017 and 27018 and an EU data center. What it costs is not on the page: Heap bills by sessions, Growth shows an estimate only after you install the snippet, and Pro and Premier are priced by sales.
- Autocapture from one snippet: A single snippet captures client-side web and mobile events, which can be enriched with custom properties and server-side events through the APIs. (Infrastructure page and web install docs (2026-10-15))
- SAML SSO on every plan: The pricing page lists SSO on Free, and the security page says all customers have access to it; the SAML guide covers Okta, OneLogin, Azure, Google and AWS. (Pricing page, security page and SAML guide (2026-10-15))
- Four ISO certifications and an EU data center: The security page lists ISO 27001, 27701, 27017 and 27018 certification; the docs describe an EU data center, and Premier lists region-specific storage. (Security page, help center and pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want analytics without a tagging project and need SSO from the start, and are ready to get a quote.
Things to know: No price is published: Growth shows an estimate after install, and Pro and Premier are priced by sales.
Score: 3.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: Not observed yet
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Prices hidden
Free plan: 10,000 sessions/mo; free events not stated
Price for 10M events/mo: Not published; billed by sessions
Self-serve prices up to: No price published
Data retention: 6 months (Free), 12 months (Growth)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 1 and 2; ISO 27001, 27701, 27017, 27018
EU data storage: EU data center; region-specific storage on Premier
HIPAA BAA: Offered (2023 blog post); plan not stated
SAML SSO: Every plan, including Free
Warehouse export: Heap Connect: Pro add-on, included in Premier
Self-hosting: Not listed
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Heap pairs autocapture with SSO on every plan and four ISO certifications. It publishes no prices and bills by sessions, so expect to install the snippet or talk to sales before you know the cost.
Choose it if: You want events captured without a tagging project. · You need SAML SSO from the free plan up. · Your security review asks for ISO 27001, 27701, 27017 or 27018.
Look elsewhere if: You want to see prices before you install anything. · You need more than 12 months of history without a sales-priced plan.
Compared with: Amplitude (https://proofyo.com/products/amplitude) — pick Heap when You want SAML SSO without a sales-priced plan, or events captured without tagging.; pick Amplitude when You want published prices: Amplitude lists 10 million events for $720 a month and 2 million free events. | Mixpanel (https://proofyo.com/products/mixpanel) — pick Heap when You want SSO on the free plan and autocapture from one snippet.; pick Mixpanel when You want every self-serve price in writing and two years of data on every plan. | Pendo (https://proofyo.com/products/pendo) — pick Heap when You want SAML SSO on the free plan and ISO 27001.; pick Pendo when You want in-app guides with analytics, or 7 years of data on paid plans.
Strengths:
- SSO on the free plan: SSO is listed on Free, and the security page says all customers have access to it. (Mixpanel lists SAML from its self-serve Growth plan; Amplitude from its custom-priced Growth plan.)
- Autocapture: Events are captured from one snippet without defining each event in code first, so analysis can start on events nobody planned to track.
- Four ISO certifications: ISO 27001, 27701, 27017 and 27018 are listed on the security page. (PostHog does not list ISO 27001; Amplitude and Mixpanel do.)
- Data kept when you go over: Above the plan limit, the FAQ says Heap does not drop or throttle data; viewing it requires an upgrade.
Things to know:
- No published prices: Growth is estimated after you install the snippet, and Pro and Premier are priced by sales. Workaround: Amplitude, Mixpanel and PostHog publish self-serve prices.
- Priced by sessions, not events: Free covers 10,000 sessions a month; the pages do not say how many events that is, so it cannot be compared directly with event-based plans.
- Shorter in-app history: Free shows 6 months of data and Growth 12; up to 36 months is an add-on on Pro and Premier.
- Warehouse export on higher plans: Heap Connect is an add-on on Pro and included in Premier, both priced by sales.
Pricing reality: Heap bills by sessions. Free includes up to 10,000 a month, with 6 months of data history. Growth adds unlimited users and reports, CSV exports and 12 months of history; its price appears as an estimate after you sign up and install the snippet. Pro and Premier have custom session pricing. Session replay, heatmaps and error analysis are add-ons on Pro and Premier, as are Heap Connect on Pro and extended data history (up to 3 years). None of these add-ons has a published price, so we could not compute a figure for 10 million events.
Exit path: Heap Connect syncs raw event data to Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift or S3, including history from the day Heap was installed; it is an add-on on Pro and included in Premier. Growth includes CSV exports. The docs say data older than 37 months, or the plan’s data history if longer, is deleted.

## Category: Error monitoring

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/error-monitoring

### Sentry

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/sentry
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/sentry
Category: Error monitoring
Vendor: Sentry (Functional Software)
Tagline: Error monitoring priced by errors, with unlimited users from $26 a month and SOC 2, ISO 27001 and EU storage on every plan.
Value: Unlimited users and 50,000 errors a month for $26, with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and EU data storage on every plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Sentry bills by the errors you send, not by the people who read them: Team includes unlimited users and 50,000 errors a month for $26 billed annually ($29 monthly), and the pricing calculator puts 100,000 errors at $44.13. Its pricing table marks SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA security and data residency on every plan, with a BAA and SAML SSO from Business. Sentry also publishes a self-hosted version.
- No per-user charge from Team: Team and Business list unlimited users; the bill moves with error volume, at $0.0003625 per error from 50,000 to 100,000 on Team and less per error above that. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Compliance and EU storage on every plan: The pricing table marks SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA security and data residency on every plan; the docs name Frankfurt, Germany, as the EU storage location. (Pricing page and data storage docs (2026-10-15))
- BAA and SAML on a self-serve plan: Business ($80 billed annually) adds a HIPAA BAA, SAML2 SSO and SCIM without an enterprise contract. (Pricing page and SSO docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Product teams that want every developer in the error tool, and compliance documents, without an enterprise contract.
Things to know: The free Developer plan is limited to one user, and SAML SSO starts on Business.
Score: 9.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $26/mo (Team plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Errors (50,000 in the plan, then per error)
Free allowance: 5,000 errors/mo, 1 user
5 users, 100,000 errors/mo: $44.13 (Team, billed annually)
Error retention on the entry paid plan: Up to 90 days
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Business plan and up
EU data region: Yes, Frankfurt
SAML SSO: Business ($80/mo billed annually)
Self-hosted version: Yes, under the FSL
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Sentry is the most complete package here for a team that mainly needs error monitoring: unlimited users, 90-day history and compliance on every plan. SAML SSO and a BAA start on Business.
Choose it if: You want everyone on the team in the error tool without paying per seat. · You need SOC 2, ISO 27001 and EU data storage on a small plan. · You may want to self-host later.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO on the cheapest paid plan. · Your errors already flow through Datadog APM or RUM.
Compared with: Datadog (https://proofyo.com/products/datadog) — pick Sentry when You want unlimited users, 90-day error history on the entry plan and a free plan to start.; pick Datadog when You already run Datadog APM or RUM, where Error Tracking for those errors costs nothing extra. | New Relic (https://proofyo.com/products/new-relic) — pick Sentry when Five or more people triage errors and you mainly need error monitoring.; pick New Relic when You want APM, infrastructure and logs on one bill and your data stays near the free 100 GB a month.
Strengths:
- Users are not a cost line: Team and Business include unlimited users, so the whole team can triage without seat planning. (New Relic charges $49 a month per core user and $99 per additional full platform user on Standard.)
- Compliance on every plan: SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA security and data residency are marked on every plan, including Developer. (New Relic lists HIPAA eligibility only on Enterprise with Data Plus.)
- Longest error history on an entry plan: Team keeps up to a 90-day lookback. (Datadog keeps Error Tracking samples 30 days; New Relic keeps APM errors 8 days on its original data option.)
- A self-hosted option: The docs describe self-hosted Sentry as the Business plan without software limits and with no paid tier, licensed under the FSL.
- Spend controls on paid plans: Team and Business list spend notifications and a maximum spend threshold.
Things to know:
- Free plan is one user: Developer allows one user and 5,000 errors a month. Workaround: Team adds unlimited users from $26 a month billed annually.
- SAML SSO starts on Business: Team offers Google and GitHub SSO; SAML2 and SCIM need Business ($80 billed annually) or Enterprise.
- Errors cost more on Business: Above 50,000, Business pay-as-you-go errors start at $0.0011125 each, about three times the Team rate.
- Monitoring pauses at the budget: Errors beyond your reserved volume and pay-as-you-go budget are dropped for the rest of the cycle, so budgets need headroom.
Pricing reality: Sentry prices by plan plus usage. Team is $26 a month billed annually or $29 monthly; Business $80 or $89. Both include 50,000 errors, 5M spans, 5 GB of logs, 50 replays and 1 GB of attachments. Above 50,000, Team pay-as-you-go errors cost $0.0003625 each to 100,000, falling to $0.00015 above 20 million; reserved volume bought in advance costs less ($0.00029 per error to 100,000, per the docs). For 5 users and 100,000 errors, the calculator shows $44.13 a month on Team billed annually and $47.13 billed monthly. Seats are not charged. SAML SSO and a BAA need Business, where errors above the quota start at $0.0011125 each. Seer, the AI debugging agent, is a separate subscription.
Exit path: Sentry publishes a self-hosted version under the Functional Source License, which allows internal use. The docs say it comes with no guarantees or dedicated support and lacks some cloud features, such as Seer and data storage location.

### Rollbar

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/rollbar
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/rollbar
Category: Error monitoring
Vendor: Rollbar
Tagline: Error monitoring priced by occurrences, with unlimited users on every plan, 100,000 errors for $40.83 a month and 90-day retention on Essentials.
Value: Unlimited users on every plan, every price step published, and 100,000 errors with 90-day retention for $40.83 a month billed annually.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Rollbar bills by the errors you send, never by seat: every plan, including Free, has unlimited users. The pricing page and its text version list every step from 10,000 to 50 million occurrences; 100,000 occurrences on Essentials cost $40.83 a month billed annually ($49 monthly) and keep data for 90 days. Overage is off by default, and its security policy lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 compliance and a BAA from the Advanced 4M annual plan.
- Unlimited users, free plan included: Every plan lists unlimited users and projects, and the pricing text says Rollbar never charges per seat. Free covers 5,000 occurrences and 1,000 replays a month without a card. (Pricing page and pricing text page (2026-10-15))
- Every price step in writing: Essentials and Advanced are priced in 23 steps from 10,000 to 50 million occurrences, monthly and annual; annual billing gives two months free. (Pricing text page (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2 Type II and a BAA at no extra cost: The security policy lists SOC 2 Type I and Type II and ISO 27001 compliance, and says the BAA has no added cost, from the Advanced 4M plan paid annually. (Security & Compliance Policy (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want every developer in the error tool and a bill they can read off the pricing page at any volume up to 50 million.
Things to know: There is no EU data region on the pages we read, and SAML SSO starts on Advanced.
Score: 8.6/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $7.50/mo (Essentials plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Occurrences (errors), in steps from 10,000 to 50M
Free allowance: 5,000 occurrences/mo, unlimited users
5 users, 100,000 errors/mo: $40.83 (Essentials, billed annually)
Error retention on the entry paid plan: 90 days (180 on Advanced)
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 compliance stated
HIPAA BAA: Advanced, from the 4M annual plan
EU data region: Not stated; primary data center in Iowa
SAML SSO: Advanced ($10.83/mo billed annually at 10,000)
Self-hosted version: Not stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Rollbar is the most transparent here on price, with unlimited users on every plan and 90-day retention on Essentials. Check the missing EU region and the BAA entry point before you choose it.
Choose it if: You want everyone on the team in the error tool at no seat cost, starting free. · You want to read your price off the page at any volume up to 50 million. · You need SOC 2 Type II and a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.
Look elsewhere if: You need error data stored in the EU. · You need SAML SSO on the cheapest paid plan.
Compared with: Sentry (https://proofyo.com/products/sentry) — pick Rollbar when You want unlimited users on the free plan, or a slightly lower price at 100,000 errors ($40.83 against $44.13).; pick Sentry when You need EU data storage, a BAA on an $80 plan, or a self-hosted version. | Datadog (https://proofyo.com/products/datadog) — pick Rollbar when You want a permanent free plan and 90-day retention on the entry plan.; pick Datadog when You already run Datadog APM or RUM, or need an EU site. | BugSnag (https://proofyo.com/products/bugsnag) — pick Rollbar when You want SOC 2 Type II, a BAA on a self-serve plan, or unlimited users on the free plan.; pick BugSnag when You want the lowest listed price at 100,000 errors ($32) or an on-premise version.
Strengths:
- Unlimited users on every plan: Free, Essentials, Advanced and Enterprise all list unlimited users. (Sentry’s free plan is one user; BugSnag’s free plan is one user.)
- Every step priced as text: A text pricing page lists all 23 steps for Essentials and Advanced, monthly and annual, plus replay and AI credit prices.
- 90-day retention on the entry plan: Essentials keeps data 90 days and Advanced 180. (Datadog keeps error samples 30 days; BugSnag’s paid plans keep 60.)
- Overage off by default: Processing stops at the plan limit unless you choose on-demand occurrences or a dollar-capped budget.
Things to know:
- No EU data region stated: The security policy names Iowa as the primary data center, and the transfer assessment lists the US for EEA data. Workaround: Sentry and Datadog offer EU storage.
- SAML and the BAA on Advanced: SAML SSO and SCIM start on Advanced; the standard BAA needs the Advanced 4M plan paid annually ($1,207.50 a month).
- ISO 27001 stated as compliance: The policy says Rollbar adheres to ISO 27001 for its production environment; it does not link a certificate.
- Pages disagree on two points: Standard retention is 180 days in the policy and 30 or 90 on the pricing page, and no price covers 50 to 80 million occurrences.
Pricing reality: Rollbar prices Essentials and Advanced by monthly occurrences in steps; users are never charged. Essentials runs from $9 a month at 10,000 occurrences to $6,499 at 50 million, with $49 at 100,000 and $199 at 1 million; annual billing takes two months off ($40.83 at 100,000). Advanced costs more per step ($129 at 100,000 monthly) and adds SAML, SCIM and 180-day retention. Session replay above the included amount and AI credits for the Resolve agent are priced separately on the same page. A BAA has no extra fee but starts on the Advanced 4M annual plan, $14,490 a year. Educational institutions get 50% off self-serve plans.
Exit path: Rollbar offers a REST API and a Terraform provider on every plan, and can forward data to Datadog. Cancelling a paid plan moves the account to Free. We found no self-hosted version on the current pages.

### BugSnag

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/bugsnag
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/bugsnag
Category: Error monitoring
Vendor: SmartBear
Tagline: Error and performance monitoring with unlimited users from $20 a month, 100,000 errors from $32, and an on-premise version.
Value: Unlimited users and 100,000 errors for $32 a month billed yearly, with performance spans included and an on-premise version for regulated teams.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: BugSnag charges by event volume, not seats: Select includes unlimited users and 1 million spans of performance monitoring, and covers 150,000 error events for $32 a month billed yearly, the lowest listed price here for 100,000 errors. The comparison table lists stability scores and release tracking alongside error and performance monitoring. For teams that cannot send data to a SaaS, BugSnag On-premise runs in your own PCI or HIPAA environment.
- 100,000 errors from $32 a month: The pricing selector lists Select at 150,000 events for $32 a month billed yearly ($39 monthly); Preferred at 100,000 events is $33. (Pricing page selector (2026-10-15))
- Performance spans included: Each paid plan includes 1 million spans a month for app start, screen load and web vitals metrics, with larger packs priced on the page. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- On-premise version: BugSnag On-premise has all SaaS features and runs on a Kubernetes or single-node cluster in your own PCI or HIPAA compliant environment. (On-premise docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Mobile and web teams that want every developer in the tool at a low listed price, and teams that need to host it themselves.
Things to know: The SaaS runs in US data centers, and no HIPAA BAA is offered for it on the pages we read.
Score: 7.9/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $20/mo (Select plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Events (errors), in steps from 50,000 to 3M
Free allowance: 7,500 events/mo, 1 user
5 users, 100,000 errors/mo: $32 (Select, 150,000 events, billed yearly)
Error retention on the entry paid plan: 60 days
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: ISO 27001; SmartBear’s SOC 2 Type 2 scope does not list BugSnag
HIPAA BAA: Not stated; On-premise for HIPAA environments
EU data region: Not stated; US data centers
SAML SSO: Preferred ($33/mo billed yearly)
Self-hosted version: Yes, On-premise (Enterprise)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, BugSnag lists the lowest price here for 100,000 errors, with unlimited users and an on-premise option. Its compliance pages are thinner for the SaaS: US hosting, no BAA and no SOC 2 Type 2 scope that names it.
Choose it if: You want the lowest listed price here for 100,000 errors with unlimited users. · You monitor mobile and web apps and want stability scores and spans in one plan. · You need to host error monitoring on your own infrastructure.
Look elsewhere if: Your security review needs a SOC 2 Type II report covering the error tool. · You need EU storage or a HIPAA BAA for a SaaS tool.
Compared with: Sentry (https://proofyo.com/products/sentry) — pick BugSnag when You want the lower listed price at 100,000 errors ($32 against $44.13) or a supported on-premise version.; pick Sentry when You need SOC 2 Type II, EU storage, 90-day history or a BAA on a self-serve plan. | Rollbar (https://proofyo.com/products/rollbar) — pick BugSnag when You want the lower listed price at 100,000 errors, performance spans included, or on-premise hosting.; pick Rollbar when You need SOC 2 Type II, a self-serve BAA, 90-day retention or unlimited users on the free plan.
Strengths:
- Lowest listed price at 100,000 errors: $32 a month billed yearly on Select, with unlimited users. (Datadog lists $37.50; Rollbar $40.83; Sentry’s calculator $44.13.)
- Unlimited users from Select: Select, Preferred and Enterprise list unlimited users. (New Relic bills each person who triages errors.)
- Performance monitoring included: Every plan includes 1 million spans a month, with packs up to 150 million priced on the page.
- On-premise option: BugSnag On-premise has all SaaS features and regular releases, with high-availability and single-node installs. (Rollbar and Datadog do not state a self-hosted version.)
Things to know:
- SOC 2 scope: SmartBear’s trust center scopes its SOC 2 Type 2 report to other SmartBear products; BugSnag is listed under ISO 27001. Workaround: Ask SmartBear for the reports that cover BugSnag before a security review.
- US-only SaaS, no BAA stated: The security docs say BugSnag uses US data centers, and no HIPAA BAA is stated for the SaaS. Workaround: On-premise can run in your own HIPAA-compliant environment.
- Free plan is one user: Free allows one user, 7,500 events a month and 7 days of retention.
- Automatic upgrades on overage: Exceeding the daily quota more than three times in 30 days moves you to the next plan unless you switch automatic upgrades off.
Pricing reality: BugSnag prices Select and Preferred by monthly events, with 1 million spans included. Billed yearly, Select is $20 at 50,000 events, $32 at 150,000, $44 at 200,000 and $200 at 1 million; monthly billing costs more ($23 at 50,000, $39 at 150,000). Preferred is $33 at 100,000 events and $65 at 150,000, billed yearly ($39 monthly at 100,000), and adds SAML SSO. Each event counts once, but a minidump from a native crash counts as five. Larger span packs add to the price (7.5 million spans adds $2 a month on Select). Enterprise, by quote, adds on-premise deployment, SCIM, audit logs and custom retention.
Exit path: A data export API is on every paid plan (low volume on Select, high on Preferred), and Enterprise adds forwarding to Splunk and Amazon SQS. BugSnag On-premise is the self-hosted route.

### Datadog

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/datadog
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/datadog
Category: Error monitoring
Vendor: Datadog
Tagline: Error Tracking from $25 a month for 50,000 errors, included at no extra cost for errors from Datadog APM and RUM.
Value: Error tracking inside the Datadog platform you may already run: free for errors from APM and RUM, $37.50 a month for 100,000 standalone errors.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: Datadog folds error tracking into the same platform as its APM, real user monitoring and logs. Errors collected through APM traces and RUM sessions are grouped into issues at no additional cost, and standalone errors are billed by volume from $25 a month for up to 50,000, with $37.50 for 100,000 on the pricing page. The pricing page lists no per-user charge for it, and the trust center lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001.
- Included with APM and RUM: The pricing FAQ says Error Tracking is included for errors collected through APM traces and RUM sessions at no additional cost. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Lowest listed price at 100,000 errors: The pricing page shows $37.50 a month for 100,000 errors billed annually: $25 for the first 50,000 plus $0.25 per 1,000. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Filters and a budget before billing: Error Tracking Rules include or exclude errors before they are billed, and rate limits let you set a budget. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams already on Datadog APM or RUM, and teams that want error tracking billed by volume with no seat charges.
Things to know: There is no free Error Tracking plan, only a 14-day trial, and error samples are kept 30 days.
Score: 7.2/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $25/mo (Error Tracking plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Errors (flat fee to 50,000, then per 1,000)
Free allowance: None; 14-day trial, no card
5 users, 100,000 errors/mo: $37.50 (billed annually)
Error retention on the entry paid plan: 30 days for error samples; issues 1 year after last activity
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Signed for eligible services, incl. Error Tracking
EU data region: Yes, EU1 site (Germany)
SAML SSO: Listed on Infrastructure Pro and Enterprise
Self-hosted version: Not stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Datadog lists the lowest price here for 100,000 standalone errors and charges nothing extra for errors from its APM and RUM. Plan around the trial-only start and 30-day error samples.
Choose it if: You already send APM traces or RUM sessions to Datadog. · You want error monitoring billed by volume, with no seat charges. · You need an EU site and a HIPAA-eligible error tracker.
Look elsewhere if: You want a permanent free plan for error monitoring. · You need more than 30 days of error samples by default.
Compared with: Sentry (https://proofyo.com/products/sentry) — pick Datadog when You already run Datadog APM or RUM, or want the lowest listed price at 100,000 errors.; pick Sentry when You want a permanent free plan, 90-day error history on the entry plan or a self-hosted option. | New Relic (https://proofyo.com/products/new-relic) — pick Datadog when You want error tracking billed by error volume with no seat charges.; pick New Relic when You want a permanent free tier with 100 GB of data a month across APM, logs and infrastructure.
Strengths:
- No extra charge for APM and RUM errors: Errors from APM traces and RUM sessions are grouped into issues at no additional cost. (Sentry bills errors against a plan quota; New Relic bills the data and the users who read it.)
- Lowest listed price at 100,000 errors: $37.50 a month billed annually, shown on the pricing page. (Sentry’s calculator shows $44.13 on Team; New Relic’s computed figure for five users is $206.)
- Every volume priced on the page: The selector runs to 50 million errors, and the rate falls to $0.10 per 1,000 above 20 million on annual billing.
- EU site and HIPAA-eligible: Accounts can live on the EU1 site in Germany, and Error Tracking is on Datadog’s list of HIPAA-eligible services.
Things to know:
- No free Error Tracking plan: There is a 14-day trial with no card, but no free Error Tracking plan; the free tier on the pricing page is for Infrastructure (up to 5 hosts). Workaround: Sentry and New Relic both have permanent free plans.
- Error samples kept 30 days: Default retention is 30 days for error samples and one year after last activity for issues.
- SAML is listed with Infrastructure plans: The pricing page lists SAML single sign-on on Infrastructure Pro and Enterprise; the Error Tracking tab does not mention it, and the docs say to contact support if SAML is not enabled.
- No monthly flat fee listed: The per-1,000 rates have annual, monthly and on-demand columns, but the flat fee is given only for annual ($25) and on-demand ($36) billing.
Pricing reality: Error Tracking is billed by monthly error volume. Up to 50,000 errors costs a flat $25 billed annually or $36 on-demand. Above that, each 1,000 errors costs $0.25 to 100,000 ($0.30 monthly, $0.38 on-demand), then $0.21 to 500,000, $0.17 to 10 million, $0.12 to 20 million and $0.10 above, on annual billing. For 100,000 errors the page shows $37.50 a month billed annually; at on-demand rates it comes to $36 plus 50 × $0.38, or $55 (our arithmetic). Users are not priced. Errors from APM traces and RUM sessions are included in those products; APM starts at $31 per host a month billed annually with Infrastructure. Error Tracking for logs needs Log Management with indexing.

### New Relic

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/new-relic
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/new-relic
Category: Error monitoring
Vendor: New Relic
Tagline: Observability platform with 100 GB of free data a month; error tracking is priced through data ingest and users.
Value: Error tracking, APM, logs and infrastructure under one 100 GB free tier, with unlimited hosts and paid users from $10 a month.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: New Relic does not sell error monitoring on its own: errors inbox is one capability in a platform priced by data ingest and users. The free tier includes 100 GB a month, one full platform user and unlimited basic users, with no card. On Standard, the first full platform user is $10 and core users, who get error tracking, are $49. Hosts and agents are not counted.
- 100 GB a month free: The free tier includes 100 GB of data ingest, one full platform user, unlimited basic users and default retention of at least 8 days, with no credit card. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- One bill for the whole stack: Errors, APM, logs, infrastructure and browser monitoring share one data allowance, and the pricing page says unlimited hosts, agents and containers are included. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- SAML SSO on the entry paid edition: Standard, the entry paid edition, lists SAML single sign-on. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Small teams that want errors, APM, logs and infrastructure in one tool and expect their data to stay near 100 GB a month.
Things to know: People who triage errors are billed ($49 core, $99 per additional full platform user on Standard), and Standard allows up to five full platform users.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $10/mo (Standard (first full platform user) plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Data ingest (GB) and users by type
Free allowance: 100 GB/mo, 1 full platform user
5 users, 100,000 errors/mo: $206 on Standard, computed, if ingest stays within 100 GB
Error retention on the entry paid plan: 8 days (98 with Data Plus)
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise with Data Plus
EU data region: Yes, +$0.05/GB
SAML SSO: Standard
Self-hosted version: Not stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, New Relic has the broadest free tier here, but error triage is priced through users and data rather than errors. It costs least when few people triage and data stays near 100 GB a month.
Choose it if: You want one tool for errors, APM, logs and infrastructure. · One or two people triage errors and the rest only need dashboards and alerts. · Your total data stays near 100 GB a month.
Look elsewhere if: Many people need to triage errors and you only need error monitoring. · You need more than 8 days of error history without Data Plus.
Compared with: Sentry (https://proofyo.com/products/sentry) — pick New Relic when You want errors, APM, logs and infrastructure in one tool, with data near 100 GB a month.; pick Sentry when Five or more people triage errors and you mainly need error monitoring; Sentry charges no seats. | Datadog (https://proofyo.com/products/datadog) — pick New Relic when You want a permanent free tier and SAML SSO on the entry paid edition.; pick Datadog when You want error tracking billed only by error volume, or already run Datadog APM or RUM.
Strengths:
- Largest free allowance: 100 GB of data a month, one full platform user and unlimited basic users, with no card. (Sentry’s free plan covers 5,000 errors for one user; Datadog offers a 14-day trial.)
- Covers far more than errors: The same data and users cover APM, infrastructure, logs and browser and mobile monitoring, with unlimited hosts.
- SAML SSO on the entry paid edition: Standard lists SAML single sign-on. (Sentry lists SAML from Business; Datadog lists it on Infrastructure Pro and Enterprise.)
- No egress charge: The pricing FAQ says New Relic does not charge for data egress or hydration.
Things to know:
- People are the main cost of error triage: Errors inbox needs a core ($49) or full platform user; for five people on Standard the lowest mix is $206 a month. Workaround: Basic users are free for dashboards, queries and alerts.
- Error data kept 8 days by default: APM and browser errors are kept 8 days on the original data option; Data Plus extends that to 98 days at $0.60 per GB.
- Errors are not a billing unit: Pricing is per GB, so estimating the cost of error monitoring means estimating total ingest, not error counts.
- HIPAA only on Enterprise: A BAA requires Enterprise with Data Plus and the US data region.
Pricing reality: New Relic bills two things: data ingested beyond 100 GB a month ($0.40 per GB, $0.60 with Data Plus, plus $0.05 per GB for the EU data center) and users. Basic users are free; core users, who get errors inbox, are $49 a month; full platform users are $10 for the first and $99 for each additional on Standard (up to five), or $349 each on Pro with an annual commitment ($418.80 pay as you go). For 5 people triaging errors on Standard, the lowest mix is one full platform user and four core users: $10 + 4 × $49 = $206 a month, if total ingest stays within 100 GB. On the free tier, ingest stops at 100 GB until the next month or an upgrade.
Exit path: The pricing FAQ says New Relic does not charge for data egress or hydration, and Data Plus adds streaming and historical-data export to external destinations.

## Category: Payments and billing

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/payments-billing

### Stripe

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/stripe
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/stripe
Category: Payments and billing
Vendor: Stripe
Tagline: Payment processing at 2.9% + 30¢ per US card, with subscriptions, tax calculation and a merchant-of-record option priced as separate lines.
Value: Card payments, subscriptions and tax calculation as separate per-transaction lines, with the lowest total of the three in our scenario: $500 on $10,000.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per US card and lets you add only what you use: Billing for subscriptions (0.7%), Tax Basic for calculation (0.5% where you are registered), Radar, Invoicing and more. In our scenario that comes to $500 a month. You remain the seller, so registering and filing sales tax and VAT is yours unless you add Tax Complete or Managed Payments. Granular roles, SAML SSO, an audit log and a documented card-export process are part of every account.
- Lowest total in our scenario: $280 for 160 US cards, $100 for 40 EU cards, $70 for Billing and $50 for Tax Basic: $500 on $10,000 a month, by our arithmetic from the pricing page. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Pay for each part only when you use it: Billing, Tax, Invoicing, Radar and Managed Payments are separate lines; the FAQ says standard pricing has no setup, monthly or closure fees. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Controls a security review asks about: PCI Service Provider Level 1, annual SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II reports on request, SAML SSO with SCIM, granular roles and a security-history audit log. (Security, SSO and user roles docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want to build checkout and billing their own way on one platform and can handle, or buy, sales tax registration and filing.
Things to know: You are the seller of record: tax registration and filing are yours unless you add Tax Complete (from $90 a month) or Managed Payments (+3.5%).
Score: 8.1/10
Free option: Not observed yet
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: 2.9% + 30¢/US card charge (Payments (standard pricing) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Model: Payment processor; you are the seller
Base fee: 2.9% + 30¢ per US card
$10,000/mo scenario: $500 (5.0%), computed
Sales tax and VAT filing: Yours; Tax Complete from $90/mo, or Managed Payments +3.5%
Dispute fee: $15, plus $15 to counter (refunded if won)
Payouts: Daily, weekly or monthly; standard schedule free
Charge currencies: 135+
Team access: Granular roles, SAML SSO, audit log
Card export if you leave: Documented, to a PCI DSS Level 1 processor
Security reports: PCI Service Provider Level 1, SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Stripe has the lowest fees in our scenario and the strongest controls and exit path here. Tax registration and filing stay with you unless you pay for Tax Complete or Managed Payments.
Choose it if: You want to build checkout and billing your own way on one API. · You can register for and file sales tax yourself, or will pay for Tax Complete. · You need SAML SSO, granular roles and an audit log. · You want frequent payouts and charges in many currencies.
Look elsewhere if: You want someone else to be the seller of record without an add-on. · You want one all-in fee rather than several lines.
Compared with: Paddle (https://proofyo.com/products/paddle) — pick Stripe when You want the lowest per-transaction cost and your own checkout and billing logic, and can handle tax registration and filing.; pick Paddle when You want a merchant of record that files sales tax and VAT and answers buyer billing questions for one 5% + 50¢ fee. | Lemon Squeezy (https://proofyo.com/products/lemon-squeezy) — pick Stripe when You need granular roles, SSO, frequent payouts or charges in many currencies.; pick Lemon Squeezy when You sell digital products and want a merchant of record with a storefront, license keys and email marketing included.
Strengths:
- Lowest fees in our scenario: $500 a month on $10,000 in card subscriptions, including Billing and tax calculation. (Paddle comes to $600 and Lemon Squeezy to $680 for the same scenario, though both also file tax for you.)
- Frequent payouts, many currencies: Payouts can run daily (every business day), weekly or monthly, free on the standard schedule, and customers can be charged in 135+ currencies. (Paddle pays out monthly in 33 payment currencies; Lemon Squeezy pays out twice a month and charges every order in USD.)
- Team controls: Granular predefined roles, SAML 2.0 SSO with SCIM, multi-factor authentication including passkeys, and a security-history audit log. (Paddle documents five roles and 2FA; Lemon Squeezy has owners and members.)
- A documented exit for card data: If you leave, Stripe will send saved card data in an encrypted export to another PCI DSS Level 1 processor.
- Merchant of record when you want it: Managed Payments adds tax compliance, fraud, disputes and buyer support for 3.5% per transaction, for all sales or only some markets and products.
Things to know:
- Tax filing is yours by default: Tax Basic calculates and collects only where you are registered; registering and filing need Tax Complete (from $90 a month, one-year contract) or your own accountant. Workaround: Managed Payments makes Stripe the merchant of record for 3.5% on top of payment fees.
- Several lines to add up: A subscription business pays card fees, the international surcharge, Billing and, if used, Tax as separate lines, so the effective rate takes some arithmetic.
- Disputes are yours to answer: Each dispute costs $15, plus $15 to counter it manually (refunded if you win); Smart Disputes takes 30% of amounts won.
- Fees stay on refunds: The FAQ says processing and currency conversion fees from the original transaction are not returned when you refund.
Pricing reality: Stripe bills per transaction with no monthly fee on standard pricing. Cards cost 2.9% + 30¢, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% if currency conversion is needed. Billing adds 0.7% of billing volume (or a monthly plan from $620 on a one-year contract), Tax Basic 0.5% per transaction where you are registered. Disputes cost $15. For our scenario ($10,000 in $50 subscriptions, 160 US and 40 EU cards): 160 × $1.75 = $280, 40 × $2.50 = $100, Billing $70, Tax Basic $50, total $500. Filing is extra: Tax Complete from $90 a month. With Managed Payments instead of Tax Basic: $380 + $350 + $70 = $800, by our arithmetic.
Exit path: Stripe documents a payment data export: on request it sends saved card details, emails and metadata in an encrypted file to another PCI DSS Level 1 processor. It does not export payment history or subscriptions; those stay readable through the API and Dashboard while the account stays open.

### Braintree

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/braintree
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/braintree
Category: Payments and billing
Vendor: PayPal
Tagline: PayPal’s gateway and merchant account: 2.89% + 29¢ per US card, with PayPal, Venmo and recurring billing in the same integration.
Value: Cards, PayPal and Venmo through one gateway, with the lowest card fees in our scenario: $368 on $10,000 a month, subscriptions included.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach, Compliance included
Value detail: Braintree is PayPal’s gateway and merchant account in one: 2.89% + 29¢ per US card, with PayPal, Venmo, ACH and local payment methods in the same integration and Recurring Billing listed at no extra fee. In our scenario that comes to $368 a month. You stay the seller, so tax calculation, registration and filing are yours; Braintree offers no tax product. Custom roles, SAML SSO with SCIM, required two-factor authentication and a documented card export are part of the account.
- Lowest card fees in our scenario: $278.40 for 160 US cards and $89.60 for 40 EU cards: $368 on $10,000 a month by our arithmetic from the fee page, with no separate subscription fee listed. (US fee page (2026-10-15))
- PayPal and Venmo in the same integration: One account takes cards and wallets, PayPal, Venmo (3.49% + 49¢, US only) and ACH Direct Debit; the docs also list Apple Pay, Google Pay, SEPA Direct Debit and local payment methods. (US fee page and developer docs (2026-10-15))
- Access controls a review asks about: SAML 2.0 SSO, SCIM provisioning through Okta or Microsoft Entra, custom roles built from more than 40 permissions, and two-factor authentication required for every user since September 2023. (Users and roles, SSO, SCIM and 2FA docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Businesses that want card, PayPal and Venmo payments from one processor at a low per-transaction rate, and handle sales tax themselves.
Things to know: A production account needs an application and underwriting, and tax calculation and filing are not offered.
Score: 7.5/10
Free option: Not observed yet
Getting access: Approval wait
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: 2.89% + 29¢/card transaction (Standard rate plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Model: Payment processor; you are the seller
Base fee: 2.89% + 29¢ per US card
$10,000/mo scenario: $368 (3.7%), computed
Sales tax and VAT filing: Yours; no tax product offered
Dispute fee: $15, not refunded if won
Payouts: Every weekday (US accounts)
Charge currencies: 130+, one merchant account per currency
Team access: Custom roles, SAML SSO, SCIM, 2FA required
Card export if you leave: Documented, free, to a PCI-compliant gateway
Security reports: PCI DSS Level 1 service provider; no SOC 2 stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Braintree has the lowest fees in our scenario and strong access controls and exit terms. It leaves tax entirely to you and takes an application before you go live.
Choose it if: You want PayPal and Venmo alongside cards from one processor. · You want the lowest per-transaction card fee here and subscriptions at no extra fee. · You can register for, collect and file sales tax yourself. · You need SAML SSO and SCIM for your payments dashboard.
Look elsewhere if: You want someone else to handle sales tax and VAT. · You need to sell live without an application and approval.
Compared with: Stripe (https://proofyo.com/products/stripe) — pick Braintree when You want the lowest card fees, subscriptions without a billing fee, and PayPal and Venmo in the same integration.; pick Stripe when You want tax calculation or filing from the same vendor, charges in 135+ currencies, or an audit log. | Paddle (https://proofyo.com/products/paddle) — pick Braintree when You can handle sales tax yourself and want lower fees, payouts every weekday, SAML SSO and a documented card export.; pick Paddle when You want a merchant of record to file sales tax and VAT and answer buyer billing questions inside one fee.
Strengths:
- Lowest fees in our scenario: $368 a month on $10,000 in card subscriptions, with Recurring Billing listed at no extra fee. (Stripe comes to $500 including Billing and Tax Basic; Paddle to $600 and Lemon Squeezy to $680, both of which also file tax.)
- PayPal and Venmo built in: PayPal, Venmo, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay and local payment methods run through the same gateway and Control Panel as cards.
- Subscriptions without a billing fee: Plans, add-ons, discounts, trials and automatic retries of failed charges are part of Recurring Billing; the fee page lists no charge for it. (Stripe Billing adds 0.7% of billing volume.)
- Identity controls: SAML 2.0 SSO, SCIM through Okta or Microsoft Entra, custom roles built from more than 40 permissions, required 2FA and hardware security keys. (Paddle documents five roles and 2FA; Lemon Squeezy has owners and members.)
- A free, documented card export: If you leave, Braintree exports saved customers and cards to another PCI-compliant gateway; the docs say there is no fee for migrations.
Things to know:
- Tax is yours: Braintree offers no tax calculation or filing; the agreement says you are solely responsible for collecting, reporting and remitting taxes. Workaround: Pair it with a separate tax service, or compare a merchant of record such as Paddle.
- Production needs approval: Going live takes an application and underwriting; for higher-risk models the docs say Braintree may require a personal guarantee or a reserve.
- Disputes cost $15 either way: Each chargeback or pre-arbitration carries a non-refundable $15 fee, and lost arbitrations pass through network fees of $500 (Visa) or $575 (Mastercard).
- Extra currencies take setup: Accounts start in your home currency; presenting in other currencies needs an extra merchant account for each, approved during onboarding.
Pricing reality: Braintree charges per transaction with no monthly fee listed: 2.89% + 29¢ for cards and wallets, +1% for cards issued outside the US, +1% for non-USD presentment, $15 per chargeback (not refunded if you win), Venmo 3.49% + 49¢ and ACH 0.75% capped at $5. Fees on refunded transactions are not returned. Optional Chargeback Protection starts at 0.4% per transaction. For our scenario, each percentage fee is rounded to the cent: 160 × ($1.45 + $0.29) = $278.40 and 40 × ($1.95 + $0.29) = $89.60, total $368, or 3.7% of volume. Tax calculation and filing are not included at any price.
Exit path: The data migration docs say Braintree exports saved customers and cards, at no fee, as a GPG-encrypted CSV to another gateway that shows PCI compliance, in at most two exports. Subscriptions and transactions are not migrated but can be downloaded as a report or read through the API; Apple Pay and Google Pay tokens are excluded. The agreement lets you terminate with one day's notice.

### Paddle

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/paddle
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/paddle
Category: Payments and billing
Vendor: Paddle
Tagline: Merchant of record for software: payments, subscriptions, sales tax and VAT filing and buyer support for 5% + 50¢ per transaction.
Value: Paddle becomes the seller of record: it files and remits sales tax and VAT and answers buyer billing questions, all inside 5% + 50¢.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: With Paddle as merchant of record, your customer buys from Paddle, which collects the right tax, tracks filing deadlines and submits returns, handles chargebacks and fields payment, subscription and cancellation questions. All of that is in one 5% + 50¢ fee with no monthly charge; in our scenario that is $600 a month. You trade a higher fee and a monthly payout schedule for not registering or filing sales tax and VAT yourself.
- Tax filing handled: The pricing FAQ says Paddle collects the correct rate of tax, tracks filing deadlines and submits sales tax returns with the payments, so you do not have to. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- One fee, one line: Payments, subscriptions, extra payment methods, subscription migration and payment-related buyer support are covered by 5% + 50¢, with no monthly or migration fees. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Reports for a security review: The trust center lists a 2025 SOC 2 Type II report and a 2026 PCI DSS Attestation of Compliance; full documents are available on request. (Trust center (2026-10-15))
Best for: SaaS and app teams selling internationally who would rather not register for, collect and file sales tax and VAT themselves.
Things to know: Payouts are monthly with a $100 minimum, and each chargeback costs $20, not refunded if Paddle wins the dispute.
Score: 6.9/10
Free option: Not observed yet
Getting access: Approval wait
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: 5% + 50¢/transaction (Pay-as-you-go plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Model: Merchant of record
Base fee: 5% + 50¢ per transaction
$10,000/mo scenario: $600 (6.0%), computed
Sales tax and VAT filing: Paddle files and remits
Dispute fee: $20, not refunded if won
Payouts: Monthly, $100 minimum
Charge currencies: 33
Team access: Five roles, 2FA
Card export if you leave: Not documented; data portability stated
Security reports: PCI DSS attestation, SOC 2 Type II
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Paddle is the most complete merchant of record here for a SaaS business: tax filing, buyer support and security reports in one 5% + 50¢ fee. Plan around monthly payouts and the $20 chargeback fee.
Choose it if: You sell software internationally and do not want to register for sales tax and VAT. · You want one all-in fee that is easy to forecast. · You want buyer billing support handled for you.
Look elsewhere if: You need payouts more often than monthly. · You need SAML SSO for your billing dashboard.
Compared with: Stripe (https://proofyo.com/products/stripe) — pick Paddle when You want a merchant of record to file sales tax and VAT and handle buyer billing questions, in one fee.; pick Stripe when You want the lowest fees, frequent payouts and granular roles with SSO, and can handle tax filing or pay for it. | Lemon Squeezy (https://proofyo.com/products/lemon-squeezy) — pick Paddle when You sell SaaS and want one fee without surcharges, SOC 2 Type II on file, charges in 33 currencies and role-based access.; pick Lemon Squeezy when You sell digital downloads and want a storefront, license keys and email marketing in the same account.
Strengths:
- Tax filing included: Paddle is the merchant of record, so it collects, files and remits sales tax and VAT; you do not register in each jurisdiction. (On Stripe, filing needs Tax Complete (from $90 a month) or Managed Payments (+3.5%).)
- One fee to model: Our scenario is priced with a single line, 5% + 50¢, with no international or subscription surcharge. (Lemon Squeezy adds 1.5% for non-US and 0.5% for subscription payments.)
- Buyer billing support: Paddle handles payment, subscription and cancellation questions from your customers.
- Security reports on file: A 2025 SOC 2 Type II report and a 2026 PCI DSS Attestation of Compliance are listed in the trust center. (Lemon Squeezy states PCI DSS compliance but no SOC 2 report.)
- Role-based team access: Team members get Admin, Finance, Technical, Support or Subscription KPIs roles, each limited to its part of the dashboard. (Lemon Squeezy has owners and members.)
Things to know:
- Monthly payouts: Payouts are made once a month, by wire or Payoneer, when your balance is above the threshold you set (at least $100).
- Chargebacks still cost a fee: Each chargeback or pre-chargeback alert costs $20 (€20 or £20, 40 CAD or AUD), deducted from your balance and not refunded when Paddle wins.
- No published card-export process: The pricing FAQ says your data is yours and can be migrated to another provider, but the pages we read describe moving cards into Paddle, not out. Workaround: Ask Paddle for the export terms before you sign.
- SSO and audit log not stated: We found no SAML SSO or audit log in the pages we read; Paddle documents two-factor authentication and role-based access.
Pricing reality: Paddle charges 5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction with no monthly fee; custom pricing is offered for high volume and for products under $10. The fee covers payments, subscriptions, tax collection and filing, fraud protection and buyer support. Outside it: a $20 chargeback fee (not refunded if won), a $15 SWIFT fee on payouts to some countries, and the invoicing, advisory and implementation services listed under 'Book a demo'. For our scenario (200 charges of $50): 200 × ($2.50 + $0.50) = $600 a month, 6.0% of volume. Customers can pay in 33 currencies; balances are held in USD, EUR, GBP, AUD or CAD.
Exit path: The pricing FAQ says there is no lock-in period and that your data is yours and can be migrated to another provider. The API lists customers and subscriptions; the pages we read describe a card migration into Paddle, run by its Solutions Architects, but not one out.

### FastSpring

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/fastspring
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/fastspring
Category: Payments and billing
Vendor: FastSpring (Bright Market, LLC)
Tagline: Merchant of record for software, SaaS and digital goods: payments, subscriptions, sales tax and VAT remittance at a quoted, volume-based rate.
Value: FastSpring becomes the seller of record: it collects and remits sales tax and VAT, runs subscriptions and handles fraud and chargebacks for one quoted rate.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: As merchant of record, FastSpring processes payments, collects and remits sales tax and VAT, monitors fraud, manages subscriptions and responds to tax audits, so you do not register in each jurisdiction. Checkout shows 36 transaction currencies, and B2B invoicing and quotes are part of the platform. The rate is a revenue share quoted by sales, so the cost cannot be compared from public pages; the trust center lists SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI DSS.
- Tax collected and remitted for you: The pricing and merchant-of-record pages say FastSpring collects and remits sales taxes and VAT and responds to tax audits on your behalf. (Pricing and merchant-of-record pages (2026-10-15))
- Subscriptions and B2B selling included: Checkout, subscriptions, B2B invoicing and interactive quotes are included in the one rate; the FAQ says it does not add fees per feature. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Reports for a security review: The trust center lists PCI DSS, SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3, with full documents behind a request form. (Trust center (2026-10-15))
Best for: Software and SaaS sellers, including B2B, who want a merchant of record and will negotiate a rate with sales.
Things to know: No rate is published: the fee is a revenue share quoted by sales, so it cannot be compared before a call.
Score: 5.3/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: Quote/transaction (Revenue share plan)
Pricing model: Custom quote
Pricing page: Prices hidden
Model: Merchant of record
Base fee: Quoted revenue share; no published rate
$10,000/mo scenario: Not computable; priced by sales
Sales tax and VAT filing: FastSpring collects and remits
Dispute fee: $20 per chargeback or prevention alert
Payouts: Twice a month by default; weekly or monthly; $100 minimum
Charge currencies: 36
Team access: Ten predefined roles, 2FA, Okta (OIDC) or Google SSO
Card export if you leave: Not documented; data returned in a standard form
Security reports: PCI DSS, SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, FastSpring is a full merchant of record with strong B2B tools and security reports, but its rate is quoted by sales, so its cost cannot be compared here before a call.
Choose it if: You sell software or SaaS internationally and want tax remitted for you. · You sell B2B and want invoicing and quotes in the same platform. · You are ready to negotiate a rate with sales.
Look elsewhere if: You want to price your payments from a public rate card. · You need SAML SSO or payouts soon after launch.
Compared with: Paddle (https://proofyo.com/products/paddle) — pick FastSpring when You sell B2B and want invoicing and quotes, 36 checkout currencies and ten predefined roles from your merchant of record.; pick Paddle when You want a published 5% + 50¢ rate you can model before a call, and no one-year term. | Stripe (https://proofyo.com/products/stripe) — pick FastSpring when You want a merchant of record to collect and remit sales tax and VAT inside one rate.; pick Stripe when You want published per-transaction pricing, daily payouts, SAML SSO and a documented card export.
Strengths:
- Tax remitted for you: FastSpring collects and remits sales tax and VAT and responds to tax audits as merchant of record. (On Stripe, filing needs Tax Complete or Managed Payments; Braintree offers no tax product.)
- B2B tools included: Invoicing, purchase orders and interactive quotes are part of the platform, alongside subscriptions and checkout.
- Many checkout currencies: The docs list 36 transaction currencies, converted back to your base currency for payouts. (Paddle lists 33 payment currencies; Lemon Squeezy charges every order in USD.)
- Ten predefined roles: Company-wide and per-store roles from Administrator to Store Reporting, plus 2FA that admins can require and Okta (OIDC) or Google sign-in. (Paddle documents five roles; Lemon Squeezy has owners and members.)
Things to know:
- No published rate: The pricing page sets fees in a sales conversation, so our $10,000 scenario cannot be priced from public pages. Workaround: Request a quote with your volume and regional split and compare it with Paddle’s 5% + 50¢.
- Slow first payout: A 45-day monitoring hold applies before the first payout, then a 14-day settlement delay on each payout cycle.
- One-year term: The seller terms run for a year and renew automatically; either side can end them with 30 days’ notice.
- No SAML SSO or audit log stated: Single sign-on is Okta through OpenID Connect or Google; we found no SAML option or account audit log, only per-user login history.
Pricing reality: FastSpring charges a revenue share withheld from payouts, quoted by sales from transaction type and volume; no rate is published. Outside it: $20 per chargeback or prevention alert, 3.5% (major currencies) or 5.5% on currency conversions, $15 per SEPA or ACH return, a 2.5% fee when your payout currency differs from your store currency, Hyperwallet payout fees, and a $150 yearly fee for sellers under $5,000 of yearly volume. For our scenario we cannot compute a figure. The refund docs say the transaction fee is kept on full refunds.
Exit path: The seller terms say FastSpring returns your data in a standard form within 30 days of termination. Orders and subscriptions are listed through the API and export to CSV. The pages we read do not describe moving saved cards to another processor.

### Lemon Squeezy

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/lemon-squeezy
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/lemon-squeezy
Category: Payments and billing
Vendor: Lemon Squeezy (Stripe)
Tagline: Merchant of record for digital products with storefront, license keys and email marketing; Stripe-owned, with its team now building Stripe Managed Payments.
Value: A merchant of record with a storefront, license keys and email marketing built in, so you can sell digital products globally without registering for tax.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Lemon Squeezy sells on your behalf as merchant of record: it takes on tax collection and calculation liability, files and pays the tax, and handles billing support. Around checkout and subscriptions it includes a storefront, license keys, secure downloads, discount codes, affiliates and email marketing (free up to 500 subscribers). In our scenario its fees come to $680 a month. Its 2026 update says the team is focused on Stripe Managed Payments, and that support responses have been slower and product updates less frequent.
- Tax filed and paid for you: The pricing page says Lemon Squeezy takes on tax collection and calculation liability across all jurisdictions and is registered to file and pay taxes on your behalf. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Digital-product tools included: License keys, signed and throttled download links, a storefront with a custom domain, discount codes, lead magnets and abandoned-cart and failed-payment recovery are part of the platform. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- No card to sign up: You can sign up and use test mode without a card; selling live needs store activation, a short questionnaire and identity verification. (Pricing page FAQ and store activation docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Solo makers and small teams selling downloads, courses or small software products who want selling tools and tax handling in one account.
Things to know: Lemon Squeezy is Stripe-owned and its team is building Stripe Managed Payments, which it aims to help Lemon Squeezy users move to; no timeline is given.
Score: 4.7/10
Free option: Not observed yet
Getting access: Approval wait
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: 5% + 50¢/transaction (Ecommerce plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Model: Merchant of record
Base fee: 5% + 50¢ per transaction
$10,000/mo scenario: $680 (6.8%), computed
Sales tax and VAT filing: Lemon Squeezy files and pays
Dispute fee: $15
Payouts: Twice a month, $50 minimum
Charge currencies: USD only (prices shown in 130)
Team access: Owner and members, 2FA
Card export if you leave: Not stated
Security reports: PCI DSS stated; no SOC 2 stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Lemon Squeezy bundles merchant-of-record tax handling with digital-product tools. Its lower score reflects surcharges listed only in the docs, USD-only charges and simple team controls, and its team now points sellers to Stripe Managed Payments.
Choose it if: You sell digital products and want license keys, downloads and a storefront included. · You want tax filing handled and can accept charges in USD. · You plan to follow Lemon Squeezy to Stripe Managed Payments.
Look elsewhere if: You would rather not plan a later move: Lemon Squeezy says its focus is Stripe Managed Payments. · You need SSO, granular roles or charges in local currencies.
Compared with: Stripe (https://proofyo.com/products/stripe) — pick Lemon Squeezy when You want a merchant of record with a storefront, license keys and email marketing, and no tax filing of your own.; pick Stripe when You want lower fees, charges in many currencies, SSO and roles, or Stripe Managed Payments directly. | Paddle (https://proofyo.com/products/paddle) — pick Lemon Squeezy when You sell digital downloads or courses and want selling and marketing tools in the same account, with payouts twice a month.; pick Paddle when You sell SaaS and want one fee without surcharges, SOC 2 Type II on file, charges in 33 currencies and role-based access.
Strengths:
- Tax filing included: As merchant of record, Lemon Squeezy collects, files and pays sales tax and VAT on your behalf. (Stripe leaves filing to you unless you add Tax Complete or Managed Payments.)
- Built for digital products: License keys, secure downloads, a storefront, lead magnets, pay-what-you-want pricing and email marketing come in the same account.
- No card to start: Sign-up and test mode need no card, and the pricing page says every feature is included.
- Payouts twice a month: Bank or PayPal payouts are created twice a month, free to US bank accounts via Stripe, with a $50 minimum. (Paddle pays out once a month, from $100.)
Things to know:
- Product direction is moving to Stripe: The January 2026 update says the team is building Stripe Managed Payments and aims to help Lemon Squeezy users migrate; it gives no timeline and does not say how long stores stay on Lemon Squeezy. Workaround: Stripe lists Managed Payments at 3.5% on top of Stripe payment fees.
- Surcharges sit in the docs: The pricing page shows 5% + 50¢; the fee docs add 1.5% for non-US and PayPal payments and 0.5% for subscriptions, which take our scenario from $600 to $680.
- Every charge is in USD: Prices can be displayed in 130 currencies, but customers are charged the USD equivalent, and payouts are made in USD (bank payouts can be converted).
- Simple team access: Teams have owners and members; members can use everything except team, billing, plans and payout settings. We found no SSO or audit log.
Pricing reality: Lemon Squeezy charges 5% + 50¢ per transaction, on the total order value, with no monthly fee. The fee docs add 1.5% for transactions outside the US, 1.5% for PayPal, 0.5% for subscription payments, a $15 dispute fee, 1% on payouts to non-US bank accounts (via Stripe) or $0.50 to 3% capped at $30 via PayPal, 5% on revenue recovered by abandoned-cart emails and 3% on affiliate referrals. Email marketing is free up to 500 subscribers. For our scenario: 200 × $3.00 = $600, plus 0.5% on $10,000 ($50) and 1.5% on the $2,000 of EU charges ($30): $680 a month, 6.8% of volume.
Exit path: Orders export to CSV from the dashboard, email subscribers can be exported, and the API lists customers, orders and subscriptions. The pages we read do not describe moving saved cards to another processor; the 2026 update says the goal is an easy migration to Stripe Managed Payments.

## Category: Managed Postgres

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/postgres-database

### Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-rds-postgres
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/amazon-rds-postgres
Category: Managed Postgres
Vendor: Amazon Web Services
Tagline: Managed Postgres on an instance you pick, inside your AWS account: from $0.016 an hour, with point-in-time restore up to 35 days and a self-serve BAA.
Value: Managed Postgres in your own AWS account from $0.016 an hour, with point-in-time restore up to 35 days and a self-serve HIPAA BAA.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Amazon RDS runs PostgreSQL on an instance you choose, inside your AWS account, and takes care of automated backups and Multi-AZ failover. Backups can be kept up to 35 days and restored to any point in that window, with backup storage free up to the size of your database storage. AWS SOC reports, ISO 27001 certification and the HIPAA BAA come with any account through AWS Artifact, and SAML SSO through IAM Identity Center costs nothing extra.
- Compliance with any account: AWS SOC 2 reports and the HIPAA BAA are in AWS Artifact for every account; AWS is certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and RDS is in scope of SOC, PCI, FedRAMP and HIPAA programs. (AWS SOC, HIPAA and ISO 27001 pages, RDS compliance docs (2026-10-15))
- Recovery without an add-on: Backup retention can be set up to 35 days, with point-in-time restore to a new instance; backup storage is free up to your provisioned storage, then $0.095 per GB-month. (RDS user guide and FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Small instances by the hour: A db.t4g.micro (1 GiB) is $0.016 an hour in us-east-1, and a stopped instance bills only storage and backups. (AWS price list for us-east-1 and pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams already on AWS that need compliance documents, long restore windows and SSO without moving to a higher plan.
Things to know: There is no permanent free plan, and the bill combines instance hours, storage, backup storage and CPU credits that you estimate yourself.
Score: 6.9/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.016/hour (db.t4g.micro, Single-AZ (us-east-1) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Instance hours, storage (GB-month), backup storage above the free amount, CPU credits
Free plan: None; AWS Free Tier credits for new accounts
10 GB app with staging, per month: $19.10 on db.t4g.micro, computed
Point-in-time recovery: Up to 35 days, no add-on; extra backup storage $0.095/GB-month
Automatic backups at no extra charge: 7 days by default (console); free up to provisioned storage
SOC 2 Type II report: AWS reports in AWS Artifact, any account
HIPAA BAA: Self-serve in AWS Artifact
EU regions: Frankfurt, Ireland, Paris, Stockholm, Milan, Spain
SAML SSO for the dashboard: IAM Identity Center, no extra charge
Branch with production data: Yes, by restoring a snapshot or point in time to a new instance
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, RDS for PostgreSQL includes the most recovery and compliance here at a low listed price, all self-serve. The bill has more lines to estimate than the others, and there is no permanent free plan.
Choose it if: You already run on AWS and want the database in your own VPC. · You need a self-serve BAA, SOC reports and SAML SSO without a plan upgrade. · You want point-in-time restore going back up to 35 days.
Look elsewhere if: You want a permanent free plan. · You want one or two lines on the bill rather than instances, storage, backups and CPU credits.
Compared with: PlanetScale (https://proofyo.com/products/planetscale) — pick Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL when You want point-in-time restore up to 35 days, SAML SSO at no extra charge, and ISO 27001 as well as SOC 2.; pick PlanetScale when You want the lowest price in our scenario, one fixed monthly price per cluster, and replicas across three zones as a standard size. | Neon (https://proofyo.com/products/neon) — pick Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL when You want SOC 2 reports, a BAA and SAML SSO without a higher plan, and up to 35 days of point-in-time restore.; pick Neon when You want a permanent free plan, compute that scales to zero, and branches that start as copies of your data.
Strengths:
- Point-in-time restore up to 35 days: Set backup retention to as many as 35 days and restore to any point in it, with no add-on; backup storage is free up to your provisioned storage. (Supabase sells PITR as a $100-a-month add-on per 7 days; Neon Launch goes up to 7 days.)
- Compliance documents with any account: AWS SOC reports, ISO 27001 certification and the HIPAA BAA are available through AWS Artifact without a plan upgrade or sales call. (Supabase offers its BAA from Team ($599/mo); Neon lists it on Scale.)
- SSO and an audit log at no extra charge: IAM Identity Center connects a SAML 2.0 identity provider at no extra charge, and CloudTrail keeps 90 days of account activity for free. (PlanetScale sells SSO as a $199-a-month add-on; Neon lists neither.)
- A low listed price for a small database: A db.t4g.micro is $0.016 an hour in us-east-1; our scenario comes to $19.10 a month. (The same scenario is $15 on PlanetScale and $28.06 on Neon Launch, by our arithmetic.)
- Runs in your AWS account: Instances run in your own VPC next to the rest of your AWS workload, and a Multi-AZ standby costs twice the Single-AZ instance and storage rates.
Things to know:
- No permanent free plan: New accounts get AWS Free Tier credits rather than a free database; the AWS Free Tier page says the Free plan closes after 6 months or when the credits run out. Workaround: Neon and Supabase both have permanent free plans.
- Many lines on the bill: Instance hours, storage, backup storage above the free amount, CPU credits on burstable instances, data transfer, and Extended Support per vCPU-hour for major versions past community end of life. Workaround: The AWS Pricing Calculator estimates a full configuration.
- Free tier described two ways: The RDS for PostgreSQL pricing page offers new customers 750 hours a month for a year; the RDS pricing page and the AWS Free Tier page describe credits for accounts opened after July 15, 2025.
- No scale to zero: An idle instance bills every hour until you stop it; a stopped instance still bills storage and backups and restarts on its own after 7 days.
Pricing reality: RDS bills instance-hours (per second after a 10-minute minimum), provisioned storage, backup storage above your total provisioned storage ($0.095 per GB-month), CPU credits on T4g and T3 instances above the baseline ($0.075 per vCPU-hour) and data transfer. In us-east-1: db.t4g.micro $0.016 an hour (Multi-AZ $0.032), gp3 $0.115 per GB-month (Multi-AZ $0.23), from 20 GiB. For our scenario: production 730 h × $0.016 = $11.68 + 20 GiB of gp3 $2.30; staging stopped outside 176 hours, 176 × $0.016 = $2.82 + its 20 GiB $2.30: $19.10 a month, our arithmetic, with CPU inside the baseline. With a Multi-AZ production instance it is $33.08.
Exit path: RDS runs PostgreSQL major versions, with paid Extended Support for versions past community end of life. The pricing page describes exporting snapshot data to Amazon S3 in Parquet format ($0.010 per GB of snapshot in us-east-1, per the AWS price list), and manual snapshots do not expire.

### PlanetScale

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/planetscale
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/planetscale
Category: Managed Postgres
Vendor: PlanetScale
Tagline: Postgres on a cluster size you choose: from $5 a month on a single node or $15 with two replicas across three zones, with SOC 2 Type 2 and BAAs on the self-serve plan.
Value: Production Postgres at a fixed monthly price per cluster, from $10 for 1 GiB, with SOC 2 Type 2 reports and BAAs on the self-serve plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: PlanetScale prices each Postgres branch by the cluster size you choose, with 10 GB of storage and backups every 12 hours included. A single node starts at $5 a month and a highly available cluster, a primary and two replicas across three availability zones, at $15. The self-serve Base plan lists SOC 2 Type 2 reports and BAAs, which Supabase and Neon list on higher plans.
- Lowest listed price in our scenario: A 1 GiB single node is $10 a month in us-east-1 with 10 GB of storage included; with a $5 development branch, our scenario comes to $15. (Pricing page, pricing.md and plans docs (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2 and a BAA on Base: The security docs list SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2+ HIPAA reports, BAAs and a DPA on the self-serve Base plan; BAAs are requested in the dashboard and reviewed. (Security and compliance docs (2026-10-15))
- High availability as a cluster size: HA clusters run a primary and two replicas across three availability zones, from $15 a month, with backups every 12 hours included up to twice the disk. (Pricing page and Postgres pricing docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want a production Postgres with predictable monthly prices, replicas across zones, and compliance documents from the first paid month.
Things to know: There is no free plan, and new branches start without schema or data.
Score: 6.7/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $5/mo (Base (single node PS-5) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Cluster size per month, storage above 10 GB, backups above 2× disk
Free plan: None; single node from $5/mo
10 GB app with staging, per month: $15 on Base, computed
Point-in-time recovery: 2 days by default; longer with custom backup schedules
Automatic backups at no extra charge: Every 12 hours, kept 2 days
SOC 2 Type II report: Base plan (ISO 27001 not stated)
HIPAA BAA: Base plan, on request
EU regions: Frankfurt, Dublin (AWS); Belgium, Netherlands (GCP)
SAML SSO for the dashboard: $199/mo add-on on Base
Branch with production data: Yes, by restoring a backup to a branch
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, PlanetScale lists the lowest price for our scenario and the most compliance on its entry plan, with backups and PITR included. There is no free plan, and its Postgres branches are separate databases rather than copies.
Choose it if: You want a production Postgres at a fixed monthly price from $10. · You need SOC 2 reports and a BAA without moving to a higher plan. · You want high availability with replicas across three zones as a standard size.
Look elsewhere if: You want a free plan to start. · You rely on branches that start with production data or merge schema changes for you.
Compared with: Supabase (https://proofyo.com/products/supabase) — pick PlanetScale when You want the lowest listed price for a small production database, SOC 2 and a BAA on the entry plan, and backups with PITR included.; pick Supabase when You want auth, storage and APIs in the same project, a free plan, or a self-hosted option. | Neon (https://proofyo.com/products/neon) — pick PlanetScale when You want fixed monthly prices per cluster, replicas across three zones, SAML SSO and an audit log.; pick Neon when You want a free plan, scale to zero for idle databases, and branches that start with your data.
Strengths:
- Lowest listed price for a small production database: In us-east-1 a single node with 1 GiB is $10 a month with 10 GB of storage included; our scenario comes to $15 with a staging branch. (The same scenario is $28.06 on Neon Launch and $35.06 on Supabase Pro, by our arithmetic.)
- High availability as a standard size: Each HA cluster is a primary and two replicas across three availability zones, from $15 a month (PS-5) or $30 for 1 GiB (PS-10).
- SOC 2 reports and a BAA on the self-serve plan: The security docs list SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2+ HIPAA reports and Business Associate Agreements on Base, requested from the dashboard. (Supabase offers them from Team ($599/mo); Neon lists them on Scale.)
- Backups and PITR without an add-on: Backups every 12 hours are included up to twice the disk size; PITR covers 2 days by default and reaches the oldest backup if you schedule more, at $0.023 per GB beyond the included amount. (Supabase’s PITR is $100 a month per 7 days.)
- Team controls: An audit log kept 6 months on Base, SAML SSO as a $199-a-month add-on, and a deployment in your own AWS, GCP or Azure account on Enterprise.
Things to know:
- No free plan: Every database is paid; the smallest is a $5-a-month single node with 512 MiB. Workaround: Neon and Supabase both have permanent free plans.
- Branches start empty: A new development branch has no schema or data, and there is no automated way to merge schema changes between Postgres branches. Workaround: Restoring a backup to a new branch includes schema and data, at the parent’s cluster size.
- Storage rate not on the pricing page: Storage above 10 GB varies by region and is published through a rates endpoint linked from the docs; Business support is priced by sales.
- Size cap for new accounts: Cluster sizes are capped at PS-160 and M-320 until an invoice of at least $100 has been paid. Workaround: The docs say to contact PlanetScale to unlock larger sizes sooner.
Pricing reality: PlanetScale bills each branch by cluster size per month, prorated to the millisecond, plus storage above 10 GB, backup storage above twice the disk ($0.023 per GB), egress above the included amount (100 GB for production branches, 10 GB for a single-node PS-5 and for development branches), and optional dedicated PgBouncers and extra replicas. In us-east-1, a single node is $5 (PS-5) or $10 (PS-10, 1 GiB); HA with two replicas is $15 or $30. Development branches are from $5 a month; SSO is $199 a month. For our scenario: PS-10 single node $10 + a PS-DEV staging branch $5 = $15 a month, our arithmetic, with storage and backups inside the included amounts. With a highly available PS-10, it is $35.
Exit path: PlanetScale Postgres runs standard PostgreSQL 17 and 18; the compatibility docs list logical replication as source or target, and the branching docs use pg_dump and pg_restore to copy data. There is no SUPERUSER role, and extensions come from a curated list.

### Neon

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/neon
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/neon
Category: Managed Postgres
Vendor: Neon (Databricks)
Tagline: Serverless Postgres billed by compute hours, with scale to zero, branches that start as copies of your data, and a free plan of 100 projects.
Value: Postgres you pay for by the compute hour, with scale to zero, branches that start with your data, and a free plan of 100 projects.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Neon bills compute-unit hours, storage and restore history with no plan fee or monthly minimum, and compute can scale to zero when a database is idle. Branches start as copies of their parent’s data and are billed only for what changes, which suits preview and staging environments. The free plan includes 100 projects with 1 GB of storage each and needs no card.
- No plan fee, no minimum: Launch bills $0.106 per CU-hour and $0.35 per GB-month, with no monthly minimum; compute that has scaled to zero accrues nothing. (Pricing page and plans docs (2026-10-15))
- Branches with your data: A child branch starts with its parent’s data and is billed for the smaller of its changes or its data size; Launch includes 10 branches per project. (Plans docs (2026-10-15))
- A free plan that is not paused: 100 projects, each with 1 GB and 100 CU-hours a month, 6 hours of restore history and no credit card. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams with many small or often idle databases, and teams that want staging or preview branches with real data.
Things to know: SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA are on Scale, where compute costs $0.222 per CU-hour instead of $0.106.
Score: 6.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.106/CU-hour (Launch plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Compute-unit hours, storage and restore history (GB-month)
Free plan: 1 GB per project, 100 projects, 100 CU-hours each; no card
10 GB app with staging, per month: $28.06 on Launch, computed
Point-in-time recovery: Up to 7 days on Launch at $0.20/GB-month; 30 on Scale
Automatic backups at no extra charge: None; history and snapshots billed per GB
SOC 2 Type II report: Scale plan
HIPAA BAA: Scale plan, self-serve
EU regions: Frankfurt, London
SAML SSO for the dashboard: Not listed
Branch with production data: Yes, every branch starts as a copy
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Neon has the most generous free plan and the most flexible branches here, and usage billing suits databases that are often idle. Compliance and longer restore windows move you to Scale, at about twice the compute rate.
Choose it if: You run many small or idle databases and want to pay only while compute runs. · You want preview and staging branches that start with your data. · You want a free plan to start, with no card.
Look elsewhere if: You need SOC 2 or HIPAA without moving to the Scale rate. · You need SAML SSO or an audit log for the console.
Compared with: Supabase (https://proofyo.com/products/supabase) — pick Neon when You want a free plan that is not paused, branches that start with your data, and compute billed only while it runs.; pick Supabase when You want auth, storage and APIs in the same project, daily backups included, and a self-hosted option. | PlanetScale (https://proofyo.com/products/planetscale) — pick Neon when You want a free plan, scale to zero for idle databases, and branches that copy data when created.; pick PlanetScale when You want SOC 2 and a BAA on the entry plan, SAML SSO and an audit log, and a fixed monthly price per cluster.
Strengths:
- The most generous free plan here: 100 projects, each with 1 GB of storage and 100 CU-hours a month, not paused for inactivity, and no credit card. (Supabase’s free plan has 2 active projects of 500 MB that pause after a week; PlanetScale has no free plan.)
- Compute billed only while it runs: Compute can scale to zero when idle, so a staging branch used 176 hours a month costs $4.66 of compute on Launch. (Supabase bills a branch for every hour it exists ($9.81 a month at Micro).)
- Branches start with your data: A child branch starts with the parent’s data and is billed for the changes made to it, capped at its data size; Launch includes 10 per project. (PlanetScale and Supabase branches start empty unless restored from a backup or created with the PITR add-on.)
- Point-in-time restore without an add-on: Set the history window up to 7 days on Launch (30 on Scale) and pay $0.20 per GB-month of history. (Supabase’s PITR is a $100-a-month add-on per 7 days.)
Things to know:
- Compliance is on Scale: SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, IP Allow and private networking are listed for Scale, where compute costs $0.222 per CU-hour instead of $0.106.
- No backups included at no charge: Restore history and snapshots are billed per GB ($0.20 and $0.09 per GB-month), and the default history window on paid plans is 1 day. Workaround: The docs describe scheduled pg_dump backups to your own S3 bucket.
- SAML SSO and audit log not listed: The plans page lists unlimited organization members, but the pricing page and docs list no SAML SSO or audit log for the Neon console.
- Usage decides the bill: With no plan fee, the bill depends on how many hours compute runs and how much history you keep. Workaround: Spending notifications are available on Launch and Scale.
Pricing reality: Neon has no plan fee on Launch or Scale and no monthly minimum. Launch bills $0.106 per CU-hour (Scale $0.222), storage at $0.35 per GB-month (child branches only for the data they change), restore history at $0.20 per GB-month, snapshots at $0.09, extra branches at $1.50 a month and egress above 500 GB per project at $0.10 per GB. For our scenario on Launch: production 0.25 CU × 730 hours = 182.5 CU-hours ($19.35), 10 GB of storage ($3.50), staging 0.25 CU × 176 hours ($4.66) with 1 GB of changes ($0.35) and 1 GB of history ($0.20): $28.06 a month, our arithmetic. If staging ran all month, it would be $42.74; on Scale, for the compliance listings, $54.33.
Exit path: The docs describe exporting with pg_dump and pg_restore to any standard Postgres, and replicating out with logical replication to a self-hosted or third-party Postgres server.

### Supabase

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/supabase
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/supabase
Category: Managed Postgres
Vendor: Supabase
Tagline: A Postgres database with auth, storage and APIs in each project: $25 a month with Micro compute, 8 GB of disk and daily backups, in 17 AWS regions.
Value: A Postgres database with auth, storage and APIs in one project for $25 a month, with daily backups and a choice of 17 AWS regions.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: Supabase gives each project a dedicated Postgres database and the backend services around it: auth, file storage, realtime and edge functions. Pro is from $25 a month with $10 of compute credit, enough for one Micro instance, plus 8 GB of disk and daily backups kept 7 days. It replaces wiring a separate auth and storage service to a database, and the docs describe a self-hosted version.
- Database plus backend services: Every project includes auth, storage, realtime and edge functions; the pricing page says a project can also be used as a plain Postgres database, and unused products cost nothing. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- A small production database for $25: Pro includes $10 of compute credit that covers one Micro instance (1 GB RAM), 8 GB of disk per project and daily backups kept 7 days. (Pricing page and compute docs (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a BAA from Team: Team customers ($599/mo) get the SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate on the dashboard and can add HIPAA as a paid add-on. (Security and pricing pages (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want a database and the backend around it from one vendor, with backups included.
Things to know: Point-in-time recovery is a $100-a-month add-on per 7 days, and branches start without production data unless that add-on is on.
Score: 6.0/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $25/mo (Pro plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Plan fee, compute hours, disk (GB)
Free plan: 500 MB per project, 2 projects; paused after 1 week inactive
10 GB app with staging, per month: $35.06 on Pro, computed
Point-in-time recovery: $100/mo add-on per 7 days; needs Small compute
Automatic backups at no extra charge: Daily, kept 7 days (Pro)
SOC 2 Type II report: Team plan ($599/mo)
HIPAA BAA: Team plan, paid add-on
EU regions: Ireland, Paris, Frankfurt, Stockholm
SAML SSO for the dashboard: Listed on Team; table says Contact Us
Branch with production data: Needs the PITR add-on
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Supabase gives the most around the database: auth, storage and APIs with daily backups for $25. For a database alone, PITR as a flat add-on and per-hour branches make it the highest-priced of the three in our scenario.
Choose it if: You want Postgres plus auth, storage and APIs in one project. · You want daily backups included and a spend cap by default. · You may want to self-host the platform later.
Look elsewhere if: You need point-in-time recovery without a $100-a-month add-on. · You want staging branches that copy production data on the base plan.
Compared with: Neon (https://proofyo.com/products/neon) — pick Supabase when You want auth, storage and APIs next to the database, daily backups included, and a fixed plan price.; pick Neon when You want a free plan that is not paused for inactivity, branches that start with your data, and compute billed only while it runs. | PlanetScale (https://proofyo.com/products/planetscale) — pick Supabase when You want a free plan, auth and storage in the same project, or a self-hosted option.; pick PlanetScale when You want the lowest listed price for a small production database, SOC 2 and a BAA on the entry plan, and backups with PITR included.
Strengths:
- A backend, not only a database: Each project includes auth (100,000 monthly active users on Pro), file storage, realtime and edge functions next to Postgres, in the $25 plan. (PlanetScale sells the database only; Neon bills its object storage and functions as separate usage.)
- Daily backups included: Pro keeps daily backups for 7 days and Team for 14, at no extra charge. (Neon bills restore history per GB; PlanetScale includes 2 days of backups by default.)
- Region choice: Projects can be created in 17 AWS regions, four of them in EU member states (Ireland, Paris, Frankfurt and Stockholm). (Neon lists eight AWS regions.)
- A self-hosted version: The docs describe self-hosting Supabase with Docker; branching, managed backups and PITR are among the features it does not include.
- Spend cap on by default: Pro has a spend cap turned on by default; you turn it off in the dashboard to pay for usage beyond the plan limits.
Things to know:
- PITR is a flat add-on: Point-in-time recovery costs $100 a month per 7 days of retention (28 days for $400) and needs at least Small compute ($15 a month). Workaround: Daily backups kept 7 days are included on Pro.
- Branches start without data: New branches get their schema from migrations and seed files; copying production data into a branch needs the PITR add-on.
- Compliance documents start on Team: The SOC 2 Type 2 report, ISO 27001 certificate and BAA are for Team ($599 a month) and Enterprise customers; the HIPAA add-on price is not on the pricing page.
- Free projects pause: Free projects are paused after one week of inactivity, and two can be active at a time.
Pricing reality: Supabase bills an organization plan plus per-project compute and disk. Pro is from $25 a month and includes $10 of compute credit (one Micro instance at $0.01344 an hour), 8 GB of disk per project (then $0.125 per GB) and 250 GB of egress (then $0.09 per GB). Team is from $599 with the same quotas. For our scenario: $25 + Micro covered by the credit + 2 GB of extra disk ($0.25) + a staging branch billed all month (730 × $0.01344 = $9.81) = $35.06 a month, our arithmetic. Each additional project adds its full compute cost. PITR adds $100 a month per 7 days and needs Small compute. Pro has a spend cap on by default.
Exit path: The pricing page says any project can be used as a standard Postgres database through its connection string, the upgrade docs recommend pg_dump for a logical backup of smaller databases, and Supabase documents a self-hosted version with Docker.

### Crunchy Bridge

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/crunchy-bridge
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/crunchy-bridge
Category: Managed Postgres
Vendor: Crunchy Data (Snowflake)
Tagline: Managed Postgres on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud at one price per cluster size plus storage, with 10 days of point-in-time recovery and data transfer included.
Value: Managed Postgres on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud at one price per cluster, with 10 days of point-in-time recovery and data transfer included.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: Crunchy Bridge prices each Postgres cluster by its size plus $0.10 per GB of storage, and the pricing page says backups and data transfer are in that price. Every cluster keeps 10 days of base backups and WAL, and you can fork a new cluster from any minute in that window, for recovery or for a staging copy with real data. Clusters run on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, with EU regions on each.
- Recovery on every plan: Daily base backups and continuous WAL are kept 10 days at no extra charge, and a fork restores any minute in that window to a new cluster. (Backups and point-in-time recovery docs (2026-10-15))
- One price per cluster: A cluster price plus storage, with backups and data transfer included; Hobby-1 (1 GB) is $18 a month in AWS us-east-1. (Pricing page and plans docs (2026-10-15))
- Three clouds: Clusters run in AWS, Azure and Google Cloud regions, including Frankfurt, Ireland and Paris on AWS. (Plans and pricing docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want Postgres with recovery included and a cluster-based bill, on the cloud they already use.
Things to know: Plans below $70 a month are Hobby, which the docs say is not intended for production, and dashboard SSO is OpenID Connect rather than SAML.
Score: 5.9/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Card required
Starter price: $9/mo (Hobby-0 plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Cluster size per month (prorated), storage (GB)
Free plan: None; Hobby-0 from $9/mo plus storage
10 GB app with staging, per month: $22.17 on Hobby, computed
Point-in-time recovery: Any minute in the last 10 days, every plan
Automatic backups at no extra charge: Daily base backups plus WAL, kept 10 days
SOC 2 Type II report: On request from Crunchy Data; no plan limit stated
HIPAA BAA: On request; no plan limit stated
EU regions: Frankfurt, Ireland, Paris, Stockholm, Milan (AWS); also Azure and GCP
SAML SSO for the dashboard: Not supported; Google, Microsoft or OpenID Connect SSO
Branch with production data: Yes, a fork from any point in the last 10 days
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Crunchy Bridge includes 10 days of recovery on every plan and keeps the bill to a cluster price plus storage. Its lowest-priced plans are Hobby, which the docs say is not for production, and dashboard SSO is OpenID Connect rather than SAML.
Choose it if: You want point-in-time recovery and forks with real data on every plan. · You want backups and data transfer included in the cluster price. · You want the same managed Postgres on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.
Look elsewhere if: You want a free plan or a production plan below $70 a month. · You need SAML SSO for the dashboard.
Compared with: PlanetScale (https://proofyo.com/products/planetscale) — pick Crunchy Bridge when You want 10 days of point-in-time recovery, forks that start with production data, and data transfer included in the price.; pick PlanetScale when You want the lower price in our scenario, SOC 2 and a BAA listed on the entry plan, and SAML SSO. | Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL (https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-rds-postgres) — pick Crunchy Bridge when You want backups and data transfer in one cluster price and a choice of AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.; pick Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL when You need SAML SSO, a self-serve BAA, ISO 27001 and up to 35 days of point-in-time restore.
Strengths:
- Ten days of point-in-time recovery on every plan: Base backups and WAL are kept 10 days at no extra charge, and any minute in that window can be restored to a new cluster. (Supabase sells PITR as an add-on from $100 a month; PlanetScale covers 2 days by default.)
- Forks with production data: A fork is a new cluster built from any point in the backup window, billed at the normal cluster rate, so staging can start with real data. (New PlanetScale and Supabase branches start without data unless restored from a backup or the PITR add-on is on.)
- Data transfer and backups in the price: The pricing page says prices include infrastructure, backups and data transfer, and the product page says there are no networking or egress charges. (Supabase, Neon and PlanetScale bill egress above an included amount.)
- Three clouds: Clusters run on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, with EU regions on all three, including Frankfurt, Ireland and Paris on AWS.
- Audit logs by default: Account-level audit logs record team actions such as provisioning and viewing credentials, and pgAudit database logging is on by default.
Things to know:
- No free plan: Every cluster is paid; the smallest is Hobby-0 at $9 a month plus storage, and a card is needed to create it. Workaround: The billing docs say clusters removed before $5 accrues in a month are not charged.
- Hobby plans are not for production: The docs say Hobby runs on lower-quality infrastructure with burstable CPU, best-effort monitoring and support, and no SLA; production plans start at $70 for 4 GB. Workaround: Standard and Memory clusters with high availability get a 99.95% uptime SLA.
- No SAML SSO: Dashboard SSO works through Google, Microsoft or OpenID Connect at no extra charge; the Okta guide says SAML is not supported.
- Compliance documents on request: The SOC 2 Type 2 report and a HIPAA BAA are offered by contacting Crunchy Data; ISO 27001 is not stated, and the pages do not say which plans qualify.
Pricing reality: Crunchy Bridge bills each cluster by size per month, prorated, plus $0.10 per GB of storage; backups and data transfer are included, and PgBouncer comes with non-Hobby plans. In AWS us-east-1: Hobby-0 $9, Hobby-1 $18, Standard-4 $70, Standard-8 $140; high availability doubles the cluster price. Suspended clusters bill storage only. Premium support is $500 a month or 5% of the bill, Business $1,000 or 10%. For our scenario: Hobby-1 production $18 + 10 GB $1; a Hobby-0 staging cluster suspended outside 176 hours, $9 × 176/730 = $2.17, + 10 GB $1: $22.17 a month, our arithmetic. On Standard-4, the smallest production plan, it is $74.17.
Exit path: The backups docs show credentials for downloading the pgBackRest backup files, and pg_dump logical backups work at any time; the docs also have a logical replication guide. Crunchy Data separately offers Crunchy Postgres for Kubernetes, an operator for self-managed Postgres with backups and high availability.

## Category: Frontend and app hosting

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/app-hosting

### Cloudflare Workers

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-workers
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/cloudflare-workers
Category: Frontend and app hosting
Vendor: Cloudflare
Tagline: Serverless apps and sites on Cloudflare’s network for $5 a month per account, with free static asset requests and no data transfer charges.
Value: A full-stack app platform for $5 a month per account, with no data transfer charges, free static asset requests and dashboard SSO on every plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Workers bills only the requests that run your code and the CPU time they use: the $5 Workers Paid plan includes 10 million requests and 30 million CPU milliseconds a month, static asset requests are free and unlimited, and the pricing docs say there are no charges for data transfer. The pricing pages list no per-member charge, dashboard SSO is free on all plans, and audit logs are on every plan.
- No data transfer charge: The pricing docs say the paid plan has no additional charges for data transfer (egress) or bandwidth, and requests to static assets are free and unlimited. (Workers pricing docs (2026-10-15))
- CPU time, not duration: Duration is not charged; 30 million CPU milliseconds are included each month, then $0.02 per million. (Workers pricing docs (2026-10-15))
- SSO and audit logs on every plan: Dashboard SSO with your identity provider is free on all plans for a custom email domain, and audit logs are on all plan types, kept 18 months. (Dashboard SSO and audit log docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams whose apps serve a lot of traffic or data, and teams that want SSO and audit logs without an enterprise plan.
Things to know: Budget alerts notify you but do not pause usage, and a HIPAA BAA is not mentioned on Cloudflare’s current trust pages.
Score: 8.6/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $5/mo (Workers Paid plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Requests that run code and CPU time
Free plan: 100,000 requests/day; commercial use not addressed
3 developers, 10M requests, 1 TB/mo: $5.12 on Workers Paid, computed
Data transfer: Not charged
Seats for people who deploy: No per-member charge listed
SAML SSO: Dashboard SSO free on all plans
Spend cap: Budget alerts only; they do not pause usage
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
Runtime logs, entry paid plan: 7 days (Logpush to export)
Audit logs: All plans, kept 18 months
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Cloudflare Workers costs the least here by a wide margin for traffic-heavy apps, with SSO and audit logs on every plan. Plan for budget alerts that notify rather than stop, and an adapter for Next.js.
Choose it if: Your app serves a lot of traffic or data each month. · You want SSO and audit logs without an enterprise plan. · You are comfortable building on Cloudflare storage such as KV, D1 and R2.
Look elsewhere if: You need a hard cap that stops spending. · You need a HIPAA BAA. · You want Next.js without an adapter.
Compared with: Vercel (https://proofyo.com/products/vercel) — pick Cloudflare Workers when Traffic or data volume drives your bill, or you want SSO without an add-on.; pick Vercel when You build with Next.js and want it without an adapter, a hard spending stop and a self-serve HIPAA BAA. | Netlify (https://proofyo.com/products/netlify) — pick Cloudflare Workers when Your app moves a lot of data or requests: no data transfer charge and $5 a month per account.; pick Netlify when You want spending to stop at a fixed amount by default, or built-in form handling.
Strengths:
- Lowest price at our scenario: $5.12 a month by our arithmetic: the $5 plan plus 6 million CPU milliseconds over the allowance. (Vercel comes to $80 and Netlify to $155 for the same scenario.)
- No data transfer charges: Data transfer and bandwidth are not billed, and static asset requests are free and unlimited. (Netlify bills 20 credits per GB; Vercel covers delivery with Flat Rate CDN tiers.)
- SSO on every plan: Dashboard SSO is free on all plans for a custom email domain, and the pricing pages list no charge per member. (Vercel’s SAML SSO is a $300-a-month add-on; Netlify lists SSO on Enterprise.)
- Audit logs kept 18 months: Audit logs are on all plan types and kept 18 months; Workers Logs are kept 7 days on the paid plan, and Logpush exports them.
- A daily free allowance: The free plan allows 100,000 requests a day, unlimited static asset requests and 3,000 build minutes a month.
Things to know:
- No hard spend cap: Budget alerts are informational: they do not pause or cap usage. Workaround: The docs suggest a per-invocation CPU limit to prevent runaway bills.
- Next.js through an adapter: Next.js apps run through vinext, a Vite plugin in beta that reimplements the Next.js API surface, or through OpenNext.
- No HIPAA BAA on current pages: The Trust Hub lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and PCI DSS but does not mention HIPAA or a BAA.
- Free-plan terms not stated: The Workers pages do not say whether the free plan may be used commercially; free-plan requests above 100,000 a day return an error.
Pricing reality: Workers Paid is a minimum of $5 a month per account and includes 10 million requests and 30 million CPU milliseconds; beyond that, $0.30 per million requests and $0.02 per million CPU milliseconds. Static asset requests, duration and data transfer are not charged. Builds include 6,000 minutes, then $0.005 a minute. KV, D1, Durable Objects, Queues and R2 have their own allowances. Our scenario comes to $5.12 a month by our arithmetic: the 2 million requests that run code are inside the allowance, the other 8 million are static assets, and 10 CPU-hours (36 million CPU milliseconds) is 6 million over, at $0.12. No seat charges are listed.
Exit path: Cloudflare describes workerd, the runtime behind Workers, as open source and uses it for local testing. Bindings to KV, D1, R2 and Durable Objects are Cloudflare APIs, so moving an app that uses them means replacing those services.

### Render

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/render
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/render
Category: Frontend and app hosting
Vendor: Render
Tagline: Web services, static sites and managed Postgres on one bill: unlimited seats on the $25 Pro plan, compute per instance, and SOC 2 and ISO 27001 documents from Pro.
Value: Managed web services, Postgres and Key Value behind one workspace plan, with unlimited seats and audit logs from the $25 Pro plan.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: Render replaces the servers, databases and deploy pipeline a small team would otherwise run: services deploy from Git or Docker with zero-downtime deploys, and Postgres and Key Value are managed. Pro, at $25 a month plus compute, has no seat charge, workspace audit logs and 14-day log retention, and Pro workspaces can view the SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate under NDA. Scale ($499) adds SAML SSO, 1 TB of bandwidth and a HIPAA BAA.
- Services and databases on one bill: Web services, workers, cron jobs, managed Postgres and Key Value are priced per instance on the same pricing page, prorated by the second. (Pricing page and billing FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Audit logs and reports on Pro: Pro workspaces can export audit logs (at least the last 90 days are kept) and view the SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate after signing an NDA. (Audit logs and compliance docs (2026-10-15))
- Unlimited seats on Pro: Pro includes unlimited team seats and services for $25 a month; you pay for the instances you run, not for each developer. (Pricing page and plan features docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Small teams that want app servers, Postgres and background jobs managed in one place, with no per-developer charge.
Things to know: Bandwidth beyond the plan allowance is $0.15 per GB, and SAML SSO and the HIPAA BAA start on the $499 Scale plan.
Score: 7.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $25/mo (Pro plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Workspace plan and instances, then bandwidth and build minutes
Free plan: Hobby: 1 member, 750 free instance hours; not for production
3 developers, 10M requests, 1 TB/mo: $178.25 on Pro, computed
Data transfer: 25 GB on Pro, then $0.15/GB; 1 TB on Scale
Seats for people who deploy: Unlimited on Pro, no seat charge
SAML SSO: Scale ($499/mo)
Spend cap: Spend limit for build minutes only; usage emails
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both (documents on Pro, under NDA)
HIPAA BAA: Scale, with 20% added to usage
Runtime logs, entry paid plan: 14 days (log streams to export)
Audit logs: Pro (workspace), at least 90 days
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Render suits teams that want services and databases managed together, with no seat charges and audit logs on Pro. Bandwidth is the cost to watch: 1 TB a month adds $146.25 on Pro.
Choose it if: Your team wants app servers, workers and Postgres managed in one place. · Several people deploy and you do not want seat charges. · You need audit logs and SOC 2 reports without an enterprise contract.
Look elsewhere if: Your app serves terabytes of data a month and you do not need Scale. · You need SAML SSO for less than $499 a month.
Compared with: Heroku (https://proofyo.com/products/heroku) — pick Render when You want a free tier to try things, and audit logs and 14-day log retention on the $25 Pro plan.; pick Heroku when Your app moves a lot of data: Heroku does not bill data transfer, and one $7 Basic dyno covers our scenario. | Vercel (https://proofyo.com/products/vercel) — pick Render when Several developers deploy and you want no seat charges, 14-day logs and audit logs on the entry paid plan.; pick Vercel when You build with Next.js, or want fixed-price CDN tiers: Vercel covers our 1 TB scenario for $80.
Strengths:
- No seat charge from Pro: Pro includes unlimited team seats and services for $25 a month; compute is billed per instance whoever deploys. (Vercel charges $20 a month for each additional developer seat.)
- Compliance documents on Pro: Pro workspaces can view the SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate in the dashboard after signing an NDA; Scale adds a HIPAA BAA signed from workspace settings. (Netlify offers SOC 2 audit reports and HIPAA to Enterprise customers.)
- Logs and audit trail on Pro: Pro keeps logs 14 days, adds HTTP request logs and keeps workspace audit logs at least 90 days; log streams forward logs on every plan. (Vercel keeps runtime logs 1 day on Pro and lists audit logs on Enterprise.)
- Databases on the same platform: Managed Postgres with point-in-time recovery and Redis-compatible Key Value are priced on the same page, from $6 and $10 a month.
Things to know:
- Bandwidth is metered: Pro includes 25 GB of outbound bandwidth a month; beyond that each GB is $0.15, so 1 TB adds $146.25. Workaround: Scale includes 1 TB a month, at $499.
- SSO and HIPAA on Scale: SAML SSO, SCIM, the Viewer and Billing roles and HIPAA-enabled workspaces need Scale at $499 a month; a HIPAA-enabled workspace adds 20% to all usage.
- Spend limit covers builds only: A monthly spend limit can stop build pipeline minutes; for bandwidth the pages describe email notices but no cap once a card is on file.
- Free instances are for trials: Free web services spin down after 15 minutes without traffic, free Postgres databases expire after 30 days, and Hobby workspaces have one member.
Pricing reality: Render bills a workspace plan plus compute and metered usage. Hobby is $0, Pro $25 and Scale $499 a month; compute is per instance, from $7 a month for a 0.5-CPU, 512 MB web service and $6 for the smallest paid Postgres. Pro includes 25 GB of bandwidth and 1,000 build minutes; beyond that, $0.15 per GB and $5 per 1,000 minutes. Extra custom domains are $0.25 each. For our scenario we compute $178.25 a month: Pro $25, one $7 instance for the server code, a free static site for static assets, and 975 GB of bandwidth over the allowance at $0.15 ($146.25). Scale would be $506 with 1 TB included. Premium support is an add-on on Pro and Scale.
Exit path: Render deploys from Git with native runtimes or from Docker images, so the application itself is portable. Blueprints (render.yaml) are Render-specific infrastructure as code, and paid Postgres instances support logical backups you can export.

### Netlify

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/netlify
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/netlify
Category: Frontend and app hosting
Vendor: Netlify
Tagline: Git-based hosting priced in credits, with unlimited team members on the $20 Pro plan and a free plan that stops at its limits.
Value: Deploys, previews, functions, forms and a database in one credit balance, with unlimited team members on Pro for $20 a month.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: Netlify bundles Git deploys, unlimited deploy previews, serverless functions, form handling, Blob storage and Netlify Database into one platform billed in credits. Pro starts at $20 a month for 3,000 credits with unlimited members and no seat charges, and Netlify's own comparison page says the free plan can be used for commercial projects. Usage stops at your credits unless you turn on auto recharge.
- No seat charges on Pro: The pricing FAQ says credit-based Pro plans no longer charge for any seat; the team gets unlimited members, plus free reviewers and Git contributors. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- A bill that stops by default: Auto recharge is off by default; when credits run out, projects pause until the next cycle, with notices at 50%, 75% and 100% of usage. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Forms and previews not metered: Form submissions are free and unlimited, and deploy previews, branch deploys and failed deploys use no credits. (Credit-based pricing plans docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams of several people with modest traffic who want deploy previews, forms and functions without seat charges.
Things to know: Bandwidth draws 20 credits per GB, so data-heavy sites need a larger credit tier or credit packs.
Score: 7.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $9/mo (Personal plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Credits (bandwidth, requests, compute, deploys)
Free plan: 300 credits/mo, commercial use allowed
3 developers, 10M requests, 1 TB/mo: $155 on Pro, computed
Data transfer: 20 credits per GB (about $0.13 at the Pro pack rate)
Seats for people who deploy: Unlimited members on Pro
SAML SSO: Enterprise
Spend cap: Stops at your credits unless auto recharge is on
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise add-on
Runtime logs, entry paid plan: 7 days
Audit logs: Pro, 7-day history
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Netlify suits teams with modest traffic: unlimited members on Pro, a free plan you may use commercially and spending that stops by default. Bandwidth is billed in credits, so data-heavy apps cost more here than on the other two.
Choose it if: Several people deploy and you do not want seat charges. · You want spending to stop at a fixed amount by default. · You need form handling and deploy previews without extra services.
Look elsewhere if: Your site moves terabytes of data a month. · You need SAML SSO or a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.
Compared with: Vercel (https://proofyo.com/products/vercel) — pick Netlify when Several people deploy and you want unlimited members for one fee, or a free plan you may use commercially.; pick Vercel when You build with Next.js and want its maintainers’ platform, or need a HIPAA BAA and SOC 2 reports without an enterprise contract. | Cloudflare Workers (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-workers) — pick Netlify when You want built-in form handling and a bill that stops at your credits by default.; pick Cloudflare Workers when Your app moves a lot of data: Workers has no data transfer charge, while 1 TB on Netlify is 20,000 credits.
Strengths:
- No seat charges: Pro includes unlimited members for one fee; reviewers and Git contributors on public repos are free on every plan. (Vercel charges $20 a month for each additional developer seat.)
- Free plan for commercial use: Netlify's own comparison page says its free plan can be used for commercial projects, and the free plan never bills: its 300 credits are a hard limit. (Vercel’s Hobby plan is for personal, non-commercial use.)
- Spending stops by default: Auto recharge is off by default, so usage stops at your credits, with notices at 50%, 75% and 100%. (Cloudflare’s budget alerts notify but do not pause usage.)
- Forms and previews not metered: Form submissions are free and unlimited, and deploy previews and branch deploys use no credits.
- Audit logs on Pro: Pro lists audit logs with 7-day history and keeps function logs 7 days. (Vercel lists audit logs on Enterprise only.)
Things to know:
- Bandwidth is the main cost: Each GB of bandwidth is 20 credits, about $0.13 at the Pro pack rate, so 1 TB a month is 20,000 credits. Workaround: Pro credit tiers up to 20,000 credits ($126) cost less per credit than recharge packs.
- One pause for all projects: If one project exceeds the credit limit, all projects on the account pause until the next cycle or until credits are added.
- SSO and HIPAA on Enterprise: SAML SSO, SCIM, log drains and the HIPAA add-on are listed on Enterprise, and SOC 2 audit reports are for Enterprise customers.
- Production deploys draw credits: Each production deploy draws 15 credits, so frequent releases add up; deploy previews and failed deploys are free.
Pricing reality: Netlify bills in credits. Free gives 300 a month as a hard limit, Personal $9 for 1,000, and Pro from $20 for 3,000 up to $126 for 20,000, with unlimited members. Auto recharge adds 1,500 credits for $10 on Pro. Credits go to bandwidth (20 per GB), web requests (2 per 10,000), compute (10 per GB-hour) and production deploys (15 each). Our scenario needs 23,900 credits: 20,000 for 1 TB, 2,000 for 10 million requests, 1,000 for 100 GB-hours and 900 for 60 deploys. The lowest mix is the 15,000-credit tier ($95) plus six 1,500-credit packs ($60): $155 a month, by our arithmetic. Extra concurrent builds are $40 each.
Exit path: Netlify runs Next.js through the open-source OpenNext adapter, per its docs, and deploys from Git, the CLI or the API. Netlify Forms, Blobs, Database and Identity are Netlify services, so a move means replacing them.

### Vercel

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/vercel
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/vercel
Category: Frontend and app hosting
Vendor: Vercel
Tagline: Hosting from the maintainers of Next.js: Pro at $20 per developer seat with a $20 usage credit, and SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA BAA add-on.
Value: Zero-configuration hosting for Next.js from the team that maintains it, with SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA BAA on the self-serve Pro plan.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Vercel's docs call it the native Next.js platform: deploying is zero-configuration, and the pricing page lists ISR, image optimization and skew protection among its features. Pro is $20 a month per developer seat with a $20 usage credit, Flat Rate CDN for fixed delivery pricing, and spend management that can pause projects at a set amount. SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 are marked on every plan, and a HIPAA BAA is a $350 add-on on Pro.
- Next.js with no configuration: The Next.js docs page says Next.js is maintained by Vercel and that deploying it to Vercel is zero-configuration; the pricing page lists ISR, image optimization and skew protection. (Next.js on Vercel docs and pricing page (2026-10-15))
- A BAA without an enterprise contract: Pro teams can add a HIPAA BAA for $350 a month from billing settings; SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and PCI DSS are marked on every plan, with security collateral for Pro and Enterprise. (Pricing page and compliance docs (2026-10-15))
- Fixed delivery pricing: Pro includes the lowest Flat Rate CDN tier (1 million CDN requests and 1 TB a month); paid tiers are fixed monthly prices, so a one-day traffic spike does not change the bill. (Flat Rate CDN docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams building with Next.js who want the platform its maintainers design for, and compliance documents on a self-serve plan.
Things to know: Each developer who deploys is a $20 seat, Hobby is for non-commercial use only, and SAML SSO is a $300-a-month add-on.
Score: 6.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $20/mo (Pro plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Developer seats, then metered usage after a $20 credit
Free plan: Hobby: personal, non-commercial use only
3 developers, 10M requests, 1 TB/mo: $80 on Pro, computed
Data transfer: 1 TB in the included Flat Rate CDN tier; $20/mo tier to 50 TB
Seats for people who deploy: $20/mo each after the first
SAML SSO: $300/mo add-on on Pro
Spend cap: Can pause production deployments at a budget
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: $350/mo add-on on Pro
Runtime logs, entry paid plan: 1 day (30 with Observability Plus)
Audit logs: Enterprise
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Vercel is the compliance and Next.js choice here: SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a BAA on Pro, and zero-configuration Next.js. It scores lower on this rubric because every developer is a seat, Hobby is non-commercial and Pro keeps runtime logs for 1 day.
Choose it if: You build with Next.js and want zero-configuration deploys. · You need SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA BAA on a self-serve plan. · You want a hard stop on spend and fixed-price CDN tiers.
Look elsewhere if: You want to run a commercial project on a free plan. · Many developers deploy and seat costs matter more than framework features.
Compared with: Netlify (https://proofyo.com/products/netlify) — pick Vercel when You build with Next.js and want its maintainers’ platform, or need a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.; pick Netlify when Several people deploy and you want unlimited members for one $20 Pro fee, or a free plan you may use commercially. | Cloudflare Workers (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-workers) — pick Vercel when You want Next.js without an adapter, a hard spending stop and a self-serve HIPAA BAA.; pick Cloudflare Workers when Traffic or data volume drives your bill: Workers has no data transfer charge, and its paid plan is $5 a month per account.
Strengths:
- Built for Next.js: The docs call Vercel the native Next.js platform, and the pricing page lists ISR, image optimization, skew protection and rolling releases. (Netlify runs Next.js through the OpenNext adapter; Cloudflare recommends vinext, a Vite plugin in beta.)
- Compliance on a self-serve plan: SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and PCI DSS on every plan; a HIPAA BAA as a $350 add-on and security collateral on Pro. (Netlify offers SOC 2 audit reports and HIPAA to Enterprise customers; Cloudflare’s trust pages do not mention a BAA.)
- A hard spending stop: Spend management can pause all production deployments when a budget is reached, and new teams start with a $200 budget alert. (Cloudflare’s budget alerts notify but do not pause usage.)
- Fixed-price CDN tiers: Flat Rate CDN turns requests and data transfer into fixed monthly tiers, and a one-day spike does not move the tier.
- Free viewer seats: People who only look at deployments, analytics or previews get unlimited free Viewer seats on Pro.
Things to know:
- Hobby is non-commercial: The fair use guidelines restrict Hobby to personal, non-commercial use; a deployment that earns money for anyone involved needs Pro. Workaround: Pro starts at $20 a month, with a 14-day trial.
- Each developer is a seat: Pro includes one deploying seat and charges $20 a month for each additional developer. SAML SSO is a $300-a-month add-on, and audit logs are listed on Enterprise only.
- Many meters, regional rates: Estimating a bill means CDN requests, data transfer, invocations, active CPU, memory, origin transfer and build minutes, and most rates are "starting at" figures that vary by region.
- One day of runtime logs on Pro: Runtime logs are kept 1 day on Pro. Workaround: Observability Plus ($1.20 per million events) extends them to 30 days, and drains export them.
Pricing reality: Pro is a $20 monthly platform fee with one developer seat and a $20 usage credit; extra developer seats are $20 each and viewers are free. Usage past the credit is billed per resource at regional rates, such as function invocations from $0.60 per million and active CPU from $0.128 an hour. Delivery is covered by Flat Rate CDN: 1 million requests and 1 TB are included, and the next tier is $20 for 10 million requests. For our scenario we compute $80 a month: $20 Pro, 2 extra seats at $20 and the $20 Flat Rate CDN tier, with function usage ($3.54 at the lowest listed rates) inside the credit. Add-ons: SAML SSO $300, HIPAA BAA $350, password protection $20 per project.
Exit path: Vercel's Next.js docs say Next.js also works when self-hosting, and the Build Output API is a documented file-system specification for a Vercel deployment. Features billed as Vercel resources, such as ISR caching, image optimization, Blob and Flags, need equivalents on another host.

### Heroku

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/heroku
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/heroku
Category: Frontend and app hosting
Vendor: Heroku (Salesforce)
Tagline: Git-push app platform from Salesforce: dynos from $5 a month, no bandwidth or seat charges, SSO for Heroku Teams, and a sustaining engineering model since February 2026.
Value: Push code and run it on managed dynos with no bandwidth or seat charges, from $7 a month for an always-on Basic dyno.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Heroku handles the runtime, OS patching and certificates below your code: you push from Git and scale dynos. Pricing is the dynos and add-ons you run, prorated to the second, with no charge for requests or data transfer (bandwidth is soft-limited at 2 TB per app a month). Heroku Teams add members without a seat charge and support SAML SSO, and Shield Private Spaces support HIPAA workloads.
- No bandwidth or seat charges: Data transfer is not billed (soft limit 2 TB per app a month), and Heroku Teams charge nothing per member; only dynos and add-ons are billed. (Limits, Heroku Teams and usage and billing docs (2026-10-15))
- Platform maintenance handled: The pricing page lists container orchestration, automatic OS patching and automated certificate management from the Eco dyno up. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- SSO without an enterprise contract: The SSO docs say SSO is available for Heroku Teams, which any Heroku user can create with a credit card. (SSO and Heroku Teams docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Small teams with steady traffic that want a managed runtime with a predictable dyno bill and no bandwidth charges.
Things to know: Heroku has no free plan, keeps only the last 1,500 log lines, and is now in a sustaining engineering model with no new Enterprise contracts.
Score: 6.2/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $5/mo (Eco dynos plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Dynos and add-ons, prorated to the second
Free plan: None; Eco dynos $5/mo for personal apps
3 developers, 10M requests, 1 TB/mo: $7 on one Basic dyno, computed
Data transfer: Not billed; 2 TB per app soft limit
Seats for people who deploy: Heroku Teams: no seat charge, up to 25 members
SAML SSO: Heroku Teams, no extra charge
Spend cap: None stated
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both (reports by request)
HIPAA BAA: Shield Private Space (up to $3,000/mo), by ticket
Runtime logs, entry paid plan: Last 1,500 lines, up to 1 week; drains to export
Audit logs: Enterprise accounts only, not sold to new customers
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Heroku covers our scenario for $7 and charges neither seats nor bandwidth. It scores lower on this rubric for having no free plan, no stored logs and no audit trail for new customers, and it is now in a sustaining engineering model.
Choose it if: You run a server app with steady traffic and want a fixed dyno bill. · Your app moves a lot of data and you do not want bandwidth charges. · You want SAML SSO for a small team without an enterprise contract.
Look elsewhere if: You need audit logs or an enterprise contract as a new customer. · You want a free plan. · You need stored runtime logs without a drain or add-on.
Compared with: Render (https://proofyo.com/products/render) — pick Heroku when Your app moves a lot of data, or you want SAML SSO without a $499 plan.; pick Render when You want a free tier to try things, and audit logs and 14-day log retention on the $25 Pro plan. | Vercel (https://proofyo.com/products/vercel) — pick Heroku when You run a long-lived server app and want no bandwidth or seat charges.; pick Vercel when You build with Next.js, want a hard spending stop, or want a free plan for personal projects.
Strengths:
- A low, fixed price at our scenario: $7 a month by our arithmetic: one always-on Basic dyno, with requests and data transfer not billed. (Cloudflare Workers comes to $5.12, Vercel to $80 and Render to $178.25 for the same scenario.)
- No bandwidth charge: The limits page soft-limits bandwidth at 2 TB per app a month, and the pricing pages list no data transfer fee. (Render charges $0.15 per GB beyond its plan allowance; Netlify bills 20 credits per GB.)
- SSO for Heroku Teams: SAML SSO is available to Heroku Teams, which have no seat charge for up to 25 members. (Vercel’s SAML SSO is a $300-a-month add-on; Render puts it on the $499 Scale plan.)
- A HIPAA path without Enterprise: Shield Private Spaces, available to verified Heroku Teams, support a BAA requested through a support ticket; the space costs up to $3,000 a month.
Things to know:
- Sustaining engineering model: Heroku said on February 6, 2026 that it is focusing on stability and support rather than new features, and no longer offers Enterprise Account contracts to new customers. Workaround: The same post says customers paying by card keep the same pricing and service.
- No free plan: The cheapest option is Eco at $5 a month for personal apps; Eco dynos are not available to Teams and sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity.
- Logs are not stored: Heroku keeps the last 1,500 log lines, for up to a week on Cedar apps and none on Fir; the docs describe Logplex as built for routing logs, not storing them. Workaround: Log drains and logging add-ons keep logs longer.
- No audit trail or spend cap for new customers: Audit trails are an Enterprise Account feature, which new customers can no longer buy, and the pages describe no spending cap.
Pricing reality: Heroku bills each dyno and add-on by the second, up to a monthly maximum: Basic $7, Standard-1X $25, Standard-2X $50, Performance-M $250. Requests and data transfer are not billed, and Heroku Teams have no seat charge. Data services are add-ons (Heroku Postgres Essential-0 is $5). Private Spaces cost up to $1,000 a month and Shield Private Spaces up to $3,000, plus their dynos. For our scenario we compute $7 a month: one always-on Basic dyno serving all 10 million requests, with 1 TB inside the 2 TB per-app soft limit. The pricing page lists no CDN, so static assets are served by the dyno in this figure. A HIPAA setup starts with a Shield Private Space plus Shield dynos (from $150).
Exit path: Heroku Postgres supports manual and scheduled backups that can be downloaded and stored outside Heroku, except on Shield plans. Cedar apps can build with Cloud Native Buildpacks, per Heroku’s October 2026 update.

## Category: Feature flags

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/feature-flags

### Statsig

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/statsig
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/statsig
Category: Feature flags
Vendor: Statsig (part of Amplitude)
Tagline: Feature flags, experiments and product analytics, billed by metered events; flag checks themselves are not billed.
Value: Feature flags and full A/B testing on a free plan with unlimited seats, billed only for analytics events, not for flag checks.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Statsig bills the events that power analytics, not the flag checks themselves: gate checks with Metric Lifts off, and 0% or 100% rollouts, are not metered. The free Developer plan has unlimited seats, unlimited flag checks and 2 million metered events a month, with experimentation, CUPED, sequential testing and product analytics included. Teams that would otherwise run separate flag, experiment and analytics tools get them in one.
- Flag checks are not billed: The pricing FAQ says exposures are billed only for experiments or for partial rollouts with Metric Lifts turned on; disabled flags and 0% or 100% rollouts create no metered events. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Experiments on the free plan: Developer includes multi-variate experiments, Bayesian and frequentist analysis, CUPED, sequential testing, flag impact analysis and product analytics. (Pricing page plan table (2026-10-15))
- Free plan keeps flags running: Above 2 million events on Developer, gate and config targeting keep working; only Metric Lift computations stop, after warnings. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-15))
Best for: Product teams that want flags, experiments and analytics in one tool and want to start without a contract.
Things to know: SSO, EU hosting and a HIPAA BAA are listed on Enterprise, and each Pro subscription covers one project.
Score: 8.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $150/mo (Pro plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Metered events (exposures with Metric Lifts, logged events)
Free plan: 2 million metered events/mo, unlimited flag checks and seats
Reference scenario (50,000 MAU): $0 on Developer, if no metered events
A/B testing: All plans, incl. CUPED and sequential testing
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (Statsig report); ISO certificate listed is Amplitude’s
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise
EU data region: EU hosting on Enterprise
SAML SSO: Enterprise
Audit log: Change logs on every plan
Seats: Unlimited, no per-seat charge
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Statsig gives the most for nothing here: unlimited seats and flag checks, with experiments and analytics on the free plan. SSO and EU hosting need Enterprise, and the product now sits within Amplitude.
Choose it if: You want flags, A/B tests and product analytics in one tool. · You want to start free with the whole team and no seat count. · Your flags mostly run at 0% or 100% or without Metric Lifts.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO or EU hosting without an Enterprise contract. · You only want flags and prefer a vendor focused on that.
Compared with: LaunchDarkly (https://proofyo.com/products/launchdarkly) — pick Statsig when You want flag checks that are not billed per user, and experiments and analytics on a free plan.; pick LaunchDarkly when Your security review asks for ISO 27001 or FedRAMP in the vendor’s own name. | ConfigCat (https://proofyo.com/products/configcat) — pick Statsig when You want experiment analysis and rollout metrics built in.; pick ConfigCat when You need SAML SSO, SCIM or EU data storage without an Enterprise contract.
Strengths:
- Flag checks not billed: Unlimited flag and config checks on every plan; only analytics events count against the quota. (LaunchDarkly bills $8.33 per 1,000 client-side MAU on Foundation.)
- Full experimentation on the free plan: CUPED, sequential testing, switchback and non-inferiority tests are marked on Developer, with holdouts and bandits from Pro. (ConfigCat lists no experiment analysis; LaunchDarkly also lists A/B tests on its free plan.)
- Rollout monitoring included: Monitoring metrics, flag impact analysis and automated alerts are marked on every plan.
- Change logs on every plan: The plan table marks change logs on Developer, Pro and Enterprise; Pro adds change reviews, approvals and reverts.
Things to know:
- Statsig is now part of Amplitude: Statsig joined Amplitude on May 5, 2026, per its blog, which describes connecting the two products over the following months. Workaround: The pricing page still lists self-serve Developer and Pro plans with sign-up links.
- SSO and EU hosting on Enterprise: SSO, role-based access, SCIM, EU hosting and the HIPAA BAA are marked Enterprise only.
- ISO certificate is Amplitude’s: The trust center lists a Statsig SOC 2 Type II report, but the ISO 27001 certificate shown is in Amplitude’s name.
- Pro covers one project: Each Pro subscription applies to one project; more projects are upgraded separately or on Enterprise.
Pricing reality: Statsig bills metered events: 2 million a month free on Developer, 5 million on Pro ($150 a month per project), then $0.05 per 1,000. Seats and flag checks are not charged. Exposures count only for experiments and for partial rollouts with Metric Lifts on, deduplicated per user. For our scenario, flags alone with Metric Lifts off create no metered events, so Developer covers it at $0. If Metric Lifts were on, the free 2 million events would cover 40 deduplicated exposures per user a month for 50,000 users (our arithmetic). Above that, Developer stops Metric Lift computations but keeps serving flags; Pro would cost $150 plus overage.
Exit path: The pricing page describes the SDKs as open source. The data export API, for exposure, event and result data, is marked Enterprise only.

### LaunchDarkly

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/launchdarkly
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/launchdarkly
Category: Feature flags
Vendor: LaunchDarkly (Catamorphic Co.)
Tagline: Feature flags and experimentation with unlimited seats, billed by client-side MAU and server-side service connections.
Value: Feature flags and experiments on one platform with unlimited seats, free to 1,000 client-side users and $8.33 per 1,000 after that.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: LaunchDarkly replaces a home-grown flag system with targeting, percentage rollouts and A/B tests in one place, with 30 SDKs (13 client-side, 13 server-side, 4 edge). Seats are not charged on any plan; the bill follows client-side MAU and server-side service connections. Its security page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and FedRAMP, and SSO, audit logging and an EU instance are available on Enterprise.
- Experiments on every plan: The plan table marks A/B testing on flags, CUPED and sequential testing on Developer, Foundation and Enterprise; Developer includes 100,000 experimentation MAU a month. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- No seat charges: Every plan lists unlimited seats; the pricing page says pricing is based on usage, not on who logs in. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2, ISO 27001 and FedRAMP: The security page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and FedRAMP authorization, plus an EU region; a HIPAA BAA is arranged through an account executive. (Security page and PHI docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want flags and experiments in one tool, with the whole team invited, and may grow into Enterprise controls.
Things to know: SAML SSO, audit logging and the EU instance are listed for Enterprise, and client-side users cost $8.33 per 1,000 on Foundation.
Score: 6.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $8.33/1k client-side MAU/mo (Foundation plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Client-side MAU and service connections
Free plan: 1,000 client-side MAU, 5 service connections, unlimited seats and flags
Reference scenario (50,000 MAU): $416.50 on Foundation, billed yearly, computed
A/B testing: All plans; 100,000 experimentation MAU on Developer
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Through an account executive
EU data region: EU instance for new Enterprise accounts and trials
SAML SSO: Enterprise
Audit log: Enterprise
Seats: Unlimited, no per-seat charge
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, LaunchDarkly is the broadest platform here, with experiments on every plan and a long compliance list. Client-side users drive the bill, and SSO and audit logging are listed for Enterprise.
Choose it if: You want flags and experiments in one tool, with every engineer invited. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 or FedRAMP. · Most of your flag checks run on servers, where billing is per connection.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO or an audit log without an Enterprise contract. · You evaluate flags client-side for many users and want a flat price.
Compared with: Statsig (https://proofyo.com/products/statsig) — pick LaunchDarkly when You want FedRAMP and ISO 27001 on the vendor’s own name, or an EU instance on an Enterprise contract.; pick Statsig when You want flag checks that are not billed per user and experimentation on a free plan with 2 million events. | ConfigCat (https://proofyo.com/products/configcat) — pick LaunchDarkly when You want A/B testing and experiment analysis built into the flag tool.; pick ConfigCat when You want flat plan prices, SAML SSO and SCIM on every plan, and no per-user billing.
Strengths:
- Experimentation on every plan: A/B tests on flags, Bayesian and frequentist analysis, CUPED and sequential testing are marked on all three plans, with 100,000 experimentation MAU on Developer. (ConfigCat lists no experiment analysis and sends flag data to analytics tools instead.)
- Unlimited seats on every plan: No plan charges per seat, so the whole team can be invited at no extra cost.
- Broad compliance list: The security page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and FedRAMP authorization, and an EU instance in AWS Frankfurt. (ConfigCat lists ISO 27001 but no SOC 2; Statsig’s trust center lists a SOC 2 Type II report.)
- Portable SDK layer: The docs say all LaunchDarkly SDKs are open source and document OpenFeature providers for several languages.
Things to know:
- Client-side users are the main cost: Foundation bills $8.33 per 1,000 client-side MAU billed yearly, so 50,000 users come to $416.50 a month. Workaround: Server-side evaluation bills by service connections instead, and the first five are included.
- Team controls start on Enterprise: The plan table lists SSO, SCIM, audit logging, custom roles, code references and flag scheduling on Enterprise.
- EU instance for new Enterprise accounts: The EU docs say the Frankfurt instance supports only net new Enterprise accounts and trials.
- Free plan goes read-only past its limits: Developer includes 1,000 client-side MAU and 5 service connections; the docs say an account that keeps exceeding them converts to read-only.
Pricing reality: LaunchDarkly bills two units on Foundation: client-side MAU at $8.33 per 1,000 billed yearly ($10 monthly) and server-side service connections at $10 each beyond the first five ($12 monthly). Seats, flags, projects and environments are not charged. Kubernetes, serverless, Python and Ruby setups get custom rates, because they create many server-side connections. For our scenario, 50,000 MAU cost 50 × $8.33 = $416.50 a month billed yearly, or $500 billed monthly. One backend instance per environment is 2 service connections, within the 5 included. The page does not say whether Foundation includes free MAU; if the first 1,000 were included, the figure would be $408.17 (our arithmetic).
Exit path: The docs say all LaunchDarkly SDKs are open source, and they document OpenFeature providers, so flag checks written against the vendor-neutral OpenFeature API can later point at another provider.

### ConfigCat

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/configcat
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/configcat
Category: Feature flags
Vendor: ConfigCat
Tagline: Feature flags on flat monthly plans, with unlimited seats and users, and SAML SSO and SCIM on every plan.
Value: Feature flags on flat plans with unlimited seats and users, and SAML SSO and SCIM even on the free plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: ConfigCat prices flags by plan, not by user: every plan has unlimited seats, MAU and flag reads, and the SDKs evaluate flags from a locally cached config file, so only downloads of that file count. 2FA, SAML SSO and SCIM are listed on every plan, including Forever Free, and the main infrastructure is in the EU. Teams that only need flags and remote config get identity-provider controls without an enterprise contract.
- No user or seat billing: Seats, service connections, MAU and flag reads are unlimited on every plan; plans differ in flags, environments, downloads and traffic. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- SAML SSO and SCIM on every plan: The pricing table lists 2FA, SSO, SAML and SCIM user provisioning across all plans, including Forever Free. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- EU infrastructure and ISO 27001: The FAQ says the main infrastructure and database are in the EU, with an EU-only CDN option; the trust center lists ISO 27001:2022 and a DPA. (FAQ, data governance docs and trust center (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want flags and remote config at a flat price, with SSO and EU data, and run experiments in a separate analytics tool.
Things to know: ConfigCat lists no built-in experiment analysis, and Forever Free is limited to 10 flags and 2 environments.
Score: 6.0/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $110/mo (Pro plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Flat plans sized by config JSON downloads and network traffic
Free plan: 10 flags, 2 environments, 5M downloads/mo, unlimited seats
Reference scenario (50,000 MAU): $110 on Pro, billed annually, if downloads stay near 15M
A/B testing: Not listed; flag data sent to analytics tools
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: ISO 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU data region: Main infrastructure in the EU; EU-only CDN option
SAML SSO: Every plan, incl. Free
Audit log: 7 days on Free, 35 days on Pro
Seats: Unlimited, no per-seat charge
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, ConfigCat is the most focused flag service here, with the most team controls on its free plan. Its score reflects no built-in experimentation and a shorter compliance list.
Choose it if: You want feature flags and remote config at a flat price. · You need SAML SSO or SCIM without an enterprise contract. · You want your data in the EU or an on-premise option later.
Look elsewhere if: You want experiment analysis inside the flag tool. · Your security review requires a SOC 2 report or a HIPAA BAA.
Compared with: LaunchDarkly (https://proofyo.com/products/launchdarkly) — pick ConfigCat when You want a flat price that does not grow with users, and SAML SSO without an Enterprise contract.; pick LaunchDarkly when You want experimentation built in, or SOC 2 Type II and FedRAMP on the vendor’s own name. | Statsig (https://proofyo.com/products/statsig) — pick ConfigCat when You need SAML SSO, SCIM or EU data storage on a self-serve plan.; pick Statsig when You want A/B tests and product analytics built in, on a free plan.
Strengths:
- SAML SSO and SCIM on the free plan: The pricing table lists 2FA, SSO, SAML and SCIM on all plans, including Forever Free. (LaunchDarkly and Statsig list SSO on Enterprise.)
- No per-user billing: Seats, MAU, service connections and flag reads are unlimited on every plan; you pick a plan by flags and download volume.
- EU data by default: The FAQ says the main infrastructure and database are in the EU, and the EU-only CDN option keeps config files in the EU.
- Many exit and hosting options: Open-source SDKs, OpenFeature providers, a JSON export of each product and a Dedicated plan that can run on your own servers.
Things to know:
- No built-in experiment analysis: The pricing page lists no A/B test analysis; the docs describe sending flag evaluations to Amplitude, Mixpanel, Google Analytics or Segment. Workaround: Percentage options and the analytics integrations let you analyse a rollout in a tool you already use.
- Free plan is small for production: Forever Free allows 10 flags, 2 environments and 5 million downloads a month.
- No SOC 2 or HIPAA listed: The trust center lists ISO 27001:2022 and a DPA, but no SOC 2 report or HIPAA BAA.
- Downloads depend on polling: Usage depends on users, session length and polling interval, so the right plan takes an estimate.
Pricing reality: ConfigCat sells flat plans: Pro $110 a month billed annually ($120 monthly), Smart $325 ($360), Enterprise $900 ($1,000) and Dedicated $4,500 billed annually. Each plan includes a download and traffic quota (25 million and 100 GB on Pro), and Pro can add 25 million downloads and 100 GB for $95 a month. Seats and users are not charged. For our scenario, ConfigCat's own docs example gives 300 downloads per user a month, so 50,000 users make 15 million, and a backend polling every minute in 2 environments adds about 86,400 (our arithmetic). That fits Pro at $110 a month; 30 flags also exceed Forever Free's limit of 10. Longer sessions or shorter polling raise the count.
Exit path: The FAQ says you can export a product as a standard JSON file at any time, including flags, targeting rules, segments and tags. SDKs are open source on GitHub, OpenFeature providers are documented, and Enterprise and Dedicated customers can add a source-code escrow for an extra cost.

### Flagsmith

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/flagsmith
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/flagsmith
Category: Feature flags
Vendor: Flagsmith (Bullet Train Ltd)
Tagline: Open-source feature flags with unlimited flags and environments on every plan, priced by API requests and team members.
Value: Unlimited flags and environments on every plan, an open-source core you can self-host, and SOC 2 Type II on the hosted service.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Flagsmith does not limit flags, environments, identities or segments on any plan; plans differ in API requests and team members, from a free plan for one person to Scale-Up at $250 a month billed yearly. The core is open source under BSD-3-Clause, so the same product can run in Flagsmith’s cloud, a private cloud or on your own servers, and the docs list OpenFeature providers for 10 languages. Its trust centre lists SOC 2 Type II reports.
- No flag or environment limits: Unlimited feature flags, environments, identities and segments are listed on Free, Start-Up, Scale-Up and Enterprise. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Open source and self-hostable: Flags, remote config, targeting and multivariate flags are BSD-3-Clause licensed; Enterprise adds supported private-cloud and self-hosted deployments. (Open-source and pricing pages (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2 Type II on file: The trust centre lists SOC 2 Type II reports for 2025 and 2026 and says a BAA is available for private-cloud and self-hosted deployments. (Trust centre (2026-10-15))
Best for: Small teams that want many flags and environments at a low price, and teams that may later self-host on an open-source core.
Things to know: Team members drive the price: the free plan has 1, Start-Up 3, and Scale-Up 5 included, then $50 each up to 20.
Score: 5.1/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $40/mo (Start-Up plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Plans sized by API requests and team members
Free plan: 50,000 requests/mo, 1 team member, unlimited flags
Reference scenario (50,000 MAU): $500 on Scale-Up, billed yearly, computed
A/B testing: Multivariate flags; built-in analysis in beta
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; not ISO 27001 certified
HIPAA BAA: Private cloud and self-hosted only
EU data region: SaaS data in London (UK); region choice on private cloud
SAML SSO: Scale-Up on the pricing page; Enterprise in the docs
Audit log: Scale-Up and Enterprise
Seats: 5 on Scale-Up, then $50 per member (yearly)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Flagsmith offers unlimited flags on every plan, an open-source core and SOC 2 Type II. Team size sets the price, and a few plan details differ between its pricing page and docs.
Choose it if: You want unlimited flags and environments at a low starting price. · You may want to self-host on an open-source core later. · You use OpenFeature or want SOC 2 Type II from your flag vendor.
Look elsewhere if: You need an EU data region on the SaaS or a BAA without a private deployment. · Your team is larger than 20 and you want a self-serve plan.
Compared with: ConfigCat (https://proofyo.com/products/configcat) — pick Flagsmith when You want unlimited flags and environments on a free plan, built-in experiment analysis or SOC 2 Type II.; pick ConfigCat when You want SAML SSO and SCIM on every plan, unlimited seats and EU-based infrastructure. | Unleash (https://proofyo.com/products/unleash) — pick Flagsmith when You want a free hosted plan and a lower bill for a small team: $500 a month for 10 members, billed yearly.; pick Unleash when You want EU data residency on a self-serve plan, rollout safeguards and 53 million requests a month included.
Strengths:
- Unlimited flags and environments: Every plan, including Free, lists unlimited flags, environments, identities and segments; plans differ in requests and team members. (ConfigCat’s free plan allows 10 flags and 2 environments.)
- Open-source core: Core flag features are BSD-3-Clause licensed and can be self-hosted with Docker or Kubernetes; Enterprise adds supported private-cloud and on-premise deployments.
- Built-in experiment analysis (beta): The experimentation beta reports lift, credible intervals and chance to win from a Bayesian engine, with a managed warehouse for events. (Unleash and ConfigCat send flag data to a separate analytics tool instead.)
- SOC 2 Type II: The trust centre lists SOC 2 Type II reports for 2025 and 2026, available on request. (ConfigCat lists ISO 27001 but no SOC 2.)
- OpenFeature providers: The docs list OpenFeature providers for 10 languages and say Flagsmith sits on the OpenFeature governance board.
Things to know:
- Small plans for teams: Free allows 1 team member and 50,000 requests a month; Start-Up allows 3 team members and 1 million requests.
- Team size sets the price: Scale-Up includes 5 team members, then $50 each billed yearly ($60 monthly) up to 20; larger teams move to Enterprise.
- No EU region on the SaaS: The trust centre says SaaS data is stored in AWS London (eu-west-2); private-cloud customers choose their region, and no BAA is offered for the public SaaS.
- Pages differ on plan details: SAML SSO is on the Scale-Up card but the SAML docs say Enterprise; A/B testing is a Start-Up addition on the card but marked on Free in the table; Scale-Up overage is not priced. Workaround: Confirm SAML and overage terms with Flagsmith before choosing Scale-Up.
Pricing reality: Flagsmith sells plans sized by API requests and team members: Start-Up $40 a month billed yearly ($45 monthly) with 1 million requests and 3 members; Scale-Up $250 yearly ($300 monthly) with 5 million requests and 5 members, then $50 per member up to 20 ($60 monthly). A first overage within 200% of a paid limit gets a 30-day grace period; Start-Up overage is $7 per 100,000 requests. For our scenario, 10 team members rule out Start-Up, so Scale-Up costs $250 + 5 × $50 = $500 a month billed yearly, or $600 monthly. A single-page app makes 1 request per load, so 50,000 users can each load it about 98 times a month (4.9 million) before the backend’s 86,400 environment-document requests take the total to 5 million (our arithmetic).
Exit path: The core is open source under BSD-3-Clause and can be self-hosted. The docs describe exporting a whole organisation to another Flagsmith instance, bulk feature import and export between projects and a Management API, and list OpenFeature providers for 10 languages.

### Unleash

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/unleash
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/unleash
Category: Feature flags
Vendor: Unleash
Tagline: Open-source feature flags with SSO, audit logs and change approvals on a self-serve plan, billed per seat; users and evaluations are never billed.
Value: Enterprise flag governance on a self-serve plan: SSO, audit logs, change approvals and EU data residency for $75 per seat, with users never billed.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: Unleash bills by the people who use it, not by your traffic: client-side users and flag evaluations are never billed, and the cloud plan includes 53 million SDK requests a month. Every paid seat gets the full Enterprise feature set, including SAML or OIDC SSO, role-based access, change requests with four-eyes approval, audit logs kept up to 2 years and US or EU data residency. The core is open source, so teams can also run it on their own servers.
- Governance without an enterprise contract: SSO with SAML 2.0 or OpenID Connect, role-based access with custom project roles, four-eyes approvals and audit logs with up to 2 years retention are marked on Pay-As-You-Go. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Traffic is not the bill: The FAQ says client-side MAU are unlimited and flag evaluations are never billed; backend SDKs cache the configuration and evaluate flags locally. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-15))
- EU data residency and SOC 2 Type II: The plan table lists US or EU data residency and SOC 2 Type II on both plans; the compliance docs say the SOC 2 report is available on request. (Pricing page and compliance docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want SSO, audit logs and change approvals for flags without an enterprise contract, and whose seat count is small next to their traffic.
Things to know: There is no hosted free plan: after a 14-day trial every seat costs $75 a month, so a team of 10 pays $750.
Score: 4.0/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $75/seat/mo (Pay-As-You-Go plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Seats; 53M API requests/mo included on cloud
Free plan: No hosted free plan (14-day trial); Open Source is free to self-host
Reference scenario (50,000 MAU): $750 on Pay-As-You-Go (10 seats), computed
A/B testing: Flag variants; results analysed in your analytics tool
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 control mapping only
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU data region: US or EU data residency on every plan
SAML SSO: Pay-As-You-Go and Enterprise
Audit log: Pay-As-You-Go and Enterprise, up to 2 years
Seats: $75 per seat per month
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Unleash puts enterprise governance on a self-serve plan and never bills for traffic. Its score reflects per-seat pricing with no hosted free plan and no built-in experiment analysis.
Choose it if: You want SSO, audit logs and change approvals without an enterprise contract. · Your traffic is large next to your team size. · You need EU data residency for flag data. · You may want to self-host later.
Look elsewhere if: You want a free hosted plan or built-in experiment analysis. · You need a HIPAA BAA or ISO 27001 in the vendor’s own name.
Compared with: LaunchDarkly (https://proofyo.com/products/launchdarkly) — pick Unleash when You want SSO, audit logs and EU data residency without an Enterprise contract, and no billing by client-side users.; pick LaunchDarkly when You want built-in experiment analysis, a free hosted plan, or ISO 27001 in the vendor’s own name. | Flagsmith (https://proofyo.com/products/flagsmith) — pick Unleash when You want EU data residency on a self-serve plan, rollout safeguards and 53 million requests a month included.; pick Flagsmith when You want a free hosted plan and a lower bill for a small team: $500 a month for 10 members, billed yearly.
Strengths:
- Users and evaluations are not billed: The bill follows seats; client-side MAU are unlimited and flag evaluations are never metered. (LaunchDarkly bills $8.33 per 1,000 client-side MAU on Foundation.)
- Governance on the self-serve plan: SAML or OIDC SSO, role-based access, change requests with four-eyes approval and audit logs with up to 2 years retention are on Pay-As-You-Go. (LaunchDarkly lists SSO and audit logging on Enterprise.)
- EU data residency on every plan: The plan table lists data residency in the US or EU on both Pay-As-You-Go and Enterprise. (Statsig lists EU hosting on Enterprise.)
- Rollout safeguards: Impact metrics, automated progression and safeguards can pause a rollout or disable an environment when a metric crosses a threshold.
- Open source and portable: The core is open source and self-hostable, the docs list OpenFeature providers, and flag configurations export and import between cloud and self-hosted instances.
Things to know:
- No hosted free plan: Hosted Unleash starts with a 14-day trial, then $75 per seat a month; the free Open Source edition must be self-hosted and is limited to 1 project and 2 environments.
- Seats set the price: Every person who uses Unleash is a seat at $75 a month, so a team of 10 costs $750 a month.
- No built-in experiment analysis: The A/B testing guide sends impression data to your analytics tool to attribute outcomes to variants; Unleash does not analyse the results. Workaround: Impact metrics can still watch aggregate error and product metrics during a rollout.
- Shorter certification list: The docs list SOC 2 Type II; for ISO 27001 and FedRAMP they offer control mappings rather than certifications, and we found no HIPAA BAA.
Pricing reality: Unleash bills per seat: $75 per seat per month on Pay-As-You-Go, by credit card, with a 1-seat minimum on cloud and 5 on self-hosted. A seat is a person who uses Unleash, not an end user. The cloud plan includes 53 million SDK requests a month, then $5 per million; Enterprise contracts are quoted. For our scenario, 10 seats cost $750 a month. If each user’s browser sessions add up to 5 hours a month, the browser SDK’s default 30-second refresh and 60-second metrics make 50,000 × 5 × 180 = 45 million requests, and one backend instance per environment adds about 0.4 million, inside the 53 million (our arithmetic). Self-hosted Open Source has no licence fee but runs on your own infrastructure.
Exit path: The import and export docs move flag configurations between environments and instances, including between cloud and self-hosted; segments and custom strategies travel only as references. The core is open source, the SDK docs link their source on GitHub, and OpenFeature providers are documented, so flag checks can later point elsewhere.

## Category: Search APIs

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/search-api

### Elastic Cloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/elastic-cloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/elastic-cloud
Category: Search APIs
Vendor: Elastic
Tagline: Managed Elasticsearch, as a deployment you size from $0.0282 an hour or as Serverless, with vector and semantic search and a HIPAA BAA on every tier.
Value: Managed Elasticsearch with vector, semantic and hybrid search from $0.0282 an hour, with SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA BAA on every tier.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Elastic Cloud runs Elasticsearch for you, either as a Hosted deployment you size or as Serverless projects that scale with load. The smallest Hosted deployment, 1 GB in one zone on AWS us-east-1, is $0.0282 an hour on Standard. Vector search is on every level, and managed embeddings, reranking and RAG tools are available without a sales contract. Elastic lists SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA, with BAAs allowed on every subscription tier.
- AI search without a contract: Vector search on every level; managed embeddings through the Elastic Inference Service, Elastic Rerank, AI Playground and Agent Builder on Serverless and on higher Hosted levels. (Hosted and Serverless pricing pages, hybrid search docs (2026-10-15))
- Compliance on every tier: The trust center lists SOC 2, ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 and HIPAA; the cloud security page says every Elastic Cloud subscription tier allows a HIPAA BAA. (Trust center and cloud security page (2026-10-15))
- A small deployment for about $21: 1 GB of RAM with 15 GB of storage in one zone is $0.0282 an hour on Standard, $20.59 a month; Kibana at 1 GB shows as free in the calculator. (Hosted pricing calculator and pricing table (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want Elasticsearch, including vector and semantic search, with compliance documents and no sales contract.
Things to know: You size Hosted deployments or accept load-based Serverless bills, and SAML SSO on Hosted needs the Enterprise level.
Score: 8.0/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.0282/hour (Hosted Standard, 1 GB (AWS us-east-1) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: RAM-hours, data transfer and snapshot storage (Hosted); compute units and storage (Serverless)
Free option: 14-day trial, no card
100,000 records, 500,000 searches/mo: $20.59 (Hosted, 1 GB, one zone); $41.17 in two zones
Vector or hybrid search: Every level; semantic models and reranking on Serverless and higher Hosted levels
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Every subscription tier
EU hosting: Yes, incl. Frankfurt and Ireland on AWS, Azure and GCP
SAML SSO: Serverless, no extra cost; Hosted on Enterprise
Open-source engine: Yes, AGPLv3 option (also SSPL and Elastic License)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Elastic Cloud offers the most AI search and compliance here on self-serve terms and the lowest Hosted price at our scenario. Pricing has more settings than the others, and SSO and some AI features depend on the Hosted level or on using Serverless.
Choose it if: You want managed Elasticsearch with vector, semantic and hybrid search. · You need SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract. · You want to choose between a sized deployment and serverless.
Look elsewhere if: You want a permanent free plan. · You want a bill with one or two lines and nothing to size.
Compared with: Typesense Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/typesense-cloud) — pick Elastic Cloud when You want ISO 27001, a HIPAA BAA without a support plan, and semantic reranking and RAG tools.; pick Typesense Cloud when You want SAML SSO and vector search on the smallest cluster, and a bill made of cluster hours and bandwidth only. | Algolia (https://proofyo.com/products/algolia) — pick Elastic Cloud when You expect many searches for little data and want vector search and SSO without an annual contract.; pick Algolia when You want nothing to size and a permanent free plan.
Strengths:
- Lowest listed price at our scenario: A 1 GB General purpose deployment in one zone is $0.0282 an hour on Standard, or $20.59 a month. (Typesense Cloud’s 0.5 GB cluster is $21.60 and Meilisearch’s estimator shows $23; Algolia comes to $245.)
- AI search on self-serve terms: Vector search on every level; managed embeddings, semantic reranking and RAG tools such as AI Playground and Agent Builder on Serverless and higher Hosted levels. (Algolia lists NeuralSearch on Elevate, which needs an annual contract.)
- Compliance on every tier: The trust center lists SOC 2, ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018, and the cloud security page says every subscription tier allows a HIPAA BAA. (Typesense Cloud ties its SOC 2 report and BAA to the Business support plan.)
- Open source and portable: Elasticsearch source is available under AGPLv3 as well as SSPL and the Elastic License, and Hosted deployments can snapshot to your own repository.
- Sized or serverless: Choose a Hosted deployment with a fixed hourly rate, or Serverless projects that scale with search and ingest load.
Things to know:
- Many settings to price: Hosted bills RAM-hours by hardware profile, zone count and level, data transfer above 100 GB a month, and snapshot storage and requests; Serverless bills compute units that follow load. Workaround: The pricing page links a calculator and a full price table.
- SSO and some AI features depend on the level: On Hosted, SAML SSO, Elastic Rerank and AI Playground are on Enterprise and ELSER models on Platinum; Serverless includes SAML SSO on any tier.
- The lowest price is one zone: The $20.59 figure is a single zone, which the calculator says risks data loss; two zones are $41.17 a month.
- A trial, not a free plan: Elastic Cloud has a 14-day trial with no card; there is no permanent free plan.
Pricing reality: Hosted bills capacity per GB of RAM per hour by hardware profile and level (General purpose on AWS us-east-1: $0.0282 on Standard, $0.0562 on Enterprise), data transfer out and between nodes above 100 GB a month ($0.05 and $0.016 per GB), and snapshot storage ($0.033 per GB-month plus $0.0018 per 1,000 requests). Serverless bills ingest ($0.14), search ($0.09) and ML ($0.07) VCU-hours plus $0.047 per GB-month, and support above Standard adds 5 to 15%. For our scenario: 1 GB in one zone at $0.0282 × 730 hours = $20.59 a month, our arithmetic; $41.17 in two zones.
Exit path: Elasticsearch source is available under AGPLv3, SSPL or the Elastic License, so the same engine can run self-managed. The Hosted docs describe registering your own snapshot repository, such as an S3 bucket; on Serverless, Elastic takes the backups and restores go through support.

### Amazon OpenSearch Service

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-opensearch
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/amazon-opensearch
Category: Search APIs
Vendor: Amazon Web Services
Tagline: Managed OpenSearch in your AWS account, billed by instance hour and storage with searches unbilled, from $0.036 an hour, plus a Serverless option.
Value: Managed OpenSearch in your AWS account from $0.036 an hour, with searches unbilled and AWS SOC reports and a HIPAA BAA self-serve.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Amazon OpenSearch Service runs the open-source OpenSearch engine as managed domains billed by instance hour, storage and data transfer, or as Serverless collections billed in compute units. On a domain, searches and records are not billed and automated snapshots are free. Vector, neural and hybrid search are part of the engine, and AWS SOC reports, ISO 27001 certification and the HIPAA BAA come with any account through AWS Artifact.
- Compliance with any account: AWS SOC 2 reports and the HIPAA BAA are in AWS Artifact; AWS is certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and OpenSearch Service is in scope of SOC, PCI and HIPAA programs. (AWS SOC, HIPAA and ISO 27001 pages, compliance validation docs (2026-10-15))
- Searches are not billed: A domain bills instance hours, storage and data transfer; at our scenario one t3.small.search with 10 GiB is $27.50 a month. (Pricing page and AWS price list for us-east-1 (2026-10-15))
- Vector and semantic search built in: k-NN vector, neural and hybrid search, automatic semantic enrichment, Learning to Rank and ML connectors to Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker. (Developer guide (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams on AWS with steady search traffic who can size a domain and want compliance documents without a contract.
Things to know: You choose the instance type, count and storage, and the lowest-priced T3 instances cannot be used with Multi-AZ with Standby.
Score: 7.7/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.036/hour (t3.small.search (us-east-1) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Instance hours, EBS storage and data transfer; or compute units and storage (Serverless)
Free option: AWS Free Tier credits for new accounts, not specific to OpenSearch
100,000 records, 500,000 searches/mo: $27.50 (t3.small.search, one node)
Vector or hybrid search: Every domain (k-NN, neural and hybrid search)
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both (AWS reports in AWS Artifact)
HIPAA BAA: Self-serve in AWS Artifact
EU hosting: Yes, AWS EU Regions incl. Frankfurt, Ireland and Paris
SAML SSO: IAM Identity Center at no extra charge; SAML for OpenSearch Dashboards
Open-source engine: Yes, OpenSearch (Apache 2.0)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Amazon OpenSearch Service includes compliance, SSO and an Apache 2.0 engine on self-serve terms, and searches are not billed on a domain. You size the domain yourself, and the bill has more lines than a cluster price.
Choose it if: You run on AWS and want search billed and secured with the rest of it. · You need a HIPAA BAA and SOC reports without a contract. · You want an Apache 2.0 engine you can run elsewhere.
Look elsewhere if: You would rather not size instances and storage. · You want a permanent free plan.
Compared with: Typesense Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/typesense-cloud) — pick Amazon OpenSearch Service when You want SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA BAA without a support plan, and free automated snapshots.; pick Typesense Cloud when You want the lower listed price at our scenario ($21.60) and a bill made of cluster hours and bandwidth only. | Elastic Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/elastic-cloud) — pick Amazon OpenSearch Service when You already run on AWS and want search billed and secured with the rest of your AWS account.; pick Elastic Cloud when You want RAG tools such as AI Playground, a 14-day trial without a card, and a lower Hosted price at our scenario.
Strengths:
- Searches are not billed: A domain bills instance hours, storage and data transfer, so the instance price does not change with the number of searches. (Algolia charges $0.50 per 1,000 search requests on Grow.)
- Compliance documents with any account: AWS SOC reports, ISO 27001 certification and the HIPAA BAA are available through AWS Artifact, with no support plan or contract. (Typesense Cloud ties its SOC 2 report and BAA to Business support ($400 per 28 days).)
- AI search on every domain: k-NN vector, neural and hybrid search, automatic semantic enrichment, Learning to Rank, and ML connectors to Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker.
- An Apache 2.0 engine: The FAQ describes OpenSearch as Apache 2.0-licensed and 100% open source, runnable on premises or in other clouds. (Algolia’s engine is not open source.)
- Free automated snapshots: Hourly snapshots are kept 14 days in an AWS-managed bucket at no extra charge.
Things to know:
- You size the domain: You choose instance type, count and storage; T3 instances cannot be used with Multi-AZ with Standby, and the pricing page’s production examples use three Availability Zones. Workaround: The pricing page links the AWS Pricing Calculator.
- More billing lines than a cluster price: Instance hours, EBS storage and data transfer, plus UltraWarm, cold storage, Serverless OCUs and Extended Support fees for older engine versions if you use them.
- Free tier described two ways: The pricing page footer offers 12 months of AWS Free Tier; the AWS Free Tier page describes credits ($100, up to $200) on a Free plan that closes after 6 months.
- Regulated workloads need the advanced sign-up: The compliance page says the new AWS sign-up experience is not designed for regulated workloads. Workaround: Sign up for AWS (advanced) or activate advanced features, per the same page.
Pricing reality: Domains bill instance hours, EBS storage and standard AWS data transfer; data between nodes in a domain and automated snapshots are free. In us-east-1: t3.small.search $0.036 an hour, m7g.medium.search $0.068, t3.medium.search $0.073; gp3 $0.122 per GB-month. Serverless bills $0.24 per indexing or search OCU-hour plus storage. Reserved Instances cut instance rates for one- or three-year terms. For our scenario: one t3.small.search, $0.036 × 730 hours = $26.28, plus 10 GiB of gp3 at $0.122 = $1.22: $27.50 a month, our arithmetic. Three such nodes would be $82.50.
Exit path: Manual snapshots go to your own S3 bucket and can be restored into another domain or cluster. The FAQ describes OpenSearch as Apache 2.0-licensed and runnable on premises or in other clouds, and the service also runs Elasticsearch versions up to 7.10.

### Typesense Cloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/typesense-cloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/typesense-cloud
Category: Search APIs
Vendor: Typesense
Tagline: Hosted open-source search on a dedicated cluster billed by the hour, with no limits on records or searches.
Value: A dedicated, managed cluster of open-source search from $21.60 a month, with no per-search or per-record charges.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Typesense Cloud bills for the cluster you run, not for traffic: a fixed hourly fee by RAM and vCPU, plus outbound bandwidth, with no limit on records or searches. That keeps the bill flat as search volume grows. Vector and hybrid search, built-in embedding models, conversational search and SAML SSO are included on every account, and the engine is open source, so you can move to your own servers.
- Searches are not billed: The pricing page promises a dedicated cluster with no limits on records or operations; the bill is the hourly configuration fee plus bandwidth. (Pricing page and billing article (2026-10-15))
- AI search on every cluster: The docs cover vector, hybrid and conversational (RAG) search, with built-in embedding models that run on the cluster or remote models such as OpenAI. (Vector search and system requirements docs (2026-10-15))
- SAML SSO without an upgrade: The security page says SAML-based SSO costs nothing extra; it needs a payment method on file. (Security page (2026-10-15))
- An open-source engine: Typesense Server is open source (GPL-3.0), and the help center says you can export schemas, documents, synonyms and curation rules through the API. (Procurement article and GitHub repository (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams with steady or high search volume who can estimate their data size and want AI search and SSO without a contract.
Things to know: You choose the cluster size yourself, and the SOC 2 report and HIPAA BAA need the Business support plan ($400 per 28 days).
Score: 7.6/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $21.60/mo (0.5 GB RAM cluster plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Cluster hours (RAM and vCPU) and outbound bandwidth
Free option: 720 cluster hours and 10 GB once per account
100,000 records, 500,000 searches/mo: $21.60 (0.5 GB, one node); $64.80 with high availability
Vector or hybrid search: Every cluster
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (report with Business support)
HIPAA BAA: With the Business support plan ($400 per 28 days)
EU hosting: Yes, 6 EU locations incl. Frankfurt and Paris, same price as the US
SAML SSO: Every account, no extra charge
Open-source engine: Yes, GPL-3.0
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Typesense Cloud is the cheapest here at our scenario and includes the most on a self-serve plan: vector search, SAML SSO and an open-source engine. You size the cluster, and compliance documents need a support plan.
Choose it if: You expect a steady or high number of searches and want a flat bill. · You want vector or hybrid search and SAML SSO without a contract. · You want the option to self-host the same engine later.
Look elsewhere if: You would rather not estimate memory or plan for high availability. · You need the SOC 2 report without buying a support plan.
Compared with: Algolia (https://proofyo.com/products/algolia) — pick Typesense Cloud when Search volume is high relative to your data, or you want vector search and SAML SSO without a contract.; pick Algolia when You want nothing to size, a permanent free plan, ISO 27001 and AI ranking on a monthly plan. | Meilisearch Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/meilisearch-cloud) — pick Typesense Cloud when You want SAML SSO without an enterprise plan, or a HIPAA BAA.; pick Meilisearch Cloud when You would rather not size anything and your volume fits the usage-based Build plan.
Strengths:
- Flat cost as searches grow: Searches and records are not billed; you pay for cluster hours and bandwidth. (Algolia charges $0.50 per 1,000 search requests on Grow; usage-based Meilisearch charges $0.40 per 1,000 searches.)
- Lowest listed price at our scenario: $21.60 a month for a 0.5 GB single-node cluster, the size the configuration assistant recommends for 100,000 records of 1 KB. (Meilisearch Cloud’s estimator shows $23; Algolia comes to $245 at listed rates.)
- SAML SSO at no extra charge: The security page offers SAML SSO with providers such as Okta and Azure AD, plus GitHub login, 2FA and role-based access control. (Algolia and Meilisearch Cloud list SSO on their enterprise plans only.)
- AI search on every cluster: Vector and hybrid search, built-in embedding models, image search and a conversational search (RAG) API are documented for the engine.
- Open source, so you can leave: Typesense Server is GPL-3.0, and the API exports schemas, documents, synonyms and curation rules.
Things to know:
- You size the cluster: The bill depends on the RAM and vCPU you pick; the docs size RAM at two to three times the searchable data, and built-in embedding models need 2 to 6 GB more. Workaround: The pricing page has a configuration assistant, and Typesense offers help choosing a configuration.
- High availability triples the cluster fee: The pricing page recommends high availability for production; three 0.5 GB nodes cost $64.80 a month instead of $21.60.
- Compliance documents need a support plan: The SOC 2 report, penetration test summary and HIPAA BAA are for customers intending to buy Business support ($400 per 28 days) or above.
- The free tier does not renew: 720 cluster hours and 10 GB of bandwidth are granted once per account, on select configurations.
Pricing reality: Typesense Cloud bills a fixed hourly fee for the cluster configuration, outbound bandwidth ($0.09 per GB on the configurator; the help center says 9 to 12 cents depending on region) and optional support plans. Charges go to a card weekly; monthly billing is available after three months of on-time payments. For 100,000 records and 500,000 searches a month, the configuration assistant recommends 0.5 GB of RAM: $0.03 × 720 hours = $21.60 a month on one node, or $64.80 with three nodes for high availability. Bandwidth depends on result size: 5 GB of responses would add $0.45. The SOC 2 report and BAA come with Business support, $400 per 28 days.
Exit path: The help center says Typesense is meant as a secondary data store synced from your primary database, and the API exports collection schemas, documents, synonyms, curation rules and stop words. The engine is open source (GPL-3.0), so the same API can run on your own servers.

### Meilisearch Cloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/meilisearch-cloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/meilisearch-cloud
Category: Search APIs
Vendor: Meilisearch (Meili SAS)
Tagline: Hosted open-source search billed by searches and documents, or by instance size, from about $20 a month.
Value: Hosted open-source search with a choice of billing: pay per search and document, or a fixed instance price from about $20 a month.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Worth the price
Value detail: Meilisearch Cloud lets each project pick its billing model: usage-based Build for $30 a month with 50,000 searches and 100,000 documents, or a resource-based instance that costs the same however many searches it serves. The pricing page’s estimator recommends a size from your document count, document size and searches. Hybrid and semantic search work with embedding providers such as OpenAI, Cohere and Mistral, and the engine is open source.
- Two billing models: Usage-based Build needs no sizing; resource-based instances bill hourly regardless of traffic. Each project picks one. (Pricing page and pricing model docs (2026-10-15))
- A flat price at higher volumes: For 100,000 small documents and 500,000 searches, the estimator shows $23 a month resource-based (XS, Frankfurt), against $210 usage-based. (Pricing page estimator (2026-10-15))
- Hybrid search with your embedding provider: The docs describe hybrid and semantic search with OpenAI, Cohere, Mistral, Gemini, Voyage, Bedrock and REST embedders, or your own vectors. (Hybrid search docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want to start without sizing anything and switch to a fixed instance price as search volume grows.
Things to know: SSO, personalization and chat are listed on Enterprise, and the trial lasts 14 days with no permanent free plan.
Score: 6.2/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $20/mo (Cloud plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Instance hours, disk and bandwidth; or searches and documents
Free option: 14-day trial, no card
100,000 records, 500,000 searches/mo: $23 (XS, estimator); $210 usage-based
Vector or hybrid search: Documented for the engine, no plan limit stated
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU hosting: Yes, Frankfurt and Paris
SAML SSO: Enterprise
Open-source engine: Yes, MIT (Enterprise Edition parts under BUSL)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Meilisearch Cloud gives the most billing flexibility here and a low resource-based price at our scenario. Check the instance size against the docs’ tier table, and plan on Enterprise for SSO.
Choose it if: You want to start with usage billing and move to a fixed instance price later. · You want hybrid search with the embedding provider you already use. · You want an EU region, including Paris on the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO without an enterprise plan. · You want a permanent free plan on the hosted service.
Compared with: Algolia (https://proofyo.com/products/algolia) — pick Meilisearch Cloud when You want hybrid search on a self-serve plan and a fixed instance price at higher search volumes.; pick Algolia when You want a permanent free plan, ISO 27001 and AI ranking without sizing anything. | Typesense Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/typesense-cloud) — pick Meilisearch Cloud when You want to start on usage-based billing with nothing to size, or the Paris region on the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.; pick Typesense Cloud when You want SAML SSO without an enterprise plan, or a HIPAA BAA.
Strengths:
- Usage or resources, per project: Start on usage-based Build with nothing to size, or run a resource-based instance whose price does not change with traffic. (Algolia bills only by usage; Typesense Cloud only by cluster size.)
- An estimator that shows both prices: The pricing page computes the usage-based and resource-based cost from your documents, searches and document size.
- Hybrid search with many embedding providers: OpenAI, Cohere, Mistral, Gemini, Voyage, Bedrock, Cloudflare and any REST API, or your own vectors. (Algolia lists NeuralSearch on Elevate only.)
- No per-seat fees: The billing docs say adding team members does not affect the bill.
- Open-source engine: The pricing page says Meilisearch is open source under the MIT license and can be self-hosted with no usage limits.
Things to know:
- Sizing guidance differs between pages: The estimator picks XS for 100,000 small documents; the docs list XS for development and testing and S for up to about 80,000 small documents. Workaround: Tiers can be changed at any time from the project settings, per the docs.
- SSO and personalization are Enterprise features: The SSO docs say SAML SSO is not available on non-enterprise Cloud plans; the pricing page lists analytics, merchandising, personalization and chat on Enterprise.
- No permanent free plan: Cloud has a 14-day trial without a card; self-hosting is the free option.
- No ISO 27001 or HIPAA BAA stated: The trust center lists a SOC 2 Type 2 report and GDPR.
Pricing reality: Usage-based Build is $30 a month, charged up front, with 50,000 searches and 100,000 documents; extra searches cost $0.40 per 1,000 and extra documents $0.30 per 1,000, billed at the end of the cycle. Resource-based instances are billed hourly by tier (XS $17.73 a month in Frankfurt, $14.40 in Oregon; S $34.98; M $69.48), plus disk with a 32 GB minimum and bandwidth at $0.15 per GB. For 100,000 records and 500,000 searches a month: $210 usage-based, $23 on XS per the estimator, or about $74.76 on M ($69.48 plus 32 GiB at $0.165) if you follow the docs’ tier table. Tiers of 2XL and above, SSO and dedicated resources go through sales.
Exit path: The docs describe an export endpoint that sends documents and settings to another Meilisearch instance, and dumps. The engine is open source; per the repository license, most of it is MIT and files marked Enterprise Edition are under the Business Source License.

### Algolia

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/algolia
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/algolia
Category: Search APIs
Vendor: Algolia
Tagline: Hosted search billed per search request and record, with a permanent free plan and nothing to size.
Value: Hosted search with no cluster to size: pay per search request and record, starting from a permanent free plan.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Algolia runs the search infrastructure and bills only for what you use: search requests and records. There is no server or memory size to choose, the free plan covers 10,000 searches and 50,000 records a month without a card, and Grow is billed monthly with no contract. Every plan can be hosted in the US, the UK or EU West, and Algolia lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001.
- Nothing to size or run: Grow and Grow Plus are priced per 1,000 search requests and records, with no cluster, memory or instance size on the pricing page. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- A permanent free plan: 10,000 search requests and 50,000 records a month, with no credit card; it is the only permanent free plan in this comparison. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- AI relevance on a self-serve plan: Grow Plus adds AI Ranking, AI Synonyms, Advanced Personalization and Query Categorization without a contract, at $1.75 per 1,000 requests above 10,000. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2 and ISO 27001: The trust center lists a SOC 2 Type 2 report, and the security measures page says Algolia holds ISO 27001 and ISO 27017 certifications. (Trust center and security measures page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want hosted search with nothing to size, and moderate search volumes or a free start.
Things to know: Every search request is billed, including each keystroke sent in search-as-you-type, and NeuralSearch and SSO need an annual Elevate contract.
Score: 5.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.50/1k searches (Grow plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Search requests and records
Free option: Free plan: 10,000 searches and 50,000 records/mo, no card
100,000 records, 500,000 searches/mo: $245 (Grow, listed rates)
Vector or hybrid search: NeuralSearch on Elevate (annual contract)
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU hosting: Yes, EU West and UK on every plan
SAML SSO: Elevate (annual contract)
Open-source engine: No
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Algolia is the simplest to price for small volumes and the only one here with a permanent free plan. Per-request billing makes it the most expensive at our 500,000-search scenario.
Choose it if: You want hosted search with no cluster or instance size to plan. · Your search volume fits the free plan or stays moderate. · You want AI ranking and personalization on a monthly plan.
Look elsewhere if: You expect hundreds of thousands of searches a month on a small budget. · You need semantic or hybrid search or SSO without an annual contract.
Compared with: Typesense Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/typesense-cloud) — pick Algolia when You want nothing to size, a permanent free plan and AI relevance features on a monthly plan.; pick Typesense Cloud when Search volume is high relative to your data, or you want SAML SSO and vector search without a contract. | Meilisearch Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/meilisearch-cloud) — pick Algolia when You want ISO 27001 as well as SOC 2, and billing that needs no instance choice.; pick Meilisearch Cloud when You want hybrid search on a self-serve plan and a fixed monthly price at higher search volumes.
Strengths:
- No capacity planning: The bill follows search requests and records; there is no RAM, vCPU or instance size to estimate. (Typesense Cloud and resource-based Meilisearch Cloud price by the cluster or instance size you choose.)
- The only permanent free plan here: 10,000 search requests and 50,000 records a month, with no credit card. (Typesense Cloud gives 720 free cluster hours once; Meilisearch Cloud gives a 14-day trial.)
- AI relevance without a contract: Grow Plus includes AI Ranking, AI Synonyms, Advanced Personalization and Query Categorization, billed monthly.
- ISO 27001 as well as SOC 2: Algolia lists SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and ISO 27017. (Typesense Cloud and Meilisearch Cloud list SOC 2 Type II but not ISO 27001.)
Things to know:
- Every keystroke can be a billed request: The docs count each keystroke sent to an index as one search request, so as-you-type search multiplies billed requests. Workaround: The docs recommend debouncing and grouping queries to reduce request counts.
- Cost grows with search volume: At 500,000 searches a month, Grow comes to $245 and Grow Plus to $857.50 at the listed rates. Workaround: The pricing page suggests talking to sales about volume discounts on an annual contract.
- Semantic search and SSO need Elevate: NeuralSearch, SSO and the enhanced SLA are listed on Elevate, which requires an annual contract and custom pricing.
- No HIPAA BAA stated: The pricing, security and trust pages we read do not mention a HIPAA BAA.
Pricing reality: Algolia bills two units: search requests and records. Grow includes 10,000 requests and 100,000 records a month, then charges $0.50 per 1,000 requests and $0.40 per 1,000 records; Grow Plus charges $1.75 per 1,000 requests for its AI features. Both are billed monthly with no contract. For 100,000 records and 500,000 searches a month, Grow comes to (500,000 − 10,000) / 1,000 × $0.50 = $245 (our arithmetic), with the records included. That assumes each search is one request; search-as-you-type sends one per keystroke unless debounced. Recommendations ($0.60 per 1,000 above 10,000) and crawls ($0.80 per 1,000 above 10,000) are billed separately, and paid support plans are an add-on.
Exit path: The docs describe exporting records through the API browse endpoint or the Algolia CLI (`algolia objects browse`); the dashboard exports index settings, synonyms and rules, not records.

## Category: Code hosting and CI

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/code-hosting

### GitHub

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/github
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/github
Category: Code hosting and CI
Vendor: GitHub (Microsoft)
Tagline: Code hosting and GitHub Actions CI at $4 per user a month on Team, with 3,000 CI minutes and a free plan with unlimited private collaborators.
Value: Private repositories, pull request reviews and 3,000 CI minutes for $4 per user, with a free plan that has no user cap.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: GitHub Team costs $4 per user a month and includes 3,000 GitHub Actions minutes, so the reference team of 10 pays $40 with no overage. The free plan has unlimited private collaborators and 2,000 minutes. Enterprise, from $21 per user, adds SAML SSO, data residency in the EU, Australia, the US or Japan, SOC 2 Type 2 reports and GitHub Enterprise Server, so one plan covers cloud and self-managed.
- Lowest listed price in the scenario: Team at 10 × $4 is $40 a month, and its 3,000 included minutes cover the 3,000 Linux minutes in our scenario. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- A free plan without a user cap: Free lists unlimited collaborators for private repositories and 2,000 CI minutes a month; the billing docs say usage stops at the quota when no payment method is on file. (Pricing page and Actions billing docs (2026-10-15))
- Residency and self-managed under one plan: Enterprise lists data residency (EU, Australia, US or Japan on GHE.com), SAML SSO, SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2 reports, and covers GitHub Enterprise Server. (Pricing page and data residency docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams of any size that want low per-user pricing and CI minutes in one bill, and may later need residency or a self-managed server.
Things to know: SAML SSO starts on Enterprise, and code and secret scanning for private repositories are add-ons priced per active committer.
Score: 9.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $4/user/mo (Team plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Users, plus CI minutes beyond the plan
Free plan: Unlimited users, 2,000 CI minutes/mo
10 developers, 3,000 CI minutes/mo: $40 (Team)
CI minutes on the entry paid plan: 3,000/mo; then $0.006/min (Linux 2-core)
Security scanning add-ons: Secret Protection $19 and Code Security $30 per active committer/mo
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both (SOC 2 Type 2 report listed on Enterprise)
EU data residency: Enterprise (GHE.com: EU, Australia, US, Japan)
SAML SSO: Enterprise (from $21/user/mo)
Self-managed version: GitHub Enterprise Server, covered by Enterprise
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, GitHub lists the lowest price here for 10 developers and covers the scenario on its $4 Team plan. SAML SSO starts on Enterprise, and scanning is an add-on.
Choose it if: You want the lowest listed price for a small team with CI. · You need a free plan for more than five people. · You may need EU data residency or a self-managed server later.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO without paying for Enterprise. · You want code scanning included in a plan rather than per committer.
Compared with: GitLab (https://proofyo.com/products/gitlab) — pick GitHub when You want the lowest listed price per developer and a free plan without a user cap.; pick GitLab when You need SAML SSO, audit events and approval rules on the entry paid plan, or 10,000 included minutes. | Bitbucket (https://proofyo.com/products/bitbucket) — pick GitHub when You want EU data residency, an audit log on every plan or a self-managed option you can still buy.; pick Bitbucket when Your team plans in Jira and wants SAML SSO for less than an Enterprise seat, through Atlassian Guard.
Strengths:
- Lowest listed price for the scenario: Team covers 10 developers and 3,000 Linux minutes for $40 a month. (Bitbucket Standard comes to $46.50 with 1,000 extra minutes; GitLab Premium is $290 billed annually.)
- Free plan without a user cap: Unlimited private collaborators and 2,000 CI minutes a month. (GitLab and Bitbucket cap free private workspaces at 5 users, with 400 and 50 minutes.)
- Cheapest extra Linux minutes: Beyond the quota, the standard 2-core Linux runner costs $0.006 a minute, or $6 per 1,000; hosted Windows and macOS runners are priced too.
- EU residency at a listed price: Enterprise, from $21 per user, lists data residency, with EU, Australia, US and Japan regions on GHE.com. (GitLab offers a region of your choice through Dedicated, sold by demo; Atlassian does not list Bitbucket for data residency.)
- Audit log on every organization plan: The docs for Free and Team organizations describe an audit log covering the last 180 days; the Audit Log API is on Enterprise.
Things to know:
- SAML SSO needs Enterprise: Team has no SAML SSO; Enterprise starts at $21 per user, about five times the Team price. Workaround: Enterprise also brings 50,000 minutes, data residency and Enterprise Server.
- Scanning is priced per active committer: Secret Protection ($19) and Code Security ($30) are add-ons; for 10 active committers on Team that adds $490 a month.
- Copilot code review uses Actions minutes: On private repositories, each Copilot code review draws on the plan’s Actions minutes, then on paid minutes.
- Larger runners are always billed: The billing docs say larger runners are charged even in public repositories and when included quota remains.
Pricing reality: GitHub bills per user a month, plus CI minutes beyond the plan: Free $0 (2,000 minutes), Team $4 (3,000), Enterprise from $21 (50,000). Extra minutes cost $0.006 on the 2-core Linux runner, $0.010 on Windows and $0.062 on macOS; self-hosted runners are free. For 10 developers and 3,000 Linux minutes, Team is 10 × $4 = $40 a month. With SAML SSO it becomes Enterprise: 10 × $21 = $210. Adding Secret Protection and Code Security for 10 active committers adds 10 × ($19 + $30) = $490. Codespaces and Git LFS are billed separately.
Exit path: Self-managed is part of the Enterprise plan: the data residency docs say it covers GHE.com and, if you need it, GitHub Enterprise Server. GitLab’s pricing FAQ says GitLab imports projects from GitHub.

### Azure DevOps

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/azure-devops
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/azure-devops
Category: Code hosting and CI
Vendor: Microsoft
Tagline: Repos, Pipelines and Boards with the first 5 users free, then $6 per user a month, 1,800 free CI minutes and $40 hosted pipelines with no minute limit.
Value: Git hosting, CI and boards free for 5 users, with an audit log, EU data location and Entra ID sign-in on every plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Azure DevOps charges only for users beyond the first five ($6 each) and for pipeline capacity, so the reference team of 10 pays $70 with no monthly minute limit on one hosted pipeline. Controls a security review asks for are not tied to a higher plan: auditing for Entra-backed organizations, branch policies with required reviewers, and Europe as a data location. The SOC 2 Type 2 reports are on the Microsoft Service Trust Portal.
- Five users free, then $6: Basic is free for the first 5 users and $6 per user a month after that; Stakeholders, who view work items and dashboards, are free. (Pricing page and access levels docs (2026-10-15))
- CI without a minute meter: The first $40 Microsoft-hosted parallel job removes the 1,800-minute monthly limit, so one pipeline runs with no monthly cap. (Pricing FAQ and parallel jobs docs (2026-10-15))
- Controls on every plan: Auditing (90 days, with streaming to a SIEM) is available to Entra-backed organizations, and an organization’s data can be kept in Europe from creation. (Auditing and data location docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams on Microsoft Entra ID that want repos, CI and boards with controls included, at a low price for the first users.
Things to know: Hosted CI is sold as parallel jobs, not minutes, and the free 1,800 minutes need a linked Azure subscription.
Score: 8.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $6/user/mo (Basic (after 5 free users) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Users after the first 5, plus parallel CI jobs
Free plan: 5 users, 1,800 CI minutes/mo
10 developers, 3,000 CI minutes/mo: $70 (Basic plus one hosted parallel job)
CI minutes on the entry paid plan: 1,800/mo; a $40 hosted job removes the limit
Security scanning add-ons: Code Security $30 and Secret Protection $19 per committer/mo
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
EU data residency: Europe chosen when creating the organization
SAML SSO: Microsoft Entra ID sign-in, all plans
Self-managed version: Azure DevOps Server, at listed prices
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Azure DevOps puts an audit log, EU data location and Entra ID sign-in on every plan and covers our team for $70. CI is bought as parallel jobs, and the free minutes need a linked Azure subscription.
Choose it if: Your organization already signs in with Microsoft Entra ID. · You want an audit log and EU data location without a higher plan. · Your pipelines run long enough that a flat $40 job beats per-minute billing.
Look elsewhere if: Your identity provider is not Microsoft Entra ID and you want direct SAML. · You want hosted CI without linking an Azure subscription.
Compared with: GitHub (https://proofyo.com/products/github) — pick Azure DevOps when You want an audit log, EU data location and Entra ID sign-in without an Enterprise plan.; pick GitHub when You want the lowest price for 10 developers ($40), a free plan without a user cap, or per-minute CI billing. | GitLab (https://proofyo.com/products/gitlab) — pick Azure DevOps when Price matters: 10 developers come to $70 rather than $290, with an audit log and EU data location included.; pick GitLab when You want 10,000 included minutes, SAML SSO with any identity provider on the entry paid plan, or basic scanning on every tier.
Strengths:
- Low price for a team of 10: $70 a month: 5 paid Basic users at $6 and one $40 hosted pipeline with no monthly minute limit. (GitHub Team comes to $40 and GitLab Premium to $290 for the same scenario.)
- Audit log on every plan: Auditing is available to organizations backed by Microsoft Entra ID, keeps 90 days of events and can stream them to a SIEM. (GitLab puts audit events on Premium; Bitbucket needs Atlassian Guard.)
- EU data location at no extra charge: You choose the geography, Europe included, when you create the organization, and customer data stays there with limited exceptions. (GitHub lists data residency on Enterprise; GitLab offers a region of your choice through Dedicated.)
- Self-managed at a listed price: Azure DevOps Server is licensed through Visual Studio subscriptions ($45 or $250 per user a month) plus $6 Basic users, month to month through Azure.
Things to know:
- CI is sold as parallel jobs: Each hosted pipeline runs one job at a time, so running two at once means two $40 jobs; free-tier runs stop at 60 minutes each, paid ones at 360.
- Free minutes need an Azure subscription: The parallel jobs docs say the Microsoft-hosted free tier is enabled by linking an Azure subscription, which the pricing FAQ does not mention.
- SSO runs through Microsoft Entra ID: Single sign-on and auditing depend on connecting the organization to Microsoft Entra ID; the Azure DevOps docs do not describe connecting another SAML identity provider directly.
- Scanning is an add-on: GitHub Advanced Security for Azure DevOps is priced per committer: Code Security $30 and Secret Protection $19 a month.
Pricing reality: Azure DevOps bills users and pipeline capacity. Basic is free for 5 users, then $6 per user a month; Basic + Test Plans is $52. Each organization gets one Microsoft-hosted job with 1,800 minutes a month and one self-hosted job; extra hosted jobs are $40 a month and extra self-hosted jobs $15, each with unlimited minutes. Artifacts includes 2 GiB, then from $2 per GiB. Licenses are pro-rated by day. For 10 developers and 3,000 minutes: 5 × $6 = $30 for users, plus one $40 hosted job to lift the 1,800-minute limit: $70 a month. Code Security and Secret Protection for 10 committers would add 10 × ($30 + $19) = $490.
Exit path: The Server pricing page says buying through Azure entitles you to both Azure DevOps Services and Azure DevOps Server, so a team can move between cloud and self-hosted. Azure Repos stores code as Git repositories.

### GitLab

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/gitlab
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/gitlab
Category: Code hosting and CI
Vendor: GitLab
Tagline: One DevSecOps platform: Premium at $29 per user a month billed annually, with 10,000 CI minutes, SAML SSO and audit events included.
Value: Code hosting, CI with 10,000 minutes, SAML SSO, audit events and approval rules in one $29 Premium seat, also available self-managed.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: GitLab puts source control, CI/CD and security scanning in one platform. Premium, at $29 per user a month billed annually, includes 10,000 compute minutes, SAML SSO, group audit events and merge request approval rules, the controls a security review usually asks for, without an add-on. The same tiers run self-managed at the same listed price, and Dedicated offers single-tenant hosting in a region you choose.
- Team controls on the entry paid plan: SAML SSO, group audit events and merge request approval rules are documented for Premium and Ultimate. (SAML, audit events and approval rules docs (2026-10-15))
- The most included CI minutes: Premium includes 10,000 compute minutes a month for the group; extra minutes cost $10 per 1,000 and roll over if unused. (Pricing page and compute minutes docs (2026-10-15))
- Self-managed at a listed price: GitLab Self-Managed is offered on Free and on Premium at $29 per user billed annually, so the same plan can run on your own infrastructure. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that need SSO, audit events and approval rules on day one, or want to run the same platform on their own servers.
Things to know: Premium is $29 per user billed annually, and full security scanning is in Ultimate, which is priced by sales.
Score: 7.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $29/user/mo (Premium (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Users, plus compute minutes beyond the plan
Free plan: 5 users per private group, 400 CI minutes/mo
10 developers, 3,000 CI minutes/mo: $290 (Premium, billed annually)
CI minutes on the entry paid plan: 10,000/mo; then $10 per 1,000
Security scanning add-ons: Basic SAST and secret detection in all tiers; full scanning in Ultimate (custom price)
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
EU data residency: GitLab Dedicated (region of your choice), by demo
SAML SSO: Premium
Self-managed version: Free, Premium ($29) and Ultimate
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, GitLab includes the most CI minutes and team controls in its entry paid plan, at the highest listed price here for 10 developers. Full scanning sits in Ultimate, priced by sales.
Choose it if: You need SSO, audit events and approval rules on the entry paid plan. · Your pipelines need more than 3,000 minutes a month. · You may run the same platform self-managed.
Look elsewhere if: You want the lowest price for a small team. · You need full security scanning at a listed price.
Compared with: GitHub (https://proofyo.com/products/github) — pick GitLab when You need SAML SSO, audit events and approval rules without an enterprise plan, or 10,000 CI minutes.; pick GitHub when Price per developer matters most, or you want a free plan for more than five people. | Bitbucket (https://proofyo.com/products/bitbucket) — pick GitLab when You want a self-managed option you can buy today, or EU hosting through Dedicated.; pick Bitbucket when Your team lives in Jira and wants the lowest per-user price with Jira integration on every plan.
Strengths:
- SSO and audit events on the entry paid plan: Premium includes SAML SSO, group audit events and merge request approval rules. (GitHub lists SAML SSO on Enterprise; Bitbucket needs an Atlassian Guard subscription.)
- Most CI minutes per plan: Premium includes 10,000 compute minutes a month; bought minutes roll over if unused. (GitHub Team includes 3,000 and Bitbucket Standard 2,500.)
- Self-managed at the same price: Self-Managed is listed on Free and on Premium at $29 per user billed annually.
- Basic scanning on every tier: SAST, secret detection and container scanning run in all tiers; Ultimate adds findings in merge requests and security approvals.
Things to know:
- Highest price in the scenario: Ten developers need Premium, because Free private groups stop at five users: $290 a month, billed annually. Workaround: Premium also includes 10,000 minutes, SSO and audit events.
- Card needed for hosted runners on Free: The FAQ says card details are required to use GitLab.com hosted runners, though not to sign up or to use your own runners.
- Ultimate is priced by sales: Full security scanning, vulnerability management and compliance features are in Ultimate, which shows "Contact us for custom pricing".
- EU hosting only through Dedicated: GitLab.com is hosted in the USA; choosing a region means GitLab Dedicated, which is sold through a demo.
Pricing reality: GitLab bills per user, annually: Premium is $29 a month per user; Ultimate is quoted. Each tier includes compute minutes for the whole group (400, 10,000 or 50,000); more cost $10 per 1,000 as a one-time purchase. Storage is $5 a month per 10 GiB. For 10 developers and 3,000 Linux minutes, Free does not fit (five users), so the figure is Premium: 10 × $29 = $290 a month, or $3,480 a year. SAML SSO is already included. Paid plans include promotional GitLab Credits for AI features ($12 per user on Premium) for a limited time.
Exit path: The pricing FAQ says GitLab can import projects from most providers, including GitHub and Bitbucket, and the same tiers run self-managed on your own infrastructure.

### Bitbucket

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/bitbucket
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/bitbucket
Category: Code hosting and CI
Vendor: Atlassian
Tagline: Git hosting and Bitbucket Pipelines from $3.65 per user a month, with 2,500 build minutes and Jira integration on every plan.
Value: Git hosting with built-in CI and Jira integration on every plan, from $3.65 per user a month.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Worth the price
Value detail: Bitbucket is the code host in Atlassian’s cloud: every plan, including Free, lists the Jira integration that links branches, pull requests and deployments to Jira issues. Standard costs $3.65 per user a month with 2,500 Pipelines build minutes, the lowest per-user price here. Premium, at $8, adds enforced merge checks, deployment permissions and IP allowlisting. SAML SSO and the organization audit log come with an Atlassian Guard subscription, which also covers the organization’s other Atlassian cloud apps.
- Jira integration on every plan: Create branches and see development and deployment status inside Jira issues, and move issues automatically when pull requests change. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Lowest price per user: Standard is $3.65 per user a month with 2,500 build minutes; 10 developers using 3,000 minutes come to $46.50 with one 1,000-minute block. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Repository controls on Premium: Premium adds enforced merge checks, deployment permissions per environment, IP allowlisting, required two-step verification and enforced signed commits. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that plan in Jira and want code, CI and issue tracking linked at a low per-user price.
Things to know: SAML SSO and the organization audit log need Atlassian Guard, and Atlassian does not list Bitbucket for data residency.
Score: 6.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $3.65/user/mo (Standard plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Users, plus build minutes beyond the plan
Free plan: Up to 5 users, 50 build minutes/mo
10 developers, 3,000 CI minutes/mo: $46.50 (Standard plus 1,000 minutes)
CI minutes on the entry paid plan: 2,500/mo; then $10 per 1,000
Security scanning add-ons: None listed; Code insights shows third-party results
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both (Bitbucket Cloud in scope)
EU data residency: Bitbucket not listed for data residency
SAML SSO: Atlassian Guard add-on ($3/user/mo at 10 users)
Self-managed version: Data Center: not sold to new customers
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Bitbucket has the lowest per-user price here and Jira integration on every plan. SSO and audit logs come through Atlassian Guard, and there is no data residency or new self-managed option.
Choose it if: Your team plans its work in Jira. · You want the lowest price per user for hosted Git and CI. · You want SAML SSO without moving to an enterprise plan.
Look elsewhere if: You need EU data residency for your code. · You want to run your code host on your own servers.
Compared with: GitHub (https://proofyo.com/products/github) — pick Bitbucket when Your team plans in Jira, or you want SAML SSO through Guard rather than an enterprise seat.; pick GitHub when You want a free plan for more than five people, EU data residency or a self-managed server. | GitLab (https://proofyo.com/products/gitlab) — pick Bitbucket when You want the lowest per-user price and Jira integration on every plan.; pick GitLab when You need SSO and audit events without an add-on, or a self-managed option you can buy today.
Strengths:
- Lowest price per user: Standard is $3.65 per user a month, unchanged at 10 users on the team-size selector. (GitHub Team is $4 per user; GitLab Premium is $29 billed annually.)
- Jira integration on every plan: Branches, pull requests and deployments show in Jira issues, and pull request events can move issues automatically.
- SSO without an enterprise plan: Atlassian Guard Standard adds SAML SSO, SCIM and the organization audit log for $3 per user a month at 10 users. (GitHub lists SAML SSO on Enterprise, from $21 per user.)
- Free self-hosted runners: Builds on your own runners use no build minutes, and standard self-hosted runners are free up to 100.
Things to know:
- No self-managed option for new customers: Atlassian’s pages say new customers can no longer buy Data Center subscriptions, and the Bitbucket Hybrid License (early 2027) is only for existing Data Center customers.
- Not listed for data residency: Atlassian’s data residency docs list Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management, Jira Product Discovery and Loom, not Bitbucket.
- Enforced merge checks need Premium: Standard lets you recommend merge conditions; blocking a merge until checks pass needs Premium at $8 per user.
- Billing changes for annual plans: From Dec 3, 2026, annual plans are billed for build minutes, Git LFS and Packages beyond their allowances, which they currently are not. Workaround: Admins can cap or disable extra usage in Atlassian Administration.
Pricing reality: Bitbucket bills per user a month: Standard $3.65, Premium $8. Build minutes beyond the plan (2,500 or 3,500) cost $10 per 1,000; LFS is $10 per 100 GB. SAML SSO needs Atlassian Guard: Standard showed $3 per user a month at 10 users. For 10 developers and 3,000 minutes, Standard is 10 × $3.65 = $36.50 plus $10 for the 500 minutes over the allowance: $46.50, if minutes come in blocks of 1,000 as the pricing page describes ($41.50 per minute, our arithmetic). Premium covers 3,500 minutes for $80. With Guard, Standard comes to $76.50.
Exit path: GitLab’s pricing FAQ says GitLab imports projects from Bitbucket. For Data Center customers moving the other way, Atlassian offers a Bitbucket Cloud Migration Assistant and a Pipelines importer for Bamboo.

### Gitea Cloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/gitea-cloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/gitea-cloud
Category: Code hosting and CI
Vendor: CommitGo
Tagline: A dedicated, managed Gitea instance with built-in Actions CI: $9.50 per user a month after a 50% discount, 1,000 CI minutes per user and a Frankfurt region.
Value: A dedicated Gitea instance with GitHub Actions-compatible CI, hosted in the region you choose, from $19 a month for 2 users.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Gitea Cloud gives each customer its own instance rather than a shared service, and lets you pick the cloud provider and region, including Frankfurt in the EU at the same price. The company behind Gitea runs upgrades, backups and the CI runners, which start on demand, and Gitea Actions uses GitHub Actions-compatible workflow syntax. The service is covered by a SOC 2 Type II report, available under NDA.
- Single tenant, region of your choice: Each instance runs in a private, isolated environment; the Frankfurt region keeps data in the EU at the same price as other regions. (Gitea Cloud product page and cloud.gitea.com (2026-10-15))
- Managed runners included: Gitea Actions is enabled automatically and runners start on demand; each instance size includes CI minutes, 10,000 a month on the 10-user instance. (Product page and price calculator (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2 Type II: Gitea Cloud and Gitea Enterprise completed SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 attestation over a 12-month period; the SOC 2 report is available under NDA. (Compliance page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want a dedicated Git host in a chosen region, with GitHub Actions-style CI, without running servers.
Things to know: The Cloud plan lists no SAML SSO or audit log, which the pricing page lists for self-managed Enterprise, and there is no free plan for private work.
Score: 5.3/10
Free option: 30-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $19/mo (2-user instance plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing units: Instance size by user count; CI minutes come with it
Free plan: None for private work; 30-day trial
10 developers, 3,000 CI minutes/mo: $79.17 (10-user instance, billed yearly)
CI minutes on the entry paid plan: 2,000/mo on the 2-user instance; 1,000 per user
Security scanning add-ons: None listed for Cloud; scanning in self-managed Enterprise
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 on the roadmap
EU data residency: Frankfurt region, same price
SAML SSO: Not listed for Cloud (self-managed Enterprise)
Self-managed version: Open source free; Enterprise $9.50/user/mo, 1-year term
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Gitea Cloud offers a dedicated instance in your chosen region with generous CI minutes, at $79.17 a month for 10 developers. It scores lower on this rubric because the hosted plan lists no SSO or audit log, has no free plan and its pricing pages disagree on discounts.
Choose it if: You want your own single-tenant Git host without running it. · Your code must stay in an EU region. · Your team already writes GitHub Actions workflows.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO or an audit log on a hosted plan. · You want a free plan for private repositories. · Your security review requires ISO 27001 today.
Compared with: GitHub (https://proofyo.com/products/github) — pick Gitea Cloud when You want a dedicated instance in an EU region without an Enterprise plan, and 10,000 CI minutes for a team of 10.; pick GitHub when Price per developer matters most ($40 for our team), or you want a free plan and an audit log on every organization plan. | GitLab (https://proofyo.com/products/gitlab) — pick Gitea Cloud when You want single-tenant hosting in a chosen region at a listed price.; pick GitLab when You need SAML SSO and audit events on the entry paid plan, or a free plan for up to five users.
Strengths:
- Single-tenant by design: Each customer gets a dedicated instance in an isolated environment, with its own domain and resources. (GitLab offers single-tenant hosting through Dedicated, sold through a demo.)
- EU region at the same price: The Frankfurt region keeps data in the European Union and costs the same as other regions. (GitHub lists data residency on Enterprise, from $21 per user.)
- Generous included CI minutes: The 10-user instance includes 10,000 CI minutes a month on managed runners that start on demand. (GitHub Team includes 3,000 minutes and Azure DevOps 1,800.)
- Familiar CI syntax: Gitea Actions uses workflow syntax compatible with GitHub Actions and can reuse existing actions.
- A self-managed path: The same Gitea runs on your own servers, free under the MIT license or as Enterprise at a listed $9.50 per user a month with a 1-year commitment.
Things to know:
- No free plan for private work: Gitea Cloud has a 30-day trial; gitea.com is free but described as a place to host open source projects.
- SSO and audit logs not listed for Cloud: The pricing page lists SAML SSO and audit logs for self-managed Enterprise; the Cloud plan card does not mention them. Workaround: Gitea Enterprise, self-managed, includes both.
- Pricing pages disagree on discounts: The plan card ties the 50% discount to non-profits and small companies, the calculator applies it to every size up to 100 users, and cloud.gitea.com says Extra, Max and Ultra get it while the calculator shows none.
- ISO 27001 and HIPAA on the roadmap: The compliance page lists ISO 27001 and HIPAA BAA support as roadmap items; the pricing FAQ says a BAA can be signed on a customized plan.
Pricing reality: Gitea Cloud is priced by instance size: $19 per user a month at list, 50% off in the calculator for sizes up to 100 users, and two months free on yearly billing. The 2-user instance is $19 a month, 5 users $47.50, 10 users $95. Each size includes 1,000 CI minutes per user a month; extra minutes are not sold separately, so more minutes mean a larger instance. Object storage adds $10 per 100 GB. For 10 developers and 3,000 minutes, the 10-user instance billed yearly is $2,280 − $380 − $950 = $950 a year, or $79.17 a month by our arithmetic ($95 billed monthly), with 10,000 minutes included.
Exit path: The product page says repositories import easily from other Git services and that you can switch to a self-hosted plan. Gitea is open source under the MIT license, so the same software runs on your own servers.

## Category: Issue tracking and project management

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/project-management

### Jira

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/jira
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/jira
Category: Issue tracking and project management
Vendor: Atlassian
Tagline: Issue tracking free for up to 10 users, with data residency, a self-serve HIPAA BAA and site audit logs from Standard.
Value: Issue tracking with data residency, a self-serve HIPAA BAA and site audit logs on its entry paid plan, at $204.17 a month for 25 people billed annually.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: Jira’s Standard plan carries controls that the other two tools here keep for enterprise contracts: a HIPAA BAA an admin can sign in Atlassian Administration, a choice of 11 data residency locations including the EU, and audit logs of site changes. For 25 people it costs $2,450 a year, the lowest listed figure in this comparison, and guests join free. The Free plan covers teams of up to 10.
- BAA and data residency on Standard: The BAA docs let an organization admin sign on Standard or Premium; data residency (US, EU, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, India) is listed from Standard. (BAA and data residency docs, pricing table (2026-10-15))
- Lowest listed price for 25 people: The calculator shows $2,450 a year for 16–25 users on Standard, $204.17 a month, with free guests and 400 automation steps per user a month. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Free plan for up to 10 users: Unlimited work items, boards, backlogs and timelines, with 150 automation steps a month and 2 GB of storage. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that need compliance controls such as a BAA, data residency and audit logs without an enterprise contract, and teams of up to 10 that want a free plan.
Things to know: SAML SSO and SCIM need Atlassian Guard, a separate subscription, or the Enterprise plan.
Score: 8.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $9.70/user/mo (Standard (billed monthly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
How seats are sold: Monthly: per user. Annual: by user tier (16–25, 26–50, …)
Free plan: Up to 10 users, unlimited work items
25 people, billed annually: $204.17/mo (Standard, $2,450 a year)
25 people, billed monthly: $242.50/mo (25 × $9.70)
Automation on the entry paid plan: 400 steps per user a month
Guests on the entry paid plan: Free, no paid seat
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Self-serve on Standard and Premium
Data residency: Standard and up, 11 locations incl. EU
SAML SSO: Atlassian Guard Standard ($1,100 a year for 16–25 users) or Enterprise
Audit log: Site changes on Standard; user activity on Enterprise
Data export: Site backup with attachments
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Jira gives the most here on its entry paid plan: compliance controls, free guests and the lowest listed price for 25 people. Budget for Atlassian Guard if you need SAML SSO.
Choose it if: You need a BAA, data residency or audit logs on a self-serve plan. · Your team has 10 people or fewer and wants a free plan. · You want a full site backup you can take yourself.
Look elsewhere if: You want SAML SSO without a second subscription. · Your headcount sits just above an annual tier edge, such as 26.
Compared with: Linear (https://proofyo.com/products/linear) — pick Jira when You need data residency, a BAA or audit logs without an enterprise contract, or the lowest listed price for 25 people.; pick Linear when You want simple per-person billing, unlimited members on the free plan and EU hosting chosen at sign-up. | Asana (https://proofyo.com/products/asana) — pick Jira when You want software issue tracking with compliance controls on the entry plan and a free plan for up to 10 users.; pick Asana when You want unlimited automation rules on the entry plan and tasks shared beyond engineering.
Strengths:
- Compliance controls on the entry paid plan: Standard lists data residency and site audit logs, and the BAA docs allow a self-serve BAA on Standard. (Linear lists HIPAA compliance and its audit log on Enterprise; Asana lists HIPAA on Enterprise+ and data residency as an Enterprise add-on.)
- Lowest listed price for 25 people: $204.17 a month on Standard, billed annually. (Linear Basic comes to $250 and Asana Starter to $274.75 for 25 people on annual rates.)
- A free plan sized for small teams: Up to 10 users with unlimited work items and 150 automation steps a month. (Asana’s free Personal plan is for 2 users; Linear’s free plan stops at 250 issues.)
- A complete backup: The Backup manager exports the site with attachments, avatars and logos. (Linear’s workspace CSV export leaves out attachment files.)
Things to know:
- SAML SSO is a separate subscription: On Free, Standard and Premium, SSO and SCIM need Atlassian Guard Standard; for 16–25 users that is $1,100 a year on top of the Jira price. Workaround: Enterprise includes Guard Standard.
- Annual billing jumps at tier edges: Annual prices cover a user tier: 25 users cost $2,450 a year, 26 users fall into the 26–50 tier at $4,850. Workaround: Monthly billing charges the exact number of users.
- Automation is metered: Standard includes 400 automation steps per user a month; the Free plan has 150 steps for the whole subscription.
- Trials run 7 days: Standard and Premium trials run 7 days, with no payment information required.
Pricing reality: Jira is priced per user. Billed monthly, the calculator shows $9.70 per user on Standard and $19.60 on Premium for 25 users ($8.48 and $15.56 at 300 users). Billed annually, it charges for the user tier that matches your count: Standard $950 a year for 1–10 users, $1,450 for 11–15, $2,450 for 16–25 and $4,850 for 26–50. For 25 people on Standard that is $2,450 a year, or $204.17 a month; billed monthly it is 25 × $9.70 = $242.50. SAML SSO, SCIM and the organization audit log need Atlassian Guard Standard, $1,100 a year for 16–25 users (about $91.67 a month), which brings Standard with SSO to about $295.83 a month (our arithmetic). Guard’s FAQ notes that free-product users on a domain it governs count as billable. Rovo AI is included on paid plans with 25 credits per user a month on Standard; the FAQ says usage beyond that is not charged today.
Exit path: The export docs describe a Backup manager that creates a site backup with attachments, avatars and logos; with attachments, backups need 48 hours between them. Automation flows and third-party app data are not included and are exported separately or not at all.

### ClickUp

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/clickup
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/clickup
Category: Issue tracking and project management
Vendor: ClickUp
Tagline: Tasks, docs and chat in one workspace, free for unlimited members, with the Unlimited plan at $7 per user billed yearly.
Value: Tasks, docs, chat and sprints in one workspace, free for unlimited members and $175 a month for 25 people on Unlimited, billed yearly.
Value kinds: Worth the price
Value detail: ClickUp puts tasks, sprints, Docs, Chat, whiteboards and goals in one workspace. The Free Forever plan has no member or task cap; Unlimited, at $7 per user billed yearly, adds unlimited storage and integrations, guests with permission control and 500 automation rules, and comes to $175 a month for 25 people, the lowest listed figure in this comparison. The security page lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001; SAML SSO, SCIM, the audit log, data residency and HIPAA are on Enterprise.
- Lowest listed price for 25 people: 25 × $7 on Unlimited, billed yearly, is $175 a month; billed monthly it is 25 × $10 = $250. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- A free plan with no member or task cap: Free Forever lists unlimited members and tasks, with 60 MB of storage, 5 Spaces and 5 active automation rules. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Guests on the cheapest paid plan: Unlimited includes 5 permission-controlled guest seats plus 2 for each paid user, and unlimited read-only guests. (Pricing page FAQ and help center (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want project tracking, docs and chat in one tool at a low per-user price, and teams that want everyone on a free plan to start.
Things to know: SAML SSO, SCIM, the audit log, data residency and HIPAA are on Enterprise.
Score: 8.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $7/user/mo (Unlimited (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
How seats are sold: Per paid user, for the whole Workspace
Free plan: Unlimited members and tasks, 60 MB storage
25 people, billed annually: $175/mo (Unlimited, 25 × $7)
25 people, billed monthly: $250/mo (25 × $10)
Automation on the entry paid plan: 500 active rules, 1,000 automation executions
Guests on the entry paid plan: Guest seats included (5, plus 2 per paid user); read-only guests unlimited
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise (contact sales)
Data residency: Enterprise (US, EU, Singapore or Australia), no extra charge
SAML SSO: Enterprise
Audit log: Enterprise (60 days of history)
Data export: Task data as CSV with attachment links
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, ClickUp lists the lowest price for 25 people here and the most open free plan, with guests on Unlimited. Security and admin controls sit on Enterprise, which keeps its team-control score lower.
Choose it if: You want tasks, docs and chat in one tool at the lowest listed per-user price here. · You want everyone on a free plan while you try it. · You work with outside guests on the cheapest paid plan.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO, an audit log or data residency without an enterprise contract. · You want unmetered automation on the entry paid plan.
Compared with: Jira (https://proofyo.com/products/jira) — pick ClickUp when You want the lowest listed price for 25 people, a free plan without a member cap, and docs and chat in the same tool.; pick Jira when You need data residency, a self-serve HIPAA BAA or audit logs without an enterprise contract. | Asana (https://proofyo.com/products/asana) — pick ClickUp when You want guests and automation on a plan that costs $7 per user billed yearly, billed per user without seat steps.; pick Asana when You want unlimited automation rules on the entry paid plan. | monday dev (https://proofyo.com/products/monday) — pick ClickUp when You want a free plan, guests on the cheapest paid plan and per-user billing without seat buckets.; pick monday dev when You want unlimited free viewers on the cheapest paid plan and an admin export of every board with its files.
Strengths:
- Lowest listed price for 25 people: $175 a month on Unlimited, billed yearly. (Jira Standard comes to $204.17 and Asana Starter to $274.75 for 25 people on annual rates.)
- A free plan without a member cap: Unlimited members and tasks, with 5 automation rules, 60 MB of storage and 5 Spaces. (Jira’s Free plan stops at 10 users and Asana’s Personal plan at 2.)
- Guests on the entry paid plan: Unlimited includes permission-controlled guest seats (5, plus 2 per paid user) and unlimited read-only guests. (Linear’s guests start on Business.)
- A long certification list: The security page lists SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3 and ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, 27701 and 42001.
Things to know:
- Security controls start on Enterprise: SAML SSO, SCIM, custom roles, the audit log and data residency are listed only on Enterprise; Business includes Google SSO.
- Automation is metered: Unlimited lists 500 active rules and 1,000 automation executions; Business lists 5,000 executions a month.
- Two sets of plan names on the pricing page: The plan cards list Unlimited and Business; the savings calculator on the same page compares against Core at $8 and Business at $17. Workaround: The help center says some Workspaces see a new set of plans; confirm the plan and price in the billing area before buying.
- Exports are task-level CSV: The Workspace export is a CSV of task data with attachment links rather than files; Docs export one at a time, and bulk Doc export is not yet available.
Pricing reality: ClickUp bills per paid user, members and people invited from inside your organization, for the whole Workspace: Unlimited is $7 a month billed yearly or $10 monthly, Business $12 or $19. For 25 people on Unlimited that is 25 × $7 = $175 a month billed yearly, or $250 monthly; Business comes to $300 billed yearly. Guests from outside the organization use the included guest seats; past those, inviting a guest with permissions adds a paid seat. SAML SSO and the audit log need Enterprise, priced by sales. AI beyond the included limits is sold per user: Brain AI $9 a month, Everything AI $28, with extra AI credits at $10 per 10,000.
Exit path: Admins and owners can export task data from selected Spaces, Folders or Lists as a CSV that includes attachment links and comments. Docs export one at a time as PDF, HTML or Markdown; the help center says bulk Doc export is not yet available. Free Forever and Unlimited can export five List, Table or Form views. The API is on every plan at 100 requests a minute.

### Asana

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/asana
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/asana
Category: Issue tracking and project management
Vendor: Asana
Tagline: Work and project management with unlimited automation rules and free guests from $10.99 per user, billed annually.
Value: Unlimited automation rules, free guests and timelines on the entry paid plan, at $274.75 a month for 25 people billed annually.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: Asana’s Starter plan includes what the other two tools here meter or keep for higher plans: unlimited automation rules and unlimited free guests, alongside timeline and Gantt views, forms and custom fields. It costs $10.99 per user billed annually, $274.75 a month for 25 seats. Every plan lists 100+ free integrations, including Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Slack, and SOC 2 Type II.
- Unlimited rules on Starter: The plan table lists unlimited rules and the workflow builder on Starter. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Free guests on Starter: Unlimited guests can work on projects without counting toward the seat total. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Integrations on every plan: 100+ free integrations, including Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Slack; Advanced adds Salesforce, Tableau, Power BI and two-way Jira Cloud sync. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that run cross-functional projects with clients or partners and want automation without a monthly allowance.
Things to know: SAML SSO, SCIM, audit logs, data residency and HIPAA start on Enterprise or Enterprise+.
Score: 7.4/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $10.99/user/mo (Starter (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Free plan: 2 users, unlimited tasks and projects
25 people, billed annually: $274.75/mo (Starter, 25 × $10.99)
25 people, billed monthly: $337.25/mo (25 × $13.49)
Automation on the entry paid plan: Unlimited rules
Guests on the entry paid plan: Unlimited, free
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise+ (opt-in)
Data residency: Enterprise add-on or Enterprise+ (Europe, Australia, Japan)
SAML SSO: Enterprise
Audit log: Enterprise add-on or Enterprise+
Data export: CSV and PDF; full JSON export on Enterprise+
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Asana’s Starter plan includes the most for day-to-day work: unlimited rules, free guests and timelines. Security controls, data residency and HIPAA start on Enterprise or Enterprise+.
Choose it if: You want unlimited automation rules on the entry paid plan. · You work with clients or partners as guests. · You want monthly billing at a listed price.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO, audit logs or data residency without an enterprise contract. · You want a free plan for a team of more than 2.
Compared with: Jira (https://proofyo.com/products/jira) — pick Asana when You want unlimited automation rules, and projects that reach beyond engineering.; pick Jira when You need data residency, a BAA or audit logs on a self-serve plan, or a free plan for up to 10 users. | Linear (https://proofyo.com/products/linear) — pick Asana when You want free guests and unlimited rules on the cheapest paid plan.; pick Linear when You want a free plan with unlimited members and billing per person.
Strengths:
- Unlimited automation on the entry plan: Starter lists unlimited rules and the workflow builder. (Jira Standard includes 400 automation steps per user a month; Linear lists triage rules from Business.)
- Free guests on the entry plan: Unlimited guests on Starter, outside the seat count. (Linear’s guests start on Business.)
- Broadest certification list: The trust page lists SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3 and four ISO/IEC standards (27001, 27017, 27018, 27701).
- Monthly and annual prices both listed: Every self-serve plan shows its annual and monthly rate.
Things to know:
- Free plan is for 2 users: Personal allows 2 users; a team needs Starter. Workaround: Starter has no user seat limit.
- Seats come in steps: Between 5 and 30 users, seats are added in steps of 5: 25 people fit exactly, 26 need 30 seats.
- Security controls start on Enterprise: SAML and SCIM are on Enterprise; audit logs and data residency are add-ons there or part of Enterprise+, and HIPAA is Enterprise+ only.
- No refunds: The FAQ says Asana does not offer refunds; a cancelled plan keeps paid features to the end of the period.
Pricing reality: Asana sells seats per user: Starter $10.99 a month billed annually or $13.49 monthly, Advanced $24.99 or $30.49. Seats are added in steps, so the bill follows the seat count you buy, not the exact number of people. Enterprise and Enterprise+ are priced by sales. For 25 people on Starter, 25 × $10.99 = $274.75 a month billed annually, or 25 × $13.49 = $337.25 monthly. At 26 people the next step is 30 seats, $329.70 a month on annual rates. Guests are free. AI is included with limits: 5 AI requests per user a month up to 50 per account on Starter, with extra requests at $0.50 prepaid or $0.60 pay as you go. Timesheets and budgets are a separate add-on.
Exit path: Every plan can export project data and reports as CSV or PDF. A complete JSON export of the organization (projects, tasks, comments, custom fields) is part of the Compliance management add-on on Enterprise and included on Enterprise+.

### Linear

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/linear
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/linear
Category: Issue tracking and project management
Vendor: Linear
Tagline: Issue tracking for software teams, free for unlimited members up to 250 issues, then $10 per user billed yearly.
Value: An issue tracker built for software teams, free for any number of members up to 250 issues, with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and EU hosting.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Linear focuses on issues, projects, cycles and triage for product and engineering teams. The free plan has no member limit, so a whole team can start before it pays; Basic removes the 250-issue cap at $10 per user billed yearly, $250 a month for 25 people. The security page lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and you choose EU or US hosting when you create the workspace.
- Unlimited members on the free plan: Free allows unlimited members with 2 teams and 250 issues, plus the API, webhooks and integrations. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Billed per person: Billing follows the number of unsuspended users; the pages state no seat tiers or steps. (Pricing page and billing docs (2026-10-15))
- EU hosting from the start: The security page lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and lets you store data in the EU or the US. (Security page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Product and engineering teams that want to start free with everyone on board, and pay per person once they pass 250 issues.
Things to know: Guests and private teams start on Business; SAML, SCIM, the audit log and HIPAA are on Enterprise.
Score: 6.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $10/user/mo (Basic (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
How seats are sold: Per user (unsuspended users in any role)
Free plan: Unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues
25 people, billed annually: $250/mo (Basic, 25 × $10)
25 people, billed monthly: Not listed on the pricing page
Automation on the entry paid plan: Triage rules from Business
Guests on the entry paid plan: From Business ($16)
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: On request; HIPAA listed on Enterprise
Data residency: EU or US, chosen at workspace creation
SAML SSO: Enterprise
Audit log: Enterprise (last 3 months of events)
Data export: CSV (no attachment files) and API
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Linear has the most open free plan here and the simplest seat billing. Its lower score reflects guests, automation rules and team controls that start on Business or Enterprise.
Choose it if: You want the whole team on a free plan while you have fewer than 250 issues. · You want to pay for exactly the people you have. · You need EU hosting without an enterprise contract.
Look elsewhere if: You need guests or private teams on the cheapest paid plan. · You need SAML SSO or an audit log without an enterprise contract.
Compared with: Jira (https://proofyo.com/products/jira) — pick Linear when You want a free plan with no member limit, per-person billing and EU hosting from day one.; pick Jira when You need data residency, a BAA, audit logs or free guests without an enterprise contract. | Asana (https://proofyo.com/products/asana) — pick Linear when Your team is mostly engineers and you want issue, cycle and triage workflows with per-person billing.; pick Asana when You want unlimited automation rules and free guests on the entry paid plan.
Strengths:
- No member limit on the free plan: Unlimited members, 2 teams and 250 issues at no cost. (Jira’s Free plan stops at 10 users and Asana’s Personal plan at 2.)
- Simple per-person billing: The docs bill for unsuspended users; no seat tiers or steps are stated. (Jira bills annual plans by user tier and Asana sells seats in steps of 5 between 5 and 30.)
- EU or US hosting without an enterprise contract: The security page offers EU or US storage, chosen when the workspace is created. (Asana lists data residency as an Enterprise add-on.)
- API and webhooks on every plan: The plan table marks API and webhook access, integrations and import and export on Free.
Things to know:
- Guests and private teams start on Business: Basic has neither; Business at $16 per user brings 25 people to $400 a month.
- SAML, SCIM and the audit log are Enterprise only: Free, Basic and Business list Google SSO; SAML and SCIM need Enterprise, priced by sales with annual billing.
- Basic caps teams at 5: Basic allows 5 teams; unlimited teams start on Business.
- Exports leave out attachments: The export docs say CSV exports do not include attachment files, and guests cannot export issues. Workaround: The API can read issues, projects and other objects.
Pricing reality: Linear bills per user: $10 a month on Basic and $16 on Business, billed yearly. The billing docs count unsuspended users in any role and say monthly billing is available at a higher rate, which the pricing page does not list. Enterprise is priced by sales, annual only. For 25 people on Basic that is 25 × $10 = $250 a month ($3,000 a year). Teams that need guests, private teams or more than 5 teams move to Business: 25 × $16 = $400 a month. SAML SSO, SCIM and the audit log need Enterprise. Coding sessions and Loops are marked as requiring AI credits.
Exit path: Admins can export workspace issues, projects, initiatives and members as CSV (owners on Enterprise); the docs say CSV exports do not include attachment files. The API and webhooks give programmatic access to issues, projects and other objects.

### monday dev

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/monday
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/monday
Category: Issue tracking and project management
Vendor: monday.com
Tagline: monday.com’s product for software teams: sprints, backlogs and bug tracking from $9 a seat billed annually, with unlimited free viewers.
Value: Sprints, backlogs and bug tracking on monday’s boards, with unlimited free viewers on every plan, from $225 a month for 25 seats billed annually.
Value kinds: Worth the price
Value detail: monday dev gives software teams sprint management, backlogs, bug tracking, roadmaps and a wiki on the same boards the rest of a monday.com account uses. Every plan includes unlimited free viewers, so stakeholders who only read do not need a seat. Basic costs $9 a seat billed annually, $225 a month for the 25-seat bucket; Standard adds guests, GitHub, GitLab and Jira integrations and automations. The trust center lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001.
- Unlimited free viewers: The plan table lists unlimited free viewers on Basic, Standard, Pro and Enterprise; viewers have read-only access. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Sprints and bug tracking on Basic: Basic includes sprint management, backlog management, bug tracking, a wiki, capacity planning and an AI sprint summary. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- A full account export: Admins can export every board in the account, private ones included, with uploaded files, as a zip file. (Help center (2026-10-15))
Best for: Software teams that already use monday.com, or that want product work visible to many read-only stakeholders.
Things to know: There is no free plan; guests and automations start on Standard, private boards on Pro, and SAML SSO, SCIM and the audit log on Enterprise.
Score: 5.7/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $9/seat/mo (Basic (billed annually, from 3 seats) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
How seats are sold: In seat buckets (3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40); quote above 40
Free plan: None for monday dev; 14-day Pro trial
25 people, billed annually: $225/mo (Basic, 25-seat bucket × $9)
25 people, billed monthly: $300/mo (25 × $12)
Automation on the entry paid plan: From Standard (250 actions a month)
Guests on the entry paid plan: From Standard (each group of 4 guests uses a seat)
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise
Data residency: US, EU or APAC region set by account location; EU-only hosting on Enterprise
SAML SSO: Enterprise
Audit log: Enterprise
Data export: Account export of all boards with files
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, monday dev puts sprints, bug tracking and free viewers on its cheapest plan. It has no free plan, and guests, automations and security controls start on higher plans, which is what lowers its score.
Choose it if: Many stakeholders only need to read your boards. · Your company already runs other work on monday.com. · Your team size matches a seat bucket, such as 25.
Look elsewhere if: You need a free plan for your team. · You need SAML SSO, an audit log or EU-only hosting without an enterprise contract.
Compared with: Jira (https://proofyo.com/products/jira) — pick monday dev when Read-only stakeholders should not take a seat, and you want sprints and a wiki on the cheapest plan.; pick Jira when You need a free plan, data residency, a self-serve BAA or audit logs without an enterprise contract. | Linear (https://proofyo.com/products/linear) — pick monday dev when You want free read-only viewers and an account export that includes files.; pick Linear when You want a free plan with unlimited members and billing per person rather than in seat buckets. | ClickUp (https://proofyo.com/products/clickup) — pick monday dev when You want unlimited free viewers and an export of every board with its files.; pick ClickUp when You want a free plan, guests on the cheapest paid plan and per-user billing without buckets.
Strengths:
- Unlimited free viewers on every plan: Read-only viewers do not take a seat on Basic, Standard, Pro or Enterprise. (Linear bills every unsuspended user in any role.)
- Dev workflows on the cheapest plan: Basic includes sprints, backlogs, bug tracking, a wiki and capacity planning.
- Account export with files: Admins can export all boards, private ones included, with uploaded files. (Linear’s workspace CSV export leaves out attachment files.)
- A long certification list: The trust center lists SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO/IEC 27001, 27017, 27018, 27032 and 27701, CSA STAR and TX-RAMP.
Things to know:
- No free plan: monday dev has a 14-day trial of Pro; the free plan is only on monday.com’s general work platform.
- Seats come in buckets: At 25 people the 25-seat bucket fits; a 26th person moves the account to the 30-seat bucket ($270 a month on Basic billed annually). Above 40 seats, pricing goes through sales.
- Guests, automations and private boards cost more: Guests and automations start on Standard ($300 a month for 25 seats billed annually); private boards on Pro ($500).
- Security controls on Enterprise: SAML SSO, SCIM, the audit log and HIPAA are Enterprise features, and the help center gives Enterprise a minimum term of 12 months.
Pricing reality: monday dev sells seats in buckets: 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 40, with a quote above that. Basic is $9 a seat a month billed annually or $12 monthly; Standard $12 or $14.50; Pro $20 or $25. For 25 people, Basic comes to $225 a month billed annually and $300 monthly; Standard to $300 and Pro to $500 billed annually. Viewers are free on every plan; on Standard every 4 guests use one seat, and on Pro guests are unlimited. Going over the seat count upgrades the account to the next bucket automatically. AI credits are included and more can be bought; extra API calls are sold in units of 25,000 a day.
Exit path: Admins can export the whole account as a zip file: every board, private ones included, with uploaded files (optional). Archived boards, workdocs, dashboards and the emails and activities timeline are not included, and the export can run once every 24 hours. The API is on every paid plan, with 1,000 calls a day on Basic.

## Category: Team chat

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/team-chat

### Microsoft Teams

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-teams
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/microsoft-teams
Category: Team chat
Vendor: Microsoft
Tagline: Chat, meetings and guest access from $4 per user in Teams Essentials, or inside Microsoft 365 Business plans from $7.
Value: Chat, meetings and guest access for $4 a user, under Microsoft’s SOC 2, ISO 27001 and default HIPAA BAA terms.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Teams Essentials is the lowest listed price here for a company of 50: $200 a month paid yearly, for chat with guest access and meetings for up to 300 people. Microsoft’s compliance pages put Teams in scope for SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001, the HIPAA BAA comes by default through Microsoft’s data protection addendum, and tenants that sign up in the EU have chat data stored there. Retention policies and the audit log are licensed from Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($7), which also adds business email and Office web apps.
- Lowest price for 50 people: Teams Essentials lists $4 per user a month paid yearly: 50 × $4 = $200 a month. (Teams business plans page (2026-10-15))
- A HIPAA BAA without a separate contract: Microsoft says its HIPAA BAA is available through the Online Services Data Protection Addendum by default to customers who are covered entities or business associates; Teams is in scope. (Microsoft HIPAA compliance offering page (2026-10-15))
- Certified and EU-located by default: Teams is in scope for the Office 365 SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO 27001, and Teams data residency docs commit to EU storage for tenants that sign up in the EU. (Microsoft SOC 2, ISO 27001 and Teams data residency pages (2026-10-15))
Best for: Small and mid-size companies that want chat and meetings at the lowest per-user price, especially if they already use Microsoft accounts.
Things to know: Retention policies and the audit log are licensed from Business Basic ($7), and eDiscovery cases need Microsoft 365 E3 or E5.
Score: 7.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $4/user/mo (Teams Essentials plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Plan priced for 50 people: Teams Essentials, $4/user/mo paid yearly
What else the plan includes: Meetings up to 300 people, 10 GB storage per user
50 people, annual terms: $200/mo
Free option: Free Teams for personal accounts; 1-month business trial with a card
Retention, legal hold, eDiscovery: Retention policies from Business Basic ($7); eDiscovery cases need Microsoft 365 E3 or E5
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both (Teams in scope)
HIPAA BAA: By default through Microsoft’s data protection addendum
EU data storage: For tenants that sign up in the EU
Company SSO: Microsoft Entra ID (free version included)
Audit log: Purview Audit (Standard) from Business Basic
Working with outside people: Guest access included
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Teams Essentials is the cheapest way here to give 50 people chat and meetings, under Microsoft’s certifications and default BAA. Plan on Business Basic or above if you need retention policies or an audit log.
Choose it if: You want chat and meetings for a company at the lowest listed price per user. · You need a HIPAA BAA without negotiating an enterprise contract. · Your company already signs in with Microsoft accounts.
Look elsewhere if: You need retention policies or an audit log on a $4 plan. · You want a free plan run as a company workspace.
Compared with: Slack (https://proofyo.com/products/slack) — pick Microsoft Teams when You want the lowest price for 50 people and a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise plan.; pick Slack when You want a free team workspace and custom retention on the entry paid plan. | Google Chat (https://proofyo.com/products/google-chat) — pick Microsoft Teams when You want chat and meetings at $4 per user and EU storage without a plan upgrade.; pick Google Chat when You want an audit log, SSO and external group chats on the cheapest plan, with email and documents included.
Strengths:
- Lowest price for 50 people: Teams Essentials is $4 per user a month paid yearly, or $200 a month for 50, with chat, guest access and meetings for up to 300 participants. (Slack Pro comes to $362.50 and Google Workspace Business Starter to $350 for the same 50 people.)
- HIPAA BAA by default: Microsoft provides its BAA through the data protection addendum to customers covered by HIPAA, with Teams in scope. (Slack lists HIPAA support on Enterprise+; Google’s BAA is accepted in the Admin console.)
- EU storage by sign-up country: Teams data residency docs commit to storing chat data in the EU for tenants that sign up there, with Advanced Data Residency and Multi-Geo as add-ons.
- Company sign-in included: The plan comparison lists Microsoft Entra ID (free version) on Teams Essentials and the Business plans.
- Guest access on the cheapest plan: Teams Essentials lists unlimited chat including guest access, and chat between work and personal accounts.
Things to know:
- Compliance tools start on Business Basic: Teams retention policies and Purview Audit are licensed on Microsoft 365 Business plans; Microsoft’s licensing pages do not mention Teams Essentials. Workaround: Business Basic ($7) adds them along with business email and Office web apps.
- eDiscovery needs E3 or E5: Microsoft’s eDiscovery guide says admins and users working with eDiscovery cases need a Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 license.
- Free Teams is for personal accounts: Group meetings on free Teams run up to 60 minutes; upgrading moves every user to a paid plan, and the converted address cannot return to free.
- No monthly price listed: The plan pages show prices for an annual subscription; a monthly commitment is offered, but its price is not on the page.
Pricing reality: Teams is billed per user, with annual subscriptions on the plan pages. Teams Essentials is $4 a month paid yearly, Microsoft 365 Business Basic $7, Business Standard with Copilot $23.50 and Business Premium with Copilot $32; Teams Premium is a $10 add-on. For 50 people on Teams Essentials: 50 × $4 = $200 a month, or $2,400 a year. Business Basic, which adds retention policies, the audit log, business email and Office web apps, comes to $350 a month. eDiscovery cases need Microsoft 365 E3 or E5. The one-month trial requires a credit card.
Exit path: Microsoft’s plan pages say that when a subscription is canceled, all associated data is deleted. Its licensing guidance lists Teams Export APIs for exporting chat and channel messages with E5-level licenses.

### Slack

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/slack
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/slack
Category: Team chat
Vendor: Slack Technologies (Salesforce)
Tagline: Chat sold on its own: a free plan with 90 days of history, Pro from $7.25 per active user, and channels shared with other companies.
Value: Chat on its own terms: channels shared with other companies, unlimited history and custom retention from $7.25 per active user.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Compliance included
Value detail: Slack is the only product here sold as chat alone, so you pay for messaging without buying an email and office suite. Pro adds unlimited history, custom retention, guests and Slack Connect channels that link your workspace with other companies that use Slack. Billing counts active members only: someone inactive for more than 28 days is credited back. The Free plan works as a real team workspace, with 90 days of history.
- Channels shared with other companies: Pro lists group external messages through Slack Connect; the Free plan is limited to one-to-one external messages. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Custom retention from Pro: Paid plans keep data for the life of the workspace by default, and owners can set retention periods per workspace or let members override them. (Pricing page and data retention help (2026-10-15))
- Only active members are billed: Under the Fair Billing Policy, members who have not used Slack for more than 28 days are credited for the unused time. (Fair Billing Policy help article (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want a chat product of its own, work in channels with clients or partners, and already have email and documents elsewhere.
Things to know: SAML SSO starts on Business+ ($15), and audit logs, legal holds and HIPAA support are listed on Enterprise+.
Score: 7.1/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $7.25/user/mo (Pro plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Plan priced for 50 people: Pro, $7.25/user/mo billed annually ($8.75 monthly)
What else the plan includes: Chat only: huddles, canvases, lists, workflows
50 people, annual terms: $362.50/mo
Free option: Free plan: 90 days of history, data older than 1 year deleted
Retention, legal hold, eDiscovery: Custom retention on Pro; legal holds and Discovery API on Enterprise+
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: HIPAA support listed on Enterprise+
EU data storage: Business+ and up, set up through sales
Company SSO: SAML from Business+ ($15); Pro has Google OAuth
Audit log: Enterprise+
Working with outside people: Pro: guests and Slack Connect channels
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Slack is the most complete chat product sold on its own, with the only free team plan here. Admin and compliance controls step up by plan: SAML on Business+, audit logs, legal holds and HIPAA on Enterprise+.
Choose it if: You want chat as its own product, separate from your email and office suite. · You work in shared channels with clients or partners who also use Slack. · You want to start on a free team plan and pay only for active members later.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO or an audit log on the cheapest paid plan. · You need a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.
Compared with: Microsoft Teams (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-teams) — pick Slack when You want a free team workspace, custom retention on the entry plan and channels shared with other companies on Slack.; pick Microsoft Teams when You want the lowest price for 50 people and a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise plan. | Google Chat (https://proofyo.com/products/google-chat) — pick Slack when You already have email and documents and want chat alone, with retention control on the entry plan.; pick Google Chat when You also need business email and documents, and want SSO and an audit log on the cheapest plan.
Strengths:
- Chat without a suite: Pro is priced for chat alone, at $7.25 per active user billed annually, so you are not paying for email or office apps you may already have. (Google Chat comes with Workspace Business Starter at $7, which also buys Gmail, Meet and Drive.)
- A free plan a team can run: The Free plan is a full workspace with 90 days of visible history, 10 apps and one-to-one huddles. (Microsoft offers a free Teams for personal accounts; Google offers a 14-day Workspace trial.)
- Shared channels with other companies: Pro includes Slack Connect group channels and guests; single-channel guests are free, up to five per paid member.
- Retention control on the entry plan: Custom retention policies for messages and files are on Pro. (Teams retention policies are licensed from Microsoft 365 Business Basic; Google lists Chat auto-delete and Vault on Business Plus.)
- Pay only for active members: Members inactive for more than 28 days are credited for the unused part of the billing period.
Things to know:
- Free history is limited: The Free plan shows 90 days of messages and files and deletes data older than one year. Workaround: Upgrading to a paid plan reveals hidden history that is still within the year.
- SAML SSO starts on Business+: Pro lists Google OAuth sign-in; SAML SSO and SCIM are on Business+ ($15 billed annually) and Enterprise+.
- Legal hold and HIPAA on Enterprise+: Audit logs, legal holds, the Discovery API and HIPAA support are listed only on Enterprise+, sold through sales at $45 per user billed annually.
- Data residency goes through sales: Residency is marked on Business+, but the help article says to contact sales to set it up; without it, data is stored in the US.
Pricing reality: Slack bills per active member. Pro is $7.25 a month billed annually or $8.75 monthly; Business+ $15 or $18; Enterprise+ $45 billed annually through sales. Multi-channel guests are billed as members; single-channel guests are free, up to five per paid member. For 50 people on Pro: 50 × $7.25 = $362.50 a month, or $4,350 a year, if all 50 are active. Billed monthly it is $437.50. Business+, for SAML SSO, SCIM and full message exports, comes to $750 a month for 50. Slack includes no email, calendar or document apps.
Exit path: The pricing table lists data exports for all messages on Business+ and Enterprise+, exports of a single user’s messages and the Discovery API on Enterprise+. The help center also documents importing messages from a CSV file.

### Google Chat

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/google-chat
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/google-chat
Category: Team chat
Vendor: Google
Tagline: Chat included with Google Workspace from $7 per user, with SSO, Chat audit logs and a HIPAA BAA on every Business plan.
Value: Chat included with Workspace from $7 a user, with SSO, Chat audit logs and a HIPAA BAA on the cheapest Business plan.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: If your company already pays for Google Workspace, Chat costs nothing extra: Google says it is included at no additional cost. On Business Starter ($7 a user with a one-year commitment) the admin editions table lists SSO with your own identity provider, Chat log events in the audit tool and external one-to-one and group direct messages, and an admin can accept Google’s HIPAA BAA in the Admin console. The same $7 buys business email, Meet and Drive.
- Admin controls on every Business plan: The editions table lists SSO with a third-party identity provider and Chat log events in the audit and investigation tool on Business Starter, Standard and Plus (with a verified domain). (Google Workspace admin editions table (2026-10-15))
- A HIPAA BAA from the Admin console: Admins review and accept the BAA electronically in the Admin console, and Google Chat is on the list of HIPAA included functionality. (Google Workspace HIPAA help and included functionality pages (2026-10-15))
- Chat comes with email and documents: Business Starter at $7 a user includes Gmail with a custom domain, Meet, Drive with 30 GB pooled per user and Docs along with Chat. (Workspace pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Companies on Google Workspace, or about to choose an email and office suite, that want chat under the same admin console.
Things to know: Vault for retention, legal hold and eDiscovery starts on Business Plus ($22), and EU data regions on Business Standard ($14).
Score: 7.0/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $7/user/mo (Business Starter plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Plan priced for 50 people: Workspace Business Starter, $7/user/mo with a 1-year commitment ($8.40 flexible)
What else the plan includes: Gmail, Meet, Drive (30 GB pooled per user), Docs
50 people, annual terms: $350/mo
Free option: 14-day Workspace trial
Retention, legal hold, eDiscovery: Vault on Business Plus ($22)
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both (Google Workspace)
HIPAA BAA: Accepted by an admin in the Admin console
EU data storage: Data regions from Business Standard ($14)
Company SSO: Third-party IdP on every Business plan
Audit log: Chat log events on every Business plan
Working with outside people: Starter: external 1:1 and group DMs; external spaces from Standard
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Google Chat gives the strongest admin controls on the cheapest plan here, because they come with Workspace. It is not sold alone, and retention, eDiscovery and EU regions start on higher plans.
Choose it if: Your company runs on Google Workspace, or is choosing an email and office suite now. · You want SSO, Chat audit logs and a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise plan. · You want chat with people at other companies under admin controls.
Look elsewhere if: You want chat alone, without paying for email and office apps. · You need legal hold or eDiscovery below $22 a user.
Compared with: Slack (https://proofyo.com/products/slack) — pick Google Chat when You also need email and documents, and want SSO, an audit log and a BAA on the cheapest plan.; pick Slack when You want chat alone, a free team plan, and custom retention on the entry paid plan. | Microsoft Teams (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-teams) — pick Google Chat when You want an audit log and SSO with your own identity provider on the cheapest plan, plus email and documents.; pick Microsoft Teams when You want the lowest price for 50 people, or EU storage without upgrading the plan.
Strengths:
- SSO and audit log on the cheapest plan: Business Starter lists SSO with a third-party identity provider and Chat log events in the audit and investigation tool, with a verified domain. (Slack lists SAML SSO from Business+ and audit logs on Enterprise+.)
- HIPAA BAA from the Admin console: An admin accepts Google’s BAA electronically, and Chat is on the HIPAA included functionality list. (Slack lists HIPAA support on Enterprise+.)
- Email and documents in the same price: Business Starter at $7 includes Gmail with a custom domain, Meet, Drive and Docs as well as Chat.
- External group messages on Starter: The editions table lists external chat for one-to-one and group direct messages on every Business plan, with admin controls to allow or restrict it.
Things to know:
- No free plan for a company: Google points businesses without Workspace to a 14-day trial; the page does not say whether a card is needed.
- Retention and eDiscovery need Business Plus: Vault, for retention rules, holds and search, and automatic deletion of Chat messages are listed on Business Plus at $22 a user. Workaround: On every plan, admins can turn Chat history on or off.
- EU data regions from Business Standard: Data regions (United States or Europe) are supported on Business Standard and Plus, not Business Starter.
- External spaces from Business Standard: Turning on external spaces, and the pricing page’s threaded rooms with guest access, need Business Standard ($14).
Pricing reality: Workspace is billed per user. Business Starter is $7 a month with a one-year commitment or $8.40 flexible; Standard $14 or $16.80; Plus $22 or $26.40; Enterprise through sales. New customers get 10% off the first 20 users for 12 months. For 50 people on Business Starter: 50 × $7 = $350 a month, or $4,200 a year, at list price. With the introductory offer, year one is 20 × $6.30 + 30 × $7 = $336 a month (our arithmetic). Vault, for legal hold and eDiscovery, needs Business Plus: $1,100 a month for 50. The same price covers email, meetings and storage.
Exit path: The editions table lists basic data exports on every Business plan. Google’s Chat page says businesses can migrate data from Slack, Teams or Meta Workplace into Chat with Workspace APIs or the data migration service.

### Zoom Workplace

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/zoom-workplace
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/zoom-workplace
Category: Team chat
Vendor: Zoom Communications
Tagline: Team Chat inside Zoom Workplace, from Pro at $14.16 per user, with retention periods, legal holds and chat history exports on every paid plan.
Value: Retention periods, legal holds and searchable chat exports on the entry paid plan, with meetings, mail and calendar in the same app.
Value kinds: Compliance included
Value detail: Zoom puts the chat records controls a legal or compliance team asks for on every paid account: admins set how long messages are kept (1 day to 10 years), place users on legal hold, and search and export conversations in the Chat History report. Pro, at $14.16 per user a month billed annually, also buys meetings up to 30 hours, mail and calendar clients and cloud recording. Zoom’s SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate list Zoom Chat in scope.
- Legal hold on any paid account: The legal hold article lists a paid Zoom account as the requirement: admins name up to 20 custodians per matter, hold their chat data indefinitely and export it. (Zoom support: Legal Hold for Chat data (2026-10-15))
- Search and export chat history: The Chat History report, listed for Pro, Business, Education and Enterprise accounts, searches by user, keyword or channel and downloads conversations as CSV, or as HTML with attachments. (Zoom support: Viewing stored chat messages in the Chat History report (2026-10-15))
- Zoom Chat in the audit scope: Zoom’s SOC 2 Type 2 report (October 2024 to October 2025) and its ISO 27001:2022 certificate, issued February 17, 2026, both list Zoom Chat. (Zoom Trust Center SOC 2 and ISO 27001 pages (2026-10-15))
Best for: Companies that already meet on Zoom and need chat records they can retain, hold and export without an enterprise contract.
Things to know: SAML single sign-on starts on Business ($18.33), and cloud copies of messages are deleted after 2 years unless an admin sets a longer period.
Score: 5.9/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $14.16/user/mo (Workplace Pro plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Plan priced for 50 people: Workplace Pro, $14.16/user/mo billed annually ($16.99 on the monthly view)
What else the plan includes: Meetings up to 30 hours, Mail and Calendar clients, 10 GB cloud recording per user
50 people, annual terms: $708/mo
Free option: Basic: one free license; cloud chat copies kept 2 years
Retention, legal hold, eDiscovery: Retention periods, legal holds and Chat History search and export on every paid plan
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both (Zoom Chat in scope)
HIPAA BAA: Zoom signs BAAs; plans not named, healthcare through sales
EU data storage: Regional Infrastructure for Education and Enterprise accounts
Company SSO: SAML from Business ($18.33)
Audit log: Admin activity logs from Pro
Working with outside people: External contacts in chats and channels, admin-controlled
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Zoom Workplace puts the most records controls on its entry paid plan here: retention, legal holds and chat exports on Pro. It is also the most expensive way here to give 50 people chat, and SSO starts on Business.
Choose it if: You need legal holds and searchable chat exports without an enterprise plan. · Your company already meets on Zoom and wants chat in the same app. · You want an admin activity log on the entry paid plan.
Look elsewhere if: You want the lowest price per user for chat. · You need SAML single sign-on on the entry paid plan.
Compared with: Microsoft Teams (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-teams) — pick Zoom Workplace when You need retention, legal holds and searchable chat exports on the entry paid plan, with meetings, mail and calendar in one app.; pick Microsoft Teams when You want the lowest price for 50 people, company sign-in on the entry plan and a HIPAA BAA by default. | Slack (https://proofyo.com/products/slack) — pick Zoom Workplace when You need legal holds and chat exports without an enterprise plan, and want meetings in the same price.; pick Slack when You want a lower price for chat alone, a free team plan and history kept for the life of the workspace.
Strengths:
- Legal hold and eDiscovery on Pro: Legal holds and the Chat History report, which searches and exports messages, are documented for paid accounts, so the $14.16 plan includes them. (Slack lists legal holds on Enterprise+, and Microsoft says eDiscovery cases need Microsoft 365 E3 or E5.)
- Retention you set: Admins choose cloud retention from 1 day to 10 years for the account or for user groups, with separate periods for direct messages and channels.
- Admin activity log on Pro: Admin activity logs, searchable by admin or target and exportable as CSV, are listed for Pro, Business, Education and Enterprise plans. (Slack lists audit logs on Enterprise+.)
- Chat with people outside the company: External contacts can be added to 1:1 chats, group chats and channels when admins allow it, with an External label and optional admin approval.
- Meetings, mail and calendar included: Pro also includes meetings up to 30 hours, Zoom Mail and Calendar clients, whiteboards, Clips and 10 GB of cloud recording per user.
Things to know:
- The highest price here for 50 people: Pro is $14.16 per user a month billed annually: $708 a month for 50, against $200 for Teams Essentials and $362.50 for Slack Pro.
- Cloud history kept 2 years by default: Zoom deletes cloud copies of messages after the retention period, 2 years by default; admins of paid accounts can set up to 10 years. Workaround: Set the period early: a message’s retention is fixed when it is sent, so a change applies to new messages.
- SAML single sign-on starts on Business: The plan table marks single sign-on via SAML 2.0 and managed domains on Business ($18.33) and Enterprise, not on Pro.
- BAA and EU hosting through sales: Zoom says it signs BAAs without naming plans and points healthcare buyers to sales; its regional infrastructure for EU hosting is offered to Education and Enterprise accounts.
Pricing reality: Zoom bills per license, annually, as one upfront charge. Pro is $14.16 per user a month and Business $18.33; the page’s monthly view shows $16.99 and $21.99, but its footnote says no plan is charged monthly. Enterprise, above 250 licenses, is through sales. For 50 people on Pro: 50 × $14.16 = $708 a month, or $8,496 a year, paid upfront. Business, for SAML single sign-on, comes to $916.50 a month for 50. Zoom Compliance Manager, for further compliance, DLP and legal hold needs, is listed as an add-on at $6 a month billed annually. The price also buys meetings, mail and calendar clients and cloud recording.
Exit path: Admins can download conversations from the Chat History report as CSV, or as HTML with attachments (up to 50 million messages per CSV export), and export legal hold data in files of up to 1 GB. Messages past the cloud retention period are deleted and cannot be exported.

### Webex

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/webex
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/webex
Category: Team chat
Vendor: Cisco
Tagline: Messaging on every Webex plan, from a free plan to Webex Meet at $12 per user, with HIPAA/BAA compliance listed on all of them.
Value: HIPAA/BAA compliance and chat with outside accounts listed on every Webex plan, with EU data storage set by country, from $12 a user.
Value kinds: Compliance included
Value detail: Webex lists HIPAA/BAA compliance on every plan, the free one included, and stores an organization’s messages in its Frankfurt and Amsterdam data centers when it is set up with a European, Middle Eastern or African country. Webex Meet, at $12 per license a month billed annually, adds 24-hour meetings for up to 200 attendees and the AI Assistant to unlimited messaging. Retention control and legal hold are a step up: they need the Pro Pack add-on.
- HIPAA/BAA on every plan: The plan comparison marks HIPAA/BAA compliance on Webex Free, Webex Meet, Webex Suite and Webex Enterprise. (Webex pricing page, full plan comparison (2026-10-15))
- EU storage chosen at setup: The country picked when an organization is created sets its region; Europe, the Middle East and Africa map to Frankfurt and Amsterdam, for messages, files, identities and encryption keys. (Webex help: Data residency in Webex (2026-10-15))
- eDiscovery without an add-on: Compliance officers can search and export messages in Control Hub; standard customers reach the last 90 days, Pro Pack customers all content. (Webex help: Pro Pack for Control Hub and eDiscovery articles (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that need a BAA or EU data storage for chat and meetings without negotiating an enterprise contract.
Things to know: New organizations keep messages for 360 days by default; longer retention and legal hold need the Pro Pack add-on.
Score: 5.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $12/user/mo (Webex Meet plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Plan priced for 50 people: Webex Meet, $12/user/mo billed annually ($14.50 monthly)
What else the plan includes: Meetings up to 24 hours and 200 attendees, AI Assistant, 10 GB cloud recording
50 people, annual terms: $600/mo
Free option: Webex Free: unlimited messaging, 40-minute meetings, no card
Retention, legal hold, eDiscovery: Messages kept 360 days by default; custom retention and legal hold with Pro Pack; eDiscovery covers 90 days without it
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both (Webex)
HIPAA BAA: HIPAA/BAA marked on every plan
EU data storage: For organizations set up with a European, Middle Eastern or African country
Company SSO: Documented in Control Hub; not on the plan comparison
Audit log: Documented in Control Hub; not on the plan comparison
Working with outside people: Chat with external accounts on every plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Webex and Microsoft Teams are the two here that list a BAA and EU storage on their cheapest paid plans. History control is the trade-off: messages are kept 360 days by default, and retention and legal hold need Pro Pack.
Choose it if: You need a BAA for chat and meetings without an enterprise contract. · Your organization is in Europe and wants messages stored in the EU from the start. · You want to start on a free plan with unlimited messaging.
Look elsewhere if: You need to keep messages longer than 360 days without an add-on. · You need SSO or an audit log confirmed on the plan you buy.
Compared with: Zoom Workplace (https://proofyo.com/products/zoom-workplace) — pick Webex when You want a HIPAA BAA and EU data storage without an enterprise plan, for less per user ($12 against $14.16).; pick Zoom Workplace when You need retention periods, legal holds and an admin activity log on the entry paid plan. | Microsoft Teams (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-teams) — pick Webex when You want a published monthly price and the AI Assistant included at $12 a user.; pick Microsoft Teams when You want the lowest price for 50 people and company sign-in listed on the $4 plan.
Strengths:
- BAA listed on every plan: HIPAA/BAA compliance is marked on Webex Free and every paid plan in the comparison table. (Slack lists HIPAA support on Enterprise+; Zoom points healthcare buyers to sales.)
- EU data by setup country: Organizations created with a European, Middle Eastern or African country keep messages, files and encryption keys in Frankfurt and Amsterdam. (Google lists data regions from Business Standard; Zoom offers EU hosting to Education and Enterprise accounts.)
- Outside accounts on every plan: The comparison marks chat between internal and external accounts (guests) on Webex Free and all paid plans.
- A monthly price is published: Webex Meet is $14.50 billed monthly, or $12 a month on an annual license. (Microsoft lists no monthly price for Teams Essentials.)
- eDiscovery on standard plans: Compliance officers can search and export the last 90 days of messages without Pro Pack.
Things to know:
- Messages kept 360 days by default: New organizations without Pro Pack keep messages, files and whiteboards for 360 days; Webex says it is removing the option to keep them indefinitely. Workaround: Pro Pack raises the default to 1,095 days and allows retention from 1 to 10 years.
- Retention control and legal hold need Pro Pack: The help center calls Pro Pack an add-on “available with certain plans” and points to a Cisco partner for details; the comparison lists custom retention with Pro Pack on Webex Enterprise.
- SSO and audit log not on the plan table: Control Hub help documents single sign-on and an admin activity log, but the plan comparison does not say which plans include them.
- The page leads with a promotion: List prices appear beside an offer of six months free on five or more annual licenses; we used the list price.
Pricing reality: Webex bills per license. Webex Meet is $144 a year ($12 a month) or $14.50 billed monthly; Webex Suite, which adds calling, is $270 a year ($22.50 a month) or $25 monthly; Webex Enterprise is through sales. For 50 people on Webex Meet: 50 × $12 = $600 a month, or $7,200 a year, at list price. Billed monthly it is $725. The page also offers six months free on five or more annual licenses, under its terms. Pro Pack, for retention control, legal hold and eDiscovery beyond 90 days, has no listed price; the help center points to a Cisco partner.
Exit path: Compliance officers can export eDiscovery reports of messages, files and whiteboards from Control Hub (the last 90 days without Pro Pack), and the Events API can feed archiving tools. The pricing FAQ says a paid plan can be cancelled, or downgraded to Webex Free at the end of the billing period.

## Category: Docs and wikis

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/docs-wiki

### Confluence

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/confluence
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/confluence
Category: Docs and wikis
Vendor: Atlassian
Tagline: Team wiki with a free plan for 10 users, every page version kept, and audit logs, data residency and a HIPAA BAA from Standard.
Value: A team wiki that keeps every page version, with audit logs, data residency and a self-serve HIPAA BAA from the Standard plan.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: Confluence puts the controls a security review asks about on its first paid plan: Standard includes audit logs, a choice of data location (EU, US and other regions) and a HIPAA BAA you request from Atlassian Administration, alongside Atlassian’s SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports. Pages keep their whole version history on every plan, and the Free plan covers 10 users with unlimited spaces and pages. Standard also includes Rovo AI credits for every user.
- Residency, audit logs and a BAA on Standard: The plan table marks audit logs and data residency from Standard; the HIPAA docs say Standard and Premium admins sign a BAA from Atlassian Administration. (Pricing page and HIPAA and data residency docs (2026-10-15))
- A free plan a small team can run on: Free covers up to 10 users with unlimited spaces and pages, page versioning and 2 GB of storage. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Every page version kept: The docs say all page history is retained: restoring an old version adds a copy as the latest version and keeps the ones after it. (Confluence Cloud help (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that need audit logs, data residency or a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract, and teams of up to 10 starting for free.
Things to know: SAML SSO and SCIM need Atlassian Guard Standard ($4.35 per user a month billed monthly) unless you are on Enterprise.
Score: 8.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $7.15/user/mo (Standard (monthly billing, 30 users) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billed per: User (annual prices by user tier)
Free plan: Up to 10 users, 2 GB storage
30 people, 10 who write: $214.50/mo (Standard, monthly); $300/mo billed annually
Version history, entry paid plan: Every page version kept
Page analytics, entry paid plan: View counts and a views chart
AI on the entry paid plan: Rovo, 25 credits per user a month
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Standard and up, signed in Atlassian Administration
Data residency: Standard and up (EU, US and other locations)
SAML SSO and SCIM: Atlassian Guard Standard add-on; included on Enterprise
Audit log: Standard and up
Bulk export: Space as PDF, CSV, HTML or XML
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Confluence puts the most security-review controls on its first paid plan and keeps every page version. Budget for Atlassian Guard if you need SAML SSO, and compare monthly and annual billing at your team size.
Choose it if: You need audit logs, data residency or a HIPAA BAA on a self-serve plan. · You want every page version kept. · Your team has 10 people or fewer and wants a free wiki.
Look elsewhere if: You want SAML SSO without a separate subscription below Enterprise. · Most of your readers would never sign in and you do not want to pay per reader.
Compared with: Notion (https://proofyo.com/products/notion) — pick Confluence when You need audit logs, data residency or a HIPAA BAA without an Enterprise contract, or want every page version kept.; pick Notion when You want docs, databases, forms and sites in one workspace, and SAML SSO in a plan rather than an add-on. | Coda (https://proofyo.com/products/coda) — pick Confluence when Everyone needs a full account and you want compliance controls and full version history on the first paid plan.; pick Coda when Only a few people create docs: Coda bills Doc Makers and keeps Editors and Viewers free.
Strengths:
- Controls on the first paid plan: Audit logs, data residency and a self-serve HIPAA BAA all start on Standard. (Notion lists the audit log, data residency and a BAA on Enterprise; Coda lists audit events and HIPAA on Enterprise.)
- Every page version kept: The help docs say all page history is retained, on every plan including Free. (Notion keeps 30 days on Plus; Coda 30 days on Pro.)
- The broadest free plan here: Up to 10 users with unlimited spaces and pages and 2 GB of storage. (Notion and Coda limit shared content on their free plans.)
- Portable spaces: Space admins can export a space as PDF, CSV, HTML or XML; CSV imports into another Confluence Cloud site and XML into Data Center.
- AI credits included: Standard includes Rovo search, chat and agents with 25 credits per user a month.
Things to know:
- SSO and SCIM are a separate subscription: The plan table says SSO and SCIM require Atlassian Guard Standard on Free, Standard and Premium; it is included on Enterprise. Workaround: Guard Standard lists $4.35 per user a month billed monthly, or $2,200 a year for 26–50 users.
- Annual pricing is by user tier: Annual billing charges for the whole tier: 30 users pay the 26–50 tier price of $3,600 a year, while monthly billing at 30 users comes to $2,574 a year.
- Viewer-level analytics on Premium: Standard shows view counts and a views chart; the viewers list, date ranges and space analytics need Premium or Enterprise.
Pricing reality: Confluence bills per user. At 30 users Standard is $7.15 a user a month billed monthly ($214.50), or $3,600 a year for the 26–50 user tier ($300 a month); Premium is $14.10 monthly or $7,100 a year. Readers count as users; guests are free. SAML SSO and SCIM need Atlassian Guard Standard: $4.35 a user a month at 30 users ($130.50), or $2,200 a year for the tier. Standard includes 25 Rovo credits per user a month. Atlassian also sells Confluence in the Teamwork Collection with Jira, Loom and Rovo.
Exit path: Space admins can export a space as PDF, CSV, HTML or XML; the help docs say CSV suits import into another Confluence Cloud site and XML suits import into Confluence Data Center, Atlassian’s self-managed edition. Single pages export to Word or PDF.

### Notion

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/notion
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/notion
Category: Docs and wikis
Vendor: Notion Labs
Tagline: Docs, wikis, databases, forms and sites in one workspace, priced per member from $10 a month billed yearly.
Value: Docs, wikis, databases, forms and published sites in one workspace for $10 per member a month, with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Notion replaces several tools with one workspace: pages and wikis, databases with subtasks and dependencies, custom forms, published sites and automations, priced per member. Plus costs $10 a member billed yearly and adds unlimited guests, 30 days of page history and basic page analytics with a list of viewers; Business at $20 adds SAML SSO and Notion’s AI agent. Notion’s trust center lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and any plan can export the whole workspace as HTML, Markdown and CSV.
- One workspace for docs, data and sites: Plus includes custom forms, custom sites, unlimited charts, database automations and unlimited guests at $10 per member billed yearly. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Audited by third parties: The trust center lists annual SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001/17/18/701, HIPAA and BSI C5 audits. (Notion Trust Center (2026-10-15))
- Your content can leave in open formats: Every plan can export the whole workspace as HTML, Markdown and CSV, and any page as PDF. (Pricing page and export help (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want docs, a wiki and lightweight databases in one tool, and can wait for Enterprise for audit logs and data residency.
Things to know: Every member is billed, SAML SSO starts on Business, and SCIM, the audit log and data residency need Enterprise.
Score: 7.0/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $10/member/mo (Plus (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billed per: Member (guests free)
Free plan: Yes; blocks limited for 2+ members, 7-day history
30 people, 10 who write: $300/mo (Plus, billed yearly)
Version history, entry paid plan: 30 days
Page analytics, entry paid plan: Viewers list and views chart
AI on the entry paid plan: Trial; Notion Agent from Business
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise
Data residency: Enterprise (EU, US, Japan, Korea)
SAML SSO and SCIM: SAML on Business; SCIM on Enterprise
Audit log: Enterprise
Bulk export: Workspace as HTML, Markdown and CSV
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Notion is the broadest workspace here, with open export formats on every plan and viewer analytics on Plus. Paying for every member and keeping audit logs and residency on Enterprise are what hold its score back.
Choose it if: You want one tool for docs, wikis, databases, forms and published pages. · You want to see who viewed a page on the entry paid plan. · You want SAML SSO without a separate security subscription.
Look elsewhere if: You need an audit log, data residency or a HIPAA BAA without an Enterprise contract. · Most of your 30 people only read and you do not want to pay for them.
Compared with: Confluence (https://proofyo.com/products/confluence) — pick Notion when You want docs, databases, forms and sites in one workspace, and SAML SSO included in a plan.; pick Confluence when You need audit logs, data residency or a HIPAA BAA below Enterprise, or every page version kept. | Coda (https://proofyo.com/products/coda) — pick Notion when You want viewer analytics on the entry paid plan and a full workspace export in HTML and Markdown.; pick Coda when Only a few people create docs and the rest can be free Editors or Viewers.
Strengths:
- More than a wiki: Databases, custom forms, published sites, charts and automations share one per-member price on Plus.
- Open export formats on every plan: The whole workspace exports as HTML, Markdown and CSV, including on Free. (Coda’s bulk export covers only your own docs, as .txt and .csv files.)
- Page viewers on the entry paid plan: Plus shows a list of page viewers and a chart of views over time. (Confluence Standard shows view counts; Coda lists doc and page analytics on Enterprise.)
- SAML SSO in a plan, not an add-on: Business ($20 billed yearly) includes SAML SSO, private teamspaces and Notion Agent.
Things to know:
- Readers are billed as members: Paid plans charge per member. Guests are free, but they see only individual pages shared with them, not teamspaces.
- Compliance controls on Enterprise: SCIM, the audit log, data residency and a HIPAA BAA are listed for Enterprise only. Workaround: Business adds SAML SSO and domain verification without an enterprise contract.
- Full AI starts on Business: Free and Plus get a limited trial of Notion Agent, AI Meeting Notes and research mode; Business includes them.
- Free plan is for individuals: Blocks are unlimited for one person but limited once a workspace has two or more members.
Pricing reality: Notion bills every member: Plus is $10 a member a month billed yearly or $12 monthly, Business $20 or $24. For 30 people on Plus that is $300 a month billed yearly; with Notion Agent and SAML SSO on Business it is $600. Guests are free but see only pages shared with them. New members take a free seat or add a prorated one; removed members free a seat but earn no credit. Custom Agents use Notion credits at $10 per 1,000 after a free trial. Custom domains for sites are paid per domain.
Exit path: Any plan can export the whole workspace as HTML, Markdown and CSV, with uploaded files. The help docs say the export leaves out pages the exporter cannot access, and that an export cannot be re-uploaded to rebuild a workspace. Business and Enterprise can also export the workspace as PDF.

### Coda

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/coda
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/coda
Category: Docs and wikis
Vendor: Superhuman
Tagline: Docs with tables and automations, now sold as Superhuman Docs; you pay only for Doc Makers, from $12 a month billed annually.
Value: Docs with tables, formulas and automations where only the people who create docs are billed: $12 a Doc Maker, with Editors and Viewers free.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Coda, now Superhuman Docs, charges for Doc Makers, the people who create docs and manage folders; Editors who work in existing docs and Viewers who read and comment are free. That makes it the lowest figure here for a company where a few people write and many read: $120 a month for 10 Doc Makers on Pro. Docs combine pages with connected tables, formulas, automations and Packs that integrate other tools, so teams can build trackers without a separate app. Pro also includes Docs AI while it is in beta, Grammarly on annual billing and Superhuman Go.
- Readers and editors are free: The pricing FAQ says the workspace is billed by the number of Doc Makers; Editors, Viewers and Guest Editors are free. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Tables and automations inside docs: Every plan includes connected tables, views, forms, formulas and automations; Pro raises the automation quota and refreshes connectors daily. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- AI and writing help in the plan: Pro includes Docs AI with high limits under fair use while in beta, Grammarly on annual billing and Superhuman Go. (Pricing page and help center (2026-10-15))
Best for: Companies where a few people build and own docs and many others edit or read them.
Things to know: SAML SSO, SCIM, audit events, page analytics and HIPAA are on Enterprise, and the pages state no data residency option.
Score: 6.4/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $12/Doc Maker/mo (Pro (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billed per: Doc Maker (Editors and Viewers free)
Free plan: Yes; shared docs limited, 7-day history
30 people, 10 who write: $120/mo (Pro, billed annually, 10 Doc Makers)
Version history, entry paid plan: 30 days
Page analytics, entry paid plan: Enterprise only
AI on the entry paid plan: Docs AI (beta), fair use
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both (SOC 2 report for Enterprise customers)
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise (contact sales)
Data residency: Not stated
SAML SSO and SCIM: Enterprise
Audit log: Enterprise (audit events)
Bulk export: Own docs as .txt and .csv
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Coda (now Superhuman Docs) costs the least here when few people create docs, because Editors and Viewers are free. Admin, analytics and compliance controls sit on Enterprise, which is what lowers its score.
Choose it if: A few people create docs and many others edit or read them. · You want docs that work like lightweight apps, with tables and automations. · You already use Grammarly or want it bundled.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO, an audit log or page analytics without an Enterprise contract. · You need to choose where your data is stored.
Compared with: Confluence (https://proofyo.com/products/confluence) — pick Coda when Only a few people create docs and you want tables, formulas and automations in them.; pick Confluence when You need audit logs, data residency or a HIPAA BAA on a self-serve plan, or every page version kept. | Notion (https://proofyo.com/products/notion) — pick Coda when Most of your people read or edit existing docs and should not be billed.; pick Notion when You want page viewer analytics on the entry paid plan and a whole-workspace export in HTML and Markdown.
Strengths:
- Only creators are billed: Doc Makers are paid; Editors, Viewers and Guest Editors are free, on every paid plan including Enterprise. (Notion bills every member and Confluence every user.)
- Lowest figure in our scenario: $120 a month for 10 Doc Makers on Pro, billed annually. (Confluence comes to $214.50 billed monthly; Notion to $300 billed yearly.)
- Docs that work like apps: Connected tables, formulas, buttons, automations and Packs come with every plan.
- AI and Grammarly in Pro: Docs AI is included with high limits under fair use while in beta, and annual Pro includes Grammarly and Superhuman Go.
Things to know:
- Admin and compliance controls on Enterprise: SAML SSO, SCIM, audit events and HIPAA are listed only on Enterprise, and the SOC 2 Type 2 report is available to Enterprise customers.
- No page analytics below Enterprise: Doc and page analytics are marked for Enterprise only.
- Data location not stated: The pricing and trust pages we read offer no choice of data region.
- Bulk export covers your own docs: Export My Data produces .txt and .csv files for docs you own; single docs export as PDF and tables as CSV. Workaround: Enterprise admins can export docs to PDF or HTML through the Admin API.
Pricing reality: Coda bills Doc Makers: Pro is $12 a month billed annually or $15 monthly, Business $33 or $40. Editors and Viewers are free, so 10 Doc Makers on Pro cost $120 a month billed annually. Who must be a Doc Maker is your call: the FAQ says Doc Makers create docs and folders, while Editors can edit existing docs. Docs AI is included while in beta and the help center says its pricing after beta is not set. Grammarly is included on annual Pro and costs $15 a Maker a month on monthly billing. Removing members earns a prorated credit, not a refund.
Exit path: Docs export as PDF and tables as CSV. Export My Data in account settings produces .txt and .csv files for the docs you own. The help center says Enterprise admins can export docs to PDF or HTML through the Admin API.

### GitBook

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/gitbook
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/gitbook
Category: Docs and wikis
Vendor: GitBook
Tagline: A docs platform with two-way Git Sync, priced per published site plus $12 per member billed annually; readers of a published site are free.
Value: Published docs with two-way GitHub and GitLab sync, auto-generated API references and an MCP server, where people who only read the site are not billed.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: GitBook is built for documentation that gets published: product guides, API references and help centers, edited in a block editor or synced both ways with a GitHub or GitLab repository as Markdown. Every published site gets llms.txt files and its own MCP server, and API references update from an OpenAPI spec. You pay per published site plus $12 per member billed annually; readers of a published site do not count, and page views are unlimited. The trust center lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
- Two-way Git Sync on every plan: Changes made in GitBook sync to GitHub or GitLab, and commits there update GitBook, on Free as well as paid plans. (Pricing page and Git Sync docs (2026-10-15))
- API docs and AI-ready publishing: Auto-updating API references from an OpenAPI spec, an interactive API playground, llms.txt files and an MCP server per site are listed on every plan. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Readers are not billed: The FAQ says visitors reading a published site do not count as paid collaborators, and page views are unlimited. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-15))
Best for: Engineering and product teams publishing product, API or help docs, especially teams that keep docs in a Git repository.
Things to know: Every member inside the app is billed, readers included; private reader sign-in needs Ultimate, and SAML SSO needs Enterprise.
Score: 6.1/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $65/site/mo + $12/member (Essential (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billed per: Published site plus each member; site readers free
Free plan: 1 member, unlimited basic sites
30 people, 10 who write: $369/mo (Ultimate site + 10 members, readers via authenticated access); $425/mo with all 30 as members on Essential
Version history, entry paid plan: Every change listed, with rollback
Page analytics, entry paid plan: Page views, visitors and site searches
AI on the entry paid plan: 2,000 AI credits per site a month; AI Assistant Ask for readers
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
Data residency: Not offered; data stored and processed in the US
SAML SSO and SCIM: SAML on Enterprise; SCIM not listed
Audit log: Enterprise (audit events API)
Bulk export: Space as Markdown through Git Sync (GitHub or GitLab)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, GitBook is strongest for published and developer docs: Git Sync, full history and free readers on published sites. As an internal wiki, readers inside the app are paid seats and admin controls sit on Enterprise, which lowers its score.
Choose it if: You publish product, API or help docs to readers outside your team. · Your developers want docs synced with a GitHub or GitLab repository. · You want API references generated from an OpenAPI spec.
Look elsewhere if: Most of your readers are colleagues who would need paid seats. · You need a HIPAA BAA or a choice of data region.
Compared with: Confluence (https://proofyo.com/products/confluence) — pick GitBook when You publish docs to readers who should not need a paid account, or you keep docs in a Git repository.; pick Confluence when You need audit logs, data residency or a HIPAA BAA on a self-serve plan, or a free plan for up to 10 users. | Notion (https://proofyo.com/products/notion) — pick GitBook when Your docs live in GitHub or GitLab, or you publish API references and want readers of the published site to be free.; pick Notion when You want docs, databases and forms in one workspace for $10 a member, with a viewer list on Plus. | Slite (https://proofyo.com/products/slite) — pick GitBook when You publish docs outside the company and want readers of the published site to be free.; pick Slite when You want an internal knowledge base with doc verification and a viewer list on the entry plan, hosted in the EU.
Strengths:
- Readers of a published site are free: Members are billed; visitors to a published site are not, and page views are unlimited. (Notion bills every member and Confluence every user, readers included.)
- Docs as code: Two-way Git Sync with GitHub or GitLab on every plan, including Free.
- Version history with rollback: The docs describe a version history of every change, with diffs and rollback, on every plan. (Notion keeps 30 days of page history on Plus.)
- Built for AI readers: Each published site gets llms.txt files, Markdown page versions and its own MCP server on every plan.
Things to know:
- Readers inside the app are paid seats: Guests and readers in the organization cost the same as other members; private reader access without seats needs authenticated access on Ultimate ($249 a site a month). Workaround: Essential offers private share links that can be revoked.
- SAML SSO and the audit log on Enterprise: SAML SSO is Enterprise only, and the audit events API needs an Enterprise plan; SCIM is not listed.
- No HIPAA or data residency stated: The privacy statement says data is stored and processed in the United States; we found no BAA or region choice.
- No refunds: The FAQ says GitBook does not offer refunds, and annual plans are paid 12 months up front.
Pricing reality: GitBook charges per published site plus per member. Essential is $65 a site a month and Ultimate $249 billed annually ($79 and $299 monthly); each member is $12 ($15 monthly), whatever their role. For 30 people where 10 write: one Ultimate site with 10 members is $249 + $120 = $369 a month, with the 20 readers signing in through authenticated access; with all 30 as members on Essential it is $65 + $360 = $425. AI features use credits: 2,000 a month per Essential site and 10,000 per Ultimate site, with extra usage at $0.01 a credit or packs from $47.50 a month. On annual plans, members added during the term are billed in a true-up.
Exit path: Git Sync keeps a space as Markdown files in a GitHub or GitLab repository on every plan, which doubles as an export. Pages and sections export to PDF from Essential, and the API can read and export space content.

### Slite

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/slite
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/slite
Category: Docs and wikis
Vendor: Slite
Tagline: An internal knowledge base with doc verification, AI answers and viewer lists, from $10 per member billed yearly, hosted in the EU.
Value: An internal knowledge base that keeps every doc version, shows who read a doc and asks owners to re-verify docs, from $10 per member billed yearly.
Value kinds: Worth the price
Value detail: Slite is built for a company’s internal docs rather than published sites. Its Basic plan, $10 per member billed yearly, keeps each doc’s full history, shows views and, once an admin turns it on, who viewed a doc, and adds a verification workflow so owners re-check docs before they go stale. Ask answers questions from your docs in natural language. All production data is hosted in the EU, and the security page lists SOC 2 Type II.
- History and viewers on the entry plan: Basic includes doc history from creation and doc insights with views, unique visitors and a viewer list. (Pricing page and help center (2026-10-15))
- Docs that stay verified: Doc verification, doc ownership and the Knowledge Management Panel are on every plan. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- EU hosting by default: The security page says all production data is hosted in the EU, on Google Cloud in Belgium. (Security page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want a focused internal wiki where docs stay current and they can see who read them, and that are comfortable with EU hosting.
Things to know: There is no free plan, every member is billed until Enterprise reader-only seats, and SSO on Pro uses OpenID Connect rather than SAML.
Score: 5.5/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $10/member/mo (Basic (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billed per: Member (guests free; reader-only seats on Enterprise)
Free plan: None; 14-day trial
30 people, 10 who write: $300/mo (Basic, 30 members, billed yearly)
Version history, entry paid plan: Every change since the doc was created
Page analytics, entry paid plan: Views, unique visitors and a viewer list
AI on the entry paid plan: Ask: 30 questions per seat a month; 30 AI edits per user
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise
Data residency: EU only (Belgium); no choice of region
SAML SSO and SCIM: OpenID Connect SSO on Pro; SAML not listed; SCIM on Enterprise
Audit log: Enterprise
Bulk export: Workspace as Markdown or HTML (owner)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Slite puts full history, viewer analytics and doc verification on its $10 Basic plan. No free plan, readers billed until Enterprise and admin controls on Enterprise are what lower its score.
Choose it if: You want an internal wiki that shows who read a doc and flags stale ones. · You want every doc version kept on the entry plan. · You prefer your data hosted in the EU.
Look elsewhere if: You need a free plan or free read-only seats below Enterprise. · Your identity team requires SAML SSO or ISO 27001.
Compared with: Notion (https://proofyo.com/products/notion) — pick Slite when You want full doc history and doc verification on the entry plan, and EU hosting.; pick Notion when You want databases, forms and sites in the same workspace, ISO 27001, and SAML SSO on Business. | Confluence (https://proofyo.com/products/confluence) — pick Slite when You want a viewer list and doc verification on the entry plan, and AI answers from your docs.; pick Confluence when You need a free plan, a self-serve HIPAA BAA, audit logs or a choice of data region below Enterprise. | GitBook (https://proofyo.com/products/gitbook) — pick Slite when Your docs are internal and you want to see who read them and keep them verified.; pick GitBook when You publish docs outside the company, sync them with Git, or want readers of a published site to be free.
Strengths:
- Full doc history on every plan: The help center says doc history shows every change since a doc was created, with restore. (Notion keeps 30 days on Plus; Coda 30 days on Pro.)
- See who read a doc: Doc insights show views and unique visitors on Basic, and a viewer list once an admin enables it. (Confluence Standard shows view counts; its viewers list needs Premium.)
- Keeping docs current: Doc verification, doc ownership and the Knowledge Management Panel are on every plan.
- Workspace backup in open formats: The workspace owner can request a Markdown or HTML backup, or a monthly automatic Markdown backup. (Coda’s bulk export covers only your own docs.)
Things to know:
- No free plan: After the 14-day trial, a paid plan is needed to keep using Slite.
- Readers are billed until Enterprise: Reader-only seats are an Enterprise feature; on Basic and Pro every member is billed. Guests are free but meant for external collaborators.
- SSO is OpenID Connect, not SAML: Pro includes SSO through OpenID Connect for Okta, Azure AD, OneLogin and others; the pages list no SAML option. SCIM and the audit log are Enterprise only.
- No region choice or ISO certification stated: All production data is hosted in the EU; the security page lists SOC 2 Type II but no ISO 27001.
Pricing reality: Slite bills per member: Basic $10 a month and Pro $20, billed yearly; the pricing page lists no monthly rate. For 30 people on Basic that is 30 × $10 = $300 a month ($3,600 a year); on Pro, with the Slite Agent and OpenID Connect SSO, $600. Reader-only seats, which would leave readers unbilled, are an Enterprise feature priced by sales. Guests are free, up to 5 per paying member. On yearly plans, members added during the term are prorated each month; removed members free a licence, and the lower count applies at renewal. Ask on Basic is limited to 30 questions per seat a month; Pro includes 50 monthly credits per seat for the agent.
Exit path: Single docs export as PDF, Markdown or HTML, without history or comments. The workspace owner can request a backup of the whole workspace as Markdown or HTML, or turn on a monthly Markdown backup; files over 200 MiB are left out.

## Category: Business password managers

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/password-managers

### Bitwarden

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/bitwarden
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/bitwarden
Category: Business password managers
Vendor: Bitwarden
Tagline: Open-source business password manager from $4 a user, with SSO, policies and a self-host option on Enterprise at $6.
Value: Login with SSO, enterprise policies and a self-host option for $6 a user, on open-source clients with public audit reports.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: Bitwarden gives a 25-person company SSO, SCIM, event logs, policies and account recovery on Enterprise for $150 a month billed annually, the lowest figure in this comparison. Security reviewers can read its client code and its recent third-party audit reports without asking, and its compliance page lists SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO 27001 and HIPAA. Teams that want to run the server themselves can self-host on Enterprise.
- Audit reports anyone can read: The audit page links 2025 assessments of the core application, web vault, browser extension, desktop and mobile apps, plus a cryptography review by ETH Zurich. ("Is Bitwarden audited?" help page (2026-10-15))
- SSO from $6 a user: Enterprise adds login with SSO, enterprise policies, account recovery and self-hosting for $2 a user more than Teams. (Business pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Open-source clients and a self-host option: The compliance page points to the code on GitHub, and Enterprise organizations can run the Bitwarden server on their own network. (Compliance page and plan docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Companies that want SSO and policies at the lowest per-user price, or that need to inspect code, read audits or self-host.
Things to know: Login with SSO and enterprise policies are on Enterprise, not Teams.
Score: 8.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $4/user/mo (Teams plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Plan with SSO unlock: Enterprise ($6/user/mo, annual)
25 users with SSO, billed annually: $150/mo
Monthly billing: Offered per the docs; rate not listed
Free option: Free organization for 2 people; 14-day trial
Seat terms: Per user, base of 1 user, no cap
SSO protocols: SAML 2.0 or OpenID Connect
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both, plus a public SOC 3
Third-party audit reports: Public, including 2025 reports
Client source code: Open source
Self-hosting: Enterprise
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Bitwarden is the most complete package here for a 25-person company that needs SSO: the lowest price, public audits, open-source clients and a self-host option. SSO and policies sit on Enterprise rather than Teams.
Choose it if: You need SSO and SCIM at the lowest listed price per user. · Your security review wants to read audit reports or client code before signing. · You may need to self-host the server.
Look elsewhere if: You want SSO on the cheapest business tier. · You need a monthly price on the pricing page before you start.
Compared with: Dashlane (https://proofyo.com/products/dashlane) — pick Bitwarden when You want SSO at the lowest per-user price, public audit reports or a self-host option.; pick Dashlane when You want SSO and SCIM on the only self-serve plan, without choosing between tiers. | 1Password (https://proofyo.com/products/1password) — pick Bitwarden when You want SSO for less and open-source clients you can review.; pick 1Password when You want ISO 27017, 27018 and 27701 as well as 27001, or a trial that states no card is needed.
Strengths:
- Lowest price for SSO here: Enterprise is $6 a user billed annually: $150 a month for 25 people. (Dashlane comes to $200 and 1Password Business to $224.75 for the same 25 users.)
- Recent audit reports are public: Third-party reports from 2025 can be downloaded from the audit page without a request. (Dashlane’s penetration test reports need a Trust Center access request; 1Password distributes its current ones through its Trust Center.)
- Open-source clients: The compliance page points to the Bitwarden codebase on GitHub, open for anyone to review.
- A self-host option: Enterprise organizations can run the Bitwarden server on their own network, compatible with all Bitwarden clients.
- Free option for two: A Free organization lets two people share items in up to two collections, with no time limit.
Things to know:
- SSO and policies need Enterprise: Teams includes SCIM and event logs, but login with SSO, enterprise policies and account recovery start on Enterprise. Workaround: Enterprise is $2 a user more than Teams.
- Monthly rate not listed: The docs say business plans can be billed monthly, but the pricing page shows annual prices only.
- Payment details at sign-up: The organization docs say payment information is entered when a paid organization is created, with the charge after the 14-day trial.
Pricing reality: Bitwarden bills per user, with a base of one user and no cap. Teams is $4 a user a month billed annually; Enterprise is $6. For 25 people with SSO, Enterprise comes to 25 × $6 = $150 a month, or $1,800 a year. Without SSO, Teams would be $100 a month. The pricing page lists annual prices only and says taxes are not included; the docs say monthly billing is available, but its rate is not on the page. Secrets Manager is a separate add-on ($6 a user on Teams, $12 on Enterprise). Every Enterprise user also gets a free Families plan.
Exit path: Encrypted export is a core feature on every plan, and event logs can be exported as CSV from the web app or as JSON through the Public API. The plan docs say Enterprise organizations can also be imported to a self-hosted server.

### LastPass

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/lastpass
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/lastpass
Category: Business password managers
Vendor: LastPass
Tagline: Business password manager with federated login, directory integrations and SIEM on Business at $7 a user, bought online.
Value: Federated login, directory provisioning and SIEM integration on a self-serve plan at $7 a user, with SOC 2, SOC 3 and ISO 27001 and 27701.
Value kinds: Compliance included
Value detail: LastPass Business gives a 25-person company login through its identity provider, automated provisioning from Entra ID, Okta, Google Workspace and others, SIEM integrations and 100+ policies for $175 a month billed annually, bought online. The Compliance Center lists SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701, with the SOC 3 report and ISO certificates available for download. The business trial runs 14 days with no card.
- SSO, provisioning and SIEM on one plan: The plan comparison marks federated login, directory integrations and SIEM integrations on Business and Business Max. (Pricing page plan comparison (2026-10-15))
- Certificates you can download: The Compliance Center offers the 2026 SOC 3 report and the ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certificates for download; the SOC 2 Type II report needs an access request. (LastPass Compliance Center (2026-10-15))
- Zero knowledge with federated login: The federated login page says LastPass splits the credentials for a federated login into separately stored keys that are combined only on the user’s device. (Federated login feature page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Companies that want SSO, directory provisioning and SIEM export bought online on one mid-priced plan.
Things to know: Federated login starts on Business; Teams ($4.25, up to 50 users) does not include it.
Score: 6.9/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $4.25/user/mo (Teams plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Plan with SSO unlock: Business ($7/user/mo, annual)
25 users with SSO, billed annually: $175/mo
Monthly billing: Not listed; plans billed annually
Free option: 14-day trial, no card
Seat terms: Per user; Teams up to 50 users, Business no limit
SSO protocols: Federated login with Entra ID, Okta, Google Workspace, Ping, OneLogin or AD FS (protocol not stated)
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both, plus ISO 27701 and a public SOC 3
Third-party audit reports: Pentest letters in the Compliance Center, on request
Client source code: None stated
Self-hosting: None stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, LastPass Business is a straightforward self-serve buy for SSO, provisioning and SIEM export at $7 a user. Buyers will also weigh the 2022 incident, which LastPass documents on its own pages along with the changes it made.
Choose it if: You want SSO, directory provisioning and SIEM export on one plan bought online. · Your vendor review wants a SOC 3 report and ISO certificates it can download. · You have fewer than 50 people and do not need SSO yet (Teams).
Look elsewhere if: Your review requires recent penetration test reports without an access request. · You need monthly billing or a self-hosted server.
Compared with: Dashlane (https://proofyo.com/products/dashlane) — pick LastPass when You want SSO for less per user ($7 against $8) and a SOC 3 report you can download.; pick Dashlane when You want SSO and SCIM on the only self-serve plan, or client source code published for review. | 1Password (https://proofyo.com/products/1password) — pick LastPass when You want SSO for $7 a user rather than $8.99, and a SOC 3 report you can download.; pick 1Password when You want monthly billing, or ISO 27017 and 27018 alongside ISO 27001. | Keeper (https://proofyo.com/products/keeper) — pick LastPass when You want SSO, directory sync and SIEM integration bought online, with no quote or add-on.; pick Keeper when You want the lower listed SSO price ($6 a user) and ISO 27017 and 27018 certificates.
Strengths:
- SSO bought online: Business, with federated login, directory integrations and SIEM integrations, has a Subscribe now button and a listed price of $7 a user. (Keeper puts SSO on Enterprise, sold through a quote request.)
- SIEM on the SSO plan: SIEM integrations with Splunk and Microsoft Sentinel are marked on Business, with no add-on. (Keeper marks SIEM integration as needing its reporting add-on on every plan.)
- Certificates to download: The 2026 SOC 3 report and the ISO 27001 and 27701 certificates download from the Compliance Center without a request.
- Trial without a card: The business trial runs 14 days, and the pricing page says no credit card is required.
- Many identity providers: Federated login lists Microsoft Active Directory, Entra ID, Google Workspace, Okta, PingOne, PingFederate and OneLogin.
Things to know:
- The 2022 security incident: LastPass says backups of customer vault data were taken from its cloud storage in 2022; sensitive vault fields were encrypted, URLs were not, and master passwords are not stored by LastPass. Workaround: Its March 1, 2023 update links security bulletins with recommended actions for Business administrators.
- SSO starts on Business: Teams ($4.25 a user, up to 50 users) has no federated login or directory integrations; Business is $7.
- Reports on request: The SOC 2 Type II report and the penetration test letters in the Compliance Center need an access request.
- No monthly rate or self-hosting listed: Business prices are listed billed annually, with no monthly rate, and the pages describe no self-hosted server.
Pricing reality: LastPass bills per user, annually. Teams is $4.25 a user for up to 50 users, Business $7 and Business Max $11. For 25 people with SSO, Business comes to 25 × $7 = $175 a month, or $2,100 a year. Without SSO, Teams would be $106.25 a month. Business includes SSO for 3 cloud apps from the LastPass catalog; unlimited SSO apps, advanced MFA and SaaS and AI monitoring are on Business Max, $275 a month for 25 users. Every Business user also gets a LastPass Families account. A customer success manager is account-based, through sales.

### Dashlane

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/dashlane
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/dashlane
Category: Business password managers
Vendor: Dashlane
Tagline: Business password management at $8 a user, billed annually, with SSO, SCIM and SIEM integration on its self-serve plan.
Value: SSO, SCIM and SIEM integration on the only self-serve business plan, at $8 a user billed annually.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Dashlane puts identity-provider integration on its one self-serve business plan, so a 25-person company gets SSO, SCIM, admin policies and activity logs for $200 a month billed annually, with no tier to step up to first. Its security page describes zero-knowledge encryption extended to SSO and provisioning through AWS Nitro Enclaves, and the Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
- SSO and SCIM on the self-serve plan: The pricing table marks SSO, SCIM, SIEM integration and enforceable admin policies on Omnix Password Management. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Zero-knowledge SSO and provisioning: The security page says SSO and SCIM operations run inside AWS Nitro Enclaves so zero-knowledge holds through provisioning and login, and admin activity logs are encrypted. (Security page (2026-10-15))
- Trial without a card: The trial page offers 14 days of the Omnix platform with no credit card, for up to 10,000 employees per the help center. (Trial page and help center (2026-10-15))
Best for: Companies that want SSO, SCIM and SIEM export from day one without choosing between business tiers.
Things to know: Billing is annual only, and audit reports in the Trust Center need an access request.
Score: 6.8/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $8/user/mo (Omnix Password Management plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Plan with SSO unlock: Omnix Password Management ($8/user/mo, annual)
25 users with SSO, billed annually: $200/mo
Monthly billing: Not offered for current plans
Free option: 14-day trial, no card
Seat terms: Per user; checkout opens at 10 seats, no minimum stated
SSO protocols: SAML 2.0
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both
Third-party audit reports: In the Trust Center, on request
Client source code: Published for review (Android, Apple, web extension)
Self-hosting: None stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Dashlane is the simplest buy for SSO: one self-serve plan at $8 a user includes it. Plan around annual-only billing and audit reports that need an access request.
Choose it if: You want SSO, SCIM and SIEM export without choosing between business tiers. · You want zero-knowledge to hold through SSO and provisioning. · You may add phishing and credential-risk detection later.
Look elsewhere if: You need monthly billing. · Your review needs audit reports without an access request, or a self-hosted server.
Compared with: Bitwarden (https://proofyo.com/products/bitwarden) — pick Dashlane when You want SSO on the only self-serve plan and a trial that needs no card.; pick Bitwarden when You want SSO for less per user, public audit reports or a self-host option. | 1Password (https://proofyo.com/products/1password) — pick Dashlane when You want SSO and SCIM for $8 a user rather than $8.99.; pick 1Password when You want monthly billing or ISO 27017, 27018 and 27701 as well as 27001.
Strengths:
- SSO on the cheapest business plan: The only self-serve business plan includes SSO, SCIM, SIEM integration and admin policies. (Bitwarden puts SSO on Enterprise, and 1Password on Business rather than Teams Starter Pack.)
- Zero-knowledge through SSO: SSO and SCIM run inside AWS Nitro Enclaves, and admin activity logs are encrypted end to end, per the security page.
- Trial without a card: 14 days of the Omnix platform with no credit card. (Bitwarden’s docs say payment information is entered when a paid organization is created.)
- Client source published: Dashlane publishes the source of its Android and Apple apps and web extension on GitHub for anyone to audit.
Things to know:
- Annual billing only: The pricing page lists annual prices, and the help center says only the discontinued Starter plan renewed monthly.
- Reports need an access request: The SOC 2 report, ISO certificate and penetration test reports in the Trust Center are locked behind an access request.
- No self-hosting stated: The pages we read describe Dashlane as a cloud service and no self-hosted server.
- Support depends on the account: The pricing table marks phone support, onboarding and a Customer Success Manager on Password Management; the help center says these are for qualifying accounts.
Pricing reality: Dashlane bills per seat, annually. Omnix Password Management is $8 a seat a month, so 25 people come to 25 × $8 = $200 a month, or $2,400 a year. The checkout opens at 10 seats ($960 a year); no minimum is stated, so we assume seats can be bought one at a time above that. Seats added mid-term are billed pro rata, and plans renew at the full seat count: removing seats means contacting support at least 30 days before renewal. Risk detection and phishing alerts are in Credential Protection ($4 a user, through sales) or the custom Enterprise package for more than 50 users.

### 1Password

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/1password
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/1password
Category: Business password managers
Vendor: 1Password (AgileBits)
Tagline: Business password manager with unlock with SSO, automated provisioning and SIEM events on Business at $8.99 a user.
Value: Unlock with SSO, automated provisioning and SIEM events on a per-user plan with monthly or annual billing, backed by SOC 2 and four ISO certificates.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Easy to adopt
Value detail: 1Password Business gives a 25-person company unlock with SSO, automated provisioning, custom policies, usage reports and SIEM event streaming for $224.75 a month billed annually, or $274.75 billed monthly. Its pages list SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701, and every user gets a free Families plan. The trial runs 14 days with no card.
- Four ISO certifications and SOC 2: The security audits page lists ISO 27001:2022, 27017, 27018 and 27701 and SOC 2 Type II; the SOC 2 report is available on request. (Security audits help page (2026-10-15))
- SSO, provisioning and SIEM on Business: Business adds unlock with SSO, automated provisioning from six identity providers and event streaming to SIEM tools such as Splunk and Sentinel. (Business pricing page and docs (2026-10-15))
- Monthly billing and a no-card trial: Business is listed at $10.99 a user billed monthly as well as $8.99 annually, and the 14-day trial needs no credit card. (Business pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Companies that want SSO on monthly or annual terms and a broad set of ISO certificates for vendor reviews.
Things to know: SSO starts on Business, and Teams Starter Pack stops at 20 users.
Score: 6.7/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $24.95/mo (Teams Starter Pack (10 users) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Plan with SSO unlock: Business ($8.99/user/mo, annual)
25 users with SSO, billed annually: $224.75/mo
Monthly billing: Yes, $10.99/user on Business
Free option: 14-day trial, no card
Seat terms: Business: 1-user minimum; Teams Starter Pack: 10 users, up to 20
SSO protocols: OpenID Connect
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both, plus ISO 27017, 27018 and 27701
Third-party audit reports: 2020 reports public; current pentests via the Trust Center
Client source code: None stated
Self-hosting: None stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, 1Password Business has the broadest certification list and the only listed monthly price here, at the highest figure for 25 users with SSO. Its lower score reflects price, gated current pentest reports and no self-hosting.
Choose it if: You want SSO and provisioning on monthly or annual terms. · Your vendor review asks for ISO 27017, 27018 or 27701 alongside SOC 2. · You have fewer than 20 people and do not need SSO yet (Teams Starter Pack).
Look elsewhere if: Your identity provider setup requires SAML for SSO. · You need recent audit reports you can download without a request, published client code or self-hosting.
Compared with: Bitwarden (https://proofyo.com/products/bitwarden) — pick 1Password when You want monthly billing listed on the page or ISO 27017, 27018 and 27701.; pick Bitwarden when You want SSO for less per user, public audit reports, open-source clients or self-hosting. | Dashlane (https://proofyo.com/products/dashlane) — pick 1Password when You want to pay monthly, or a small team that does not need SSO yet wants the flat Teams Starter Pack.; pick Dashlane when You want SSO and SCIM for $8 a user, or SAML rather than OpenID Connect.
Strengths:
- The broadest ISO list here: ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701, plus SOC 2 Type II. (Bitwarden and Dashlane list ISO 27001 without the cloud and privacy extensions.)
- Monthly billing listed: Business is $10.99 a user billed monthly, so a company can start without an annual commitment. (Dashlane lists annual billing only; Bitwarden does not list a monthly rate.)
- SIEM events and reports: Business streams sign-in attempts, item usage and audit events to SIEM tools, and adds custom usage reports.
- Trial without a card: Both business plans have a 14-day trial with no credit card.
- Developer tools on every plan: SSH key signing, Git commit signing, the CLI and SDKs are marked on both business plans.
Things to know:
- SSO starts on Business: Teams Starter Pack has no SSO or automated provisioning, and it stops at 20 users, so a 25-person company needs Business.
- OIDC only for SSO: Unlock with SSO uses OpenID Connect; Owners cannot use it, and it is not compatible with data export until an administrator turns it off.
- Current pentests via the Trust Center: The publicly linked audit reports are from 2020 and earlier; current penetration test reports are distributed through the Trust Center.
- No self-hosting or client code stated: The pages we read describe no self-hosted server and no published client source code.
Pricing reality: 1Password bills Business per user: $8.99 a month billed annually ($107.88 a year) or $10.99 monthly. For 25 people with SSO, that is 25 × $8.99 = $224.75 a month billed annually, or 25 × $10.99 = $274.75 billed monthly. Teams Starter Pack is cheaper for small teams: $24.95 a month billed annually for up to 10 users, plus up to 10 seats at $4.99 each. At 20 users it comes to $74.85 a month, but it has no SSO and no room for a 25th user. The page card shows $2.49 a user; the FAQ gives $24.95 for 10. Training and a Customer Success Manager are listed for organizations with 101+ users.
Exit path: The SSO docs say unlock with SSO is not currently compatible with exporting data; an administrator can turn it off for the account to allow export. Events Reporting lets you keep 1Password activity in your own SIEM under your own retention.

### Keeper

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/keeper
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/keeper
Category: Business password managers
Vendor: Keeper Security
Tagline: Business password manager from $2 a user, with SAML SSO, SCIM and directory sync on Enterprise at $6, bought through a quote.
Value: SAML SSO, SCIM and directory sync for $6 a user, backed by SOC 2, SOC 3 and ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 on every plan.
Value kinds: Compliance included
Value detail: Keeper Enterprise gives a 25-person company SAML single sign-on, SCIM provisioning, Active Directory and LDAP sync and role-based policies at a listed $150 a month billed annually, the same figure as Bitwarden, though Enterprise is bought through a quote request. Its plan table lists SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3 and ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 on every plan, and the Trust Center offers the SOC 3 report for download. Teams that do not need SSO can start on Business at $4 a user.
- Certifications listed on every plan: The plan table marks SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3, and ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018, on Business Starter, Business and Enterprise; the SOC 3 report downloads from the Trust Center. (Business pricing page and Keeper Trust Center (2026-10-15))
- Zero knowledge with SSO: The security page says SSO users decrypt their data key on the device with a local private key, and that the cloud cannot decrypt it, so zero knowledge holds with single sign-on. (Keeper security page (2026-10-15))
- Pentests on a recent cycle: The Trust Center lists 2026 penetration tests of the admin console, web and desktop vault, browser extension and mobile apps, available on request. (Keeper Trust Center resources (2026-10-15))
Best for: Companies that need SAML SSO and a long certification list for vendor reviews, and are fine buying Enterprise through a quote.
Things to know: SSO is on Enterprise, bought through a quote request, and SIEM export needs the Advanced Reporting & Alerts add-on.
Score: 6.3/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $2/user/mo (Business Starter plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Plan with SSO unlock: Enterprise ($6/user/mo, annual; by quote)
25 users with SSO, billed annually: $150/mo
Monthly billing: Not listed; plans billed annually
Free option: 14-day trial, no card
Seat terms: Per user; Business Starter for 5–10 users
SSO protocols: SAML 2.0
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: Both, plus ISO 27017, 27018 and a public SOC 3
Third-party audit reports: 2026 pentests in the Trust Center, on request
Client source code: Commander and Secrets Manager code public; vault apps not
Self-hosting: None stated (SSO Connect On-Prem only)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Keeper lists the strongest certification set here and SSO at the lowest listed price, tied with Bitwarden. Its score reflects Enterprise being sold by quote and SIEM export sitting in an add-on.
Choose it if: Your vendor review asks for SOC 3 and ISO 27017 or 27018 alongside SOC 2 and ISO 27001. · You need SAML SSO and SCIM and are fine buying through a quote. · You have 5–10 people and want an admin console at a low price (Business Starter).
Look elsewhere if: You want to buy SSO online without talking to sales. · You need SIEM export without an add-on, or a self-hosted server.
Compared with: Bitwarden (https://proofyo.com/products/bitwarden) — pick Keeper when You want ISO 27017 and 27018 as well as SOC 2, SOC 3 and ISO 27001, and a trial that states no card is needed.; pick Bitwarden when You want to buy SSO online without a quote, read audit reports without a request, or self-host. | LastPass (https://proofyo.com/products/lastpass) — pick Keeper when You want the lower listed price for SSO ($6 against $7 a user) and SAML 2.0 named on the plan table.; pick LastPass when You want SSO, directory sync and SIEM integration bought online, with no quote or add-on.
Strengths:
- SSO at the lowest listed price here: Enterprise is listed at $6 a user billed annually: $150 a month for 25 people. (Bitwarden Enterprise is also $150 for 25 users; LastPass Business is $175 and 1Password Business $224.75.)
- SOC 3 and three ISO certificates: The plan table lists SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3 and ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018, and the SOC 3 report can be downloaded. (Bitwarden lists ISO 27001 with a public SOC 3; Dashlane lists SOC 2 and ISO 27001.)
- Trial without a card: The business and enterprise trial pages say no credit card is required; the business trial runs 14 days. (Bitwarden’s docs say payment information is entered when a paid organization is created.)
- A low entry price for small teams: Business Starter is $2 a user for 5–10 users, with the admin console, policies and activity reporting.
- Public bug bounty: Keeper runs a public bug bounty on Bugcrowd alongside its disclosure policy, and its security page names NCC Group and Cybertest as penetration testers.
Things to know:
- SSO through a quote: SAML SSO, SCIM and directory sync are on Enterprise only, which the pricing page sells through a quote request rather than a Buy now button.
- SIEM export is an add-on: The plan table marks SIEM integration "ARAM required" on every plan; Advanced Reporting & Alerts is $12 a user a year. Workaround: For 25 users the add-on comes to $25 a month.
- Recent reports on request: The SOC 2 report and the 2026 penetration tests in the Trust Center need an access request; the SOC 3 report is the one that downloads directly.
- No self-hosted server or app code: The security page says Keeper’s source code is held privately; its public repositories cover Commander and Secrets Manager, not the vault apps. SSO Connect On-Prem is self-hosted, but no self-hosted vault server is described.
Pricing reality: Keeper bills per user, annually. Business Starter is $2 a user for teams of 5–10, Business $4 and Enterprise $6, through a quote. For 25 people with SSO, Enterprise comes to 25 × $6 = $150 a month, or $1,800 a year, if the quote matches the listed price. Without SSO, Business would be $100 a month. SIEM integration needs Advanced Reporting & Alerts at $12 a user a year, $25 a month for 25 users, and BreachWatch dark-web alerts are $24 a user a year. Secrets management and connection management are separate add-ons priced by quote.

## Category: Data anchoring and timestamping

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/data-anchoring

### Hedera Consensus Service

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/hedera-consensus-service
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/hedera-consensus-service
Category: Data anchoring and timestamping
Vendor: Hedera (network governed by the Hedera Council)
Tagline: A public ledger service that orders and timestamps messages for a published fee of $0.0008 each, paid in HBAR.
Value: Ordered, consensus-timestamped records on a public ledger at a published $0.0008 per message, with no contract or vendor account.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: HCS gives each message a consensus timestamp and a place in an ordered topic on the Hedera public ledger, and mirror nodes keep the history for anyone to query. The fee is published in USD per message, so a buyer can price an audit trail before writing code. Teams that would otherwise run their own notary service, or pay a vendor per proof, can submit hashes directly and verify them through public or self-run mirror nodes.
- Published per-message fee: The fee table lists ConsensusSubmitMessage at $0.0008, with the first 100 bytes of the payload included; 100,000 single-hash messages come to $80. (Hedera network fees and fee model docs (2026-10-15))
- Public, open-source stack: The docs describe Hedera as a public, open-source ledger; SDKs and node software are governed by the Hiero project, and you can run your own mirror node. (Hedera docs: what is Hedera, mirror nodes (2026-10-15))
- Room for your own batching: A message can hold up to 1,024 bytes, so a Merkle root of your own batch fits in one message. (Hedera docs: submit a message (2026-10-15))
Best for: Engineering teams that want a public, ordered audit trail at a published per-message price and can handle keys and HBAR.
Things to know: There is no proof file, no plan or support contract on these pages, and no compliance report in Hedera’s own name.
Score: 4.8/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.0008/message
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
What it anchors to: Hedera public ledger (messages on a topic)
Billing unit: $0.0008 per message, paid in HBAR
Free option: Testnet only
Reference scenario (100,000 hashes/mo): $80, one hash per message, computed
Proof you keep: No proof file; records on mirror nodes
Verify without the vendor: Open-source mirror node you can run
Only the hash leaves your systems: Yes, you choose the message content
Qualified timestamps (eIDAS): No
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Node data centres must be SOC 2 Type 2
API and webhooks: SDKs, mirror node REST and gRPC; no webhooks
SSO: Not applicable (key-based accounts)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, HCS is the cheapest way here to put hashes on a public ledger at a price you can compute. You build the proof handling yourself, and there is no plan, contract or vendor audit report.
Choose it if: You want an ordered, timestamped audit trail on a public ledger at a published price. · Your team can manage keys, HBAR and, ideally, your own Merkle batching. · You may want to run your own mirror node to read the record.
Look elsewhere if: You need a proof file to hand to an auditor without extra tooling. · Your review requires the vendor’s own SOC 2 or a qualified timestamp.
Compared with: OriginStamp (https://proofyo.com/products/originstamp) — pick Hedera Consensus Service when You want a published per-message price and full control of what you anchor.; pick OriginStamp when You want Merkle batching, Bitcoin and Ethereum anchors and a proof per hash handled by the vendor. | KAS Anchor API (https://proofyo.com/products/kas-anchor-api) — pick Hedera Consensus Service when You want a fee you can compute from public pages, without a contract.; pick KAS Anchor API when You build on Kaia and want anchoring set up through a managed API account in Korea. | Truestamp (https://proofyo.com/products/truestamp) — pick Hedera Consensus Service when You need volumes beyond a small free plan at a price you can compute today.; pick Truestamp when You want a self-contained proof bundle and an offline verifier with no keys or tokens to manage.
Strengths:
- The only published per-hash price here: At $0.0008 per message, 100,000 single-hash messages cost $80 a month by the fee table. (OriginStamp and the KAS Anchor API are priced by offer; Bernstein has no API.)
- Batching is cheap if you build it: One message carries up to 1,024 bytes, so one Merkle root per batch covers many hashes. BatchTransaction also groups transactions in one network call.
- Open-source SDKs and mirror nodes: SDKs and node software are open source under the Hiero project, and you can run your own mirror node to read the record.
- Private topics: A topic can have a submit key, so only parties holding it can post messages.
Things to know:
- No proof file: Verification reads the message and its consensus timestamp from a mirror node; there is no receipt format meant to be checked offline. Workaround: Store the transaction ID, topic and sequence number with each hash, or run your own mirror node.
- One message per hash adds up: Without your own Merkle batching, every hash is a separate $0.0008 message. Workaround: Submit a Merkle root per batch and keep the branches yourself.
- No vendor compliance report: The docs require node data centres to be SOC 2 Type 2, but no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 report for Hedera itself is stated.
- Mainnet needs a wallet and HBAR: The Developer Portal does not create mainnet accounts, and fees are paid in HBAR.
Pricing reality: HCS is pay per transaction: $0.0008 per message, $0.01 per topic, $0.05 per account, with fees set in USD and charged in HBAR at the live rate. The first 100 payload bytes are included, so a SHA-256 hash in hex or binary adds nothing. For our scenario, 100,000 hashes as one message each cost 100,000 × $0.0008 = $80 a month. Batching changes this: one Merkle root per hour is 720 messages in a 30-day month, or $0.58 (our arithmetic), but you then build and store the Merkle branches yourself. There is no support plan or SLA on these pages.
Exit path: Records sit on a public ledger that anyone can read through mirror nodes, including one you run yourself. There is no vendor account to leave; the dependency is on the Hedera network and on keeping your own index of which message holds which hash.

### OriginStamp

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/originstamp
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/originstamp
Category: Data anchoring and timestamping
Vendor: OriginStamp AG
Tagline: A Swiss timestamping API that batches SHA-256 hashes into Merkle trees and anchors them to Bitcoin and Ethereum, priced by offer.
Value: Anchor your hashes to Bitcoin and Ethereum through one REST call, without running wallets, nodes or Merkle batching yourself.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: OriginStamp takes SHA-256 hashes over a REST API, merges them with other customers’ hashes into Merkle trees and anchors each root to Bitcoin and Ethereum, so one on-chain transaction covers many proofs. Webhooks report when a tree is confirmed, and a proof request returns the branch you need to verify later. Teams that want blockchain proofs for logs, archives or documents without building the chain side get it as a service.
- Two public chains per hash: The API response lists a Bitcoin tree and an Ethereum tree for each submitted hash, and the docs describe how to verify each one without OriginStamp. (Docs: getting started and verification guide (2026-10-15))
- Shared Merkle trees: The docs explain that hashes from many users are combined into one tree per period, so the cost of the on-chain transaction is shared. (Docs: concepts and timestamping overview (2026-10-15))
- Webhooks and batch submission: The timestamp endpoint accepts an array of hashes, and webhooks fire for tree and proof events. (Docs: API key settings and workflow (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want Bitcoin and Ethereum proofs for logs, archives or documents through an API, and are ready to ask for an offer.
Things to know: No price is published: the docs say pricing depends on the number of timestamps and proofs, with offers by email.
Score: 3.8/10
Free option: Not observed yet
Getting access: Sales call required
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: Not observed yet
Pricing model: Custom quote
Pricing page: Prices hidden
What it anchors to: Bitcoin and Ethereum (Merkle root per batch)
Billing unit: Offer based on timestamps and proofs
Free option: Free web tool for single proofs; test API key on request
Reference scenario (100,000 hashes/mo): Priced by sales
Proof you keep: Downloadable certificate or raw proof
Verify without the vendor: Manual steps documented
Only the hash leaves your systems: Yes
Qualified timestamps (eIDAS): eIDAS compatibility on request
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated
API and webhooks: REST API, batch hashes, webhooks
SSO: Not listed
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, OriginStamp is a long-running anchoring API with two chains, batching and webhooks. The price is an offer, and a few docs pages describe an older anchoring method.
Choose it if: You want hashes from logs, archives or documents anchored to Bitcoin and Ethereum through an API. · You are fine asking for an offer and a test key before you build. · You want proofs that remain verifiable if the vendor disappears.
Look elsewhere if: You need a published price before talking to anyone. · Your review requires SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 from the vendor.
Compared with: Hedera Consensus Service (https://proofyo.com/products/hedera-consensus-service) — pick OriginStamp when You want Bitcoin and Ethereum anchors with Merkle batching handled for you, plus a proof per hash.; pick Hedera Consensus Service when You want a published per-message fee ($0.0008) and can manage HBAR and your own batching. | Bernstein (https://proofyo.com/products/bernstein) — pick OriginStamp when You need an API and webhooks to anchor hashes from your own systems.; pick Bernstein when You want a web app with published plans, PDF certificates and EU qualified timestamps for IP files. | Truestamp (https://proofyo.com/products/truestamp) — pick OriginStamp when You need a paid production contract today, with anchors on Bitcoin and Ethereum.; pick Truestamp when You want to start on a free plan with an open-source offline verifier and redaction.
Strengths:
- Bitcoin and Ethereum for every hash: Each submitted hash goes into a Bitcoin tree and an Ethereum tree, so one proof does not rest on a single chain. (Bernstein anchors to Bitcoin only, with EU and China timestamp authorities alongside.)
- Hash-only by design: The docs say the hash is calculated locally and only the hash is transmitted; the demo page hashes the file in the browser.
- Batch API with webhooks: The timestamp endpoint takes an array of hashes, and webhooks report tree and proof events, with a status endpoint as a fallback. (Bernstein has no API; Hedera bills each message separately.)
- Long track record: The vendor states it has run timestamping since 2013 and created more than 60 million proofs.
Things to know:
- No published price: The docs FAQ says pricing depends on the number of timestamps and proofs and asks you to email for an offer or a free test API key. Workaround: The free web tool on the demo page creates single proofs without an account.
- Docs disagree on how roots are anchored: The FAQ describes deriving a Bitcoin address from the Merkle root; the verification guide says OP_RETURN outputs have been used since Feb 15, 2021. Workaround: Follow the verification guide, which covers both methods.
- Verification tool is a README: The GitHub repository the FAQ links for verification holds instructions, not code, and was archived on Mar 27, 2026.
- No SOC 2 or ISO 27001 stated: The pages say the service is hosted in Switzerland by default and is eIDAS-compatible on request, but name no audit report.
Pricing reality: OriginStamp publishes no price list. The docs FAQ says the price depends on the number of timestamps and proofs you request and asks you to email for an offer or a free test API key; the timestamp page leads to a meeting booking. So our scenario of 100,000 hashes a month cannot be priced from the public pages. The cost model is explained, though: hashes from many users share one Merkle tree per period, so the on-chain fee is split across them. Proof requests are a separate count in the pricing statement, so ask whether proofs are billed per hash.
Exit path: Proofs stay valid without the vendor: the docs say existing timestamps remain verifiable if OriginStamp stops existing, and the verification guide gives the steps with the original file and the proof. Keep both, because OriginStamp does not back up your data.

### Bernstein

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/bernstein
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/bernstein
Category: Data anchoring and timestamping
Vendor: IP LEVERAGED SAS
Tagline: A web app that certifies versions of IP projects on Bitcoin with EU and China timestamps, billed per registration credit.
Value: Court-oriented proof of authorship for IP files: Bitcoin anchoring plus EU qualified timestamps, without the vendor seeing your files.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Bernstein turns each version of a project (code, designs, documents, datasets) into a certificate: the files are encrypted in your browser, their fingerprint is anchored to Bitcoin, and Scale and Enterprise add EU qualified and China timestamps. The PDF certificate can be handed to lawyers or courts and verified without Bernstein. It replaces notarised deposits and sealed envelopes for teams that document IP over time.
- EU qualified timestamps: Scale and Enterprise subscriptions include timestamps from EU-recognised authorities under eIDAS, alongside the Bitcoin anchor and a China TSA. (Pricing and how-it-works pages (2026-10-15))
- Zero-knowledge storage: Files are encrypted in the browser and the key never reaches Bernstein’s servers; Enterprise can keep encrypted files in the customer’s own S3 storage. (How-it-works and enterprise pages (2026-10-15))
- Version history as evidence: Each certified version of a project is chained to the last, building a dated trail from first draft to final version. (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Founders, R&D teams and IP law firms who want dated, court-oriented proof of their files without an API project.
Things to know: There is no API or free plan, and each credit certifies one project version; volume anchoring of hashes is not what it is for.
Score: 3.7/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $54/mo (Starter plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
What it anchors to: Bitcoin, plus EU and China timestamp authorities
Billing unit: Registration credit (one project version, up to 99 files)
Free option: None; certificate validation is free
Reference scenario (100,000 hashes/mo): Not offered (no API)
Proof you keep: PDF certificate
Verify without the vendor: Manual steps documented; browser validator
Only the hash leaves your systems: No; files uploaded encrypted
Qualified timestamps (eIDAS): EU qualified on Scale and Enterprise
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated
API and webhooks: None
SSO: Enterprise plan, one-time setup fee
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Bernstein is the most legally oriented option here, with EU qualified timestamps on a self-serve plan. It is a web app for IP files, not an anchoring API, from $54 a month.
Choose it if: You protect ideas, code, designs or trade secrets and want dated, court-oriented certificates. · You want EU qualified timestamps without a sales process. · You want files encrypted so the vendor never sees them.
Look elsewhere if: You need to anchor hashes automatically through an API. · You need a free plan.
Compared with: OriginStamp (https://proofyo.com/products/originstamp) — pick Bernstein when You certify IP files by hand and want EU qualified timestamps and published plans.; pick OriginStamp when You need an API to anchor hashes from logs or systems, on Bitcoin and Ethereum. | Truestamp (https://proofyo.com/products/truestamp) — pick Bernstein when You want qualified timestamps and a plan you can buy today.; pick Truestamp when You want to start free with hash-only submission and an open-source offline verifier.
Strengths:
- Qualified timestamps on a self-serve plan: Scale ($119 a month) adds EU qualified and China timestamps to the Bitcoin anchor without a sales call. (OriginStamp mentions eIDAS compatibility on request; Hedera and Truestamp offer no qualified timestamps.)
- Legal material in plain view: A court-evidence guide cites decisions, including a May 2026 Supreme Court of India order on hash-value certificates, and the eIDAS rule on non-qualified timestamps.
- Encrypted files, chained versions: Files are encrypted client-side, and each certified version extends the project’s history.
- Enterprise controls: SAML or OIDC SSO, role-based access and hash-chained audit logs are described for enterprise teams.
Things to know:
- No API: Certification happens in the web app, one credit per project version, so automated anchoring of system hashes is not covered.
- Currency follows your location: The pricing page shows prices in the visitor’s local currency with no switch (South Korean won from Korea, US dollars from the US). Workaround: Check the price in your currency at checkout.
- Plan card and note disagree: The Starter card lists EU and China qualified timestamps; the note under the plans says they come with Scale and Enterprise.
- No free plan: The cheapest entry is one pay-as-you-go credit at $64; validation of certificates is free.
Pricing reality: Bernstein bills registration credits: one credit certifies one project version of up to 99 files. Starter is $54 a month for 1 credit, Scale $119 for 5 and Enterprise $329 for 30; yearly billing gives 2 months free ($540, $1,190 and $3,290), and extra credits start at $39, $24 and $14. A single one-time credit is $64, Bitcoin only. Prices are shown in the visitor’s local currency. SSO on Enterprise has an unpublished one-time setup fee. Our 100,000-hash scenario does not apply: there is no API.
Exit path: The FAQ says the blockchain proof never needs renewal and stays verifiable without Bernstein; an active plan is needed to create new certificates and to reach stored files. Keep the original files, the project cover file and the PDF certificate, which holds the transaction ID and public keys the manual check needs.

### Truestamp

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/truestamp
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/truestamp
Category: Data anchoring and timestamping
Vendor: Truestamp, Inc.
Tagline: Hash timestamping with proofs committed to Stellar and Bitcoin and an open-source offline verifier; free plan only for now.
Value: Proofs that verify offline with an open-source CLI, committed to two public chains, and free for 50 items a month.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Truestamp batches submitted hashes into Merkle trees on its own ledger and commits that ledger to both Stellar and Bitcoin. Each item gets a proof bundle that the open-source CLI checks offline, without an account or a call to Truestamp. Only hashes reach the chains, and submitted claims can be redacted later. It suits individuals and small teams who want strong, portable proofs before paid tiers open.
- Offline, open-source verification: The CLI is a single static binary, open source, that verifies a downloaded proof fully offline, even after the item is deleted from Truestamp. (CLI page (2026-10-15))
- Two public chains: Each block of the internal ledger is committed in epochs to Stellar (memo hash) and Bitcoin (OP_RETURN). (Knowledge base: the epoch and block commitment (2026-10-15))
- Redaction and deletion: Submitted claims can be redacted, and the terms say deleting content erases the mappings that tie on-chain hashes to you. (Home page FAQ and terms (2026-10-15))
Best for: Individuals and small teams who want portable, offline-verifiable proofs for a modest number of items a month.
Things to know: Paid tiers are not on sale yet, so volumes above 50 items a month need an administrator override.
Score: 3.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Prices hidden
What it anchors to: Stellar and Bitcoin (epoch roots of its own ledger)
Billing unit: Items a month per plan; paid tiers not on sale
Free option: 50 items a month, 90-day retention
Reference scenario (100,000 hashes/mo): No plan on sale
Proof you keep: Self-contained proof bundle (JSON or binary)
Verify without the vendor: Open-source CLI, offline
Only the hash leaves your systems: Yes; content can also be redacted
Qualified timestamps (eIDAS): No (terms say not qualified)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated
API and webhooks: REST, GraphQL, CLI, MCP; webhooks on paid tiers
SSO: Not listed
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Truestamp has the strongest proof portability here: two chains, self-contained bundles and an open-source offline verifier. Only the free plan can be used today.
Choose it if: You want proofs anyone can verify offline with open-source tooling. · You timestamp up to 50 items a month and can download proofs within 90 days. · You want anchors on two public chains and the option to redact what you sent.
Look elsewhere if: You need a paid plan, an SLA or volumes above the free plan today. · Your review requires SOC 2, ISO 27001 or qualified timestamps.
Compared with: OriginStamp (https://proofyo.com/products/originstamp) — pick Truestamp when You want to start free with an open-source offline verifier and redaction.; pick OriginStamp when You need a production contract today for larger volumes, on Bitcoin and Ethereum. | Hedera Consensus Service (https://proofyo.com/products/hedera-consensus-service) — pick Truestamp when You want a ready proof bundle with no keys or tokens to manage.; pick Hedera Consensus Service when You need more than 50 items a month at a price you can compute ($0.0008 per message).
Strengths:
- Open-source offline verifier: Proof bundles verify with the open-source CLI, offline and without an account. (OriginStamp documents manual steps; its GitHub verifier repo holds a README only.)
- Two independent chains: Ledger epochs are committed to both Stellar and Bitcoin. (Bernstein anchors to Bitcoin only.)
- Hash-only, with redaction: Files are hashed locally; claims you choose to send can be redacted later while the proof stays valid.
- Agent and API access: REST (OpenAPI), GraphQL, a CLI and an MCP server are documented.
Things to know:
- No paid plan on sale: The plans page says paid billing is not turned on; Starter, Pro and Enterprise are marked Coming Soon. Workaround: The plans page says an administrator can raise a single account’s limits on the Free plan.
- Free items expire after 90 days: The terms say free-plan items are removed after 90 days and a grace period, after which a proof cannot be rebuilt. Workaround: Download each proof bundle while the item is active; downloaded proofs stay verifiable.
- Webhooks and teams need paid tiers: Free allows one member per team and no webhook endpoints.
- No compliance report or qualified timestamp: No SOC 2 or ISO 27001 is stated, and the terms say the proofs are not qualified timestamps.
Pricing reality: Today Truestamp is free only: 50 items a month, one member, 90-day retention, full API access and community support. The listed tiers set limits (Starter 750 items a month, Pro 10,000, Enterprise 100,000, with unlimited retention and webhooks) but have no prices and cannot be bought; Enterprise pricing is described as arranged directly. Our 100,000-hash scenario therefore cannot be priced. Usage is pooled per billing owner across all their teams.
Exit path: Every proof bundle is self-contained and verifies offline with the open-source CLI, even after the item is deleted from Truestamp, so leaving means keeping your downloaded bundles.

### KAS Anchor API

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/kas-anchor-api
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/kas-anchor-api
Category: Data anchoring and timestamping
Vendor: AhnLab Blockchain Company (Klaytn API Service)
Tagline: A Korean managed API that writes your data payloads to the Kaia public chain as anchoring transactions, priced by contact.
Value: Anchor private-chain block hashes or other data to the Kaia public chain through a managed API, without running a Kaia node.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Built-in reach
Value detail: KAS runs the Kaia endpoint nodes and account keys for you: you create an operator in the console, choose who pays the transaction fees, and post JSON payloads to the anchor endpoint. Each payload becomes an anchoring transaction on Kaia, listed by operator with its transaction hash. It suits Korean teams running a private or service chain who want periodic public anchors without building node and key infrastructure.
- No node or key management: The docs say KAS removes the need to install and run nodes or manage account keys; transactions are sent through REST or the caver-js and caver-java extensions. (KAS docs: introduction (2026-10-15))
- Fee delegation built in: Anchoring fees can be paid by your own fee-payer account, by the operator, or by KAS’s Global Fee Payer and billed afterwards. (KAS docs: data anchoring tutorial (2026-10-15))
Best for: Korean teams on Kaia, or running a private chain, that want public anchors through a managed API.
Things to know: The Anchor API is priced by contact, and its tutorial was last updated two years ago according to the docs page.
Score: 1.5/10
Free option: Not observed yet
Getting access: Sales call required
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: Not observed yet
Pricing model: Custom quote
Pricing page: Prices hidden
What it anchors to: Kaia mainnet (one transaction per payload)
Billing unit: Pay as you go by anchoring cycle and usage, by contact
Free option: Not stated for the Anchor API
Reference scenario (100,000 hashes/mo): Priced by sales
Proof you keep: Transaction hash per payload
Verify without the vendor: Not described
Only the hash leaves your systems: Yes, you choose the payload
Qualified timestamps (eIDAS): No
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated
API and webhooks: REST API and caver SDK extensions; no webhooks
SSO: Not listed
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, the KAS Anchor API is a managed route to anchor payloads on Kaia, now run by AhnLab Blockchain Company. Price, proofs and verification guidance are not on the pages.
Choose it if: You run a Kaia service chain or private chain and want periodic public anchors. · You want KAS to handle nodes, keys and transaction fees.
Look elsewhere if: You need a published price or a proof file per hash. · Your review requires compliance reports or qualified timestamps.
Compared with: Hedera Consensus Service (https://proofyo.com/products/hedera-consensus-service) — pick KAS Anchor API when You build on Kaia or a private chain and want anchoring through a managed Korean API.; pick Hedera Consensus Service when You want a published fee per message and no contract. | OriginStamp (https://proofyo.com/products/originstamp) — pick KAS Anchor API when Your anchors belong on Kaia and your billing should run through a Korean operator.; pick OriginStamp when You want Merkle batching, proof files and anchors on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Strengths:
- Managed access to Kaia: Nodes, keys and fee payment are handled by KAS; you call a REST endpoint or the caver SDK extensions. (Hedera Consensus Service needs your own account, keys and HBAR.)
- Any payload you choose: The payload is the data you want anchored, so you can send only a hash and keep the content.
- Korean operator and billing: AhnLab Blockchain Company in Seongnam runs KAS, with monthly invoices, payment by bank transfer, and card payment for South Korean companies.
Things to know:
- Priced by contact: The pricing page describes the Anchor API as pay as you go by anchoring cycle and usage, with a contact link and no rate.
- One transaction per payload: Each anchor call becomes its own Kaia transaction; the docs do not describe Merkle batching or proof files. Workaround: Anchor a Merkle root of your own batch as one payload.
- Docs not recently updated: The KAS docs pages we read show "Last updated 2 years ago".
- No compliance documents stated: No SOC 2, ISO 27001 or qualified timestamp is mentioned on the pages we read.
Pricing reality: The Anchor API has no published price: the pricing page calls it pay as you go, based on anchoring cycle and usage, and links to a contact form. Anchoring transaction fees are paid in KAIA by your account or the operator, or paid by KAS and billed later. The general KAS API plans are published (Free with 1,000 requests a day, Starter $300 a month, Pro $750, Pro Plus $1,200, overuse at the plan rate × 120%), but the pages do not say whether Anchor API calls draw on them. Our 100,000-hash scenario cannot be priced.
Exit path: Anchors are ordinary Kaia mainnet transactions, so the records stay on the public chain if you leave KAS. Keep each payload id with its transaction hash, because the docs offer no separate proof file.

## Category: LLM APIs

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/llm-apis

### Mistral AI API

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/mistral-api
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/mistral-api
Category: LLM APIs
Vendor: Mistral AI
Tagline: Per-token access to Mistral's own, mostly open-weight models, with a free mode, prepaid credits and optional EU or US endpoints.
Value: Low per-token prices on small open-weight models, with EU or US processing you can choose yourself and spending caps per workspace.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: The Mistral AI API sells Mistral's own models, from Ministral 3 3B at $0.10 per 1M tokens up to Mistral Medium and Large, plus OCR, audio, embeddings and moderation, through one API with an OpenAI-style request shape. Most current models are open-weight: the model pages list Ministral 3 and Small 4 under Apache 2.0, while the pricing FAQ says commercial deployments need a Mistral license. Teams that need processing kept in the EU or the US get regional endpoints at 10% above list price without a sales call, and the help center states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, with the SOC 2 report available to clients on request.
- A tool-calling model at $0.10 per 1M tokens: Ministral 3 3B is GA with a 256k context, function calling and structured outputs, at $0.10 per 1M input and output tokens; our 100M + 20M token scenario comes to $12 a month (computed). (Pricing page and Ministral 3 3B model page (2026-10-15))
- Batch, caching and spending caps: Batch is 50% off list price, and cached prompt tokens are billed at 10% of the input price. Monthly spending limits can be set per Organization and per Workspace. (Pricing page; batch, prompt caching and billing docs (2026-10-15))
- EU or US processing as a self-serve option: Regional endpoints keep inference in EU and EFTA or in US data centers at 1.1x list price. They support function calling but not Agents, Batch or the Files API. (Regional inference docs (2026-10-15))
- Open weights and an OpenAI-style API: The model pages list Ministral 3 and Small 4 weights under Apache 2.0 (the pricing FAQ says commercial deployments need a Mistral license), and the migration guide shows the OpenAI client pointed at the Mistral base URL. (Model pages; mistral.ai pricing FAQ; migration guide (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want low-cost small models with tool calling, EU or US processing and spending caps, on a self-serve prepaid account.
Things to know: Prompts and outputs may be used for training unless you turn it off in the Admin settings, on Free mode and pay-as-you-go alike.
Score: 7.4/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.10/1M input tokens (Ministral 3 3B plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
How you pay: Prepaid pay-as-you-go credits, optional auto recharge
Free option: Free mode, no card; allowance not stated publicly
Reference scenario (100M in + 20M out tokens/mo): $12 on ministral-3b-2512, computed
Batch, cache and other discounts: Batch 50% off; cached input 90% off
Trained on API data: Unless you opt out (Free mode and paid)
Default retention: 30 rolling days for abuse monitoring
Zero data retention: By approval, pay-as-you-go, stateless endpoints only
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Both, stated in the help center
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
Data regions: EU and US endpoints at +10%
Official SDKs: Python, TypeScript
Console SSO: SAML on the Enterprise plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, the Mistral AI API has the lowest reference price in this comparison, EU or US endpoints you can pick yourself and spending caps. Training use is an opt-out, rate limits sit behind sign-in, and ZDR and SSO need approval or the Enterprise plan.
Choose it if: You want low per-token prices on small models with function calling and JSON-schema output. · You want processing kept in the EU or the US through a self-serve endpoint. · You want to try the API in Free mode before adding a card. · You may later want to run the same open-weight model yourself, after checking its licence for commercial use.
Look elsewhere if: You need API data kept out of training without changing a setting. · You need a HIPAA BAA, or official SDKs beyond Python and TypeScript. · You need published rate limits before you sign up.
Compared with: OpenAI API (https://proofyo.com/products/openai-api) — pick Mistral AI API when You want a lower scenario price ($12 on Ministral 3 3B against $20 on GPT-6 Luna), a free mode with no card, and EU or US endpoints without a sales call.; pick OpenAI API when You want API data kept out of training by default, published rate limits, official SDKs in six languages and a HIPAA BAA path. | Google Gemini API (https://proofyo.com/products/gemini-api) — pick Mistral AI API when You want a lower scenario price ($12 against $55), SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 statements, ZDR by approval and a choice of EU or US processing.; pick Google Gemini API when You want paid prompts kept out of training by default, a flex rate at 50% off (preview), and official SDKs in five languages. | DeepSeek API (https://proofyo.com/products/deepseek-api) — pick Mistral AI API when You need a batch discount, spending limits, a DPA with the terms and EU or US processing; DeepSeek says data is stored in the PRC.; pick DeepSeek API when You want a 1M-token context on the low-cost model and off-peak rates at half price.
Strengths:
- The lowest reference price in this comparison: Ministral 3 3B costs $0.10 per 1M input and output tokens, so 100M input and 20M output tokens come to $12 a month at standard rates (computed); Batch would halve it. (The same tokens cost $20 on OpenAI API (GPT-6 Luna) and on Anthropic API (Claude Haiku 5.5), computed from their pricing pages.)
- EU or US endpoints you choose yourself: The api.eu.mistral.ai and api.us.mistral.ai endpoints keep inference in EU and EFTA or in US data centers at 1.1x list price, with no sales step stated. (Anthropic API (Claude) offers only a US option; OpenAI API data residency goes through sales.)
- Free mode with API keys and no card: The quickstart says API access is enabled by default in Free mode with no credit card required, with usage and rate limits applied. (OpenAI API states no free allowance, and DeepSeek API states no free tier.)
- Spending caps per Organization and Workspace: The billing docs describe a monthly spending limit for the Organization and separate limits per Workspace, plus an email to Admin and Billing members when 80% of the last top-up is used. (DeepSeek API states no spend limit; spending is bounded only by the prepaid balance.)
- Lifecycle notice and open weights: The lifecycle policy gives GA models 6 months of deprecation notice, and the model pages list Ministral 3 and Small 4 weights under Apache 2.0; the pricing FAQ says commercial deployments need a Mistral license, so check the licence before self-hosting.
Things to know:
- Training use is an opt-out: The help center says Free mode inputs and outputs may be used for training and that pay-as-you-go customers can opt out at any time. Commercial Terms 4.3 add that opt-outs, including ZDR, do not apply to Labs or Preview models. Workaround: Turn off "Anonymous improvement data" in Admin › Privacy (the Vibe toggle is separate), and use GA models for sensitive data.
- Free allowance and rate limits are behind sign-in: Free mode limits and all rate-limit numbers appear only on the Admin Limits page. The help center lists tiers by total billed amount ($20, $100, $500, $2,000) and says adding credits does not raise limits. Workaround: Above Tier 4, the help center says to contact support with the target requests per second, model and token estimates.
- Stricter controls need approval or Enterprise: ZDR is by request and approval on pay-as-you-go, for stateless endpoints only. SAML SSO (no OIDC), audit logs and the Admin API need the Enterprise plan, and no page we read mentions a HIPAA BAA. Workaround: Request ZDR with the reason for it; without ZDR, the privacy policy keeps API inputs and outputs for 30 rolling days.
- Some docs pages disagree: The batch guide allows 1 million requests per batch, the known-limitations page 100,000; rate limits are per organization on one page and per Workspace on another; the default data location differs; and model pages say Apache 2.0 while the pricing FAQ says commercial use needs a Mistral license. Workaround: Plan batches of 100,000 requests or fewer, and check the Limits page in the Admin panel after sign-up.
Pricing reality: Mistral bills per token for each model from prepaid credits, after a Free mode whose allowance the public pages do not state. Our scenario on Ministral 3 3B is 100 × $0.10 + 20 × $0.10 = $12 a month at standard rates (computed); Batch halves it, and cached input costs $0.01 per 1M. The same tokens cost $27 on Mistral Small 4 and $300 on Mistral Medium 3.5 (our arithmetic). Costs rise with the EU or US regional endpoints (1.1x list price), Priority Tier (1.75x, set up with Mistral) and Mistral Large 4 once its temporary sale price ends ($1.36 / $4.18 original, no end date stated). Rate-limit tiers rise with total billed amount ($20, $100, $500, $2,000), not with credits added. Plan prices exclude taxes, and the billing docs say credits are deducted including tax.
Exit path: Plain completions are stateless, so there is little to move; uploaded files are kept 30 days unless deleted, and batch results can be downloaded for 24 hours. For customers located in the EU, the Additional Terms (EU Data Act) set out a written switching request sent at least two months ahead, a transitional period of at least 30 days and export of input and output data with its metadata. The OpenAI-style request shape keeps client code portable.

### Anthropic API (Claude)

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/anthropic-api
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/anthropic-api
Category: LLM APIs
Vendor: Anthropic
Tagline: Per-token access to Anthropic's Claude models through one API, paid from prepaid credits, with a HIPAA BAA you can sign in the console.
Value: Claude models from Haiku 5.5 at $0.10 / $0.50 per 1M tokens up to Fable 5.1, with no training on API data and a BAA you can sign in the console.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included, Built-in reach
Value detail: The Anthropic API gives you Anthropic's current Claude models through one Messages API, each with a 1M-token context window and tool use, and official SDKs in seven languages. Every model's token price is on one public page, and batch and prompt caching discounts can be combined. The Commercial Terms rule out training on your API content, the DPA is part of the terms, and the privacy center lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for the API. Teams that want Claude without running inference get a pay-as-you-go service, and the same models are also sold on Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud and Microsoft Foundry.
- A low-cost current model with a 1M-token window: Claude Haiku 5.5 (released Oct 7, 2026) costs $0.10 per 1M input and $0.50 per 1M output tokens for prompts up to 100,000 tokens, with tool use; our 100M + 20M token scenario comes to $20 a month (computed). (Pricing page and Claude Haiku 5.5 overview (2026-10-15))
- Batch and caching discounts that combine: The Batch API is 50% off input and output, and cache hits cost 0.1x the input price on Haiku 5.5 (0.05x on Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5). The pricing page says the two discounts can be combined. (Pricing page, batch processing and prompt caching (2026-10-15))
- Data terms and a self-serve BAA: The Commercial Terms say Anthropic may not train models on customer content, and the DPA is incorporated into them. Eligible organizations can review and sign the standard HIPAA BAA directly in the Claude Console. (Commercial Terms; API and data retention docs (2026-10-15))
- The same models on four cloud platforms: The Haiku 5.5 overview lists the model on the Claude API, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud, Microsoft Foundry and Claude Platform on AWS, so cloud billing does not mean a different model. (Claude Haiku 5.5 overview (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want Claude models on a self-serve, pay-as-you-go account, with clear data terms and a HIPAA BAA they can sign without a sales call.
Things to know: Zero data retention and Console SSO go through sales, the only region option is US at 1.1x, and the free credit amount is not stated.
Score: 7.2/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.10/1M input tokens (Claude Haiku 5.5 (prompts up to 100,000 tokens) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
How you pay: Prepaid credits by card, expire after 1 year; invoicing through sales
Free option: One-time free credits for new users, amount not stated
Reference scenario (100M in + 20M out tokens/mo): $20 on claude-haiku-5-5, computed
Batch, cache and other discounts: Batch 50% off; cache hits 90% off on Haiku 5.5
Trained on API data: No (Commercial Terms)
Default retention: Deleted within 30 days
Zero data retention: By agreement, through sales
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Both, listed for the API
HIPAA BAA: Standard BAA signed in the Console, if eligible
Data regions: US-only inference at 1.1x; otherwise global
Official SDKs: Python, TypeScript, C#, Go, Java, PHP, Ruby
Console SSO: Through sales
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, the Anthropic API has a complete per-token price list, discounts that combine and strong data terms, with a self-serve HIPAA BAA. Region choice is US only, zero data retention and SSO go through sales, and a few pages disagree on billing details.
Choose it if: You want Claude models on a pay-as-you-go account with published per-token prices. · You want batch and caching discounts you can combine, and spend limits you set yourself. · You handle health data and want to sign a HIPAA BAA without a sales call.
Look elsewhere if: You need API processing kept in the EU or another non-US region. · You want a free tier with published limits to prototype on.
Compared with: OpenAI API (https://proofyo.com/products/openai-api) — pick Anthropic API (Claude) when You want one-time free credits for new users and an official PHP SDK, at the same $20 scenario price on Claude Haiku 5.5.; pick OpenAI API when You want data residency outside the US (by approval) or a flex rate at half price on top of the batch discount. | Google Gemini API (https://proofyo.com/products/gemini-api) — pick Anthropic API (Claude) when You need SOC 2 and ISO 27001 listed for the API, a stated 30-day retention and a HIPAA BAA path.; pick Google Gemini API when You want an ongoing free tier on current models with no card, and accept that free-tier prompts may be used to improve Google products. | Mistral AI API (https://proofyo.com/products/mistral-api) — pick Anthropic API (Claude) when You want API data kept out of training by default, published rate limits and a self-serve HIPAA BAA.; pick Mistral AI API when You want a lower scenario price ($12 on Ministral 3 3B), a free mode with no card, and EU or US regional endpoints at +10%.
Strengths:
- A low price on a current model: Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.10 / $0.50 per 1M tokens for prompts up to 100,000 tokens, with a 1M-token context and tool use. Our scenario comes to $20 a month (computed), $10 with the Batch API. (Google Gemini API's scenario model, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite, comes to $55 for the same tokens; OpenAI API's GPT-6 Luna also comes to $20.)
- Batch and cache discounts that combine: Batch is 50% off input and output, cache hits are 0.1x the input price on Haiku 5.5 (0.05x on Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5, 0.025x on Fable 5.1), and the pricing page says the discounts can be combined. (DeepSeek API has no batch API; its discounts are cached input and off-peak rates.)
- No training on API data, in the contract: The Commercial Terms say Anthropic may not train models on customer content, the DPA with standard contractual clauses is incorporated, and the privacy center says API inputs and outputs are deleted within 30 days. (Mistral AI API's paid use is covered by an opt-out training control, not excluded by default.)
- A HIPAA BAA you sign yourself: Eligible organizations review and sign the standard BAA in the Claude Console. The privacy center lists SOC 2 Type I and Type II, ISO 27001:2022 and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 for the API. (OpenAI API also has a self-serve standard BAA, but only after an established history of API usage; Google Gemini API states no BAA for its Developer API.)
- Seven official SDKs and published limits: Official SDKs cover Python, TypeScript, C#, Go, Java, PHP and Ruby, plus a CLI. Rate limits are published per tier and model, structured outputs follow a JSON schema, and you can set your own spend limit. (Mistral AI API's official SDKs are Python and TypeScript only, and its rate-limit numbers are shown only after login.)
Things to know:
- Free credits of unstated size, then prepaid credits: The pricing page says new users get "a small amount of free credits" but gives no amount. After that, usage is paid from prepaid credits, which expire one year after purchase and are non-refundable. Workaround: Buy small amounts with auto-reload rather than a large prepayment.
- US is the only region option: Requests can be pinned to US-only inference at 1.1x the price on Claude 4.6 and later models; the default is global routing. No EU or other region is stated for the first-party API. Workaround: The pricing page notes regional endpoints on Amazon Bedrock and Google Cloud, at a 10% premium over their global endpoints.
- Zero data retention and Console SSO go through sales: Zero data retention is enabled per organization by the sales team and does not cover the Console or Managed Agents; Fable 5.1 requires 30-day retention. The Console SSO settings appear only after working with sales or completing a merge proposal. Workaround: For health data, the self-serve HIPAA BAA applies; the docs say a HIPAA-enabled organization does not also need zero data retention.
- Monthly spend caps by tier: Spend caps are $500 a month on Start, $1,000 on Build and $200,000 on Scale; at the cap, requests stop until the 1st of next month. New organizations may start in an Evaluation tier whose lower limits are not published. Workaround: Request a tier increase in the Console before you reach the cap.
Pricing reality: Anthropic bills per million tokens, with input and output priced separately, from prepaid credits bought by card; invoicing is arranged with sales. There is no plan fee. Our scenario on Claude Haiku 5.5 is 100 × $0.10 + 20 × $0.50 = $20 a month at standard rates; the Batch API halves it to $10, and US-only inference makes it $22 (computed). Costs climb with prompts over 100,000 tokens on Haiku 5.5 (5x, $0.50 / $2.50), with larger models (Sonnet 5.5 $2 / $10, Opus 5.5 $4 / $20, Fable 5.1 $10 / $50), fast mode on Opus 5.5 ($8 / $40), 1-hour cache writes at 2x input, and web search at $10 per 1,000 searches. Claude 4.7 and later use a tokenizer that the pricing page says produces about 30% more tokens for the same text, so compare per-token prices with care. Fees exclude taxes, and posted rate changes take effect 30 days after posting, or sooner once you receive notice.
Exit path: Pay-as-you-go has no term: either party may end the Commercial Terms for convenience with notice (30 days from Anthropic). You own your outputs, and under the DPA Anthropic returns a copy of customer data on request and deletes it within 30 days of termination. Usage can be exported to CSV from the Console. Unused prepaid credits are non-refundable. The same models also run on Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud and Microsoft Foundry.

### OpenAI API

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/openai-api
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/openai-api
Category: LLM APIs
Vendor: OpenAI
Tagline: Per-token access to OpenAI's GPT-6 models and hosted tools through one API, paid from prepaid credits.
Value: One API key for OpenAI's GPT-6 models and hosted tools, priced per token with published batch, flex and caching discounts.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: The OpenAI API gives you OpenAI's current models (GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6 Luna) plus built-in tools such as web search, file search and code containers through one Responses API, with official SDKs in six languages. Every current model's token price is on one public page, and Batch and Flex cut it in half. Teams that want OpenAI's models and agent tooling without running inference get a pay-as-you-go service with a SOC 2 Type 2 report and an ISO 27001 certificate that cover the API.
- A low-cost current model with a 1M-token window: GPT-6 Luna costs $0.10 per 1M input and $0.50 per 1M output tokens with a 1,050,000-token context window; our 100M + 20M token scenario comes to $20 a month (computed). (Pricing page and GPT-6 Luna model page (2026-10-15))
- Three published ways to pay less: Batch and Flex are priced at 50% of standard rates, and cached input on GPT-6 Luna is 10% of the input price (cache writes cost 1.25x). (Pricing page; batch, flex and prompt caching guides (2026-10-15))
- Hosted tools in the same call: The Responses API runs web search, file search and code containers for the model; each has a published price on the pricing page, billed on top of tokens. (Pricing page, tools section (2026-10-15))
- Audit reports that name the API: The trust portal lists a SOC 2 Type 2 report for Jul 1, 2025 to Jun 30, 2026 and an ISO 27001 certificate covering the API; API data is not used for training unless you opt in. (trust.openai.com; data controls guide (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want OpenAI's models and hosted agent tools on a self-serve, pay-as-you-go account, with clear batch and caching discounts.
Things to know: Zero data retention, residency and console SSO go through sales, and the self-serve HIPAA BAA needs a history of API usage; abuse logs are kept up to 30 days.
Score: 7.1/10
Free option: Not observed yet
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.10/1M input tokens (GPT-6 Luna plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
How you pay: Prepaid credits ($5 minimum), expire after 1 year
Free option: No free allowance stated
Reference scenario (100M in + 20M out tokens/mo): $20 on gpt-6-luna, computed
Batch, cache and other discounts: Batch and Flex 50% off; cached input 90% off
Trained on API data: No, unless you opt in
Default retention: Abuse logs up to 30 days
Zero data retention: By approval, through sales
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Both, covering the API
HIPAA BAA: Standard BAA accepted in the API Platform, if eligible
Data regions: 10 storage regions by approval; processing in US, EU, UAE
Official SDKs: Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, Java (beta), Go (beta), C#, Ruby
Console SSO: Custom/Enterprise billing plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, the OpenAI API has a complete per-token price list, published batch, flex and caching discounts, and audit reports that cover the API. Stricter data controls, residency and SSO go through sales, and a few docs pages lag behind the price list.
Choose it if: You want OpenAI's models with web search, file search and code tools in the same API. · You want published batch, flex and caching discounts and hard spend limits. · Your review accepts SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 reports that name the API.
Look elsewhere if: You need zero data retention or data residency without a sales conversation. · You want a free tier with published limits to prototype on.
Compared with: Anthropic API (Claude) (https://proofyo.com/products/anthropic-api) — pick OpenAI API when You want data residency outside the US (by approval), and a flex rate at half price on top of the batch discount.; pick Anthropic API (Claude) when You want one-time free credits for new users and an official PHP SDK, at the same $20 scenario price on Claude Haiku 5.5. | Google Gemini API (https://proofyo.com/products/gemini-api) — pick OpenAI API when You need SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports that name the API, zero data retention by approval, or a data region.; pick Google Gemini API when You want an ongoing free tier on current models with no card, and accept that free-tier prompts may be used to improve Google products. | Mistral AI API (https://proofyo.com/products/mistral-api) — pick OpenAI API when You want API data kept out of training by default, published rate limits and a HIPAA BAA path.; pick Mistral AI API when You want a lower scenario price ($12 on Ministral 3 3B), a free mode with no card, and EU or US regional endpoints at +10%.
Strengths:
- A complete price list with cost levers: Every GPT-6 and GPT-5.6 model lists standard, batch, flex and fast prices per 1M tokens, with cached-input and cache-write prices beside them. Batch and Flex are both 50% off. (Anthropic API (Claude) also has a 50% batch discount and 0.1x cache hits, but no published flex-style lower rate.)
- Audit reports that name the API: The trust portal lists a SOC 2 Type 2 report (Jul 1, 2025 to Jun 30, 2026) and an ISO 27001 certificate for the API, and the DPA applies with the Services Agreement. (Google's compliance scope lists name Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, not the Gemini Developer API.)
- Data residency in 10 regions: Storage can be kept in 10 regions, including the US, Europe, the UK, Japan and India, and requests can be processed in the US, Europe or the UAE. Eligibility goes through sales. (Anthropic API (Claude) offers only a US option, at 1.1x the price; Google Gemini API states no region choice.)
- Spend limits you set yourself: Hard monthly spend limits and alerts can be set per organization and per project; at a hard limit, requests are refused with a 429 error. (DeepSeek API states no spend limit; spending is bounded only by the prepaid balance.)
- Six official SDKs and structured outputs: The libraries page lists official SDKs for Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, Java (beta), Go (beta), C# and Ruby, and Structured Outputs follow a supplied JSON Schema. (Mistral AI API's official SDKs are Python and TypeScript only.)
Things to know:
- No stated free allowance: The rate limit guide lists a Free tier ($100 a month usage limit, allowed countries only) and the quickstart mentions a free test request, but no page states a free token amount, models or rate limits. Workaround: Budget the $5 minimum credit purchase for a first test.
- Prepaid credits with auto-reload on by default: New accounts buy credits first ($5 minimum, $10 default). Auto-reload is turned on during setup, and purchased credits expire after 1 year and are non-refundable except in listed cases. Workaround: Turn auto-reload off or set a monthly reload limit, and add a hard spend limit per project.
- Stricter data controls go through sales: Zero data retention needs OpenAI approval, and data residency outside the US also needs approved abuse-monitoring controls and a Modified Retention amendment. The standard HIPAA BAA can be accepted in the API Platform only once an organization has an established history of API usage. Workaround: Set store to false on Responses requests you do not need kept; otherwise they are stored for at least 30 days.
- Some docs lag the price list: The production guide quotes prices per 1,000 tokens, the pricing page lists models shut down on Sep 28, 2026, and a GPT-5.6 Sol promotion note gives no regular price. Workaround: Use the pricing page and the deprecations page as the sources; GA models get at least 6 months of notice.
Pricing reality: OpenAI bills per token for each model from prepaid credits: the minimum purchase is $5, auto-reload is on by default, and purchased credits expire after a year. Usage tiers (Build at $5 of purchases, Launch at $100, Grow at $500) raise rate limits and the monthly cap; they are not plans. Our scenario on GPT-6 Luna is 100 × $0.10 + 20 × $0.50 = $20 a month at standard rates; Batch or Flex halves it, and cached input costs $0.01 per 1M. Costs climb with the flagship (GPT-6 Astra at $10 / $50 would be $2,000 for the same tokens, our arithmetic), Fast mode at 2x, prompts over 272K tokens, hosted tools such as web search at $10 per 1,000 calls plus content tokens, and a 10% uplift on data residency endpoints. Taxes are not stated on the pages we read.
Exit path: There is little to export: you own your inputs and outputs, Responses objects are stored for at least 30 days by default, and files can be deleted or set to expire. Assistants objects stay until you delete them. Fine-tuned models remain callable until their base model is retired; a weight download is not stated. Moving away mostly means changing the base URL and model names, since Gemini, Mistral, DeepSeek and Anthropic document endpoints in OpenAI's request format.

### Google Gemini API

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/gemini-api
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/gemini-api
Category: LLM APIs
Vendor: Google
Tagline: Per-token access to Google's Gemini models with an ongoing free tier, billed in US dollars through Google AI Studio and Cloud Billing.
Value: Google's Gemini models by the token in US dollars, with an ongoing free tier to start and batch, flex and caching discounts to scale.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: The Gemini API sells Google's text, image, video, speech and embedding models by the token, in US dollars, behind one API key from Google AI Studio. An ongoing free tier covers select current models, including Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite and 3.8 Flash, with no card needed. Paid use starts with a $5 prepay; Batch and Flex (preview) halve token prices, cached input costs 90% less, and paid prompts are not used to improve Google products. Teams that want to prototype for free and then move the same code to paid use get both on one key.
- A free tier on current models, with no card: The pricing page lists free input and output tokens on select models, including Gemini 3.8 Flash, 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite and 3.1 Flash-Lite, with no end date. Free-tier content may be used to improve Google products outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. (Pricing page and API key docs (2026-10-15))
- Published ways to halve the token price: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite costs $0.25 per 1M input and $1.50 per 1M output tokens. Batch and Flex are $0.125 / $0.75, and cached input is $0.025 per 1M, plus hourly storage for explicit caches. (Pricing page; Batch API and Flex docs (2026-10-15))
- One key for many model types: Text, image, video, speech and embedding models share one key and one price list. Grounding with Google Search includes 5,000 free search requests a month on Gemini 3 and newer, then $14 per 1,000. (Models and pricing pages (2026-10-15))
- Works with the OpenAI SDK: An OpenAI-compatible endpoint accepts the OpenAI Python and JavaScript libraries with a changed base URL and a Gemini key, next to Google GenAI SDKs in five languages. (OpenAI compatibility and libraries docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Developers who want to try current Gemini models for free, then pay per token with batch, flex and caching discounts on the same key.
Things to know: Zero data retention, data regions, and SOC 2, ISO 27001 or HIPAA coverage sit with Google Cloud's Agent Platform, not this API.
Score: 5.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.25/1M input tokens (Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
How you pay: Prepaid credits ($5 minimum), expire after 12 months
Free option: Ongoing free tier on select models, no card; limits shown in AI Studio
Reference scenario (100M in + 20M out tokens/mo): $55 on gemini-3.1-flash-lite, computed
Batch, cache and other discounts: Batch and Flex (preview) 50% off; cached input 90% off
Trained on API data: Paid: no. Free tier: may be used to improve Google products
Default retention: Abuse logs for a "limited period", days not stated
Zero data retention: Not guaranteed: paid prompts are logged for abuse monitoring (docs point to Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, formerly Vertex AI)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated for this API
HIPAA BAA: Not stated for this API
Data regions: No region choice stated
Official SDKs: Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Go, Java, C#
Console SSO: Not stated (Google account sign-in)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, the Gemini API pairs an ongoing free tier on current models with a detailed USD price list and published batch, flex and caching discounts. Certifications, zero data retention and data regions sit with Google Cloud's Agent Platform, and a few billing pages disagree.
Choose it if: You want to try current Gemini models on a free tier with no card. · You want text, image, video, speech and embedding models behind one key and one price list. · You can send work that can wait through Batch or Flex at half the token price.
Look elsewhere if: Your review needs SOC 2, ISO 27001 or a HIPAA BAA that names the API itself. · You need zero data retention or a choice of data region on a self-serve account.
Compared with: OpenAI API (https://proofyo.com/products/openai-api) — pick Google Gemini API when You want an ongoing free tier on current models with no card before you pay anything.; pick OpenAI API when You need SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports that name the API, zero data retention by approval, data regions, or a $20 scenario on GPT-6 Luna. | Anthropic API (Claude) (https://proofyo.com/products/anthropic-api) — pick Google Gemini API when You want an ongoing free tier rather than one-time credits, and a flex rate at half price on top of the batch discount.; pick Anthropic API (Claude) when You need SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a self-serve HIPAA BAA for the API, a stated 30-day retention, or a $20 scenario on Claude Haiku 5.5. | Mistral AI API (https://proofyo.com/products/mistral-api) — pick Google Gemini API when You want paid prompts kept out of training by default, the free models named on the pricing page, and SDKs in five languages.; pick Mistral AI API when You want EU or US regional endpoints (+10%), stated SOC 2 and ISO 27001, and a $12 scenario on Ministral 3 3B.
Strengths:
- An ongoing free tier on current models: The pricing page lists free input and output tokens on select current models, including the scenario model, with no end date and no card. Google AI Studio is free as well. (Mistral AI API also has a free mode with no card, but its pages do not say which models it includes; OpenAI API states no free allowance.)
- Three published ways to pay less: Batch is 50% off, Flex (preview, best-effort) is 50% off, and cached input on Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite costs 90% less than standard input. (Anthropic API (Claude) has the same batch and cache discounts but no published flex-style lower rate.)
- Spend guardrails you set yourself: Usage is drawn from a prepaid balance, auto-reload is optional and takes a monthly auto-charge limit, and projects can have spend caps (marked experimental). (DeepSeek API states no spend limit; spending is bounded only by the prepaid balance.)
- Five official SDKs and an OpenAI-compatible endpoint: The Google GenAI SDK is GA for Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Go, Java and C#, structured outputs follow a JSON Schema, and the OpenAI libraries work with a changed base URL. (Mistral AI API's official SDKs are Python and TypeScript only.)
- Data use stated on every model: Each pricing table says whether content is used to improve Google products. On the Paid Tier it is not, and prompts fall under Google's processor DPA with the terms.
Things to know:
- Certifications and stricter controls sit on another product: Google Cloud's SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA lists name Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, not this API. The ZDR page points to Vertex AI for guaranteed zero data retention, and the terms say data may be cached in any country with Google facilities. Workaround: The pages point to Gemini on Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (formerly Vertex AI), a separate Google Cloud offer with its own prices.
- Free and paid data terms differ: Free-tier content may be used to improve Google products and read by human reviewers, outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. Paid prompts are logged for abuse detection for a period the terms do not state; Search grounding keeps prompts 30 days. Workaround: Link a billing account to move a project to the Paid Tier before sending data that should not be used.
- The lowest listed prices are closed to new projects: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite ($0.10 / $0.40) is limited to users who used 2.5 models before, so a new project starts on 3.1 Flash-Lite, where our scenario is $55 a month (computed). Its earliest shutdown date is May 7, 2027. Workaround: Batch or Flex halves the scenario to $27.50 (computed) for work that can wait.
- Prepaid credits, tier caps and unclear refund rules: Credits expire after 12 months and are non-refundable; at a $0 balance every key on the billing account stops with HTTP 402. Tier 1 is capped at $250 a month, and the refund-on-Postpay rule is contradicted by the FAQ. Workaround: Set up auto-reload with a monthly limit; Tier 2 (a $2,000 cap) opens after $100 paid and 3 days.
Pricing reality: The Gemini API bills per 1M input and output tokens in USD, per model and tier (Standard, Batch, Flex, Priority); thinking tokens count as output. The free tier gives free tokens on select models at limits shown in AI Studio. The Paid Tier needs a Cloud Billing account and a prepay of at least $5 (the most you can prepay is $5,000), and credits expire after 12 months. Our scenario on Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is 100 × $0.25 + 20 × $1.50 = $55 a month at Standard rates, or $27.50 on Batch or Flex (computed). Costs climb with Gemini 4 Argon ($2 / $10, rising to $4 / $20 on Dec 1, 2026), the 3.8 and 3.6 Flash increase on Jan 1, 2027, Priority at 75-100% more, hourly storage for explicit caches, and Search grounding at $14 per 1,000 requests after 5,000 free a month. Linking a billing account puts you in Tier 1, with a $250 monthly cap. Taxes fall under the Google Cloud Terms.
Exit path: The Interactions API stores conversation state by default unless store is set to false. File API uploads stay until you delete them or they expire, explicit caches until their TTL, and opt-in logs for a window you set (7, 14, 28 or 55 days); logs saved in datasets have no set retention. Code on the OpenAI-compatible endpoint moves by changing the base URL and key; Google GenAI SDK code needs porting. Prepaid credits are forfeited if you close the billing account.

### DeepSeek API

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/deepseek-api
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/deepseek-api
Category: LLM APIs
Vendor: DeepSeek
Tagline: Per-token access to DeepSeek's V4.1-Flash and V4 Pro models in OpenAI and Anthropic request formats, with half-price off-peak hours.
Value: A 1M-token-context model billed per token, with automatic cache hits at 98% off and half-price off-peak hours.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: DeepSeek charges $0.30 per 1M input and $1.20 per 1M output tokens for deepseek-flash at the peak rate, and half that off-peak. Context caching is on for every account, and cache hits cost $0.006 per 1M tokens, so agents and long multi-turn chats that resend the same prefix pay far less for input. The API accepts OpenAI and Anthropic request formats, so an existing client mostly needs a new base URL and key. Cost-sensitive teams with high-volume text or agent work, and data rules that allow processing in China, get a simple prepaid account with no plans.
- Half price outside peak hours: Peak hours are 01:00-04:00 and 06:00-10:00 UTC, Monday to Friday, excluding Chinese public holidays; all other hours cost half. Our scenario is $54 a month at peak and $27 off-peak (computed). (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Cache hits at 98% off, with no setup: Disk caching is enabled by default for all users, and a cache hit on deepseek-flash costs $0.006 per 1M tokens against $0.30 for a miss. The guide calls it best-effort, with no guaranteed hit rate. (Pricing page; Context Caching guide (2026-10-15))
- OpenAI and Anthropic request formats: The docs give an OpenAI-format base URL (Chat Completions and Responses) and an Anthropic-format one, and the examples use the OpenAI SDK for Python and Node. (Your First API Call; Anthropic API and Responses API guides (2026-10-15))
- A balance that does not expire: The FAQ says top-ups do not expire and unused balances can be refunded; the terms say the refund is the remaining balance after review, minus costs such as handling fees. (FAQ; Open Platform Terms of Service (2026-10-15))
Best for: Cost-sensitive teams running high-volume text or agent workloads with repeated prompt prefixes or flexible timing, whose data rules allow processing in China.
Things to know: The privacy policy says data is processed and stored in the PRC, training use is opt-out, and no SOC 2, ISO 27001, DPA or zero-retention option is stated.
Score: 3.2/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.30/1M input tokens (deepseek-flash (peak rate) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
How you pay: Prepaid balance (PayPal, card, Alipay, WeChat Pay); top-ups do not expire
Free option: None stated; a "granted balance" is mentioned with no amount
Reference scenario (100M in + 20M out tokens/mo): $54 on deepseek-flash at peak ($27 off-peak), computed
Batch, cache and other discounts: No batch API; cache hits 98% off (automatic); off-peak 50% off
Trained on API data: May be used, de-identified, unless you opt out
Default retention: No number of days ("as long as you have an account")
Zero data retention: Not stated
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
Data regions: No choice; processed and stored in the PRC
Official SDKs: None of its own; docs use the OpenAI and Anthropic SDKs
Console SSO: Not stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, DeepSeek API has short, clear token prices, automatic 98%-off cache hits and half-price off-peak hours. Data is processed in China, training use is opt-out, and no compliance documents are stated.
Choose it if: Much of your input repeats, as in agent loops or long shared prompts, so 98%-off cache hits apply automatically. · Your jobs can run outside the peak hours (01:00-04:00 and 06:00-10:00 UTC on weekdays) at half price. · You already use the OpenAI or Anthropic SDKs and want to switch by changing the base URL and key. · Your data rules allow processing and storage in China.
Look elsewhere if: You need SOC 2, ISO 27001, a HIPAA BAA, a DPA or zero data retention from the vendor. · Your data must stay in the US or the EU. · You want API data kept out of training without having to opt out.
Compared with: Google Gemini API (https://proofyo.com/products/gemini-api) — pick DeepSeek API when You want 98%-off cache hits, half-price off-peak hours and an Anthropic-format endpoint, at about the same scenario price ($54 against $55).; pick Google Gemini API when You want an ongoing free tier, a 50% batch discount and paid prompts kept out of training. | Mistral AI API (https://proofyo.com/products/mistral-api) — pick DeepSeek API when You want a 1M-token context, cache hits at 98% off and both OpenAI- and Anthropic-format endpoints.; pick Mistral AI API when You want a lower scenario price ($12 on Ministral 3 3B), a 50% batch discount, EU or US regional endpoints and stated SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. | OpenAI API (https://proofyo.com/products/openai-api) — pick DeepSeek API when You want half-price off-peak hours without a separate tier, an Anthropic-format endpoint and a balance that does not expire.; pick OpenAI API when You want a lower scenario price ($20 on GPT-6 Luna), API data kept out of training by default, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports and hard spend limits.
Strengths:
- Automatic cache hits at 98% off: Caching is on by default, and on deepseek-flash a cache hit costs $0.006 per 1M input tokens against $0.30 for a miss. Usage reports cache hit and miss tokens separately. (OpenAI API, Anthropic API (Claude), Google Gemini API and Mistral AI API price cached input on their scenario models at 90% off.)
- Off-peak hours at half price: Every request outside the published peak hours is billed at half the peak rate, with no separate batch job or tier to choose. (OpenAI API (Flex, beta) and Google Gemini API (Flex, preview) also offer 50% off, as a separate processing tier.)
- Three request formats on one key: OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses and Anthropic Messages formats all work, and Claude model names are mapped to DeepSeek models on the Anthropic endpoint. (Anthropic API (Claude), Google Gemini API and Mistral AI API document an OpenAI-compatible endpoint; OpenAI API documents none in another vendor's format.)
- A prepaid balance that does not expire: The FAQ says top-ups do not expire and unused balances can be refunded after review, minus handling fees. (Prepaid credits expire after a year on OpenAI API and Anthropic API (Claude), and after 12 months on Google Gemini API.)
- 1M-token context on both models: deepseek-flash and deepseek-v4-pro both list a 1M-token context and up to 384K output tokens, with tool calls; Flash also takes images, billed as tokens. (Mistral AI API's scenario model, Ministral 3 3B, lists a 256k context.)
Things to know:
- Data is processed and stored in China: The English privacy policy says DeepSeek collects, processes and stores personal data in the People's Republic of China, and the API pages offer no region choice. The terms follow PRC law. Workaround: The launch post links the V4.1-Flash weights on Hugging Face, for teams that can run the model elsewhere (licence not checked here).
- Training use unless you opt out: Terms of Use 4.3 let DeepSeek use de-identified inputs and outputs to develop or improve its services unless you opt out; the API terms add no API-specific rule. Workaround: The privacy policy lists a right to opt out of training, depending on where you live, by email to privacy@deepseek.com.
- No compliance documents stated: No page we read states a SOC 2 report, ISO 27001, a HIPAA BAA, a DPA or zero data retention, and the privacy policy keeps data "for as long as you have an account". Workaround: Ask api-service@deepseek.com before sending personal or regulated data.
- No batch API, spend limit or token-rate numbers: Published limits are concurrency only (2,500 for Flash, 500 for Pro, per account). No spend limit or budget alert is stated; requests fail with a 402 error when the balance runs out. Workaround: Keep the prepaid balance small and track spend with the per-key CSV usage export; higher concurrency is free on request.
Pricing reality: DeepSeek bills per 1M tokens in USD from a prepaid balance (any granted balance is used first), with no plans, seats or stated minimum spend. Every feature of a model is in its token price. Our scenario on deepseek-flash is 100 × $0.30 + 20 × $1.20 = $54 a month at peak, or $27 if all of it ran off-peak (computed). Cache hits cut input to $0.006 per 1M tokens. Costs rise with deepseek-v4-pro at $1.32 / $3.96 per 1M at peak, and with thinking mode, which is on by default and adds reasoning output. Peak hours follow the Chinese calendar, so the cheaper hours shift on Chinese public holidays. Files API storage (25 GiB per user) has no stated price, refunds deduct handling fees, and taxes are not stated. Prices can change, and changed twice in 2026.
Exit path: There is little to export: the Chat Completions and Responses endpoints keep no conversation state, and uploaded images can be listed and deleted through the Files API. Usage history can be exported per API key as CSV files. Because the API takes OpenAI and Anthropic request formats, moving means changing the base URL, key and model name. Ask for a refund of any unused balance before deleting the account, since deletion forfeits it.

## Category: Object storage

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/object-storage

### Backblaze B2

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/backblaze-b2
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/backblaze-b2
Category: Object storage
Vendor: Backblaze
Tagline: S3-compatible hot storage at $6.95 per TB a month in all 4 regions, with free read, write and list calls and free egress up to 3x what you store.
Value: Hot S3-compatible storage at a flat $6.95 per TB a month, with read, write and list calls free and egress free up to 3x what you store.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: You pay mainly for capacity. Storage is $6.95 per TB a month at the same rate in all 4 regions, the usual S3 calls cost nothing, and downloads are free up to three times your average stored data, so a monthly bill follows how much you keep rather than how often you use it. Versioning, compliance-mode Object Lock, Cloud Replication and customer-provided keys come with standard storage at no extra charge. Teams storing backups, media or datasets get S3 tools and data protection without per-request or minimum-duration costs.
- One rate, no request fees: The pricing page lists $6.95 per TB per 30 days, the data regions docs say storage costs do not change by region, and Class A, B and C API calls are free on pay-as-you-go. Only event-notification calls (Class D) are billed, after 2,500 free a day. (Pricing page, transaction pricing page and data regions docs (2026-10-15))
- Downloads up to 3x storage included: Egress is free up to 3x your average monthly stored data, then $0.01/GB, and unlimited to partner CDNs and compute services such as Fastly, Cloudflare, bunny.net, CoreWeave and Vultr. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Protection features on standard storage: Buckets are versioned by default, Object Lock has governance and compliance modes plus legal hold at no extra cost, and Cloud Replication has no service or egress fee (the copy is billed as storage). (Docs: bucket versions, Object Lock, Cloud Replication (2026-10-15))
- Own SOC 2 Type 2 report: The compliance page says an independent firm audited Backblaze for SOC 2 Type 2, and the security page says Sales sends the report to eligible customers. DPAs for EEA/EU and UK residents are part of the Terms. (Compliance and security pages; DPA (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams storing backups, media or datasets that they also download, who want one per-TB rate and S3 tools without per-request charges.
Things to know: Each account sits in one of 4 regions chosen at sign-up, and there is one storage class, so lifecycle rules can only hide and delete versions.
Score: 8.6/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $6.95/TB/mo (Pay as you go plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Standard storage price: $6.95/TB per 30 days, billed per byte-hour; same in all 4 regions
Egress to the internet: Free up to 3x average stored data, then $0.01/GB; free to listed CDN and compute partners
Request fees: Class A, B and C calls free; event notifications (Class D) $0.004 per 10,000 after 2,500 a day
Free option: First 10 GB always free, no credit card
Reference scenario (1 TB/mo): $6.95, egress and calls free within the rules, computed
Billing minimums: None stated (no minimum file size, storage duration or monthly charge)
S3 API: S3-compatible, next to the B2 Native API
Versioning and object lock: Versioning on by default; compliance-mode Object Lock
Replication: Cloud Replication within or between regions (another region needs a second account)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Own SOC 2 Type 2 report; ISO 27001 held by its data centres
HIPAA BAA: On request for covered entities
Regions: 4 (US East, US West, EU Central, CA East); one per account
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Backblaze B2 has the lowest list price in our 1 TB scenario, with free API calls, egress free up to 3x storage and solid data protection. Each account sits in one of 4 regions, with one storage class.
Choose it if: You want one flat per-TB rate with no fees for reads, writes or lists. · Your monthly downloads stay within 3x what you store, or go through a partner CDN. · You need versioning and retention that no user can remove, at no extra charge. · You want to start without a card, with 10 GB free.
Look elsewhere if: You need several regions under one account, or more than 4 regions. · You want colder storage classes with lifecycle transitions. · Your review requires an ISO 27001 certificate in the vendor’s name or a self-serve BAA.
Compared with: Amazon S3 (https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-s3) — pick Backblaze B2 when You want one flat rate of $6.95 per TB, free API calls (Classes A to C) and egress free up to 3x what you store.; pick Amazon S3 when You need many regions, storage classes with lifecycle transitions, or a HIPAA BAA you accept in the console. | Cloudflare R2 (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-r2) — pick Backblaze B2 when You need object versioning and a lock no user can remove, or you download less than 3x what you store.; pick Cloudflare R2 when Your downloads run well above 3x what you store: R2 charges no egress fee for any storage class. | Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage (https://proofyo.com/products/wasabi-hot-cloud-storage) — pick Backblaze B2 when You store less than 1 TB, small objects or short-lived data: B2 has no minimum duration, object size or monthly charge.; pick Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage when You need 16 regions, an ISO 27001 certificate in the vendor’s name, or SSO with any SAML or OpenID provider you choose.
Strengths:
- Lowest list price in our scenario: Storing 1 TB, downloading 1 TB and making 11 million calls a month comes to $6.95 at list price (computed): the download is within 3x the data stored, and the calls are Class A and B, which are free. (The same scenario computes to $7.99 on Wasabi, $23.10 on Cloudflare R2 and $122 on Amazon S3.)
- No fees for reads, writes or lists: Class A, B and C calls are free on pay-as-you-go. The only billed class is outbound event notifications, at $0.004 per 10,000 after 2,500 a day. (Cloudflare R2 charges $4.50 per million Class A and $0.36 per million Class B operations.)
- No billing floors: The pricing page lists no minimum file size, storage duration or monthly charge, storage is billed per byte-hour, and the first 10 GB is free. (Wasabi bills at least 1 TB a month, 90 days per object and 4 KB per object on Pay as You Go.)
- Versioning and WORM retention included: Buckets are versioned by default, and the Object Lock docs say compliance mode cannot be removed by any user. Object Lock and legal hold cost nothing extra, and replication has no service or egress fee. (Cloudflare R2 has no object versioning, and its bucket locks can be removed by the account.)
- Free egress at 3x storage: Downloads are free up to 3x your average stored data, then $0.01/GB, and unlimited to listed partner CDNs and compute services. (Wasabi asks that monthly downloads stay at or below active storage; Amazon S3 bills $0.09/GB after 100 GB a month.)
Things to know:
- One region per account: The region is chosen at sign-up and cannot be changed. A second region needs a second account, and moving means re-uploading, with storage billed in both places while you do. Workaround: Open a second account (plus-addressing is allowed) and use Cloud Replication, which has no service or egress fee.
- One storage class, expiry-only lifecycle: Lifecycle rules hide and delete file versions; there is no colder class to move data to. Every version is kept by default, and hidden versions are billed as stored data. Workaround: A lifecycle rule can keep only the last version, or keep prior versions for a set number of days.
- Some settings sit outside the S3 API: Key management and Cloud Replication are set in the web console or Native API. The S3 API has no object ACLs, IAM roles, object tagging or website configuration, and the master key does not work with it. Workaround: Create a standard application key in the console for S3 tools, and set replication rules there. Lifecycle rules can also be set through the S3 API.
- ISO 27001 through its data centres, BAA on request: The compliance page lists ISO 27001 through its certified data centres, not for Backblaze itself, and offers a HIPAA BAA on request to business customers who are covered entities. Workaround: Compliance documents are shared through Whistic, and Sales sends the SOC 2 Type 2 report to eligible customers.
Pricing reality: B2 bills storage per byte-hour at $6.95 per TB per 30 days, the same in all 4 regions; the transaction pricing page gives $0.00695 per GB a month, so 1 TB is 1,000 GB. The first 10 GB is free. Class A, B and C calls are free, and event notifications cost $0.004 per 10,000 after 2,500 a day. Egress is free up to 3x average stored data, then $0.01/GB. Our scenario is $6.95 a month (computed, 30-day month). Costs grow with downloads above 3x (5 TB out on 1 TB stored bills 2 TB, $20, computed), with versions kept forever, and with a replica in a second region. TERA support is $250 a month on pay-as-you-go. Annual capacity (1 to 5 years, billed at contract start) and B2 Overdrive (from $15 per TB, multi-petabyte commitment) are quoted by sales. Taxes are not stated.
Exit path: Data comes out through the S3-compatible API with any S3 tool, the B2 CLI, console ZIP snapshots or a USB snapshot drive (price not stated). Downloads are free up to 3x stored data, then $0.01/GB. To close, delete files, buckets, keys and snapshots, then disable B2; fees accrue until data is removed. Compliance-locked files cannot be deleted before their date; the Object Lock FAQ says a lock set longer than intended means closing the B2 account.

### Cloudflare R2

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-r2
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/cloudflare-r2
Category: Object storage
Vendor: Cloudflare
Tagline: S3-compatible object storage with no egress fee for any storage class, a permanent free tier and direct access from Cloudflare Workers.
Value: S3-compatible storage where downloads carry no egress fee, so serving or moving data out costs only the requests it takes.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach, Saves engineering time
Value detail: R2 charges for storage and for operations, and the pricing page states there is no egress charge for any storage class. For data that is read from the internet often, such as media, downloads or datasets, the bill does not grow with the bytes sent: our 1 TB scenario with 1 TB downloaded comes to $23.10. Existing S3 tools work against its S3-compatible endpoint, Cloudflare Workers reach buckets through a native binding, and free tools copy data in from S3, Google Cloud Storage and other S3-compatible stores.
- No egress line on the bill: The pricing page says there are no charges for egress bandwidth for any storage class, through the Workers API, the S3 API or r2.dev; other metered services connected to a bucket may charge. (R2 pricing page (2026-10-15))
- Buckets inside Workers code: The product page describes a native Workers API, so Workers code reads and writes a bucket through a binding without handling API keys or an SDK. (R2 product page (2026-10-15))
- Free migration tools: Super Slurper copies whole buckets from Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage and S3-compatible stores; Sippy copies objects on first request. Both are free apart from the Class A operations they make on R2. (R2 pricing page and data migration docs (2026-10-15))
- Permanent free tier with requests: Each month 10 GB-month of Standard storage, 1 million Class A and 10 million Class B operations are free, and downloads have no egress fee. (R2 pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams serving files, media or datasets that are downloaded often, and teams building on Cloudflare Workers, who want S3 tools without an egress bill.
Things to know: Versioning, the S3 Object Lock API and replication are not implemented, and its own bucket locks can be removed by the account.
Score: 8.1/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.015/GB-month (Standard storage plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Standard storage price: $0.015/GB-month
Egress to the internet: No egress fee for any storage class
Request fees: Class A $4.50 per million; Class B $0.36 per million
Free option: 10 GB-month, 1 million Class A and 10 million Class B a month, permanent
Reference scenario (1 TB/mo): $23.10, no egress charge, computed
Billing minimums: None on Standard; 30 days on Infrequent Access
S3 API: S3-compatible; versioning, Object Lock and replication calls not implemented
Versioning and object lock: No versioning; R2 bucket locks the account can remove
Replication: No built-in replication
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Cloudflare SOC 2 Type II names R2; ISO 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise customers only
Regions: 6 location hints (best effort); EU, US and FedRAMP jurisdictions
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Cloudflare R2 removes the egress fee and keeps billing simple, with a permanent free tier and no minimums on Standard. Versioning, the S3 Object Lock API and replication are not implemented, so it suits serving data more than strict retention.
Choose it if: Your data is served or downloaded often and egress would be a large part of the bill. · You build on Cloudflare Workers and want buckets reachable from your code. · You want a permanent free tier with storage, requests and downloads included. · You are moving off S3 or Google Cloud Storage and want free copy tools.
Look elsewhere if: You need object versioning or a retention lock that no one can remove. · You need built-in replication to a second region. · You need a HIPAA BAA without an Enterprise plan.
Compared with: Amazon S3 (https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-s3) — pick Cloudflare R2 when Your data is downloaded often: our 1 TB scenario is $23.10 here against $122 on S3, where $90 is egress.; pick Amazon S3 when You need versioning, compliance-mode Object Lock, replication or a HIPAA BAA you accept yourself. | Backblaze B2 (https://proofyo.com/products/backblaze-b2) — pick Cloudflare R2 when Downloads may exceed 3x what you store, or your code runs on Cloudflare Workers.; pick Backblaze B2 when You want the lowest scenario price here ($6.95), free Class A to C calls, versioning and compliance-mode Object Lock. | Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage (https://proofyo.com/products/wasabi-hot-cloud-storage) — pick Cloudflare R2 when You store under 1 TB, delete data within 90 days, or download more than you store.; pick Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage when You want a flat $7.99 per TB with no request fees, versioning, compliance-mode Object Lock and 16 regions.
Strengths:
- No egress fee for any storage class: Downloads through the S3 API, the Workers API or r2.dev are not charged, so our 1 TB scenario with 1 TB downloaded is $23.10, of which nothing is egress. (Amazon S3 bills $0.09 per GB from US East and Google Cloud Storage $0.12 per GiB; Backblaze B2 is free up to 3x what you store.)
- Permanent free tier that includes requests: Every month 10 GB-month of Standard storage, 1 million Class A and 10 million Class B operations are free, with no egress fee and no time limit. (Amazon S3 has no permanent free storage; Google Cloud Storage’s Always Free tier covers 5 GB-months.)
- No billing floors on Standard: The pricing and storage class pages state no minimum storage duration, no minimum object size and no minimum monthly charge for Standard storage. (Wasabi bills at least 1 TB a month, a 90-day minimum duration and a 4 KB minimum object on Pay as You Go.)
- Compliance and access controls on every plan: Cloudflare’s SOC 2 Type II names R2 in scope and Cloudflare holds ISO 27001:2022. Dashboard SSO is free on all plans, bucket-scoped read-only tokens are documented, and audit logs of bucket changes are always on. (Backblaze B2’s ISO 27001 is held by its data centres, and Wasabi states only its data centres’ SOC 2 reports.)
- Free tools to move data in: Super Slurper copies whole buckets and Sippy copies objects as they are requested, both free apart from the Class A operations they make on R2. (The Super Slurper docs list Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage as sources and name Backblaze B2 and Wasabi among tested S3-compatible ones.)
Things to know:
- No versioning or built-in replication: The S3 API page lists the versioning and replication calls as not implemented, and each bucket keeps its data in one region; Local Uploads only stages writes near the client. Workaround: Keep a second copy in another bucket with Super Slurper or rclone, and use bucket lock rules to block overwrites for a period.
- Retention locks the account can remove: The S3 Object Lock API is not implemented. R2 bucket lock rules retain objects by age, date or indefinitely, and the account can remove them in the dashboard, Wrangler or the API. Workaround: The durability page suggests pairing bucket locks with bucket-scoped API tokens to limit who can reach the data.
- A narrower set of S3 access features: Bucket policies, ACLs, object and bucket tagging and SSE-KMS are listed as not implemented. Encryption uses Cloudflare-managed keys by default, with SSE-C for keys you supply. Workaround: Access is set with API tokens scoped to buckets and temporary credentials that can be limited to a prefix.
- HIPAA BAA and FedRAMP for Enterprise: The Trust Hub HIPAA page says Cloudflare enters into a BAA with Enterprise-level customers, and Enterprise customers get the FedRAMP jurisdiction by contacting their account team or Cloudflare Support. Workaround: R2 is listed in the scope of Cloudflare’s HIPAA attestation; ask the account team about an Enterprise plan.
Pricing reality: R2 has no plan to pick: you pay per GB-month of storage and per million operations, and usage is rounded up to the next billing unit. Standard storage is $0.015 per GB-month, Class A operations (writes, lists) $4.50 per million and Class B (reads) $0.36 per million, with no egress fee. Our scenario (1 TB stored, 1 TB downloaded, 1 million writes, 10 million reads) is $15 + $4.50 + $3.60 = $23.10 a month at list price, computed with 1 TB taken as 1,000 GB-months and the free tier left out. Costs grow with reads: the pricing page’s asset-hosting example, 300 million reads a month, bills 290 million after the free 10 million: $104.40. Infrequent Access adds $0.01 per GB retrieved and a 30-day minimum. Basin Catalog, Data Access Logs (Observability pricing from Dec 1, 2026) and other metered services in front of a bucket are extra; sales tax applies by local law.
Exit path: Objects are read out through the S3-compatible API with any S3 tool, such as rclone or the aws CLI. There is no egress fee; the reads and lists are billed as Class B and Class A operations. No export tool to another provider is documented, since Super Slurper only copies into R2. To close, remove any bucket lock rules, empty the bucket (the dashboard has an Empty Bucket action) and then delete it.

### Google Cloud Storage

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/google-cloud-storage
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/google-cloud-storage
Category: Object storage
Vendor: Google Cloud
Tagline: Object storage on Google Cloud with four storage classes in one API, built-in cross-region buckets, a permanent free tier and every price published in USD.
Value: Hot to archive storage in one API, with cross-region buckets, retention locks that cannot be undone and compliance papers you accept yourself.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time, Built-in reach
Value detail: You pay for object storage with Google Cloud’s platform work already done. Standard, Nearline, Coldline and Archive sit in the same buckets and API, and lifecycle rules or Autoclass move objects between them. Dual- and multi-region buckets replicate across regions without a setup of your own, Bucket Lock and Object Retention Lock give retention that cannot be removed once locked, and the SOC 2 Type II reports, ISO 27001 certificate and HIPAA BAA come without a sales call. Transfer to Google Cloud services in the same location is free. The cost to weigh is internet egress, billed per GiB.
- Retention that cannot be undone: The Bucket Lock docs say a locked retention policy cannot be removed or its period reduced, and Object Retention Lock has a Locked mode (COMPLIANCE in the XML API) with retention up to 100 years. (Cloud Storage docs: Bucket Lock, Object Retention Lock (2026-10-15))
- Audit papers without a sales call: Google Cloud’s SOC 2 Type II reports are issued quarterly with Cloud Storage in scope, the ISO 27001 page lists Cloud Storage, and console help shows the HIPAA BAA accepted on the IAM & Admin page. (Google Cloud SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA pages; console help on the BAA (2026-10-15))
- Four classes and cross-region buckets: Standard to Archive ($0.02 to $0.0012 per GiB-month in Iowa) share one API; lifecycle rules and Autoclass move objects between classes, and dual- and multi-region buckets replicate across regions. (Pricing page; lifecycle and availability docs (2026-10-15))
- Free transfer inside Google Cloud: The pricing page lists transfer within the same location as free, for example BigQuery US reading a us-central1 bucket, and Cloud CDN waives Cloud Storage transfer charges (cache fill may apply). (Pricing page: data transfer within Google Cloud (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that build on Google Cloud, or need retention locks, cross-region buckets and a HIPAA BAA, and want every price published in USD.
Things to know: Internet egress is billed per GiB ($0.12 for the first 10 TiB), so $120 of our $149 scenario is downloads, and S3 support is an interoperability mode.
Score: 7.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Card required
Starter price: $0.02/GiB-month (Standard storage (Iowa, us-central1) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Standard storage price: $0.02/GiB-month (Iowa, us-central1; prorated to the sub-second)
Egress to the internet: $0.12/GiB for the first 10 TiB (all destinations except China and Australia); free within the same Google Cloud location
Request fees: Class A $0.005 per 1,000; Class B $0.0004 per 1,000 (Standard, single region)
Free option: 5 GB-months, 5,000 Class A, 50,000 Class B and 100 GB egress a month, permanent (3 US regions); $300 credit for 90 days
Reference scenario (1 TB/mo): $149.00 in Iowa, $120 of it egress, computed
Billing minimums: None on Standard; 30 to 365 days on colder classes
S3 API: Interoperability mode (XML API with HMAC keys)
Versioning and object lock: Versioning; Bucket Lock and Object Retention Lock (Locked mode cannot be removed)
Replication: Built into dual- and multi-region buckets; cross-bucket replication
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Google Cloud SOC 2 Type II (quarterly, names Cloud Storage); ISO 27001
HIPAA BAA: Self-serve in the console (IAM & Admin)
Regions: 43, including 13 in Europe, plus dual-regions and ASIA, EU and US multi-regions
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Google Cloud Storage has nearly every protection and compliance feature we score, publishes every price in USD and keeps a permanent free tier. Internet egress, billed per GiB, is the main cost, and S3 support is an interoperability mode.
Choose it if: Your compute or analytics already run on Google Cloud, where transfer in the same location is free. · You need retention that cannot be removed once locked, for FINRA, SEC or CFTC records. · You want a HIPAA BAA, SOC 2 Type II reports and ISO 27001 without talking to sales. · You want dual- or multi-region buckets that keep data in more than one region for you.
Look elsewhere if: Much of your data is downloaded to the internet each month and egress cost decides. · Your tools need the S3 API as the main interface, not an interoperability mode. · You want to start without giving a payment method.
Compared with: Amazon S3 (https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-s3) — pick Google Cloud Storage when You build on Google Cloud, or want a permanent free tier of 5 GB-months with requests and egress, or dual- and multi-region buckets.; pick Amazon S3 when Your tools expect the S3 API as the main interface; our 1 TB scenario is also lower there, $122 against $149. | Cloudflare R2 (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-r2) — pick Google Cloud Storage when You need versioning, retention no one can remove, built-in replication or a self-serve HIPAA BAA.; pick Cloudflare R2 when Most of your data is downloaded to the internet: R2 charges no egress fee, and our 1 TB scenario is $23.10 there. | Backblaze B2 (https://proofyo.com/products/backblaze-b2) — pick Google Cloud Storage when You need several storage classes with lifecycle moves, many regions or a BAA you accept yourself.; pick Backblaze B2 when You want one flat price of $6.95 per TB, free API calls (Classes A to C) and egress free up to 3x what you store.
Strengths:
- Every price published in USD: The pricing page lists storage, operation, retrieval, replication and network prices for every location and class. The simple bill on the pricing-examples page matches those rates; the detailed example uses different egress tiers ($0.11 per GB from 1 TB).
- Versioning and locks no one can lift: Versioning, soft delete (on by default for 7 days), Bucket Lock, Object Retention Lock in Locked mode, object holds, and customer-managed (CMEK) or customer-supplied (CSEK) keys are all documented. (Cloudflare R2 has no object versioning, and its bucket locks can be removed by the account.)
- Storage classes that move on their own: Lifecycle rules change an object’s class or delete it, and Autoclass moves objects by last access, from Standard at $0.02 to Archive at $0.0012 per GiB-month in Iowa. (Backblaze B2 and Wasabi have one storage class each, so their lifecycle rules can only expire objects.)
- Cross-region buckets built in: The locations page lists 43 regions, 13 of them in Europe, plus dual-regions and the ASIA, EU and US multi-regions, which store data in more than one region by default. (Wasabi replicates within a continent on paid accounts only; Cloudflare R2 has no built-in replication.)
- Compliance papers without a sales call: SOC 2 Type II reports and the ISO 27001 certificate are downloaded from Compliance Reports Manager, and the HIPAA BAA and data processing addendum are accepted on the IAM & Admin page. (Cloudflare R2 offers its BAA to Enterprise customers; Backblaze B2 and Wasabi handle it on request or through sales.)
Things to know:
- Internet egress is metered: Downloads to the internet cost $0.12 per GiB for the first 10 TiB a month to most destinations, $0.19 to Australia, and $0.23 for the first TiB to China ($0.22 from 1 to 10 TiB). In our 1 TB scenario that is $120 of the $149 total. Workaround: Transfer to Google Cloud services in the same location is free, and Cloud CDN waives Cloud Storage transfer charges (cache fill may apply).
- S3 support is an interoperability mode: The XML API works with "some" S3 tools through HMAC keys. Certain operations, such as listing or creating buckets, need a default project or an x-amz-project-id header, and only x-amz-* headers with an x-goog-* equivalent (plus x-amz-decoded-content-length) are processed. Workaround: The migration guide lists the changes. Agentless Storage Transfer Service imports from S3 have no charge of its own; operation and source egress charges still apply.
- Deleted data can stay on the bill: Soft delete is on by default with 7 days of retention, and the docs say soft-deleted objects continue to accrue storage charges; noncurrent versions are billed like live ones. Workaround: Set the soft delete retention between 7 and 90 days, or turn it off per bucket.
- Payment method needed even for free use: The free trial asks for a credit card or other payment method at sign-up, with a temporary hold of $0.00 to $1.00, and the Always Free tier needs a billing account.
Pricing reality: Cloud Storage has no plan fee. You pay per GiB of storage ($0.02 per GiB-month for Standard in Iowa, prorated to the sub-second), per 1,000 operations (Class A $0.005, Class B $0.0004 for Standard in one region) and per GiB of internet egress ($0.12 for the first 10 TiB to most destinations). Our scenario is $20 + $120 + $5 + $4 = $149.00 a month at list price, computed with 1 TB taken as 1,000 billed GiB and Always Free left out; egress is about 80% of it. Costs grow with dual-regions (storage billed in both regions plus $0.02 per GiB replication in North America and Europe), minimum durations and retrieval fees on colder classes, Class A charges on class changes for many small objects, and soft-deleted data. Paid support starts at the greater of $29 a month or 3% of charges; taxes and commitment prices are not stated.
Exit path: Objects can be copied out with gcloud storage, the client libraries or S3 tools through the XML API, and downloads are billed as egress. Google’s exit program credits the data transfer when you move all data of the service off Google Cloud: you submit an Exit Notice, migrate within the program periods, submit a Completion Notice, and the credit appears on the final invoice. Partial moves are not covered.

### Amazon S3

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-s3
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/amazon-s3
Category: Object storage
Vendor: Amazon Web Services
Tagline: The original S3 object store: storage, requests and egress billed per use across 36 regions, with eight storage classes and a self-serve HIPAA BAA.
Value: The S3 API itself, with compliance-mode Object Lock, replication and a self-serve HIPAA BAA in place, billed per use with no minimum charge.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time, Built-in reach
Value detail: You pay for the reference S3 service: the API other object stores copy, eight storage classes on one bill, and data protection and compliance work AWS has already done. Versioning, compliance-mode Object Lock, lifecycle moves between classes and cross-region replication are documented features, and the AWS SOC 2 report, ISO certificates and HIPAA BAA are in the AWS Artifact console. Teams with retention or audit duties, or with data that other AWS services use, get this without building it. The cost to weigh is egress: downloads to the internet are billed per GB.
- WORM retention no user can lift: The Object Lock docs say a compliance-mode object version cannot be overwritten or deleted by any user, including the root user, and its retention cannot be shortened. Cohasset Associates assessed it for SEC 17a-4, CFTC and FINRA. (S3 user guide: Object Lock (2026-10-15))
- Audit papers in the console: The HIPAA BAA is reviewed and accepted in AWS Artifact for one account or a whole organization, the AWS SOC 2 report is downloaded there, and the ISO Certified page lists S3. (AWS HIPAA, SOC and ISO compliance pages; AWS Artifact guide (2026-10-15))
- Eight storage classes, one API: Classes run from S3 Express One Zone at $0.11 per GB-month to Glacier Deep Archive at $0.00099 (US East), and lifecycle rules or Intelligent-Tiering move data between them. (Pricing page and the AWS price files it loads (2026-10-15))
- 36 regions, EU and GovCloud included: The S3 endpoints page lists 36 regions, among them Frankfurt, Ireland, Paris, Stockholm, Milan, Spain, Zurich, London and the two AWS GovCloud (US) regions, with FIPS endpoints in the US and Canada regions. (AWS general reference: S3 endpoints and quotas (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams with retention, audit or HIPAA duties, or with data other AWS services read, who want the reference S3 API and its protection features on one bill.
Things to know: Internet egress is billed per GB ($0.09 for the first 10 TB from US East), so in our 1 TB scenario $90 of the $122 is downloads.
Score: 6.4/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.023/GB-mo (S3 Standard (US East, first 50 TB) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Standard storage price: $0.023/GB-month (US East, first 50 TB; binary GB)
Egress to the internet: $0.09/GB for the first 10 TB (US East); 100 GB a month free across AWS
Request fees: PUT, COPY, POST, LIST $0.005 per 1,000; GET $0.0004 per 1,000
Free option: No permanent free storage; up to $200 in credits for new accounts
Reference scenario (1 TB/mo): $122.00 in US East, $90 of it egress, computed
Billing minimums: None on S3 Standard; 30 to 180 days on colder classes
S3 API: Native (the S3 API itself)
Versioning and object lock: Versioning; compliance-mode Object Lock
Replication: Cross-Region and Same-Region Replication
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: AWS SOC 2 report in AWS Artifact; ISO 27001 list names S3
HIPAA BAA: Self-serve in AWS Artifact
Regions: 36, including EU and AWS GovCloud (US)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Amazon S3 is the reference S3 service and has every protection and compliance feature we score. Storage and requests are priced per use with no minimum, and internet egress, billed per GB, is the main cost to plan for.
Choose it if: You need retention that no user can shorten, for SEC 17a-4, FINRA or CFTC records. · You want a HIPAA BAA and a SOC 2 report without talking to sales. · Other AWS services already read or write your data. · You want hot, cold and archive storage classes under one API and one bill.
Look elsewhere if: Much of your data is downloaded to the internet each month and egress cost decides. · You want permanent free storage. · You want a flat per-TB price with no request fees.
Compared with: Cloudflare R2 (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-r2) — pick Amazon S3 when You need versioning, compliance-mode Object Lock, replication or a self-serve BAA from the S3 API itself.; pick Cloudflare R2 when Your data is downloaded often: R2 charges no egress fee, and our 1 TB scenario is $23.10 there against $122 on S3. | Backblaze B2 (https://proofyo.com/products/backblaze-b2) — pick Amazon S3 when You need many regions, storage classes with lifecycle transitions, or a BAA you accept yourself.; pick Backblaze B2 when You want one flat price of $6.95 per TB, free API calls (Classes A to C) and egress free up to 3x what you store. | Google Cloud Storage (https://proofyo.com/products/google-cloud-storage) — pick Amazon S3 when Your tools expect the S3 API as the main interface, not an interoperability mode.; pick Google Cloud Storage when You build on Google Cloud and want a permanent free tier of 5 GB-months, or dual- and multi-region buckets.
Strengths:
- The reference S3 API: The user guide describes the S3 REST API, with SDKs that wrap it. Versioning, Object Lock, lifecycle rules and replication are all part of that API, so tools written for S3 work against it as documented. (Cloudflare R2 lists versioning, the S3 Object Lock API and replication as not implemented in its S3 API.)
- Full set of data protection features: Versioning, compliance-mode Object Lock, lifecycle transitions and expiry, Cross-Region and Same-Region Replication, and SSE-KMS keys you manage are all documented. (Backblaze B2 and Wasabi have one storage class each, so their lifecycle rules can only expire objects.)
- Compliance papers without a sales call: The HIPAA BAA is accepted in the AWS Artifact console, where the AWS SOC 2 report is also downloaded; the ISO Certified page lists S3 under the AWS ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate. (Cloudflare R2 offers its BAA to Enterprise customers; Backblaze B2 and Wasabi handle it on request or through sales.)
- No minimums on S3 Standard: There is no minimum charge, storage duration or object size on S3 Standard, and data transfer in, DELETE and CANCEL requests are free. (Wasabi bills at least 1 TB a month, with a 90-day minimum duration and a 4 KB minimum object on Pay as You Go.)
- Wide region choice: The endpoints page lists 36 regions, several of them in the EU and two in AWS GovCloud (US), with FIPS endpoints in the US and Canada regions. (Backblaze B2 has 4 regions and Wasabi 16.)
Things to know:
- Internet egress is metered: Downloads to the internet cost $0.09 per GB for the first 10 TB a month from US East, after 100 GB a month free across AWS. In our 1 TB scenario that is $90 of the $122 total. Workaround: The S3 FAQ says transfer between S3 and other AWS services in the same region is free.
- Every request is billed: PUT, COPY, POST and LIST cost $0.005 per 1,000 and GET $0.0004 per 1,000 in US East, and browsing buckets in the console also makes billable GET and LIST requests. Workaround: DELETE and CANCEL requests are free, and data transfer in costs nothing.
- Colder classes add minimums: Standard-IA and One Zone-IA bill at least 30 days and 128 KB per object, Glacier Instant Retrieval 90 days and 128 KB, Deep Archive 180 days, and lifecycle transition requests are charged. Workaround: Intelligent-Tiering moves objects between tiers with no retrieval fees, for $0.0025 per 1,000 objects a month.
- Free tier pages disagree: The S3 FAQ still describes 5 GB of free Standard storage for a year; the pricing and Free Tier pages describe only up to $200 in credits, with expiry given as 6 or 12 months, and they differ on whether sign-up needs a payment method. Workaround: Plan on the credit program, which the pricing page and the Free Tier page both describe.
Pricing reality: S3 has no plan and no minimum charge. You pay per GB-month of storage by class and region, per 1,000 requests by type and per GB of internet egress. In US East, S3 Standard is $0.023 per GB-month for the first 50 TB, $0.022 for the next 450 TB and $0.021 above, counted in binary GB. Our scenario (1 TB stored, 1 TB downloaded, 1 million writes, 10 million reads) is $23 + $90 + $5 + $4 = $122.00 a month at list price, computed with 1 TB taken as 1,000 billed GB and the 100 GB of free egress left out; egress is about 74% of it. Costs grow with egress, request-heavy workloads, early deletion from colder classes and replication (inter-region transfer from US East is $0.01 to $0.08 per GB, $0.02 to most regions, plus storage at the destination). Prices exclude taxes, and paid support is the greater of $29 a month or a share of AWS charges.
Exit path: Objects are plain files readable over the S3 API with any S3 tool, and downloading them is billed as egress. The S3 FAQ says AWS gives eligible customers free internet egress when they move all data off AWS: you ask AWS Customer Support, receive a temporary credit based on what you store and have 60 days to finish, then delete the data or close the account. A lapsed Free plan account keeps its data for 90 days, recoverable by upgrading to Paid.

### Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/wasabi-hot-cloud-storage
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/wasabi-hot-cloud-storage
Category: Object storage
Vendor: Wasabi Technologies
Tagline: S3-compatible hot object storage at $7.99 per TB a month in every region, with no egress or API request fees while downloads stay within what you store.
Value: Hot object storage at a flat $7.99 per TB a month in every region, with no egress or API request fees while downloads stay within what you store.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: You pay one rate for capacity: $7.99 per TB a month in all 16 regions, with ingress, API requests and egress up to your stored volume included. One hot storage class sits behind an S3-compatible API, so existing S3 tools and AWS SDKs work by changing the endpoint. Teams that read their data back often, such as backup restores or media libraries, get a bill that does not grow with downloads or request counts. The floors to weigh are a 1 TB minimum charge, a 90-day minimum storage duration and a 4 KB minimum billable object.
- No request or egress line on the bill: The pricing FAQ lists storage at $7.99 per TB a month and ingress, egress and API requests as free, subject to the free egress and API policies. Our 1 TB scenario, with 1 TB downloaded and 11 million requests, comes to $7.99. (Pricing page and pricing FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Same rate in every region: The May 2026 pricing notice sets Pay as You Go at $7.99 per TB a month for North America, EMEA and APAC from July 1, 2026. The regions page lists 16 regions, and you pick one per bucket. (Wasabi docs: May 2026 pricing notice; storage regions page (2026-10-15))
- Retention no user can reverse: The Object Lock docs say Compliance Mode "cannot be reversed for any reason, by any user, regardless of user permissions", and administrative logs can be saved to a compliance-mode bucket. (Wasabi docs: Object Lock, administrative logging (2026-10-15))
- Own ISO 27001 and self-serve SSO: Wasabi Technologies LLC is ISO 27001:2022 certified (audit by A-LIGN, valid until June 9, 2028), and any customer, trial or paid, can set up SAML or OpenID SSO in their own account. (Wasabi docs: ISO 27001 compliance, SSO (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams storing 1 TB or more of long-lived data that is read back often, such as backups, archives or media, who want one flat price per TB.
Things to know: Billing floors apply: a 1 TB minimum charge, a 90-day minimum storage duration and a 4 KB minimum object. Free egress is a guideline tied to what you store.
Score: 6.2/10
Free option: 30-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $7.99/TB-mo (Pay as You Go plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Standard storage price: $7.99/TB-month, same in all 16 regions (the FAQ counts 1 TB as 1,024 GB)
Egress to the internet: No fee while monthly downloads stay at or below active storage; no price above that
Request fees: None (API requests free under a fair-use policy)
Free option: No permanent free storage; 30-day trial of 100 GB with a company email, no card
Reference scenario (1 TB/mo): $7.99, the 1 TB minimum charge, computed
Billing minimums: 1 TB a month ($7.99), 90-day storage duration, 4 KB per object
S3 API: S3-compatible main API (AWS SDKs work by changing the endpoint)
Versioning and object lock: Versioning; compliance-mode Object Lock
Replication: Between regions on the same continent; paid accounts only
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Data centres' SOC 2 only; Wasabi's own ISO 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Through the sales team
Regions: 16, including 4 in the EU and 2 in the UK
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Wasabi sells hot S3-compatible storage at one flat $7.99 per TB a month, with no egress or request fees and retention locks no one can reverse. The 1 TB minimum, the 90-day duration and the fair-use egress rule decide whether it fits.
Choose it if: You store 1 TB or more of data that you keep for at least 90 days. · Your monthly downloads stay at or below what you store, and you want no egress or request line on the bill. · You need Object Lock retention that no user can reverse. · You want the same price in whichever of 16 regions you choose.
Look elsewhere if: You store well under 1 TB or keep objects for days rather than months. · You regularly download more each month than you store. · Your review requires the vendor’s own SOC 2 report or a key management service.
Compared with: Backblaze B2 (https://proofyo.com/products/backblaze-b2) — pick Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage when You want 16 regions to choose per bucket, or SSO with any SAML or OpenID provider on a self-serve account.; pick Backblaze B2 when You store under 1 TB, delete data within 90 days or download up to 3x what you store: B2 has no minimums at $6.95 per TB. | Cloudflare R2 (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-r2) — pick Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage when You need versioning and compliance-mode Object Lock, and your monthly downloads stay within what you store.; pick Cloudflare R2 when You download more than you store each month, or store well under 1 TB: R2 has no egress fee and a 10 GB free tier. | Amazon S3 (https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-s3) — pick Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage when Your data is read back often and you want one flat price: our 1 TB scenario is $7.99 here against $122 on S3.; pick Amazon S3 when You need storage classes with lifecycle transitions, a self-serve HIPAA BAA or a key management service.
Strengths:
- Downloads and requests do not change the bill: Our 1 TB scenario, with 1 TB downloaded, 1 million writes and 10 million reads, costs $7.99 a month, the same as storing 1 TB with no traffic. (The same scenario comes to $122.00 on Amazon S3 and $149.00 on Google Cloud Storage, most of it egress.)
- Same price in all 16 regions: Pay as You Go is $7.99 per TB a month in North America, EMEA and APAC, and each bucket goes in the region you pick, including 4 EU and 2 UK regions. (Backblaze B2 has 4 regions and ties each account to the one region chosen at sign-up.)
- Retention no one can reverse: Object Lock has a Compliance Mode no user can reverse, plus Governance Mode and legal holds. Versioning and replication between regions on the same continent are documented too. (Cloudflare R2 has no object versioning, and its own bucket locks can be removed by the account.)
- Own ISO 27001 and self-serve SSO: Wasabi holds its own ISO 27001:2022 certificate, and SAML or OpenID SSO is open to trial and paid accounts, with IAM-style users, roles and policies and administrative logs you can download in ranges of up to 90 days or save to a compliance-mode bucket. (Backblaze B2's ISO 27001 is held by its data centres.)
- A trial without a card: The trial page says no credit card is needed to start and nothing is charged automatically when the trial ends.
Things to know:
- Billing floors on Pay as You Go: At least 1 TB ($7.99) is billed every month, even with no data, and the account cannot be paused. Objects deleted or overwritten within 90 days are billed for the remaining days, and objects under 4 KB are billed as 4 KB. Workaround: Reserved Capacity Storage has a 30-day minimum duration; an unused account can be deleted with a pro-rated final charge.
- Free egress is a guideline: Egress is free while monthly downloads stay at or below active storage. If downloads go above that on a regular basis, Wasabi may limit or suspend the service, and no per-GB price for the extra is published. Workaround: Ask sales before running a workload that downloads more than it stores each month.
- One storage class: Lifecycle rules can expire and delete versions but cannot move data to a colder class. Versions, bucket logs and locked copies are all billed as active storage. Workaround: Set expiry rules for noncurrent versions to keep stored bytes in check.
- Some compliance items go through sales: The pages name the data centres’ SOC 2 reports, not a Wasabi report. The HIPAA BAA is arranged through sales and keeps ePHI in the US, and your own keys mean SSE-C only; the docs describe no key management service. Workaround: The data centres’ SOC 2 reports and ISO certificates can be requested through a form in the docs.
Pricing reality: Pay as You Go bills active storage at $7.99 per TB a month in every region, measured daily and invoiced every 30 days by card; taxes are extra, and the FAQ counts 1 TB as 1,024 GB. Ingress, API requests and egress up to your active storage are included, as is Basic support (email and tickets). Our scenario (1 TB stored, 1 TB downloaded, 1 million writes, 10 million reads) is $7.99 a month, computed: 1,000 GB is under the 1 TB minimum, so the minimum charge applies, and the downloads equal the stored volume. The bill rises above the list rate with short-lived data (90-day minimum), objects under 4 KB, less than 1 TB stored, and versions or logs, which count as storage. Premium Support starts at $100 a month, and Reserved Capacity from 25 TB is priced by sales.
Exit path: Data leaves over the S3 API with any S3 tool or AWS SDK, free while a month’s downloads stay at or below active storage, so a full bucket can be downloaded once within a month. The Customer Agreement lets you export your content at any time during the term. The root user deletes the account in the console, which deletes all data at once with a pro-rated final charge; the agreement also mentions 30 days’ notice. Reserved Capacity terms are non-refundable.

## Category: SMS and messaging APIs

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/sms-apis

### Telnyx Messaging API

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/telnyx-sms
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/telnyx-sms
Category: SMS and messaging APIs
Vendor: Telnyx
Tagline: A pay-as-you-go SMS and MMS API on a carrier network Telnyx says it owns, at $0.004 per US message part with carrier and 10DLC fees passed through at cost.
Value: US texting at $0.004 a part, the lowest published rate in this group, with carrier and 10DLC fees passed through at cost and every messaging rate public.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Telnyx prices a US 10DLC message part at $0.004 each way and lists carrier fees per carrier, passed through without markup, so the bill is the rate plus the carrier’s own fee. Messaging rates for every country are on a public USD rate sheet, and volume tiers are published. Opt-outs, 10DLC registration through the API, delivery and inbound webhooks and a choice of data region for message records are part of the platform, so a team pays mostly for the messages themselves. Our 10,000-text scenario comes to $85.89 a month, the lowest of the five APIs here.
- Lowest base rate, fees at cost: The pricing page lists $0.004 per part on local and 10DLC numbers, sent or received, and says neither the rate nor the carrier passthrough is marked up. The product FAQ says that, as of July 2023, Telnyx charges no markup on carrier fees, and the 10DLC article passes registration fees on at cost. (Messaging pricing page, SMS product page FAQ and help article "10DLC Fees and Charges" (2026-10-15))
- Every messaging rate on one public sheet: The rate sheet lists 5,905 USD rates across 33 products, including outbound SMS per operator for 227 countries and territories, 10DLC fees and published volume tiers. (Rate sheet telnyx.com/pricing.md (2026-10-15))
- Opt-outs and 10DLC registration built in: STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT create a block rule by default. Brands and campaigns can be registered through the API, delivery and inbound events arrive by webhook, and daily spend limits can be set per messaging profile. (Docs: opt-in/out management, 10DLC quickstart, webhooks, spend limits (2026-10-15))
- Message records in a region you pick: Message detail records can be stored in the EU (Germany), Australia, the UAE or Canada by a one-time portal choice. The Data & Privacy page states SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001:2013. (Docs: Data Locality; Data & Privacy page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Developers sending US or international texts who want the lowest published rate, itemized pass-through fees, and opt-outs and 10DLC handled through the API.
Things to know: US 10DLC sending needs the Verified account tier with a KYC review, the trial texts only your own number, and several pages disagree on fees and plans.
Score: 8.2/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.004/SMS part (Pay as you go plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
US SMS rate (10DLC): $0.004 per part, outbound or inbound
US carrier fees: Per carrier, no markup: AT&T $0.0035, T-Mobile $0.0045, Verizon $0.0045 (outbound)
Local number: $1.00/mo plus $0.10/mo for SMS and MMS
10DLC registration fees: Passed through: brand $4.50, campaign review $15, $1.50/mo low-volume mixed
Reference scenario (10,000 US texts/mo): $85.89, computed
Free option: $5 testing credit after a fraud review, no card; texts only to your own verified number
Volume discounts: Published tiers, from 100M parts/mo on local numbers
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2; ISO 27001:2013 (scope not stated)
HIPAA BAA: Yes, US messaging traffic only; rate sheet lists $2,500/mo
Non-US data region: EU (Germany), Australia, UAE or Canada, chosen once
Opt-out handling: Automatic STOP and similar keywords; AI detection $0.002 per message
SSO: SAML through Organizations; no plan gate stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Telnyx has the lowest published US rate and scenario figure in this group, with every fee itemized and passed through at cost. US 10DLC needs the Verified tier with KYC, the trial is narrow, and several pages disagree on fees and plans.
Choose it if: Per-message cost is your main criterion and you want every fee on a public page. · You send at high volume and want published volume tiers. · You want SAML SSO and an audit log API without a sales conversation. · You need message records stored in the EU, Australia, the UAE or Canada.
Look elsewhere if: You need a sandbox or test credentials that do not bill. · You need a DPA that is part of the standard terms. · You need HIPAA coverage for messaging outside the US.
Compared with: Twilio Programmable Messaging (https://proofyo.com/products/twilio-sms) — pick Telnyx Messaging API when Price leads: our scenario is $85.89 a month against $130.61, with published volume tiers and SSO without a sales step.; pick Twilio Programmable Messaging when You want a DPA built into the terms and SOC 2 Type 2 stated for all services, and can pay more per text. | Sinch SMS API (https://proofyo.com/products/sinch-sms) — pick Telnyx Messaging API when You want carrier fees on the pricing page itself, published volume tiers and a lower scenario figure ($85.89 against $134.00).; pick Sinch SMS API when You want a sandbox for simulated test messages that do not bill, and a DPA that is part of the online terms. | AWS End User Messaging SMS (https://proofyo.com/products/aws-end-user-messaging) — pick Telnyx Messaging API when You want trial credit, carrier fees per carrier, support without a paid plan and a lower scenario figure ($85.89 against $122.88).; pick AWS End User Messaging SMS when You already run on AWS and want the BAA, DPA and CloudTrail under your AWS account, with SMS on your AWS invoice.
Strengths:
- Lowest US rate and scenario figure here: A part costs $0.004 each way on local and 10DLC numbers, and our 10,000-text scenario comes to $85.89 a month (computed), about half of it carrier fees. (Plivo lists $0.0077, AWS $0.00774, Sinch $0.0078 and Twilio $0.0083 per segment before carrier fees.)
- Every messaging fee itemized on live pages: Carrier fees are listed per carrier for outbound and inbound traffic, 10DLC fees are passed through at cost, and the rate sheet adds messaging rates for every country in USD. (Sinch’s carrier fees are in a help article that calls them "only indications", and AWS gives one all-network carrier fee.)
- Volume tiers with published thresholds: Local SMS drops to $0.0020 for the next 150M parts above 100M a month and down to $0.0005; short codes have tiers from 500K parts. (Twilio, Plivo, Sinch and AWS publish no SMS volume tiers.)
- Opt-outs, 10DLC and webhooks built in: STOP and similar keywords create a block rule by default and START or UNSTOP removes it. Brands and campaigns register through the API, and delivery and inbound events arrive by signed webhook with retries.
- SSO and a data region without a sales step: The Okta SAML guide enables SSO from an Organization in the portal, with no plan gate stated; permission groups and an audit log API are documented. Message records can be kept in the EU, Australia, the UAE or Canada. (Twilio and Plivo sell SSO through sales-priced plans, and Plivo lists no non-US region for SMS.)
Things to know:
- US 10DLC needs the Verified tier: The account level docs list "No access to 10DLC" on the Paid tier; the Verified tier adds a KYC review and an AI agent evaluation. Some accounts use a separate Level 1 / Level 2 framework instead. Workaround: Plan the KYC review before US A2P sending; the quickstart tests between two Telnyx numbers without carrier registration.
- A narrow trial and no free sandbox: The $5 testing credit sends only to your own verified number, up to 100 messages a day, with one local number reclaimed within 30 days unless the account upgrades. The docs describe no test credentials or sandbox that does not bill; the Trial tier they call a sandbox uses the $5 credit. Workaround: Test between two purchased Telnyx numbers, which are billed at normal rates.
- Pages disagree on fees and plans: Carrier fees differ between the 10DLC article and the pricing page, the pricing page shows "$0 support · HIPAA" while the rate sheet lists a $2,500/mo BAA charge, and the plan names and minimums differ between the pricing page and the rate sheet. Workaround: The rate sheet says its rates are read live from the same pricing API the /pricing pages render; ask for the BAA and plan terms in writing.
- DPA on request and a yearly term: The DPA is available on request and signed electronically, and the ISO certificate copy is on request. The terms run one year and renew for 12-month periods unless you give 90 days’ notice. Workaround: Terms 6.4 let you deactivate the account once the balance owed is $2 or less and no commitment applies; the agreement’s term keeps running while the account is deactivated.
Pricing reality: You pay per message part, sent or received, plus a carrier fee per part, number rental and 10DLC registration, with no platform fee. For our scenario: 10,000 × $0.004 = $40.00, carrier fees averaging $0.004167 add $41.67, a local number with SMS $1.10, a low-volume mixed campaign $1.50, and the $4.50 brand plus $15 campaign review spread over 12 months $1.63, for $85.89 a month (computed). With the fee article’s $0.003 for AT&T and T-Mobile it would be $79.23. Campaign fees are billed three months up front, and the article says a campaign may be submitted for review more than once at $15 each unless you give advance notice. Volume tiers start above 100M parts a month; below that, the Growth plan’s 15% discount needs a $2,000/mo minimum spend. Taxes are extra.
Exit path: The terms (11.4) let numbers be ported out with Telnyx’s written consent, with port-out fees paid in advance (the amount is not stated); trial numbers cannot be ported out. Message detail records give status and cost per message, with MDR reports for messages older than 10 days, and the opt-out list can be read through the API. The agreement renews yearly unless you give 90 days’ notice.

### Sinch SMS API

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/sinch-sms
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/sinch-sms
Category: SMS and messaging APIs
Vendor: Sinch
Tagline: A prepaid SMS API with a published US rate of $0.0078 per message, a price list for 241 countries and 10DLC registration from the dashboard or the API.
Value: Prepaid SMS priced for 241 countries from one account, with US 10DLC registration in the same dashboard or API and a SOC 2 Type II that names the SMS API.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Sinch, which says it has 600+ direct carrier connections, sells SMS from one prepaid Sinch Build account, with prices for 241 countries on its pricing page and the same $0.0078 per US message on 10DLC and toll-free numbers. US registration stays in the same place: 10DLC brands and campaigns can be registered in the dashboard or through an API, and existing TCR records transfer in. The trust center lists a SOC 2 Type II for the SMS API and a group ISO 27001 certificate, the DPA is part of the online terms, and the SMS API has servers in the EU, Australia, Brazil and Canada.
- One price list for 241 countries: The SMS pricing page has a country selector built from 241 countries, with a fixed US block: $0.0078 per 10DLC or toll-free SMS and $0.009 on a short code. (SMS pricing page (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2 Type II that names the SMS API: The trust center announces a SOC 2 Type II for "Sinch Messaging API - SMS" and lists a group ISO 27001 certificate; the DPA is incorporated into the online Terms of Service. (Trust center, Terms of Service and DPA (2026-10-15))
- 10DLC registration by API: The 10DLC Brand and Campaign Registration API creates brands and submits campaigns, with a downloadable OpenAPI file; the dashboard does the same and imports existing TCR records. (10DLC Registration docs and Sinch Build page (2026-10-15))
- Test without sending: The texting sandbox simulates and logs messages without sending real ones, and the batches dry-run endpoint calculates message parts at no cost. (Testing sandbox page and SMS batches docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that send SMS in many countries from one prepaid account and want SAML SSO, data regions outside the US and a SOC 2 Type II for SMS.
Things to know: US carrier and 10DLC fees sit in community help articles rather than on the pricing page, and those articles say their prices are "only indications".
Score: 7.6/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.0078/message (Pay as you go plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
US SMS rate (10DLC): $0.0078 per message, outbound or inbound
US carrier fees: Per carrier: AT&T $0.0035, T-Mobile $0.0045, Verizon $0.0050 (outbound; carrier fee article of Oct 1, 2026)
Local number: $1.00/mo plus $1.00 setup
10DLC registration fees: Brand $4, campaign review $15 per submission, $10/mo standard or $1.50/mo low-volume mixed (under 10k SMS/mo); optional vetting $41.50
Reference scenario (10,000 US texts/mo): $134.00, computed
Free option: Trial credit, no card ($2 for US accounts per archived help); texting sandbox
Volume discounts: Not published; contact sales
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II naming the SMS API; group ISO 27001 certificate
HIPAA BAA: Product-level BAAs offered; SMS API not named
Non-US data region: EU (Ireland, Sweden), Australia, Brazil, Canada through the account manager
Opt-out handling: Automatic STOP blocking once consent management is switched on (Conversation API)
SSO: SAML in Sinch Build; no plan condition stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Sinch offers a prepaid SMS API with per-country prices, SAML SSO, non-US servers and a SOC 2 Type II for SMS. Its US carrier and 10DLC fees sit in help articles that call them "only indications".
Choose it if: You send SMS in many countries and want one prepaid account with a per-country price list. · You want SAML SSO with no plan condition stated, and SMS servers outside the US through your account manager. · You want to test in a sandbox and register 10DLC brands and campaigns by API.
Look elsewhere if: You need carrier and 10DLC fees on the pricing page itself, not in help articles marked "only indications". · You need a HIPAA BAA that names the SMS API. · You want published volume tiers or paid support plans with prices.
Compared with: Telnyx Messaging API (https://proofyo.com/products/telnyx-sms) — pick Sinch SMS API when You want a texting sandbox for tests and a DPA that is part of the online terms.; pick Telnyx Messaging API when Price leads: our scenario is $85.89 a month at Telnyx against $134.00 here, with carrier fees and volume tiers on its own pricing page. | Twilio Programmable Messaging (https://proofyo.com/products/twilio-sms) — pick Sinch SMS API when You want SAML SSO with no plan condition stated, a texting sandbox, and prices for 241 countries in one prepaid account.; pick Twilio Programmable Messaging when You need a HIPAA BAA that names SMS, an audit log, carrier fees on the pricing page itself and a slightly lower scenario figure ($130.61 against $134.00). | AWS End User Messaging SMS (https://proofyo.com/products/aws-end-user-messaging) — pick Sinch SMS API when You want a trial credit without a card, a sandbox that does not bill, and carrier fees listed per carrier.; pick AWS End User Messaging SMS when You already run on AWS and need a HIPAA BAA for SMS, CloudTrail audit logs and SSO through IAM Identity Center.
Strengths:
- SAML SSO with no plan condition stated: The Sinch Build page lists Sinch ID SSO, SAML, 2FA with recovery codes, MFA and passkeys, with no plan condition, and projects and subprojects with scoped credentials. The archived roles article lists five user roles. (Twilio puts SAML SSO in Editions sold by sales, and Plivo offers SSO on its Enterprise plan.)
- SMS servers outside the US: The SMS API reference lists base URLs in the EU (Ireland, Sweden), Australia, Brazil and Canada, and says customer data is stored in the chosen location; access is set up through the account manager. (Plivo’s data regions are the US and India, and SMS is not offered in the India region.)
- Compliance documents for the SMS API: The trust center lists a SOC 2 Type II for "Sinch Messaging API - SMS" and a group ISO 27001 certificate, and the DPA (version 8, Oct 29, 2025) forms part of the online terms. (Telnyx and Plivo offer their DPA on request.)
- Trial and sandbox without a card: Sign-up gives trial credit without a card, the texting sandbox simulates messages to verified numbers, and the dry-run endpoint calculates message parts without sending or billing. (AWS has no SMS trial, and its simulator numbers bill at the standard rate.)
- Developer features in one place: Delivery report and inbound webhooks, a 10DLC Registration API, a separate Verification API and official SDKs for Node.js, Java, .NET and Python are all in the docs.
Things to know:
- Carrier and 10DLC fees off the pricing page: Every US row says "Carrier fees apply" and links to community help articles, which returned a bot challenge on Oct 15, 2026, so we read them in the community RSS feed. The carrier fee article (Oct 1, 2026) and the 10DLC fee article (Sep 17, 2026) say their prices are "only indications". Workaround: Ask Sinch for the current carrier and 10DLC fees before committing volume.
- Trial credit amount only in archived articles: The live pages promise trial credit without an amount; archived help articles give $2 for US accounts, with custom text only to up to 5 verified numbers and other messages replaced by a test template. The texting sandbox is separate: its simulated messages are free and unlimited. Workaround: The dry-run endpoint calculates message parts without sending and costs nothing.
- No BAA named for SMS: The HIPAA page says Sinch has product-level BAAs as an addendum to its terms, but no page we read names the SMS API among them, and the page puts primary HIPAA responsibility on the customer. Workaround: Ask Sinch whether the SMS API is covered by a BAA before sending health information.
- Limited support and audit features for online accounts: No paid support plans are listed for the API, the archived SLA post says online customers have no SLA, and no page we read describes an audit log of console actions. Workaround: Every account can open a ticket in the support portal, and the Messaging SLA comes with a contract (Order Form).
Pricing reality: Billing is prepaid: you top up a balance in the dashboard and pay per message. A US SMS on a 10DLC or toll-free number is $0.0078, sent or received, plus carrier fees, which the carrier fee article (Oct 1, 2026) lists at $0.0035 for AT&T, $0.0045 for T-Mobile and $0.0050 for Verizon. A 10DLC number is $1.00/mo plus $1.00 setup. 10DLC adds a $4 brand fee, a $15 review fee per campaign submission and a monthly campaign fee billed 3 months up front: $10 for most use cases, or $1.50 for low-volume mixed, which the article limits to under 10k SMS a month. Our scenario sends 10,000, so it takes a $10 campaign: $78.00 + $43.33 carrier fees + $1.00 number + $10.00 campaign + $1.67 one-time fees over 12 months = $134.00 a month (computed). Local taxes are added at top-up, and volume pricing goes through sales.
Exit path: The SMS REST API has list endpoints for batches, delivery reports and inbound messages, and the dashboard has SMS Analytics; no bulk export is named on the pages we read. The Build page describes porting numbers in and moving existing 10DLC (TCR) records over; porting out is not described. The Terms of Service allow termination on 90 days’ written notice, and a prepaid balance earns no interest and may be lost after termination if Sinch cannot refund it.

### Twilio Programmable Messaging

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/twilio-sms
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/twilio-sms
Category: SMS and messaging APIs
Vendor: Twilio
Tagline: A pay-as-you-go SMS, MMS and RCS API with a published US rate of $0.0083 per segment, carrier fees listed per carrier and 10DLC registration through the API.
Value: US texting with every fee and the compliance paperwork on public pages, plus opt-outs and 10DLC registration handled through the API.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time, Built-in reach
Value detail: Twilio publishes the whole US cost of a text: $0.0083 per segment, carrier fees per carrier and sender type, number rental, 10DLC fees passed through at cost and a $0.001 fee for failed messages. Its legal pages put SMS under SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001, list Programmable SMS as HIPAA eligible and make the DPA part of the terms, and SMS can run in an Ireland region. STOP and HELP replies, the block list and 10DLC registration are handled by the platform, so a team does not build them itself.
- Paperwork that names SMS: The security overview lists SOC 2 Type 2 for "All Services" and ISO/IEC 27001 for Twilio Services; the HIPAA eligible services list (June 30, 2026) names Programmable SMS and MMS; the DPA forms part of the agreement. (Security overview, HIPAA eligible services PDF and DPA (2026-10-15))
- Opt-outs and 10DLC registration built in: STOP and similar keywords add the recipient to a block list by default on long code and toll-free numbers, and HELP gets a default reply. Brands and campaigns can be registered through the API, and server SDKs cover seven languages. (Advanced Opt-Out docs, opt-out help article, A2P 10DLC ISV onboarding guide, SDK list (2026-10-15))
- Every US fee published: The US pricing page has per-carrier fee tables for long code, toll-free, short code and RCS, and the 10DLC fee article lists every registration fee, passed through "with no added cost". (US SMS pricing page and help article "Pricing and Fees for A2P 10DLC Service" (2026-10-15))
- Several channels and sender types on one API: Long codes, toll-free numbers, short codes, MMS, RCS and WhatsApp sit behind the same Messaging API, and the price CSV covers 222 countries and territories. (SMS product page and SMS price CSV (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams sending US texts that need SOC 2, ISO 27001, a HIPAA BAA or an EU region on paper, and want opt-outs and 10DLC registration handled for them.
Things to know: Our 10,000-text scenario comes to $130.61 a month, against $85.89 at Telnyx and $122.88 at AWS, and volume tiers are not published.
Score: 7.2/10
Free option: 30-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.0083/SMS segment (Pay as you go plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
US SMS rate (10DLC): $0.0083 per segment, outbound or inbound
US carrier fees: Per carrier: AT&T $0.0035, T-Mobile $0.0045, Verizon $0.005 (outbound)
Local number: $1.15/mo
10DLC registration fees: Passed through: brand $4.50, campaign vetting $15, $1.50/mo low-volume mixed
Reference scenario (10,000 US texts/mo): $130.61, computed
Free option: 30-day trial: 100 SMS to up to 5 verified numbers, no card
Volume discounts: Mentioned but not published; committed use by sales
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 (all services) and ISO 27001
HIPAA BAA: Yes, SMS eligible; needs Security or Enterprise Edition
Non-US data region: Ireland (IE1) for SMS; no +1 numbers there
Opt-out handling: Automatic STOP/HELP on long code and toll-free
SSO: SAML 2.0 in Twilio Editions, by sales
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Twilio publishes every US fee and a full set of compliance documents for SMS, with opt-outs and 10DLC registration handled by the platform. Our scenario costs more than at Telnyx or AWS, volume tiers are not published, and a few pages disagree on fees.
Choose it if: You need SOC 2, ISO 27001, a HIPAA BAA or an EU region documented for your SMS provider. · You want opt-out handling and 10DLC registration done by the platform and the API. · You want to price every US fee from public pages before you sign up.
Look elsewhere if: Per-message cost is your main criterion; lower published rates exist in this category. · You need published volume tiers before you talk to anyone. · You need SSO for the Console without a sales conversation.
Compared with: Telnyx Messaging API (https://proofyo.com/products/telnyx-sms) — pick Twilio Programmable Messaging when You want a DPA built into the terms, and SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 with their scope stated on the security overview.; pick Telnyx Messaging API when Price leads: $0.004 per part puts our scenario at $85.89 a month, with a $5 trial credit and published volume tiers. | AWS End User Messaging SMS (https://proofyo.com/products/aws-end-user-messaging) — pick Twilio Programmable Messaging when You want a free trial, free web support for every account and carrier fees listed per carrier.; pick AWS End User Messaging SMS when You already run on AWS and want SSO through IAM Identity Center at no extra charge and SMS billed on your AWS invoice. | Plivo SMS API (https://proofyo.com/products/plivo-sms) — pick Twilio Programmable Messaging when You want to pay as you go online, without a monthly minimum.; pick Plivo SMS API when You expect to spend $1,000 a month or more and want an Enterprise contract with slightly lower list rates ($0.0077 per segment).
Strengths:
- The full US cost stack is public: Base rate, carrier fees per carrier and sender type, number rental, 10DLC fees and the failed-message fee are all on Twilio’s own pages, so a US send can be priced to the cent before signing up. (Sinch lists its carrier and 10DLC fees in community help articles rather than on the pricing page, and both articles call the prices "only indications".)
- Compliance documents cover messaging: SOC 2 Type 2 for all services, ISO 27001, Programmable SMS on the HIPAA eligible list, a DPA in the terms and SMS in the Ireland (IE1) region. (Sinch’s pages do not name the SMS API under a BAA, and Telnyx offers its DPA on request.)
- Opt-outs handled by default: STOP and similar replies on long code and toll-free numbers add the recipient to a block list, and later sends return error 21610; HELP and INFO get a default reply. Since Mar 16, 2026 opt-outs are shared across SMS, MMS and RCS; Advanced Opt-Out customizes keywords.
- 10DLC registration through the API: The ISV onboarding guide walks through customer profiles, brand registration and campaign creation by API, and server SDKs cover C#, Java, Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby and Go.
- Paid support with published prices: Every account gets free web support; Production (the greater of $250 or 4% of monthly spend) and Business (the greater of $1,500 or 6%) can be bought online. (AWS needs a paid support plan, from $29/mo, to open a technical case; Plivo’s support plans are priced by sales.)
Things to know:
- A higher scenario figure than Telnyx or AWS: At $0.0083 a segment plus $0.0035 to $0.005 in carrier fees, our 10,000-text scenario comes to $130.61 a month, against $85.89 at Telnyx and $122.88 at AWS (computed). Workaround: The pricing page offers committed-use discounts for annual volume through sales.
- Volume pricing mentioned, not published: The product FAQ says volume discounts are available and a help article says volume pricing applies to US and Canadian numbers, but the pricing page’s "Volume discounts" link has no matching section and no thresholds are listed. Workaround: Ask the account team for the tiers before committing to high volume.
- A small, restricted trial: The trial is 100 SMS for 30 days, sent only to up to 5 verified numbers in the sign-up country with Twilio’s templates. 10DLC registration needs a paid account, and test credentials cannot be created in the new Console. Workaround: Upgrading grants another 100 free messages once.
- SSO, long audit history and the BAA sit in Editions: SAML SSO, 13 months of event history, daily export automation and HIPAA accounts come with Twilio Editions, which are priced by sales; the BAA needs the Security or Enterprise Edition. Workaround: Every account keeps 30 days of account events in Monitor Events, and 2FA is required on all accounts.
Pricing reality: You pay per 160-character segment, plus a carrier fee per segment, number rental and 10DLC registration. For our scenario: 10,000 × $0.0083 = $83.00, carrier fees averaging $0.004333 add $43.33, a local number $1.15, a low-volume mixed campaign $1.50, and the $4.50 brand plus $15 campaign vetting spread over 12 months $1.63, for $130.61 a month (computed). Low-volume mixed campaigns are capped at 2,000 segments a day toward T-Mobile; past that, a Standard brand ($46 one-time) and a $10/mo campaign apply. Extras: $0.001 per failed message, Engagement Suite and Compliance Toolkit at $0.015 per outbound SMS each, and taxes and communications surcharges as separate invoice lines. Card payment stops being accepted above $8,000 in fees in a month; invoicing then needs approval.
Exit path: Message logs export to CSV (up to 10,000 records from the Console) or through the Messages API, and the BulkExport API and Log Archives give daily JSON files that are removed after seven days. The terms allow termination for convenience on 30 days’ written notice, and the DPA gives 30 days after termination to obtain stored content before deletion. Porting numbers out is not described on the pages we read.

### AWS End User Messaging SMS

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/aws-end-user-messaging
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/aws-end-user-messaging
Category: SMS and messaging APIs
Vendor: Amazon Web Services
Tagline: A pay-as-you-go SMS, MMS and voice API inside your AWS account, at $0.00774 per US message plus one $0.00421 carrier fee for every network.
Value: US texting from your own AWS account, inside AWS’s SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA scope, with opt-outs, events and 10DLC registration as AWS APIs.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: AWS End User Messaging SMS sends texts from the AWS account you already run, so sending, numbers, 10DLC registrations and opt-out lists use the same IAM permissions, SDKs, CloudTrail log and bill as the rest of AWS. The service is listed in AWS’s SOC and ISO 27001 scope and on the HIPAA eligible services list, the DPA is part of the Service Terms, and messages are processed in the Region you pick. The US price list is short: $0.00774 per message plus one $0.00421 carrier fee for every network, with the 10DLC fees on the pricing page.
- Listed in AWS’s compliance scope: AWS’s SOC and ISO pages list "Amazon Pinpoint and End User Messaging" for SOC 1, 2 and 3 and ISO/IEC 27001; the HIPAA eligible services list (updated Sep 3, 2026) includes it, excluding voice and WhatsApp; the Service Terms incorporate the DPA. (AWS SOC and ISO services in scope, HIPAA eligible services reference, Service Terms (2026-10-15))
- Opt-outs, events and registration as APIs: AWS manages STOP opt-outs by default with an opt-out list, per-message events go to SNS, Firehose or CloudWatch, and 10DLC brand, vetting and campaign registrations can be created and submitted with the API or CLI. (User guide: opt-out lists, event destinations, registrations with the CLI (2026-10-15))
- One carrier fee for every US network: The price CSV lists US 10DLC at $0.00774 plus a $0.00421 all-network carrier fee, so the bill does not depend on the recipients’ carriers. Our 10,000-text scenario comes to $122.88 a month (computed). (SMS price CSV and pricing page, Phone Numbers tab (2026-10-15))
- SSO and an audit trail included: IAM Identity Center provides SAML 2.0 SSO at no extra charge, IAM policies scope access per action and resource, and CloudTrail logs management calls for the service, console calls included; logging send calls as data events costs extra. (IAM Identity Center FAQ, user guide: security and CloudTrail logging (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams already on AWS that need SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA eligibility and an EU Region for SMS, and want sending wired into their own AWS services.
Things to know: There is no SMS trial or free allowance, new accounts start in a sandbox until production access is approved per Region, and technical support needs a paid plan.
Score: 6.9/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Approval wait
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.00774/US SMS + carrier fee (Pay as you go plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
US SMS rate (10DLC): $0.00774 per message part, outbound; inbound $0.0075
US carrier fees: One all-network fee: $0.00421 (10DLC, long code, toll-free)
Local number: $1/mo (10DLC)
10DLC registration fees: Brand $4.50, optional brand vetting $41.50, campaign $2/mo low-volume or $10/mo; no campaign vetting fee listed
Reference scenario (10,000 US texts/mo): $122.88, computed
Free option: None for SMS; sandbox sends billed texts to up to 10 verified numbers
Volume discounts: None listed for SMS
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Listed in AWS SOC 1/2/3 and ISO 27001 scope
HIPAA BAA: HIPAA eligible under the AWS BAA (voice and WhatsApp excluded)
Non-US data region: The AWS Region you pick, EU Regions included
Opt-out handling: Automatic STOP/HELP by default; self-managed optional
SSO: SAML 2.0 through IAM Identity Center, no extra charge
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, AWS End User Messaging SMS pairs a published US price with AWS’s compliance scope, and SSO and an audit log at no extra charge. There is no trial, production needs approval per Region, and technical support is a paid plan.
Choose it if: You already run on AWS and want texts on the same bill, permissions, SDKs and audit log. · Your review needs SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA eligibility and a DPA for the SMS provider. · You want US carrier fees as one figure for every network.
Look elsewhere if: You want free test messages or a trial before paying. · You need technical support without buying a support plan. · You want to port existing numbers in from another provider.
Compared with: Twilio Programmable Messaging (https://proofyo.com/products/twilio-sms) — pick AWS End User Messaging SMS when You run on AWS and want SSO through IAM Identity Center at no extra charge, with a lower scenario figure ($122.88 against $130.61 a month, computed).; pick Twilio Programmable Messaging when You want a free trial, web support for every account and carrier fees listed per carrier. | Telnyx Messaging API (https://proofyo.com/products/telnyx-sms) — pick AWS End User Messaging SMS when You want the DPA built into the terms and SMS inside the compliance scope of the AWS account you already use.; pick Telnyx Messaging API when Price leads: $0.004 per part puts our scenario at $85.89 a month, with a $5 trial credit and support for every account. | Sinch SMS API (https://proofyo.com/products/sinch-sms) — pick AWS End User Messaging SMS when You need a HIPAA path for SMS, want the US carrier and 10DLC fees on the pricing page and price list, and a lower scenario figure ($122.88 against $134.00).; pick Sinch SMS API when You want trial credit without a card and a sandbox for test messages that does not bill.
Strengths:
- Compliance scope that names the service: AWS’s SOC 1, 2 and 3 and ISO 27001 scope lists include it, SMS is HIPAA eligible under the AWS BAA (voice and WhatsApp excluded), the DPA is part of the Service Terms, and messages are processed in the Region you pick. (Sinch’s pages do not name the SMS API under a BAA, and Telnyx offers its DPA on request.)
- One published carrier fee for every US network: The carrier fee is $0.00421 per 10DLC message whatever the recipient’s carrier, read from the same price list as the $0.00774 rate, and the 10DLC fees are on the pricing page. (Sinch lists carrier fees per carrier in a help article that calls them "only indications".)
- Opt-outs, events and registration through the API: STOP opt-outs are managed by AWS by default, per-message events go to SNS, Firehose or CloudWatch, 10DLC registrations can be submitted with the API or CLI, and AWS SDKs cover more than a dozen languages.
- SSO and audit log at no extra charge: IAM Identity Center gives SAML 2.0 SSO at no extra charge, IAM policies scope access per action and resource, and CloudTrail logs management calls, console calls included, with 90 days of event history at no charge; logging send calls as data events costs extra. (Twilio’s SAML SSO comes with Twilio Editions, which are priced by sales.)
- Spend limits built in: Each account has a monthly spending limit per channel (SMS, MMS, voice, Notify), and an optional enforced limit can stop sending at a figure you set.
Things to know:
- No SMS trial or free allowance: The pricing page lists no SMS trial or free messages, and no page says AWS Free Tier credits cover this service. Simulator numbers keep test traffic off carrier networks but bill at the standard rate, plus $1 a month per number. Workaround: The sandbox caps SMS spending at $1 a month while you test with up to 10 verified numbers.
- Sandbox and approval before production: New accounts send only to verified numbers until an AWS Support request for production access is approved, and the request is made in each Region. US sending also needs an approved 10DLC, toll-free or short-code registration. Workaround: The production access request is an Account and Billing case, which every account can open.
- Technical support needs a paid plan: Basic Support covers customer service, docs and AWS re:Post. A technical case, including help with a rejected registration, needs Business Support+ at the greater of $29 a month per account or a share of AWS charges. Workaround: Gen-AI feedback on registrations (preview) is open to every account, and the forum takes questions.
- Billed whether or not a message is delivered: The FAQ and Service Terms say charges apply once messages leave AWS, regardless of delivery success. Long messages bill per part, and no SMS volume discounts are published. Workaround: SMS Protect in filter mode blocks traffic it identifies as artificially inflated before the SMS fee, at $0.01 per message checked.
Pricing reality: You pay per outbound message part by destination country, with no base plan or monthly minimum stated. In the US each part costs $0.00774 plus a $0.00421 carrier fee ($0.00417 on short codes), and inbound US texts are $0.0075 in the pricing tool. For our scenario: 10,000 × $0.01195 = $119.50, plus a $1 10DLC number, a $2 low-volume campaign and the $4.50 brand registration over 12 months, for $122.88 a month (computed). No campaign vetting fee is listed, so none is included. Fixed costs rise with a regular campaign ($10 a month), a toll-free number ($2 a month) or a short code ($650 setup and $995 a month). Notify adds $0.045 per message on top of the SMS fee, and OTP verification $0.045 per successful check. Logging send calls in CloudTrail as data events costs extra.
Exit path: Once event destinations are set up, delivery events land in your own SNS topics, Firehose streams or CloudWatch, and inbound messages in an SNS topic; opt-out lists can be read through the API. The FAQ says you can delete data selectively or close the AWS account. Releasing a number is permanent, and charges stop from the next calendar month. The FAQ says numbers cannot be ported in, and the pages we read do not describe porting numbers out.

### Plivo SMS API

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/plivo-sms
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/plivo-sms
Category: SMS and messaging APIs
Vendor: Plivo
Tagline: A developer SMS, MMS and Verify API with a published US rate of $0.0077 per segment, now sold on an Enterprise plan with a $1,000 monthly minimum.
Value: For brands spending $1,000 a month or more, low published US rates and a full fee sheet, with opt-outs and 10DLC registration handled by the platform.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Plivo publishes the whole US cost of a text: $0.0077 per segment, surcharges per carrier, $0.50 a month for a long code number and a dated 10DLC fee table. SMS now comes on the Enterprise plan with a USD 1,000 monthly minimum, and usage across Plivo products counts toward it, so the value is in the rates once that minimum is filled. Opt-outs are handled by default, 10DLC brands and campaigns can be registered through the API, and the Enterprise plan lists a HIPAA BAA and SSO, so a team does not build or negotiate these itself.
- Low list rates once the minimum is filled: The US price sheet lists $0.0077 per segment on long codes and short codes and $0.50 a month for a long code number. At that rate, segments alone fill the $1,000 minimum at about 129,870 a month (computed); other Plivo usage counts toward it too. (US SMS pricing page and docs "SMS Availability & Coverage" (2026-10-15))
- Every US fee on a public page: The price sheet has per-carrier surcharge tables for SMS and MMS, sent and received, and the docs list each 10DLC fee "from Aug 1, 2025": brand $4.50, campaign vetting $15, $10 or $1.50 a month per campaign. (US SMS pricing page and docs 10DLC overview (2026-10-15))
- Opt-outs and 10DLC registration built in: STOP and similar keywords block further messages and HELP gets an automatic reply on US and Canadian long codes and toll-free numbers, across every number in a 10DLC campaign. Brands, campaigns and number links can be registered by API, with SDKs in seven languages. (Docs: DND Service, 10DLC overview and quickstart (2026-10-15))
- BAA and SSO in the Enterprise package: The security page states SOC 2 (the FAQ says Type II), PCI DSS Level 1 and a willingness to sign a Business Associate Agreement; the Enterprise plan that SMS requires lists BAA, HIPAA and SSO. (Security page, site FAQ and pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Direct brands that spend, or plan to spend, $1,000 a month or more on Plivo and want low published US rates with opt-outs and 10DLC handled for them.
Things to know: SMS needs the Enterprise plan through sales with a $1,000 monthly minimum, so our 10,000-text scenario comes to $1,046.46 a month (computed), and there is no SMS trial.
Score: 4.6/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Sales call required
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $1,000/mo minimum (Enterprise (USD 1,000/month minimum commitment) plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
US SMS rate (10DLC): $0.0077 per segment, outbound or inbound (list rate)
US carrier fees: Per carrier: AT&T $0.0035, T-Mobile $0.0045, Verizon $0.005 (outbound)
Local number: $0.50/mo
10DLC registration fees: Brand $4.50, campaign vetting $15, $1.50/mo low-volume campaign (billed quarterly)
Reference scenario (10,000 US texts/mo): $1,046.46 with the $1,000 minimum, computed ($123.96 at list rates alone)
Free option: None for SMS; the $10 trial covers voice products
Volume discounts: Enterprise plan only, by sales
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (FAQ); ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Offered; listed on the Enterprise plan
Non-US data region: No (the India region has no SMS)
Opt-out handling: Automatic STOP/HELP on US and Canadian long code and toll-free
SSO: Enterprise plan, by sales
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Plivo lists low US rates and every US fee, with opt-outs and 10DLC registration built in. SMS now needs an Enterprise contract with a $1,000 monthly minimum, and some pages still describe pay-as-you-go.
Choose it if: You are a direct brand that will spend $1,000 a month or more across Plivo products. · You want US list rates, carrier surcharges and 10DLC fees on public pages before you talk to sales. · You want opt-outs and 10DLC registration handled by the platform and its API. · You need a HIPAA BAA and SSO as part of one Enterprise package.
Look elsewhere if: You send a few thousand texts a month and want to pay as you go without a minimum. · You are a reseller, ISV or multi-tenant platform sending for other brands. · You need ISO 27001 or a non-US data region for SMS.
Compared with: Twilio Programmable Messaging (https://proofyo.com/products/twilio-sms) — pick Plivo SMS API when You will spend $1,000 a month or more and want a lower list rate ($0.0077 against $0.0083 per segment) and $0.50 numbers.; pick Twilio Programmable Messaging when You want to pay as you go online with no monthly minimum, a free trial, ISO 27001 and a DPA built into the terms. | Telnyx Messaging API (https://proofyo.com/products/telnyx-sms) — pick Plivo SMS API when You will spend $1,000 a month or more on Plivo anyway and want Verify with no per-verification fee.; pick Telnyx Messaging API when You want self-serve pay-as-you-go at $0.004 per part ($85.89 a month for our scenario), a $5 trial credit, ISO 27001 and an EU data region. | Sinch SMS API (https://proofyo.com/products/sinch-sms) — pick Plivo SMS API when You want 10DLC and carrier fee tables in dated docs and a price sheet, and a BAA offered on the plan that carries SMS.; pick Sinch SMS API when You want prepaid pay-as-you-go with no monthly minimum ($134.00 a month for our scenario), EU and other API regions, and a DPA in the terms.
Strengths:
- Low US list rates and numbers: The US price sheet lists $0.0077 per segment on long codes and short codes, $0.0079 on toll-free and $0.50 a month for a long code number. (Twilio lists $0.0083 per segment and $1.15/mo for a local number; Telnyx is lower per part at $0.004, with $1.10/mo for an SMS-enabled number.)
- A dated 10DLC fee table and per-carrier surcharges: The docs list every 10DLC fee "from Aug 1, 2025" (brand $4.50, optional vetting $41.50, appeal $11, campaign vetting $15, $10 or $1.50 a month per campaign), and the price sheet lists SMS and MMS surcharges per carrier. (Sinch’s carrier fee article calls its prices "only indications".)
- Opt-outs on by default: The DND Service is on by default for US and Canadian long codes and toll-free numbers: STOP and similar keywords block further messages, HELP and INFO get an automatic reply, and a 10DLC opt-out covers every number in the campaign.
- Verify with no verification fee: The Verify pricing page lists "$0 OTP Verification costs" and "$0 Fraud Shield", so only the channel fee applies, and the docs say no sender registration is needed on your side. Verify sits on the same Enterprise tiers as SMS. (Telnyx’s Verify table lists $0.03 per successful verification plus SMS rates, though the same page’s header says from $0.05 with delivery included.)
- Team roles and required 2FA: The account FAQ lists five roles (Owner, Administrator, Developer, read-only Support, Finance Analyst), makes 2FA mandatory on every account and offers subaccounts with their own credentials.
Things to know:
- SMS needs a $1,000 monthly commitment: The docs provision SMS only to direct brands through sales, with a USD 1,000/month Minimum Monthly Commitment (USD 10,000 for pre-registration countries). Resellers, ISVs and multi-tenant platforms are not onboarded for SMS. Workaround: Usage across Plivo products counts toward the minimum, so a team already spending that much on Plivo voice adds no extra floor.
- Pages disagree on pay-as-you-go: The US SMS pricing page and the site FAQ still describe pay-as-you-go SMS with trial credits; the pricing page FAQ, the docs plan table and the SMS availability page put SMS on the Enterprise plan only. Workaround: Ask sales which terms apply to your account before you plan around them.
- No SMS trial: The $10, three-week, no-card trial covers SIP Trunking, Audio Streaming and Voice AI Agents, and the docs plan table marks SMS as unavailable on the self-serve Professional plan.
- ISO 27001 not stated, no non-US SMS region, DPA on request: The security page lists SOC 2, PCI DSS Level 1 and a CSA STAR Level 1 self-assessment and does not mention ISO 27001. The India data region has no SMS, the subprocessor list stores customer data on AWS in the USA, and the DPA is offered on request. Workaround: The site FAQ says Enterprise customers can discuss data residency with sales.
Pricing reality: You pay per segment (160 GSM-7 or 70 Unicode characters) plus per-carrier surcharges, number rental and 10DLC fees, inside an Enterprise contract with a USD 1,000 monthly minimum across Plivo products. For our scenario, 10,000 × $0.0077 = $77.00 plus a $0.50 number is below the minimum, so $1,000 is billed; carrier surcharges averaging $0.004333 add $43.33, and the $1.50 campaign plus ($4.50 brand + $15 vetting) / 12 add $3.13, for $1,046.46 a month (computed). The same traffic at list rates alone would be $123.96. Things to know: the brand API sets `secondary_vetting` to true by default ($41.50), updating a campaign triggers another $15 vetting, and card payments carry a 3% gateway fee that bank transfer avoids.
Exit path: Message records export as CSV from the console (up to 10,000 rows directly, larger files by email) or through the Message API, but the console keeps logs for 90 days only. Numbers can be ported out with written notice within 30 days of notice of termination, once balances and admin fees are paid; the additional terms let Plivo refuse a port at its discretion. No long-term contract is required unless you choose an Enterprise annual agreement.

## Category: Help desk and customer support

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/help-desk

### Freshdesk

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/freshdesk
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/freshdesk
Category: Help desk and customer support
Vendor: Freshworks Inc.
Tagline: A per-agent help desk in two editions, with live chat, WhatsApp and social channels in Freshdesk Omni from $29 per agent billed annually.
Value: Email, live chat, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram in one inbox, with a knowledge base and SAML SSO, from $29 per agent on annual terms.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach, Compliance included
Value detail: Freshdesk Omni Growth, at $29 per agent a month on annual terms, puts email, live chat, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram in one inbox with a customer portal and knowledge base, so a small team does not buy a separate chat tool. SAML SSO is on every plan of both editions, and the data center (US, EEA, UAE, India or Australia) is chosen at sign-up. The Freddy AI Agent has a public price: 500 sessions included once per account, then $49 per 100. The help center says Freshdesk is audited each year for SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001.
- Chat, social channels and SSO on the entry Omni plan: The Omni pricing page lists omnichannel support, a customer portal and knowledge base, and single sign-on on Growth at $29 per agent (annual); the getting started article names email, web chat, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram in one inbox. (Freshdesk Omni pricing page and Getting started with Freshdesk Omni (2026-10-15))
- AI agent priced in public: The pricing pages include the first 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions once per account and list extra sessions at $49 per 100. The FAQ defines a chat session as 24 hours and an email session as a 72-hour window. (Freshdesk and Freshdesk Omni pricing pages (2026-10-15))
- WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook connected in the app: The WhatsApp and Instagram articles list Omni Growth, Pro and Enterprise, and Facebook is on the email-first plans too; up to 50 WhatsApp numbers can be connected, with Meta’s message fees passed on. (Help center channel articles (2026-10-15))
- Audits and data region on every plan: The trust center lists a SOC 2 Type 2 report by KPMG (on request) and an ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate; the data location article offers US, EEA, UAE, India and Australia, chosen at sign-up. (Trust center (Internet Archive copy of Oct 1, 2026) and data location help article (2026-10-15))
Best for: Small and mid-size support teams that want email, chat and social messaging in one inbox at a published per-agent price, with SSO from the first plan.
Things to know: CSAT surveys, multiple SLA policies, custom roles and several branded portals start on Pro ($79 per agent for Omni, annual); audit logs on Enterprise.
Score: 6.7/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $19/agent/mo (Growth (Freshdesk, billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per agent per month; AI agent sessions, WhatsApp messages and phone billed separately
Free option: No free plan on the pricing page; 14-day trial, no card; 6-month Free Program for 2 agents in the help center
Reference scenario (5 agents, annual): $145/mo on Freshdesk Omni Growth ($29 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $35 per agent on Omni Growth ($35 / $95 / $143 Omni; $23 / $66 / $107 Freshdesk)
AI agent pricing: First 500 sessions included once per account; then $49 per 100 sessions
Phone: Through Freshcaller, a separately billed Freshworks product; own carrier on Omni Pro and up
SLA policies and CSAT: Default SLA policies on Growth; multiple SLAs and CSAT surveys from Pro ($79 Omni)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 (report on request); ISO/IEC 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Mutually executed with Freshworks; the HIPAA guide lists Freshdesk Enterprise ($89), not the current Omni plans
EU data hosting: EEA data center chosen at sign-up, every plan
SSO: SAML on every plan of both editions
Data export: Whole-account export (XML in the app, JSON through the API)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Freshdesk Omni offers chat, social messaging, a knowledge base, SAML SSO and EU hosting from $29 per agent, with every plan priced in public. CSAT, multiple SLAs and custom roles start on Pro, and a few pages disagree on payment and plan details.
Choose it if: You want email, live chat, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram in one inbox at a published per-agent price. · You need SAML SSO and EU hosting from the first paid plan. · You want the AI agent’s price listed: 500 sessions to start, then $49 per 100.
Look elsewhere if: You need CSAT surveys or custom roles at the entry plan price. · You want phone calling inside the help desk subscription itself. · You want a permanent free plan.
Compared with: Zendesk (https://proofyo.com/products/zendesk) — pick Freshdesk when You want live chat, social channels, default SLA policies and EU hosting from $29 per agent (Omni Growth, annual).; pick Zendesk when You want voice built into the seat and a HIPAA BAA documented for the plan with live chat (Suite Professional). | Intercom (https://proofyo.com/products/intercom) — pick Freshdesk when You want SAML SSO, SLA policies and EU hosting chosen at sign-up on the entry plan.; pick Intercom when You want native phone, conversation ratings and activity logs on the entry plan, with Fin at $0.99 per outcome. | Help Scout (https://proofyo.com/products/help-scout) — pick Freshdesk when You need SAML SSO, ISO 27001 or EU hosting without a sales call.; pick Help Scout when You want a permanent free plan for up to 5 users, or CSAT and two Docs sites on the entry paid plan ($25 per user, annual).
Strengths:
- SAML SSO on every plan: The pricing pages tick single sign-on on Growth, Pro and Enterprise in both editions, including Freshdesk Growth at $19 per agent. (Intercom offers SAML SSO on Expert only; Help Scout’s SSO article says Pro only.)
- Chat and social channels on the entry Omni plan: Omni Growth ($29 per agent, annual) brings email, web chat, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram into one inbox with a portal and knowledge base, and no add-on. (Front’s Starter plan allows one channel type, so email plus chat starts on Professional at $65 per seat.)
- EU hosting chosen at sign-up: The data location article lists US, EEA, UAE, India and Australia data centers, chosen when the account is created, on every plan. (Zendesk offers a data region from Suite Professional ($115); Help Scout hosts data in the US only.)
- Every plan has a published price: All six plans show annual and monthly prices, Enterprise included, and can be bought online. (Zendesk Suite Enterprise is priced by sales; Front publishes Enterprise at $105 per seat (annual only) but sells it through a demo.)
- Whole-account export: Admins can export the whole help desk as XML from the account settings, and the API has an account export with tickets, notes, attachments, contacts and solutions in JSON. (Help Scout exports conversations through its Inbox API only; Front’s full export is requested from Support.)
Things to know:
- CSAT, multiple SLAs and custom roles start on Pro: The CSAT and custom role articles mark Pro and Enterprise; multiple SLA policies, reminders and escalations also start on Pro, while Growth has default policies only. Omni Pro is $79 per agent on annual terms. Workaround: The 14-day trial runs on the Enterprise plan, so these features can be tried before choosing a plan.
- Phone is a separate subscription: Phone connects through Freshcaller, which is billed on its own (a free plan plus per-minute charges, or Growth at $15 per agent annual). Bringing your own carrier is on Omni Pro and up. Workaround: The Freshcaller pricing page lists its plans and the incoming minutes each includes.
- The free option is time-limited: The Free Program in the help center lasts 6 months, allows up to 2 agents, covers the Freshdesk edition only (no live chat) and has no API access. The pricing page does not list it. Workaround: The 14-day trial needs no card, and monthly prices let a team start without an annual term.
- Annual terms are firm: The Terms say fees are non-refundable, seats and plan cannot be reduced during the term, plans renew unless notice is given 30 days before, and fees can be adjusted at renewal with 30 days’ notice. Workaround: Month-to-month prices are published for every plan.
Pricing reality: Freshdesk bills each agent per month; annual terms are about 17% below month to month (computed), while the toggle says "Save 20%". For our scenario, 5 agents on Freshdesk Omni Growth cost 5 × $29 = $145 a month on annual terms, or $175 month to month (computed), before tax. That covers email, live chat, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, a portal and knowledge base, default SLA policies, SAML SSO and 500 AI Agent sessions once. Costs rise with Omni Pro ($79, so $395 a month for 5 agents, computed) for CSAT, multiple SLAs and custom roles, and Omni Enterprise ($119, $595 computed) for audit logs. Add-ons: AI Agent sessions at $49 per 100, Copilot at $29 per agent billed annually or $35 monthly (Pro and up), Meta’s WhatsApp fees plus a 20% markup, Freshcaller for phone, day passes, and extra API capacity priced on request.
Exit path: Admins can export the whole help desk (tickets, solutions, forums, customers) as XML from Admin > Account, and the API account export returns tickets with notes and attachments, archived tickets, contacts, companies, solutions and surveys as JSON. The ticket list CSV export holds fields only. The Terms keep data available for export for 14 days after the account closes, and the pricing FAQ says cancellation takes effect at the end of the term with no cancellation fee.

### Intercom

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/intercom
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/intercom
Category: Help desk and customer support
Vendor: Intercom, Inc.
Tagline: A help desk with its AI agent, Fin, built in: live chat, ticketing, email and a help center on every plan from $29 per seat billed annually.
Value: A help desk and an AI agent in one workspace: Fin answers first, your team takes over in the same inbox, and Fin is billed per outcome.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Built-in reach, Worth the price
Value detail: Fin and the human team share one inbox, customer record and knowledge base, so a team does not connect a separate AI tool to its help desk. Every plan includes the Messenger for live chat, a shared inbox with ticketing, inbound email, a public Help Center and conversation ratings, with phone, SMS and WhatsApp billed as used. Seats start at $29 per agent a month on annual terms, and Fin costs $0.99 per outcome, with no charge when the customer asks for a person. Advanced adds workflows and routing; Expert adds SSO, SLAs, multibrand and the HIPAA BAA.
- AI agent built into the help desk: The plan table lists Fin as included on Essential, Advanced and Expert, working from the same inbox, customer record and knowledge as the team; there is no separate AI product to connect. (Help center: Fin and Intercom plans explained, and the home page (2026-10-15))
- Billed per outcome, not for every conversation: A resolution or Procedure handoff is $0.99, at most one per conversation. Escalations, requests for a person and failed Procedures are not billed, and monthly outcome limits can be set. (Help center: Fin AI Agent outcomes (2026-10-15))
- Channels on the entry plan: Live chat, inbound email, phone, SMS and WhatsApp reach the inbox on Essential. Chats, inbound WhatsApp and inbox email are free; phone, SMS and bulk messages are billed by usage at listed rates. (Pricing page and help center: usage-based channels (2026-10-15))
- Activity logs and full export on every plan: Teammate activity logs are kept for one year on all plans, and an admin can export all conversations as JSON to Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage. (Help center: teammate activity logs and conversation export (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that want an AI agent to answer first and a full help desk for the rest, and can budget for both seats and per-outcome AI charges.
Things to know: No free plan, and the bill has two parts: seats plus Fin outcomes and channel usage. SSO, SLAs and the HIPAA BAA need the Expert plan.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $29/seat/mo (Essential plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month; Fin outcomes, phone, SMS and bulk messages billed by usage
Free option: No free plan; 14-day trial, no card
Reference scenario (5 agents, annual): $145/mo on Essential ($29 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $39 per seat on Essential ($39 / $99 / $139 for the three plans)
AI agent pricing: Fin $0.99 per outcome on every plan; qualifications $9.99
Phone: Built in on every plan; numbers and minutes billed by usage
SLA policies and CSAT: Conversation ratings on every plan; SLAs on Expert ($132)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (Trust Center, on request)
HIPAA BAA: Expert plan only, requested through support
EU data hosting: New workspaces on a contract (Advanced or Expert), through sales
SSO: SAML on Expert only
Data export: All conversations to Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage; REST API
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Intercom is a full help desk with an AI agent built in, priced per seat plus $0.99 per Fin outcome. SSO, SLAs and the HIPAA BAA need Expert, and a few prices differ between its pages.
Choose it if: You want an AI agent to answer first and your team to take over in the same inbox. · You want live chat, email, a help center and phone on the entry plan. · You can budget for seats plus per-outcome AI and channel usage.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO, SLAs or a HIPAA BAA below the Expert plan. · You need EU data hosting without a sales contract. · You want a permanent free plan.
Compared with: Zendesk (https://proofyo.com/products/zendesk) — pick Intercom when You want activity logs on the entry plan and a lower 5-agent cost ($145 a month on Essential, annual, computed).; pick Zendesk when You want SAML SSO on every plan, and a HIPAA BAA and EU data region on a plan bought online. | Freshdesk (https://proofyo.com/products/freshdesk) — pick Intercom when You want native phone, conversation ratings and an activity log in the same seat, for the same $145 a month for 5 agents.; pick Freshdesk when You want SAML SSO on every plan and an EEA data center chosen at sign-up, from $29 per agent (Omni Growth, annual). | Help Scout (https://proofyo.com/products/help-scout) — pick Intercom when You need native phone, ISO 27001, an admin activity log or a full conversation export.; pick Help Scout when You want a free plan for up to 5 users, or a lower 5-agent cost ($125 a month on Standard, annual).
Strengths:
- Full help desk on the entry plan: Essential ($29 per seat, annual) includes live chat, ticketing, inbound email, a public Help Center, conversation ratings, and native phone, SMS and WhatsApp billed as used. (Help Scout and Front handle phone only through integrations; Freshdesk connects Freshcaller, a separately billed Freshworks product.)
- Clear rules for AI billing: Fin is $0.99 per outcome, at most one per conversation, with no charge for escalations or requests for a person, and with monthly outcome limits and alerts.
- Activity logs on every plan: Teammate activity logs are on all plans and kept for one year, with CSV download, an API and webhooks. (Zendesk and Freshdesk keep the audit log on their Enterprise plans, and Help Scout lists none.)
- Full conversation export to your own storage: An admin can export all conversations as JSON to Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage, with attachments and the last two years of history, then hourly or daily. (Help Scout exports conversations only through its API; Front’s full export is requested from Support.)
- Own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The help center’s compliance article lists Intercom’s SOC 2 Type II report, ISO 27001 and ISO 27018 certificates and a HIPAA attestation report in the Trust Center, available after a request for access. (Help Scout states SOC 2 Type II but does not state ISO 27001.)
Things to know:
- SSO, SLAs and the HIPAA BAA need Expert: SAML SSO, custom roles, SLAs, multibrand Messenger and Help Center, and the HIPAA BAA are on Expert ($132 per seat on annual terms), and all seats in a workspace must be on the same plan. Workaround: The 14-day trial can be started on Expert, which is bought online on annual terms.
- Seats plus usage: Fin outcomes ($0.99, qualifications $9.99), phone numbers and minutes, SMS, bulk email and bulk WhatsApp are billed on top of seats. A resolution also counts when the customer leaves after Fin’s answer without asking for more help. Workaround: The pricing FAQs describe a monthly outcome limit and the Fin outcomes article usage reminders and hard limits; SMS has a default cap of 10,000 segments a month.
- EU hosting needs a contract and a new workspace: EU hosting (Dublin) is for new workspaces on Advanced or Expert under a contract, set up by sales. Conversations in an existing workspace cannot be moved, only exported. Workaround: Settle the data region with sales before building the workspace.
- Prices differ between pages: The pricing page shows Essential at $19 or $29 depending on the version served, and the Pro add-on and the Early Stage offer are priced differently on two Intercom pages. Workaround: The help center plans article lists $29 for Essential; check the price shown at checkout.
Pricing reality: Intercom bills each full seat per month, with all seats on one plan, plus usage. For our scenario, 5 agents on Essential cost 5 × $29 = $145 a month on annual terms ($1,740 a year), or 5 × $39 = $195 month to month (computed), before tax. That covers live chat, ticketing, inbound email, the Help Center and phone software. Fin is billed on top at $0.99 per outcome: Intercom’s own guide shows 3 Essential seats ($87) plus 500 outcomes ($495) at $582 a month. Expert, needed for SSO, SLAs and the HIPAA BAA, is $660 a month for 5 seats on annual terms (computed). Unlimited Copilot is $29 per agent a month yearly or $35 monthly. On annual terms, seats and add-ons cannot be reduced until renewal, and seats added beyond the annual commitment are billed monthly as overages at the standard seat price.
Exit path: An admin can export all conversations as JSON to Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage (the last two years, then hourly or daily), and the Conversations API exports up to 90 days per request; Views and contacts export as CSV. Cancelling deletes no data, but the terms say there is no access to customer data 30 days after termination and that Intercom is not an archiving service. Yearly plans renew unless you give written notice at least 30 days before the term ends.

### Front

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/front
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/front
Category: Help desk and customer support
Vendor: FrontApp, Inc.
Tagline: A shared inbox where a team works email, chat, SMS and social messages together, with ticketing on top, from $25 per seat billed annually.
Value: One shared inbox where the whole team works email, chat, SMS and social messages together, with tickets, SLAs and CSAT on top.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Front looks and works like a team email inbox: conversations from email, Front Chat, SMS, Slack, social channels and WhatsApp land in shared inboxes, where teammates assign them, comment inside the thread and write shared drafts. Ticket statuses, SLAs, CSAT surveys and a customer portal sit on top, so support, account management and operations can answer customers in one place. On Professional ($65 per seat, annual) the plan also carries SAML SSO, SCIM, up to 5 workspaces and 2 knowledge bases, and every plan has an admin audit log and Front’s SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
- Team collaboration in the inbox itself: The plan table lists shared inboxes, assignments, internal comments and shared drafts on every plan, and guest accounts that comment on a conversation without needing a license. (Pricing page plan table (2026-10-15))
- Channels and service levels on one plan: Professional covers email, Front Chat, SMS through providers, Slack, Facebook, Instagram, X and third-party WhatsApp, with ticket SLAs, response time SLA rules and CSAT surveys. (Pricing page plan table and CSAT help article (2026-10-15))
- Audit trail and certificates from the start: The admin audit log keeps 365 days of settings changes on all plans; the security page states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 and hosting in the US or the EU; SAML SSO and SCIM start on Professional. (Audit log help article and security page (2026-10-15))
- APIs to bring in your own channels: The developer docs cover a Core API with webhooks, Application Channels for custom messaging and voice channels, a Plugin SDK and a Chat Widget SDK for web, iOS and Android. (Developer docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams that answer customers from a shared email inbox and want chat, SMS and social messages, SLAs and CSAT in the same place.
Things to know: Starter connects one channel type, so email plus chat starts on Professional at $65 per seat on annual terms; custom roles are on Enterprise only.
Score: 6.3/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $25/seat/mo (Starter (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month; Autopilot AI agent billed per conversation
Free option: No free plan; 14-day trial of Professional, no card
Reference scenario (5 agents, annual): $325/mo on Professional ($65 × 5), computed; Starter allows one channel type
Month-to-month price: $85 per seat on Professional ($35 on Starter; Enterprise is annual only)
AI agent pricing: Autopilot per conversation: Triage $0.05, Handoff $0.39, Resolution $0.89
Phone: Through partner integrations such as Aircall and Dialpad, Professional and up
SLA policies and CSAT: Professional ($65), the scenario plan
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (report and certificate on request)
HIPAA BAA: When the annual contract price meets a threshold Front does not state
EU data hosting: US or EEA, chosen by contacting support; no plan limit stated
SSO: SAML SSO and SCIM from Professional; Google and Office 365 sign-in on every plan
Data export: Full export by request to Front Support; Core API on every plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Front is a team shared inbox with ticketing, SLAs, CSAT and SAML SSO on Professional and an audit log on every plan. Email plus chat starts at $65 per seat, phone runs through partners, and the HIPAA BAA depends on contract size.
Choose it if: Your team already answers customers from a shared email inbox and wants chat, SMS and social messages beside it. · You want SLAs, CSAT surveys and SAML SSO without an enterprise contract. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, an audit log and EU hosting.
Look elsewhere if: You need email and live chat together at the Starter price. · You need phone calls handled by the help desk vendor itself. · You need custom agent roles or a HIPAA BAA without a sales contract.
Compared with: Help Scout (https://proofyo.com/products/help-scout) — pick Front when You need SAML SSO, an admin audit log and EU data hosting on a plan bought online.; pick Help Scout when You want a free plan for up to 5 users, or a lower 5-agent cost ($125 a month on Standard, annual). | Zendesk (https://proofyo.com/products/zendesk) — pick Front when You want SLAs, CSAT surveys and an audit log at $65 per seat (Professional, annual) and a team inbox for more than support.; pick Zendesk when You want native phone in the seat, or a HIPAA BAA on a plan bought online (Suite Professional). | Intercom (https://proofyo.com/products/intercom) — pick Front when You want SAML SSO, SLAs and several workspaces and knowledge bases without moving to a top plan.; pick Intercom when You want native phone billed by usage and a lower 5-agent cost ($145 a month on Essential, annual).
Strengths:
- A shared inbox the whole team can work in: Shared inboxes, assignments, internal comments and shared drafts are on every plan, and guests can comment on a conversation without a paid seat. Individual inboxes and calendar sit alongside.
- SLAs, CSAT and SAML SSO on the scenario plan: Professional ($65 per seat, annual) includes ticket SLAs, response time SLA rules, CSAT surveys, SAML SSO, SCIM, up to 5 workspaces and 2 knowledge bases. (Zendesk starts SLA policies and CSAT on Suite Professional ($115 per agent, annual); Intercom puts SSO, SLAs and multibrand on Expert ($132).)
- Admin audit log on every plan: The audit log records settings and resource changes for 365 days and exports up to 100,000 rows to CSV, on Starter as well. (Zendesk lists its audit log on Suite Enterprise; Freshdesk lists audit logs on Enterprise.)
- AI agent priced by outcome, with definitions: Autopilot charges once per conversation at the highest level reached: Triage $0.05, Handoff $0.39, Resolution $0.89. The help center defines each level and lists a 30-day trial with up to 1,000 Resolutions. (Intercom charges $0.99 per Fin outcome; Help Scout charges $0.75 per AI Answers resolution.)
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and EU hosting: The security page states both certifications and hosting in the US or the EU; the hosting policy names no plan limit for the EEA choice. (Help Scout does not state ISO 27001 and hosts data in the US only.)
Things to know:
- Starter connects one channel type: Starter allows a single channel type (email, Front Chat or SMS) and puts Front branding on the chat widget and knowledge base, so email plus chat starts on Professional at $65 per seat on annual terms. Workaround: The 14-day trial runs on Professional with no card, so the full channel set can be tried first.
- Phone runs through partner apps: Voice and telephony on Professional and up come through integrations such as Aircall and Dialpad; the pricing page lists no phone service billed by Front. Front’s analytics do not track voicemails or IVR. Workaround: The developer docs describe Application Channels, which can bring other voice or messaging providers into Front.
- HIPAA BAA depends on contract size: Front says it reserves the right to enter into a BAA with customers whose annual contract price meets a threshold the page does not state, and the DPA says the service is not designed for HIPAA data. Workaround: Ask Front for the threshold and which terms apply once a BAA is signed.
- Full export is by request: A full account export is requested from Front Support and covers shared-inbox conversations, comments and attachments, not individual inboxes, contacts, message templates or tags. Workaround: The Core API lists conversations and messages, and contacts and accounts export to CSV in the app.
Pricing reality: Front bills each seat per month, and a plan applies to the whole organization, so Starter and Professional seats cannot be mixed. For our scenario, 5 agents on Professional cost 5 × $65 = $325 a month on annual terms ($3,900 a year), or $425 month to month (computed), before tax. Starter at $25 is cheaper but connects one channel type. Costs rise with Copilot ($20 per seat a month on Starter and Professional), Autopilot per conversation (1,000 Resolutions at $0.89 come to $890, computed), native WhatsApp at Meta’s cost plus a 20% fee, the API rate-limit add-on ($200 a month per 100 requests a minute), and phone or SMS providers. Contracts over $25k require an onboarding package from $10,000. Payments are nonrefundable, and removed seats are not credited.
Exit path: You cancel in billing settings and the plan runs to the end of the term. For 30 days after termination you can log in, search history and see analytics, but not send or use the API; then data is deleted. A full export is requested from Front Support: shared-inbox conversations, messages, comments and attachments as CSV folders by inbox, with the knowledge base as separate files. Individual inboxes, contacts, templates and tags are not included.

### Help Scout

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/help-scout
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/help-scout
Category: Help desk and customer support
Vendor: Help Scout PBC
Tagline: A per-user shared inbox help desk with email, live chat, social messaging and a Docs knowledge base from Standard at $25 per user billed annually, plus a free plan.
Value: Email, live chat, social messaging and a Docs knowledge base on one $25 seat, with SLA policies and CSAT surveys already included.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: On Standard, at $25 per user a month on annual terms ($30 month to month), one seat covers email, live chat in the Beacon widget, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, 2 Inboxes and 2 Docs sites, one SLA policy, CSAT and NPS surveys, the Inbox API and webhooks. For 5 agents that is $125 a month with no add-on (computed). The AI agent, AI Answers, is billed at $0.75 per resolution with a monthly spending limit, and a free plan for up to 5 users covers email and a small knowledge base.
- Email, chat and social channels on the entry paid plan: The plan table lists email, live chat, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, 2 Inboxes and 2 Docs sites on Standard. Extra Inboxes are $10 a month and extra Docs sites $20 a month on annual terms. (Pricing page comparison table and FAQ (2026-10-15))
- AI agent paid per resolution, with a cap: AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution, charged once per session and billed monthly in arrears. A monthly spending limit turns it off until the next cycle, and new accounts get a 3-month free trial. (Pricing page and AI resolutions pricing article (2026-10-15))
- A free plan for up to 5 users: The Free plan has 1 Inbox, 1 Docs site with up to 10 articles, a Beacon with a contact form and help articles, and 100 contacts per monthly cycle. It has no live chat or API access. (Pricing page and free plan help article (2026-10-15))
- Documented APIs and 100+ apps: Standard includes the Inbox API 2.0 with OAuth 2 (200 calls a minute, no reporting endpoints), plus the Docs API, Chat API, webhooks for conversations, customers, ratings and Beacon chats, and access to 100+ apps. (Developer docs, API help article and pricing table (2026-10-15))
Best for: Small and mid-size support teams (up to 25 users on Standard) that want email, chat, social messaging and a knowledge base at a low per-user price.
Things to know: Phone works only through integrations, data is hosted in the US only, and SSO and HIPAA are on Pro, sold through a demo with a 10-user minimum.
Score: 6.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $25/user/mo (Standard (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; AI Answers and Messages above 2,000 viewers billed by usage
Free option: Free plan for 5 users (1 Inbox, 1 Docs site, 100 contacts/mo, no live chat); 15-day trial, no card
Reference scenario (5 agents, annual): $125/mo on Standard ($25 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $30 per user on Standard ($30 / $54 / $90 for the three paid plans)
AI agent pricing: $0.75 per resolution (AI Answers) with a monthly spending limit; 3-month free trial for new accounts
Phone: Through integrations only, such as Aircall (add-on, price not listed)
SLA policies and CSAT: Standard: one basic SLA policy and CSAT surveys; conditional SLAs from Plus
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (report by email request); ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Pro only per the help article (demo, 10-user minimum); plan table shows an unpriced Plus add-on
EU data hosting: No EU option described; hosted on AWS servers in the United States
SSO: SAML on Pro per the help article; plan table shows an unpriced add-on on Standard and Plus
Data export: Inbox API only; report CSV/XLSX exports leave out conversation threads
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Help Scout is the lowest-priced of these five for email, chat, social messaging and a knowledge base for 5 agents, with SLAs, CSAT and a free plan. Phone, EU hosting and a file export of conversations are outside it, and SSO and HIPAA sit on Pro.
Choose it if: You want email, live chat, social messaging and a knowledge base for a small team at $25 per user on annual terms. · You want to start on a free plan for up to 5 users before paying. · You want SLA policies and CSAT surveys without moving to a higher plan. · You want a published per-resolution AI agent price with a spending limit.
Look elsewhere if: You need phone calls handled inside the help desk itself. · You need EU data hosting, ISO 27001 or an admin audit log. · You need SSO or a HIPAA BAA and do not want the Pro plan with its 10-user minimum.
Compared with: Zendesk (https://proofyo.com/products/zendesk) — pick Help Scout when You want SLAs, CSAT and two knowledge bases at $25 per user (Standard, annual), or a permanent free plan.; pick Zendesk when You need native phone, ISO 27001, or a HIPAA BAA and EU data hosting on a plan bought online. | Freshdesk (https://proofyo.com/products/freshdesk) — pick Help Scout when You want CSAT surveys and several knowledge bases on the entry paid plan, or a free plan for up to 5 users.; pick Freshdesk when You want SAML SSO on every plan, EU hosting chosen at sign-up and a full account export, from $29 per agent (Omni Growth, annual). | Front (https://proofyo.com/products/front) — pick Help Scout when You want email plus live chat for 5 agents at $125 a month rather than $325, or a free plan to start.; pick Front when You want SAML SSO, ISO 27001, EEA hosting and an admin audit log, at $65 per seat (Professional, annual).
Strengths:
- Lowest 5-agent price for the three core channels: Standard covers email, live chat and a public knowledge base at $25 per user, so 5 agents cost $125 a month on annual terms with no add-on (computed). (Intercom Essential and Freshdesk Omni Growth come to $145 a month for 5 agents, Zendesk Suite Team to $275 and Front Professional to $325.)
- A permanent free plan: The Free plan allows 5 users with 1 Inbox and 1 Docs site, so a small team can start on email and a knowledge base before paying. (Zendesk, Intercom and Front have no permanent free plan; Freshdesk’s Free Program lasts 6 months for up to 2 agents.)
- SLAs, CSAT and several inboxes on the entry plan: Standard includes one basic SLA policy, CSAT and NPS surveys, 2 Inboxes and 2 Docs sites. (Zendesk puts SLA policies and CSAT on Suite Professional ($115); Freshdesk puts CSAT surveys on Pro.)
- AI agent price published, with a spending limit: AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution, charged once per session, and a monthly spending limit stops it until the next cycle. (Intercom’s Fin is $0.99 per outcome; Front’s Autopilot resolution tier is $0.89 per conversation.)
Things to know:
- Phone only through integrations: The plan table lists phone and voice as "Via integration" on every paid plan, and the help center turns provider voicemail emails into phone notes. Help Scout has no built-in calling. Workaround: Aircall is listed as an add-on on Standard and Plus and with preferred pricing on Pro; other providers connect through apps.
- SSO and HIPAA sit on Pro: The SSO and HIPAA help articles place both on Pro, which is sold through a demo and needs at least 10 users (10 × $75 = $750 a month on annual terms, computed). Workaround: The plan table shows them as add-ons on lower plans with no price; ask Help Scout whether they can be bought there.
- US hosting, no ISO 27001 or audit log stated: The help center says data is hosted on AWS servers in the United States, with no EU option described. ISO 27001 and an admin audit log are not stated on the pages we read. Workaround: The SOC 2 Type II report is sent on request by email, and the DPA includes EU SCCs and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
- Conversations leave only through the API: The data export article says exporting through the API is currently the only way to get data out; report exports in CSV or XLSX leave out conversation threads. Workaround: Plan an Inbox API script for conversations and use the Docs API for articles before you leave.
Pricing reality: Help Scout bills every user who handles conversations, including the Account Owner, per month; the page shows annual terms 16% below month to month. For our scenario, 5 agents on Standard cost 5 × $25 = $125 a month on annual terms, or $150 month to month (computed), before tax. That covers email, live chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, 2 Inboxes, 2 Docs sites, one SLA policy and CSAT surveys. Costs rise with Plus ($45) for conditional SLAs, routing and AI drafts, or above 25 users; with Pro for SSO and HIPAA, at 10 users minimum ($750 a month annual, computed); and with usage: AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution, Messages above 2,000 unique viewers a month from $20, extra Inboxes at $10 and Docs sites at $20 a month on annual terms. Phone is paid to a separate provider.
Exit path: The Account Owner cancels from Your Plan and access ends at once; the first payment has a 30-day money-back guarantee, and other prepaid fees are not refunded. Conversations, customers and users come out only through the Inbox API, and Docs articles through the Docs API; report exports leave out thread contents. Data after cancellation is stated three ways: restorable on request for 14 days (terms), deleted after 60 days (help center), normally within 90 days (DPA).

### Zendesk

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/zendesk
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/zendesk
Category: Help desk and customer support
Vendor: Zendesk, Inc.
Tagline: A per-agent help desk suite with email tickets, live chat, a help center, social channels and voice from Suite Team at $55 per agent billed annually.
Value: Email tickets, live chat, a help center, social messaging and voice in one agent seat, with AI agents on every plan and a broad compliance file.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Compliance included
Value detail: From Suite Team at $55 per agent a month on annual terms, one seat covers email ticketing, messaging and live chat, one help center, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and X, and voice, so a team does not buy a separate chat or knowledge base tool. AI agents come with every plan and a monthly allowance of automated resolutions, with listed prices beyond it. The trust center lists Zendesk’s own SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001:2022 certificate, and Suite Professional, bought online, adds a path to a HIPAA BAA and a choice of data region.
- Every common channel on Suite Team: The plan table lists messaging and live chat, one help center, social and business channels (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, X and others) and voice on Suite Team; the add-ons article says the Suite includes five WhatsApp numbers. (Pricing page and add-ons help article (2026-10-15))
- Marketplace and API on every plan: The plan table lists 1,000+ prebuilt apps and API access on every plan; the developer docs allow 200 API requests a minute on Team plans and more on higher plans. (Pricing page and developer rate-limit docs (2026-10-15))
- Own audits and certificates: The trust center lists a SOC 2 Type II report (on request, under NDA), ISO 27001:2022 with a downloadable certificate, ISO 27017, 27018, 27701 and 42001, FedRAMP LI-SaaS and approved Binding Corporate Rules. (Trust center (2026-10-15))
- HIPAA and data region without a sales call: Suite Professional ($115 per agent, annual) is bought online and includes Advanced Compliance, under which you can sign a BAA, and the Data Center Location add-on at no charge (US, EEA, UK, Japan or Australia). (Pricing page, Advanced Compliance and Data Center Location articles (2026-10-15))
Best for: Support teams that want email, chat, a help center, social messaging and phone in one seat, and expect to need HIPAA or EU data hosting later.
Things to know: SLA policies, CSAT surveys, several help centers and a choice of data region start on Suite Professional ($115 per agent on annual terms), not Suite Team.
Score: 6.1/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $19/agent/mo (Support Team (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per agent per month; AI resolutions and voice billed by usage
Free option: No free plan; 14-day trial of Suite Professional, no card
Reference scenario (5 agents, annual): $275/mo on Suite Team ($55 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $69 per agent on Suite Team ($25 / $69 / $149 for the three listed plans)
AI agent pricing: 5 resolutions per agent/mo included; then $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go
Phone: Built in from Suite Team; numbers and minutes billed by usage
SLA policies and CSAT: Suite Professional ($115); chat conversation rating on Suite Team
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (on request, under NDA); ISO 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Suite Professional and up (Advanced Compliance)
EU data hosting: Suite Professional and up, activated by Zendesk on request
SSO: SAML, OIDC or JWT on every plan
Data export: REST API on every plan; file export from Suite Growth, enabled by support
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Zendesk is a broad help desk suite: every main channel on Suite Team, AI agents on every plan and a deep compliance file. SLAs, CSAT and data region start on Suite Professional, and some plan names and AI tiers differ between pages.
Choose it if: You want email, live chat, a help center, social messaging and phone under one agent seat. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 from the vendor itself. · You may need a HIPAA BAA or EU data hosting and want them on a plan bought online.
Look elsewhere if: You need SLA policies or CSAT surveys at the Suite Team price. · You need custom agent roles or an admin audit log without a sales contract. · You want a permanent free plan.
Compared with: Intercom (https://proofyo.com/products/intercom) — pick Zendesk when You want SAML SSO on every plan and a choice of data region on a plan bought online.; pick Intercom when You want activity logs on the entry plan and a lower 5-agent cost ($145 a month on Essential, annual, computed). | Freshdesk (https://proofyo.com/products/freshdesk) — pick Zendesk when You want voice built into the help desk seat rather than a separate Freshcaller subscription.; pick Freshdesk when You want live chat, social channels, SLA policies and EU hosting chosen at sign-up from $29 per agent (Omni Growth, annual). | Help Scout (https://proofyo.com/products/help-scout) — pick Zendesk when You need native phone, ISO 27001 or EU data hosting.; pick Help Scout when You want a free plan for up to 5 users, or a lower 5-agent cost ($125 a month on Standard, annual) with SLAs and CSAT included.
Strengths:
- Every main channel in one Suite Team seat: Email, messaging and live chat, one help center, social channels and voice are all on Suite Team at $55 per agent on annual terms. (Help Scout and Front handle phone only through integrations; Freshdesk connects phone through Freshcaller, a separately billed Freshworks product.)
- Broad compliance file: The trust center lists Zendesk’s own SOC 2 Type II report, ISO 27001:2022 and four more ISO certificates, FedRAMP LI-SaaS, HDS 1.1 and approved Binding Corporate Rules, plus tools for handling card data under PCI-DSS. (Help Scout states SOC 2 Type II but does not state ISO 27001, and hosts data in the US only.)
- HIPAA path on a plan bought online: Suite Professional includes Advanced Compliance for signing a BAA, and data center location in the US, EEA, UK, Japan or Australia. (Freshdesk’s HIPAA guide lists Enterprise plans, not the current Omni plans with live chat; Front ties a BAA to an annual contract price threshold it does not state.)
- SSO on every plan: SAML, OIDC or JWT single sign-on is listed on every plan, including Support Team at $19 per agent. (Intercom offers SAML SSO on Expert only.)
- AI agent price on the pricing page: Every plan includes 5 automated resolutions per agent a month (10 on Professional); extra ones are $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go, and AI agents can be paused at the limit.
Things to know:
- SLAs, CSAT and several help centers start on Professional: The plan table checks SLA policies, CSAT surveys and up to five help centers on Suite Professional ($115 per agent, annual), not on Suite Team ($55). Workaround: The 14-day trial runs on Suite Professional, so these features can be tried before choosing a plan.
- Phone is usage on top of the seat: Voice comes with Suite Team, but numbers and minutes are billed: in the US $1 per number a month and $0.016 per inbound minute, with recording and transcription extra. Workaround: The Talk pricing article lists the rates, and credit packages are offered to customers who pay by invoice.
- File export needs a higher plan and support: JSON, CSV and XML exports are not on Team plans and, on Growth and up, must be switched on by Zendesk support. AI agent tickets cannot be exported. Workaround: Every plan can export through the REST API, including the Incremental Exports API.
- Annual terms are firm: The Customer Agreement says charges are non-refundable, seats cannot be reduced during a term, and plans renew for an equal term at then-current rates unless you give 30 days’ notice. Workaround: Month-to-month prices are published for the three listed plans.
Pricing reality: Zendesk bills each full agent seat per month; annual terms are about 20% below month to month. For our scenario, 5 agents on Suite Team cost 5 × $55 = $275 a month on annual terms, or $345 month to month (computed), before tax. That covers email, messaging and live chat, one help center, social channels, voice software and AI agents with 5 automated resolutions per agent a month. Costs rise with Suite Professional ($115, so $575 a month for 5 agents, computed) for SLAs, CSAT and data region; add-ons such as Copilot ($50 per agent); extra AI resolutions at $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go, with overage billed monthly; phone numbers and minutes; and Action credits at $200 per 100K. Custom roles and the audit log are on Suite Enterprise, which is priced by sales.
Exit path: Every plan can pull tickets and users through the REST API, including the Incremental Exports API (10 requests a minute). File export in JSON, CSV or XML is on Suite Growth and up once Zendesk support turns it on, and AI agent tickets cannot be exported. The Customer Agreement allows export during the term and for 30 days after it. Trial data is lost if you neither buy nor export before the trial ends.

## Category: Electronic signatures

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/e-signature

### BoldSign

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/boldsign
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/boldsign
Category: Electronic signatures
Vendor: Syncfusion, Inc.
Tagline: Syncfusion’s e-signature app and API, with a 25-envelope free plan, per-user plans from $5 a month billed yearly and per-use prices for QES, ID checks and SMS.
Value: Unlimited sending with SSO, HIPAA and a storage region choice at $15 per user a month billed yearly, with QES, ID checks, SMS and bulk send priced per use.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: BoldSign’s Business plan puts features that are often sold by quote on a self-serve price: unlimited envelopes and templates, single sign-on, SCIM provisioning, HIPAA support and IP restrictions, at $15 per user a month billed yearly. Identity checks, SMS delivery, bulk send and qualified (QES) signatures are add-ons with published per-use prices, so the bill can be worked out from the pages. Every plan, the free one included, keeps an audit trail, seals documents with an AATL certificate and stores data in the US, EU, Canada or Australia. A live API starts at $30 a month.
- Unlimited envelopes from $15 per user: Business lists unlimited envelopes and templates at $15 per user a month billed yearly ($25 monthly). Three senders on Growth, at 50 envelopes a month each on the plan card, come to $15 a month in total. (Pricing page, web app tab (2026-10-15))
- Team security on a self-serve plan: SSO, SCIM provisioning with Microsoft Entra ID, custom roles, IP restrictions and HIPAA are listed on Business, which can be bought online. HIPAA needs an annual plan and a BAA, signed in the app settings according to the plan card or requested through a form according to the HIPAA overview. (Pricing page plan table and HIPAA overview (2026-10-15))
- Add-ons with published prices: QES costs $3 per signature, ID verification $2, KBA $1.50, SMS authentication or delivery $0.20 and bulk send $0.25 per envelope, billed at the end of the cycle on Business and up; SMS prices vary by country. (Help center: Pay As You Go for BoldSign; QES page (2026-10-15))
- A live API from $30 a month: The Enterprise API includes 40 envelopes, then $0.75 each. The docs cover webhooks, embedded sending and signing, OAuth 2.0 and SDKs for Node, PHP, .NET, Python and Java, with a free sandbox. (Pricing page API tab, developer docs and SDK page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Small and mid-size teams that want unlimited sending, SSO and HIPAA on a self-serve plan, and developers who want a low-cost live API.
Things to know: No ISO 27001 certificate is named, the storage region cannot be changed after sign-up, and the plan card and plan table state Growth’s allowance differently.
Score: 9.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $5/user/mo (Growth plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month (Growth, Business); flat for unlimited users (Premium); per envelope (API and add-ons)
Envelope allowance: Essential 25 a month; Growth 50 a month per user (plan table: 50 for the account); Business unlimited; Premium 250 a month, then $0.50 each
Free option: Free plan: 25 envelopes a month (5 with a personal email domain); 30-day trial, no card
Reference scenario (3 senders, 90 envelopes/mo): $15 on Growth (3 × $5) if the 50 envelopes are per user; $45 on Business otherwise, computed
API entry price: $30/mo with 40 envelopes, then $0.75 each; free sandbox
EU signature levels (eIDAS): eIDAS on every plan; QES add-on at $3 per signature on Business and up
Signer ID checks: SMS authentication $0.20, ID verification $2, KBA $1.50 per use, Business and up
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Own SOC 2 Type II (Syncfusion, report on request); ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Business and up on an annual plan; BAA signed in the app settings (plan card) or requested by form (HIPAA overview)
SSO: Business ($15/user/mo billed yearly) and up
Storage regions: US, EU, Canada, Australia on every plan; fixed at sign-up
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, BoldSign has the lowest price of the five for our 3-sender scenario and puts SSO, HIPAA, four storage regions and per-use QES on a self-serve plan. Check how Growth counts envelopes; no ISO 27001 certificate is named.
Choose it if: You want unlimited sending with SSO and HIPAA on a plan you can buy online. · You need qualified (QES) signatures or ID checks at a published per-use price. · You want your documents stored in the US, EU, Canada or Australia on any plan. · You want a free plan with 25 envelopes a month and sign up with a business email address.
Look elsewhere if: Your security review requires an ISO 27001 certificate in the vendor’s own name. · You may need to move your data to another storage region later. · You want to self-host the signing app.
Compared with: Dropbox Sign (https://proofyo.com/products/dropbox-sign) — pick BoldSign when You want SSO, HIPAA and a storage region choice without a quote, and a live API from $30/mo rather than $75/mo.; pick Dropbox Sign when You need an ISO 27001 certificate in the vendor’s own name, with unlimited signature requests on every paid web plan. | DocuSign eSignature (https://proofyo.com/products/docusign-esignature) — pick BoldSign when You want unlimited sending and SSO from $15 per user a month, and QES at a published $3 per signature: 3 senders cost $15 to $45 a month.; pick DocuSign eSignature when You need ISO 27001:2022 in the vendor’s own name, storage in Japan, or the vendor your counterparties already expect. | SignWell (https://proofyo.com/products/signwell) — pick BoldSign when You need SSO, qualified (QES) signatures, ID checks or a choice of storage region.; pick SignWell when You are one sender who wants unlimited documents for $10 a month billed yearly, or API documents billed per use with no monthly minimum.
Strengths:
- The lowest price for 3 senders here: Three Growth seats cost $15 a month billed yearly, assuming the 50-envelope allowance is per user, as on the plan card. Business, with unlimited envelopes, would be $45. (SignWell Business is $30 a month for 3 senders, DocuSeal Pro $50 and Dropbox Sign Standard $75, all billed yearly.)
- SSO and HIPAA on a self-serve plan: Business ($15 per user a month billed yearly) lists SSO, SCIM provisioning, custom roles, IP restrictions and HIPAA, and can be bought online. (Dropbox Sign offers SSO on Premium, priced by quote; DocuSign sells the HIPAA BAA through sales.)
- Published prices for QES and ID checks: Qualified signatures through the trust service provider Evrotrust cost $3 each, ID verification $2 and KBA $1.50 per use, on Business and up. (DocuSign and Dropbox Sign offer QES through sales; SignWell states eIDAS at the simple-signature level only.)
- A free plan that sends 25 envelopes: Essential sends 25 envelopes a month with an audit trail, tamper-proof documents and a choice of storage region, for sign-ups with a business email address. (DocuSeal’s free plan sends 10 signature request emails a month; Dropbox Sign’s and SignWell’s send 3.)
- Four storage regions on every plan: The data residency page lists the US, the EU (Netherlands), Canada and Australia, and the plan table lists the choice on every plan, the free one included. (Dropbox Sign lists six regions on Premium (quote); SignWell offers no choice of storage region.)
Things to know:
- Growth’s allowance is stated two ways: The plan card and the calculator give 50 envelopes a month per user; the plan table gives 50 for the whole account, and a help article lists 50 a month without saying per user. Growth has no pay-as-you-go option for more. Workaround: Ask support before buying, or choose Business, which has unlimited envelopes ($45 a month for 3 users billed yearly).
- No ISO 27001 named: The security, SOC 2 and HIPAA pages and Syncfusion’s Security Management Report name SOC 2 Type 2 but no ISO 27001 certificate. The SOC 2 report is available on request. Workaround: Request the SOC 2 Type 2 report through the form on the SOC 2 overview page.
- Storage region is fixed at sign-up: The data residency page says the region cannot be changed later; switching means a new account. Billing and ID-verification data stay in the US whatever the region. Workaround: Choose the region when you create the account, before sending the first document.
- Live API is a separate plan: The web-app plans include only the sandbox. Live sending needs the Enterprise API plan ($30 a month for 40 envelopes, then $0.75 each) with two application users; an extra one is $28 or $15 depending on the page. Workaround: Build and test in the free sandbox first; its documents are watermarked and deleted after 14 days.
Pricing reality: Billing is per user on Growth and Business, a flat price for unlimited users on Premium, and per envelope on the API and add-ons. Billed yearly, Growth is $5 per user a month (50 envelopes per user on the plan card), Business $15 (unlimited) and Premium $99 for 250 envelopes, then $0.50 each; monthly billing is $15, $25 and $138. The free plan gives 25 envelopes a month, or 5 for sign-ups with a personal email domain. For 3 senders at 30 envelopes a month, Growth comes to $15 a month and Business to $45 (our arithmetic). Premium costs less than Business from 7 users if the account stays within 250 envelopes. Add-ons start at Business and are billed per use. The Terms say fees are non-refundable and exclude taxes, and plans renew automatically.
Exit path: Signed documents and audit trails can be downloaded from the app, with an option to merge the audit trail into the PDF, and Business and up back up documents to Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox automatically. Templates export to JSON, and the API has download endpoints. The Terms say access ends at termination, so download first; accounts inactive for more than six months may be scheduled for deletion.

### DocuSeal

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/docuseal
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/docuseal
Category: Electronic signatures
Vendor: DocuSeal, LLC
Tagline: An open-source e-signature app with a hosted cloud in the US or the EU, priced per sender seat plus published per-document fees.
Value: A full signing app with unlimited web sending, SSO and an API for a $20 seat, with open-source code you can also run yourself.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Pro gives each sender unlimited signature requests from the web app, SAML SSO, user roles, webhooks and bulk send for $20 a user a month, or $200 a year. Developers pay $0.20 per completed document through the API or embedding once they have one Pro seat, and the sandbox is free. The same app is open source and can be self-hosted with Docker, and the hosted cloud comes in a US or an EU region. The vendor also states its own SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001, and offers a HIPAA BAA on Pro Annual.
- Unlimited web sending per seat: Pro lists unlimited signature requests from the web app at $20 per user a month or $200 per user a year. Three senders on the annual plan come to $50 a month (our arithmetic). (Pricing page (2026-10-15))
- API priced per completed document: One Pro seat unlocks the live API and embedding at $0.20 per completed document, and a submission with several files and signers counts once. SDKs cover JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, C# and Go, with webhooks and a free sandbox. (Pricing page FAQ and API reference (2026-10-15))
- Open source and self-hostable: The open-source edition runs on your own servers with Docker, storing files on disk, S3, Google Cloud Storage or Azure. On-premises Pro is $240 per user a year. (On-premises, install and pricing pages (2026-10-15))
- Certifications and all three EU signature levels: The security page states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for DocuSeal Cloud. The compliance page says all three eIDAS levels are available, with AES and QES priced per signature on the EU cloud. (Security and compliance pages, QES and AES cost FAQ (2026-10-15))
Best for: Small teams and developers who want unlimited web sending, SSO and a per-document API at published prices, with the option to self-host.
Things to know: Usage fees sit on top of the seat price for API, SMS, bulk send and ID checks, and several add-ons are switched on by support.
Score: 8.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $20/user/mo (Pro plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per web-app user (sender seat), plus per-use fees for API, SMS, bulk send and ID checks
Envelope allowance: Basic 10 request emails a month; Pro unlimited signature requests from the web app
Free option: Free Basic plan, 10 request emails a month, no card; free self-hosted open-source edition
Reference scenario (3 senders, 90 envelopes/mo): $50 on Pro annual (3 × $200 a year), computed
API entry price: $20/mo for one Pro seat, plus $0.20 per completed document; free sandbox, no card
EU signature levels (eIDAS): SES included; AES $2 and QES from $0.20 per signature on the EU cloud (docuseal.eu)
Signer ID checks: SMS and phone 2FA (20 a month, then $0.20 each); ID check $2 and KBA $2, both enabled by support
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 stated; documents on request in the Trust Center
HIPAA BAA: Pro Annual, by emailing support
SSO: SAML SSO on Pro ($20/user/mo)
Storage regions: US (AWS Virginia) or EU (AWS Dublin), by signing up on docuseal.com or docuseal.eu
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, DocuSeal pairs a low per-seat price for unlimited web sending with an API billed per completed document, its own SOC 2 and ISO 27001, and an open-source edition. Usage fees and support-enabled add-ons need planning.
Choose it if: You want unlimited web sending, SAML SSO and user roles on a self-serve plan at $20 per user. · You are building signing into your product and want to pay per completed document. · You need EU advanced or qualified signatures at published per-signature prices. · You want the option to self-host the same app.
Look elsewhere if: You need more than 10 free sends a month without paying or self-hosting. · You want every add-on switched on in settings without contacting support. · You need qualified signatures on a US-hosted account without a custom setup.
Compared with: SignWell (https://proofyo.com/products/signwell) — pick DocuSeal when You need SSO, ISO 27001, an EU storage region or qualified signatures, and API documents at $0.20 each.; pick SignWell when You want a lower flat price for 3 senders ($30/mo billed yearly, unlimited documents) and an API with no monthly minimum. | BoldSign (https://proofyo.com/products/boldsign) — pick DocuSeal when You want QES from $0.20 a signature on the EU cloud, ISO 27001 stated, or a self-hosted option.; pick BoldSign when You want a larger free plan (25 envelopes a month) or the lowest scenario price ($15/mo on Growth, if its allowance is per user). | Dropbox Sign (https://proofyo.com/products/dropbox-sign) — pick DocuSeal when You want SSO without a quote (Pro is $20 per user) and API documents at $0.20 each rather than a monthly quota from $75 billed yearly.; pick Dropbox Sign when You want a 30-day trial of a paid plan, or storage regions beyond the US and EU (on Premium, by quote).
Strengths:
- Unlimited web sending at a low seat price: Pro includes unlimited signature requests from the web app at $200 per user a year, so 3 senders come to $50 a month (our arithmetic), with SSO, roles and bulk send in the same plan. (Dropbox Sign Standard comes to $75/mo for 3 senders billed yearly, with SSO on Premium by quote.)
- API billed per completed document: One Pro seat ($20/month) unlocks the live API and embedding at $0.20 per completed document, and the FAQ defines a completion and shows worked monthly totals. The sandbox is free and needs no card. (BoldSign’s API starts at $30/mo with 40 envelopes, then $0.75 each; SignWell charges $0.85 per API document after the first 25 a month.)
- Qualified signatures from $0.20: The QES page lists $0.20 per signature with an ID card reader or local certificate and $2 through a trust provider; AES is $2. These run on the EU cloud (docuseal.eu). (BoldSign lists QES at $3 per signature; SignWell states eIDAS at the simple-signature level only.)
- Open source with a self-hosting route: The open-source edition is free to run on your own servers with Docker. On-premises Pro adds SSO, roles and a trusted signing certificate for $240 per user a year, with the same $0.20 API fee.
- Certifications in its own name: The security page states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for DocuSeal Cloud, and the HIPAA page offers a BAA on Pro Annual. The reports sit in the Trust Center behind a request-access step. (BoldSign and SignWell state their own SOC 2 Type II but no ISO 27001 certificate in their own name.)
Things to know:
- Usage fees on top of the seat: Pro adds $0.20 per completed document via API, embedding or Zapier/Make/n8n, $0.20 per SMS after 20 a month and per bulk-send completion after 50, $2 per ID check or KBA, and $100 a month for AI field detection in embedding. Usage fees are billed monthly and are non-refundable. Workaround: The pricing FAQ shows worked totals, and volume discounts on API documents and seats are offered by quote.
- Some features need the annual plan or support: A custom signing domain and the HIPAA BAA need Pro Annual. The BAA, ID verification, KBA and some QES and AES providers are switched on by support rather than in settings. Workaround: Email support@docuseal.com before you rely on one of these.
- EU signature levels are on the EU cloud: AES and QES are available only on docuseal.eu; Global cloud accounts need a custom setup through support. The pricing table lists QES at $2-$4, while the QES page and FAQ start at $0.20. Workaround: Sign up on docuseal.eu if you need advanced or qualified signatures, and confirm the provider price with support.
- Free plan capped at 10 request emails: Basic sends 10 signature request emails a month, and no trial of Pro is mentioned. Templates and document retention are not capped on Basic. Workaround: The self-hosted open-source edition has no email cap (it uses your own SMTP); otherwise Pro has unlimited requests.
Pricing reality: Billing is per web-app user, not per signer or envelope: Pro is $20 per user a month, or $200 per user a year ($16.67 a month, computed). Pro includes unlimited signature requests by email, 20 SMS and 50 bulk-send completions a month, SSO and webhooks. Costs rise with usage: $0.20 per completed document via the API, embedding or Zapier/Make/n8n (1,000 a month is $200, our arithmetic), $0.20 per SMS or bulk-send completion above the included amounts, $2 per ID check or KBA, and $100 a month for AI field detection in embedding. For 3 senders at 30 envelopes a month from the web app, annual Pro is 3 × $200 = $600 a year, or $50 a month. Taxes are not stated, and volume discounts are by quote.
Exit path: Signed documents and the audit log can be downloaded from the app or through the API (GET /submissions/{id}/documents; the completed webhook carries the document and audit-log URLs). The open-source edition can run on your own servers, but no page describes a migration from the cloud to self-hosting. Cancelling in account settings takes effect at the end of the billing cycle, you can delete the account and its data at any time, and fees are not refunded.

### Dropbox Sign

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/dropbox-sign
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/dropbox-sign
Category: Electronic signatures
Vendor: Dropbox, Inc.
Tagline: Dropbox’s e-signature service, priced per sender with unlimited signature requests on paid web plans and a separate API priced by monthly quota.
Value: Unlimited signature requests at a fixed price per sender, with an audit trail and a digital seal on every signed document.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Every paid Dropbox Sign web plan includes unlimited signature requests, so the bill depends on how many people send, not on how many documents go out. Each completed request gets an audit trail page and its own digital seal, and the Dropbox Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 reports for Dropbox Sign itself. Signers pay nothing and need no account. Developers get a separate API with a free test mode on every endpoint, webhooks and six official SDKs.
- No envelope count on web plans: Essentials ($15/mo billed yearly, one user) and Standard ($25 per user a month billed yearly, from 2 users) both list unlimited signature requests, and the FAQ says there is "no worrying about overages". (Pricing page and its USD price feed; US copy on the Internet Archive, Oct 9, 2026 (2026-10-15))
- Reports in Dropbox Sign’s own name: The Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 reports and ISO 27001 and 27018 certificates for Dropbox Sign, with Ernst & Young LLP as the ISO auditor. The SOC 2 report is behind a "Get access" request; the SOC 3 report and the ISO 27001 and 27018 certificates are listed for public download. (Dropbox Trust Center, Dropbox Sign product (2026-10-15))
- Evidence on every request: An audit trail page with a GUID, time stamps and IP addresses is appended to every completed request, free plan included, with a hash of the PDF so later changes can be detected. Paid plans add a digital seal to each signed document. (Pricing page, Legality Statement and audit trail help article (2026-10-15))
- API with a free test mode: Every endpoint can be tested with test_mode, even from a free account, and the docs cover webhooks and SDKs for Python, Node, PHP, Java, Ruby and .NET. Live sending starts at $75/mo billed yearly for 50 requests. (Developer docs (overview, SDKs, events) and API pricing page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams of 2 to 4 senders who send many agreements a month and want a flat price per sender, and developers who want an API they can test for free.
Things to know: SSO, data residency and team cloud sync are on Premium (quote), and HIPAA needs an annual plan, a BAA and a minimum contract value set by sales.
Score: 6.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $15/mo (Essentials plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per sender (user) per month; signers pay nothing
Envelope allowance: Unlimited signature requests on paid web plans; Free 3 a month; API plans have a monthly quota
Free option: Free plan with 3 signature requests a month; 30-day trial of paid plans
Reference scenario (3 senders, 90 envelopes/mo): $75 on Standard (3 × $25 billed yearly), computed
API entry price: $75/mo billed yearly ($900) for 50 requests a month; free test mode
EU signature levels (eIDAS): eIDAS stated for simple signatures; AES and QES through the eID add-on on API Premium (sales)
Signer ID checks: SMS authentication on Standard and up; eID on API Premium (add-on, sales)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Own SOC 2 Type 2; ISO 27001 naming Dropbox Sign
HIPAA BAA: Annual Standard or Premium, with a BAA and a minimum contract value, through sales
SSO: SAML SSO on Premium (quote); no SCIM
Storage regions: US, Australia, EU, Japan, Canada, UK on Premium; US by default
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Dropbox Sign is a per-sender service with unlimited signature requests, evidence on every document and compliance reports in its own name. SSO, data residency, HIPAA and QES go through sales, and the API is priced by monthly quota.
Choose it if: Two to four people send many agreements a month and you want a flat price per sender. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 in the signing product’s own name. · You plan to build on an API with a free test mode, webhooks and six official SDKs. · You want to start on a free plan (3 requests a month) or a 30-day trial.
Look elsewhere if: You need SSO, data residency or HIPAA on a self-serve plan with a published price. · You need qualified (QES) signatures without an API Premium contract. · You want API sending billed per document rather than by a monthly quota.
Compared with: DocuSign eSignature (https://proofyo.com/products/docusign-esignature) — pick Dropbox Sign when You want unlimited signature requests on a self-serve team plan: 3 senders on Standard are $75/mo billed yearly.; pick DocuSign eSignature when You want SSO you can buy online on IAM Professional, or a lower API entry price ($50/mo for 40 envelopes, billed yearly). | BoldSign (https://proofyo.com/products/boldsign) — pick Dropbox Sign when You need an ISO 27001 certificate in the vendor’s own name, or storage in Japan or the UK (Premium).; pick BoldSign when You want SSO, SCIM and HIPAA on a self-serve plan ($15 per user a month on Business) and QES at a published $3 per signature. | SignWell (https://proofyo.com/products/signwell) — pick Dropbox Sign when You need SSO, ISO 27001 in the vendor’s own name or a choice of storage region, and can work with a Premium quote.; pick SignWell when You want 3 senders for $30/mo billed yearly with unlimited documents, and API documents billed per use with no monthly minimum.
Strengths:
- Unlimited sending at a per-sender price: Every paid web plan lists unlimited signature requests, so a team pays for its senders and not for each document. Three senders on Standard come to $75/mo billed yearly. (DocuSign Standard includes 100 envelopes per user per year, shared across the account; unlimited web sending there starts with IAM Standard at $135/mo for 3 users.)
- Compliance reports for the signing product itself: The Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001 and ISO 27018 for Dropbox Sign, not only for Dropbox, with SOC reports for Oct 1, 2024 to Sep 30, 2025 and ISO certificates for the current certification cycle. (BoldSign and SignWell state their own SOC 2 Type II but name no ISO 27001 certificate of their own.)
- Evidence on every document: The audit trail, with time stamps, IP addresses and a document hash, is included even on the free plan, and each document signed on a paid plan gets its own digital seal.
- A mature API with a free test mode: Every endpoint works in test mode from a free account; the docs cover webhooks, embedded signing and requesting, and six official SDKs, with prior major SDK versions patched for up to 12 months. (SignWell lists four official SDKs (Ruby, Node, Python, PHP); Dropbox Sign adds Java and .NET.)
- Team features on the self-serve Standard plan: Standard includes bulk send to up to 250 recipients, templates shared with the team, branding, in-person signing and SMS authentication, bought online. (BoldSign offers bulk send as a per-use add-on at $0.25 per envelope, from its Business plan.)
Things to know:
- SSO and data residency are on Premium: SAML SSO, data residency in six regions, team cloud sync and multi-teams are on Premium, which is priced by quote for 5 or more users. The SSO help article says SCIM is not supported. Workaround: Ask sales for a Premium quote; the help center lists which features it adds.
- HIPAA comes with conditions: HIPAA needs an annual Standard or Premium plan, a signed BAA and a minimum contract value that is not published. Once it is on, CC, emailed PDF copies and editing of the title and message are turned off (admins can turn the last one back on). Workaround: Ask an account manager for the minimum contract value before planning on Standard.
- API quota moves you up a tier: API plans have a monthly request quota. The Terms and help center say going over it upgrades the subscription to the next tier, and it stays there. Annual plans get the yearly allotment divided by 12 each month unless you pay an unpublished fee for a yearly refresh. Workaround: Size the plan to your busiest month and watch usage in the API dashboard.
- QES only through an API Premium add-on: Qualified and advanced signatures through eID (for example itsme, Belgian eID, Swedish BankID) are an add-on on the API Premium plan, arranged with an account manager. The price is not stated. Workaround: Simple signatures, which the Legality Statement says comply with eIDAS, are on every plan.
Pricing reality: Billing is per sender; signers pay nothing and paid web plans have no envelope count. Essentials is $15/mo billed yearly ($180) or $20 monthly for one user. Standard is $25 per user a month billed yearly or $30 monthly, from 2 users, and the page says to contact sales at 5 or more. Premium is by quote. For 3 senders at 30 envelopes a month, Standard comes to $75/mo ($900 a year). The API is priced by monthly quota: API Essentials is $75/mo billed yearly for 50 requests ($100 monthly), and API Standard, which adds embedded signing, is $250/mo for 100. Going over the quota upgrades the plan. The Salesforce integration and eID add-ons are priced by sales. An offer of 30% off the first year of an annual plan is an offer, not the list price. Fees are non-refundable and exclude taxes.
Exit path: Each request can be downloaded as a PDF, a signed ZIP or a CSV of form data. For the whole account, the help center describes looping over the API (List Signature Requests and Get Files), or Team cloud sync to Dropbox, Box, Google Drive or OneDrive on Premium. After cancelling, the account becomes a free account and you can still log in to your signed documents; deleting the account deletes them. The Terms allow deletion of customer data 30 days after termination.

### DocuSign eSignature

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/docusign-esignature
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/docusign-esignature
Category: Electronic signatures
Vendor: Docusign, Inc.
Tagline: Docusign’s e-signature app, sold per user with an envelope allowance on each seat, with an audit trail and tamper seal on every plan.
Value: A signing workflow with the audit trail, tamper seal and company-wide certifications that many legal and security reviews already expect.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Saves engineering time, Built-in reach
Value detail: Every DocuSign eSignature plan, Personal included, adds an audit trail, a certificate of completion and a tamper seal to each signed document. Behind it sit Docusign’s own SOC 2 Type II reports, ISO 27001:2022, five storage regions and an EU qualified trust service provider for QES. Recipients sign for free, and developers get a REST API with SDKs, Connect webhooks and a free developer account. You pay for this per seat, with an envelope allowance on each one.
- Evidence on every plan: The pricing table lists the real-time audit trail and the certificate of completion with electronic record disclosure from Personal up, and the API pricing FAQ says all plans include tamper-sealed documents. (US pricing page and API pricing FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Certifications in Docusign’s own name: The certifications page lists ISO 27001:2022, 27017 and 27018, SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II audits, PCI DSS 4.0, and Docusign France as a qualified trust service provider for QES. (Trust Center certifications page (2026-10-15))
- A full API with a free sandbox: The eSignature REST API has SDKs for C#, Java, Node.js, PHP, Python and Ruby plus iOS and Android, Connect webhooks, and a developer account that does not expire. (Developer docs (SDKs, webhooks) and API pricing FAQ (2026-10-15))
- Free signing for recipients: The signers page says anyone can sign and send back an unlimited number of documents for free; only sending for others needs a paid plan. (Signers page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Teams whose counterparties, auditors or security reviews expect Docusign, and developers who want a full API with a free sandbox.
Things to know: Standard and Business Pro allow 100 envelopes per user per year, so steady volume costs more unless you buy extra envelopes or move to an IAM plan.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $10/mo (Personal plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month, with an envelope allowance per seat
Envelope allowance: Personal 5 a month; Standard and Business Pro 100 per user per year, shared; IAM Standard unlimited from the web app
Free option: Free signing of documents you receive; trial of about 14 days, no card
Reference scenario (3 senders, 90 envelopes/mo): $135 on IAM Standard (3 × $45); $270 on Standard with extra envelopes, computed
API entry price: $50/mo billed annually for 40 envelopes a month; free developer account
EU signature levels (eIDAS): SES on self-serve plans; AES and QES on Enhanced (sales)
Signer ID checks: ID verification from $2.40 per attempt; SMS/phone authentication and KBA by sales
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Own SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Enhanced plans, by sales
SSO: IAM Professional (3-user minimum); otherwise by sales
Storage regions: US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan; choice through a Docusign representative
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, DocuSign eSignature has the longest certification list of the five and evidence features on every plan. It is priced per seat with an envelope allowance, so steady volume costs more than with the flat-rate rivals, and SSO and HIPAA sit on higher or sales-led plans.
Choose it if: Your counterparties, auditors or security reviews expect Docusign and its certifications. · You need ISO 27001:2022 and SOC 2 Type II in the vendor’s own name, or FedRAMP through Docusign Federal. · You plan to build on an API with SDKs, Connect webhooks and a free developer account. · Three or more of you send at volume and IAM Standard’s unlimited web-app sending fits.
Look elsewhere if: You want a permanent free plan that sends documents. · You need SSO or a HIPAA BAA on a low-cost self-serve plan. · You are one or two senders who want unlimited sending at a flat price.
Compared with: Dropbox Sign (https://proofyo.com/products/dropbox-sign) — pick DocuSign eSignature when You want a lower API entry price ($50/mo vs $75/mo, billed yearly) and SSO you can buy online on IAM Professional.; pick Dropbox Sign when You want unlimited signature requests on every paid web plan: 3 senders on Standard come to $75/mo billed yearly. | BoldSign (https://proofyo.com/products/boldsign) — pick DocuSign eSignature when You need an ISO 27001 certificate in the vendor’s own name, or storage in Japan.; pick BoldSign when You want SSO from $15 per user a month on Business and QES at a published $3 per signature. | SignWell (https://proofyo.com/products/signwell) — pick DocuSign eSignature when You need SSO, a choice of storage region, or advanced and qualified (AES, QES) signatures.; pick SignWell when You want a flat $30/mo for 3 senders with unlimited documents, and API documents billed per use with no monthly minimum.
Strengths:
- Evidence features on every plan: The audit trail and the certificate of completion with electronic record disclosure are listed from Personal ($10/mo billed upfront) up, and the API pricing FAQ says all plans include tamper-sealed documents.
- Broad compliance record: The certifications page lists ISO 27001:2022, 27017 and 27018, SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS 4.0, C5, IRAP, FedRAMP for Docusign Federal, and Docusign France as a qualified trust service provider. (BoldSign and SignWell state their own SOC 2 Type II but no ISO 27001 certificate in their own name.)
- Developer platform with a free sandbox: A REST API with SDKs in six server languages plus iOS and Android, Connect webhooks with HMAC and mutual TLS options, and a developer account that does not expire. (API Starter is $50/mo for 40 envelopes a month; Dropbox Sign’s API starts at $75/mo for 50 requests, both billed yearly.)
- Published prices for extra envelopes: A help-center article lists each extra envelope: $3.00 pre-bought or $3.60 pay-as-you-go on Standard annual, $4.80 or $5.80 on Business Pro annual, with higher rates on monthly billing.
- Five storage regions: The data residency page lists the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan, with eSignature in all five. Web accounts are placed by location; a Docusign representative can set the region. (BoldSign offers four regions (US, EU, Canada, Australia); SignWell offers no choice of storage region.)
Things to know:
- Envelopes are counted per seat: Standard and Business Pro include 100 envelopes per user per year (10 per user per month on monthly billing), shared across the account. Three senders at 30 a month need 1,080 a year, so 780 would be extra. Workaround: Pre-buy envelopes ($3.00 each on Standard annual), or use IAM Standard, which has unlimited web-app sending with a 3-user minimum.
- SSO, HIPAA and QES go through sales: On the eSignature plans, SSO, the HIPAA BAA, a choice of storage region, SMS/phone authentication and AES/QES signatures are on Enhanced plans, sold through sales. Workaround: IAM Professional ($75/user/mo billed upfront, 3-user minimum) includes SSO and can be bought online.
- No free plan for sending: The Free account is for signing and returning documents; the help center says it can commonly send up to 3 envelopes in total, not per month. A help article says the trial "usually lasts about 14 days", and the trial page says no credit card is needed. Workaround: The free developer account does not expire, but its envelopes are watermarked demos, not valid contracts, and are removed after 30 days.
- Annual billed monthly is a yearly commitment: The default price view (Standard $30) is an annual commitment; the pricing FAQ says cancelling after 30 days means paying the rest of the year. Monthly billing is $45 per user on Standard. Workaround: Paying the year upfront gives the lowest price ($25 per user on Standard).
Pricing reality: Billing is per user per month with an envelope allowance, at three price levels per plan. Personal is $10/mo billed upfront for one user and 5 envelopes a month. Standard ($25/user billed upfront, $30 annual billed monthly, $45 monthly) and Business Pro ($40/$45/$65) include 100 envelopes per user per year, shared across the account; extra envelopes cost $3.00 pre-bought or $3.60 pay-as-you-go on Standard annual. For 3 senders at 30 envelopes a month (1,080 a year), Standard plus 780 pre-bought envelopes comes to $270/mo (our arithmetic), while IAM Standard is $135/mo (3 × $45, unlimited web-app sending). Among the eSignature plans, bulk send and API access start at Business Pro; SSO, HIPAA and QES are by sales. API plans start at $50/mo for 40 envelopes a month. Tax may apply.
Exit path: Completed documents can be retrieved during the subscription at no extra cost (service schedule §3.2), from the web app or through the API. Download before closing: the help center says closing can remove access to account documents, and that a Free downgrade and closure are not the same. After the term, retrieval for up to two years is a paid professional service. Annual plans renew automatically.

### SignWell

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/signwell
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/signwell
Category: Electronic signatures
Vendor: Docsketch, LLC (DBA SignWell)
Tagline: An e-signature app priced by sender, with unlimited documents on every paid plan and an API billed per document with no monthly minimum.
Value: Unlimited documents for a flat price per sender, with SOC 2 Type II and a HIPAA BAA available from the $10 plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: SignWell prices by the number of senders, not by envelope: every paid plan sends unlimited documents to unlimited signers, and 3 senders on Business cost $30 a month billed yearly. Each completed PDF gets an audit trail and a seal from an Adobe-trusted (AATL) certificate, on the free plan too. SignWell’s own SOC 2 Type II report and a HIPAA BAA are available from Light without a sales contract. Developers pay per API document with no monthly minimum, after a free monthly allowance, and test mode is unlimited.
- Unlimited documents on every paid plan: The pricing FAQ says all paid plans come with unlimited documents and that signers are not counted. Business covers 3 senders for $30 a month billed yearly; each extra sender is $12 a month. (Pricing page and FAQ (2026-10-15))
- SOC 2 Type II and a HIPAA BAA from $10 a month: The security page states SignWell’s own SOC 2 Type II (Security, Availability, Confidentiality), with the report on request. The pricing table lists the BAA from Light; the help center says to email support after upgrading. (Security page, pricing table and help center HIPAA article (2026-10-15))
- Evidence on the free plan too: The pricing table lists the audit trail and tamper-evident (AATL) documents on every plan, Free included; a tooltip says completed PDFs are sealed with an Adobe-trusted certificate, so any change is detectable. (Pricing page comparison table (2026-10-15))
- Pay-per-document API with unlimited test mode: With a card on file the first 25 API documents a month are free, then $0.85 each and $0.60 above 200, with no monthly minimum. The docs list 16 webhook events and Ruby, Node, Python and PHP SDKs. (API pricing page and developer docs (2026-10-15))
Best for: US teams that send many documents, want a flat price per sender, and need SOC 2 or a HIPAA BAA without a sales contract.
Things to know: No SSO is listed, eIDAS support is stated at the simple-signature level only (AES and QES are not listed), and it offers no choice of storage region (the privacy policy names US processing).
Score: 6.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $10/mo (Light plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per account by number of senders; unlimited documents and signers on paid plans
Envelope allowance: Free 3 documents a month; Light and Business unlimited
Free option: Free plan: 1 sender, 3 documents a month, no card
Reference scenario (3 senders, 90 envelopes/mo): $30 on Business (3 senders included), billed yearly
API entry price: No monthly minimum: 25 documents a month free with a card on file, then $0.85 each ($0.60 above 200)
EU signature levels (eIDAS): eIDAS compliance stated (simple signatures); AES and QES not listed
Signer ID checks: Static and one-time passcodes and SMS delivery on Business; no ID document check or KBA
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Own SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 named for AWS only
HIPAA BAA: Light ($10/mo) and up, requested by email after upgrading
SSO: Not listed
Storage regions: No choice of region; the privacy policy names US processing (AWS hosting)
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, SignWell has one of the simplest price lists here: unlimited documents at a flat price per sender, with SOC 2 Type II and a HIPAA BAA from $10 a month. It lists no SSO and no AES or QES, and offers no choice of storage region (the privacy policy names US processing).
Choose it if: You send many documents and want a flat price per sender with no envelope count. · You need a SOC 2 Type II report or a HIPAA BAA on a low-cost self-serve plan. · You want to add signing to your app and pay per API document with no monthly minimum. · Your signers and records are in the US, and simple electronic signatures meet your needs.
Look elsewhere if: Your company requires SAML SSO for every app. · You need advanced or qualified EU signatures (AES or QES), or ID document checks. · You need to choose the region where your documents are stored.
Compared with: Dropbox Sign (https://proofyo.com/products/dropbox-sign) — pick SignWell when You want unlimited sending for 3 senders at $30 a month instead of $75, and a HIPAA BAA from $10 a month with no minimum contract.; pick Dropbox Sign when You need ISO 27001 in the vendor’s own name, or SSO and a choice of storage region on Premium (by quote). | BoldSign (https://proofyo.com/products/boldsign) — pick SignWell when You want unlimited documents on every paid plan and API use billed per document with no monthly fee.; pick BoldSign when You want SSO on a self-serve plan, QES at $3 per signature, storage in the EU, Canada or Australia, or a 25-envelope free plan. | DocuSeal (https://proofyo.com/products/docuseal) — pick SignWell when You want 3 senders for $30 a month billed yearly rather than $50, and 25 free API documents a month before fees.; pick DocuSeal when You need SAML SSO, ISO 27001, an EU-hosted cloud or QES, API documents at $0.20 each on Pro, or self-hosting.
Strengths:
- Unlimited documents at a flat price per sender: Paid plans have no envelope count: Light is $10 a month for 1 sender and Business $30 for 3, billed yearly. Three senders at 30 envelopes a month cost $30 a month, and more volume costs nothing extra. (DocuSign Standard allows 100 envelopes per user per year; Dropbox Sign Standard is also unlimited, at $75 a month for 3 users billed yearly.)
- SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA BAA on low-cost plans: The pricing table lists the SOC 2 Type II report and the HIPAA BAA from Light ($10 a month billed yearly). The help center says to email support for the BAA after upgrading, with no sales contract. (Dropbox Sign’s BAA needs an annual Standard or Premium plan and a minimum contract value that is not published.)
- API billed per document, no minimum: With a card on file the first 25 API documents a month are free, then $0.85 each and $0.60 above 200; test mode is unlimited. Custom requesters let a platform send for its customers without a seat for each. (BoldSign’s Enterprise API starts at $30 a month for 40 envelopes; Dropbox Sign’s starts at $75 a month billed yearly for 50 requests.)
- Audit trail and AATL seal on every plan: The pricing table lists the audit trail and tamper-evident (AATL) documents on Free, Light and Business; completed PDFs are sealed with an Adobe-trusted certificate so later changes can be detected.
- Part 11 controls on a self-serve plan: The security page offers a 21 CFR Part 11 mode on Business ($30 a month billed yearly), with validation documentation, and lists NOM-151 certificates for Mexico through SeguriData.
Things to know:
- No SSO listed: No plan in the pricing table, the security page or the help center lists SSO or SAML, and the pages do not say whether Enterprise offers it. Workaround: Ask sales whether Enterprise (for teams of 50 or more) includes it before you rely on it.
- Simple signatures only under eIDAS: The pages state ESIGN, UETA and eIDAS compliance but list no advanced (AES) or qualified (QES) signatures. Signer checks are passcodes and SMS codes on Business, with no ID document check or KBA. Workaround: For EU agreements that require AES or QES, use a provider that offers qualified signatures.
- US processing, ISO 27001 through AWS: The privacy policy says personal information is transferred for processing in the United States (a cross-border section also names hosting in Canada and the US), and no choice of storage region is offered. ISO 27001 is named for AWS, not for SignWell; SignWell’s own attestation is SOC 2 Type II. Workaround: Request the SOC 2 Type II report by email for a security review.
- Free API allowance differs between pages: The comparison table shows 25 free API documents a month on every plan; a tooltip says 3 on Free, 15 on Light and 25 on Business without the API plan, and a help article says 25 on every paid plan. Zapier sends from a template count as API documents. Workaround: Confirm your plan’s allowance with support before estimating API costs.
Pricing reality: Billing is per account by number of senders, with unlimited documents and signers on paid plans. Light is $10 a month billed yearly for 1 sender, plus $10 per extra sender ($12 each on monthly billing). Business is $30 a month billed yearly for 3 senders, plus $12 per extra sender ($36 and $15 monthly). For 3 senders at 30 envelopes a month, Business costs $30 a month ($360 a year, our arithmetic); Light with 2 extra senders also comes to $30 but has 5 templates per sender and no branding, SMS or passcodes. API documents are billed apart: 25 a month free with a card on file, then $0.85 each and $0.60 above 200, so 100 a month cost $63.75 (our arithmetic). Extra SMS credits and NOM-151 certificates are priced by support; 50+ senders or 500+ API documents a month go through sales.
Exit path: Completed PDFs can be downloaded from the dashboard, every party gets a download link by email, and the API returns the completed PDF or a ZIP with the audit page included by default. Bulk sends export to CSV. No export of the whole account is described, and deleting the account permanently removes all data, so download first. There are no long-term contracts; plans renew monthly or yearly until cancelled.

## Category: Stock video marketplaces for contributors

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/stock-video-contributors

### Shutterstock Contributor

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/shutterstock-contributor
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/shutterstock-contributor
Category: Stock video marketplaces for contributors
Vendor: Shutterstock, Inc.
Tagline: A free, open, non-exclusive program that licenses your footage to Shutterstock buyers for a 15% to 40% share that rises with the year’s video licenses.
Value: Put your footage in front of Shutterstock’s buyers and partner channels for free, while you keep selling the same clips anywhere else.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Shutterstock Contributor costs nothing to join and is open to anyone 18 or over. Accepted clips are licensed on shutterstock.com, on Enterprise plans and through Shutterstock’s other brands and platforms and partner sites, and you keep the copyright and the right to sell the same footage elsewhere. Each license pays a percentage that rises with the year’s video licenses, from 15% to 40%, and data licensing adds a Contributor Fund share unless you opt out. The vendor states it has paid contributors over $1 billion since 2003.
- Sold beyond shutterstock.com: The terms license your clips through any of Shutterstock’s brands and platforms and partner sites, and the help center adds Enterprise plans and self-serve API partners such as ad tools, which pay as a regular subscription download would. (Contributor terms 1c, 5b; help: licensing options, API deals (2026-10-15))
- Free, open sign-up and bulk upload: Registration and submission are free and open to anyone. Footage goes up through the web uploader (up to 100 files at once) or FTPS, with metadata from a CSV file, and failed first submissions can be retried without limit. (Help: registering, submitting video, FTPS and CSV metadata (2026-10-15))
- A second income line from data licensing: Clips included in datasets earn from the Contributor Fund at a "20% average corporate royalty rate" of data-license revenue, and a separate video toggle lets you opt out. (Earnings Schedule; help: Data Licensing and the Contributor Fund (2026-10-15))
Best for: Videographers who want a free, non-exclusive outlet with a large buyer base and automatic monthly payouts, and who expect more than a few dozen video licenses a year.
Things to know: The video share starts at 15% for the first 10 licenses and resets every January 1, and you cannot set clip prices.
Score: 7.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Video royalty (new non-exclusive seller): 15% for the first 10 video licenses a year; 22% average over 100, computed
Highest video royalty: 40% over 25,000 video licenses a year; no exclusive program
Dollar earnings per download published: No, a percentage of the price received
Per-download minimum: $0.10 at every level
Payout minimum: $25 (you can set it up to $2,000)
How payouts are made: Automatic, monthly
Payout methods: Payoneer, PayPal, Skrill (no bank transfer, wire or check)
Joining: Open and free; tax form needed; every file reviewed
Removing clips: Delete one or many at any time
AI training use of your clips: Data licensing at a 20% average share; video opt-out
AI-generated video: Not accepted
Bulk upload and metadata: FTPS and CSV metadata; web upload of up to 100 files
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Shutterstock Contributor is a free, open, non-exclusive outlet with paid and optional data licensing and automatic monthly payouts. The share starts at 15% and resets every January, and a few pages disagree on payout details.
Choose it if: You want to start selling footage for free, without a portfolio application. · You sell the same clips on other sites and want to keep doing so. · You expect enough video licenses in a year to move past the 15% level. · You want to be paid for dataset use of your clips, with the option to opt out.
Look elsewhere if: You make AI-generated video, which Shutterstock does not accept. · You need payouts by bank transfer, wire or check. · You want to set your own clip prices or earn a higher exclusive rate.
Compared with: Adobe Stock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/adobe-stock-contributor) — pick Shutterstock Contributor when You want automatic monthly payouts, a $0.10 floor per download and paid AI data licensing you can opt out of.; pick Adobe Stock Contributor when You want one flat 35% video share from the first sale, dollar earnings per download published, or you make labelled AI-generated video. | Pond5 (https://proofyo.com/products/pond5-contributor) — pick Shutterstock Contributor when You want a share that can climb to 40% without exclusivity, a $0.10 floor per download and a payout minimum you set.; pick Pond5 when You want a flat 30% from the first license, or 40% for exclusive clips that may still sell on Shutterstock. | iStock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/istock-contributor) — pick Shutterstock Contributor when You want open sign-up, a $25 payout minimum, FTPS and CSV uploads, and an opt-out from AI data use.; pick iStock Contributor when You want 30 days’ notice of rate changes and an exclusive track that pays 25% to 45% on istock.com.
Strengths:
- Open, free and non-exclusive: Anyone 18 or over can register without fees or a portfolio application, each file is reviewed, rejected first submissions can be retried without limit, and the same clips can be sold on other sites. (iStock and Storyblocks ask for an application first; Pond5 asks for a government ID check before you submit.)
- Paid and optional AI data licensing: The Earnings Schedule pays a "20% average corporate royalty rate" of data-license revenue through the Contributor Fund, and video has its own opt-out toggle in Account Settings. (Adobe Stock uses clips to train Firefly with no opt-out and a discretionary bonus; Pond5 also pays 20% for datasets, with an opt-out.)
- Automatic monthly payouts you can tune: Payments are sent each month without a request once the balance reaches the minimum you choose, anywhere from $25 to $2,000; smaller balances roll over. (Adobe Stock pays only on request, and iStock’s payout minimum is $100.)
- A floor per download and clear pack valuation: Every download earns at least $0.10, and a download from an unused pack or subscription is valued at the full-use price per asset. (Adobe Stock and Pond5 state no minimum per video download.)
- Footage tooling, shoot briefs and referrals: FTPS upload, CSV metadata and batch edits of keywords and categories; the specs list 4K and ProRes. The monthly Shot List turns customer search trends into shoot briefs, and a contributor you refer earns you 10% of what Shutterstock receives for their clips for a year. (iStock’s public pages describe no FTP or CSV upload.)
Things to know:
- The share starts at 15% and resets each January: Level 1 pays 15% for the first 10 video licenses of the year, 20% from the 11th and 25% from the 51st. Over 100 licenses in a year that averages 22% (computed), and there is no exclusive program with a higher rate. Workaround: Video levels are counted apart from images, and the first step comes early: 20% from the 11th video license.
- The percentage follows what the buyer paid: Royalties are a share of the price Shutterstock receives, after refunds, taxes and currency costs, so the same share pays less on low-priced subscription downloads. The help center says some large subscription packs, at $0.20 to $0.30 a download, pay the $0.10 minimum, without naming video plans. Workaround: The earnings view groups clip packs, cart sales and enhanced licenses apart, so you can see which sales pay more.
- Three payout providers, no bank transfer: Payouts go only to Payoneer, PayPal or Skrill; wire, bank transfer and check are not supported, provider fees are not stated, and a Payoneer account already used with other companies cannot be reused. Workaround: The help center suggests checking which provider works in your country and its rates before choosing.
- Some pages disagree, and video submissions are capped: Submissions are capped at 100 video clips in any rolling 7-day period. The terms and help center differ on whether a balance under $25 is forfeited on closing, payout articles differ on checks, and the terms give no notice period for changes. Workaround: Ask Contributor Support in writing before closing with a balance, or switch licensing off instead of closing.
Pricing reality: Joining and selling cost nothing. You earn a percentage of the price Shutterstock receives per license, set by your video level for the calendar year: 15% for the first 10 video licenses, 20% to 50, 25% to 250, then 30%, 35% and 40% over 25,000. On the archived US video pricing page (Sep 13, 2026), a 4K clip from a 25-clip pack ($1,815) works out to $72.60, so Level 1 pays about $10.89; a clip from a 5-a-month yearly subscription ($708) is $11.80 at full use, or $1.77 at 15% (all computed). The help center gives a $0.10 minimum per download for large subscription packs priced as low as $0.20 to $0.30 a download; the archived US video subscriptions work out to $5.95 (20 a month, billed yearly) to $23.80 (5 a month, no contract) a clip (computed). Dataset use adds a Contributor Fund share, paid periodically. Payout provider fees are not stated, and W-8 filers may have US tax withheld.
Exit path: You can delete clips one at a time or in bulk from the Marketplace Catalog; the terms commit Shutterstock to reasonable efforts to remove them from affiliate and partner sites within 90 days, and licenses already issued stay valid. You can also switch licensing off in Account settings and keep the year’s level. To close the account, any balance is paid out first by emailing submit@shutterstock.com, and the terms allow up to 90 days. No bulk export of files or metadata is described.

### Pond5

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/pond5-contributor
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/pond5-contributor
Category: Stock video marketplaces for contributors
Vendor: Pond5 Media Ireland Limited
Tagline: A footage-first stock marketplace that pays a flat 30% share per non-exclusive video license, or 40% for exclusive video, with no levels to climb.
Value: Sell footage to a video-first buyer base at a flat 30% share from the first license, with no levels to climb and nothing to pay to join.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Pond5 is built around footage, and its sell page states "1.5M+ Searches every week" and "1M+ Customers in 185+ countries". Clips can also be sold through subscriptions, resellers, creative software tools and partner deals at the same share, and Pond5 says it expects to distribute some content through Shutterstock, paid through Pond5. Non-exclusive video earns 30% of net license revenue from the first license, and exclusive video earns 40% while still allowing Shutterstock. Dataset licensing adds a 20% share unless you opt out.
- A footage-first buyer base: The sell page states "1.5M+ Searches every week", "1M+ Customers in 185+ countries" and "$100M+ Paid out to artists", and About Pond5 says its Global Sales and Research teams have representatives in New York, Los Angeles, London, Madrid, Prague and beyond. (Sell page (Internet Archive copy of Jul 10, 2026); About Pond5 (2026-10-15))
- Channels beyond pond5.com at the same share: The payout overview lists subscription, Global Market (resellers and creative software tools) and Partner earnings at the normal share, and a Nov 5, 2024 help article says Pond5 expects to distribute some content through Shutterstock’s marketplace, paid through Pond5 like its other reseller deals. (Payout Overview (2026-10-15); help: Will My Content Now Appear on Shutterstock? (Internet Archive copy of Jun 13, 2026))
- Flat 30% from the first license: Non-exclusive video earns 30% of net license revenue on every license, with no volume levels or yearly reset. Exclusive video earns 40% from the day you enrol. (Payout Overview (2026-10-15); Contributor Agreement 3.b (version 2025-01-15, Internet Archive copy of Jul 29, 2025))
- Bulk tools and per-clip sales data: Footage goes up by web uploader or FTP, metadata can be applied from a CSV file, and the Sales Data tab lists sales, revenue, page views, bin adds and cart adds for each clip. (Uploading Your Files; Tagging & Pricing Your Files (2026-10-15))
Best for: Videographers who want a flat share from their first sale, sell the same clips on other sites or want an exclusive option that still allows Shutterstock.
Things to know: Pond5 places video in price tiers whose prices are not published, so the price you enter is one input, and no minimum per download is stated.
Score: 7.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Video royalty (new non-exclusive seller): 30% flat from the first license; no levels
Highest video royalty: 40% exclusive (video only; Shutterstock still allowed)
Dollar earnings per download published: No, a percentage of net license revenue
Per-download minimum: Not stated
Payout minimum: $25 (fixed; smaller balances roll over)
How payouts are made: Automatic, monthly on the 15th
Payout methods: PayPal, Skrill (4% deducted), Payoneer
Joining: Open and free; government ID check before submitting; every file reviewed
Removing clips: Delete single files any time; batch removal through support
AI training use of your clips: Dataset licensing at 20% per licensed item; opt-out
AI-generated video: Not accepted
Bulk upload and metadata: FTP and CSV metadata; batch edit and templates
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Pond5 is a free, footage-first marketplace with a flat 30% share, a 40% exclusive option that still allows Shutterstock, and paid, optional dataset licensing. Video prices follow tiers that are not published.
Choose it if: You want a flat video share from your first license instead of levels that reset each year. · You sell the same clips on other sites, or want an exclusive option that still allows Shutterstock. · You want per-clip sales data, FTP upload and CSV metadata. · You want to be paid for dataset use of your clips, with the option to opt out.
Look elsewhere if: You want full control of your video list prices. · You make AI-generated video, which Pond5 does not accept. · You need a stated minimum per download or a payout minimum you can change.
Compared with: Shutterstock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/shutterstock-contributor) — pick Pond5 when You want 30% from the first video license with no yearly reset, or 40% for exclusive clips.; pick Shutterstock Contributor when You want a $0.10 floor per download, a payout minimum you set from $25 to $2,000 and a share that can reach 40% without exclusivity. | Adobe Stock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/adobe-stock-contributor) — pick Pond5 when You want automatic monthly payouts, dataset licensing paid at 20% with an opt-out, and an exclusive option.; pick Adobe Stock Contributor when You want a flat 35% share with dollar earnings per download published, or you make labelled AI-generated video. | iStock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/istock-contributor) — pick Pond5 when You want open sign-up, a 30% non-exclusive video share, a $25 payout minimum and FTP or CSV uploads.; pick iStock Contributor when You want 30 days’ notice of rate changes and an exclusive track that pays up to 45% on istock.com.
Strengths:
- Flat 30% from the first video license: Non-exclusive video earns 30% of net license revenue on every license, with no download counts to reach and no yearly reset, and the same share applies to subscription, Global Market and Partner sales. (Shutterstock starts video at 15% for the first 10 licenses of a year and resets every January 1; iStock pays non-exclusive video 20%, and Adobe Stock a flat 35%.)
- Exclusive at 40% that still allows Shutterstock: Exclusive video earns 40% from the day you enrol, the same clips may still sell on Shutterstock, and a separate account can hold only the clips you want exclusive. (Shutterstock and Adobe Stock have no exclusive program; iStock’s exclusive track pays 25% to 45% on istock.com.)
- Paid dataset licensing you can switch off: Dataset licenses for computer vision and language model training pay 20% per licensed item, metadata is anonymized, model releases are never shared, and an opt-out sits under Preferences. (Adobe Stock uses clips for Firefly with no opt-out; Storyblocks describes no opt-out from its machine learning use.)
- Per-clip data and bulk tools: The Sales Data tab shows sales, revenue, page views, bin adds and cart adds per clip. FTP upload, CSV metadata, batch edit and metadata templates are documented, and Data & Trends and Shoot Briefs show what buyers search for. (iStock’s public pages describe no FTP or CSV upload.)
- Referral earnings on buyers you bring: You earn 20% of a new buyer’s first purchase and 5% of their purchases for a year, plus 10% more when they buy your own work, and 5% of a referred artist’s sales for a year. (No referral program appears on Adobe Stock’s contributor pages, and iStock publishes no referral rate.)
Things to know:
- Pond5 sets video list prices through tiers: For video, the price you enter is one of several factors used to set the list price, in Standard and Premium tiers whose prices are not published, and the agreement lets Pond5 adjust prices. You still set prices for music, SFX, photos and templates. Workaround: Ask support how a clip is placed in a tier; the archived US buyer pricing page lists video starting at $39.
- No stated minimum per download, and deductions come first: The share is of net license revenue: taxes, refunds, chargebacks, card and currency fees, buyer discounts and an Extended License guarantee fee that is not quantified can come off first. No minimum per download is stated. Workaround: The Sales Data tab shows revenue per clip, so you can check what each license paid.
- Fixed $25 minimum, and Skrill takes 4%: No page describes holding payouts (the FAQ mentions only an "Enabled Payouts" setting) or raising the $25 minimum, Skrill deducts 4% at each payout, and contributors in Russia and Belarus currently have no payout option. Workaround: PayPal and Payoneer have no fee stated on the payout page.
- Two weeks’ notice of changes, and some pages disagree: Agreement changes bind at your next upload or two weeks after notice. The FAQ and the program page define exclusive content differently, a 2023 news post shows older exclusive rates, and the account-closing fee is not quantified. Workaround: The payout overview and the 2025-01-15 agreement match on rates; ask support in writing about anything else.
Pricing reality: Joining and uploading cost nothing. You earn a fixed share of net license revenue: 30% for non-exclusive video, 40% for exclusive video, 30% for other media and 20% for dataset licenses, with no levels. On the archived US buyer pricing page (Jul 1, 2026, USD), video starts at $39, so a sale at that price pays $11.70 non-exclusive or $15.60 exclusive before deductions. Footage Plus is shown as $199 a month ($19.90 per item for 10 downloads) or $999 a year ($8.32 per item); the payout overview says only that subscription payouts follow the price paid for each item, so if a download is valued at that per-item price it pays about $5.97 or $2.50 at 30% (all computed). Buyer discounts, Partner and dataset licenses at lower prices, the Extended License guarantee fee and Skrill’s 4% can make a sale pay less. US persons earning $10 or more a year need a W-9.
Exit path: Delete single files from the Uploads page at any time, or ask support or legal@pond5.com for batch removal; licenses already sold stay valid, items in a buyer’s cart can be bought for 90 days, and promotional use may continue for a year. You can download a CSV of your uploads’ metadata. On closing, Pond5 may hold amounts owed for 30 days and deduct an administrative fee that is not quantified. Leaving the exclusive program takes 180 days’ written notice.

### Adobe Stock Contributor

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/adobe-stock-contributor
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/adobe-stock-contributor
Category: Stock video marketplaces for contributors
Vendor: Adobe Inc.
Tagline: A free, open, non-exclusive program that pays one flat 35% share on video from standard plans, credit packs and on-demand, and publishes the dollar earnings per download.
Value: Sell footage on Adobe Stock and inside Adobe’s own apps for one flat 35% share, with the dollar earnings per download published up front.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Worth the price
Value detail: Adobe Stock Contributor is free to join with an Adobe ID and non-exclusive, so the same clips can be sold elsewhere, and you keep ownership. Approved clips are offered on Adobe Stock and, per the help center, to customers in Creative Cloud, Adobe Express and other Adobe products, plus API partners. Every video license from a standard plan, credit pack or on-demand pays 35% of the net price, based on US prices, and the royalties page lists what that means in dollars for each buyer plan: from $2.80 on a large annual subscription to $56.00 to $70.00 for a 4K clip from a credit pack or on-demand.
- Sold inside Adobe’s apps, not only on one website: The contributor overview says content is made available through Adobe Stock, Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Express and other Adobe products, and the agreement adds an API program that lets partners showcase your work and facilitate its sale. (Help: contributor overview; Contributor Agreement s.2 (2026-10-15))
- One flat 35% from the first license: Video pays 35% of the net price per license for subscriptions, credit packs and on-demand, based on the US price and including discounts. There are no volume levels to climb and nothing resets each year. (Royalties page; help: Royalty rates for content (2026-10-15))
- Dollar figures per download, by buyer plan: The royalties page lists video earnings per download: $2.80 to $8.40 from subscriptions, $22.40 to $28.00 for HD and $56.00 to $70.00 for 4K from credit packs or on-demand, all based on US prices. (Royalties page (2026-10-15))
Best for: Videographers who want a flat, published share from the first sale, sell 4K clips that buyers take in packs or on-demand, or make labelled AI-generated video.
Things to know: Clips train Firefly with no opt-out and only a discretionary bonus, payouts are on request only, and Adobe can change rates with no notice period.
Score: 6.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Video royalty (new non-exclusive seller): 35% flat from the first license
Highest video royalty: 35%; no levels and no exclusive program
Dollar earnings per download published: Yes: $2.80 to $8.40 (subscriptions), $22.40 to $28.00 (HD), $56.00 to $70.00 (4K), US prices
Per-download minimum: Not stated for video
Payout minimum: $25
How payouts are made: On request, from 45 days after the first sale
Payout methods: PayPal, Payoneer (outside the US only), Skrill
Joining: Open and free with an Adobe ID; email and phone checks; every file reviewed
Removing clips: Delete one at any time; removing more than 100 items or 10% (whichever is greater) in 90 days needs 90 days’ notice
AI training use of your clips: Used to train Firefly; no opt-out; discretionary yearly bonus
AI-generated video: Accepted when labelled
Bulk upload and metadata: CSV metadata; SFTP for qualified accounts
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Adobe Stock Contributor pays a flat 35% on video from standard plans, credit packs and on-demand, and publishes the dollar figures per download. Clips also train Firefly with no opt-out, payouts are on request, and rates can change with no notice period.
Choose it if: You want one published video share, 35%, from your first license. · You sell 4K clips and want the dollar earnings per download on record before uploading. · You make AI-generated video and are willing to label it. · You want to keep selling the same clips on other sites.
Look elsewhere if: You do not want your clips used to train generative AI without an opt-out. · You want to set your own clip prices or earn more through an exclusive program. · You are in the US and want Payoneer, which Adobe offers only outside the United States.
Compared with: Shutterstock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/shutterstock-contributor) — pick Adobe Stock Contributor when You want one flat 35% video share from the first sale, dollar earnings per download published, or you make labelled AI-generated video.; pick Shutterstock Contributor when You want automatic monthly payouts, a $0.10 floor per download, and paid data licensing you can opt out of. | Pond5 (https://proofyo.com/products/pond5-contributor) — pick Adobe Stock Contributor when You want 35% on non-exclusive video without going exclusive, dollar figures per download, or you sell labelled AI-generated video.; pick Pond5 when You want 40% for exclusive clips that may still sell on Shutterstock, automatic payouts on the 15th, or a dataset share with an opt-out. | iStock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/istock-contributor) — pick Adobe Stock Contributor when You want open sign-up, a $25 payout minimum, CSV metadata upload and the option to delete single clips.; pick iStock Contributor when You want 30 days’ email notice of rate changes and an exclusive track that pays 25% to 45% on istock.com.
Strengths:
- One flat 35% video share from the first sale: Every video license pays 35% of the net price, based on US prices, whether the buyer used a subscription, a credit pack or on-demand. There are no levels to climb and nothing resets on January 1. (Shutterstock starts video at 15% for the first 10 licenses of the year; Pond5 pays 30% and iStock 20% for non-exclusive video.)
- Dollar earnings per download are published: The royalties page lists video earnings per download for each buyer plan, from $2.80 on a 750-credit annual subscription to $56.00 to $70.00 for 4K from a credit pack or on-demand. (Shutterstock and Pond5 publish a percentage, not dollar figures per download; Storyblocks says it cannot state earnings per download.)
- Labelled AI-generated video is accepted: Generative AI videos are accepted when labelled "Created using generative AI tools", within rules on prompts (no artist names, real people or third-party IP) and similar iterations. (Shutterstock, Pond5, iStock and Storyblocks do not accept AI-generated video.)
- Payouts when you choose, from $25: Nothing is paid out until you request it, so the balance stays in your account until you choose. You can request a payout each time it reaches $25, through PayPal, Payoneer or Skrill, and a rejected payout goes back to your balance. (iStock’s payout minimum is $100.)
- Remove a single clip at any time: The agreement lets you remove any Work at any time, and My Portfolio has a Delete file action. Only removals above 100 items or 10% of your work, whichever is greater, in 90 days need 90 days’ notice. (iStock removes accepted clips only for a valid legal reason or when you end the video part of the agreement; Storyblocks asks for 30 days’ notice.)
Things to know:
- Clips train Firefly, with no opt-out: The Firefly FAQ says Adobe Stock video is used to train Firefly models and "We currently do not offer an opt-out option for Adobe Stock content." The yearly Firefly Contributor bonus is paid at Adobe’s discretion, and future bonuses are not promised. Workaround: The bonus has been paid for four years, most recently on Sep 17, 2026, and the FAQ states the period and licenses it was based on.
- Rates can change with no notice period: The agreement says Adobe may modify the Pricing and Payment Details, that you "should look at the Pricing and Payment Details regularly", and that continuing to upload or keeping Works online means you accept the new terms. Workaround: The Royalty rates page shows a "Last updated" date (Jul 13, 2026 when we read it), so a periodic check shows any change.
- Adobe sets video prices, and no video minimum is stated: All videos go to the standard collection, with no Premium tiers. Minimum royalties apply only to photos, vectors and illustrations on large subscriptions ($0.33 to $0.38 on the rate help page, $0.33 to $0.40 on the royalties page); the lowest video figure is $2.80, from a 750-credit annual plan. Workaround: The rate card lists earnings per download for each buyer plan, so the range is known before you upload.
- Some earnings rules are not published: Flat rates for custom and non-standard plans are not given, the contributor pages do not say how video downloads from the Unlimited buyer plan are paid, and the overview mentions base rates rising with lifetime earnings while the rate page lists one 35% video rate. Workaround: Ask Contributor Relations in writing; the Adobe Express FAQ says Express royalties are labelled "Custom" in the dashboard, so they can be told apart from standard sales.
Pricing reality: Joining and uploading are free (the help center lists "no upfront costs or subscription fees"), and no Adobe payout fee is stated. Each video license from a standard plan, credit pack or on-demand pays 35% of the net price, based on the US price and including discounts, and the royalties page turns that into dollars per download: $2.80 to $8.40 from subscriptions (the lowest on a 750-credit annual plan), $22.40 to $28.00 for HD and $56.00 to $70.00 for 4K from credit packs or on-demand. The 4K figures equal a US price of $160 to $200 per clip (computed). The archived US plans page also lists an Unlimited plan at $129.99 a month that includes HD and 4K video; how those downloads are paid is not stated. Provider fees are not stated on Adobe’s pages, and without a valid tax form Adobe withholds up to 30% (24% backup withholding for US persons).
Exit path: Delete single clips from My Portfolio at any time; removing more than 100 items or 10% of your work (whichever is greater) in 90 days needs 90 days’ written notice. Ending the agreement takes 90 days’ email notice; removed clips leave affiliate sites within 60 days (reasonable efforts), licenses sold stay valid and later license fees are paid. Free Collection work stays for its term, and Missions (Supplemental) work cannot be withdrawn unless technically or legally required.

### iStock Contributor

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/istock-contributor
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/istock-contributor
Category: Stock video marketplaces for contributors
Vendor: Getty Images (US), Inc.
Tagline: Getty Images’ contributor program: one application puts your footage on istock.com, gettyimages.com subscriptions and partner sites for a flat 20% non-exclusive video share.
Value: Put your footage in front of iStock and Getty Images buyers through one non-exclusive agreement, at 20% per video license from the first sale.
Value kinds: Built-in reach
Value detail: One application gets you a non-exclusive Artist’s Supply Agreement with Getty Images (US), Inc. Accepted clips are licensed on istock.com, to subscription customers on gettyimages.com and through Getty’s distribution partners, and you can keep selling the same footage on other sites. Non-exclusive video earns 20% on every channel, and the rate does not depend on how much you sell. If you later commit your video to Getty alone, an exclusive track pays 25% to 45% on istock.com.
- Three sales channels, one agreement: The contributor page says accepted files are licensed to all istock.com customers, to subscription customers on gettyimages.com and through many other distribution partners; the rate card names the Partner Portal and photos.com. (Work with us FAQ; iStock Rate Card (2026-10-15))
- A flat 20% from the first license: The rate card effective July 1, 2026 pays non-exclusive video 20% on istock.com and on gettyimages.com and other platforms, and says downloads do not change a non-exclusive rate. Each istock.com subscription file has a $0.10 minimum price. (iStock Rate Card, effective July 1, 2026 (2026-10-15))
- An exclusive path when you want it: Exclusive video earns 25% on istock.com, rising to 45% at 45,675 downloads a year, and exclusive contributors’ best files are also shown to gettyimages.com customers without a subscription. (iStock Rate Card; Work with us FAQ (2026-10-15))
Best for: Videographers who want Getty and iStock distribution while selling the same clips elsewhere, and who can build up $100 in royalties before each payout.
Things to know: Accepted clips stay on sale unless there is a legal reason; you leave by ending the whole video agreement with 30 days’ notice.
Score: 4.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Approval wait
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0 (Non-exclusive plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Video royalty (new non-exclusive seller): 20% on every channel, at any download count
Highest video royalty: 45% exclusive on istock.com (from 45,675 downloads a year); 25% exclusive elsewhere
Dollar earnings per download published: No, a percentage of the license fee after deductions
Per-download minimum: $0.10 minimum price per istock.com subscription file ($0.02 at 20%, computed)
Payout minimum: $100
How payouts are made: Automatic, monthly on the 25th
Payout methods: Payoneer, PayPal (USD only)
Joining: Application with six non-AI samples (no fee listed)
Removing clips: Only for a valid legal reason, or by ending the whole video agreement (30 days’ notice, removed within 90 days)
AI training use of your clips: Not stated for clips: Getty’s AI model is trained on still images; its data-licensing page offers video datasets with no contributor pay or opt-out stated
AI-generated video: Not accepted
Bulk upload and metadata: No FTP or CSV upload on the public pages
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, iStock offers two Getty storefronts and partner sites through one application, a flat 20% non-exclusive video share and 30 days’ notice of changes. The $100 payout minimum, no single-clip removal and unstated AI terms for clips are the main things to weigh.
Choose it if: You want your footage on istock.com and gettyimages.com through one non-exclusive agreement. · You prefer one flat 20% video share that does not reset each year. · You may later want an exclusive track that pays up to 45% on istock.com. · You value 30 days’ email notice before rates or terms change.
Look elsewhere if: You want to remove single clips whenever you like. · You need FTP or CSV bulk upload, an AI training opt-out or a payout minimum below $100. · You make AI-generated video, which Getty does not accept.
Compared with: Shutterstock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/shutterstock-contributor) — pick iStock Contributor when You want 20% from the first video license with no yearly reset, 30 days’ notice of changes and an exclusive track.; pick Shutterstock Contributor when You want open sign-up, a $25 payout minimum you can raise, FTPS and CSV upload, and paid data licensing you can opt out of. | Adobe Stock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/adobe-stock-contributor) — pick iStock Contributor when You want automatic monthly payouts, Getty Images distribution and 30 days’ notice before rate changes.; pick Adobe Stock Contributor when You want a flat 35% share with dollar earnings per download published and payouts on request from $25, or you make labelled AI-generated video. | Pond5 (https://proofyo.com/products/pond5-contributor) — pick iStock Contributor when You want your clips on istock.com, gettyimages.com subscriptions and Getty partners, with 30 days’ notice of changes.; pick Pond5 when You want 30% non-exclusive (40% exclusive), a $25 payout minimum, single-clip removal and a paid dataset share you can opt out of.
Strengths:
- Two Getty storefronts and partners in one agreement: Accepted clips are offered to all istock.com customers, to subscription customers on gettyimages.com and through Getty’s distribution partners, under one agreement with Getty Images (US), Inc. (Shutterstock also licenses through its other brands and platforms, Adobe Stock inside Adobe’s apps, and Pond5 expects to distribute some content through Shutterstock.)
- A flat 20% that does not reset: Non-exclusive video earns 20% on every channel from the first license, and the rate card says downloads do not change a non-exclusive rate. Each istock.com subscription file has a $0.10 minimum price. (Shutterstock starts at 15% for the first 10 video licenses a year, resets each January 1 and averages 22% over 100 (computed); Pond5 (30%) and Adobe Stock (35%) pay more from the first license.)
- 30 days’ notice before changes: The agreement says rate-card changes and amendments take effect only after 30 days’ notice by email. (Pond5’s changes bind at your next upload or two weeks after notice; Storyblocks gives 15 days but can recalculate its pool without updating the agreement; Shutterstock and Adobe Stock state no period.)
- An exclusive track up to 45%: Exclusive video earns 25% on istock.com, then 30% at 420, 35% at 2,625, 40% at 6,090 and 45% at 45,675 downloads a year, and 25% on gettyimages.com and other platforms. (Shutterstock and Adobe Stock have no exclusive program; Pond5 pays 40% for exclusive video.)
- Automatic monthly pay with a full statement: Royalties are issued on the 25th of each month once the minimum is met, and the monthly statement lists every licensed file, exportable as PDF or tab-delimited TXT. (Adobe Stock pays only when you request a payout.)
Things to know:
- Single clips cannot be taken down: The help center says accepted content is not removed without a valid legal reason, and keywords cannot be edited after acceptance except by ticket. The agreement ends only per whole content type, with 30 days’ notice and removal from iStock and partners within 90 days. Workaround: Choose clips carefully before submitting: files still in an unsubmitted batch can be deleted.
- $100 minimum, two payout methods: Royalties are paid only once $100 has built up after deductions, only by Payoneer or PayPal and only in USD. The Royalties Guide mentions a list of payout fees by country, but it is not on the public pages. Workaround: Balances under $100 carry forward and are paid automatically on the 25th once the minimum is reached.
- Subscription value and deductions are not spelled out: The agreement and rate card value subscription downloads by item count or relative value (Essentials video 6, Signature video 18 for Premium Plus Video), with a $0.10 floor on istock.com, but publishes no dollar value per download. Royalties are on fees after deductions listed without amounts. Workaround: The monthly statement reports every license and royalty, so you can see what each download paid.
- AI and dataset terms for clips are not stated: The contributor pages and agreement do not mention AI training or dataset use. Getty’s customer pages say its AI model, trained on still images, compensates creators, and its data-licensing page offers video datasets with no contributor pay or opt-out stated. Workaround: Ask Contributor Support whether and how your clips are used for AI or datasets before counting on it.
Pricing reality: No fee to apply or join is listed; the agreement lets iStock deduct "a reasonable administrative fee" from amounts owed at termination. Non-exclusive video earns 20% of the license fee on istock.com, gettyimages.com and partner sites, after deductions the agreement lists (taxes, delivery and distribution fees, advertising sales commissions) without amounts. On the archived US iStock pricing page (Oct 9, 2026), a Basic video clip costs 6 credits: $72 at the single-credit price or $48 from the 300-credit pack, so 20% is $14.40 to $9.60; a Premium clip (18 credits) gives $43.20 to $28.80 (all computed, before deductions). istock.com subscription downloads have a $0.10 floor per file, or $0.02 at 20%, and are valued by item count or relative value, with no dollar figure published. Payouts start at $100, in USD only, and payout fees by country are not public.
Exit path: Single accepted clips are not removed without a valid legal reason. To leave, end the video part of the agreement (or all of it) by support ticket with 30 days’ written notice; clips come off iStock and partner sites within 90 days, and outstanding royalties are paid, less a "reasonable administrative fee" the agreement allows. Closing the account removes all content from sale, and past statements stay viewable. Export your statements as PDF or TXT before you go.

### Storyblocks Contributor

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/storyblocks-contributor
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/storyblocks-contributor
Category: Stock video marketplaces for contributors
Vendor: Footage Firm, Inc. (d/b/a Storyblocks)
Tagline: A subscription stock library that pays non-exclusive video contributors a monthly share of a revenue pool, split by the relative value of their downloads.
Value: Add your existing footage to a subscription library of everyday creators and business customers, without giving up the right to sell it elsewhere.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Storyblocks is a subscription library: members pay a monthly or annual fee, and the help center says over 85% are hobbyists, freelancers and small business owners. Enterprise customers, API licensees and creator tools that use the library through integrations download from it too. Contributors are not paid a commission per sale but a monthly share of a revenue pool, split by how much of that revenue their downloads account for. Video stays non-exclusive, and the uploader reads Shutterstock and Pond5 CSV files as they are.
- A subscription audience beyond the website: Members include hobbyists, freelance editors and YouTube creators, and the agreement also counts Enterprise customers and API licensees; the getting-started guide names creator tools that access the library through integrations. (Help: How does Storyblocks work?; Partner Program Agreement; getting-started guide (2026-10-15))
- Reuse the clips and metadata you already have: Video is non-exclusive. Clips go up through the web uploader (100 files at a time) or sFTP, and the CSV importer accepts files formatted for Shutterstock or Pond5 with no editing; IPTC Core fields are read from the video files. (Help: How do I upload video clips?, How do I tag my content? (2026-10-15))
- Pay that follows subscription revenue: The about page says that if company revenue rises 10%, so does the amount shared with contributors, though the agreement lets Storyblocks recalculate the pool at its sole discretion. The getting-started guide reports a 73% rise in the earnings pool over 12 months, with no dates given. (About Our Partner Program; getting-started guide (2026-10-15))
Best for: Videographers who already sell footage elsewhere and want another non-exclusive outlet with monthly payouts, broad payout methods and CSV reuse.
Things to know: The share of revenue placed in the pool and the pool size are not published, so earnings per download cannot be worked out before joining.
Score: 4.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Approval wait
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Prices hidden
Video royalty (new non-exclusive seller): Not stated as a percentage; a monthly share of a revenue pool, split by downloads
Highest video royalty: Not stated; video is non-exclusive only, with no exclusive rate
Dollar earnings per download published: No; the agreement says per-download earnings are not disclosed
Per-download minimum: Not stated
Payout minimum: $10 on Payoneer; not stated for other methods
How payouts are made: Automatic, monthly on the 15th; you can hold payments
Payout methods: Payoneer, PayPal, direct deposit, wire, check, eCheck ($0 to $25 fee per payout)
Joining: Free, by application with a portfolio review; under 5% of artist applications accepted
Removing clips: By request, with 30 days’ notice
AI training use of your clips: Covered by the agreement; AI revenue share at a rate Storyblocks sets; no opt-out described
AI-generated video: Not accepted
Bulk upload and metadata: sFTP and CSV metadata (Shutterstock and Pond5 CSVs accepted); web upload of up to 100 files
Facts checked: 2026-10-15
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Storyblocks Contributor is an application-only, non-exclusive video library with well-documented payouts and useful bulk tools. Pay is a share of a pool whose size is not published, and the agreement covers AI dataset use with no opt-out described.
Choose it if: You already sell footage elsewhere and want another non-exclusive outlet that reads your Shutterstock or Pond5 CSV. · You want monthly payouts by Payoneer, bank deposit, wire or check, with the fee for each method published. · You are fine with pay tied to a subscription pool rather than a set share of each sale. · You plan shoots around demand and want a monthly in-demand keyword list.
Look elsewhere if: You need to know your share or earnings per download before uploading. · You want to keep your clips out of AI datasets, or you make AI-generated video. · You want open sign-up, an exclusive rate, or to remove clips yourself at any time.
Compared with: Shutterstock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/shutterstock-contributor) — pick Storyblocks Contributor when You want payouts by bank deposit, wire or check with published fees, a $10 Payoneer minimum, and pay tied to subscription revenue.; pick Shutterstock Contributor when You want open sign-up, a stated share per license (15% to 40%), a $0.10 floor per download and an opt-out from data licensing. | Pond5 (https://proofyo.com/products/pond5-contributor) — pick Storyblocks Contributor when You want more payout methods with published fees, the option to hold payments, and a CSV importer that reads your Pond5 file.; pick Pond5 when You want a flat 30% per license stated up front, 40% for exclusive clips, and a paid dataset share you can opt out of. | Adobe Stock Contributor (https://proofyo.com/products/adobe-stock-contributor) — pick Storyblocks Contributor when You want automatic monthly payouts, bank or check options with published fees, and a $10 Payoneer minimum.; pick Adobe Stock Contributor when You want a flat 35% share with dollar earnings per download published, open sign-up, or you make labelled AI-generated video.
Strengths:
- Six payout methods with published fees: Payoneer has no fee with a $10 minimum; PayPal and direct deposit cost $1 per payout, eCheck $5, check $6, a US wire $15 and an international wire $25 in USD or $20 in local currency. (Shutterstock, Adobe Stock and Pond5 pay only through Payoneer, PayPal and Skrill (Adobe’s Payoneer only outside the US); Pond5 states only Skrill’s 4% fee, Shutterstock and Adobe none.)
- Automatic monthly payouts you can hold: Payments go out on the 15th for the previous month’s earnings, and you can hold them indefinitely from the dashboard to reduce third-party fees. (Adobe Stock pays only on request, and iStock’s payout minimum is $100.)
- Download valuation explained with a worked example: The agreement shows two $50 members: one download from the first is worth $50, one of five from the second is worth $10. Downloads during free trials are credited at an assumed $10 subscription value, and Enterprise and API downloads by their subscription fees. (Adobe Stock lists dollars per download by buyer plan; Pond5 says only that a subscription download pays on the price paid for that item.)
- Bulk tools that read other sites’ files: sFTP upload, CSV metadata that accepts Shutterstock and Pond5 formats unchanged, and IPTC Core read from video files. (iStock’s public pages describe no FTP or CSV upload.)
- Monthly demand data: The help center publishes in-demand video keywords each month with an opportunity score out of 100 and a CSV download, and the dashboard shows your top downloads and categories.
Things to know:
- Earnings per download cannot be worked out in advance: The share of subscription revenue placed in the pool and the pool size are not published, and the agreement says Storyblocks cannot tell you your exact percentage or earnings per download. No minimum per download is stated. Workaround: The dashboard shows an estimate during the month, finalized before payments go out on the 15th.
- Clips go into AI datasets, with no opt-out described: Uploaded clips, including ones Storyblocks rejected, may go into datasets for AI training and licensing. The AI revenue share is a percentage Storyblocks sets, paid in June and December. Workaround: After removal, clips are left out of new datasets; datasets and models made before then keep being used.
- Removal is by request, with 30 days’ notice: Contributors cannot remove clips themselves: a Google Form takes a CSV or XLS list of files, and removal follows the 30 days’ notice in the license terms. Members who downloaded a clip may download it again for up to 12 months after removal. Workaround: Without a Google account, the help center says to email partner@storyblocks.com.
- Short notice for changes: The terms can change on 15 days’ email notice, and the pool calculation can change at Storyblocks’ sole discretion without updating the agreement. Workaround: You can end the agreement with 30 days’ notice, and earned revenue share is still paid.
Pricing reality: Joining is free (no fee is stated). You are paid a monthly share of the Member Library revenue pool by the relative value of your downloads. The agreement’s illustration: two members at $50 a month, one downloads only your clip ($50 of value), the other downloads five clips, one yours ($10); your clips get $60 of the $100 in value, so you are paid 60% of the pool, whose size is not published. Downloads during a free trial are credited as if that member paid $10. Payout fees are deducted from each payment: $0 on Payoneer (with a $10 minimum), $1 for PayPal or direct deposit, up to $25 for an international wire in USD. No payout is made until your tax form is approved (the dashboard shows the default 30% withholding until then). The AI revenue share is paid twice a year, around June 15 and December 15.
Exit path: Send a removal request (a list of files as CSV or XLS) or end the agreement in writing with 30 days’ notice; content leaves the Member Library within 30 days and earned revenue share is still paid. Members keep their licenses and may re-download for up to 12 months. Datasets and models made before removal keep being used, and Storyblocks may keep one archival copy. You keep the copyright, and non-exclusive clips can keep selling elsewhere.

## Category: Sales CRM

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/crm

### Zoho CRM

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-crm
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/zoho-crm
Category: Sales CRM
Vendor: Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd.
Tagline: A full sales CRM from $14 a user on annual terms, with pipelines, workflows, cadences, forecasting and custom modules on Standard and a free edition for 3 users.
Value: A full sales CRM at $14 a user: pipelines, workflows, cadences, forecasting and custom modules on Standard, with SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA path.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Standard, at $14 per user a month on annual terms, covers what a sales team uses every day: up to 5 pipelines, Gmail and Outlook email integration, workflow rules, cadences, sales forecasting, 10 custom modules and built-in calling. The compliance page lists Zoho’s own SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO/IEC 27001 certificate, HIPAA settings start on Standard with a BAA from Zoho legal, and the data center follows the country chosen at sign-up. A free edition serves up to 3 users.
- Sales tools on the $14 plan: The pricing page and feature list put multiple pipelines, email integration, workflows, cadences, sales forecasting, custom modules and built-in calling on Standard. (Pricing page and complete feature list, last updated May 12, 2026 (2026-10-16))
- Audits and a HIPAA path: The compliance page lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001; the feature list puts HIPAA compliance settings and audit logs on Standard, and the HIPAA article offers a BAA template from legal@zohocorp.com. (Zoho compliance page, feature list and Help: HIPAA compliance with Zoho CRM (2026-10-16))
- EU hosting chosen at sign-up: The data center page says the country chosen at sign-up, prefilled from your IP address, sets the data center, with Europe among the locations. (Know your data center page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small and mid-size sales teams that want cadences, forecasting and custom modules at a low per-user price, including teams with HIPAA or EU hosting needs.
Things to know: Products, quotes and CPQ start on Professional ($23 per user on annual terms), and SSO is set up through Zoho Directory.
Score: 9.1/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $14/user/mo (Standard (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month
Free option: Free edition for 3 users; 15-day trial, no card
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $70/mo on Standard ($14 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $20 per user on Standard ($20 / $35 / $50 / $65)
Sequences: Cadences from Standard: 20 per module
Forecasting and custom objects: Forecasting and 10 custom modules on Standard
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 (Zoho compliance page)
HIPAA BAA: HIPAA settings from Standard; BAA template from Zoho legal
EU data hosting: EU data center when signing up from an EU country
SSO: SAML through Zoho Directory, reached from CRM setup
API: Every edition; up to 100,000 credits a day on Standard
Data export: Module exports; 2 free full data backups a month on Standard
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Zoho CRM puts the most on its entry plan: pipelines, workflows, cadences, forecasting, custom modules, audit logs and HIPAA settings for $14 a user, with SOC 2 and ISO 27001. Quotes start on Professional, and one older comparison page needs updating.
Choose it if: You want cadences, forecasting and custom modules for $14 a user. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 or a HIPAA BAA. · You need EU hosting chosen at sign-up.
Look elsewhere if: You need quotes and products on the entry plan. · You want SSO configured inside the CRM rather than through a directory service.
Compared with: HubSpot Sales Hub (https://proofyo.com/products/hubspot-sales-hub) — pick Zoho CRM when You want cadences, forecasting, custom modules and a HIPAA path on a $14 plan.; pick HubSpot Sales Hub when You want 15 pipelines, the API from the free plan and HubSpot’s marketing tools on the same records. | Pipedrive (https://proofyo.com/products/pipedrive) — pick Zoho CRM when You need custom modules, a HIPAA path or a lower 5-user cost ($70 a month on Standard, annual).; pick Pipedrive when You want unlimited pipelines and SAML SSO set up in the CRM itself on every plan. | Salesforce Sales Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/salesforce-sales-cloud) — pick Zoho CRM when You want forecasting, custom modules and month-to-month billing at a fraction of the Pro Suite price.; pick Salesforce Sales Cloud when You want quotes on the same plan as custom objects and expect to grow into larger Salesforce editions.
Strengths:
- Cadences, forecasting and custom modules for $14: Standard includes up to 5 pipelines, workflow rules, 20 cadences per module, sales forecasting, 10 custom modules and built-in calling. (HubSpot Sales Hub starts sequences and forecasting on Professional; Salesforce starts forecasting and custom objects on Pro Suite at $100.)
- SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA path: Zoho’s compliance page lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001; HIPAA settings are on Standard and up, with a BAA template requested from Zoho legal. (Pipedrive’s terms say it is not designed for HIPAA; HubSpot Sales Hub offers the BAA on Enterprise.)
- Audit logs and backups on Standard: The feature list puts audit logs and 2 free full data backups a month on Standard, with more backups at $12 each; Help says the audit log keeps 60 days by default and can be exported. (Pipedrive’s pricing page lists the audit log on Ultimate.)
- A free edition for 3 users: The free edition covers leads, contacts, accounts, deals and workflow rules for up to 3 users and 5,000 records.
Things to know:
- Quotes start on Professional: Products, price books, quotes, sales orders, invoices and CPQ start on Professional at $23 per user on annual terms. Workaround: The 15-day trial and month-to-month prices let a team test Professional before an annual term.
- SSO through Zoho Directory: SAML single sign-on is configured in Zoho Directory, which syncs CRM users; Directory has a free version with no limit on Zoho apps, but the CRM pages do not tie SSO to an edition.
- The free edition is small: The free edition has the default pipeline only, no email integration and 5,000 records; Standard holds 100,000 records.
- One older comparison page disagrees: A comparison page last updated June 4, 2022 puts custom modules on Enterprise, while the pricing page, the May 2026 feature list and the edition guide put them on Standard. Workaround: Rely on the complete feature list, which carries the newer date.
Pricing reality: Zoho bills per user per month. For our scenario, 5 users on Standard cost 5 × $14 = $70 a month on annual terms ($840 a year), or 5 × $20 = $100 month to month (computed), before local taxes. That covers pipelines, email integration, workflows, cadences, forecasting, custom modules, calling and audit logs. Quotes and CPQ need Professional ($115 a month for 5 users, computed); a sandbox and Zia AI need Enterprise ($200). Extra costs: file storage at $4.60 a month per 5 GB, extra data backups at $12 each, and optional paid support plans.
Exit path: Standard can export module data (up to 200,000 records per module, 100 exports a day) and request 2 free full data backups a month, with more at $12 each; the API is on every edition. We did not find a statement on how long data is kept after cancellation.

### HubSpot Sales Hub

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/hubspot-sales-hub
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/hubspot-sales-hub
Category: Sales CRM
Vendor: HubSpot, Inc.
Tagline: A free CRM for 2 users that grows into Sales Hub seats: Starter at a $20 list price, Professional with sequences and forecasting at $90 plus onboarding.
Value: A free CRM with deals and inbox logging that grows into paid Sales Hub seats, on one platform with HubSpot’s marketing and service tools.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: The free CRM gives 2 users contacts, companies, deals and a connected Gmail or Outlook inbox with no card, so a small team can start without a budget. Starter, at a $20 list price per seat, adds 15 pipelines, record automations, built-in calling minutes and AI credits; Professional adds sequences, forecasting, full workflows and SSO. The same records serve HubSpot’s marketing, service and revenue products, and the API is on every plan.
- A free CRM for 2 users: The pricing page lists the free tools for up to 2 users with no card; the catalog includes deals with one pipeline per object type, and the inbox article lets every plan connect Gmail or Outlook and log email. (Pricing page, free-tools catalog and Connect your inbox article (2026-10-16))
- Pipelines, automation and calling on Starter: Starter allows 15 pipelines, record and pipeline automations (tasks, internal notifications, record edits), 500 calling minutes and 500 HubSpot Credits a month. (Product catalog and Help: pipeline automations (2026-10-16))
- API and EU hosting on every plan: The developer usage guidelines give Free and Starter 250,000 API calls a day; accounts are assigned a data center, including Germany, by IP location at sign-up. (Developer usage guidelines and data hosting FAQ (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small sales teams that want to start free and add paid seats as they need pipelines, sequences and forecasting, especially if they use HubSpot for marketing.
Things to know: Sequences, forecasting, full workflows and SSO start on Professional ($90 a seat plus a $1,500 onboarding fee); custom objects and the HIPAA BAA on Enterprise.
Score: 6.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $20/seat/mo (Starter (list price; $7 limited-time offer for new customers, annual) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month; HubSpot Credits for AI and agents
Free option: Free CRM for up to 2 users, no card; 14-day trial on the Sales Hub page
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $100/mo on Starter at list ($20 × 5), computed; $35/mo at the new-customer offer
Month-to-month price: $20 per seat on Starter at list ($10 offer); $100 on Professional, annual commitment
Sequences: From Professional ($90, plus $1,500 onboarding)
Forecasting and custom objects: Forecasting from Professional; custom objects on Enterprise
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Own SOC 2 Type 2; ISO 27001 credited to hosting providers
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise, accepted in account settings
EU data hosting: Germany data center, assigned by sign-up location, every plan
SSO: SAML from Professional
API: Every plan, Free included
Data export: Export each object; weekly CRM backups from Starter
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, HubSpot Sales Hub is the easiest start here: a free CRM, then Starter at a $20 list price with pipelines, automations and calling. Sequences, forecasting and SSO need Professional and its onboarding fee, and a few HubSpot pages disagree on details.
Choose it if: You want to start free with 2 users and add paid seats later. · You use or plan to use HubSpot for marketing or service. · You want the API and EU hosting from the first plan.
Look elsewhere if: You need sequences or forecasting without a $1,500 onboarding fee. · You need custom objects or a HIPAA BAA without a sales contract. · You need quotes without buying a second seat type.
Compared with: Salesforce Sales Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/salesforce-sales-cloud) — pick HubSpot Sales Hub when You want a free plan with inbox logging, a lower 5-user cost ($100 a month on Starter at list) and the API on every plan.; pick Salesforce Sales Cloud when You want custom objects, quotes and forecasting on a plan bought online, and SSO in every edition. | Pipedrive (https://proofyo.com/products/pipedrive) — pick HubSpot Sales Hub when You want a free plan, built-in calling minutes and a lower 5-user entry cost.; pick Pipedrive when You want sequences, forecasting and SAML SSO without a $1,500 onboarding fee, from $39 a seat on Growth. | Zoho CRM (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-crm) — pick HubSpot Sales Hub when You want 15 pipelines and HubSpot’s marketing and service tools on the same records.; pick Zoho CRM when You want cadences, forecasting, custom modules and a HIPAA path on a $14 plan.
Strengths:
- A free CRM with inbox logging: Up to 2 users get contacts, companies, deals and a connected Gmail or Outlook inbox with email logging, with no card. (Salesforce Free Suite also allows 2 users; Pipedrive has no free plan, only a 14-day trial.)
- Low entry price for pipelines and automation: Starter lists at $20 a seat and includes 15 pipelines, record automations, 500 calling minutes and 500 AI credits a month. (Pipedrive starts automations on Growth at $39 a seat on annual terms.)
- API and EU hosting on every plan: The REST API is on every plan, Free included, and accounts get a data center, including Germany, from their sign-up location. (Salesforce charges $25 per user for the API on Pro Suite.)
- AI credits priced in public: Extra HubSpot Credits are $10 per pack of 1,000 or $0.01 each pay-as-you-go, with monthly allowances of 500, 3,000 and 5,000 by edition.
Things to know:
- Sequences, forecasting and SSO start on Professional: Sequences, forecasting, the full workflow editor and SAML SSO are on Professional at $90 a seat on annual terms, plus a required one-time $1,500 onboarding fee. Workaround: Starter covers pipelines and record automations; the calculator shows the Professional start cost before buying.
- Custom objects and HIPAA on Enterprise: Custom objects, custom permission sets and HIPAA sensitive data with a BAA are on Enterprise, which is $150 a seat, sold through sales, with a $3,500 onboarding fee.
- Quotes need a Revenue Hub seat: For accounts created after Sept. 3, 2025, legacy quotes are not available and quotes need a Revenue Hub Professional or Enterprise seat ($95 or $140 a seat at list). Workaround: The pricing page offers Revenue Hub at a reduced price to new Sales Hub customers.
- Introductory prices renew at list: The $7 Starter price is a limited-time offer for new customers. The terms let HubSpot raise fees at renewal up to the then-current list price with 30 days’ notice; fees are non-refundable. Workaround: Budget on the $20 list price, which is what our scenario uses.
Pricing reality: HubSpot bills per seat per month. For our scenario, 5 users on Starter cost 5 × $20 = $100 a month at list price (computed), before tax; new customers pay 5 × $7 = $35 a month for now with an annual commitment ($420 a year, as the calculator shows). That covers 15 pipelines, inbox logging, record automations, calling minutes and 500 credits. Sequences and forecasting need Professional: 5 × $90 = $450 a month plus $1,500 onboarding, $6,900 in the first year (calculator), or $575 a month spread over that year (computed). Extra costs: credits at $10 per 1,000, extra calling minutes at $50 per 1,000 on Professional and up, and a Revenue Hub seat for quotes.
Exit path: Any plan can export each object to a file from its All records view (300 exports per rolling 24 hours), and Starter and Professional can back up CRM data once a week (Enterprise daily); backups leave out associations and activity data. The API is on every plan. When a paid subscription ends, the free tools stay available.

### Pipedrive

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/pipedrive
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/pipedrive
Category: Sales CRM
Vendor: Pipedrive OÜ
Tagline: A pipeline-first sales CRM with SAML SSO and the API on every plan, and email sync, automations, sequences and forecasts from Growth at $39 a seat.
Value: A visual sales pipeline with unlimited pipelines, SAML SSO and the API on every plan, and email sync, automations and sequences from $39 a seat.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Worth the price
Value detail: Pipedrive is built around a kanban pipeline of deals, with unlimited customizable pipelines on every plan, so a sales team can start tracking deals in its first session. Growth, at $39 per seat on annual terms, adds two-way Gmail or Outlook sync, automations, email sequences and revenue forecasts. SAML single sign-on, two-factor enforcement, the API and data export are on every plan, and the account is hosted in the EU for EU sign-ups.
- Unlimited pipelines on every plan: The plan comparison lists customizable pipelines in kanban view, deal rotting and a products catalog on Lite, Growth, Premium and Ultimate. (Pricing page plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Sales automation on Growth: Growth includes two-way email sync, 50 active automations, 5 sequences and deal and product revenue forecasts for $39 a seat on annual terms. (Pricing page plan comparison and usage limits (2026-10-16))
- SSO and API from the first plan: SAML SSO, 2FA enforcement, API access and webhooks are checked on every plan; the SSO article says it is available on all plans. (Pricing page and Knowledge Base: Single sign-on (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small and mid-size sales teams that want a visual pipeline with email sync and automation at a published per-seat price, without a sales call.
Things to know: There are no custom objects, the terms say the service is not designed for HIPAA, and custom permission sets start on Premium ($59 a seat).
Score: 6.7/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $14/seat/mo (Lite (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month; add-ons per company
Free option: No free plan; 14-day trial, no card
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $195/mo on Growth ($39 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $49 per seat on Growth ($24 / $49 / $79 / $99)
Sequences: From Growth: 5 sequences per company (25 on Premium)
Forecasting and custom objects: Forecast view from Growth; no custom objects listed
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (Trust Center)
HIPAA BAA: Not offered; terms say the services are not designed for HIPAA
EU data hosting: EU sign-ups hosted in the EU (Frankfurt, Dublin)
SSO: SAML on every plan
API: Every plan; 60,000 API tokens per seat a day on Growth
Data export: Export all data for each item type, XLSX or CSV
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Pipedrive is a straightforward pipeline CRM with SSO and the API on every plan and sales automation on Growth at $39 a seat. It has no custom objects or HIPAA path, and two pages disagree on which plan has the audit log.
Choose it if: You want a visual deal pipeline that a sales team can pick up quickly. · You want email sync, automations, sequences and forecasts at $39 a seat. · You need SAML SSO and the API on every plan.
Look elsewhere if: You need custom objects. · You handle data covered by HIPAA. · You want a permanent free plan.
Compared with: HubSpot Sales Hub (https://proofyo.com/products/hubspot-sales-hub) — pick Pipedrive when You want sequences, forecasting and SAML SSO without a $1,500 onboarding fee.; pick HubSpot Sales Hub when You want a free plan for 2 users and a lower 5-user cost ($100 a month on Starter at list, computed). | Zoho CRM (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-crm) — pick Pipedrive when You want SAML SSO set up in the CRM itself and a pipeline-first app with limits listed per plan.; pick Zoho CRM when You need custom modules, a HIPAA path or a lower 5-user cost ($70 a month on Standard, annual). | Attio (https://proofyo.com/products/attio) — pick Pipedrive when You want sequences and forecasts at $39 a seat, SOC 2 Type 2 and SAML SSO on every plan.; pick Attio when You want a free plan for 3 seats with email sync and workflows, or custom objects on Pro.
Strengths:
- SAML SSO on every plan: The plan comparison checks SAML single sign-on, 2FA and 2FA enforcement on Lite through Ultimate, and the SSO article says it is available on all plans. (HubSpot Sales Hub starts SSO on Professional; Attio keeps it on Enterprise.)
- Sequences and forecasts at $39: Growth adds two-way email sync, 50 automations, 5 sequences, deal and product revenue forecasts and a forecast view. (HubSpot Sales Hub starts sequences and forecasting on Professional at $90 a seat plus onboarding.)
- Limits stated per plan: The pricing page lists leads and deals, custom fields, reports, automations, sequences, email syncs and daily API tokens for each plan.
- Audited and EU hosted: The Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and the security article hosts EU sign-ups in Frankfurt or Dublin. (Attio lists ISO 27001 but no SOC 2 report.)
Things to know:
- No custom objects: The plan comparison lists custom fields (30 to 500 per company), pipeline-specific and formula fields, but no custom objects. Workaround: Custom fields on leads, deals, contacts and products cover many extra data needs.
- Not for HIPAA data: The Terms of Service say the services are not designed to comply with industry-specific regulations such as HIPAA.
- Permissions and audit log on higher plans: Custom permission sets start on Premium ($59 a seat, annual); the pricing page lists the audit log and security alerts on Ultimate ($79). Workaround: Visibility options and the security dashboard are on every plan.
- Fees are non-refundable: The terms say all fees are non-refundable, plans renew automatically, and seats can only be reduced before the renewal date. Workaround: Month-to-month prices are published for every plan.
Pricing reality: Pipedrive bills per seat per month; annual terms are up to 42% below monthly. For our scenario, 5 users on Growth cost 5 × $39 = $195 a month on annual terms ($2,340 a year), or 5 × $49 = $245 month to month (computed), before VAT. That covers unlimited pipelines, two-way email sync, 50 automations, 5 sequences, forecasts and the API. Premium ($295 a month for 5, computed) adds custom permission sets, LeadBooster and Smart Docs; Ultimate ($395) adds security alerts and a sandbox. Add-ons are per company: LeadBooster and Smart Docs from $32.50, Campaigns from $13.33, Projects from $16.66 and Web Visitors from $41 a month.
Exit path: Global admins can export all data for each item type (leads, deals, organizations, people, products, activities, notes and files) as XLSX or CSV from the Export data tab, one item type at a time; the API is on every plan. The terms say data is deleted within 180 days after termination, and an unpaid trial account may be deleted 2 weeks after the trial ends.

### Attio

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/attio
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/attio
Category: Sales CRM
Vendor: Attio Ltd
Tagline: A CRM built from your email and calendar, with enrichment, workflows and the API on every plan and a free plan for 3 seats; Plus from $35 a seat.
Value: A CRM that fills itself from your email and calendar, with enrichment, workflows and the API on every plan, free for up to 3 seats.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Saves engineering time
Value detail: When a team connects email and calendars, Attio builds its contact and company database from those interactions and enriches the records automatically, so the CRM starts populated instead of empty. Workflows, AI features and the API with webhooks are on every plan, including a free plan for up to 3 seats. Plus, at $35 a seat on annual terms, adds the Deals object and team-wide access controls; Pro adds custom objects, sequences and call recording.
- Records built from email and calendar: The pricing FAQ says syncing email and calendar builds a real-time database of all your contacts; every plan enriches company and person records with name, description, logo, category, social media and location. (Pricing page FAQ and plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Workflows and the API on every plan: The plan comparison checks workflows, integration blocks, API and webhook access, the App SDK and the MCP server on Free, Plus, Pro and Enterprise. (Pricing page plan comparison and Help: Attio plans and features (2026-10-16))
- Workspace export on every plan: Admins can export the workspace as CSV files (lists, companies, people, deals, custom objects, notes, tasks and files) on all plans. (Help: Back up your workspace data (2026-10-16))
Best for: Startups and small teams that live in email and calendar and want a CRM that builds itself, with room to automate through workflows and the API.
Things to know: Sequences and custom objects start on Pro ($79 a seat), SSO is on Enterprise, and no forecasting, quotes or calling feature is listed.
Score: 6.0/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $35/seat/mo (Plus (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month; workflows and AI draw on workspace credits
Free option: Free plan for up to 3 seats; 14-day trial of Pro
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $175/mo on Plus ($35 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $44 per seat on Plus ($99 on Pro)
Sequences: From Pro ($79)
Forecasting and custom objects: No forecasting feature listed; custom objects from Pro
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: ISO/IEC 27001:2022; no SOC 2 report listed
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU data hosting: Every workspace, Google Cloud in the EU
SSO: SAML and SCIM on Enterprise
API: API, webhooks and MCP server on every plan
Data export: Workspace export to CSV files on every plan (admins)
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Attio is the strongest free start here and builds its records from email and calendar, with workflows and the API on every plan. Sequences and custom objects need Pro, SSO needs Enterprise, and its compliance file is ISO 27001 without SOC 2.
Choose it if: You want a CRM that builds its records from your email and calendar. · You want workflows and the API from the free plan. · Your team is small and wants to start free with up to 3 seats.
Look elsewhere if: You need forecasting, quotes or a dialer in the CRM. · Your security review asks for a SOC 2 report or a HIPAA BAA. · You need SAML SSO without an Enterprise contract.
Compared with: Pipedrive (https://proofyo.com/products/pipedrive) — pick Attio when You want a free plan for 3 seats with email sync and workflows, or custom objects on Pro.; pick Pipedrive when You want sequences and forecasts at $39 a seat, SOC 2 Type 2 and SAML SSO on every plan. | HubSpot Sales Hub (https://proofyo.com/products/hubspot-sales-hub) — pick Attio when You want workflows on the free plan and a CRM that fills itself from email and calendar.; pick HubSpot Sales Hub when You want forecasting, quotes, built-in calling and a SOC 2 Type 2 report. | Zoho CRM (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-crm) — pick Attio when You want automatic enrichment and an API, webhooks and MCP server on every plan.; pick Zoho CRM when You need forecasting, cadences and custom modules on a $14 plan, SOC 2 or a HIPAA path.
Strengths:
- The most useful free plan here: Free covers up to 3 seats with email and calendar sync, enrichment, the Deals object, workflows on 250 credits a month and the API. (HubSpot Sales Hub’s free plan allows 2 users and no workflows; Pipedrive has no free plan.)
- API, webhooks and MCP on every plan: API and webhook access, the App SDK and an MCP server are checked on every plan, Free included. (Salesforce charges $25 per user for the API on Pro Suite.)
- Workspace export to CSV: Admins can export the whole workspace as CSV files on every plan; meetings and call recordings come out through the API. (Pipedrive exports one item type at a time.)
- EU hosting for every workspace: The Trust Center says Attio is hosted on Google Cloud in the EU, and its ISO 27001:2022 certificate is downloadable there.
Things to know:
- Sequences and custom objects on Pro: Email sequences, custom objects, call recording and team and individual permissions start on Pro at $79 a seat on annual terms. Workaround: New workspaces start with a 14-day trial of Pro, so these features can be tried first.
- SSO through sales: SAML single sign-on and SCIM provisioning are on Enterprise, which is priced by sales.
- Fewer compliance documents: The Trust Center lists ISO 27001:2022 and penetration test reports but no SOC 2 report, HIPAA statement or admin audit log; data is hosted only in the EU. Workaround: The Trust Center is public and can be shared with a security team before buying.
- No forecasting, quotes or dialer listed: The plan comparison lists no forecasting, quote or calling feature; Plus can log phone calls, and Pro records calls and sets report targets.
Pricing reality: Attio bills per seat, with all members on the same plan; annual terms save 20%. For our scenario, 5 users on Plus cost 5 × $35 = $175 a month on annual terms ($2,100 a year), or 5 × $44 = $220 month to month (computed). That covers email sync, enrichment, the Deals object, workflows on 1,500 workspace credits a month and the API. Pro costs $395 a month for 5 users on annual terms (computed) and adds sequences, custom objects and 10,000 credits. Extra workspace credits are $70 a month per 5,000 on annual terms ($85 monthly), up to $475 per 50,000; the Free plan cannot buy more.
Exit path: Admins can export the workspace on every plan as a zip of CSV files with lists, companies, people, deals, custom objects, notes, tasks, files and comments. Emails cannot be exported, and meetings and call recordings come out through the API, which every plan can use.

### Salesforce Sales Cloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/salesforce-sales-cloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/salesforce-sales-cloud
Category: Sales CRM
Vendor: Salesforce, Inc.
Tagline: A customizable sales CRM with custom objects, quotes and forecasting from Pro Suite at $100 per user, and editions up to Core, Advanced and Max.
Value: A sales CRM you can shape to your process, with custom objects, quotes and forecasting from Pro Suite, and editions to grow into.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Pro Suite, at $100 per user a month on an annual contract, adds up to 50 custom objects, quotes, sales forecasting and Flow automation to the contact, account and opportunity basics, so a team can model its own sales process without building a database. Help lists SAML single sign-on in all editions and the Setup Audit Trail and custom profiles on Professional-level editions. Teams that outgrow Pro Suite move up to Core, Advanced and Max in the same product, with the API, Premier Success and Agentforce credits included.
- Custom objects, quotes and forecasting on Pro Suite: The small-business comparison marks custom objects, quote creation and sales forecast management on Pro Suite, not Starter; the Pro Suite allocations allow 50 custom objects. (Small-business pricing table and Help: Pro Suite edition allocations (2026-10-16))
- SSO and audit trail without an upgrade: Help lists SAML federated authentication as available in all editions and the Setup Audit Trail, which keeps 180 days of setup history, in Professional-level editions and up. (Help: SAML SSO and Setup Audit Trail (2026-10-16))
- A full export of your data: The Data Export service exports all of an org’s data as CSV files: monthly in all editions (every 29 days on Professional) and weekly from Enterprise. (Help: Export Backup Data from Salesforce (2026-10-16))
Best for: Sales teams that want to model their own objects and processes now and expect to grow into a larger Salesforce edition later.
Things to know: Pro Suite is billed annually, its API is a $25 per user add-on, and sequences and the dialer are add-ons bought through sales.
Score: 5.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $25/user/mo (Starter Suite (billed monthly or annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; Agentforce usage in Flex Credits
Free option: Free Suite for 2 users; 30-day trial of paid editions, no card
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $500/mo on Pro Suite ($100 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: Starter Suite only ($25); Pro Suite and up are billed annually
Sequences: Sales Engagement add-on, $50 per user/mo billed annually, through sales
Forecasting and custom objects: From Pro Suite ($100); 50 custom objects
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 reports and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 for Sales Cloud; Starter and ProSuite excluded from both
HIPAA BAA: Signed with Salesforce through your account representative
EU data hosting: Hyperforce regions in the EU; EU Operating Zone is a paid offering
SSO: SAML federated authentication in all editions (Help)
API: $25 per user/mo add-on on Pro Suite; included from Core
Data export: Full CSV export: every 29 days on Pro Suite, weekly from Core
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Sales Cloud gives a small team custom objects, quotes and forecasting from Pro Suite and a long ladder of editions. The API, sequences and the dialer cost extra below Core, Pro Suite is annual only, and the Suites sit outside its SOC and ISO scope.
Choose it if: You want to model your own objects and processes in the CRM from the start. · You need SAML SSO and an audit trail without a higher edition. · You expect to grow into Core, Advanced or Max with the API and AI credits included.
Look elsewhere if: You want month-to-month billing on the plan with forecasting and quotes. · You need email sequences or a dialer without a sales conversation. · You need the API on a plan under $195 per user without an add-on.
Compared with: HubSpot Sales Hub (https://proofyo.com/products/hubspot-sales-hub) — pick Salesforce Sales Cloud when You want custom objects, quotes and forecasting on a plan bought online, and SSO and an audit trail in every edition.; pick HubSpot Sales Hub when You want a free plan with inbox logging and a lower 5-user cost ($100 a month on Starter at list price, computed). | Pipedrive (https://proofyo.com/products/pipedrive) — pick Salesforce Sales Cloud when You need custom objects and quotes without an add-on, and a full CSV export of the org.; pick Pipedrive when You want monthly billing, and sequences, forecasting and automations at $39 per seat ($195 a month for 5, annual). | Zoho CRM (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-crm) — pick Salesforce Sales Cloud when You expect to grow into larger editions with Agentforce credits, Premier Success and the API included.; pick Zoho CRM when You want cadences, forecasting and custom modules for $70 a month for 5 users on Standard (annual, computed).
Strengths:
- Custom objects, quotes and forecasting from $100: Pro Suite, bought online, adds up to 50 custom objects, quotes and sales forecasting to the opportunity basics. (HubSpot Sales Hub keeps custom objects on Enterprise, sold through sales; Pipedrive lists no custom objects.)
- SSO and audit trail in the base editions: Help lists SAML federated authentication in all editions and the Setup Audit Trail, with 180 days of setup history, in Professional-level editions; Pro Suite allows 3 custom profiles and 10 permission sets. (HubSpot Sales Hub starts SAML SSO on Professional; Attio keeps SSO on Enterprise.)
- Full CSV export of the org: The Data Export service exports all data as CSV files, every 29 days on Professional-level editions and weekly from Enterprise. (Pipedrive exports one item type at a time.)
- Editions to grow into: Core, Advanced and Max add advanced forecasting, the API, Premier Success and 500K to 2.75M Flex Credits a year; extra Flex Credits are listed at $500 per 100K.
Things to know:
- The API is an add-on on Pro Suite: The pricing table lists the Web Services API on Pro Suite at an additional $25 per user a month; Free Suite and Starter do not have it. Core and up include it. Workaround: Budget $125 a month for 5 users (computed), or start on Core if integrations are planned.
- Pro Suite is annual only: Pro Suite is billed annually with a contract. The Master Subscription Agreement says fees are non-refundable, quantities cannot be decreased during the term, and subscriptions renew for a year unless notice is given 30 days before the end. Workaround: Starter Suite is billed monthly or annually at the same $25 price.
- Sequences and dialer through sales: Sales Engagement (sequences, $50 per user a month billed annually) and the Sales Dialer (from $5 per user) are add-ons on a page that offers "Contact us"; Salesforce does not offer trial licenses for Sales Engagement.
- Compliance scope excludes the Suites: The Security, Privacy and Architecture document excludes Salesforce Starter and ProSuite from its SOC 1, 2 and 3 audits and ISO 27001 scope. A HIPAA BAA is signed through your account representative. Workaround: Core and up are Sales Cloud editions outside that exclusion; ask Salesforce which report covers your edition.
Pricing reality: Salesforce bills each user per month. For our scenario, 5 users on Pro Suite cost 5 × $100 = $500 a month on an annual contract ($6,000 a year, computed), before tax. That covers opportunities, email sync, forecasting, quotes, 50 custom objects and 5 active flows. If several sales processes need Enterprise-level features, as Help says, the scenario moves to Core at $975 a month for 5 users (computed). Costs rise with the API on Pro Suite ($25 per user), Sales Engagement ($50 per user), the Sales Dialer (from $5 per user), Premier Success on Pro Suite (30% of net license fees) and Agentforce Flex Credits ($500 per 100K). No onboarding fee is published.
Exit path: The Data Export service exports all of an org’s data as CSV files, every 29 days on Professional-level editions and weekly from Enterprise, and the API can pull data on Core and up. The Master Subscription Agreement makes customer data available on request within 30 days after termination; the security document says it is then kept inactive for 120 days before deletion.

## Category: Email marketing and newsletters

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/email-marketing

### Klaviyo

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/klaviyo
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/klaviyo
Category: Email marketing and newsletters
Vendor: Klaviyo, Inc.
Tagline: Email marketing built on a customer data platform for online stores, priced by active profiles: $100 a month for 5,000 with 50,000 emails.
Value: Email marketing on top of a customer data platform: store and order data drive segments and flows, with SOC 2 Type II, SSO and MFA on paid plans.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Klaviyo keeps every contact's profile, store activity and message history in one place, so segments and automated flows can react to what people buy or browse without a separate data tool. Flows and segmentation are on every plan, the free one included, and SMS and other mobile messages run from the same account. Paid email plans add SAML SSO, custom roles and required multi-factor sign-in, and the trust center offers Klaviyo's SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate. For 5,000 active profiles the email plan costs $100 a month with 50,000 emails.
- Flows and segmentation on every plan: The free plan FAQ says you can build automations, segmentation and reports on the free tier; paid plans keep them with higher profile and email limits. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The trust center lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017 and PCI DSS, and holds a 'Klaviyo 2025 Type 2 SOC 2' report; the trust page says audit reports can be downloaded there. (trust.klaviyo.com and klaviyo.com/trust (2026-10-16))
- SSO and required MFA on paid plans: SAML SSO needs a paid plan, any tier; multi-factor authentication is required for paid accounts, and custom user roles are on all plans. (Help center: single sign-on, MFA and custom roles articles (2026-10-16))
Best for: Online stores that want email and SMS automations driven by order and browsing data, and a security file to show customers or auditors.
Things to know: Pricing follows active profiles and messages, so the bill rises with the list; the public pages do not state how many users a plan includes.
Score: 7.4/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $20/mo (Email (251 to 500 active profiles) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Active profile tier, with a monthly email limit
Free plan: 250 active profiles, 500 emails/mo, flows included
Reference scenario (5,000 contacts, monthly): $100/mo (3,501 to 5,000 active profiles, 50,000 emails)
Annual billing: Not stated on the pricing page
Automation on the cheapest paid plan: Flows on every plan
Users on the scenario plan: Not stated; custom roles on all plans
SMS: Mobile messages billed by credits; $5 a month on the free plan
Paid newsletters: Not offered
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 and ISO 27017
Data location: United States; Germany for new accounts (EU Residency)
SSO: SAML on any paid plan
Contact export: CSV export of lists and segments
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Klaviyo pairs email and SMS with a customer data platform, with flows on the free plan and SOC 2 Type II, SSO and MFA on paid plans. Its user limit is not stated and its pages disagree on EU storage.
Choose it if: You run an online store and want flows driven by orders and browsing. · Your security review asks for a SOC 2 Type II report, SSO and MFA. · You want email and SMS from one account and one customer profile.
Look elsewhere if: You need to know the user limit or EU storage terms before signing up. · You mainly publish a newsletter and want paid subscriptions.
Compared with: Mailchimp (https://proofyo.com/products/mailchimp) — pick Klaviyo when You want flows on the free plan, SSO on any paid plan and a SOC 2 Type II report, at the same $100 for 5,000 contacts.; pick Mailchimp when You want 5 seats with roles stated on the plan and landing pages free on every plan. | Brevo (https://proofyo.com/products/brevo) — pick Klaviyo when You want SSO without a sales call and automations on the free plan without a contact cap.; pick Brevo when You want data stored in the EU for every account and a lower scenario price ($79 on Standard).
Strengths:
- Automations on the free plan: Flows, segmentation and web forms are available on the free plan for up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month. (Mailchimp lists no automation flows on its Free plan, and Brevo caps free automation at 2,000 contacts.)
- Own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The trust center lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017 and PCI DSS, with reports downloadable from the self-service trust center. (Mailchimp states SOC 2 reports without the type; Kit names only its hosting providers’ certifications.)
- SSO on any paid plan: SAML SSO through your identity provider is available on any paid plan, and MFA is required for paid accounts. (Mailchimp puts SSO on Premium; Brevo and beehiiv on their top plans.)
- Published path for growth: Going over a tier moves you to the next published tier, or lets you buy one-time extra messages at your current unit rate.
Things to know:
- User limit not stated: The pricing page and help articles we read describe roles and permissions but do not say how many users a plan includes. Workaround: Ask Klaviyo before buying if several people need their own logins.
- EU storage is unclear: The sub-processor list offers Germany to new accounts at creation as 'EU Residency services', while the privacy FAQ says data is stored only in the United States; how to get EU storage is not stated. Workaround: Existing accounts stay in the US, so decide before creating the account.
- No free trial of a paid plan: The pricing page offers the free plan, not a trial of the paid plans. Workaround: The free plan has flows and segmentation, so most features can be tried at 250 profiles.
Pricing reality: Klaviyo bills a monthly email plan by active profiles, the contacts who can receive marketing, with an email limit per tier. For our scenario, 3,501 to 5,000 active profiles cost $100 a month with 50,000 emails, before tax. The free plan stops at 250 profiles and 500 emails a month, and going over stops sending until you upgrade or the month resets. Paid accounts are upgraded to the next tier when the profile count passes the limit at renewal, and message overages are auto-upgraded by default. SMS, WhatsApp and RCS are billed per send by destination, and Composer, the AI add-on, is $20 a month. The pricing page does not state an annual price.
Exit path: Lists and segments can be exported to CSV, and the 'How to migrate off of Klaviyo' article walks through exporting contacts, suppression lists, templates and analytics, and porting an SMS number. The API supports private keys and OAuth with scoped permissions.

### Brevo

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/brevo
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/brevo
Category: Email marketing and newsletters
Vendor: Brevo (Sendinblue SAS)
Tagline: Email, SMS and marketing automation priced by monthly email volume, with servers in the EU and ISO 27001; Standard costs $79 for 25,000 emails.
Value: Email marketing, SMS and automation priced by emails sent rather than contacts stored, with servers in the EU and an ISO 27001 certificate.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Brevo charges for the emails you send each month, so a large list that you email rarely costs less than on contact-based plans: the free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts, and Standard sends 20,001 to 30,000 emails for $79 a month. Standard has unlimited automation, A/B testing, a landing page and no Brevo branding. Its servers are in the EU, it holds ISO 27001:2022, and the DPA is part of the terms, which suits teams with European customers. Transactional email and SMS run from the same account.
- Priced by emails, not contacts: Plans are priced by monthly email volume; Starter and Standard store up to 500,000 contacts once you send 20,000 or more emails a month, and the free plan stores up to 100,000. (pricing.md contact limits and pricing API in USD (2026-10-16))
- EU servers and ISO 27001:2022: The data security page says Brevo’s servers are in the EU and links an ISO 27001:2022 certificate; the DPA is an appendix of the terms of service. (Data security page and terms of service (2026-10-16))
- Full automation from Standard: Standard removes the 2,000-contact automation cap and adds A/B testing, send time optimization and a landing page for $18 a month plus the email tier. (All-features page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams with European customers, or with large lists they email a few times a month, who want email, SMS and automation in one account.
Things to know: Standard includes one user; more cost $12 a month each, up to 3. SSO is on Professional as an add-on or on Enterprise.
Score: 7.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $9/mo (Starter (5,000 emails a month) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Monthly email volume tier; contacts up to the plan limit
Free plan: 100,000 contacts, 300 emails a day, automation up to 2,000 contacts
Reference scenario (5,000 contacts, monthly): $79/mo on Standard ($18 + $61 for 20,001 to 30,000 emails)
Annual billing: About 10% off ($853 a year for the scenario, computed)
Automation on the cheapest paid plan: Starter: limited to 2,000 contacts; unlimited from Standard
Users on the scenario plan: 1 user; up to 3 at $12/mo each
SMS: Every plan; credits sold separately by destination
Paid newsletters: Not offered
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: ISO 27001:2022; SOC 2 not stated
Data location: Servers in the EU
SSO: Add-on on Professional (price not published); included on Enterprise
Contact export: Export button in the account; Export contacts API endpoint
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Brevo has the lowest price for our scenario and keeps data in the EU, with unlimited automation from Standard. It includes one user on Standard, and SSO and the Professional total need a conversation with sales.
Choose it if: Your customers are in Europe and you want data stored in the EU. · You have a large list that you email a few times a month. · You want email, SMS and transactional email from one account.
Look elsewhere if: Several teammates need logins on the scenario plan without per-user add-ons. · Your security review needs SSO without a sales conversation, or a SOC 2 report.
Compared with: Mailchimp (https://proofyo.com/products/mailchimp) — pick Brevo when You want EU data storage, billing by emails sent and a lower scenario price ($79 versus $100).; pick Mailchimp when You need several users with roles on the scenario plan and landing pages on every plan. | Klaviyo (https://proofyo.com/products/klaviyo) — pick Brevo when You want data in the EU for every account and a lower scenario price.; pick Klaviyo when You want SSO on any paid plan, a SOC 2 Type II report and automations on the free plan without a contact cap.
Strengths:
- Data stored in the EU: Brevo states that its servers are in the EU, with backups encrypted, and the DPA is part of its terms. (Mailchimp, Kit and beehiiv store or transfer data to the United States; Klaviyo offers Germany only to new accounts.)
- Lowest scenario price here: Standard sends 20,001 to 30,000 emails for $79 a month, with unlimited automation and up to 500,000 stored contacts. (Mailchimp Standard and Klaviyo cost $100 for 5,000 contacts; beehiiv Lite $109.)
- Large free plan for storing contacts: The free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts and sends 300 emails a day, with automation for up to 2,000 contacts.
- Many channels in one account: SMS on every plan, plus WhatsApp, push and transactional email through the same API and SMTP relay.
Things to know:
- One user on Standard: Standard includes one user; up to 3 are possible at $12 a month for each extra user, and Professional includes 10. Workaround: User permissions are on Standard, so the extra users can have limited access.
- Sending stops at the monthly limit: The terms say sending is suspended when you reach the plan’s sending limit, and unused emails do not carry over. Workaround: Pick a volume tier with room for automated emails, or upgrade before a busy month.
- Some prices are not published: The SSO add-on on Professional has no published price, and the Professional total combines a base, email credits and a plan fee without a stated sum.
- SOC 2 not stated: The security page lists ISO 27001:2022; we found no SOC 2 report on the pages we read.
Pricing reality: Brevo bills a base price per plan plus a published price per monthly email tier; contacts are not billed. For our scenario, 25,000 emails on Standard cost $18 + $61 = $79 a month, before tax, or $853 a year (computed from the yearly prices). Starter would be $39 but limits automation to 2,000 contacts. Unused emails reset every month and sending stops at the limit. Extra users cost $12 a month each, landing pages beyond the first $24 for 5 more, and SMS and WhatsApp credits are bought separately by destination. Professional starts at a $350 base with email credits and a plan fee listed separately, and Enterprise is priced by sales.
Exit path: The DPA in the terms says you can retrieve your data at any time with the export button in the account, and the API has a documented Export contacts endpoint. After termination Brevo destroys customer data on request within three months; the pricing FAQ says you can cancel at any time.

### Mailchimp

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/mailchimp
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/mailchimp
Category: Email marketing and newsletters
Vendor: Intuit Mailchimp (The Rocket Science Group LLC)
Tagline: Email marketing priced by contact tier, with automation flows, landing pages, A/B testing and 300+ integrations; Standard costs $100 a month for 5,000 contacts.
Value: An all-round email marketing tool with forms, landing pages, automation flows and 300+ integrations, priced by how many contacts you store.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Built-in reach
Value detail: Mailchimp puts the pieces a small business needs for email marketing in one account: signup forms and landing pages on every plan, a template library, scheduling and A/B testing from Essentials, and automation flows that grow from 4 steps on Essentials to 200 on Standard. It connects to 300+ apps such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Stripe. Each plan is priced by contact tier with a monthly email limit of 10 to 15 times the contacts, and Standard costs $100 a month for 5,000 contacts.
- Landing pages and forms on every plan: The help center says landing pages are free to all Mailchimp users, and the plan table lists popup forms on every plan, Free included. (Help center: About Landing Pages; pricing page plan table (2026-10-16))
- 300+ integrations listed on every plan: The plan table lists 300+ integrations on Free, Essentials, Standard and Premium, with Shopify, WooCommerce, Canva, Stripe and Salesforce among the most popular. (Pricing page plan table (2026-10-16))
- Automation flows that grow with the plan: Essentials allows 4 steps per flow; Standard allows 200 steps, up to 3 triggers and conditional or percentage splits, with flow templates for email and SMS. (Help center: Create a Marketing Automation Flow (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small businesses that want forms, landing pages, newsletters and simple automations in one familiar tool, with room to add seats and roles.
Things to know: Automation flows beyond 4 steps start on Standard, and charges for going over a contact or send limit are shown only inside the account.
Score: 6.9/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $13/mo (Essentials (500 contacts) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Contact tier, with a monthly email limit of 10 to 15 times the contacts
Free plan: 250 contacts, 500 emails/mo (250 a day), no automation flows
Reference scenario (5,000 contacts, monthly): $100/mo on Standard (60,000 emails)
Annual billing: Through sales only (Premium, or Standard with 10,000+ contacts)
Automation on the cheapest paid plan: Essentials: flows of up to 4 steps
Users on the scenario plan: 5 seats, 4 roles
SMS: Add-on from Essentials in select countries; credits billed separately
Paid newsletters: Not offered
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 reports (type not stated); ISO 27001
Data location: United States
SSO: Enterprise SSO on Premium
Contact export: CSV export of audiences, segments, tags and groups
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Mailchimp is a broad, familiar email marketing tool with landing pages on every plan and seats with roles on Standard. Multi-step automations start on Standard, overage prices are shown only in the account, and data stays in the US.
Choose it if: You want forms, landing pages, newsletters and simple automations in one familiar tool. · Several people need their own logins with different roles on a mid-priced plan. · You rely on integrations such as Shopify, WooCommerce or Stripe.
Look elsewhere if: You need longer automation sequences on the cheapest paid plan. · Your data must stay in the EU. · You want to see the price of going over your limit before you sign up.
Compared with: Klaviyo (https://proofyo.com/products/klaviyo) — pick Mailchimp when You want 5 seats with roles, landing pages on every plan and annual or Premium options through sales.; pick Klaviyo when You want automations on the free plan, SAML SSO on any paid plan and a vendor SOC 2 Type II report, at the same $100 for 5,000 contacts. | Brevo (https://proofyo.com/products/brevo) — pick Mailchimp when You need several users and roles on the scenario plan without per-seat add-ons.; pick Brevo when You want data stored in the EU and a lower scenario price ($79 a month on Standard). | Kit (https://proofyo.com/products/kit) — pick Mailchimp when You want SMS add-ons, several roles and an ISO 27001 certificate in the vendor’s name.; pick Kit when You run a creator newsletter, want a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers, or want to sell paid subscriptions.
Strengths:
- Landing pages free on every plan: Landing pages are free to all users and popup forms are on every plan, so list building does not need a separate tool. (Brevo includes one landing page from Standard and none on Free or Starter.)
- Seats and roles on the scenario plan: Standard includes 5 seats with Owner, Admin, Author or Viewer permissions, and Premium unlimited seats with 5 roles. (Brevo Standard includes one user, with up to 3 at $12 a month each.)
- Wide integration list: The plan table lists 300+ integrations on every plan, Free included.
- Own ISO 27001 and SOC 2 reports: The security page lists Mailchimp's SOC 2 reports and ISO 27001 certification, downloadable from Intuit's compliance portal, and 2FA for accounts. (Kit's security page names only its hosting providers' certifications.)
Things to know:
- Longer automations start on Standard: Essentials allows 4 steps per automation flow, and delays count as steps, so multi-email sequences generally need Standard ($100 a month for 5,000 contacts versus $75). Workaround: Short flows, such as one welcome email after a delay, fit on Essentials.
- Overage prices are not public: Going over a contact or send limit adds charges for add-on contact blocks; their price and size are shown only to logged-in users. Workaround: Archiving inactive contacts lowers the billable count, and the tier can be raised at any time.
- Data is stored in the United States: The security page says Mailchimp's servers are in US data centers; no EU storage option is listed. Transfers rely on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the DPA.
- Annual plans through sales only: The pricing page offers annual plans only for Premium and for Standard with 10,000+ contacts, through sales; other plans are monthly.
Pricing reality: Mailchimp bills a monthly plan by contact tier; unsubscribed contacts count, archived ones do not, and the monthly email limit is a multiple of the tier. For our scenario, Standard costs $100 a month for 5,000 contacts with 60,000 emails, before tax; Essentials would be $75 but allows only 4 steps per automation flow. The Free plan stops at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month. Costs rise with the contact tier (Standard is $135 at 10,000 contacts), with add-on contact blocks when you go over, SMS credits, and Premium at $350 for 10,000 contacts for SSO and phone support. A 15% discount for the first 12 months applies to 10,000+ contacts. The 14-day trial of Essentials or Standard needs payment details.
Exit path: Audiences, segments, tags and groups can be exported to CSV from the account. The API key article says users with Manager permissions can generate keys, and keys created from June 22, 2026 expire after one year. The DPA commits Mailchimp to provide tools to delete or return customer data when the agreement ends.

### Kit

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/kit
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/kit
Category: Email marketing and newsletters
Vendor: Kit Inc. (formerly ConvertKit)
Tagline: Email marketing for creators, formerly ConvertKit: a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers, and visual automations and sequences from $39 a month.
Value: A newsletter and email platform for creators: free up to 10,000 subscribers, with paid newsletters, digital products and a recommendation network built in.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Worth the price
Value detail: Kit is built around a creator's list: landing pages, forms, broadcasts, tagging and segmentation are on every plan, and so are paid newsletters and digital product sales, at 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction. Kit's recommendation network suggests your newsletter on other creators' sign-up forms. The free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, and Creator adds unlimited visual automations and sequences for $89 a month at 5,000 subscribers. You pay for subscribers, not for emails sent.
- Free up to 10,000 subscribers: The free plan includes unlimited broadcasts, landing pages and forms, tagging and segmentation for up to 10,000 subscribers. (Pricing page and plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Recommendations and paid newsletters on every plan: Free and Smart Recommendations promote your newsletter across other Kit creators' sign-up forms, and paid newsletters, subscriptions and tip jars are on every plan. (Pricing page plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Billed on subscribers, not emails: The billing article says the bill is based on active subscribers, not emails sent or features used, and that the account moves to the next published tier automatically as the list grows. (Help center: Billing at Kit, upgrade FAQs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Creators and solo publishers who want to grow and monetize a newsletter, starting free and adding automations when the list pays for itself.
Things to know: Kit's security page cites only its hosting providers' SOC 2 and ISO certifications, and SSO is not listed on any plan.
Score: 6.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $39/mo (Creator (1,000 subscribers) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Confirmed subscriber tier; emails are not counted
Free plan: Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts, no sequences or automations
Reference scenario (5,000 contacts, monthly): $89/mo on Creator (3,001 to 5,000 subscribers)
Annual billing: 10 times the monthly price a year (about 17% off)
Automation on the cheapest paid plan: Creator: unlimited visual automations and sequences
Users on the scenario plan: 2 users (Admin or Editor); unlimited on Pro
SMS: Listed on Creator; price not stated
Paid newsletters: Every plan; 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Hosting providers' only (AWS, Cloudflare)
Data location: Not stated; transfers to the US under the DPF or SCCs
SSO: Not listed
Contact export: CSV export of subscribers
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Kit is a creator-first platform with the largest free plan in this group and paid newsletters on every plan. Automations start on Creator, and its compliance file relies on its hosting providers.
Choose it if: You are a creator or solo publisher who wants to start free with a sizeable list. · You want to sell paid newsletters or digital products from the same account. · You prefer a bill based on subscribers, with unlimited sending.
Look elsewhere if: Your security review asks for the vendor’s own SOC 2 or ISO 27001 report, or SSO. · Several teammates need their own logins on a mid-priced plan.
Compared with: beehiiv (https://proofyo.com/products/beehiiv) — pick Kit when You want a larger free plan (10,000 subscribers), SMS on Creator, and a lower price at 5,000 subscribers ($89 versus $109).; pick beehiiv when You want a SOC 2 Type 2 report from the vendor, an ad network, and no transaction fee on paid subscriptions. | Mailchimp (https://proofyo.com/products/mailchimp) — pick Kit when You run a creator newsletter, want paid subscriptions, or want to start free up to 10,000 subscribers.; pick Mailchimp when You need 5 seats with roles, ISO 27001 in the vendor’s name and integrations for a store.
Strengths:
- Largest free plan here: Up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, landing pages and forms, at no cost. (beehiiv’s free plan stops at 2,500 subscribers and Mailchimp’s at 250 contacts.)
- Paid newsletters on every plan: Paid newsletters, recurring subscriptions, digital products and tip jars are on every plan, at 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction. (Mailchimp, Klaviyo and Brevo do not list paid newsletters.)
- Simple billing: Billed on confirmed subscribers only, with no email limit, and moved up a published tier automatically as the list grows.
- Trial without a card: Creator and Pro start with a 14-day trial that needs no credit card. (Mailchimp’s 14-day trial needs payment details.)
Things to know:
- Automations start on Creator: The free plan has no email sequences or visual automations; they start on Creator ($89 a month at 5,000 subscribers). Workaround: The free plan can deliver an opt-in incentive automatically when someone signs up.
- Security file relies on hosting providers: The security page cites AWS's and Cloudflare's SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications, not a report for Kit itself, and lists no SSO. Workaround: The DPA applies to all customers, and multi-factor sign-in is available.
- Two users on Creator: Creator allows the owner plus one team member, with Admin or Editor roles; more users need Pro ($139 a month at 5,000 subscribers).
Pricing reality: Kit bills on confirmed subscribers, not emails sent. For our scenario, Creator costs $89 a month for 3,001 to 5,000 subscribers, before tax, or $890 a year (10 times the monthly price). Pro costs $139 a month at the same size, with 25% off the first year of an annual plan until Nov 7, 2026. When the list passes a tier, Kit moves the account to the next tier automatically and prorates the difference. Paid newsletters and product sales cost 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction, and Paid Recommendations keep a 23.5% fee. A large import may temporarily suspend the account until Kit lifts it. The pricing page does not say what SMS costs.
Exit path: Subscribers, or any segment, can be exported to CSV from the Subscribers page, with the file sent by email. The API documentation is available on every plan.

### beehiiv

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/beehiiv
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/beehiiv
Category: Email marketing and newsletters
Vendor: beehiiv Inc.
Tagline: A newsletter platform with a website, ad network, paid subscriptions and referral program; free up to 2,500 subscribers, Lite $109 a month for 5,000.
Value: A newsletter business in one place: website, ad network, paid subscriptions, referrals and recommendations, with unlimited sends on every plan.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Saves engineering time
Value detail: beehiiv bundles what a newsletter publisher would otherwise assemble from several tools: a website and landing pages, a recommendation network, a referral program, an ad network that monetizes sends, paid subscriptions with a 0% take rate and digital products. Sends are unlimited on every plan, and you pay by subscriber tier: Lite is $109 a month for up to 5,000 subscribers, or $95 billed yearly. The trust center offers a SOC 2 Type 2 report, achieved in January 2026.
- Ad network and recommendations: From Lite, the beehiiv ad network monetizes sends, and the recommendation network and referral program help grow the list. (Pricing page plan cards and comparison (2026-10-16))
- Website and paid subscriptions built in: Every plan includes a website, podcast hosting, a community and digital products; Lite adds paid subscriptions with a 0% take rate, minus Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30. (Pricing page FAQ and comparison (2026-10-16))
- Unlimited sends on every plan: The FAQ says every plan includes unlimited email sends, so sending more often does not raise the bill. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-16))
Best for: Newsletter publishers who want to earn from ads and paid subscriptions and run their website from the same place.
Things to know: Removing beehiiv branding starts on Pro, and SSO, audit logs and role permissions are on Enterprise only.
Score: 6.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $59/mo (Lite (1,000 subscribers, monthly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Subscriber tier; unlimited sends
Free plan: 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, welcome email only
Reference scenario (5,000 contacts, monthly): $109/mo on Lite (up to 5,000 subscribers)
Annual billing: Up to 20% off ($95/mo for the scenario on Lite)
Automation on the cheapest paid plan: Lite: 10 live custom automations
Users on the scenario plan: 2 seats on Lite; 10 on Pro
SMS: Not offered
Paid newsletters: From Lite, 0% take rate (Stripe fees apply)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 (since Jan 22, 2026); ISO 27001 not stated
Data location: United States (AWS)
SSO: Enterprise only
Contact export: Data exports on every plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, beehiiv is a newsletter business platform with unlimited sends and monetization from Lite, backed by a SOC 2 Type 2 report. Branding removal starts on Pro and team controls on Enterprise.
Choose it if: You publish a newsletter and want to earn from ads and paid subscriptions. · You want a website and landing pages in the same tool. · You send often and want sending to stay unlimited.
Look elsewhere if: You need SSO, audit logs or role permissions without an enterprise contract. · You need SMS or EU data storage.
Compared with: Kit (https://proofyo.com/products/kit) — pick beehiiv when You want an ad network, paid subscriptions with no beehiiv fee, and a SOC 2 Type 2 report from the vendor.; pick Kit when You want a larger free plan (10,000 subscribers), SMS, and a lower price at 5,000 subscribers ($89 on Creator). | Mailchimp (https://proofyo.com/products/mailchimp) — pick beehiiv when You publish a newsletter you want to monetize, with unlimited sends.; pick Mailchimp when You run marketing for a business and need 5 seats with roles, SMS and store integrations.
Strengths:
- Monetization built in: From Lite: the ad network, paid subscriptions with a 0% take rate, coupons, metered paywalls and a referral program. (Kit charges 3.5% + 30¢ per paid-newsletter transaction; Mailchimp, Klaviyo and Brevo do not list paid newsletters.)
- Unlimited sends: Every plan includes unlimited email sends, so frequent publishing does not raise the price. (Brevo stops sending at the monthly email limit of the chosen tier.)
- Own SOC 2 Type 2: The trust center lists a SOC 2 Type II report, available on request, and continuous monitoring by Secureframe. (Kit's security page names only its hosting providers' certifications.)
- Trial without a card: The free plan and the trial of Lite and Pro start without a credit card.
Things to know:
- Branding removal starts on Pro: beehiiv branding stays on Free and Lite; removing it needs Pro ($199 a month at 5,000 subscribers).
- Team controls on Enterprise: SSO, audit logs and granular role permissions are on Enterprise only; Lite has 2 seats and Pro 10. Workaround: 2FA is available on every plan.
- No SMS, data in the US: The pricing pages list no SMS channel, and data is stored in AWS regions in the United States.
Pricing reality: beehiiv bills by subscriber tier with unlimited sends. For our scenario, Lite costs $109 a month for up to 5,000 subscribers, before tax, or $95 a month billed yearly ($1,140 a year). Free stops at 2,500 subscribers. Pro, at $199 a month for the same list, adds branding removal, unlimited automations, the Send API and 10 seats. Paid subscriptions carry a 0% beehiiv take rate, but Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Some Lite and Pro features (ad network, recommendations, extra seats) are not available during the trial. Enterprise, with SSO and audit logs, is priced by sales.
Exit path: The comparison table lists data exports on every plan, and the API (without the Send API below Pro) is available on every plan. The DPA forms part of the terms.

## Category: Scheduling and booking software

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/scheduling

### Cal.com

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/cal-com
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/cal-com
Category: Scheduling and booking software
Vendor: Cal.com, Inc.
Tagline: Scheduling with a free plan for one user that takes payments, and round robin, routing forms and managed events on Teams at $12 per user billed yearly.
Value: A free plan that already takes paid bookings, team routing and round robin from $12 per user, and SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA BAA with a published price.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: One person can run real bookings on the free plan: unlimited event types and calendars, Stripe and PayPal payments and two-way Salesforce and HubSpot sync. A team gets round robin, collective and managed event types, routing forms and Insights on Teams at $12 per user a month billed yearly, $36 a month for 3 hosts (computed). The security page offers Cal.com’s own SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate, and the HIPAA page prices a BAA instead of leaving it to sales.
- A free plan built for use: The Individuals plan is free forever for one user, with unlimited event types and calendar connections, Stripe and PayPal payments, and two-way Salesforce and HubSpot sync. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Team routing at $12 per user: Teams adds round robin (including round-robin groups and fixed hosts), collective and managed event types, routing forms, Insights and branding removal. (Pricing page plan cards and feature breakdown (2026-10-16))
- Audits and a priced BAA: The security page offers the DPA, a SOC 2 Type II report, an ISO 27001 certificate and a penetration test report. The HIPAA page prices a BAA at $300 a month on Teams or below 15 Organizations users, and includes it above that and on Enterprise. (Security page and HIPAA compliance page (2026-10-16))
- Webhooks, API and public code: Webhooks are on every plan, API keys are created in the security settings, and the source code is published on GitHub with an MIT license file; the docs describe a self-hosted Docker setup. (Pricing page, API v2 introduction, GitHub repository and self-hosting docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that want round robin and routing forms at a low per-user price, and individuals who need a free plan that can take payments.
Things to know: SAML SSO, audit logs and role-based permissions start on Organizations ($28 per user billed yearly), and EU hosting is for Enterprise customers with at least 50 users.
Score: 8.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $12/user/mo (Teams (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; text and WhatsApp messages use credits
Free option: Free plan for 1 user (unlimited event types and calendars, payments); 14-day trial of Teams and Organizations
Reference scenario (3 hosts, annual): $36/mo on Teams ($12 × 3), computed
Month-to-month price: $16 per user on Teams ($37 Organizations)
Round robin from: Teams ($12 per user, billed yearly)
Payments and SMS reminders: Stripe and PayPal on every plan; SMS by credits, 750 per member a month on Teams
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate (security page)
HIPAA BAA: $300/mo below 15 Organizations users; included from 15 users and on Enterprise
EU data hosting: Cal.eu for Enterprise, at least 50 users, by waitlist
SSO: SAML and SCIM on Organizations ($28 per user, billed yearly)
API and export: Webhooks on every plan; API v2; Insights CSV download from Teams
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Cal.com gives the most for the money here: a usable free plan, team routing from $12 per user and audits in its own name. SSO and audit logs start on Organizations, text messages run on credits, and a few pages place HIPAA and EU hosting differently.
Choose it if: You need a free plan that already takes payments. · You want round robin, routing forms and managed events at $12 per user billed yearly. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, or you need a HIPAA BAA with a published price.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO or an audit log on the entry team plan. · You need EU data hosting below Enterprise size. · You want text reminders without tracking a credit balance.
Compared with: Calendly (https://proofyo.com/products/calendly) — pick Cal.com when You want a free plan that takes payments, round robin at $12 per user billed yearly, and a HIPAA BAA with a published price.; pick Calendly when You want SAML SSO added to the round-robin plan rather than a plan change, and Salesforce and Marketo on Teams. | Zoho Bookings (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-bookings) — pick Cal.com when You want routing forms, payments, text messages and branding removal on the round-robin plan.; pick Zoho Bookings when You want the lowest cost for 3 hosts ($18 a month on Basic, billed yearly) and EU hosting chosen at sign-up. | Acuity Scheduling (https://proofyo.com/products/acuity-scheduling) — pick Cal.com when You book meetings across a team and want routing forms, collective events and SSO on a self-serve plan.; pick Acuity Scheduling when You run a service business and want packages, memberships, gift certificates and a HIPAA BAA signed in the app.
Strengths:
- Free plan that takes payments: One user gets unlimited event types and calendars, Stripe and PayPal payments, two-way Salesforce and HubSpot sync and webhooks at no cost. (The Calendly and Zoho Bookings free plans allow one event type and one calendar, without payments.)
- Low price for team routing: Round robin, collective and managed event types, routing forms and branding removal are on Teams at $12 per user billed yearly. (Calendly puts round robin and routing forms on Teams at $16 per seat billed yearly.)
- Audits in its own name: The security page offers a SOC 2 Type II report, an ISO 27001 certificate and a penetration test report alongside the DPA. (SavvyCal says it does not hold SOC 2 or ISO 27001; the Acuity and Squarespace pages we read name neither.)
- HIPAA BAA with a published price: A BAA is $300 a month on Teams or below 15 Organizations users, and included from 15 Organizations users and on Enterprise. (Calendly says it is not designed for HIPAA; Zoho sends its BAA template on request.)
Things to know:
- SSO and audit logs start on Organizations: SAML SSO, SCIM, role-based permissions and audit logs are on Organizations ($28 per user billed yearly), not Teams. Workaround: Organizations has its own 14-day trial and is bought online.
- Text messages are billed by credits: Teams includes 750 credits per member a month; beyond that, and on the free plan, each message costs Twilio’s rate for the country plus an 80% fee, charged per 160-character segment. Workaround: When credits run out, messages fall back to email, and low-balance alerts go to admins.
- EU hosting needs Enterprise: Cal.eu is offered to Enterprise customers with at least 50 users, with early access through a waitlist; the privacy policy says data is otherwise processed in the US. Workaround: The privacy policy asks customers who need EU residency to write to privacy@cal.com.
- Pages differ on HIPAA and EU hosting: The feature breakdown, the plan cards, the HIPAA page and the Cal.eu page place HIPAA and EU hosting on different plans. Workaround: The HIPAA and Cal.eu pages give the most specific terms; confirm them before you buy.
Pricing reality: Cal.com bills each user per month; yearly billing is 25% below monthly (the page’s label). For our scenario, 3 hosts on Teams cost 3 × $12 = $36 a month billed yearly, or 3 × $16 = $48 month to month (computed), before tax. That covers round robin, collective and managed event types, routing forms, Insights, branding removal and 750 messaging credits per member a month. Costs rise with Organizations ($28 per user, so $84 a month for 3 users billed yearly, computed) for SSO, SCIM, roles and audit logs; with a HIPAA BAA at $300 a month below 15 Organizations users; and with extra messaging credits at $0.01 each. Enterprise is priced by sales. The terms say fees are non-refundable unless the agreement or the law requires a refund.
Exit path: The terms let you export customer data with the export features during the term, and return and deletion of personal data follow the DPA. Insights downloads its current view as a CSV file, and the API v2 lists bookings. Plans renew for the same period unless cancelled before the renewal date, and cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period.

### Zoho Bookings

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-bookings
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/zoho-bookings
Category: Scheduling and booking software
Vendor: Zoho Corporation
Tagline: Appointment scheduling from Zoho with a free plan for one user, and round robin and collective bookings on Basic at $6 per user billed yearly.
Value: Round robin and collective team booking from $6 per user, backed by Zoho’s SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 audits and connected to Zoho CRM and other Zoho apps.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included, Built-in reach
Value detail: Basic, at $6 per user a month billed yearly, covers round robin with four distribution methods, collective bookings, user roles, email workflows and Zoho CRM sync, the lowest price for a 3-host team in this category ($18 a month, computed). Zoho’s compliance page lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for its cloud services and names Zoho Bookings in its SOC 2 + HIPAA report, and the data center follows the country chosen at sign-up, with EU centers in Amsterdam and Dublin. Premium ($9) adds routing forms, payments, SMS and WhatsApp, white labeling and an audit log.
- Team booking on the $6 plan: Basic includes round robin (load-balancing, priority-based, round-robin or default distribution), collective bookings, pooled availability, booking reassignment and user roles. (Pricing page and plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Zoho-wide audits: The compliance page lists SOC 2 Type 2 for all Zoho cloud services, ISO/IEC 27001 for all cloud services (valid to Aug 21, 2028), and a SOC 2 + HIPAA Type 2 report that names Zoho Bookings. (Zoho compliance page (2026-10-16))
- Data center chosen at sign-up: Zoho picks the data center from the country chosen at sign-up; the EU centers are in Amsterdam and Dublin. (Zoho Know Your Datacenter page (2026-10-16))
- Connected to Zoho apps: Zoho CRM sync starts on the free plan, Zoho SalesIQ and Zoho Assist on Basic, Bigin and Zoho Books on Premium, and Zoho One customers get Premium. (Plan comparison and pricing FAQ (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams on a budget, and businesses already on Zoho CRM or Zoho One, that want round robin and collective booking with audited infrastructure and EU hosting.
Things to know: Routing forms, payments, text messages, branding removal and the audit log start on Premium ($9 per user billed yearly), and the HIPAA BAA is a template you request from Zoho’s legal team.
Score: 7.0/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $6/user/mo (Basic (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; extra workspaces and resources as add-ons
Free option: Free plan for 1 user (1 event type, 1 calendar); 15-day Premium trial, no card
Reference scenario (3 hosts, annual): $18/mo on Basic ($6 × 3), computed
Month-to-month price: $8 per user on Basic ($12 Premium)
Round robin from: Basic ($6 per user, billed yearly)
Payments and SMS reminders: Payments and SMS through your own provider on Premium ($9)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for Zoho cloud services
HIPAA BAA: BAA template on request from Zoho legal; HIPAA data masking on Premium
EU data hosting: EU data centers (Amsterdam, Dublin), chosen by sign-up country
SSO: SAML SSO stated in a buyer’s guide; plan not named
API and export: API on every plan; appointments export as CSV or XLSX on every plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Zoho Bookings is the lowest-cost way here to give a 3-host team round robin and collective booking, with Zoho’s audits and EU hosting behind it. Payments, text messages, routing forms and the audit log sit on Premium, and the plan for SSO is not stated.
Choose it if: You want round robin and collective booking for a team at the lowest per-user price here. · You already use Zoho CRM or Zoho One. · You need EU data hosting chosen at sign-up, or audited infrastructure.
Look elsewhere if: You need payments, text reminders or routing forms on the entry plan. · You need a signed HIPAA BAA without contacting the vendor. · You rely on webhooks to connect your own systems.
Compared with: Cal.com (https://proofyo.com/products/cal-com) — pick Zoho Bookings when You want the lowest cost for 3 hosts ($18 a month on Basic, billed yearly) and EU hosting chosen at sign-up.; pick Cal.com when You want routing forms, payments, text messages and branding removal on the round-robin plan, and a BAA with a published price. | Calendly (https://proofyo.com/products/calendly) — pick Zoho Bookings when You want round robin at $6 rather than $16 per user billed yearly, EU hosting and a path to a HIPAA BAA.; pick Calendly when You want routing forms, payments and text reminders on the round-robin plan, and 24/7 chat support from Standard. | Acuity Scheduling (https://proofyo.com/products/acuity-scheduling) — pick Zoho Bookings when You want a free plan, collective bookings and SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits.; pick Acuity Scheduling when You want payments and text reminders without a higher plan, and a HIPAA BAA you sign in the app.
Strengths:
- Lowest price for a team here: Round robin and collective bookings are on Basic: $18 a month for 3 hosts billed yearly, $24 month to month (computed). (SavvyCal Basic comes to $30 and Cal.com Teams to $36 a month for 3 users (billed yearly, computed).)
- Audits from the parent company: Zoho lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for all of its cloud services, and its SOC 2 + HIPAA report names Zoho Bookings. (SavvyCal says it does not hold SOC 2 or ISO 27001; the Acuity and Squarespace pages we read name neither.)
- EU hosting without a sales call: The data center follows the country chosen at sign-up, with EU centers in Amsterdam and Dublin. (Cal.com offers EU hosting to Enterprise customers with at least 50 users; Calendly’s DPA says processing occurs in the US.)
- Export and API on every plan: Admins export appointments or customers as CSV or XLSX on all plans, and the plan comparison lists API support on Free, Basic and Premium.
Things to know:
- Payments, text messages and routing on Premium: Online payments, routing forms, SMS and WhatsApp notifications, white labeling and the audit log all need Premium ($9 per user billed yearly). Workaround: The 15-day trial runs on Premium, so these features can be tried before choosing a plan.
- Text messages need your own provider: SMS goes through an SMS gateway you connect, such as Twilio or SMS Magic, on Premium. Workaround: Confirmation, reminder, cancellation and no-show emails are on every plan.
- HIPAA BAA by request: Zoho’s HIPAA page says the BAA template is sent on request from legal@zohocorp.com and names the services it covers; the plan comparison lists HIPAA data masking on Premium. Workaround: Confirm that the BAA lists Zoho Bookings before storing patient data, as the HIPAA page advises.
- Plan for SSO and webhooks not stated: A buyer’s guide says Bookings supports SAML SSO, but the plan comparison does not list it, and the pages we read describe no webhooks.
Pricing reality: Zoho Bookings bills each user per month; yearly billing is 25% below monthly. For our scenario, 3 hosts on Basic cost 3 × $6 = $18 a month billed yearly, or 3 × $8 = $24 month to month (computed), before tax. That covers round robin, collective bookings, user roles, email workflows, Zapier and Zoho CRM sync. Premium ($9 billed yearly, $12 monthly; $27 or $36 a month for 3 users, computed) is needed for routing forms, payments, SMS and WhatsApp, white labeling, custom domains, the audit log and more than one workspace. Premium includes three workspaces; more cost $12 a month each billed yearly ($15 monthly), and bookable resources such as rooms cost $9 a month each billed yearly ($12 monthly). Text messages go through your own SMS provider and payments through your own gateway. Zoho One includes Premium.
Exit path: Admins export appointments or customers as CSV or XLSX from Admin Center > Data Administration > Export Data on every plan, and the API is on every plan, the free one included. The FAQ says you can cancel at any time without penalties, and data and settings stay after a trial ends.

### Calendly

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/calendly
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/calendly
Category: Scheduling and booking software
Vendor: Calendly LLC
Tagline: Per-seat scheduling with round robin, routing forms and CRM routing on Teams at $16 per seat billed yearly, and a free plan for one event type.
Value: Booking links with round robin, routing forms and CRM routing for sales and recruiting teams, backed by Calendly’s own SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Built-in reach, Compliance included
Value detail: Standard, at $10 per seat a month billed yearly, gives each user unlimited event types, six calendar connections, group and collective meetings, reminders and workflows, Stripe and PayPal payments and webhooks. Teams ($16) adds round robin, routing forms that send qualified leads to the right teammate, admin-managed event types, and Salesforce and Marketo, so a sales or recruiting team does not build that routing itself. The security page lists SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3, CSA STAR, PCI and ISO/IEC 27001.
- Lead routing on Teams: The plan table puts forms that screen invitees and route leads, from Calendly forms or existing HubSpot, Pardot or Marketo forms, on Teams, along with routing by HubSpot assignment; routing by Salesforce assignment is on Enterprise. (Pricing page plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Integrations from Standard: HubSpot, Mailchimp, Zapier, Google Analytics and Meta Pixel come with Standard; Salesforce and Marketo with Teams; Microsoft Dynamics 365 with Enterprise. (Pricing page plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Admin-managed event types: Managed events let an owner or admin share an event template, lock the sections teammates may not edit and sync changes to every copy. (Help center: Managed events overview (2026-10-16))
- Audits in its own name: The security page lists SOC 2 (Type 2), SOC 3, CSA STAR, PCI compliance and ISO/IEC 27001, with further documents in a trust center. (Security page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Sales, recruiting and customer teams that route inbound leads to the right person and connect bookings to their CRM.
Things to know: There is no HIPAA BAA or EU data hosting, SAML SSO is an add-on on Teams with no published price, and SCIM and the audit log are on Enterprise (from $15,000 a year).
Score: 6.9/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $10/seat/mo (Standard (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month; invitees need no seat
Free option: Free plan (1 event type, 1 calendar); 14-day Teams Plus trial for new users
Reference scenario (3 hosts, annual): $48/mo on Teams ($16 × 3), computed
Month-to-month price: $20 per seat on Teams ($12 Standard)
Round robin from: Teams ($16 per seat, billed yearly)
Payments and SMS reminders: Stripe and PayPal, and text reminders, from Standard
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 (security page)
HIPAA BAA: Not offered; the help center says Calendly is not designed for HIPAA
EU data hosting: Not offered; the DPA says processing occurs in the US
SSO: SAML as a Teams add-on (price not published) or on Enterprise
API and export: API on every plan; webhooks and meeting CSV export from Standard
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Calendly is a full-featured scheduler for sales and recruiting teams, with routing, round robin and CRM integrations on Teams and audits in its own name. It costs more per host than the other per-user tools here and offers no HIPAA BAA or EU hosting.
Choose it if: You route inbound leads or candidates to the right person and sync meetings to Salesforce or HubSpot. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 from the vendor itself. · You want 24/7 chat support from the first paid plan.
Look elsewhere if: You handle health information and need a HIPAA BAA. · You need EU data hosting. · You need SAML SSO at a published price.
Compared with: Cal.com (https://proofyo.com/products/cal-com) — pick Calendly when You want SAML SSO added to the round-robin plan rather than a plan change, and Salesforce and Marketo on Teams.; pick Cal.com when You want a free plan that takes payments, round robin at $12 per user billed yearly, and a HIPAA BAA with a published price. | Zoho Bookings (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-bookings) — pick Calendly when You want routing forms, payments and text reminders on the round-robin plan.; pick Zoho Bookings when You want the lowest cost for 3 hosts ($18 a month on Basic, billed yearly) and EU data hosting. | SavvyCal (https://proofyo.com/products/savvycal) — pick Calendly when You need routing forms, text reminders, payments on the round-robin plan, or SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports.; pick SavvyCal when You want round robin on a $10 plan and a booking page where invitees overlay their own calendar.
Strengths:
- Routing and round robin on one plan: Teams ($16 per seat billed yearly) combines round robin, routing forms, admin-managed event types and Salesforce and Marketo. (SavvyCal and Acuity Scheduling list no routing forms; Zoho Bookings puts them on Premium.)
- Integrations from the first paid plan: HubSpot, Mailchimp, Zapier, Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, Stripe and PayPal all come with Standard ($10 per seat billed yearly).
- Audits in its own name: The security page lists SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3, CSA STAR, PCI and ISO/IEC 27001. (SavvyCal says it does not hold SOC 2 or ISO 27001; the Acuity and Squarespace pages we read name neither.)
- Support on paid plans: The plan table lists 24/7 email support on every plan, 24/7 chat support from Standard and phone support on Enterprise.
- API on every plan: The API overview lists all plans, the Free plan included; webhooks start on Standard.
Things to know:
- Not designed for health data: The AI at Calendly help article says Calendly is not currently designed for HIPAA compliance, that protected health information should not be submitted, and that a BAA is therefore not applicable. Workaround: Keep health details out of booking questions and notifications.
- SSO price not published; SCIM and audit log on Enterprise: SAML SSO needs the SSO add-on on Teams or Teams Plus, or Enterprise; the add-on has no published price. SCIM, the activity (audit) log and domain control are on Enterprise. Workaround: Enterprise publishes a starting price: $15,000 a year for at least 50 seats.
- Round robin starts on Teams: Standard ($10) includes collective and group meetings but not round robin, so spreading bookings across 3 hosts costs $48 a month billed yearly on Teams (computed). Workaround: New users start with a 14-day trial of Teams Plus, so round robin and routing can be tried first.
- Firm renewal terms: The Customer Terms say fees are non-refundable, plan downgrades and seat reductions take effect at the end of the term, and renewals may include a CPI plus 3% increase. Workaround: Month-to-month prices are published for Standard and Teams.
Pricing reality: Calendly bills each seat per month; invitees need no seat. Yearly billing is 17% below monthly on Standard and 20% on Teams (the page’s labels). For our scenario, 3 hosts on Teams cost 3 × $16 = $48 a month billed yearly, or 3 × $20 = $60 month to month (computed), before tax. That covers round robin, routing forms, managed event types, Salesforce and Marketo, plus everything in Standard. Costs rise with Teams Plus ($24 per seat billed yearly, $32 monthly) for the Notetaker, Callie and advanced admin controls; with the SSO add-on, whose price is not published; and with Enterprise, from $15,000 a year for at least 50 seats, for SCIM, the audit log and domain control. Payment by invoice is offered from $5,000 a year on Standard or Teams.
Exit path: Meeting data exports as a CSV file from the Calendar page (invitee details, event type, date, location and Stripe and PayPal payment details) on Standard and above, and the API is on every plan. Downgrades and seat reductions take effect at the end of the current term; deleting an account takes effect immediately. Enterprise adds a Data Deletion API.

### Acuity Scheduling

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/acuity-scheduling
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/acuity-scheduling
Category: Scheduling and booking software
Vendor: Squarespace, Inc.
Tagline: Client booking for service businesses, with payments, intake forms, packages and a HIPAA BAA on Premium, priced per account from $16 a month billed annually.
Value: Client self-booking with payments, intake forms, packages and memberships for a service business, priced per account rather than per staff member.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Clients pick a service, a time and, if you allow it, a staff member, then pay or leave a deposit through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo and fill in your intake form. Standard, at $27 a month billed annually, covers up to 6 staff or location calendars with text reminders, a waitlist, packages, memberships and gift certificates, so a small studio or practice does not pay per seat. On Premium a health practice can sign a HIPAA BAA with Squarespace from the account settings, without a sales call.
- One price for up to 6 calendars: Standard covers up to 6 calendars for $27 a month billed annually; staff log in as contributors, which are unlimited when Acuity is used on its own. (Pricing page and help: Starting an Acuity Scheduling trial (2026-10-16))
- Payments, packages and gift certificates: Every plan takes payments and deposits through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo; Standard adds packages (including payment plans), memberships and gift certificates. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- HIPAA BAA signed in the app: On Premium you open Scheduling Page settings and sign the BAA; HIPAA-enabled accounts get extra protections, such as form answers left out of notification emails and a logout after four hours of inactivity. (Help: Acuity Scheduling and HIPAA (2026-10-16))
- Bookings spread across staff: With two or more calendars, clients can choose "Any available", and the appointment goes to the calendar with the fewest appointments that day or by a priority order you set. (Help: Pooling calendar availability (2026-10-16))
Best for: Salons, studios, tutors, coaches and health practices whose clients book and pay for services, with up to 6 staff or locations on Standard.
Things to know: There is no free plan, the API and logo removal start on Premium ($55 a month billed annually), and the pages we read name no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 report.
Score: 5.0/10
Free option: 7-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $16/mo (Starter (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per account, by number of calendars (staff or locations)
Free option: No free plan; 7-day trial, no card (14 days when added to a Squarespace site)
Reference scenario (3 hosts, annual): $27/mo on Standard (up to 6 calendars), computed
Month-to-month price: $34 on Standard ($20 / $34 / $69 for the three plans)
Round robin from: Standard ($27 a month billed annually), with two or more calendars
Payments and SMS reminders: Stripe, Square, PayPal and Venmo on every plan; text reminders from Standard
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated on the pages we read
HIPAA BAA: Premium ($55), signed in the app
EU data hosting: Not offered; Squarespace stores data in US data centers
SSO: Not listed
API and export: Webhooks and CSV export on every plan; API on Premium
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Acuity Scheduling is built for service businesses: client booking with payments, intake forms and packages at one account price, and a HIPAA BAA on Premium. It lists no routing forms, collective meetings, SSO or audit reports.
Choose it if: Your clients book and pay for services such as sessions, lessons or appointments. · You want one account price for up to 6 staff or location calendars. · You need a HIPAA BAA you can sign without a sales call.
Look elsewhere if: You need routing forms, collective meetings or SAML SSO. · Your security review requires SOC 2 or ISO 27001 reports. · You want a permanent free plan.
Compared with: Calendly (https://proofyo.com/products/calendly) — pick Acuity Scheduling when You sell services to clients and want packages, memberships, gift certificates, a HIPAA BAA and one account price for up to 6 staff calendars.; pick Calendly when You book sales or recruiting meetings and want routing forms, collective events and Salesforce on the round-robin plan. | Cal.com (https://proofyo.com/products/cal-com) — pick Acuity Scheduling when You want Square or Venmo payments, gift certificates and text reminders without a credit balance.; pick Cal.com when You want a free plan, routing forms, and SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports at $12 per user billed yearly. | Zoho Bookings (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-bookings) — pick Acuity Scheduling when You want payments and text reminders without moving to a higher plan, and a BAA you sign in the app.; pick Zoho Bookings when You want a free plan, collective bookings and a lower cost for 3 hosts ($18 a month on Basic, billed yearly), with EU hosting chosen at sign-up.
Strengths:
- Priced per account, not per seat: Standard covers up to 6 staff or location calendars for $27 a month billed annually. (Calendly and Cal.com charge per user: 3 hosts cost $48 and $36 a month on their round-robin plans (billed yearly, computed).)
- Four payment processors on every plan: Starter already takes payments and deposits through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo. (Calendly connects Stripe and PayPal from Standard; Zoho Bookings takes payments on Premium.)
- Built to sell services: Standard adds packages (including payment plans), memberships, gift certificates and a waitlist for fully booked times.
- HIPAA BAA without a sales call: Premium accounts sign the BAA in the app and can download it at any time. (Calendly says it is not designed for HIPAA; Zoho sends its BAA template on request.)
- Text reminders at no message charge: The plans article says text messages Acuity sends to you or your clients are free to you; clients pay their standard messaging rates. (Cal.com charges credits for text messages beyond 750 per member a month on Teams.)
Things to know:
- No collective meetings or routing forms listed: The pricing page and plan table list client self-scheduling and intake forms, but no bookings with several staff members at once and no routing forms. Workaround: Pooled "Any available" booking spreads appointments across staff calendars, and intake forms collect client details before the appointment.
- API and logo removal on Premium: API access, custom CSS and hiding the "Powered by Acuity Scheduling" footer need Premium ($55 a month billed annually). Workaround: Webhooks for booking and purchase activity are available on every plan.
- No SSO or EU hosting listed: Acuity accounts log in through Squarespace with Google, Apple or an email address, and Squarespace stores data in data centers across the United States. Workaround: Access levels (View Only, View & Edit, Admin) limit what each staff member can see and change.
- The trial cannot send messages: Emails and automated text messages are off during the trial, so reminders can only be tested after you subscribe. Workaround: Monthly billing allows a first month before committing to a year, and Squarespace-billed annual plans cancelled within 14 days are refunded in full.
Pricing reality: Acuity bills the account, not each user, and the price steps up with the number of calendars; annual terms are about 20% below monthly (the page says "Save 20%"). For our scenario, 3 hosts with their own calendars need Standard (up to 6 calendars): $27 a month billed annually ($324 a year), or $34 month to month (computed), before tax. That covers payments, text reminders, a waitlist, packages, memberships and gift certificates. Premium ($55 billed annually, $69 monthly) is needed for more than 6 calendars, the HIPAA BAA, hiding the Acuity logo, per-staff time zones and the API. Payment processors charge their own fees, which Acuity does not add to; text messages are free to you. Enterprise, for more than 36 calendars or several locations under one dashboard, is priced by sales. The FAQ lists no setup, cancellation or support fees.
Exit path: Appointments export as a CSV file from Reports (a date range, cancelled appointments optional, intake form answers included), and the client list exports from Clients. After a Squarespace-billed subscription ends, you can still view past appointments and export client data, but clients cannot book. Squarespace-billed annual plans cancelled in the first 14 days are refunded in full.

### SavvyCal

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/savvycal
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/savvycal
Category: Scheduling and booking software
Vendor: SavvyCal, Inc.
Tagline: Scheduling links where invitees can overlay their own calendar, with team, round robin and collective links on Basic at $10 per user billed yearly.
Value: Scheduling links that are considerate to the person booking, who can overlay their own calendar, with team round robin and collective links on the $10 plan.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Worth the price
Value detail: SavvyCal focuses on the person booking: they can overlay their own calendar on your link, and you can rank preferred times instead of showing every open slot alike. Basic, at $10 per user a month billed yearly, already includes teams, round robin, collective and group links, workflows, CRM integrations, the API and webhooks, so a small team does not need the higher plan to share bookings. Premium adds custom domains, an assistant’s delegated access, branding removal and paid bookings through Stripe.
- Calendar overlay for invitees: The introduction article says the recipient can overlay their own calendar on your link to compare times; the security page says SavvyCal does not store copies of calendar events. (Knowledge base: Introduction to SavvyCal, and security page (2026-10-16))
- Team links on the entry plan: Basic includes teams and collective, round robin and group links; round robin can optimize for availability or for evenness. (Pricing page and knowledge base: Round robin scheduling links (2026-10-16))
- Ranked and optimized availability: Both plans include ranked and optimized availability, time blocking and frequency limits. (Pricing page plan table (2026-10-16))
- API, webhooks and export on Basic: The API and webhooks are on both plans, and the Events page exports upcoming, past and cancelled events as CSV. (Pricing page and knowledge base: Exporting event data (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small teams and individuals who share links with clients, candidates or partners and want booking to feel considerate, and who do not need SSO or audit reports.
Things to know: The pages list no SSO, text reminders, routing forms or HIPAA support, and SavvyCal says it does not hold SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certifications.
Score: 4.4/10
Free option: 7-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $10/user/mo (Basic (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; the seat count follows organization members
Free option: No free plan for booking links (meeting polls are free); 7-day trial per the buy-out page; refund within 30 days
Reference scenario (3 hosts, annual): $30/mo on Basic ($10 × 3), computed
Month-to-month price: $12 per user on Basic ($20 Premium)
Round robin from: Basic ($10 per user, billed yearly)
Payments and SMS reminders: Stripe paid bookings on Premium; text reminders not listed
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not held; the security page says its infrastructure providers hold them
HIPAA BAA: Not offered
EU data hosting: Not offered; hosted in the US (Virginia region)
SSO: Not listed
API and export: API and webhooks on Basic; events export as CSV
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, SavvyCal is a focused scheduling tool with a considerate booking page and team links on its $10 plan. It lists no SSO, text reminders, routing forms or certifications of its own, which is why it scores lowest here on our indicators.
Choose it if: You send scheduling links to clients or partners and want booking to be easy for them. · You want round robin and collective links on the entry plan. · You want the API and webhooks without a higher plan.
Look elsewhere if: Your security review requires SOC 2 or ISO 27001 reports, SSO or a HIPAA BAA. · You need text reminders or routing forms. · You want a permanent free plan for booking links.
Compared with: Calendly (https://proofyo.com/products/calendly) — pick SavvyCal when You want round robin and collective links on the entry plan ($30 a month for 3 users, billed yearly) and a 30-day refund window.; pick Calendly when You need routing forms, text reminders, payments on the round-robin plan, or SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports. | Cal.com (https://proofyo.com/products/cal-com) — pick SavvyCal when You want invitees to overlay their own calendar and a short, two-plan price list.; pick Cal.com when You want a free plan, routing forms, text messages and payments on the team plan, and SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports. | Zoho Bookings (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-bookings) — pick SavvyCal when You want the API, webhooks, team links and workflows together on the entry plan.; pick Zoho Bookings when You want a free plan, SOC 2 and ISO 27001, EU hosting and the lowest cost for 3 hosts ($18 a month on Basic, billed yearly).
Strengths:
- Booking that respects the invitee: Invitees can overlay their own calendar on your link, and you can rank preferred times instead of offering every open slot alike.
- Team links on Basic: Teams, round robin, collective and group links are on the $10 plan (billed yearly). (Calendly puts round robin on Teams ($16 per seat billed yearly).)
- API, webhooks and CSV export on the entry plan: Both plans include the API and webhooks, and events export as CSV with invitee details and answers to custom questions. (Acuity Scheduling keeps its API on Premium ($55 a month billed annually).)
- A 30-day refund window: The Terms of Use give a full refund when you cancel within 30 days of starting a subscription. (Calendly’s terms say fees are non-refundable.)
Things to know:
- No security certifications of its own: The security page (last updated January 16, 2023) says SavvyCal does not hold SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certifications, while its infrastructure providers do. Workaround: The page describes limited access to production, encrypted storage of connected-account tokens and no stored calendar events, and the DPA with Standard Contractual Clauses is part of the terms.
- Payments and branding removal on Premium: Paid bookings through Stripe, removing SavvyCal branding and custom domains need Premium ($17 per user billed yearly). Workaround: Premium is bought online, without a sales call.
- No SSO, text reminders, routing forms or HIPAA listed: The plan table and the pages we read list none of these. Workaround: Workflows send customized reminders and can create or update CRM records, and Zapier connects other tools.
- US hosting only: The app is hosted primarily in Fly.io’s Virginia region with the database on AWS us-east, and the DPA says processing occurs in the United States.
Pricing reality: SavvyCal bills each user per month, and inviting colleagues to the organization adjusts the seat count automatically. Yearly billing gives two months free. For our scenario, 3 hosts on Basic cost 3 × $10 = $30 a month billed yearly, or 3 × $12 = $36 month to month (computed), before tax. That covers teams, round robin, collective and group links, workflows, CRM integrations, the API and webhooks. Premium costs $17 per user billed yearly or $20 monthly ($51 or $60 a month for 3 users, computed) and is needed for custom domains, branding removal, delegated access and paid bookings through Stripe. Students, educators and non-profits can ask support for 25% off.
Exit path: The Events page exports upcoming, past and cancelled events as a CSV file, including invitee details and answers to custom questions. Cancelling keeps the subscription active to the end of the billing period, then deactivates links but keeps your data unless you delete the account; deleting the account is permanent. The Terms of Use give a full refund for cancellations within 30 days of starting a subscription.

## Category: Online forms and surveys

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/forms-surveys

### Tally

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/tally
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/tally
Category: Online forms and surveys
Vendor: Tally BV
Tagline: A form builder with unlimited forms and submissions free under fair use, payments, uploads, logic and the API included, and Pro at $24 a month billed yearly.
Value: Unlimited forms and submissions for free, with payments, uploads, logic and the API, and one flat Pro price for a whole team.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Tally’s free plan has no form or submission cap within its fair use policy and includes the features other builders keep for paid plans: conditional logic, Stripe payments with no Tally fee, file uploads, signatures, webhooks and the API. Pro, at $290 a year, removes the branding and adds custom domains, partial submissions and unlimited team members, with no per-seat price. Form data is stored in Europe on every plan, and the data processing agreement is part of the terms.
- No submission cap on the free plan: The pricing page offers unlimited forms and submissions free within fair use; the fair use policy names 50,000 submissions a month, kept up for three to four months, as high volume. (Pricing page and fair use policy (2026-10-16))
- Paid features from other builders, free: The help center says conditional logic, webhooks, the API and electronic signatures are free for all users, and that Tally adds no fee to Stripe payments. (Help center: logic, webhooks, API, signatures and payment forms (2026-10-16))
- One price for the whole team: Pro allows unlimited team members in shared workspaces for $290 a year or $29 a month, with custom domains and partial submissions. (Pricing page, Tally Pro and FAQ help articles (2026-10-16))
Best for: Startups, creators and small teams that collect many responses and want full-featured forms for free or at one flat team price.
Things to know: No SOC 2 or ISO 27001 yet (both in progress), no HIPAA support and no SAML SSO.
Score: 7.1/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $24/mo (Pro (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Flat rate
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat per plan; unlimited forms, submissions and team members under fair use
Free option: Free plan: unlimited forms and submissions under fair use, Tally branding
Reference scenario (1,000 responses/mo, no branding, annual): $24.17/mo on Pro ($290 a year, shown as $24/mo), computed
Month-to-month price: $29 on Pro ($29 / $89 for Pro and Business)
At the response limit: No plan cap; sustained use over 50,000 submissions a month leads to a custom plan
Branding removed: Pro ($24/mo billed yearly) and up
Payments and file uploads: Every plan; Stripe with no Tally fee; 10 MB per file on Free
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Both listed as in progress on the roadmap
HIPAA BAA: Not offered
EU data hosting: All form data stored in Europe, every plan
SSO: Not listed
Response export: CSV download and the API on every plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Tally gives the most for free: unlimited forms and submissions with logic, payments, uploads and the API, and Pro adds a whole team for $290 a year. Its security certifications are still in progress, and HIPAA and SSO are not offered.
Choose it if: You want unlimited forms and submissions for free, with logic, payments and uploads. · Your team wants one flat price with unlimited members. · You want form data stored in Europe on every plan.
Look elsewhere if: Your security review requires SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 today. · You need HIPAA, SAML SSO or an audit log.
Compared with: Fillout (https://proofyo.com/products/fillout) — pick Tally when You want no response cap, and partial submissions and a custom domain on a $290-a-year plan.; pick Fillout when You want a SOC 2 Type 2 statement today, form translations on Business, or SAML SSO and audit logs on Enterprise. | Typeform (https://proofyo.com/products/typeform) — pick Tally when You want unlimited free responses, EU data storage and unlimited members for $290 a year.; pick Typeform when Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 now, or you need HIPAA or SSO on Enterprise. | Jotform (https://proofyo.com/products/jotform) — pick Tally when Several people edit forms, or you need more than 5 free forms and 100 free submissions a month.; pick Jotform when You need a HIPAA BAA on a plan bought online, or forms translated into several languages.
Strengths:
- Unlimited free submissions: The free plan has no form or submission cap within fair use, with logic, payments, file uploads, signatures, webhooks and the API. (Fillout’s free plan allows 1,000 responses a month, Jotform’s 100 and Typeform’s 10.)
- Full form features on the scenario plan: Pro includes partial submissions, custom domains, uploads of any size and drop-off analytics, so every collection feature we score is on the $290-a-year plan. (Fillout keeps partial submissions and custom domains on Business ($900 a year); Typeform and Jotform keep custom domains on Enterprise.)
- Unlimited team members at one price: Pro has no per-seat charge: the FAQ says there is no limit on the users you invite. (Jotform’s plans below Enterprise are for one user; Typeform Plus has 3 seats.)
- Data stored in Europe: The GDPR article says all form data is encrypted in transit and at rest and stored in Europe, and the DPA is accepted with the terms, with no signature needed. (Typeform offers EU hosting to new Enterprise accounts only.)
Things to know:
- Security certifications in progress: The roadmap lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 as in progress, and the blog expects both by the end of 2026. HIPAA is not offered. Workaround: The DPA, the subprocessor list and two-factor authentication are available on every plan.
- No SSO, roles or audit log: No page offers SAML SSO or an audit log, and every member of an organisation has the same rights to create, edit and delete forms.
- "Unlimited" has fair use limits: Sustained use over 50,000 submissions a month, 100 GB of uploads a month or 500 GB stored leads to a custom plan billed quarterly, with no published price. Workaround: The fair use policy defines "consistently" as three to four months in a row.
- No trial and no refunds: The billing page says Tally does not offer free trials, and the refund policy refunds only after a prolonged technical outage. Workaround: Most features can be used on the free plan before upgrading, and Pro is sold month to month.
Pricing reality: Tally bills a flat price per plan for the whole organisation, with no per-seat or per-response charge. For our scenario, 1,000 responses a month without Tally branding, Pro costs $290 a year, or $24.17 a month (computed; the page shows $24), before tax; month to month it is $29. That includes unlimited team members, custom domains and partial submissions. Business ($890 a year) adds data retention control and respondent email verification. Costs rise only above the fair use limits, through a custom plan priced on past usage. Nonprofits get 30% off Pro for as long as they subscribe, and education 30% off for a year.
Exit path: Every plan can download all responses as CSV, sync to Google Sheets or read them through the free API. If Pro lapses, team members lose access to shared workspaces until it is restored; the pages do not say forms or responses are deleted. Deleting the account removes forms and submissions, and backups are purged within 90 days. Plans renew automatically.

### Fillout

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/fillout
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/fillout
Category: Online forms and surveys
Vendor: Restly, Inc.
Tagline: A form builder with 1,000 free responses a month, unlimited seats on every plan, and paid plans from $15 a month billed yearly.
Value: Forms with 1,000 free responses a month and unlimited seats, connected to Airtable, Notion, Google Sheets and your own API from the free plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Fillout’s free plan collects 1,000 responses a month with conditional logic, payments, file uploads, webhooks, the REST API and most integrations, and every plan lets a whole team edit forms with no per-seat charge. A team that sends form data to Airtable, Notion, Google Sheets or HubSpot can do it without a paid plan or a separate automation tool. Pro, at $480 a year, removes all branding; Business adds partial submissions, a custom domain and translations.
- 1,000 responses a month on the free plan: The pricing page lists unlimited seats, unlimited forms and 1,000 responses a month on Free, with logic, file uploads and payments; Fillout adds no fee to Stripe payments on any plan. (Pricing page and payment page help article (2026-10-16))
- Integrations and API on every plan: Airtable, Google Sheets, Notion, HubSpot, Mailchimp, webhooks and 50+ more integrations, and REST API access, are listed as included on all plans. (Pricing plan comparison and REST API help article (2026-10-16))
- No per-seat charge: The pricing page says there are no per-seat charges, and the help center says inviting team members is free on all plans. (Pricing page and invite collaborators help article (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that keep their data in Airtable, Notion or Google Sheets and want a generous free plan with unlimited seats.
Things to know: Partial submissions and a custom domain start on Business; EU hosting on the Team plan; HIPAA is not mentioned.
Score: 7.0/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $15/mo (Starter (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat per plan with a monthly response allowance; unlimited seats and forms
Free option: Free plan: 1,000 responses a month, unlimited forms and seats, Fillout badge
Reference scenario (1,000 responses/mo, no branding, annual): $40/mo on Pro ($480 a year), computed
Month-to-month price: $49 on Pro ($19 / $49 / $89 for Starter, Pro and Business)
At the response limit: Forms keep collecting; upgrade or wait for the reset, and repeated overage can lead to limits
Branding removed: Pro ($40/mo billed yearly) and up; Starter keeps light branding
Payments and file uploads: Every plan; no Fillout fee on payments; 20 MB per file below Business
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 compliance stated; ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU data hosting: Team plan ($250/mo billed yearly) and Enterprise, switched by support
SSO: SAML on Enterprise
Response export: CSV export and REST API on every plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Fillout pairs a 1,000-response free plan and unlimited seats with integrations and the API on every plan. Removing branding takes Pro at $480 a year, and several pages disagree on refunds, cancellation and hosting regions.
Choose it if: You want 1,000 free responses a month with logic, payments and uploads. · Your whole team should edit forms without paying per seat. · Your form data goes to Airtable, Notion, Google Sheets or your own API.
Look elsewhere if: You need HIPAA support or ISO 27001. · You need partial submissions or a custom domain below the Business plan.
Compared with: Tally (https://proofyo.com/products/tally) — pick Fillout when You want a SOC 2 Type 2 statement today, form translations on Business, or SAML SSO and audit logs on Enterprise.; pick Tally when You want no response cap and partial submissions and a custom domain on a $290-a-year plan. | Typeform (https://proofyo.com/products/typeform) — pick Fillout when You want 1,000 free responses a month, unlimited seats and forms that keep collecting over the allowance.; pick Typeform when You need ISO 27001 or a HIPAA path, or buyable response tiers. | Jotform (https://proofyo.com/products/jotform) — pick Fillout when Several people edit forms, or you need more than 100 free submissions a month.; pick Jotform when You need a HIPAA BAA, or EU storage as an account setting on a smaller plan.
Strengths:
- Generous free plan: Free collects 1,000 responses a month with logic, payments, file uploads, the API, webhooks and CSV export. (Jotform’s free plan collects 100 submissions a month and Typeform’s 10.)
- Unlimited seats on every plan: There is no per-seat charge on any plan, so a whole team can build and review forms on Free. (Typeform Plus has 3 seats; Jotform’s plans below Enterprise are for one user.)
- Forms keep collecting over the allowance: The pricing FAQ says forms still collect responses after the monthly limit; you can upgrade or wait for the reset on the 1st. (Typeform switches forms to private and Jotform disables them at the limit.)
- SOC 2 Type 2 and a self-serve DPA: The security article says Fillout is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, and the GDPR article offers the standard DPA with SCCs to any customer on any plan. (Tally lists SOC 2 as in progress.)
Things to know:
- Partial submissions and custom domain on Business: Viewing partial submissions, drop-off rates, a custom domain (one per account) and translations start on Business at $900 a year. Workaround: Pro ($480 a year) already removes all branding and allows 5,000 responses a month.
- Compliance options sit on the larger plans: EU hosting starts on the Team plan ($3,000 a year) and is switched by support; SAML SSO and 30-day audit logs are on Enterprise. No page mentions HIPAA or ISO 27001. Workaround: The standard DPA with SCCs is available on every plan.
- Some pages disagree: The Terms and the help center differ on refunds and on cancellation notice, and the Enterprise page lists more hosting regions than the deployment region article. Workaround: The refund policy offers a full refund in the first month for minimal usage.
Pricing reality: Fillout bills a flat price per plan with a monthly response allowance; seats and forms are unlimited. For our scenario, 1,000 responses a month without branding, Pro costs $480 a year, or $40 a month, before tax; month to month it is $49. The free plan already allows 1,000 responses, and Starter ($180 a year) keeps light branding, so branding removal is what moves the scenario to Pro. Business ($900 a year) adds unlimited responses under fair use (about 30,000 a month), partial submissions and a custom domain; Team ($3,000 a year) adds EU hosting, and the Conversion Kit add-on is $100 a month. Paid plans below Enterprise are paid by card.
Exit path: Every plan can export all responses to CSV and read them through the REST API; exporting a form does not include its submissions. After cancelling, the account moves to the free plan at the end of the term and keeps forms and submissions, with 1,000 responses a month. EU-hosted accounts revert to the US on downgrade. Deleted data is removed from servers and backups within 45 days.

### Jotform

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/jotform
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/jotform
Category: Online forms and surveys
Vendor: Jotform Inc.
Tagline: A form builder with every standard feature on its free plan, plans priced by form and submission limits from $34 a month billed yearly, and a self-serve HIPAA BAA on Gold.
Value: Every standard form feature on every plan, free included, with plans priced by usage limits and a self-serve HIPAA BAA on Gold.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Jotform’s plans differ by limits, not features: conditional logic, payment forms, file uploads, e-signatures and translations are on the free plan too, and Jotform adds no transaction fee to payments. Bronze, at $408 a year, removes the branding and allows 1,000 submissions a month. Gold, bought online at $1,188 a year, includes HIPAA features with a BAA signed in the account at no extra cost, and any account can move its data to Jotform’s Frankfurt servers.
- Same features on every plan: The free-versus-paid article says conditional logic, conversational forms, assigned forms and form translations work the same across plans; paid plans raise the limits and remove the branding. (Help center: free vs paid plans, and the pricing page (2026-10-16))
- No Jotform fee on payments: The payment gateways page says Jotform never charges additional transaction fees; the free plan allows 10 payment submissions a month and Bronze 100. (Payment gateways page and pricing table (2026-10-16))
- HIPAA BAA without a sales call: HIPAA features are included on Gold at no extra fee, and the help center describes signing the BAA from the account’s Data settings. (HIPAA FAQ and "How to receive the BAA" help article (2026-10-16))
- EU storage as an account setting: The EU Safe Forms setting moves an account’s data to servers in Frankfurt, and it is on by default for accounts created in the EU. (Help center: store your data on EU servers; security page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Individuals and small organisations that need many standard form features at a low price, including health providers that need a BAA without an enterprise contract.
Things to know: Bronze, Silver and Gold are one-user plans; team collaboration, SAML SSO and custom domains are on Enterprise.
Score: 6.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $34/mo (Bronze (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat per plan with limits on forms, monthly submissions, views and storage
Free option: Free Starter plan: 5 forms, 100 submissions a month, all standard features, Jotform branding
Reference scenario (1,000 responses/mo, no branding, annual): $34/mo on Bronze ($408 a year), computed
Month-to-month price: $39 on Bronze ($39 / $49 / $129 for Bronze, Silver and Gold)
At the response limit: Forms are disabled ("Form over quota") until the monthly reset or an upgrade; no extra packs
Branding removed: Bronze ($34/mo billed yearly) and up
Payments and file uploads: Every plan; no Jotform transaction fee
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II for a dedicated Enterprise environment; ISO 27001 stated for its hosts only
HIPAA BAA: Gold ($99/mo billed yearly), signed in the account at no extra cost; Enterprise
EU data hosting: EU Safe Forms (Frankfurt), switched on in account settings
SSO: SAML on Enterprise
Response export: CSV, Excel or PDF; REST API on every plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Jotform puts every standard feature on every plan and prices by limits, with branding removed from $408 a year and a self-serve HIPAA BAA on Gold. Plans below Enterprise are for one user, and forms stop at a monthly limit.
Choose it if: You want logic, payments, uploads, e-signatures and translations even on the free plan. · You need a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract. · One person runs your forms and you want the lowest published price for 1,000 submissions.
Look elsewhere if: Several people need to edit forms together below an Enterprise contract. · You need forms to keep collecting after a monthly limit is reached. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 for the standard service.
Compared with: Typeform (https://proofyo.com/products/typeform) — pick Jotform when You want branding removed at $408 a year, payments and uploads on the free plan, or a self-serve HIPAA BAA.; pick Typeform when You want SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for every customer, three seats on Plus, or buyable response tiers. | Tally (https://proofyo.com/products/tally) — pick Jotform when You need a HIPAA BAA on a plan bought online, or forms translated into several languages.; pick Tally when You want unlimited free submissions and forms, and unlimited team members on a $290-a-year plan. | Fillout (https://proofyo.com/products/fillout) — pick Jotform when You need a HIPAA BAA, or EU storage as an account setting below an enterprise-sized plan.; pick Fillout when You want 1,000 free responses a month, unlimited forms and unlimited seats on every plan.
Strengths:
- The broadest free plan feature set: The free plan includes logic, payments, file uploads, e-signatures, translations, integrations and the API, limited to 5 forms and 100 submissions a month. (Typeform’s free plan has no payments or file uploads and collects 10 responses a month.)
- Self-serve HIPAA BAA: Gold ($99 a month billed yearly) includes HIPAA features at no extra fee, and the BAA is signed from the account. (Typeform offers a BAA on Enterprise or Growth Custom only; Tally does not offer HIPAA, and Fillout’s pages do not mention it.)
- EU storage on any account: The EU Safe Forms setting moves data to Frankfurt from the account settings; the help article states no plan restriction. (Typeform offers EU hosting to new Enterprise accounts; Fillout from its Team plan.)
- Low price for the scenario: Bronze removes the branding and allows 1,000 submissions a month for $408 a year ($34 a month). (Typeform Plus is $56 a month billed yearly for the same 1,000 responses.)
Things to know:
- One user per plan below Enterprise: The pricing table lists Starter, Bronze, Silver and Gold as individual plans with 1 user, and the help center says full team collaboration is on Enterprise only. Workaround: Forms can be assigned to others to fill in on every plan.
- Forms stop at the monthly limit: Reaching a monthly limit disables forms until the reset or an upgrade, with no response packs to buy; when stored submissions are full, the oldest entry is deleted. Workaround: The usage article says an email gives the date forms will be disabled; Silver ($468 a year) raises the limit to 2,500 a month.
- SOC 2 report for Enterprise only: The SOC 2 page describes a dedicated SOC 2 Type II environment that Enterprise customers buy access to, with the audit report from September 2022; the security page cites ISO 27001 for its hosts. Workaround: The security page lists PCI DSS Level 1 and HIPAA features for all Gold accounts.
- No automatic partial responses: A support reply on Jotform’s forum says unfinished submissions are not saved unless the respondent uses Save and Continue Later.
Pricing reality: Jotform bills a flat price per plan, and plans differ by limits: forms, monthly submissions, views, upload space, stored submissions, payments and signed documents. For our scenario, 1,000 submissions a month without branding, Bronze costs $408 a year, or $34 a month, before tax; month to month it is $39. Bronze allows 25 forms, 100 payment submissions and 100 signed documents a month, so a team with more forms or payment volume needs Silver ($468 a year) or Gold ($1,188). HIPAA needs Gold. Nonprofits and schools get 50% off Bronze, Silver and Gold. The Terms allow a refund if you cancel within 30 days of a payment.
Exit path: Submissions download as CSV, Excel or PDF, and a full backup zip holds forms, a CSV of submissions and uploaded files; the REST API returns submissions on every plan. The Terms warn that a downgrade may lose forms and submissions over the new limits, and do not state how long data is kept after termination. Plans renew automatically until cancelled.

### Typeform

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/typeform
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/typeform
Category: Online forms and surveys
Vendor: Typeform SL
Tagline: Interactive forms, surveys and quizzes in plans with a monthly response allowance, from Basic at $28 a month billed yearly, with its own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Value: Interactive forms and surveys with logic on every plan, backed by Typeform’s own SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Compliance included
Value detail: Typeform builds forms, surveys and quizzes with branching and calculations, and every plan, Free included, can use logic, export responses as CSV or XLSX and call the API. Plus, at $56 a month billed yearly, removes Typeform branding and gives three people 1,000 responses a month. Its help center points to a Trust Center with Typeform’s own SOC 2 Type II report and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate, which helps teams whose security review asks for both.
- Logic and export on the free plan: The free plan article lists logic with branching and calculations, unlimited forms, CSV or XLSX export and the API, so a form can be built and tested before paying. (Help center: Free plan and response export articles (2026-10-16))
- Payments, uploads and partial submits from Basic: Payment questions (Stripe or PayPal), file uploads and a partial submit point start on Basic at $28 a month billed yearly; Plus adds three seats, a custom subdomain and no Typeform branding. (Pricing page and help center plan articles (2026-10-16))
- Own audits and certificates: The security article lists a SOC 2 Type II report and ISO/IEC 27001:2022, plus ISO 27017, 27018 and 42001, CSA STAR Level 1 and PCI DSS (SAQ), with the report and certificate in the Trust Center. (Help center: security and compliance article (2026-10-16))
Best for: Marketing, research and product teams that want polished interactive forms and a vendor with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 in its own name.
Things to know: HIPAA, EU data hosting, SAML SSO and custom domains are on Enterprise, priced by sales.
Score: 5.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $28/mo (Basic (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat per plan with a monthly response allowance; extra response tiers bought in the account
Free option: Free plan: 10 responses a month, unlimited forms, logic, Typeform branding
Reference scenario (1,000 responses/mo, no branding, annual): $56/mo on Plus, billed yearly ($672 a year, computed)
Month-to-month price: $79 on Plus ($39 / $79 / $129 for Basic, Plus and Business)
At the response limit: Forms switch to private until the next month, unless you buy a higher response tier or turn on auto-upgrade
Branding removed: Plus ($56/mo billed yearly) and up
Payments and file uploads: Basic and up; payments through Stripe or PayPal
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II report and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate in the Trust Center
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise or Growth Custom, through sales
EU data hosting: New Enterprise accounts, through sales
SSO: SAML or OIDC on Enterprise
Response export: CSV or XLSX on every plan, Free included; Responses API
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Typeform is an interactive form builder with logic, export and the API on every plan and an audited security record in its own name. Removing branding starts on Plus at $56 a month billed yearly, and HIPAA, EU hosting and SSO go through sales.
Choose it if: You want interactive forms with logic, payments and file uploads, and Typeform’s own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. · You want to buy extra response tiers rather than stop collecting at a limit. · Up to 3 people build forms together on Plus.
Look elsewhere if: You need a free plan with more than 10 responses a month. · You need a HIPAA BAA, EU hosting or SAML SSO without an enterprise contract.
Compared with: Jotform (https://proofyo.com/products/jotform) — pick Typeform when You want SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for every customer, and buyable response tiers when a month runs over.; pick Jotform when You want 1,000 submissions a month without branding for less ($34 a month on Bronze, billed yearly) and a self-serve HIPAA BAA on Gold. | Tally (https://proofyo.com/products/tally) — pick Typeform when Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 today, or you need a HIPAA path.; pick Tally when You want unlimited free responses, partial submissions and custom domains on a $24-a-month plan, with data stored in Europe. | Fillout (https://proofyo.com/products/fillout) — pick Typeform when You need ISO 27001 and a HIPAA option, or a partial submit point from Basic ($28 a month billed yearly).; pick Fillout when You want 1,000 free responses a month and unlimited seats on every plan.
Strengths:
- Logic, export and the API on every plan: Free includes branching and calculations, CSV or XLSX export and the API, and Basic adds payments, file uploads, webhooks and a partial submit point. (Jotform also includes logic and uploads on its free plan but disables forms at the monthly limit.)
- Own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The help center lists Typeform’s SOC 2 Type II report and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate in its Trust Center, with ISO 27017, 27018 and 42001. (Tally lists SOC 2 and ISO 27001 as in progress; Jotform’s SOC 2 Type II covers a dedicated Enterprise environment.)
- Ways to collect more responses: Each plan can buy higher response tiers in the account (up to 750 on Basic, 2,500 on Plus, 50,000 on Business), or switch on auto-upgrade, instead of waiting for the next month. (Jotform has no response packs: at a monthly limit you wait for the reset or upgrade.)
- Responses kept after a downgrade: The cancellation article says forms and collected responses are not deleted when a paid plan ends; forms using paid features go into trial mode.
Things to know:
- Branding stays on Basic: The "Powered by Typeform" text shows on Free and Basic; removing it needs Plus ($56 a month billed yearly), which also brings 3 seats and 1,000 responses a month. Workaround: Plus is the plan our scenario prices, at $56 a month on annual terms.
- Enterprise holds the compliance options: A HIPAA BAA, EU data hosting (new accounts only), SAML SSO, custom domains and the org activity log are on Enterprise or Growth Custom, priced by sales. Workaround: The SOC 2 Type II report and ISO certificate are listed for every customer in the Trust Center.
- Forms pause at the response limit: At 100% of the monthly allowance, forms switch to private until the next month. Auto-upgrade is on by default after checkout and keeps the higher tier at renewal. Workaround: The help center explains how to turn auto-upgrade off and buy a response tier instead.
- No refunds on annual plans: The payment terms say fees are nonrefundable, add-ons included, and the help center says Typeform does not refund contracts cancelled before the period ends. Workaround: Month-to-month prices are published for Basic, Plus and Business.
Pricing reality: Typeform bills a flat price per plan, with a monthly response allowance and a set number of seats. For our scenario, 1,000 responses a month without Typeform branding, Plus costs $56 a month billed yearly, or $672 a year (computed from the plan card; the price feed behind the page lists $663), before tax. That includes 3 seats and 2 GB of file uploads. Basic ($28 a month billed yearly) is cheaper but keeps the branding and has 100 responses. Costs rise with Business ($91 a month billed yearly) for 10,000 responses, 5 seats, drop-off rates and multi-language forms; with response tiers above the allowance; and with the Contacts & Automations add-on. Responses above 50,000 a month, HIPAA, EU hosting and SSO go through sales.
Exit path: Every plan, Free included, can download responses as CSV or XLSX, and the Responses API returns them with a personal access token. Full responses cannot be exported as PDFs. When a paid plan ends, forms and responses are kept and forms using paid features stop collecting; the most recently added team members are removed. Plans renew automatically for the same period.

### SurveyMonkey

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/surveymonkey
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/surveymonkey
Category: Online forms and surveys
Vendor: SurveyMonkey Inc.
Tagline: Online surveys with analysis built in, in individual plans from $46 a month billed annually and team plans from 3 users, with extra responses at $0.15 each.
Value: Surveys with analysis built in, from a vendor with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and paid plans that keep collecting past their allowance.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Compliance included
Value detail: SurveyMonkey is built around surveys and the analysis that follows: plans add crosstabs, statistical significance, multi-survey analysis and AI analysis, and exports to CSV, XLS, PPT, PDF or SPSS. Paid plans do not stop collecting at the response allowance; each extra response is billed at $0.15. The Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and the DPA with SCCs forms part of the agreement for self-serve customers.
- Analysis tools in the plans: The plan cards list statistical significance, multi-survey analysis and AI analysis from Advantage, and crosstabs on Premier; exports cover CSV, XLS, PPT and PDF from Standard and SPSS from Advantage. (Pricing plan cards and exports help article (2026-10-16; US prices from the Internet Archive copy of Jul 13, 2026))
- Collection continues past the allowance: The response limits article says responses over a paid plan’s limit are billed at $0.15 each to the card on file, rather than hidden or stopped. (Help center: response limits (2026-10-16))
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type II with annual audits and ISO 27001 since 2019, and the DPA, with EU, UK and Swiss SCCs, forms part of the agreement for self-serve customers. (Trust Center and DPA help article (2026-10-16))
Best for: Researchers, HR and customer-experience teams that run surveys and want analysis and exports in the same tool.
Things to know: Removing the SurveyMonkey footer starts on Premier ($1,668 a year), and Advantage and Premier are sold on annual terms only.
Score: 4.9/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $46/mo (Advantage Annual (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per plan (individual) or per user (team, from 3 users) with a response allowance; $0.15 per extra response
Free option: Free Basic plan: 10 questions and 25 viewable responses per survey, SurveyMonkey footer
Reference scenario (1,000 responses/mo, no branding, annual): $139/mo on Premier Annual ($1,668 a year), computed
Month-to-month price: Standard Monthly $99 only; Advantage and Premier are sold annually
At the response limit: Paid plans keep collecting; each extra response is billed at $0.15
Branding removed: Premier ($139/mo billed annually), Team Premier and Enterprise; Standard and Advantage show a subtle footer
Payments and file uploads: Advantage and up; payments through Stripe or PayPal
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 listed in the Trust Center
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise add-on, through sales
EU data hosting: Enterprise only
SSO: SAML on Enterprise
Response export: CSV, XLS, PPT or PDF from Standard; SPSS from Advantage; none on Basic
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, SurveyMonkey is a survey tool with analysis built in, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and published overage. Removing its branding costs $1,668 a year on Premier, and SSO, HIPAA, EU hosting and API apps sit on Enterprise.
Choose it if: You run surveys and want analysis, crosstabs and SPSS export in the same tool. · You want paid plans to keep collecting past the allowance at a published price. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Look elsewhere if: You want to remove the vendor’s branding on a low-cost plan. · You need SSO, HIPAA, EU hosting or a deployed API app without an enterprise contract.
Compared with: Typeform (https://proofyo.com/products/typeform) — pick SurveyMonkey when You want built-in survey analysis, SPSS export and collection that continues past the allowance at $0.15 a response.; pick Typeform when You want branding removed for less ($56 a month on Plus, billed yearly) with 3 seats, and logic and export on the free plan. | Jotform (https://proofyo.com/products/jotform) — pick SurveyMonkey when You run research surveys and want crosstabs, significance testing and SPSS export.; pick Jotform when You want branding removed at $408 a year, payments and uploads on the free plan, or a self-serve HIPAA BAA. | Tally (https://proofyo.com/products/tally) — pick SurveyMonkey when Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 today.; pick Tally when You want unlimited free responses and no branding for $290 a year, with data stored in Europe.
Strengths:
- Analysis and exports in the product: Paid plans add statistical significance, multi-survey analysis, crosstabs and AI analysis, with exports to CSV, XLS, PPT, PDF and SPSS. (Typeform and Jotform export responses as CSV or Excel; SPSS export is not listed on their pages.)
- Paid plans keep collecting: Over the allowance, each response is billed at $0.15 instead of forms stopping. (Typeform switches forms to private at the limit and Jotform disables them.)
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type II, audited every year, and ISO 27001 since 2019, along with PCI DSS and CCPA. (Tally lists both certifications as in progress.)
- Payments and uploads from Advantage: Advantage ($552 a year) adds payment questions through Stripe or PayPal and file uploads, with 15,000 responses a year.
Things to know:
- Branding removal on Premier: Standard and Advantage show a subtle SurveyMonkey footer; removing it needs Premier at $1,668 a year, or Team Premier. Workaround: Premier also brings advanced logic, multilingual surveys and 40,000 responses a year.
- Small free plan without export: Basic allows 10 questions per survey and shows 25 responses per survey (API docs; the live page asks you to log in to see the number), and lists skip logic, payments and uploads as limited. Exports start on Standard. Workaround: Free users can try paid features while building a survey before choosing a plan.
- Enterprise holds SSO, HIPAA, EU hosting and the API: SAML SSO, the HIPAA BAA (an add-on bought separately), the EU data center, custom subdomains and deploying a private API app need Enterprise. Workaround: A draft API app can be used on any plan for 90 days.
- Annual plans and refunds: Advantage and Premier are sold on annual terms, and the Terms say payments are non-refundable once you have used the service or collected responses. Workaround: Standard is sold month to month; consumers in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland have a 14-day cancellation right.
Pricing reality: SurveyMonkey bills individual plans per account and team plans per user, each with a response allowance, plus $0.15 per extra response, deleted responses included. For our scenario, 1,000 responses a month without SurveyMonkey branding, Premier Annual costs $1,668 a year, or $139 a month, before tax: it is the cheapest plan that removes the footer, and its 40,000 responses a year cover 12,000. Advantage ($552 a year) covers the volume but keeps a subtle footer. Team Premier costs at least $276 a month for 3 users on annual terms (computed). Prices are from US copies of the pricing pages; Advantage rose from $468 to $552 a year between June and July 2026.
Exit path: Paid plans export responses as CSV, XLS, PPT or PDF (only CSV above 100,000 responses), and SPSS from Advantage; Basic has no export, and the API returns 25 responses per survey on Basic. After a downgrade, responses over the free limit are hidden and may be deleted after a 30-day grace period. Plans auto-renew by default.

## Category: Workflow automation

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/workflow-automation

### Power Automate

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/power-automate
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/power-automate
Category: Workflow automation
Vendor: Microsoft Corporation
Tagline: Microsoft’s cloud and desktop automation, licensed per user at $15 a month (Premium, paid yearly) with premium connectors, RPA, a HIPAA BAA and EU regions, plus a Free licence with standard connectors.
Value: Automation inside Microsoft 365, with HIPAA, ISO 27001, EU regions and Entra ID sign-in covered by Microsoft, from $15 per user a month.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Built-in reach, Worth the price
Value detail: Power Automate puts cloud flows and desktop automation in the same Microsoft tenant as Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and Dynamics 365, with 1,400+ certified connectors. Its compliance file comes from Microsoft: Power Automate is in the scope of Microsoft’s SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 reports, its HIPAA BAA is included by default in the data protection terms, and environments can be created in Europe. One Premium licence at $15 a month (paid yearly) covers premium connectors, the HTTP trigger and 40,000 requests a day.
- HIPAA BAA by default: Microsoft’s HIPAA page says its BAA is available through the Microsoft Online Services Data Protection Addendum by default, and lists the Power Automate cloud service as in scope. (Microsoft HIPAA/HITECH compliance offering page (2026-10-16))
- Audited and in an EU region: Power Automate is listed in the scope of Microsoft’s SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 offerings, and flows live in environments created in a chosen region, Europe included. (Microsoft SOC 2 and ISO 27001 pages, Power Automate regions overview (2026-10-16))
- High limits on one licence: Premium is $15 a month paid yearly with 40,000 Power Platform requests per user a day, far above our scenario’s 10,000 requests a month. (Pricing page and request limits docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Organizations on Microsoft 365 that need HIPAA, ISO 27001 or EU residency, and builders who also automate Windows desktop apps.
Things to know: It is licensed per user, paid yearly: each person who owns or shares premium flows needs a licence, and the Free licence has no premium connectors.
Score: 8.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $15/user/mo (Power Automate Premium (paid yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per-user licence with a daily request limit; per-flow or per-bot Process licences
Free option: Free licence: standard connectors, no sharing, 6,000 actions a day; 30-day Premium trial
Reference scenario (2,000 runs, annual): $15/mo for 1 Premium user (10,000 requests a month needed), computed
Month-to-month price: Not published (paid yearly)
Usage past the plan: Power Platform Requests add-on, $50 a month (licensing FAQ)
Code steps: C# in custom connectors; PowerShell, Python, JavaScript and .NET scripts in desktop flows
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: In scope of Microsoft’s SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001
HIPAA BAA: Included by default through the Microsoft Online Services DPA
EU data hosting: Environments in the Europe region
SSO: Sign-in through Microsoft Entra ID
Workflow export: Flows as .zip packages or Dataverse solutions
Self-hosting: No
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Power Automate brings Microsoft’s compliance file, EU regions and high limits to one $15 per-user licence, plus desktop automation. It is licensed per user and paid yearly, and webhooks and premium connectors need that paid licence.
Choose it if: Your organization already runs on Microsoft 365 and Entra ID. · You need a HIPAA BAA, ISO 27001 or EU environments without an enterprise contract. · You also need to automate Windows desktop apps.
Look elsewhere if: Many people build flows and you want one flat price for unlimited users. · You want to pay month to month.
Compared with: Zapier (https://proofyo.com/products/zapier) — pick Power Automate when You need a HIPAA BAA, ISO 27001 or EU environments, at $15 per user a month.; pick Zapier when You connect many non-Microsoft apps and want 9,000+ apps without per-user licences. | Make (https://proofyo.com/products/make) — pick Power Automate when You work in Microsoft 365 and want Entra ID sign-in, Purview audit logs and a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.; pick Make when You want unlimited users on one plan from $9 a month and a visual builder outside the Microsoft stack. | n8n Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/n8n-cloud) — pick Power Automate when You need Microsoft’s compliance file and desktop automation of Windows apps.; pick n8n Cloud when You want code steps in JavaScript or Python, unlimited users and a self-hosted edition.
Strengths:
- Compliance from Microsoft: Power Automate is in the scope of Microsoft’s SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA BAA, and the BAA is part of the data protection terms by default. (Zapier cannot sign BAAs, and Make and n8n Cloud do not state HIPAA support.)
- Generous daily limits: A Premium user gets 40,000 Power Platform requests a day; a Process licence gives a single flow 250,000 a day, stackable up to 10.
- Cloud and desktop automation together: Premium includes attended desktop flows (RPA) that run scripts in PowerShell, Python, JavaScript and .NET, plus process mining. (Zapier, Make and n8n automate through APIs only.)
- A free licence with real limits: The Free licence runs cloud flows with standard connectors up to 6,000 actions a day per user, for work, school or personal accounts.
Things to know:
- Per-user licences, paid yearly: Premium is $15 per user a month paid yearly, and the pricing page publishes no month-to-month price; sharing flows needs a paid licence. Workaround: A Process licence ($150 a month per flow) lets a flow use premium connectors for any user.
- Webhooks and premium apps need Premium: The Free licence covers standard connectors only; the HTTP request trigger, premium and custom connectors need Premium or a Process licence.
- Audit logs sit in Microsoft Purview: Flow creation, edits, deletions and permission changes appear in Microsoft Purview, whose own licensing the admin docs ask you to review.
- Fewer connectors than Zapier: The product page lists more than 1,400 certified connectors, and custom connectors fill gaps.
Pricing reality: Power Automate is licensed per user per month, paid yearly. Premium ($15) covers cloud flows with premium connectors and attended RPA within 40,000 Power Platform requests per user a day. For our scenario, 1 builder runs 2,000 flows of a trigger and 4 actions, about 10,000 requests a month (assuming one request per trigger or action), so one Premium licence at $15 a month covers it; the Free licence cannot, because the HTTP request trigger is premium. Costs grow with people rather than runs: 5 builders are $75 a month (computed). Process ($150 per bot a month) licenses a flow for all its users or an unattended bot; Hosted Process is $215. Extra AI credits are sold as add-ons.
Exit path: A cloud flow can be exported as a .zip package and imported into another environment, or moved with Dataverse solutions; only the owner or a co-owner can export it. Packages are Power Automate formats, so moving to another platform means rebuilding the flows. Deleted flows can be restored within 21 days of deletion.

### Make

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/make
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/make
Category: Workflow automation
Vendor: Celonis, Inc.
Tagline: A visual scenario builder with 3,000+ apps, routers, error handlers and AI agents, billed by credits from $9 a month for 10,000 on annual terms, with a free plan of 1,000 credits.
Value: A visual builder for branching, multi-step scenarios at a low price per action, with an EU data center on every plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Make prices automation by the credit at a low rate: 10,000 credits cost $9 a month on Core with annual billing, and that plan already runs unlimited active scenarios with routers, error handlers, the Code App, AI agents and the Make API. Scenarios are drawn as connected modules, which suits workflows that branch, loop or recover from errors. Every plan can store data in an EU or US data center, and the security page lists Make’s own SOC 2 Type II report and an ISO 27001-certified security program.
- Low entry price for real volume: Core is $9 a month on annual terms for 10,000 credits ($10.59 month to month); in our scenario that covers 2,000 runs of a five-module workflow. (Pricing page, Internet Archive copy of Oct 6, 2026 (read 2026-10-16))
- Branching and error handling on every plan: Routers and filters are on Free; router and error-handler modules use no credits; saved scenario versions can be restored for 60 days. (Pricing page, credits and version control help articles (2026-10-16))
- EU or US data center on any plan: Each organization chooses a US or EU data center when it is created; the pricing table lists AWS hosting in the EU or North America on every plan. (Organizations help article and pricing page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small teams and agencies that build branching workflows and want a low monthly cost, including teams that need EU hosting.
Things to know: Each module run, the trigger included, uses a credit, and company SSO, audit logs and custom roles are on Enterprise, priced by sales.
Score: 7.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $9/mo (Core, 10,000 credits (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Credits: most module actions use one, the trigger included; routers and error handlers none
Free option: Free plan: 1,000 credits a month, 2 active scenarios; no trial stated
Reference scenario (2,000 runs, annual): $9/mo on Core, 10,000 credits (10,000 needed), computed
Month-to-month price: $10.59 for Core 10,000 credits ($18.82 Pro, $34.12 Teams)
Usage past the plan: Extra credits at the plan rate plus 25%, manual or auto-purchase
Code steps: Make Code App (JavaScript or Python) from Core, 2 credits per second of code
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3; ISO 27001-certified security program
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU data hosting: Every plan: US or EU data center chosen when the organization is created
SSO: Company SSO (OAuth2 or SAML2) on Enterprise
Workflow export: Scenario blueprints as JSON on every plan
Self-hosting: No
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Make is the lowest-cost way to run our scenario, with branching, error handling, code and an EU region from the $9 Core plan. Every module run counts as a credit, and SSO and audit logs are Enterprise features.
Choose it if: You build branching, multi-step workflows and want a low monthly price. · You need EU data hosting on a self-serve plan. · You want to export each workflow as a JSON blueprint.
Look elsewhere if: You need SSO or an audit log without an Enterprise contract. · You need a HIPAA BAA.
Compared with: Zapier (https://proofyo.com/products/zapier) — pick Make when You want the scenario for $9 a month instead of $129, and EU hosting on a self-serve plan.; pick Zapier when You want 9,000+ apps and logic steps that never use tasks. | n8n Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/n8n-cloud) — pick Make when You want a free plan, a choice of US or EU region, and the lowest price for short workflows.; pick n8n Cloud when You want long workflows to cost the same as short ones, or a self-hosted edition to move to later. | Power Automate (https://proofyo.com/products/power-automate) — pick Make when Your apps are mostly outside Microsoft 365 and you want unlimited users on one plan.; pick Power Automate when You need a HIPAA BAA and sign-in through Microsoft Entra ID without an enterprise contract.
Strengths:
- Lowest price for our scenario: 10,000 credits cost $9 a month on Core (annual), enough for 2,000 runs of a five-module workflow; Pro and Teams cost $16 and $29 at the same volume. (Zapier needs its 10K-task Professional tier at $129 a month for the same scenario.)
- Visual branching at no credit cost: Routers and filters are on every plan, and the pricing FAQ says router and error-handler modules (Rollback, Break, Resume, Commit, Ignore) consume no credits.
- EU hosting on every plan: An organization picks a US or EU data center when it is created; the pricing table lists AWS hosting in the EU or North America on all plans. (Zapier stores data in the US only; n8n Cloud stores it in Frankfurt only.)
- Blueprint export on every plan: Any scenario can be exported as a JSON blueprint with its modules, settings and mapped values, for backup or for import into another Make account.
- Published price for extra credits: Extra credits cost the plan’s per-credit rate plus 25%, bought in 1,000s or auto-purchased in 10,000s, up to the plan’s own credit count each cycle.
Things to know:
- Every module counts: Reading from an app or webhook, searching, creating, transforming, aggregating and iterating each use credits, so a five-module run uses five; Make’s own AI features use credits by tokens. Workaround: Routers and error handlers are free, and scenario history shows the credits each run used.
- Admin controls are on Enterprise: Company SSO, audit logs, custom roles and two-factor enforcement are checked only on Enterprise, which is priced by sales. Workaround: Teams ($29 a month at 10,000 credits, annual) adds teams and team roles.
- No HIPAA BAA stated: The security page lists SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, GDPR and an ISO 27001-certified program, but no HIPAA support.
- Region is fixed at creation: The organizations article says the data center cannot be changed after the organization is created. Workaround: Choose the EU data center when creating the organization.
Pricing reality: Make bills credits per month; on Pro and Teams annual credits can be used across the year, while Core credits reset monthly. Most actions use one credit, the trigger included; routers and error handlers use none, and Make’s AI features use credits by tokens. For our scenario, 2,000 runs × 5 modules = 10,000 credits: $9 a month on Core with annual billing, or $10.59 month to month. Pro ($16) adds priority execution and log search; Teams ($29) adds team roles. Running out pauses scenarios unless you buy extra credits at the plan rate plus 25% (on the $9 plan, 10,000 extra cost $11.25) or turn on auto-purchase. The Make Code App uses 2 credits per second of code. Enterprise is priced by sales.
Exit path: Every scenario can be exported as a JSON blueprint (modules, settings and mapped values) and imported into another Make account; connections have to be created again after import. Scenario history can be exported as CSV. Blueprints describe Make modules, so moving to another platform means rebuilding the workflows. After cancelling, a paid organization falls back to the Free plan.

### n8n Cloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/n8n-cloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/n8n-cloud
Category: Workflow automation
Vendor: n8n GmbH
Tagline: Hosted n8n: workflows with code steps, AI agents and 2,300+ integrations, billed per execution however many steps it has, from $20 a month on annual terms, with a self-hosted edition.
Value: Workflows that mix visual steps with your own code, billed per run rather than per step, with a self-hosted edition as an exit.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: n8n Cloud suits teams that are comfortable with some code: every plan runs JavaScript or Python code steps, custom HTTP requests, webhook triggers and the AI Agent node next to 2,300+ integrations. Because a whole workflow run counts as one execution, long workflows cost the same as short ones; our five-step scenario fits Starter at $20 a month on annual terms. Workflows are JSON files you can download, and the same engine is free to self-host as the Community Edition.
- One execution per run, however many steps: The pricing page counts a single run of the entire workflow as one execution, regardless of steps or data; Starter includes 2,500 a month, Pro 10,000. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Code and AI on the entry plan: Starter includes code steps in JavaScript or Python, custom HTTP and GraphQL requests, webhook triggers, the AI Agent node, MCP triggers and the n8n API. (Pricing page comparison table (2026-10-16))
- Self-hosting as an exit: A standard self-hosted Community Edition is on GitHub; workflows download as JSON and can be imported there or into any other n8n instance. (Pricing page and export docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Technical teams that want code where it helps, a predictable price per run, and the option to self-host later.
Things to know: There is no free cloud plan, hosted data is stored only in Frankfurt, and SSO and audit logging need Enterprise.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $20/mo (Starter, 2,500 executions (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Executions: one per run of a whole workflow, whatever its length
Free option: No free cloud plan; 14-day trial (1,000 executions), no card; Community Edition self-hosted
Reference scenario (2,000 runs, annual): $20/mo on Starter, 2,500 executions (2,000 needed), computed
Month-to-month price: $24 for Starter; $60 for Pro 10,000 executions
Usage past the plan: Not stated for Cloud plans
Code steps: JavaScript and Python code steps on every plan
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3; ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU data hosting: Every Cloud plan: Frankfurt, Germany (the only stated region)
SSO: SAML and LDAP on Enterprise (Business is self-hosted only)
Workflow export: Workflows download as JSON on every plan
Self-hosting: Yes: Community Edition free on GitHub; Business and Enterprise licences
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, n8n Cloud has the most predictable per-run price here, with code, AI and webhooks on the $20 Starter plan and a self-hosted edition as an exit. It has no free cloud plan, hosts in Frankfurt only, and keeps SSO and audit logs for Enterprise.
Choose it if: Your workflows have many steps and you want a price per run. · Your team writes JavaScript or Python and wants it inside workflows. · You want the option to self-host the same engine later.
Look elsewhere if: You want a permanent free plan in the cloud. · You need hosting outside the EU, a HIPAA BAA, or SSO below Enterprise.
Compared with: Zapier (https://proofyo.com/products/zapier) — pick n8n Cloud when You want per-run pricing, code steps and unlimited users from $20 a month.; pick Zapier when You want a permanent free plan and 9,000+ apps without writing code. | Make (https://proofyo.com/products/make) — pick n8n Cloud when You want long workflows to cost the same as short ones, and a self-hosted edition to move to.; pick Make when You want a free plan, a choice of US or EU region, and the lowest price for short workflows. | Pipedream Workflows (https://proofyo.com/products/pipedream-workflows) — pick n8n Cloud when You need a code-friendly platform you can buy today; Pipedream Workflows no longer takes new subscriptions.; pick Pipedream Workflows when You already run workflows there; they keep running until the shutdown on March 31, 2027.
Strengths:
- Price does not grow with steps: A run of the whole workflow is one execution, so our five-step scenario uses 2,000 executions and fits Starter (2,500) at $20 a month on annual terms. (Zapier counts each action as a task and Make each module as a credit.)
- Code and AI on every plan: JavaScript and Python code steps, custom API requests, cURL import, webhook triggers, the AI Agent node and MCP nodes are checked on Starter.
- Unlimited users on every plan: All plans include unlimited users and workflows and every integration; Starter has one shared project, Pro three with admin and editor roles. (Zapier Professional is a single-user plan.)
- Self-hosted Community Edition: The same engine is on GitHub to self-host, and workflows download as JSON files that import into any n8n instance. (Zapier, Make and Power Automate cloud flows run only in the vendor’s cloud.)
Things to know:
- No free cloud plan: n8n Cloud starts with a 14-day trial of Pro features limited to 1,000 executions; the workspace is deleted if you do not upgrade, with 90 days to download workflows. Workaround: The trial needs no card.
- Frankfurt only, no HIPAA stated: Hosted data is stored in Frankfurt, Germany; the trust center lists SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 but no ISO 27001 or HIPAA.
- SSO and audit logging need Enterprise: On Cloud, SSO, audit logging, log streaming, custom roles and Git version control are Enterprise features; the Business plan that adds SSO is self-hosted only. Workaround: Pro adds admin and editor roles for $50 a month (annual).
- Over-quota price not stated: The pages do not say what a Cloud plan costs when executions go past the monthly quota. Workaround: Move up a tier: Pro with 10,000 executions is $50 a month on annual terms.
Pricing reality: n8n Cloud bills by executions a month: one run of the whole workflow, whatever its length. For our scenario, 2,000 runs = 2,000 executions, so Starter (2,500) at $20 a month on annual terms ($240 a year) or $24 month to month, from the US price feed; the page shows the same numbers in euros. Pro costs $50 a month on annual terms for 10,000 executions ($60 monthly) or $120 for 50,000 ($144 monthly). Starter allows 5 concurrent executions and keeps execution logs for 7 days; Pro allows up to 50 and keeps 30 days. Assistant credits for the AI builder are included (1,600 a month on Starter) and more can be bought. Enterprise is priced by sales.
Exit path: Workflows are stored as JSON: any workflow can be downloaded from the editor menu, copied and pasted, or exported with the CLI, and imported into another n8n instance, including the self-hosted Community Edition. Exported files include credential names and IDs, which n8n suggests removing before sharing. After a trial ends, workflows can be downloaded for 90 days.

### Zapier

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/zapier
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/zapier
Category: Workflow automation
Vendor: Zapier, Inc.
Tagline: An automation platform with 9,000+ app integrations, billed by tasks (successful actions), with a free plan for two-step Zaps and multi-step workflows from $19.99 a month.
Value: Connect more than 9,000 apps in multi-step workflows without code, and pay only for actions that succeed.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Zapier’s value is reach: its directory lists more than 9,000 apps, so most SaaS tools a team already uses can be connected without writing an integration. A Zap is a trigger plus actions, and only successful actions use tasks; triggers, polling and built-in tools such as Filter, Formatter and Paths use none. Professional adds multi-step Zaps, webhooks, Paths, code steps, version history and replay of failed runs, all bought online.
- The largest app directory in this category: The pricing FAQ says Zapier connects to more than 9,000 apps; premium apps are included on every paid plan, and private integrations can be built on its developer platform. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Tasks only for actions that succeed: Triggers, polling and built-in tools (Filter, Formatter, Paths, Delay, Looping, Sub-Zap, Digest, Storage, Tables, Forms) use no tasks, and failed actions are not counted. (Pricing page task FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Usage can continue past the tier: With pay-per-task on, Zaps keep running past the tier at 1.25× the base task rate on annual plans (2.5× monthly), up to 3× the subscription; with it off, Zaps pause until the next cycle. (Pricing page, task usage mechanics (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that want to connect many different SaaS apps quickly, without code, at a moderate number of actions a month.
Things to know: Price follows actions: 8,000 tasks a month cost $129 a month on Professional (annual), and the audit log and Zap export start on Team.
Score: 5.4/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $19.99/mo (Professional, 750 tasks (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Tasks: one per successful action; triggers, polling and built-in tools use none
Free option: Free plan: 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps, 1 user; 14-day Professional trial, no card
Reference scenario (2,000 runs, annual): $129/mo on Professional, 10K tasks (8,000 tasks needed), computed
Month-to-month price: $193.50 for Professional 10K tasks; from $29.99 for 750 tasks
Usage past the plan: Pay-per-task at 1.25× the base rate (annual) or 2.5× (monthly), up to 3× the tier
Code steps: Code by Zapier on every plan; 30 seconds of included runtime per step on Professional
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3; ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Not offered: Zapier says it cannot sign BAAs
EU data hosting: Not offered: data stored on AWS in the United States
SSO: SAML on Team in the plan table; Enterprise in the FAQs
Workflow export: Zaps as JSON on Team and Enterprise
Self-hosting: No
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Zapier offers the broadest app directory here and a complete builder on Professional, priced per successful action. Costs grow with action volume, data stays in the US, and the audit log and Zap export start on Team.
Choose it if: You connect many different SaaS apps and want them in one no-code builder. · Your workflows have few actions per run, or use filters to stop early. · You want to start free and buy any plan up to Team online.
Look elsewhere if: You need a HIPAA BAA or EU data hosting. · You run thousands of multi-step runs a month on a tight budget.
Compared with: Make (https://proofyo.com/products/make) — pick Zapier when You want the largest app directory and logic steps that use no tasks.; pick Make when You want the same scenario for $9 a month (Core, 10,000 credits, annual) and an EU data center on every plan. | n8n Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/n8n-cloud) — pick Zapier when You want a permanent free plan and 9,000+ apps without writing code.; pick n8n Cloud when You want to pay per workflow run rather than per action ($20 a month for 2,500 executions on Starter, annual) or self-host later. | Power Automate (https://proofyo.com/products/power-automate) — pick Zapier when Your apps are mostly outside Microsoft 365 and you want to start without per-user licences.; pick Power Automate when Your team works in Microsoft 365 and needs a HIPAA BAA, ISO 27001 and EU environments, at $15 per user a month.
Strengths:
- More than 9,000 apps: The pricing FAQ counts 9,000+ apps, with premium apps included on every paid plan and a developer platform for private integrations. (Make lists 3,000+ apps and Power Automate more than 1,400 certified connectors.)
- Logic steps cost no tasks: Triggers, polling, Filter, Formatter, Paths, Delay, Looping and the other built-in tools do not use tasks, so adding logic to a Zap does not add to the bill. (Make counts most modules as credits, including the trigger and tools that transform data.)
- Full building toolkit on Professional: Professional includes multi-step Zaps, Paths, webhooks, code steps with 30 seconds of runtime, AI by Zapier, version history, autoreplay and custom error settings.
- Published overage rule: Pay-per-task keeps Zaps running past the tier at 1.25× the base task rate on annual plans and 2.5× on monthly plans, up to 3× the subscription.
- Own SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3: The security page states SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports, audited annually by an independent firm; the SOC 3 report is public and the SOC 2 report is in the Trust Center under NDA.
Things to know:
- Cost rises with every action: Each successful action is a task, so the scenario’s 8,000 actions need the 10K tier: $129 a month on annual terms or $193.50 month to month. Workaround: Filters and Paths use no tasks, so stopping runs early with a filter keeps task use down.
- US hosting, no HIPAA: Data is stored on AWS in the United States, the privacy overview says EU-only storage is not supported, and Zapier cannot sign BAAs.
- Team features start at $69: Professional is a single-user plan; the shared workspace, the audit log and Zap JSON export start on Team, and the pages disagree on whether SAML SSO is on Team or Enterprise. Workaround: Team can be started from the product; confirm SSO with Zapier before buying.
- Free plan is two-step only: Free covers 100 tasks a month in Zaps with one trigger and one action, without premium apps or webhooks. Workaround: Every new account gets a 14-day Professional trial without a card.
Pricing reality: Zapier bills by task tier. A task is one successful action; triggers, polling and built-in tools do not count. For our scenario, 2,000 runs × 4 actions = 8,000 tasks, which needs Professional’s 10K tier: $129 a month on annual terms or $193.50 month to month. The 5K tier ($89) plus 3,000 pay-per-task tasks at 1.25× its base rate would come to about $156 (our arithmetic). Team starts at $69 for 2,000 tasks and costs $169 at 10K; Enterprise is priced by sales. An MCP tool call uses two tasks, and AI steps can use more than one. Non-profits get 15% off paid plans, excluding pay-per-task charges.
Exit path: On Team and Enterprise, Zaps can be exported as JSON from Settings and imported into another Zapier account; the account owner can export every Zap in the account. The JSON describes Zapier steps, so moving to another platform means rebuilding the workflows. Zap history is kept for the current and previous month (29 to 69 days); Company and Enterprise customers can set a custom retention of 7 to 30 days.

### Pipedream Workflows

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/pipedream-workflows
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/pipedream-workflows
Category: Workflow automation
Vendor: Pipedream, Inc.
Tagline: Code-first workflows with Node.js, Python, Go and Bash steps; closed to new sign-ups and subscriptions, and shutting down on March 31, 2027.
Value: For existing users only: code-first workflows that keep running until March 31, 2027, with an export tool for the move elsewhere.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time
Value detail: Pipedream Workflows let developers mix prebuilt triggers and actions for 3,000+ APIs with code steps in Node.js, Python, Go or Bash, billed by compute time rather than by step. It is no longer sold: Pipedream stopped taking Workflows sign-ups and subscriptions and will shut the product down on March 31, 2027. What existing users still get is a working platform until then, a prorated refund at the shutdown, and an export tool that saves each project’s workflows as JSON for rebuilding elsewhere.
- Code steps in four languages: Code steps run Node.js, Python, Go or Bash inside a workflow, next to prebuilt actions, with If/Else branching (beta), delays, filters and early exits. (Workflows code and control-flow docs (2026-10-16))
- An export for the migration: Project settings include Export Workflows, which writes a ZIP with a manifest and one JSON file per workflow (triggers, steps, code, props and control flow) to the project’s File Store. (Export Workflows docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams already running Pipedream Workflows that need to plan a migration before March 31, 2027.
Things to know: Workflows no longer accepts sign-ups or subscriptions, gets no new features, and shuts down on March 31, 2027.
Score: 2.8/10
Free option: Not observed yet
Getting access: Not observed yet
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: Not observed yet
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Prices hidden
Billing unit: Credits: one per 30 seconds of compute at 256 MB per workflow segment
Free option: None: Workflows sign-ups are closed
Reference scenario (2,000 runs, annual): Cannot be priced: no new subscriptions sold
Month-to-month price: Not published for Workflows
Usage past the plan: Not published for Workflows
Code steps: Node.js, Python, Go and Bash
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2; ISO 27001 only for AWS, not Pipedream
HIPAA BAA: Business customers, on request
EU data hosting: Not offered: AWS us-east-1
SSO: SAML or Google on the Business plan
Workflow export: Export tool: one ZIP of workflow JSON per project, until data deletion
Self-hosting: No
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Pipedream Workflows is closing: no new sign-ups or subscriptions, a shutdown on March 31, 2027 and data deletion by April 30, 2027. Existing users should export each project and plan a move; Pipedream Connect continues.
Choose it if: You already run Pipedream Workflows and need time to plan a migration before March 31, 2027. · You need the export tool’s JSON record of existing workflows to rebuild them elsewhere.
Look elsewhere if: You are choosing a workflow platform today: Workflows no longer accepts sign-ups or subscriptions.
Compared with: n8n Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/n8n-cloud) — pick Pipedream Workflows when You already run workflows here and need them to keep running until March 31, 2027 while you migrate.; pick n8n Cloud when You need a code-friendly platform to buy today: JavaScript and Python steps from $20 a month (Starter, annual), with a self-hosted edition. | Make (https://proofyo.com/products/make) — pick Pipedream Workflows when Your workflows rely on Go or Bash code steps you cannot replace before the shutdown.; pick Make when You want a visual builder with routers, error handlers and a Code App from $9 a month (Core, annual), with an EU data center.
Strengths:
- Code in four languages: Code steps run Node.js 20, Python, Go or Bash, alongside thousands of prebuilt triggers and actions. (Make’s Code App and n8n’s code steps run JavaScript or Python.)
- Billed by compute, not by step: One credit covers 30 seconds of compute at 256 MB per workflow segment, however many steps run in it; testing in the builder uses no credits.
- Git-backed projects: GitHub Sync serializes workflows to a repository, with development branches, commit history, diffs and merges to production from Pipedream or GitHub.
Things to know:
- Shutting down on March 31, 2027: Workflows and String shut down on that date; sign-ups and subscriptions are closed and no new features are planned. Workflows data is deleted by April 30, 2027. Workaround: Export each project’s workflows as JSON before then; Pipedream Connect is not affected.
- Export needs File Stores: The export tool writes its archive to the project’s File Store, so the plan must include File Stores, and secret props are left out and must be entered again.
- US hosting; SSO and HIPAA on Business: Pipedream runs in AWS us-east-1; SSO and HIPAA BAAs are for Business customers, a plan sold on annual contracts through sales.
Pricing reality: Workflows were billed in credits: one credit per 30 seconds of compute at 256 MB of memory per workflow segment, with more memory multiplying the credits, plus credits for dedicated workers; testing in the builder used none. Prices for Workflows plans are no longer published, so our scenario cannot be priced. Existing subscriptions stay active until March 31, 2027 and then end with a prorated refund; monthly subscribers can cancel themselves, annual subscribers through support. The current pricing page lists only Connect: Free in development, Startup at $99 a month billed annually ($150 monthly) with 10,000 credits and then $0.012 a credit, and Business on an annual contract.
Exit path: Export Workflows in each project’s settings writes a ZIP to the project File Store with a manifest and one JSON file per workflow (triggers, steps, code, configured props and control flow); secret props are omitted. The docs describe the files as a record and a reference for rebuilding on another platform. Projects with GitHub Sync also have their workflows in a repository. All Workflows data, including credentials and OAuth tokens, is deleted by April 30, 2027.

## Category: Small business accounting software

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/accounting

### Zoho Books

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-books
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/zoho-books
Category: Small business accounting software
Vendor: Zoho Corporation
Tagline: Accounting in six plans from a free tier to Ultimate, with multi-currency, inventory, projects and custom roles from $50 a month.
Value: Bills, multi-currency, inventory, projects and custom roles on a $50 plan with 5 users, backed by SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Zoho Books Professional, at $50 a month ($40 billed yearly), covers bills, purchase orders, multi-currency with automatic exchange rates, stock tracking, project profitability and custom user roles for 5 users, features other suites place on higher tiers. Every plan includes an activity log, recurring invoices and payment reminders. Zoho states SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for all its cloud services, and Zoho Payments and Zoho Payroll publish their prices.
- Professional covers most bookkeeping needs: The plan comparison marks bills, purchase orders, multi-currency, stock tracking, project profitability and custom user roles on Professional, with 5 users. (Pricing comparison page (2026-10-16))
- SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001: Zoho’s compliance page states SOC 2 Type 2 and an ISO/IEC 27001 certificate (valid to Aug 21, 2028) for all Zoho cloud services. (Zoho compliance page (2026-10-16))
- Activity log and API on every plan: The comparison lists an activity log on every plan and API usage from 1,000 requests a day on Free to 10,000 on Premium and up. (Pricing comparison page (2026-10-16))
- Capped ACH fees: Zoho Payments lists 2.9% + 30¢ for cards and 0.8% capped at $5 for ACH direct debit, with no setup or monthly fees. (Zoho Payments pricing page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small businesses that want multi-currency, inventory, projects and role controls at a mid-range price, and teams that need SOC 2 and ISO 27001.
Things to know: Bills start on Professional, not Standard, and budgets and locations need Premium ($70 a month).
Score: 8.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $20/mo (Standard (3 users; $15 billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per organization per month, in plan tiers; extra users $3/mo each
Free option: Free plan under $50K yearly revenue (1 user + 1 accountant, no bills or bank feeds); 14-day trial
Reference scenario (3 users, monthly): $50/mo on Professional, computed
Users per plan: 1 + accountant / 3 / 5 / 10 / 10 / 15; extra users $3/mo ($2.50 yearly)
Multi-currency: Professional ($50) and up
Inventory and projects: Stock tracking and project profitability on Professional ($50)
Card / bank payment fees: 2.9% + 30¢ / ACH 0.8% capped at $5 (Zoho Payments)
Payroll: Zoho Payroll from $39/mo + $6 per employee
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for Zoho cloud services
Custom roles / audit log: Custom roles on Professional; activity log on every plan
Data export: Reports to CSV, XLS, XLSX or PDF; API on every plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Zoho Books puts the broadest set of bookkeeping and control features at $50 a month, with SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 behind it. Bills start on Professional, and the free plan is limited to businesses under $50K revenue.
Choose it if: You need multi-currency, inventory and projects without a top-tier plan. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001. · You want an activity log and custom roles for a small team.
Look elsewhere if: You enter vendor bills and want to stay on a $20 plan. · You need budgets or locations below $70 a month.
Compared with: QuickBooks Online (https://proofyo.com/products/quickbooks-online) — pick Zoho Books when You want inventory, projects, purchase orders and custom roles for $50 a month with 5 users.; pick QuickBooks Online when You want a free plan with a bank connection and no revenue limit, or Intuit payroll bundles. | Xero (https://proofyo.com/products/xero) — pick Zoho Books when You want multi-currency, projects and custom roles below $97 a month.; pick Xero when You want no per-user fees at all and inventory on every plan. | Wave (https://proofyo.com/products/wave) — pick Zoho Books when You need inventory, purchase orders, custom roles, an activity log or SOC 2 and ISO 27001.; pick Wave when You want free invoices and bills with no revenue limit, or bank imports for $19 a month.
Strengths:
- Deep features on a $50 plan: Professional includes bills, purchase orders, multi-currency, stock tracking, project profitability, sales and purchase approvals and custom roles for 5 users. (QuickBooks Online places inventory, projects and purchase orders on Plus ($140); Xero places multi-currency and projects on Established ($97).)
- SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001: Zoho states SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for all its cloud services, with steps to download the documents. (FreshBooks announced a SOC 2 Type 1 report; Wave states PCI DSS only.)
- Activity log and reminders on every plan: The comparison marks the activity log, recurring invoices, payment reminders and bank reconciliation on all plans, Free included.
- Low, capped ACH fees: Zoho Payments lists ACH direct debit at 0.8% capped at $5, and cards at 2.9% + 30¢. (QuickBooks Payments and Wave list 1% for bank payments with no cap stated.)
Things to know:
- Bills start on Professional: Standard ($20) has 3 users and bank feeds but no bills, so paying suppliers through accounts payable starts at $50 a month.
- Free plan limits: Free is for businesses under $50K yearly revenue, with 1 user plus 1 accountant, no bank feeds and no bills.
- Budgets and locations on Premium: Budgeting, fixed assets and locations (3) are marked on Premium ($70 a month), not Professional.
Pricing reality: Zoho Books bills per organization in tiers, with extra users at $3 a month ($2.50 billed yearly). For our scenario, 3 users with invoices, bills and bank feeds, Standard has no bills, so the cheapest fit is Professional at $50 a month at list price (computed), or $40 a month billed yearly; it includes 5 users. Premium ($70) adds budgets and locations. On top: Zoho Payments at 2.9% + 30¢ for cards and 0.8% capped at $5 for ACH, the BillPay add-on at $69 a month ($59 yearly) for 100 ACH vendor payments, document autoscans from $10 a month, and Zoho Payroll from $39 a month plus $6 per employee.
Exit path: Reports export to CSV, XLS, XLSX or PDF: up to 20,000 records at once in spreadsheet formats (5,000 in PDF) and 100,000 per asynchronous export (1,000,000 on Elite and Ultimate). A documented API is available on every plan within daily request limits. The FAQ says there is no contract and you can cancel at any time.

### QuickBooks Online

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/quickbooks-online
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/quickbooks-online
Category: Small business accounting software
Vendor: Intuit Inc.
Tagline: Cloud accounting in five tiers, from a limited free plan to Advanced, with payments, payroll and bill pay from the same vendor.
Value: Full small business books with payments, payroll and bill pay from one vendor, and a plan ladder from a free tier to 25 users.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Compliance included, Saves engineering time
Value detail: QuickBooks Online covers invoicing, bills, bank feeds and reports, and Intuit sells card and bank payments, bill pay and payroll that work inside it, so a small business can run its money from one account. Accountants are invited free on every paid plan. Essentials ($85 a month) gives 3 users, multicurrency, recurring transactions and an audit log; Plus adds inventory, projects, budgets and class tracking. Intuit’s Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022.
- Payments, payroll and bill pay from Intuit: QuickBooks Payments lists 2.99% for cards and 1% for bank payments; payroll is sold as Workforce bundles with published prices; bill pay includes free ACH up to a monthly allotment. (QuickBooks Payments fees help article, payroll pricing page and pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Free accountant access on paid plans: Simple Start, Essentials and Plus include access for 2 accountants and Advanced for 3, on top of the plan’s users. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Audit log and certificates: Essentials includes an audit log of user activity, and Intuit’s Trust Center lists ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2 Type II and PCI DSS. (QuickBooks Subscription Levels page and Intuit Trust Center (2026-10-16))
- Room to grow without changing software: The same product runs from a free plan to Advanced with 25 users, custom roles, workflows and Excel sync; the FAQ says you can upgrade between Simple Start, Essentials and Plus. (Pricing page and FAQ (2026-10-16))
Best for: US small businesses that want payments, payroll and bill pay from one vendor and expect to add users, inventory or projects as they grow.
Things to know: Users are tied to plans (3 on Essentials, 5 on Plus), and inventory, projects, purchase orders and budgets start on Plus at $140 a month.
Score: 7.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $38/mo (Simple Start (1 user) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per company per month, in plan tiers; no extra seats sold
Free option: Free plan (1 user, 2 invoices/mo, 1 bank connection); 30-day trial of paid plans
Reference scenario (3 users, monthly): $85/mo on Essentials, computed
Users per plan: 1 / 1 / 3 / 5 / 25 (Free to Advanced); 2 or 3 accountants free on paid plans
Multi-currency: Essentials ($85) and up
Inventory and projects: Plus ($140) and up
Card / bank payment fees: 2.99% / 1% (QuickBooks Payments)
Payroll: Workforce Payroll bundles, e.g. with Essentials $125/mo + $6.50 per employee
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 on the Intuit Trust Center
Custom roles / audit log: Custom roles on Advanced; audit log from Essentials
Data export: Export data tool (reports and lists to Excel); read-only access 1 year after cancelling
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, QuickBooks Online is a full accounting suite with payments, payroll and bill pay from Intuit and a clear plan ladder. Users are tied to tiers, and inventory and projects start on Plus.
Choose it if: You want payments, payroll and bill pay from the same vendor as your books. · You need multicurrency with 3 users at $85 a month. · You may grow to 25 users, custom roles and workflows without changing software.
Look elsewhere if: You need more than 3 users at the Essentials price. · You need inventory or project profitability below $140 a month.
Compared with: Xero (https://proofyo.com/products/xero) — pick QuickBooks Online when You want multicurrency on the $85 plan, custom roles on a plan bought online, and payroll and payments from the same vendor.; pick Xero when You want users without seat limits and a lower 3-user cost ($59 a month on Growing). | Zoho Books (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-books) — pick QuickBooks Online when You want a free plan with a bank connection and no revenue limit, and Intuit’s own payroll bundles.; pick Zoho Books when You want inventory, projects, purchase orders and custom roles on a $50 plan with 5 users. | FreshBooks (https://proofyo.com/products/freshbooks) — pick QuickBooks Online when You need purchase orders, budgets, class tracking or more than a few users without per-user charges.; pick FreshBooks when You bill clients for time and projects and want a 30-day trial that needs no card.
Strengths:
- Payments, payroll and bill pay in one account: Card (2.99%) and bank (1%) payment rates, payroll bundles and bill pay with free ACH up to an allotment are all priced on Intuit’s own pages. (Xero sells payroll through Gusto and card payments through Stripe; FreshBooks and Wave also sell their own payroll.)
- A free plan with a bank connection: Free connects 1 bank account and tracks income and expenses for 1 user, with no card needed; invoices are limited to two a month unless QuickBooks Payments is turned on. (Wave’s free Starter plan allows unlimited invoices and bills but imports bank transactions only on Pro.)
- Multicurrency on Essentials: The multicurrency help article covers Essentials, Plus and Advanced; Simple Start does not have it. (Xero puts multiple currencies on Established ($97); Zoho Books on Professional ($50).)
- Scales to 25 users and custom roles: Advanced supports 25 users plus 3 accountants, custom user roles, automated workflows, batch invoices and Excel sync, bought online.
- Read-only access after cancelling: After a paid subscription ends, the data stays read-only for one year and can be exported to Excel or QuickBooks Desktop. (FreshBooks’ terms say content stops appearing shortly after the account is terminated.)
Things to know:
- Users come with the plan: Simple Start allows 1 user, Essentials 3, Plus 5 and Advanced 25; the pages sell no extra seats, so a fourth user means Plus at $140 a month. Workaround: View-only, time-tracking and some other roles are non-billable and do not count toward the limit.
- Inventory and projects start on Plus: Inventory tracking, project profitability, purchase orders, budgets and class and location tracking are listed on Plus ($140 a month) and up. Workaround: You can upgrade between Simple Start, Essentials and Plus when you need them.
- Bill pay allotments are not listed: Bill pay includes free standard ACH up to a monthly allotment that "may vary", then $0.50 per payment; the pages do not state the allotment for each plan.
- Trial and promotion terms sit in a pop-up: The pricing page shows a 30-day trial and 50% off for 3 months; the full terms, and whether the trial needs a card, are not in the page text we read. Workaround: Check the offer terms at checkout before choosing the trial or the discount.
Pricing reality: QuickBooks Online bills per company per month in tiers; users come with the tier. For our scenario, 3 users with invoices, bills and bank feeds, Simple Start allows only 1 user, so the cheapest fit is Essentials at $85 a month at list price (computed), or $42.50 a month for the first 3 months with the 50% offer shown. Plus ($140) adds inventory, projects, budgets and class tracking and allows 5 users; Advanced ($340) allows 25. On top: QuickBooks Payments at 2.99% for cards and 1% for bank payments, bill pay ACH beyond the allotment at $0.50 each, and payroll, sold as Workforce bundles (with Essentials $125 a month plus $6.50 per employee at list price).
Exit path: The Export data tool exports reports and lists as Excel files in one .zip; estimates, purchase orders, attachments and the chart of accounts are exported from their own screens. After a paid subscription is cancelled, the data stays read-only for one year and can be exported to Excel or QuickBooks Desktop; after a trial, export within 90 days. The QuickBooks Online Accounting API is documented for developers.

### Xero

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/xero
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/xero
Category: Small business accounting software
Vendor: Xero Limited
Tagline: Cloud accounting with no per-user fees, priced in three plans from $27 a month, with inventory and purchase orders on every plan.
Value: Accounting priced per business, not per user, with inventory, purchase orders and bank feeds on every plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: Xero charges per organization with no per-user license fees, so a team can add staff, a bookkeeper and an accountant without the bill changing. Growing ($59 a month) covers unlimited invoices and bills, auto-reconcile and budgets; inventory, purchase orders, bank connections and sales tax come with every plan. Payroll (powered by Gusto) and Stripe card and ACH payments are priced on Xero’s pages, and Xero states ISO 27001:2022 and a SOC 2 Type II report.
- No per-user license fees: The pricing page states "No per-user license fees", so users do not change the price of a plan. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Inventory and purchase orders on every plan: The Growing plan page lists bank connections, inventory, reporting, accept payments, purchase orders, files, contacts and sales tax as features in every plan. (Growing plan page (2026-10-16))
- Payroll and payments priced in Xero: Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto, is $36 a month plus $6 per employee or contractor; Stripe fees managed by Xero are 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards and 1% capped at $9 for ACH debit. (Pricing page and Stripe fees page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small businesses that want several people in the books without per-user charges, and need inventory or purchase orders from the start.
Things to know: Multiple currencies and projects start on Established ($97 a month), and Early limits invoices and bills.
Score: 7.1/10
Free option: 30-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Card required
Starter price: $27/mo (Early plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per organization per month; no per-user license fees
Free option: No free plan; one month free with billing details taken at sign-up
Reference scenario (3 users, monthly): $59/mo on Growing, computed
Users per plan: No per-user fees on any plan
Multi-currency: Established ($97)
Inventory and projects: Inventory in every plan (Inventory Plus $39/mo); projects on Established
Card / bank payment fees: 2.9% + 30¢ / ACH debit 1% capped at $9 (Stripe, managed by Xero)
Payroll: Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto: $36/mo + $6 per employee or contractor
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II report on request; ISO/IEC 27001:2022
Custom roles / audit log: Fixed user roles; History and notes audit trail
Data export: Any report exported to Excel or PDF; API
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Xero is full small business accounting priced per organization with no per-user fees, with inventory and purchase orders on every plan. Most businesses that pay bills start on Growing, and currencies and projects need Established.
Choose it if: You want to add staff and advisors without per-user charges. · You need inventory and purchase orders without moving to a top plan. · You want Gusto-powered payroll and capped ACH fees inside your books.
Look elsewhere if: You need multiple currencies or project costing below $97 a month. · You want a permanent free plan.
Compared with: QuickBooks Online (https://proofyo.com/products/quickbooks-online) — pick Xero when You want users without seat limits and inventory and purchase orders below $100 a month.; pick QuickBooks Online when You want multicurrency on the 3-user plan ($85 Essentials), custom roles on Advanced, or a free plan. | Zoho Books (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-books) — pick Xero when You want no limit on users and capped ACH fees with Stripe.; pick Zoho Books when You want multi-currency, projects and custom roles on a $50 plan, or a free plan under $50K revenue. | FreshBooks (https://proofyo.com/products/freshbooks) — pick Xero when You want bills, purchase orders and budgets with any number of users at $59 a month.; pick FreshBooks when You mainly bill clients for time and projects and want a 30-day trial without a card.
Strengths:
- No per-user fees: Every plan is priced per organization with no per-user license fees, so 3 users cost the same as 1. (QuickBooks Online ties users to tiers (3 on Essentials); FreshBooks charges $11 a month per team member.)
- Inventory and purchase orders on every plan: Inventory and purchase orders are listed among the features in every plan; Inventory Plus, for online sales channels, is a $39 a month add-on. (QuickBooks Online starts inventory and purchase orders on Plus ($140); Zoho Books on Professional ($50).)
- Capped bank payment fees: Through Stripe managed by Xero, US ACH debit is 1% capped at $9 and bank transfer 0.5% capped at $5; cards are 2.9% + 30¢. (QuickBooks Payments and Wave list 1% for bank payments with no cap stated.)
- Own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The security page states ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and SOC 2 reports; customers download them after logging in, others request them with a form. (FreshBooks’ press release covers a SOC 2 Type 1 report; Wave states PCI DSS only.)
Things to know:
- Early has invoice and bill limits: Early allows 20 invoices (counted when approved or sent; invoices created by apps may count) and 5 bills a month, so most businesses that pay suppliers start on Growing at $59.
- Multiple currencies and projects need Established: Use multiple currencies, track time and costs for projects, and expense claims are marked only on Established ($97 a month).
- No free plan; the free month takes billing details: The sign-up terms authorize Xero to charge the recurring total at the end of the one month free unless you cancel before the next billing date. Workaround: The pricing page offers 80% off the first 3 months as an alternative for new US customers.
- Fixed user roles: Access is managed through Xero’s built-in user roles; the pages we read describe no custom roles.
Pricing reality: Xero bills per organization per month with no per-user fees, and subscriptions auto-renew monthly. For our scenario, 3 users with 30 invoices and 20 bills a month, Early’s limits (20 invoices, 5 bills) rule it out, so the cheapest fit is Growing at $59 a month at list price (computed), or $11.80 a month for the first 3 months with the 80% offer for new US customers. Established ($97) adds multiple currencies and projects. Add-ons and fees: Inventory Plus $39 a month, payroll $36 a month plus $6 per person, auto-reconcile on Early $5 a month, and Stripe fees of 2.9% + 30¢ for cards and 1% capped at $9 for ACH debit. Standard ACH bill payments are included on all plans; other payment methods carry fees.
Exit path: Any report can be exported as a spreadsheet or PDF, the History and notes report can be exported as an audit trail, and the accounting API is documented. The terms let you end a subscription with one month’s notice; export your reports and data before access ends.

### Wave

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/wave
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/wave
Category: Small business accounting software
Vendor: Wave Financial Inc.
Tagline: Free invoicing and bookkeeping for small businesses, with bank imports, users and reminders on a $19 Pro plan.
Value: Invoices, bills and bookkeeping for free, and bank imports, users and reminders for $19 a month per business.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Wave’s free Starter plan has no cap on invoices, estimates, bills or bookkeeping records, so a very small business can keep its books without a subscription. Pro, at $19 a month or $190 a year per business, adds automatic bank imports, auto-categorized transactions, receipt capture, reminders, recurring invoices and invited users. Payments, payroll and a bookkeeping service are sold on top at published rates.
- Unlimited invoices and bills for free: Starter lists unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records at $0, with optional online payments. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Pro priced per business: The FAQ says the Pro fee is per business, not per owner, and Pro users can be invited as admins, editors or viewers. (Pricing page FAQ and plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Bank imports and auto-categorizing on Pro: Pro imports bank transactions through Plaid and merges and categorizes them automatically; reconciliation is done on the Transactions page. (Pricing page and reconciliation help article (Internet Archive, Aug 4, 2025))
Best for: Freelancers and very small businesses that want free invoicing and bookkeeping, or a low-cost plan with bank imports and a few users.
Things to know: Inventory, projects, purchase orders, budgets and an audit log are not listed, and the pages state no SOC 2 or ISO 27001.
Score: 6.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $19/mo (Pro ($190 billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per business per month or year
Free option: Free Starter plan (unlimited invoices and bills, no bank import)
Reference scenario (3 users, monthly): $19/mo on Pro, computed
Users per plan: Admins, editors and viewers on Pro; payroll manager and tax pro on all plans
Multi-currency: Foreign currency invoices and bills
Inventory and projects: Not listed
Card / bank payment fees: 2.9% + $0.60 (first 10 a month at 2.9% + $0 on Pro) / 1%, $1 minimum
Payroll: $40/mo + $6 per employee and per contractor paid
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated; Level 1 PCI DSS
Custom roles / audit log: Fixed roles that cannot be customized; no audit log described
Data export: Data Export: journal entries and transactions, bills, customers, vendors (XLS or CSV)
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Wave is the lowest-cost way here to keep small business books: free invoices and bills, and bank imports and users for $19 a month. It lists fewer bookkeeping and security features than the larger suites.
Choose it if: You want invoicing and bookkeeping without a subscription. · You need bank imports and a few users for $19 a month. · Your books are simple: no inventory, projects or purchase orders.
Look elsewhere if: You need inventory, purchase orders, budgets or project costing. · Your security review asks for a SOC 2 report or ISO 27001.
Compared with: FreshBooks (https://proofyo.com/products/freshbooks) — pick Wave when You want a free plan with unlimited invoices and bills, or Pro at $19 a month.; pick FreshBooks when You need project profitability, time tracking and free accountant access. | Zoho Books (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-books) — pick Wave when You want free invoicing and bills with no revenue limit, or the lowest price for 3 users.; pick Zoho Books when You need inventory, purchase orders, custom roles, an activity log or SOC 2 and ISO 27001. | QuickBooks Online (https://proofyo.com/products/quickbooks-online) — pick Wave when You want bills on a free plan and bank imports with several users for $19 a month.; pick QuickBooks Online when You need multicurrency with an audit log, inventory or more users with custom roles.
Strengths:
- A free plan with no invoice or bill limit: Starter allows unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records with no subscription. (QuickBooks Free allows two invoices a month; Zoho Books Free is for businesses under $50K revenue and has no bills.)
- Lowest paid price for 3 users: Pro at $19 a month per business covers bank imports and invited users; $190 a year if paid yearly. (Zoho Books needs Professional ($50) for bills with 3 users; Xero needs Growing ($59).)
- Foreign currency invoices and bills: Invoices and bills can be issued in another currency, with unrealized gains or losses tracked until payment.
- Full data export: Data Export sends journal entries and transactions, bills, customers and vendors as XLS or CSV, plus receipts and payroll files.
Things to know:
- Bank imports need Pro: Starter records transactions entered by hand; automatic bank imports and auto-categorizing are on Pro.
- Fewer bookkeeping features: The pages list no inventory, project tracking, purchase orders, budgets or class tracking.
- Roles and audit: Users are admins, editors or viewers on Pro and their permissions cannot be customized; the pages describe no audit log.
- Compliance documents: The security page states Level 1 PCI DSS and encryption; it names no SOC 2 report or ISO 27001 certificate.
Pricing reality: Wave bills per business: Starter is free and Pro is $19 a month or $190 a year. For our scenario, 3 users with invoices, bills and bank feeds, Starter has no bank imports and no invited admins or editors, so the cheapest fit is Pro at $19 a month at list price (computed); the pages state no per-user fee. On top: card payments at 2.9% + $0.60 (the first 10 a month at 2.9% + $0 on Pro; Amex 3.4%), bank payments at 1% with a $1 minimum, payroll at $40 a month plus $6 per employee and per contractor paid, and Wave Advisors bookkeeping. Cancelling takes effect at the end of the billing period.
Exit path: Business settings has a Data Export that emails links to an accounting file (journal entries and transactions, bills, customers, vendors) as XLS or CSV, a ZIP of receipts and payroll CSVs, one business profile at a time; viewers and editors cannot export. A GraphQL API is documented, and businesses that connect a public integration need Pro.

### FreshBooks

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/freshbooks
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/freshbooks
Category: Small business accounting software
Vendor: FreshBooks
Tagline: Invoicing-first accounting for service businesses, priced by billable clients, with time tracking, projects and payments built in.
Value: Invoicing, time tracking, projects and payments for client work, with the accounting reports your accountant needs behind them.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Saves engineering time
Value detail: FreshBooks starts from the invoice: estimates, proposals, retainers, recurring invoices, late fees and reminders, time tracking and project budgets, with clients paying by card, ACH or buy now, pay later. Plus adds double-entry reports, bank reconciliation and free accountant access; Premium adds unlimited clients, accounts payable and project profitability. Service businesses that bill clients for their time get billing and bookkeeping in one tool.
- Billing tools on every plan: Every plan includes unlimited estimates and invoices, recurring invoices, scheduled late fees, automated reminders, deposits, time tracking and project budgets. (Pricing page plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Project profitability on Premium: Premium adds project profitability reports, accounts payable and bill receipt capture alongside unlimited billable clients. (Pricing page plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Trial without a card: The pricing FAQ describes a 30-day free trial with no contracts and no credit card required. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-16))
Best for: Freelancers, agencies and service firms that bill clients for time and projects and want invoicing and bookkeeping in one place.
Things to know: Each team member is $11 a month, accounts payable starts on Premium ($70), and purchase orders, budgets and class tracking are not listed.
Score: 6.1/10
Free option: 30-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $23/mo (Lite (5 billable clients) plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per business per month by billable clients, plus $11/mo per team member
Free option: No free plan; 30-day trial, no card
Reference scenario (3 users, monthly): $92/mo on Premium ($70 + 2 × $11), computed
Users per plan: Owner plus team members at $11/mo each; up to 10 accountants free on Plus and up
Multi-currency: Invoices and expenses in other currencies, reports per currency
Inventory and projects: Stock counts on items; project profitability on Premium ($70)
Card / bank payment fees: 2.9% + 30¢ / 1% (FreshBooks Payments or Stripe)
Payroll: FreshBooks Payroll $40/mo + $6 per user
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 1 (2023, on request under NDA); no ISO 27001 stated
Custom roles / audit log: Fixed team roles; audit log for admins
Data export: CSV of chart of accounts, clients, expenses, invoices, items, vendors and reports
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, FreshBooks is invoicing-first accounting for client work, with strong billing tools on every plan and project profitability on Premium. Bills start on Premium and each team member adds $11 a month.
Choose it if: You bill clients for time and projects and want billing and books together. · You want late fees, reminders, retainers and deposits on the entry plan. · You want to try every feature for 30 days without a card.
Look elsewhere if: You need purchase orders, company budgets or class tracking. · Several staff need access and you want to avoid per-user charges.
Compared with: QuickBooks Online (https://proofyo.com/products/quickbooks-online) — pick FreshBooks when You bill clients for time and projects and want project profitability below $140 a month.; pick QuickBooks Online when You need purchase orders, budgets, class tracking or several users without per-user fees. | Xero (https://proofyo.com/products/xero) — pick FreshBooks when You want a 30-day trial without a card and client billing tools such as retainers and late fees.; pick Xero when You want bills, purchase orders and any number of users for $59 a month. | Wave (https://proofyo.com/products/wave) — pick FreshBooks when You need project profitability, time tracking and accountant access in the same tool.; pick Wave when You want a free plan with unlimited invoices and bills, or Pro at $19 a month.
Strengths:
- Client billing on the entry plan: Lite already includes recurring invoices, late fees, reminders, deposits, time tracking and card, ACH and buy now, pay later payments. (Wave puts payment reminders and recurring invoices on Pro or with online payments.)
- Project profitability with unlimited clients: Premium ($70 a month) adds project profitability reports and accounts payable with unlimited billable clients. (QuickBooks Online starts project profitability on Plus ($140); Xero on Established ($97).)
- Trial with no card: The 30-day trial needs no credit card, and data is kept if you do not subscribe. (Xero’s one month free takes billing details at sign-up.)
- Two-factor sign-in for everyone: Two-factor authentication is mandatory for email-and-password logins, by emailed code or an authenticator app.
Things to know:
- Users are an add-on: Team members are $11 a month each on every plan, so 3 users on Premium cost $92 a month (computed); up to 10 accountants are free on Plus and up.
- Bills start on Premium: Accounts payable is marked on Premium and Select only, and Plus is limited to 50 billable clients.
- Narrower bookkeeping features: The plan pages list no purchase orders, company budgets or class tracking; inventory is a stock count on items.
- Compliance documents: The security page states PCI DSS Level 1 and hosting on Google Cloud; the SOC 2 report announced in 2023 is Type 1, available under NDA. Workaround: Ask security@freshbooks.com for the current SOC 2 report.
Pricing reality: FreshBooks bills per business by billable clients, plus $11 a month per team member. For our scenario, 3 users with invoices, bills and bank feeds, accounts payable needs Premium, so the cost is $70 + 2 × $11 = $92 a month at list price (computed), assuming the owner’s login is included. Yearly billing takes 10% off the plan: Premium is $756 a year ($63 a month); the yearly price of team members is not stated. The 80% offer for 4 months is for new customers and cannot be combined with the free trial. Add-ons: Advanced Payments $20 a month, payroll $40 a month plus $6 per user; card payments are 2.9% + 30¢ and bank transfers 1%.
Exit path: Admins can export the chart of accounts, clients, expenses with receipt images, invoices, items, vendors and reports as CSV, and invoices as PDFs; estimate CSVs are sent by Support on request. The terms say content stops appearing shortly after an account is terminated, so export before cancelling. The FreshBooks API is documented.

## Category: HR and payroll software

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/hr-payroll

### Deel

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/deel
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/deel
Category: HR and payroll software
Vendor: Deel, Inc.
Tagline: US and global payroll, contractors, employer of record and a US PEO on one platform, with US payroll and HR from $22 per employee a month.
Value: Pay US employees, contractors abroad and employees hired through an employer of record from one platform, each with a published price.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Compliance included
Value detail: Deel puts US payroll, contractors in 120+ currencies, an employer of record and a US PEO on one platform, so a company that hires across borders does not run separate vendors. Each line has a list price: US payroll and HR from $22 per employee, contractors $49 each, EOR $599 per employee. Payroll files taxes in all 50 states, and the local payroll page states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. Activation ends with a quote from sales.
- Hire and pay abroad from the same account: The pricing page lists contractors in 120+ currencies at $49 a month each and an employer of record at $599 per employee, next to US payroll and a US PEO. (Pricing page plan data (2026-10-16))
- US payroll in all 50 states: The US payroll FAQ says Deel calculates and files payroll taxes with federal, state and local agencies in all 50 states, with W-2, W-4, new-hire and termination filings. (Deel Payroll – US page (2026-10-16))
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The local payroll page states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certification; the help center documents two-factor sign-in and SAML or OpenID Connect single sign-on. (Run local payroll page and help center (2026-10-16))
Best for: US companies that also pay contractors or employees abroad and want one platform with a list price for each.
Things to know: There is no free plan or trial, and payroll activation goes through a quote reviewed with Deel’s sales team.
Score: 6.3/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Sales call required
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $22/employee/mo (Deel HR + Deel Payroll — US, Core plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per employee or contractor per month; activation through a quote
Free option: No free plan or trial; free demo
Reference scenario (10 employees, one state): $220/mo on HR + US Payroll Core ($22 × 10), computed
Multi-state payroll: All 50 states, self-serve or managed
International hiring: Contractors $49/mo each; EOR $599 per employee
PEO option: PEO Starter $110, PEO Pro $120 per employee ($125 on another card)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001
Contract terms: Month to month per the pricing FAQ
Data export: Reports as CSV, PDF or Excel; REST API
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Deel is the broadest published price list here for paying people in the US and abroad, with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. US payroll costs more than Gusto or Justworks for 10 people, activation goes through sales, and a few cards disagree on PEO prices.
Choose it if: You pay US employees and people abroad and want one platform. · You want list prices for contractors and an employer of record. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Look elsewhere if: You want to sign up and run payroll without a call with sales. · You only pay a small US team and want the lowest monthly cost.
Compared with: Gusto (https://proofyo.com/products/gusto) — pick Deel when You pay people abroad or hire through an employer of record, or need SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 stated.; pick Gusto when You only pay US staff and want a lower price ($109 vs $220 a month for 10, computed) and online sign-up. | Justworks (https://proofyo.com/products/justworks) — pick Deel when You want an employer of record without moving to a PEO plan.; pick Justworks when You want a lower US payroll price ($130 a month for 10, computed) and an online sign-up. | Rippling (https://proofyo.com/products/rippling) — pick Deel when You want published prices for payroll, contractors and EOR.; pick Rippling when You also want device and app management on the same employee record.
Strengths:
- One platform for US and global teams: US payroll, contractors abroad, an employer of record and a US PEO are all on the pricing page, so a mixed team stays in one system. (Gusto lists contractor payments abroad but no employer of record; Justworks offers EOR only with a PEO plan.)
- List prices for international hiring: Contractors are $49 a month each and the employer of record $599 per employee a month. (Rippling and BambooHR price their EOR and global contractor services through sales.)
- Audits stated: The local payroll page states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001; the security page also lists SOC 1, SOC 3 and GDPR compliance. (Gusto’s security page does not give the SOC 2 type or mention ISO 27001.)
- Exports and API: Reports download as CSV, PDF or Excel, and the developer site documents a REST API.
Things to know:
- Activation goes through sales: The setup article says that after triage questions you book a call with sales and accept a quote before payroll is activated, although list prices are published. Workaround: The implementation tracker opens while the call is pending, so documents and people can be added in the meantime.
- Some cards disagree: PEO prices ($110, $120 or $125), PEO health benefits in the Pro bundle, and the EOR country count (130+ or 150+) differ between cards on the pricing page. Workaround: Confirm the figures in the quote.
- No free plan or trial: The FAQ offers a free demo as the way to try Deel before committing.
Pricing reality: Deel bills per employee or contractor per month, and the FAQ says month to month with no long-term commitment. For our scenario, 10 employees on the Deel HR plus US payroll Core bundle cost 10 × $22 = $220 a month (computed), before tax; Deel Payroll alone would be 10 × $29 = $290 (computed), so the bundle is the cheaper way in. Performance reviews start on the Advanced bundle at $39 ($390 for 10, computed). Contractors add $49 each a month, EOR employees $599 each, and benefits management $10 per employee. Managed US payroll, with a dedicated payroll manager, is not priced on the page. A PEO promotion with 3 months free requires an order form with a minimum two-year term.
Exit path: Admins can export reports as CSV, PDF or Excel from Analytics, and the developer site documents a REST API. The pricing FAQ says you can cancel at any time; for EOR employees, local notice and severance rules apply.

### Gusto

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/gusto
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/gusto
Category: HR and payroll software
Vendor: Gusto, Inc.
Tagline: Full-service US payroll with tax filings, onboarding, time off and health benefits administration, from $49 a month plus $6 per person, month to month.
Value: Full-service US payroll with tax filings, onboarding and benefits administration at a published monthly price, with no long-term contract.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt, Saves engineering time
Value detail: From $49 a month plus $6 per person, Gusto runs unlimited payrolls and files and pays federal, state and local payroll taxes, so a small business does not track deposits and forms itself. The same plan covers US contractor payments, time off, offer letters with e-signature and health insurance administration brokered by Gusto with no admin fee. Plans are month to month, and the account can be set up before the first paid payroll.
- Every price on the page: The pricing page lists all three plans as a base fee plus a price per person ($49 + $6, $80 + $12, $180 + $22), and most add-ons with their prices, from time tracking at $6 per person to Remote I-9 at $20 a submission. (Pricing page, Internet Archive copy of Oct 9, 2026 (read 2026-10-16))
- Tax filings handled on every plan: The plan comparison says Gusto can automatically file and pay federal, state and local payroll taxes in all 50 states on every plan, including forms such as W-2, 1099, 940 and 941. (Plan comparison data and pricing FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Set up before paying: Gusto’s free setup page says you can create an account, onboard employees and explore the features without paying, and that there are no contracts when you start running payroll. (Free HR software setup page, Internet Archive copy of May 20, 2026)
- Benefits administration without an admin fee: Medical, dental and vision administration brokered by Gusto is on every plan and you pay only the premiums; keeping your own broker costs $6 per eligible employee a month. (Pricing page and plan comparison (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small US businesses in one or a few states that want payroll, tax filings and basic HR at a published price, month to month.
Things to know: Simple runs payroll in one state; multi-state payroll, time tracking and performance reviews start on Plus ($80 + $12 per person).
Score: 6.3/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $49/mo + $6/person (Simple plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Monthly base fee plus a price per active person; US contractors billed only in months they are paid
Free option: Free account to set up and onboard; billing starts with the first payroll
Reference scenario (10 employees, one state): $109/mo on Simple ($49 + $6 × 10), computed
Multi-state payroll: Plus ($80 + $12 per person)
International hiring: Contractors in 120+ countries, per-payment fee; no employer-of-record service listed
PEO option: None listed
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports (type not stated); ISO 27001 not stated
Contract terms: Month to month, cancel anytime
Data export: Reports as CSV, PDF or Excel; a payroll data export workbook per year
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Gusto is the clearest buy here: full-service payroll with HR basics from $109 a month for 10 employees, month to month. Multi-state payroll needs Plus, and there is no employer-of-record or PEO option on the pricing page.
Choose it if: You pay up to a few dozen people in one state and want a published price. · You want month-to-month terms and an account you can set up before paying. · You want health insurance administration without an admin fee.
Look elsewhere if: You need multi-state payroll at the Simple price. · You plan to hire employees abroad through the same provider.
Compared with: Justworks (https://proofyo.com/products/justworks) — pick Gusto when You want the lower 10-employee price ($109 vs $130 a month, computed) and built-in performance reviews on a published plan.; pick Justworks when You need multi-state payroll on the entry plan, or a PEO plan for access to group health benefits. | Deel (https://proofyo.com/products/deel) — pick Gusto when You want to sign up online and pay month to month without a quote from sales, at about half Deel’s 10-employee price.; pick Deel when You hire employees abroad through an employer of record, or need SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 on the public page. | Rippling (https://proofyo.com/products/rippling) — pick Gusto when You want prices you can read before talking to anyone.; pick Rippling when You want HR, payroll, IT and finance in one system and are ready for a custom quote.
Strengths:
- Published, month-to-month pricing: Every plan shows a base fee and a price per person, the FAQ says there is no long-term contract, and downgrades take effect at the next billing period. (Rippling and BambooHR price payroll through a quote; Deel’s activation ends with a quote from sales.)
- The lowest 10-employee price here: Simple costs $49 + $6 × 10 = $109 a month (computed) with tax filings, unlimited payroll runs and US contractor payments included. (Justworks Payroll comes to $130 and Deel’s HR and payroll bundle to $220 for the same 10 people.)
- HR basics in the entry plan: Simple includes time off, offer letter templates with e-signature, digital I-9s and W-4s, employee self-onboarding, document storage and health insurance administration.
- Payroll data you can take with you: Reports download as CSV, PDF or Excel, and a payroll data export builds an Excel workbook of all payrolls for a year.
Things to know:
- One state on Simple: Simple runs payroll in one state; multi-state payroll, time tracking and performance reviews are on Plus at $80 plus $12 per person. Workaround: Time tracking is also sold as an add-on to Simple at $6 per person.
- No employer of record or PEO listed: The pricing page lists payments to contractors in 120+ countries but no service for hiring employees abroad and no PEO plan.
- Security file is thin on the public page: The security page mentions SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports, available after an NDA, without the type, and does not mention ISO 27001. Workaround: The page links to a trust center for the reports.
Pricing reality: Gusto bills a monthly base fee plus a price for each active person, and US contractors only in months they are paid. For our scenario, 10 employees in one state on Simple cost $49 + $6 × 10 = $109 a month (computed), before tax, with tax filings and unlimited payrolls included. Moving to Plus for a second state or time tracking costs $80 + $12 × 10 = $200 (computed); Premium is $180 + $22 × 10 = $400 (computed). Add-ons are listed: time tracking $6 per person on Simple, next-day pay $15 plus $3 per person, priority support $30 plus $3 per person, Remote I-9 $20 a submission, Gusto Business Compliance $85 per state a month on an annual contract. State tax registration and 401(k) are priced case by case.
Exit path: Admins can download most reports as CSV, PDF or Excel and run a payroll data export that builds an Excel workbook of all payrolls for a year, with employee, earnings and tax tabs. The pricing FAQ says plans are month to month and can be cancelled at any time. We did not find a published fee for leaving.

### Justworks

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/justworks
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/justworks
Category: HR and payroll software
Vendor: Justworks, Inc.
Tagline: Payroll for small US businesses at $50 a month plus $8 per employee, with PEO plans for group benefits and an employer of record.
Value: Low-cost multi-state payroll for small US teams, with a PEO path to group health benefits when you need it.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Justworks Payroll costs $50 a month plus $8 per employee and includes multi-state payroll, tax filings, W-2s and 1099s, onboarding and PTO, so a small team does not pay more for a second state. When a company wants richer benefits and shared compliance, the PEO plans co-employ the staff, with health insurance administration on PEO Plus. Multi-factor sign-in is mandatory for every user.
- Multi-state payroll on the entry plan: The plan table ticks multi-state payroll, employer tax filings, W-2 and 1099 filings, onboarding and PTO management on Payroll at $50 a month plus $8 per employee. (Pricing page, Internet Archive copy of May 21, 2026)
- A PEO when you want shared compliance: PEO Basic adds EPLI, state unemployment administration, HR consulting and 24/7 support; PEO Plus adds health insurance administration, HSA and FSA accounts. (Pricing page, Internet Archive copy of May 21, 2026, and help center pricing article)
- Multi-factor sign-in for everyone: The help center says multi-factor authentication is mandatory for all users, with passkeys, authenticator apps, SMS or voice codes. (Help center: Multi-Factor Authentication (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small US businesses in one or more states that want low-cost payroll now and the option of a PEO for benefits later.
Things to know: The pages we could read state no SOC 2 report and no public REST API, and performance reviews come only through integrations.
Score: 5.6/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $50/mo + $8/employee (Payroll plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Payroll: monthly base fee plus a price per employee; PEO: per employee, no base fee
Free option: No free plan or trial stated
Reference scenario (10 employees, one state): $130/mo on Payroll ($50 + $8 × 10), computed (prices as of May 21, 2026)
Multi-state payroll: Included on every plan
International hiring: Contractors $39 each; EOR $599 per employee on PEO plans
PEO option: PEO Basic $79, PEO Plus $109 per employee
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated on the pages we read
Contract terms: Not stated; first year of PEO fees can be prepaid
Data export: Each payroll downloads as CSV
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Justworks pairs low-cost multi-state payroll with a priced PEO path. Its score is held back by a security file and API that its pages do not state, and its pricing page could only be read in a May 2026 archive copy.
Choose it if: You run payroll in more than one state on a small budget. · You may want a PEO with group health benefits later. · You want add-on prices listed before you sign up.
Look elsewhere if: Your security review needs a SOC 2 report or a REST API. · You need an employer of record without moving to a PEO plan.
Compared with: Gusto (https://proofyo.com/products/gusto) — pick Justworks when You employ people in more than one state and want multi-state payroll on the entry plan.; pick Gusto when You want built-in performance reviews, a free account before the first payroll, or the lower price ($109 vs $130, computed). | Deel (https://proofyo.com/products/deel) — pick Justworks when You want US payroll for less ($130 vs $220 a month for 10, computed) and an online sign-up.; pick Deel when You need an employer of record without a PEO plan, or SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 stated. | BambooHR (https://proofyo.com/products/bamboohr) — pick Justworks when You want payroll priced on the page and multi-state payroll stated.; pick BambooHR when You want a deeper HR system with built-in reviews and a free trial.
Strengths:
- Multi-state payroll at the entry price: Payroll includes multi-state payroll, tax filings and W-2 and 1099 filings at $50 plus $8 per employee. (Gusto runs payroll in one state on Simple; a second state needs Plus at $80 plus $12 per person.)
- A PEO with published prices: PEO Basic is $79 and PEO Plus $109 per employee a month, with no base fee. (Rippling’s PEO is priced by quote.)
- Mandatory multi-factor sign-in: Multi-factor authentication is required for every user and cannot be turned off by admins.
- Clear add-on prices: Time tracking, US contractors, international contractors, health insurance access and dedicated HR consulting each have a listed price.
Things to know:
- No SOC 2 or public API stated: The security article describes encryption, testing and access controls but names no SOC 2 report or ISO certificate, and we found no public REST API; an MCP connector gives admins read-only access. Workaround: Ask Justworks for audit reports during a security review.
- Employer of record needs a PEO plan: The $599 employer-of-record add-on is listed for PEO Basic and PEO Plus, not for Payroll.
- Performance reviews through integrations: The plan table lists performance management integrations on PEO plans, not a built-in review tool.
Pricing reality: Justworks Payroll bills a $50 monthly base fee plus $8 per employee; the PEO plans bill per employee with no base fee. For our scenario, 10 employees on Payroll cost $50 + $8 × 10 = $130 a month (computed), before tax, using the May 21, 2026 copy of the pricing page. Add-ons: time tracking $8 per employee, US contractors $8 and international contractors $39 per paid contractor, health insurance access $8 per benefits-eligible employee. PEO Basic would be $790 and PEO Plus $1,090 a month for 10 (computed). Leaving Payroll costs a one-time $200 if Justworks completes your final tax returns.
Exit path: Payroll admins can download each payroll as a CSV file, and PEO customers can export a custom payroll report as CSV. To leave Justworks Payroll you contact support and choose who files the remaining quarterly returns and W-2s; Justworks charges a one-time $200 to complete tax returns for off-boarded companies, and a final monthly fee may follow the closing.

### BambooHR

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/bamboohr
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/bamboohr
Category: HR and payroll software
Vendor: BambooHR LLC
Tagline: An HR system for records, hiring, onboarding, time off and performance, with US payroll, benefits and time tracking as add-ons priced by quote.
Value: A complete HR record, from hiring and onboarding to time off and reviews, with payroll that reads from the same data.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Compliance included
Value detail: BambooHR keeps employee records, hiring, onboarding with e-signatures and time off in one HR system, and its payroll add-on syncs those records, time off and benefits deductions into each pay run, with federal, state and local tax filing for US employees. Small companies pay a flat monthly price for the HR plan, and a free trial needs no card. The trust center lists SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2 reports, and data can be hosted in the US, Canada or Ireland.
- Onboarding and time off on Core: The plan comparison puts new hire packets, onboarding checklists, e-signatures, offer letter templates and time-off management with unlimited custom policies on Core. (Pricing page plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Payroll from the HR record: The payroll page says employee records, time off, location changes and benefits data flow into payroll, and BambooHR files federal, state and local taxes for US employees. (Payroll page (2026-10-16))
- SOC 2 Type 2 and a choice of hosting region: The trust center lists SOC 1, SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI DSS; the security page says data is hosted in the US, Canada or Ireland, with native multi-factor authentication. (Trust center and security page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Companies that want a full HR system first and payroll that reads from it, and are fine with a quote for payroll.
Things to know: Payroll, benefits administration and time tracking are add-ons with no published price.
Score: 3.6/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Sales call required
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $250/mo (Core (25 employees or fewer); payroll by quote plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Prices hidden
Billing unit: Flat monthly price up to 25 employees, then per employee; add-ons by quote
Free option: Free trial, no card; length not stated
Reference scenario (10 employees, one state): Not priced: payroll add-on by quote ($250/mo Core plus payroll)
Multi-state payroll: Not stated on the payroll page
International hiring: EOR and contractors through Remote, by quote
PEO option: None listed
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2; ISO 27001 not listed
Contract terms: Month to month or an extended term
Data export: Custom reports; API generates reports in several formats
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, BambooHR is a well-rounded HR system with payroll as a quoted add-on. Its score is held back by the unpublished payroll price and add-ons, not by the HR plans themselves.
Choose it if: You want an HR system with onboarding, time off and reviews, and payroll that reads from it. · You have 25 employees or fewer and like a flat monthly price for HR. · You want to try the HR side first with a free trial and no card.
Look elsewhere if: You want to know the payroll price before a demo. · You need multi-state payroll confirmed on the public pages.
Compared with: Gusto (https://proofyo.com/products/gusto) — pick BambooHR when You want a deeper HR system, with reviews on Pro, and a free trial without a card.; pick Gusto when You want payroll at a published price, from $109 a month for 10 employees (computed). | Rippling (https://proofyo.com/products/rippling) — pick BambooHR when You want published HR plan prices and a trial before a demo.; pick Rippling when You want a PEO, an employer of record and IT tools on one platform. | Justworks (https://proofyo.com/products/justworks) — pick BambooHR when You want built-in performance reviews and data hosting outside the US.; pick Justworks when You want payroll priced on the page and multi-state payroll stated on the entry plan.
Strengths:
- HR basics on the entry plan: Core includes employee records, custom reports, applicant tracking for 5 openings, onboarding with e-signatures and time-off management. (Rippling sells HRIS, time and benefits as separate quoted products.)
- Flat price for small teams: Companies with 25 employees or fewer pay $250 a month for Core, $425 for Pro or $650 for Elite, whatever the headcount.
- Free trial without a card: The trial page says no card is required and the trial ends automatically. (Deel, Rippling and Justworks describe a demo, not a trial.)
- SOC 2 Type 2 and regional hosting: The trust center lists SOC 1, SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI DSS, and data can be hosted in the US, Canada or Ireland.
Things to know:
- Payroll is priced by quote: The payroll add-on has no published price, nor do benefits administration, time and attendance or global employment. Workaround: The pricing page offers a 15% discount when payroll and benefits administration are bought together.
- Multi-state payroll not stated: The payroll page and FAQ describe federal, state and local filing for US employees but do not say whether payroll covers employees in several states. Workaround: Ask during the demo if you employ people in more than one state.
- Per-employee prices differ by a few cents: Core is $10 per employee on the plan card and $10.25 in the FAQ; Pro is $17 and $17.50.
Pricing reality: BambooHR prices its HR plans two ways: a flat $250 (Core), $425 (Pro) or $650 (Elite) a month for 25 employees or fewer, and per employee above that, with automatic volume discounts and 15% off for nonprofits. For our scenario of 10 employees, the HR plan alone would be the flat $250 a month on Core, but payroll is a quoted add-on, so the scenario cannot be priced. Benefits administration and time and attendance are quoted too; payroll plus benefits gets a 15% bundle discount. Monthly payers use a card or ACH, and annual upfront payment is offered.
Exit path: Admins can build custom reports, and the API can generate reports in several formats with an API key created in the account. The FAQ offers month-to-month terms or an extended term; we did not find a published cancellation fee.

### Rippling

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/rippling
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/rippling
Category: HR and payroll software
Vendor: Rippling People Center Inc.
Tagline: HR, payroll, benefits, IT and finance products on one employee record, sold as modules on a custom quote that starts at $8 per employee a month.
Value: One employee record that drives HR, payroll, benefits, devices and app access, with a long list of audits behind it.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Rippling builds HR, payroll, benefits, time, IT and finance on one employee record, so a change such as a new hire or a raise flows to payroll, app accounts and devices without re-entry. Payroll files federal, state and local taxes, and the same platform can move a company onto a PEO or hire abroad through an employer of record. The security page lists SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II reports and ISO 27001, 27018 and 42001 certificates. Everything is priced by custom quote.
- One record for HR, payroll and IT: The payroll page says new hires, salary changes and benefits deductions flow from HR into payroll automatically; the identity product provisions app access from the same HR data. (Payroll and Identity & Access product pages (2026-10-16))
- Audits and certificates listed: The security page lists SOC 1 Type II, SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports, CSA STAR Level 2, and ISO 27001, ISO 27018 and ISO 42001 certifications. (Security and data protection page (2026-10-16))
- PEO, EOR and global contractors on the same platform: The PEO page says a company can move off the PEO without replacing its system; contractors can be onboarded in 185+ countries and paid in 50+ currencies. (PEO and global contractors pages (2026-10-16))
- A documented API for your own data: The developer docs describe a REST API with customer API tokens and guides for payroll, time and reports. (Developer documentation (2026-10-16))
Best for: Growing companies that want HR, payroll, devices and app access run from one system, and can work through a custom quote.
Things to know: No price for payroll or any module is published beyond a starting price of $8 per employee plus a base fee.
Score: 3.3/10
Free option: Not observed yet
Getting access: Sales call required
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $8/employee/mo + base fee (Starting price; custom quote plan)
Pricing model: Custom quote
Pricing page: Prices hidden
Billing unit: Per employee per month plus a monthly base fee, by custom quote
Free option: None stated; 6 months free for eligible US VC-backed startups
Reference scenario (10 employees, one state): Not priced: payroll by custom quote
Multi-state payroll: Stated (registration and filing in all 50 states); price by quote
International hiring: Global payroll, EOR, global contractors (185+ countries); by quote
PEO option: Rippling PEO, by quote
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001, 27018, 42001; CSA STAR Level 2
Contract terms: Not stated on the pricing page
Data export: Reports and a documented REST API with customer API tokens
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Rippling offers the widest platform and the strongest compliance file in this group, but no published price for payroll or any module. Its score reflects what the pages commit to; a quote is the only way to compare its cost.
Choose it if: You want HR, payroll, benefits and IT driven by one employee record. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. · You may later need a PEO or an employer of record without switching systems.
Look elsewhere if: You want to see the price before talking to sales. · You want a free plan or trial to try the product first.
Compared with: Gusto (https://proofyo.com/products/gusto) — pick Rippling when You want HR, payroll and IT on one record and the audits to back it, and can work with a quote.; pick Gusto when You want published prices and month-to-month terms, from $109 a month for 10 employees (computed). | Deel (https://proofyo.com/products/deel) — pick Rippling when You also want device and app management from the HR record.; pick Deel when You want published per-employee prices for US payroll, contractors and EOR. | BambooHR (https://proofyo.com/products/bamboohr) — pick Rippling when You want a PEO, an employer of record and IT tools from the same vendor.; pick BambooHR when You want published HR plan prices and a free trial without a card.
Strengths:
- The broadest compliance file here: SOC 1 Type II, SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, CSA STAR Level 2 and ISO 27001, 27018 and 42001 are listed on the security page. (Gusto’s security page names SOC 1 and SOC 2 without the type; Justworks’ pages we read state no SOC report.)
- HR, payroll and IT on one record: Payroll reads hires, pay changes and deductions from the HR record, and the identity product provisions apps and enforces multi-factor rules from the same data.
- Room to grow abroad and into a PEO: Global payroll, an employer of record, contractors in 185+ countries and a PEO run on the same platform, and the PEO page says you can leave the PEO without changing systems. (Gusto lists contractor payments abroad but no employer-of-record service or PEO.)
- API access for customers: Customers create API tokens for the REST API, with guides for payroll, time, reports and workers. (Justworks offers a read-only MCP connector but no documented REST API on the pages we read.)
Things to know:
- Every price goes through a quote: Only a starting price of $8 per employee a month is published, plus a base fee whose amount is not stated; payroll and each module are quoted. Workaround: Ask for a quote that lists each module and the base fee separately.
- No free plan or trial described: The pages describe a demo, a quote form and a startup program for eligible VC-backed startups, but no free plan or trial.
- Modules add up: Time and attendance, benefits administration, performance, PEO, EOR and global contractors appear as separate products, so the quote grows with each one.
Pricing reality: Rippling prices by custom quote. The FAQ says plans start at $8 per employee per month with a monthly base fee, that most products are priced per employee and some add a base fee, and that Rippling Payroll depends on the number of employees and products. For our scenario of 10 employees in one state there is no published figure, so we cannot compute one. At the stated starting rate, 10 employees would be at least $80 a month before the base fee (our arithmetic), but the pages do not say which products that rate covers. Eligible US VC-backed startups can get 6 months free.
Exit path: Customers can create API tokens and pull workers, payroll and reports through the documented REST API; tokens are revoked if their owner leaves or they go unused for 30 days. The pricing FAQ says Rippling imports year-to-date payroll when you switch in. Contract and cancellation terms are not on the pricing page.

## Category: Cloud file storage and sharing

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/file-sharing

### Microsoft OneDrive

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-onedrive
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/microsoft-onedrive
Category: Cloud file storage and sharing
Vendor: Microsoft
Tagline: OneDrive for work with 1 TB per user, password and expiring links and file requests, in Microsoft 365 Business Basic from $5.40 per user paid yearly.
Value: A terabyte per user with full link controls, file requests, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA for $5.40 per user, with business email and web Office apps.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Business Basic gives each person 1 TB of OneDrive storage plus SharePoint team sites, business email and web and mobile Word, Excel and PowerPoint, so a small company buys storage and its office tools in one seat. OneDrive sharing includes passwords, expiry dates, blocked downloads and file requests, and work accounts can restore deleted files for 93 days. Microsoft Purview Audit (Standard), device wipe through Basic Mobility and Security, and a HIPAA BAA through Microsoft's data protection addendum come with the plan.
- Lowest price for 10 users here: Business Basic without Teams is $5.40 per user a month paid yearly, so 10 users cost $54 a month (computed), with 1 TB of OneDrive storage each. (OneDrive plans page and Business Basic page (2026-10-16))
- Full link controls on the entry plan: The plan table checks password-protected or expiring link settings on every business plan; the sharing help adds Block download, and file requests let anyone upload to a folder. (OneDrive plans page and Microsoft Support sharing and file request articles (2026-10-16))
- Audit and device controls included: Microsoft Purview Audit (Standard) is listed for Business Basic, Standard and Premium, and Basic Mobility and Security, which can wipe devices, is included in Business Basic. (Microsoft Purview service description and Basic Mobility and Security overview (2026-10-16))
- BAA by default: Microsoft's HIPAA page says its BAA is available through the Online Services Data Protection Addendum by default to customers who are covered entities or business associates. (Microsoft compliance pages for HIPAA, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small companies that want low-cost storage per person with link controls and compliance basics, and already work in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Things to know: Storage is per person: each OneDrive holds 1 TB, and shared SharePoint sites draw on an organization pool of 1 TB plus 10 GB per license.
Score: 9.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $5.40/user/mo (Microsoft 365 Business Basic, no Teams (paid yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; 1 TB of OneDrive per user
Free option: Microsoft account, 5 GB; one-month business trial with a card
Reference scenario (10 users, 2 TB, annual): $54/mo on Business Basic without Teams ($5.40 × 10), computed
Month-to-month price: $6.48 per user without Teams, $8.40 with Teams
Storage on the scenario plan: 1 TB per user; SharePoint pool of 1 TB plus 10 GB per license
Restore deleted files: 93 days for work accounts; restore the whole OneDrive to any point in 30 days
Password and expiring links: Every business plan
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 (Office 365 in scope)
HIPAA BAA: By default through Microsoft's data protection addendum
EU data storage: Follows the sign-up country or region
SSO: Microsoft Entra ID (free version included)
Admin activity log: Purview Audit (Standard) on Business Basic
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, OneDrive in Microsoft 365 Business Basic scores highest here: $5.40 per user with full link controls, 93-day recovery, audit logging and a BAA. Storage is per person, and shared team sites draw on a smaller organization pool.
Choose it if: You want the lowest price per user with 1 TB each. · You need SSO, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA on the entry plan. · Your team already works in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Look elsewhere if: You want one large pooled space for shared team folders. · You want a storage product without an office suite.
Compared with: Google Drive (https://proofyo.com/products/google-drive) — pick Microsoft OneDrive when You work in Office files and want the lowest seat price with link passwords and file requests.; pick Google Drive when You want storage pooled across the team and work in Docs, Sheets and Slides. | Dropbox (https://proofyo.com/products/dropbox) — pick Microsoft OneDrive when You want SSO, audit logging and a BAA for $54 a month for 10 users.; pick Dropbox when You want one pooled team space of 12 TB and 180-day recovery on Standard. | pCloud (https://proofyo.com/products/pcloud) — pick Microsoft OneDrive when You need SSO, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA.; pick pCloud when You want client-side encryption included and a storage pool you can split with custom quotas.
Strengths:
- Lowest seat price here: Business Basic without Teams is $5.40 per user paid yearly and $6.48 on a monthly subscription, with 1 TB of OneDrive per user. (pCloud Business is $7.99 per user billed annually; Google Business Standard is $14 with a one-year commitment.)
- Link controls and file requests on the entry plan: Links can carry a password, an expiry date and Block download, and file requests let anyone upload without seeing the folder. (Google Drive lists no link passwords or file requests.)
- 93-day recovery for work accounts: Work or school accounts can restore deleted files for 93 days unless an admin changes it, and Restore your OneDrive rolls everything back to any point in the last 30 days. (Box and Google Drive keep deleted items for 30 days by default.)
- Compliance basics included: Purview Audit (Standard), device wipe through Basic Mobility and Security, and a BAA by default through Microsoft's data protection addendum come with Business Basic. (Dropbox starts audit logs on Advanced; Box starts the BAA on Enterprise.)
Things to know:
- Storage is per person: Each OneDrive holds 1 TB for one user's work files; Microsoft says departmental data belongs in SharePoint, whose organization pool is 1 TB plus 10 GB per license (1.1 TB for 10 users). Workaround: The SharePoint limits page says the Office 365 Extra File Storage add-on adds to the pool; its price is not on the pages we read.
- Sold inside Microsoft 365, not on its own: The OneDrive business page lists only Microsoft 365 plans; it shows no OneDrive-only plan. Workaround: Business Basic without Teams is the lowest-priced plan on the page that includes OneDrive for business.
- Trial needs a card: The one-month trial requires a credit card, converts to a paid subscription unless canceled, and has limited storage. Workaround: A personal Microsoft account includes 5 GB of OneDrive at no cost.
- Data location follows the sign-up country: The default storage geography is set by the country or region given when the organization signs up.
Pricing reality: Microsoft bills per user; paying yearly is about 17% below the monthly subscription. For our scenario, 10 users on Business Basic without Teams cost 10 × $5.40 = $54 a month paid yearly, or $64.80 on a monthly subscription (computed), before tax, with 1 TB of OneDrive per user. With Teams, Business Basic is $70 a month for 10 users (computed). The seat also buys business email, web and mobile Office apps and SharePoint. Desktop Office apps need Apps for business ($10) or Business Standard ($14, or $23.50 with Copilot). Copilot is an add-on on Business Basic, and extra SharePoint storage is sold separately at a price not shown on the plan pages.
Exit path: OneDrive syncs files to computers, and the OneDrive developer docs cover API access, so files can be copied out. The trial footnote says that when a subscription is canceled, all associated data is deleted, so export before canceling; a paid subscription can be canceled within 7 days for a prorated refund.

### Dropbox

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/dropbox
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/dropbox
Category: Cloud file storage and sharing
Vendor: Dropbox, Inc.
Tagline: Team file storage with password and expiring links, 180-day file recovery and a HIPAA BAA from Standard at $15 per user billed yearly.
Value: Team storage built for sharing with clients: link passwords, expiry dates, download blocking and 180-day recovery on the entry team plan.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Compliance included
Value detail: Standard, at $15 per user a month billed yearly, gives a team one shared storage pool and every common link control a client-facing team needs: passwords, expiry dates, blocked downloads, viewer history and file request links that let anyone upload. Deleted files and old versions can be restored for 180 days, and Dropbox signs a HIPAA BAA with Standard customers, so a small practice or agency does not need an enterprise contract to share sensitive files. Single sign-on and detailed audit logs are on Advanced.
- Client-ready sharing on Standard: The plan table checks password-protected links, custom expiration dates, disabled downloads, advanced link settings and viewer history on Standard; file requests are on all plans. (Plans page and file request help article (2026-10-16))
- Storage that grows with the team: Standard gives 3 TB for the first license and 1 TB for each additional actively used license, shared across the team, with no minimum team size; admins can buy up to 1,000 TB. (Help center: What is Dropbox Standard? (2026-10-16))
- HIPAA BAA and audits from the entry team plan: The certifications page says the SOC 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate cover Standard, Advanced, Enterprise and Education, and Dropbox signs BAAs with those customers; US admins can sign it in the Admin Console. (Trust center: certifications and compliance (2026-10-16))
- Long recovery window: Deleted files and version history can be restored for 180 days on Standard and for 1 year on Advanced. (Plans page comparison table (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small and mid-size teams that share files with clients and want link controls, long file recovery and a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.
Things to know: Single sign-on and audit logs with file event tracking start on Advanced ($24 per user billed yearly, three users minimum).
Score: 7.6/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $15/user/mo (Standard (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per license per month; storage pooled for the team
Free option: Dropbox Basic, 2 GB; free trial of Standard and Advanced (30 days per the plans page)
Reference scenario (10 users, 2 TB, annual): $150/mo on Standard ($15 × 10), computed
Month-to-month price: $18 per user on Standard ($18 / $30 for Standard and Advanced)
Storage on the scenario plan: 3 TB plus 1 TB per additional active license, pooled (12 TB for 10)
Restore deleted files: 180 days on Standard, 1 year on Advanced
Password and expiring links: Standard and up
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate cover Standard and up
HIPAA BAA: Standard and up; US admins sign it in the Admin Console
EU data storage: By support request: 10+ licenses, annual billing, billing address outside the current region
SSO: Advanced and up ($24)
Admin activity log: Audit logs with file event tracking on Advanced; Standard admins see 180 days of activity
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Dropbox Standard is a complete sharing plan for teams: link controls, file requests, 180-day recovery and a HIPAA BAA at $15 per user. SSO and audit logs need Advanced, and Enterprise and extra storage are priced outside the plans page.
Choose it if: You share files with clients and want passwords, expiry dates and download blocking on links. · You want deleted files recoverable for 180 days without an enterprise plan. · You need a HIPAA BAA on a plan bought online.
Look elsewhere if: You need single sign-on or audit logs at the Standard price. · You want the lowest price per user for storage alone.
Compared with: Box (https://proofyo.com/products/box) — pick Dropbox when You want a HIPAA BAA, 180-day recovery and remote wipe on a $15 plan.; pick Box when You want unlimited storage and single sign-on at the same $15 per user, billed annually. | Google Drive (https://proofyo.com/products/google-drive) — pick Dropbox when You share with clients and need password links, file requests and 180-day recovery.; pick Google Drive when You also want business email, meetings and documents, with SSO and an activity log on a $14 seat. | Microsoft OneDrive (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-onedrive) — pick Dropbox when You want one pooled team space and 180-day recovery rather than 1 TB per person.; pick Microsoft OneDrive when You want the lowest cost: $54 a month for 10 users on Business Basic without Teams, with SSO, audit and a BAA.
Strengths:
- Full link controls on the entry team plan: Standard includes password-protected links, custom expiration dates, disabled downloads, advanced link settings and viewer history, and every plan has file requests. (Google Workspace lists no password-protected links for Drive; pCloud's help center lists link passwords and expiry dates for Premium users.)
- 180 days to restore deleted files: Standard keeps version history and deleted files for 180 days; Advanced keeps them for 1 year. (Box keeps trash for 30 days by default, and Google Drive for 30 days before admins get 25 more.)
- HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract: Dropbox signs BAAs with Standard and higher customers, and US-based admins can sign it electronically in the Admin Console. (Box signs BAAs from Enterprise ($35 per user billed annually).)
- One storage pool for the team: Storage is shared across the team rather than fixed per person: 12 TB once 10 licenses are in use, and admins can buy more up to 1,000 TB. (Microsoft OneDrive gives each person 1 TB, with shared SharePoint sites drawing on a smaller organization pool.)
- Remote wipe on every plan: The plan table lists remote device wipe, multi-factor authentication and 256-bit AES encryption on every plan, Plus included.
Things to know:
- SSO and audit logs start on Advanced: The plan table lists single sign-on, audit logs with file event tracking, tiered admin roles and ransomware detection on Advanced ($24 per user billed yearly), which needs three users. Workaround: Standard admins get the admin console, team sharing controls and groups, and the help center says they can see 180 days of activity logs.
- EU storage has conditions: Teams can move file data to EU, UK, Australian or Japanese servers by support request if they have at least 10 licenses, annual billing and a billing address outside the current storage region. The move cannot be undone. Workaround: Dropbox support reviews each request and confirms eligibility.
- Trial asks for billing information: The trial help article asks for billing information to start a trial of Standard or Advanced; it does not say the trial runs without a card. Workaround: Dropbox Basic is a free plan with 2 GB for trying the apps.
- Storage counts active licenses: The extra 1 TB per license on Standard counts actively used licenses, meaning a person who logs in and uses Dropbox. Workaround: Admins can buy more storage in the admin console, up to 1,000 TB on Standard.
Pricing reality: Dropbox bills each license per month; billing yearly is about 17% below monthly. For our scenario, 10 users on Standard cost 10 × $15 = $150 a month billed yearly, or $180 billed monthly (computed), before tax, with 12 TB of shared storage once all 10 licenses are in use. That covers link controls, file requests, 180-day recovery, an admin console and a HIPAA BAA. Costs rise with Advanced ($240 a month for 10 users, computed) for SSO, audit logs, ransomware recovery and end-to-end encryption; with extra storage, whose price is shown only in the admin console; and with Enterprise, which is priced by sales. Plus, Standard and Advanced each include 3 signature requests a month.
Exit path: Files sync to computers through the desktop app on every plan, and the Dropbox API is documented, so a team can copy its files out without a special export. Standard includes an account transfer tool for moving a departing member's files to another member. Moving a team between storage regions is a one-way support request.

### Google Drive

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/google-drive
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/google-drive
Category: Cloud file storage and sharing
Vendor: Google
Tagline: Drive storage inside Google Workspace: 2 TB pooled per user with Gmail, Meet and Docs from Business Standard at $14 per user with a one-year commitment.
Value: Team storage bundled with business email, meetings and documents in one seat, with SSO, Drive activity logs and a HIPAA BAA on every Business plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Business Standard, at $14 per user a month with a one-year commitment, pools 2 TB per user and also buys Gmail with your domain, Meet, Docs, Sheets, Slides and eSignature, so a small company pays for storage and its office tools once. Google lists single sign-on with your identity provider, Drive log events, sharing policies and mobile account wipe on every Business plan, and admins accept a HIPAA BAA in the Admin console. Business Standard adds a data region policy for storing files in Europe.
- One seat, the whole office suite: Business Standard pools 2 TB per user and includes Gmail with your domain, Meet with recording, Docs, Sheets, Slides and eSignature. (Google Workspace pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Admin controls on every Business plan: Google's edition comparison lists SSO with a third-party identity provider, Drive log events, Drive sharing permissions and remote account wipe for mobile devices on Business Starter, Standard and Plus. (Help center: Compare Business editions (2026-10-16))
- BAA and EU data region on Business Standard: Admins review and accept the HIPAA BAA in the Admin console, and Business Standard supports one data-at-rest region policy, US or Europe, for the organization. (Help center: HIPAA compliance and data regions articles (2026-10-16))
- Audited: Google Workspace is covered by Google's core SOC 2 Type II reports, issued quarterly, and by its ISO/IEC 27001 certificate. (Google Cloud compliance pages for SOC 2 and ISO 27001 (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that also need business email, meetings and documents, and want admin and compliance controls without add-ons.
Things to know: The Drive pages we read list no password-protected links or file request links; access expiry is for eligible work accounts, with editions not stated.
Score: 7.4/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $7/user/mo (Business Starter (1-year commitment) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; storage pooled across the organization
Free option: Google account, 15 GB; 14-day Workspace trial
Reference scenario (10 users, 2 TB, annual): $140/mo on Business Standard ($14 × 10), computed
Month-to-month price: $16.80 per user on Business Standard flexible ($8.40 / $16.80 / $26.40)
Storage on the scenario plan: 2 TB per user, pooled (20 TB for 10)
Restore deleted files: 30 days in the trash; admins can restore 25 days more
Password and expiring links: No link passwords; access expiry for eligible work accounts
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (Workspace in scope)
HIPAA BAA: Accepted by admins in the Admin console
EU data storage: Data region policy from Business Standard
SSO: Third-party identity provider on every Business plan
Admin activity log: Drive log events on every Business plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Google Drive in Workspace ties with OneDrive for the top compliance and admin scores here, for $14 per user with email and documents included. Its sharing tools are simpler: no link passwords or file requests, and a 30-day trash.
Choose it if: You also need business email, meetings and documents. · You want SSO, Drive activity logs and a HIPAA BAA on the cheapest suitable plan. · You want storage pooled across the whole team.
Look elsewhere if: You need password-protected links or file request links. · You need storage and sharing only, without an office suite.
Compared with: Dropbox (https://proofyo.com/products/dropbox) — pick Google Drive when You want business email, meetings and documents with SSO and an activity log on a $14 seat.; pick Dropbox when You share with clients and need password links, file requests and 180-day recovery. | Box (https://proofyo.com/products/box) — pick Google Drive when You want SSO, activity logs, a HIPAA BAA and EU storage on the same seat.; pick Box when You want unlimited storage, link passwords and expiry dates, and e-signatures in a storage platform. | Microsoft OneDrive (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-onedrive) — pick Google Drive when You work in Docs, Sheets and Slides and want storage pooled across the team.; pick Microsoft OneDrive when You work in Office files and want the lowest seat price, $5.40 on Business Basic without Teams.
Strengths:
- Storage plus email, meetings and documents: Business Standard pools 2 TB per user and includes Gmail with your domain, Meet with recording for 150 participants, Docs, Sheets, Slides and eSignature. (Dropbox, Box and pCloud sell storage and sharing without business email.)
- SSO and activity logs on the cheapest plan: SSO with a third-party identity provider and Drive log events are listed on Business Starter, Standard and Plus. (Dropbox starts SSO and audit logs on Advanced; Box starts full activity tracking on Business Plus.)
- HIPAA BAA accepted in the Admin console: Admins review and accept the BAA electronically before using health data in Workspace; the help page states no edition limit. (Box signs BAAs from Enterprise ($35 per user billed annually).)
- EU data region on Business Standard: Business Standard and Plus support a data-at-rest region policy, US or Europe, for the whole organization. (Dropbox moves teams to EU storage by support request, with a 10-license minimum.)
- Ransomware detection on Business Standard: The edition comparison lists ransomware detection for Drive on Business Standard and Business Plus.
Things to know:
- No password-protected links or file requests: Drive sharing offers view-only access that blocks downloads, but the help article lists no link passwords, and the Drive pages we read list no file request links like those of Dropbox, Box or OneDrive. Workaround: Share with named people, and restrict sharing outside the domain through Drive sharing permissions in the Admin console.
- Access expiry for eligible accounts only: The sharing help says access expiration dates are available to eligible work or school accounts, without naming the Workspace editions. Workaround: Admins can review sharing activity in Drive log events.
- 30-day trash: Deleted files stay in the trash for 30 days; after a user empties it, admins can restore items for 25 more days. Workaround: Vault on Business Plus retains data for search and export beyond that window.
- More storage means a bigger seat: Business Starter pools 30 GB per user (300 GB for 10 users); 2 TB of files needs Business Standard at twice the price. Workaround: Storage is pooled, so heavy and light users share one allowance.
Pricing reality: Google bills per user per month; the pricing page says the one-year commitment saves 16% against the flexible plan. For our scenario, 10 users on Business Standard cost 10 × $14 = $140 a month with a one-year commitment, or $168 on the flexible plan (computed), before tax, with 20 TB of pooled storage. Business Starter ($70 a month for 10 users) pools only 300 GB. New customers get 10% off the first 20 users for 12 months, which would make the scenario $126 a month in that first year (our arithmetic). The seat also buys Gmail, Meet, Docs and Gemini features. Business Plus ($220 a month for 10 users, computed) adds Vault, eDiscovery and 5 TB per user; Enterprise is priced by sales.
Exit path: Drive for desktop syncs files to computers on every Business edition, and the Drive API is documented, so files can be copied out. Docs, Sheets and Slides work with Office files, per the plan table. After a user empties the trash, admins have 25 days to restore items; Vault on Business Plus keeps retained data for search and export.

### Box

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/box
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/box
Category: Cloud file storage and sharing
Vendor: Box, Inc.
Tagline: Content management and file sharing with unlimited storage and single sign-on from Business at $15 per user billed annually, three users minimum.
Value: Unlimited storage with single sign-on, e-signatures and Box AI from the Business plan, and HIPAA and FedRAMP support on Enterprise.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Business, at $15 per user a month billed annually, removes storage limits and adds single sign-on, unlimited Box Sign e-signatures, Box AI and 1,500+ integrations, so a company can keep files, signing and simple workflows in one platform instead of several tools. Higher plans add unlimited external collaborators and activity tracking (Business Plus), then HIPAA support, FedRAMP Moderate and device trust (Enterprise), all bought online. Box publishes SOC 1 and 2 Type II reports under NDA and an ISO 27001:2022 certificate.
- Unlimited storage from Business: The plan table lists unlimited storage on Business and every plan above it, with 5 GB uploads on Business, so there is no team storage cap to manage. (Pricing page plan table (2026-10-16))
- SSO on the first full business plan: Active Directory and single sign-on integration is checked on Business ($15 per user billed annually) and every plan above it, as are data loss protection and sharing permission controls. (Pricing page plan table (2026-10-16))
- E-signatures and AI included: Business includes unlimited Box Sign e-signature requests, Box AI for questions and content generation on single files, and 50,000 API calls a month. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Audited and certified: The trust center lists SOC 1 and 2 Type II reports (under NDA), an ISO 27001:2022 and 27701 certificate and FedRAMP High authorization; Box signs BAAs for Enterprise, Enterprise Plus and Enterprise Advanced. (Trust center, ISO certificate and HIPAA FAQ (2026-10-16))
Best for: Companies that want unlimited storage, SSO and e-signatures in one content platform, and may need HIPAA or FedRAMP support later.
Things to know: On Business, external collaborators need paid accounts; unlimited external collaborators start on Business Plus ($25 per user billed annually).
Score: 7.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $5/user/mo (Business Starter (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month, 3 users minimum
Free option: Individual plan, 10 GB; 14-day trial of business plans
Reference scenario (10 users, 2 TB, annual): $150/mo on Business ($15 × 10), computed
Month-to-month price: $20 per user on Business ($7 / $20 / $33 / $47 from Business Starter to Enterprise)
Storage on the scenario plan: Unlimited; Business Starter has 100 GB
Restore deleted files: 30 days by default, adjustable by admins; 50 file versions
Password and expiring links: All paid plans
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 1 and 2 Type II (under NDA); ISO 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise and up ($35)
EU data storage: Box Zones add-on, no listed price; checked on Enterprise Plus
SSO: Business and up
Admin activity log: Full user activity tracking from Business Plus ($25)
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Box Business gives unlimited storage, SSO, link controls and e-signatures for $15 per user. External collaborators, activity tracking and HIPAA move you up the plan ladder, and several add-ons have no listed price.
Choose it if: You want unlimited storage and single sign-on on a self-serve plan. · You want e-signatures, AI and integrations inside your file platform. · You expect to need HIPAA or FedRAMP support later and want to buy it online.
Look elsewhere if: You share with many outside collaborators and want to stay on Business. · You need a HIPAA BAA below the Enterprise price.
Compared with: Dropbox (https://proofyo.com/products/dropbox) — pick Box when You want unlimited storage and single sign-on at $15 per user.; pick Dropbox when You want a HIPAA BAA, 180-day recovery and remote wipe on the $15 Standard plan. | Google Drive (https://proofyo.com/products/google-drive) — pick Box when You need link passwords, expiry dates, file requests and e-signatures in a storage platform.; pick Google Drive when You want email, meetings and documents with storage, and SSO, activity logs, a BAA and EU storage on a $14 seat. | Microsoft OneDrive (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-onedrive) — pick Box when You want unlimited storage, e-signatures and 1,500+ integrations in one platform.; pick Microsoft OneDrive when You want the lowest cost, $54 a month for 10 users, with a HIPAA BAA and audit log included.
Strengths:
- Unlimited storage at $15 per user: Business and every plan above it list unlimited storage, so a growing archive does not change the price. (Dropbox Standard pools 3 TB plus 1 TB per active license; Google Business Standard pools 2 TB per user.)
- SSO on Business: Active Directory and SSO integration is checked on Business ($15 per user billed annually), with custom branding, data loss protection and sharing permission controls. (Dropbox starts single sign-on on Advanced ($24 per user billed yearly).)
- Link controls on paid plans: Shared links can carry a password and an expiration date on any paid account, link viewers can be kept from downloading or previewing, and File Request collects uploads on business plans. (Google Drive lists no link passwords or file requests.)
- E-signatures and integrations included: Business includes unlimited Box Sign e-signature requests, 1,500+ integrations and an MCP server for third-party AI agents.
- Wide certification list: The trust center lists SOC 1 and 2 Type II reports, ISO 27001:2022, FedRAMP High authorization, PCI DSS and HIPAA documents; FedRAMP Moderate support starts on Enterprise. (pCloud lists ISO 27001 but no SOC 2 report.)
Things to know:
- External collaborators on Business: The plan table lists external collaborators on Business as requiring paid accounts ("pay per each") without a price; Business Plus and up allow unlimited external collaborators. Workaround: The pricing FAQ says shared links can be opened by anyone, even people without a Box account.
- HIPAA starts on Enterprise: Box signs BAAs for Enterprise, Enterprise Plus and Enterprise Advanced accounts; Enterprise is $35 per user billed annually and can be bought online. Workaround: An enterprise admin can request the BAA from the Admin Console.
- Shorter default trash window: Trash keeps deleted items for 30 days by default, and Business keeps 50 versions of each file. Workaround: Admins of business accounts can lengthen the trash period, and support can recover purged content for 14 more days on paid accounts.
- Activity tracking and device controls on Business Plus: Full user activity tracking, mobile security controls and admin role delegation are checked from Business Plus ($25 per user billed annually), not Business. Workaround: Business includes advanced user and security reporting.
Pricing reality: Box bills per user with a three-user minimum on every business plan, and the page shows 25% savings for annual billing. For our scenario, 10 users on Business cost 10 × $15 = $150 a month billed annually, or $200 billed monthly (computed), before tax, with unlimited storage. Business Starter ($5) is limited to 10 users and 100 GB, so it does not cover 2 TB. Costs rise with Business Plus ($250 a month for 10 users, computed) for unlimited external collaborators and activity tracking, with Enterprise ($350, computed) for HIPAA, and with add-ons such as Box Zones, Governance, KeySafe and Shield, which have no listed price. Extra API calls and AI Units are sold as platform add-ons on annual contracts.
Exit path: Desktop and mobile access are on every plan, and the Box API is documented, so files can be copied out with standard tools. Box support describes FTPS for occasional bulk downloads on business and enterprise accounts, except trial accounts. Content purged from the trash can be recovered by support for 14 days on paid accounts.

### pCloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/pcloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/pcloud
Category: Cloud file storage and sharing
Vendor: pCloud International AG
Tagline: Team cloud storage with client-side encryption included, 1 TB per user from a shared pool and an EU or US data region, from $7.99 per user billed annually.
Value: Low-cost team storage with client-side encryption included and a choice of EU or US data region at sign-up.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: pCloud Business gives each user 1 TB in a shared pool for $7.99 a month billed annually, with pCloud Encryption, which encrypts files on the device before upload, included rather than sold separately. Teams choose the EU (Luxembourg) or US (Dallas) data region when they sign up, and admins get teams, access levels, activity logs and custom storage quotas. It suits small teams that want private storage at a low price more than enterprise admin features.
- Client-side encryption included: The Business plans list pCloud Encryption: files are encrypted on the device before upload, and the page describes zero-knowledge privacy so only the user can read them. (Business page (2026-10-16))
- EU or US data region at sign-up: Files and personal data are stored in the EU (Luxembourg) or the US (Dallas), chosen before sign-up; the data regions page lists a one-time fee of $19.99 to move later. (Data regions page and help article (2026-10-16))
- Pooled storage with quotas: Each user adds 1 TB to one pool (10 TB for 10 users), and admins can assign custom quotas to each user from it. (Business page (2026-10-16))
- Low price per user: Business is $7.99 per user a month billed annually, or $9.99 monthly; 10 users cost $79.90 a month on annual billing (computed). (Business page, monthly and annual prices (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small teams that want encrypted storage at a low price and a European data location, and do not need SSO or a HIPAA BAA.
Things to know: The pages we read state no SOC 2 report, HIPAA BAA, single sign-on or admin remote wipe for pCloud Business.
Score: 5.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $7.99/user/mo (Business (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month, 3 users minimum; storage pooled
Free option: Free plan, 2 GB (up to 10 GB); 30-day Business trial
Reference scenario (10 users, 2 TB, annual): $79.90/mo on Business ($7.99 × 10), computed
Month-to-month price: $9.99 per user on Business ($14.98 on Business Pro for new accounts)
Storage on the scenario plan: 1 TB per user, pooled with custom quotas (10 TB for 10)
Restore deleted files: 180 days per the Business page; the help center lists 30 or 365 days
Password and expiring links: Premium users per the help center; Business not stated
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: ISO 27001; no SOC 2 stated
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU data storage: EU (Luxembourg) or US (Dallas), chosen at sign-up
SSO: Not stated
Admin activity log: Activity logs per user and team
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, pCloud Business is low-cost encrypted storage with an EU or US region and a shared pool. Its admin and compliance list is shorter than the others here, and a few help center details differ from the Business page.
Choose it if: You want encrypted team storage at a low price per user. · You want to choose an EU or US data region at sign-up. · You want one storage pool split with custom quotas.
Look elsewhere if: Your security review asks for SOC 2, a HIPAA BAA or SSO. · You need admin remote wipe of devices.
Compared with: Microsoft OneDrive (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-onedrive) — pick pCloud when You want client-side encryption included and storage pooled with custom quotas.; pick Microsoft OneDrive when You need SSO, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA at $5.40 per user. | Dropbox (https://proofyo.com/products/dropbox) — pick pCloud when You want encrypted storage at about half the per-user price ($7.99 against $15).; pick Dropbox when You need link passwords, a HIPAA BAA and a SOC 2 report on the entry team plan. | Box (https://proofyo.com/products/box) — pick pCloud when You want a low price and an EU region chosen at sign-up.; pick Box when You need unlimited storage, SSO and e-signatures.
Strengths:
- Encryption included in Business: pCloud Encryption, which encrypts files on the device before upload, is listed on both Business plans. (Dropbox lists end-to-end encryption on Advanced ($24 per user billed yearly).)
- Low price for pooled storage: $7.99 per user billed annually for 1 TB per user in a shared pool with custom quotas. (Dropbox Standard and Box Business are $15 per user billed annually.)
- EU or US region chosen at sign-up: Every account picks the EU (Luxembourg) or US (Dallas) data region before sign-up, and the account owner can request a move later for a one-time $19.99. (Dropbox moves teams to EU storage by support request, with at least 10 licenses.)
- File requests and branded links: File request links let anyone upload without seeing the folder, and Business can brand share links with a logo, cover image and message.
Things to know:
- Fewer compliance documents: The security and Business pages list ISO 27001 and GDPR compliance; the pages we read state no SOC 2 report and no HIPAA BAA. Workaround: The Business Agreement covers data processing, security measures and administrator rights.
- No SSO or device wipe stated: The Business page and help center do not list single sign-on or admin remote wipe; two-factor authentication is offered.
- Link passwords unclear for Business: The help center says link passwords and expiry dates are for Premium users, without saying whether Business includes them. Workaround: The file sharing page describes view or download mode for links, and file requests have their own expiry and upload limits.
- Business page and help center differ: Extended File History is 180 days on the Business page and 365 days in the help center, and the trial is 30 days on the Business page and one month for 5 users in the help center. Workaround: Confirm the retention period with pCloud before relying on it.
Pricing reality: pCloud bills per user with a three-user minimum; the help center says annual billing saves 20% against monthly. For our scenario, 10 users on Business cost 10 × $7.99 = $79.90 a month billed annually, or $99.90 billed monthly (computed), before tax, with 10 TB of pooled storage. Business Pro, with 2 TB per user and priority support, is $119.80 a month for 10 users at the new-account price ($11.98, 25% off $15.98, computed); the page says the discount excludes renewals, plan changes and seat additions. Moving data to the other region has a one-time fee of $19.99. The page lists no setup fees and a 14-day money-back period.
Exit path: pCloud Drive gives desktop access, the API is documented, and the help center has a guide to connecting over WebDAV and rsync, so files can be copied out with common tools. Under the Business Agreement, administrators can access, restrict or remove data in end-user accounts.

## Category: Social media management tools

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/social-media-management

### Later

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/later
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/later
Category: Social media management tools
Vendor: Later
Tagline: A visual social media planner sold as flat plans of "Social Sets" and users, with approvals and an inbox on Growth from $37.50 a month billed yearly.
Value: A visual planner for Instagram, TikTok and six more networks, with approvals and an inbox on a flat plan that costs less than one seat elsewhere.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Later prices plans by Social Sets rather than seats: Growth, at $37.50 a month billed yearly, includes two sets (up to 16 profiles), two users, approval workflows and the Social Inbox, and an extra user is $3.75 a month. Link in Bio pages, a visual calendar and AI caption help come with every paid plan. It suits creators, brands and small teams centred on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest; teams that publish to X, Bluesky or Google Business Profile will need another tool for those.
- Flat plans with published add-ons: Growth includes 2 Social Sets and 2 users; extra sets are $11.25 and extra users $3.75 a month billed yearly, so the scenario costs $41.25 a month. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Approvals and inbox on Growth: Growth adds internal approvals, external review links and the Social Inbox (beta) for Instagram and Facebook messages and comments and TikTok comments. (Help center: plan reference guide, approvals and Social Inbox articles (2026-10-16))
- Link in Bio on every plan: Every plan, Free included, has a Link in Bio page with unlimited buttons and linked Instagram and TikTok posts. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Creators, brands and small teams whose social work centres on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest.
Things to know: Later no longer publishes to X and does not support Bluesky or Google Business Profile; listening and competitor benchmarking start on Scale.
Score: 7.4/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Card required
Starter price: $18.75/mo (Starter (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Flat rate
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat plan with Social Sets (one profile per network) and users; extra sets and users as add-ons
Free option: Free plan in the help center (1 Social Set, 1 user, 12 posts per profile a month); 14-day trial, card required
Reference scenario (3 users, 10 profiles, annual): $41.25/mo on Growth ($37.50 + 1 extra user at $3.75), computed
Month-to-month price: $50 on Growth ($25 / $50 / $110 for the three listed plans)
Networks for publishing: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube (Shorts), Pinterest, Threads, Snapchat; not X
Approval workflows: Growth and Scale
Unified inbox: Social Inbox (beta) on Growth: Instagram and Facebook messages and comments, TikTok comments
Social listening: Scale: mentions, brand health and competitor benchmarking
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 listed in the trust center (archived copy)
SAML SSO: Legacy Enterprise plan only
DPA: On request by email, with the reasons
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Later is the lowest-cost way here to give a small team approvals and an inbox, priced by Social Sets. Its network list leaves out X, Bluesky and Google Business Profile, and listening starts on Scale.
Choose it if: Your social work centres on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and Threads. · You want approvals and an inbox for a small team on a low flat price. · You use a Link in Bio page and want it in the same tool.
Look elsewhere if: You publish to X, Bluesky or Google Business Profile. · You need CSV bulk scheduling, an API, SSO or a self-serve DPA.
Compared with: Buffer (https://proofyo.com/products/buffer) — pick Later when You want Instagram and Facebook direct messages in the inbox and the lowest scenario price ($41.25 a month on Growth, annual).; pick Buffer when You publish to X, Bluesky or Google Business Profile, or want CSV bulk upload, an API and unlimited users. | Sendible (https://proofyo.com/products/sendible) — pick Later when You focus on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest and want approvals on the plan that fits the scenario.; pick Sendible when You publish to X, Bluesky or Google Business Profile, or want unlimited users and CSV bulk scheduling on every plan. | Sprout Social (https://proofyo.com/products/sprout-social) — pick Later when You want approvals and an inbox for a small team at a fraction of a per-seat price.; pick Sprout Social when You need X, Reddit or Google Business Profile, bulk scheduling, an API, or a DPA and SSO without a request.
Strengths:
- Lowest scenario price here: 3 users and 10 profiles cost $41.25 a month billed yearly on Growth with one extra user, with approvals and the inbox included. (Buffer’s Team plan costs $100 a month for 10 channels; Hootsuite costs $297 for 3 Standard seats.)
- Messages and comments in the inbox: The Social Inbox (beta) on Growth handles Instagram and Facebook direct messages and comments and TikTok comments. (Buffer’s community inbox handles comments only.)
- Add-ons priced on the page: Extra Social Sets ($11.25), users ($3.75) and 100 AI credits ($3.75) have published monthly and yearly prices on Growth and Scale. (Sprout Social does not publish the price of extra profiles.)
- Listening on a self-serve plan: Scale ($82.50 a month billed yearly) adds brand mentions, brand health, future insights and Instagram competitor benchmarking for up to 20 competitors.
Things to know:
- No X, Bluesky or Google Business Profile: The supported platforms article says X support ended on Aug 28, 2025, and lists Bluesky and Google Business Profile as unsupported; YouTube is Shorts only.
- No bulk upload or API described: We found no CSV bulk scheduling and no developer documentation on Later’s pages; Quick Schedule drags media into recurring slots instead.
- DPA and SSO by request: A DPA is sent on request by email, with the reasons it is needed; SSO is on the legacy Enterprise plan only. Workaround: Two-factor authentication with an authenticator app is available to all accounts.
- Trial needs a card: The trial steps ask for card details and the plan converts to paid unless cancelled; plans are non-refundable except case by case. Workaround: The Free plan in the help center lets you try scheduling without a card.
Pricing reality: Later sells flat plans by Social Sets and users. For our scenario, Growth ($37.50 a month billed yearly) includes 2 sets and 2 users; one extra user at $3.75 brings it to $41.25 a month ($495 a year), or $55 month to month (computed), before tax. This assumes no network has more than 2 of the 10 profiles; each further set is $11.25, and from 6 sets Scale ($82.50 with 6 sets and 4 users) costs less. Growth allows 180 posts per profile a month and 50 AI credits. Listening, competitor benchmarking and custom analytics need Scale. Nonprofits get 50% off yearly Growth.
Exit path: Analytics export to CSV per dashboard section from Starter up (graphs cannot be exported), and Scale adds downloadable custom analytics. The pages do not describe exporting scheduled or published posts. All account data can be requested by email and is sent as a zip file, under the GDPR article.

### Buffer

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/buffer
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/buffer
Category: Social media management tools
Vendor: Buffer, Inc.
Tagline: A social media scheduler priced per connected channel, with unlimited team members and approval workflows on Team and a free plan for 3 channels.
Value: Scheduling for every major network, priced per channel with unlimited team members on Team, and a free plan to start.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Buffer charges for the channels you connect, not the people who use them: on Team, 10 channels cost $100 a month billed yearly and any number of team members can draft, approve and publish. Publishing covers ten networks plus Mastodon, every plan has the AI Assistant and a community inbox for comments, and the Free plan runs 3 channels with 10 queued posts each. It suits teams that mainly need to plan, approve and publish, rather than listen or answer direct messages.
- Unlimited team members on Team: The Team plan lists unlimited team members, access levels and content approval workflows; the price depends only on the number of channels, from $10 a channel a month billed yearly. (Pricing page and pricing.md (2026-10-16))
- A free plan that publishes: Free connects up to 3 channels for 1 user with 10 scheduled posts per channel, refilled as posts go out, plus the AI Assistant, the community inbox and API access. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Bulk upload on every plan: A CSV can be uploaded per channel on every plan: 10 posts per upload on Free and 100 on paid plans, for text and single-image posts. (Help center: upload posts in bulk (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small teams and agencies that publish to many networks and want everyone to log in without paying per seat.
Things to know: The inbox handles comments only, there is no social listening or competitor benchmarking, and SSO is not listed.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $5/channel/mo (Essentials (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per connected channel per month, lower per channel above 10
Free option: Free plan: 3 channels, 1 user, 10 scheduled posts per channel; 14-day Team trial, no card
Reference scenario (3 users, 10 profiles, annual): $100/mo on Team (10 × $10), computed
Month-to-month price: $12 per channel on Team for channels 1–10 ($6 on Essentials)
Networks for publishing: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube (Shorts), Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business Profile, Mastodon
Approval workflows: Team
Unified inbox: Community inbox for comments on every plan; no direct messages
Social listening: Not offered
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Blog post says "SOC 2 compliant", report type not stated; ISO 27001 not stated
SAML SSO: Not stated
DPA: Published (linked from the legal page)
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Buffer is a straightforward publisher priced per channel, with unlimited users, approvals and a free plan. It covers comments but not direct messages, and lists no listening, SSO or certifications.
Choose it if: Several people publish and approve, and you do not want to pay per seat. · You want to start on a free plan and grow by channel. · You publish to Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon or Google Business Profile as well as the big networks.
Look elsewhere if: You need direct messages, listening or competitor analytics in the same tool. · Your security review needs a SOC 2 Type II report, ISO 27001 or SAML SSO.
Compared with: Hootsuite (https://proofyo.com/products/hootsuite) — pick Buffer when You want unlimited users, approvals and a free plan at $100 a month for 10 channels (Team, annual).; pick Hootsuite when You need direct messages in one inbox, listening and competitor benchmarks, and audited security documents. | Later (https://proofyo.com/products/later) — pick Buffer when You publish to X, Bluesky or Google Business Profile, or want approvals and bulk upload with any number of users.; pick Later when You want Instagram and Facebook direct messages in the inbox and a lower scenario price ($41.25 a month on Growth with one extra user, annual). | Sendible (https://proofyo.com/products/sendible) — pick Buffer when You want a free plan and approvals on the plan that fits 10 profiles.; pick Sendible when You want an inbox with direct messages and a lower scenario price ($59.75 a month on Core with one extra workspace, annual).
Strengths:
- Team size does not change the price: Team includes unlimited team members, so 3 or 30 people managing 10 channels pay the same $100 a month billed yearly. (Hootsuite and Sprout Social charge per user seat.)
- Approvals on the cheapest team plan: Content approval workflows and per-channel access levels come with Team, the first plan with more than one user. (Hootsuite puts approvals on Advanced ($399 per user, annual).)
- A permanent free plan: 3 channels, 1 user, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time, the AI Assistant, the community inbox and Insights with 30 days of history. (Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Sendible offer trials only.)
- Wide network list: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business Profile and Mastodon. (Later no longer supports X and does not list Bluesky or Google Business Profile.)
Things to know:
- The inbox covers comments, not messages: The community inbox manages and replies to comments; the Bluesky help article says Buffer does not offer direct messaging, and mentions are a beta for X only. Workaround: Teams that answer direct messages often may pair Buffer with each network’s own inbox.
- No listening or competitor benchmarking: Buffer’s own comparison page with Sprout Social says listening and competitive benchmarking are features Buffer does not have.
- Security file is thin on its public pages: No trust or security page lists certifications; a blog post says Buffer is SOC 2 compliant without the report type. SSO and an audit log are not stated. Workaround: Two-factor authentication is on every plan, and the DPA is linked from the legal page.
- YouTube is Shorts only: The channel is listed as YouTube (Shorts); the help center does not describe publishing long-form videos.
Pricing reality: Buffer bills per connected channel, and Team includes unlimited users. For our scenario, 10 channels on Team cost 10 × $10 = $100 a month billed yearly ($1,200 a year), or $120 month to month (computed), before tax. Essentials would cost $50 a month for 10 channels, but it allows only one user. Channels 11 to 25 cost $4 a month each on Team ($40 a year billed yearly), so 25 channels come to $150 a month billed yearly (pricing.md). Nonprofits get 50% off. The help center offers refunds within 7 days on monthly plans and 30 days on annual plans, while the terms say fees are not refundable.
Exit path: Insights export to CSV, Markdown or PDF on paid plans; Free can only download chart images. Buffer does not export scheduled posts directly (the help center suggests Zapier), but the GraphQL API can read scheduled and sent posts. Personal data can be exported on request under the GDPR section of the legal page.

### Hootsuite

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/hootsuite
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/hootsuite
Category: Social media management tools
Vendor: Hootsuite Inc.
Tagline: A per-user social media suite with publishing, a shared inbox, listening and competitor benchmarks from Standard at $99 per user a month billed annually.
Value: Publishing, a shared inbox, listening and competitor benchmarks for every major network in one seat, backed by audited security.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Compliance included
Value detail: From Standard at $99 per user a month on annual terms, one seat publishes to ten networks, answers comments and messages from a shared inbox, runs 7-day listening searches and benchmarks five competitors, so a team does not buy separate listening or inbox tools at the start. Hootsuite states an annual SOC 2 Type II audit and lists ISO 27001:2022 in its trust center, and publishes a DPA it can sign electronically. Approvals and branded reports start on Advanced, and SAML SSO on Enterprise.
- Ten networks on every plan: The integrations page lists Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest and Threads, the Bluesky page says all paid plans publish to Bluesky, and a Google My Business app creates posts. (Integrations page, Bluesky page and Standard plan page (2026-10-16))
- Listening and competitors on the entry plan: The plan table lists listening Quick Search with 7 days of history and benchmarks for 5 competitors on Standard, rising to 30 days and 20 competitors on Professional. (Plans page comparison table (2026-10-16))
- Audits in Hootsuite’s own name: The security practices page says Hootsuite undergoes a SOC 2 Type II audit annually; the trust center lists ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701 certificates and a SOC 3 report. (Security practices page and trust center (2026-10-16))
Best for: Marketing and social teams that want listening, competitor benchmarks and a shared inbox alongside publishing, and expect a security review.
Things to know: The price is per user, so it grows with the team; approval workflows need Advanced ($399 per user on annual terms) and SAML SSO needs Enterprise.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $99/user/mo (Standard (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; each plan has a social account allowance
Free option: No free plan; 14-day trial, no card (plans page)
Reference scenario (3 users, 10 profiles, annual): $297/mo on Standard (3 × $99), computed
Month-to-month price: $149 per user on Standard ($149 / $299 / $499 for the three listed plans)
Networks for publishing: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky; Google Business Profile through its app
Approval workflows: Advanced ($399 per user, annual) and Enterprise
Unified inbox: Comments and messages on every plan
Social listening: Quick Search with 7 days of history on Standard; 30 days from Professional
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II audited annually; ISO 27001:2022
SAML SSO: Enterprise only (priced by sales)
DPA: Published, with an electronic signature option
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Hootsuite is a broad suite: ten networks, an inbox, listening and competitor benchmarks on Standard, and an audited security file. Seats are priced per user, and approvals start on Advanced.
Choose it if: You want publishing, a shared inbox, listening and competitor benchmarks from one vendor. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 from the vendor. · A few people need seats and 10 social accounts cover your brand.
Look elsewhere if: You need approval workflows below $399 per user. · Many people need to log in and you want to avoid per-seat pricing. · You want a permanent free plan.
Compared with: Sprout Social (https://proofyo.com/products/sprout-social) — pick Hootsuite when You want listening searches, competitor benchmarks and bulk scheduling on the entry plan, at $99 per user on annual terms.; pick Sprout Social when You want approval workflows, unlimited profiles and branded reports on one plan, Professional at $299 per seat on annual terms. | Buffer (https://proofyo.com/products/buffer) — pick Hootsuite when You need direct messages in the inbox, listening and competitor benchmarks.; pick Buffer when You want unlimited users, approvals and a free plan, with 10 channels on Team at $100 a month (annual). | Sendible (https://proofyo.com/products/sendible) — pick Hootsuite when Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 from the vendor itself.; pick Sendible when You want unlimited users on every plan and 12 profiles for $59.75 a month on Core with one extra workspace (annual).
Strengths:
- Listening and benchmarks without a separate tool: Standard includes listening Quick Search with 7 days of history and benchmarks for 5 competitors; Professional extends these to 30 days and 20 competitors. (Buffer and Sendible list no social listening; Later keeps listening and competitor benchmarking on Scale.)
- Inbox for comments and messages on every plan: The Standard page lists public and private messages from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Threads, TikTok, Google Business Profile and WhatsApp in one inbox. (Buffer’s community inbox handles comments only.)
- Broad publishing coverage: All ten networks we count, including Bluesky and Threads, plus bulk scheduling of up to 350 posts from a CSV file on every paid plan.
- Audited security and a signable DPA: An annual SOC 2 Type II audit, ISO 27001:2022 and other certificates in the trust center, two-step verification with an authenticator app, and a published DPA that can be signed electronically. (Sendible and Buffer state no SOC 2 Type II report on their own pages.)
Things to know:
- Per-user pricing adds up for teams: Every seat costs the plan price: 3 users on Standard are $297 a month on annual terms, about three times Buffer’s Team plan for 10 channels. Workaround: Standard’s 10 accounts are shared by the team, so only people who log in need a seat.
- Approvals and branded reports start on Advanced: The plan table and the approvals help article put approval workflows on Advanced and Enterprise; adding a logo to reports and CSV/XLSX export are also Advanced and up. Workaround: Professional ($199 per user) adds custom reports with PDF and PowerPoint export.
- SAML SSO through sales: The plan table shows single sign-on only on Enterprise, which is priced by sales.
- Annual terms are non-refundable: The billing FAQ calls annual billing one non-refundable payment, and the terms say plans renew automatically and cancelling does not refund the rest of the term. Workaround: Month-to-month prices are published for Standard, Professional and Advanced.
Pricing reality: Hootsuite bills each user seat per month, with a social account allowance per plan. For our scenario, 3 users on Standard cost 3 × $99 = $297 a month on annual terms ($3,564 a year), or $447 month to month (computed), before tax, with exactly the 10 accounts Standard allows. An 11th account means Professional (3 × $199 = $597 a month, computed). Approval workflows need Advanced (3 × $399 = $1,197 a month, computed). Listening beyond 30 days and SSO are on Enterprise, priced by sales. Every plan includes 100 AI credits a month; the page does not say whether per user or per organization.
Exit path: The content calendar exports to CSV or PDF, scheduled drafts included (the plan table lists this on every plan; PDF covers up to one week). Analytics reports export to PDF or PowerPoint from Professional and to CSV or XLSX from Advanced. A documented REST API exists; the plans table does not say which plans can use it. The help article on exporting an organization’s content did not load for us.

### Sprout Social

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/sprout-social
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/sprout-social
Category: Social media management tools
Vendor: Sprout Social, Inc.
Tagline: A per-seat social media suite with the Smart Inbox, approvals, bulk scheduling and competitor reports on Professional at $299 per seat billed annually.
Value: A full social team workspace (inbox, approvals, competitor reports and branded reporting) on one seat, with SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 behind it.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Built-in reach
Value detail: On Professional, one seat covers unlimited profiles, the Smart Inbox for comments and messages, approval workflows, bulk scheduling, competitor reports for Facebook, X and Instagram and report branding, so a team works from one tool from draft to report. Publishing reaches twelve networks, Reddit and Snapchat included. The trust center states a SOC 2 Type 2 audit and ISO/IEC 27001 certification, and the DPA is part of the terms. You pay per seat, with listening and premium analytics as add-ons priced by sales.
- Twelve networks for publishing: The help center describes publishing to Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, Reddit and Snapchat. (Help center: what types of posts can I publish (2026-10-16))
- Team workflow on Professional: The plan table lists the message approval workflow, bulk scheduling, competitor reports, custom report branding and unlimited profiles on Professional. (Pricing page plan table (2026-10-16))
- Audits and certificates: The trust center says Sprout completes a SOC 2 Type 2 audit by a third-party auditor and is certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and 27701:2019; 2FA is on every plan. (Trust center and pricing page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Social and marketing teams that answer customers on social and report to stakeholders, and need a vendor that passes a security review.
Things to know: Seats are priced per user from $79 to $399 a month on annual terms, and unlimited profiles start on Professional ($299).
Score: 6.5/10
Free option: 30-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $79/seat/mo (Essentials (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month; 5 profiles on Essentials and Standard, unlimited from Professional
Free option: No free plan; 30-day trial, no card
Reference scenario (3 users, 10 profiles, annual): $897/mo on Professional (3 × $299), computed
Month-to-month price: $399 per seat on Professional ($99 / $249 / $399 / $499 for the four listed plans)
Networks for publishing: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business Profile, Reddit, Snapchat
Approval workflows: Professional and up; external approvers on Advanced
Unified inbox: Smart Inbox for comments and messages from Standard (not on Essentials)
Social listening: Keyword and brand monitoring from Standard; the Listening add-on through sales
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 audit; ISO/IEC 27001:2013
SAML SSO: SAML 2.0; set up through Enterprise or a customer success manager
DPA: Published and part of the terms
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Sprout Social is the most complete team workspace here, with the inbox, approvals, competitor reports and audits on Professional. It is also the most expensive per seat, and listening is priced by sales.
Choose it if: Your team answers customers on social and needs one inbox with history and approvals. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 from the vendor. · You publish to many networks, including Reddit or Snapchat.
Look elsewhere if: You need many seats on a small budget. · You want listening priced on the website. · You want a permanent free plan.
Compared with: Hootsuite (https://proofyo.com/products/hootsuite) — pick Sprout Social when You want approval workflows, unlimited profiles and branded reports on one plan at $299 per seat on annual terms.; pick Hootsuite when You want listening and competitor benchmarks at a lower seat price, $99 per user on Standard, and 10 profiles are enough. | Buffer (https://proofyo.com/products/buffer) — pick Sprout Social when You need an inbox with direct messages, competitor reports and audited security documents.; pick Buffer when You mainly publish and approve, and want unlimited users at $100 a month for 10 channels (Team, annual). | Later (https://proofyo.com/products/later) — pick Sprout Social when You publish to X, Bluesky, Reddit or Google Business Profile, or need bulk scheduling, an API and a published DPA.; pick Later when You focus on Instagram and TikTok and want approvals and an inbox for $41.25 a month (Growth with one extra user, annual).
Strengths:
- Approvals, bulk scheduling and competitor reports on one plan: Professional includes the message approval workflow, bulk scheduling of up to 350 messages, competitor reports for Facebook, X and Instagram, report branding and unlimited profiles. (Hootsuite puts approvals and branded reports on Advanced; Later keeps competitor benchmarking on Scale.)
- Smart Inbox from Standard: Comments and messages from connected networks, reviews and keyword monitoring in one inbox, with full conversation history from Professional. (Buffer’s community inbox handles comments only.)
- The widest network list here: Publishing reaches twelve networks, including Reddit, Snapchat, Bluesky and Google Business Profile.
- Security file in its own name: A SOC 2 Type 2 audit, ISO/IEC 27001 and 27701, two-step verification enforced by email by default with optional authenticator apps, and a DPA that forms part of the terms. (Buffer and Sendible state no SOC 2 Type II report on their own pages.)
Things to know:
- Highest per-seat prices in this group: For 3 users and 10 profiles the first plan that fits is Professional at 3 × $299 = $897 a month on annual terms, paid upfront for the year. Workaround: Standard (3 × $199) could cost less if extra profiles are cheap, but their price is not published; ask sales.
- Full listening is a sales-priced add-on: Keyword and brand monitoring is in the Smart Inbox from Standard, but the Listening add-on has no published price and is bought through an account manager.
- API and custom roles on Advanced: The help center says Advanced users can access the API, and custom user roles are an Advanced feature. Workaround: Profile-level access restrictions are on every plan, and advanced publishing permissions on Professional.
- Firm annual terms: Annual plans renew automatically and prepaid fees are not refunded; downgrades of a paid plan go through the success team and apply at the next contract cycle. Workaround: Month-to-month prices are published for every self-serve plan.
Pricing reality: Sprout Social bills per seat, and each plan sets a profile allowance. For our scenario, 3 users with 10 profiles need Professional, the first plan with unlimited profiles: 3 × $299 = $897 a month on annual terms ($10,764 a year, paid upfront), or $1,197 month to month (computed), before tax. Standard at 3 × $199 = $597 a month includes 5 profiles, and the price of 5 more is not published. Listening, Premium Analytics and Employee Advocacy add on through sales; Trellis Plus AI is $28 per user a month on annual terms. US nonprofits get Professional at $239 per seat with at least 2 seats on annual terms.
Exit path: Reports export to PDF and the post performance report to CSV; Smart Inbox messages export to CSV on every plan, and audit logs and user permissions to CSV. Scheduled posts cannot be exported (the account-merge article says they must be rescheduled by hand). The API is on Advanced. The help center says data is deleted 90 days after an account closes; the terms allow removal within 30 days.

### Sendible

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/sendible
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/sendible
Category: Social media management tools
Vendor: Sendible Limited
Tagline: A social media tool for agencies with unlimited users on every plan, priced by workspaces of 6 profiles, from $29.75 a month billed yearly.
Value: Unlimited users, client dashboards and an inbox on every plan, priced by workspaces of 6 profiles, for agencies that manage many clients.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Sendible does not charge per seat: every plan has unlimited users, including freelancers and clients, and the price grows by workspaces of 6 profiles. Core, at $29.75 a month billed yearly, includes the Priority Inbox for comments and messages, bulk scheduling from CSV, client dashboards where clients preview content and Client Connect, which lets clients connect their own profiles without sharing passwords. Approvals start on Plus and branded reports on Premium.
- Unlimited users on every plan: The pricing page says "Unlimited users on all plans" and the FAQ promises "zero per-seat taxes"; 10 profiles for any number of users cost $59.75 a month billed yearly on Core. (Pricing page and FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Client tools built in: Client dashboards and Client Connect are on all plans; custom branded reports without Sendible branding start on Premium, and white label is a paid add-on on Elite and Enterprise. (Pricing page feature breakdown (2026-10-16))
- Inbox and bulk scheduling on Core: The Priority Inbox brings comments and messages together, and the bulk scheduler takes CSV uploads, on every plan. (Pricing page and Priority Inbox page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Agencies and freelancers who manage social profiles for several clients and want clients and staff to log in without per-seat fees.
Things to know: Sendible’s pages state no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification and no two-factor sign-in, and list no social listening.
Score: 5.3/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $29.75/mo (Core (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Flat rate
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat plan by workspaces of 6 profiles; unlimited users; extra workspaces priced per plan
Free option: No free plan; 14-day trial, no card
Reference scenario (3 users, 10 profiles, annual): $59.75/mo on Core with 1 extra workspace ($29.75 + $30), computed
Month-to-month price: $35 on Core ($35 / $99 / $199 / $299 / $750 for the five listed plans)
Networks for publishing: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business Profile, WordPress
Approval workflows: Plus and up; custom approval workflows from Premium
Unified inbox: Priority Inbox for comments and messages on every plan
Social listening: Not offered on current plans
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated
SAML SSO: Not stated; API-based SSO on Enterprise, by application
DPA: Published; signed and emailed to Sendible
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Sendible is an agency-minded tool with unlimited users, an inbox and bulk scheduling on every plan and low workspace-based prices. Its pages state little about certifications, and approvals start on Plus.
Choose it if: You are an agency or freelancer managing social profiles for clients. · Many people, including clients, need to log in and you do not want per-seat pricing. · You want branded client reports and a white-label option as you grow.
Look elsewhere if: Your security review needs SOC 2, ISO 27001 or two-factor sign-in stated by the vendor. · You need social listening or competitor analytics. · You publish to Pinterest.
Compared with: Buffer (https://proofyo.com/products/buffer) — pick Sendible when You want an inbox with direct messages and the lowest price for 10 profiles with unlimited users ($59.75 a month, annual).; pick Buffer when You want approvals on the plan that fits, a free plan, Pinterest and a documented API. | Later (https://proofyo.com/products/later) — pick Sendible when You publish to X, Bluesky or Google Business Profile, or need unlimited users and CSV bulk scheduling.; pick Later when You focus on Instagram and TikTok and want approvals on the scenario plan at $41.25 a month (annual). | Hootsuite (https://proofyo.com/products/hootsuite) — pick Sendible when You manage many clients and want staff and clients to log in without per-seat costs.; pick Hootsuite when You need listening, competitor benchmarks and SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 from the vendor.
Strengths:
- No per-seat pricing: Every plan includes unlimited users (team members, freelancers, stakeholders and clients); the price depends on workspaces. (Hootsuite and Sprout Social charge per user; Buffer includes unlimited users on Team only.)
- Inbox with messages on the entry plan: The pricing page lists tracking mentions, comments and messages across profiles and replying from one inbox on Core. (Buffer’s inbox handles comments only.)
- Built for client work: Client dashboards and Client Connect on every plan, branded reports emailed automatically from Premium, and a white-label add-on on Elite and Enterprise.
- Every plan priced on the page: All five plans, Enterprise included, and extra workspaces on each have published monthly and yearly prices. (Hootsuite and Sprout Social price Enterprise through sales.)
Things to know:
- Security documents not on its pages: We found no trust or security page, no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 statement and no two-factor sign-in for Sendible accounts; a 2025 security help article recommends 2FA on connected social accounts and offers IP allow-listing. Workaround: The DPA is published and can be signed and emailed to dpa@sendible.com.
- Approvals start on Plus: The pricing page lists assigning posts for approval on Plus ($84.15 a month billed yearly) and custom approval workflows on Premium. Workaround: Client dashboards on every plan let clients preview content.
- No listening or competitor analytics: The pricing page lists comment monitoring and replies, but no social listening or competitor reports; the social listening page redirects home.
- Prepaid fees are not refunded: The terms say no refunds for prepayment or for cancelling during a paid-up period, and charges can rise at any time. Workaround: Standard plans run month to month with no contract.
Pricing reality: Sendible prices flat plans by workspaces of 6 profiles, with unlimited users. For our scenario, Core ($29.75 a month billed yearly) plus one extra workspace ($30) gives 12 profiles for $59.75 a month ($717 a year), or $70 month to month (computed), before tax, with the profiles split across two workspaces. Approvals need Plus ($84.15 a month with 18 profiles). Each plan caps posts per workspace per day: 100 on Core, 200 on Plus, 300 on Premium and 500 above. White label is a paid add-on with no price on the pricing page. Nonprofits get 25% off yearly plans.
Exit path: A 2025 help article describes exporting scheduled, sent and draft posts to CSV or HTML, and report data to CSV on some plans; reports save to PDF from Premium. The privacy policy offers a download of your content and analytics. After cancelling, a 2025 help article says data is deleted after 30 days, while the privacy policy allows restoring an account for 90 days.

## Category: Website builders

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/website-builders

### WordPress.com

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/wordpress-com
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/wordpress-com
Category: Website builders
Vendor: Automattic Inc.
Tagline: Managed WordPress hosting with a site builder, from $4 a month on the Personal plan billed yearly, with plugins, unlimited users and a free plan.
Value: A managed WordPress site with plugins and unlimited users for $4 a month billed yearly, with your posts and pages free to leave in WordPress’s own format.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach, Saves engineering time
Value detail: WordPress.com runs WordPress for you: updates, security, backups on higher plans and a global CDN are managed, and the Personal plan ($4 a month billed yearly) removes ads, adds a free domain for the first year and lets you install plugins from a library of more than 50,000. Every plan includes forms, site search, paid content and unlimited users. Posts, pages and comments export as WordPress XML, and a migration plugin can move the whole site.
- Lowest entry price for a custom-domain site: Personal is $4 a month billed yearly ($2.75 on a 3-year term) and includes no ads, a free domain for a year, forms, a blog, site search and plugins. (Pricing page plan cards and comparison table (2026-10-16))
- Plugins on Personal and up: The plan table checks plugin installation on Personal, Premium, Business and Commerce, from more than 50,000 plugins in the marketplace or uploaded directly. (Pricing page comparison table (2026-10-16))
- Export in WordPress’s own format: Tools → Export creates an XML file of posts, pages and comments for any WordPress site; a migration plugin moves the full site, design included, on plugin-enabled plans. (Support: Export your website’s content (2026-10-16))
Best for: Bloggers, publishers and small businesses that want a low-cost site, unlimited users and the WordPress plugin ecosystem without running hosting.
Things to know: The renewal price is not in the page text, and the pages we read state no SOC 2 or ISO 27001.
Score: 7.9/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $4/site/mo (Personal (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per site; yearly, 2-year, 3-year or monthly terms
Free option: Free plan on a WordPress.com address with ads; 14-day refund on annual plans
Reference scenario (annual): $4/mo on Personal
Month-to-month price: $9 on Personal ($9 / $18 / $40 / $70)
Free custom domain: For 1 year on annual and multi-year plans
Second editor: Unlimited users on every plan
Multiple languages: Through a multilingual plugin on Personal and up
Online selling: Payment buttons from Premium; WooCommerce store from Business
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated on the pages we read
Refund window: 14 days on annual plans, 7 days on monthly
Export: Posts, pages and comments as XML; full site with a migration plugin
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, WordPress.com is the lowest-cost route to a custom-domain site with a blog, at $4 a month billed yearly, with plugins, unlimited users and a portable export. Check the renewal price at checkout, and note that SOC 2 and ISO 27001 are not stated.
Choose it if: You want a custom-domain site with a blog at the lowest yearly price. · Several people will write or edit, and you do not want to pay per seat. · You want to keep the option of moving to any WordPress host.
Look elsewhere if: A client or partner asks for SOC 2 or ISO 27001 from the vendor. · You need an online store on the entry plan.
Compared with: Wix (https://proofyo.com/products/wix) — pick WordPress.com when You want the lowest price, unlimited users and a full export of your posts and pages.; pick Wix when You want drag-and-drop editing with bookings, payments and multilingual built in, and a stated SOC 2. | Squarespace (https://proofyo.com/products/squarespace) — pick WordPress.com when You want plugins, unlimited users and a complete content export at a lower price.; pick Squarespace when You want to sell products and memberships on the entry plan without choosing plugins. | Webflow (https://proofyo.com/products/webflow) — pick WordPress.com when You want a low-cost site with a blog and unlimited editors.; pick Webflow when You want pixel-level design control and SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 from the vendor.
Strengths:
- The lowest price for the scenario: Personal covers a custom domain, no ads, forms, a blog and unlimited users for $4 a month billed yearly. (Framer Basic is $10, Wix Light $17, Squarespace Basic $19 and Webflow Premium $25 a month billed yearly.)
- Forms, search and paid content on every plan: The comparison table checks forms, Jetpack Search, paid content gating, paid subscribers and the newsletter on every plan, the free plan included.
- Full export of posts and pages: Posts, pages and comments export as WordPress XML, media can be exported, and a migration plugin can move the full site. (Wix does not export blog posts, and Squarespace exports one blog and layout pages only.)
- Unlimited users and an activity log: Every plan allows unlimited users with roles from administrator to contributor, and paid plans keep the full activity log for the plan’s retention period.
Things to know:
- Renewal price not in the page text: The plan cards say each plan auto-renews at a monthly price filled in by a script; the static page text gives the first-term prices only. Workaround: Check the renewal price at checkout before you pay.
- No SOC 2 or ISO 27001 stated: The pages we read describe 2FA, malware scanning, a firewall and DDoS protection, but no SOC 2 report or ISO 27001 certificate, and the DPA is requested and signed by email.
- Backups and staging start on Business: Real-time backups, SFTP and SSH, staging and the uptime monitor are on Business ($25 a month billed yearly) and Commerce.
Pricing reality: WordPress.com bills per site, with discounts for longer terms. For our scenario, Personal costs $4 a month billed yearly ($48 a year) before tax, $9 month to month, or $2.75 on a 3-year term; the renewal price is not in the page text. A free domain comes for the first year on annual plans and renews at the domain rate. Premium ($8) adds payment buttons, video uploads and Google Analytics; Business ($25) adds real-time backups, staging, SFTP and WooCommerce; Commerce ($45) adds store extensions. Payment transaction fees vary by plan. Annual plans refund within 14 days, monthly within 7, domains within 96 hours.
Exit path: Tools → Export creates a WordPress XML file of posts, pages and comments that any WordPress site can import, and media can be exported separately; the file does not include the theme design or plugins, which a migration plugin can move on plugin-enabled plans. Form responses can be exported from the forms dashboard.

### Webflow

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/webflow
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/webflow
Category: Website builders
Vendor: Webflow, Inc.
Tagline: A visual website builder and CMS with hosting, sold per site: Basic from $15 and Premium with the CMS from $25 a month billed yearly, plus seats for a team.
Value: Design-level control, a CMS and managed hosting in one tool, so a marketing site ships without a developer and passes a security review.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Webflow lets a designer build a site visually with full control of layout, styles and interactions, then publishes it on Webflow hosting with a CMS for blog posts and other content. The Premium site plan ($25 a month billed yearly) covers a custom domain, the CMS with 20,000 items, site search and unlimited form submissions. Webflow states its own SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate, and a paid Workspace plan can export the site as HTML and CSS.
- CMS, forms and hosting on one site plan: Premium lists the Webflow CMS (20,000 items in up to 40 collections), site search, unlimited form submissions with CSV download, automatic backups and a global CDN, so a team does not run a separate CMS or form service. (Pricing page plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Own SOC 2 Type II and ISO certificates: The security page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 42001, and PCI-DSS; the DPA forms part of the agreement and a pre-signed copy can be signed through DocuSign. (Security page and Data Processing Addendum (2026-10-16))
- Code export on a paid Workspace plan: Paid Workspace plans (Core from $19 a month billed yearly) export the site’s HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images with no attribution required; CMS items, localized content and forms do not carry over. (Help center: How do I export my Webflow site code? (2026-10-16))
Best for: Designers and marketing teams who want pixel-level control and a CMS without a developer, and who may need a vendor with SOC 2 and ISO 27001.
Things to know: A blog needs the CMS on Premium ($25 a month billed yearly), and each extra editor is a paid seat.
Score: 7.6/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $15/site/mo (Basic site plan (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per site (Site plan), plus seats on a Workspace plan for teams
Free option: Free Starter plan on a webflow.io address; 14-day refund on new plans
Reference scenario (annual): $25/mo on the Premium site plan
Month-to-month price: $39 on Premium ($25 on Basic)
Free custom domain: Not included; connect a domain you own
Second editor: Content-editing seat $15/mo billed yearly; full seat $39
Multiple languages: Localize add-on from $9/mo billed yearly
Online selling: Ecommerce site plans from $29/mo billed yearly, 2% fee on Standard
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 42001
Refund window: 14 days on new Site and Workspace plans, monthly or annual
Export: CMS to CSV; HTML/CSS code export on a paid Workspace plan (no CMS content)
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Webflow is the designer’s builder here: a full CMS, site search, own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and a code export path. A blog starts on the $25 Premium plan, and extra editors are paid seats.
Choose it if: You want to design every detail visually and publish without a developer. · Your blog or resource library needs thousands of CMS items. · A security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 from the vendor. · You want the option to export the site’s code later.
Look elsewhere if: You need member logins or paywalled content built in. · Several people will edit the site and the budget has no room for seats. · You want a blog on the cheapest paid plan.
Compared with: Framer (https://proofyo.com/products/framer) — pick Webflow when You need a large CMS (20,000 items), code export or a vendor-stated SOC 2 Type II report on a plan bought online.; pick Framer when You want the lowest price for a designed site with a small blog: Framer Basic is $10 a month billed yearly. | Wix (https://proofyo.com/products/wix) — pick Webflow when You want design control, a CSV export of your CMS and a route to host the code elsewhere.; pick Wix when You want built-in multilingual, bookings and selling, and two collaborators on the entry plan. | WordPress.com (https://proofyo.com/products/wordpress-com) — pick Webflow when You want a visual designer with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 stated by the vendor.; pick WordPress.com when You want the lowest entry price, unlimited users and plugins, and a full XML export of posts and pages.
Strengths:
- Full CMS and site search on Premium: Premium includes the CMS with 20,000 items in 40 collections, scheduled publishing, RSS feeds, site search and unlimited form submissions at $25 a month billed yearly. (Framer Basic ($10) holds 2 CMS collections and 1,000 items.)
- Own SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The security page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 42001, and PCI-DSS, with 2FA on every plan. (Squarespace and WordPress.com state neither SOC 2 nor ISO 27001 on the pages we read.)
- A way out as code: Paid Workspace plans export HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images to host anywhere, and every CMS collection exports to CSV. (Wix says sites cannot be hosted elsewhere, and Framer’s help center says it does not offer HTML export.)
- Prices for every self-serve plan and add-on: Yearly and month-to-month prices are listed for Site plans, Workspace plans, seats, bandwidth, localization, analytics and ecommerce plans.
Things to know:
- A blog needs Premium: Basic ($15 a month billed yearly) has no CMS, so a site with a blog starts at $25 a month billed yearly, or $39 month to month.
- Extra editors are paid seats: The free Starter Workspace includes one full seat. More people need a content-editing seat ($15 a month billed yearly) or a full seat ($39). Workaround: Free reviewer seats can comment without editing.
- No built-in member logins: Webflow User Accounts were retired on Jan 29, 2026; gated content now runs through partner apps such as Outseta or Memberstack.
- SSO, custom roles and the activity log need sales: The site activity log is on the Team platform plan ($2,500 a month on an annual contract) and SSO and custom roles on Enterprise, both bought through sales.
Pricing reality: Webflow bills each published site, plus seats for a team. For our scenario, one business site with a blog on Premium costs $25 a month billed yearly ($300 a year), or $39 month to month, before tax; Basic at $15 has no CMS. The free Starter Workspace covers one full seat; each extra content editor is $15 a month billed yearly and each designer seat $39. Extras: Localize from $9 a month for one more language, Analyze from $9, bandwidth beyond 50 GB from $20 a month, and code export through a Workspace plan from $19. Selling online needs an Ecommerce plan from $29 a month with a 2% fee on Standard. New plans can be refunded within 14 days; renewals, seats and add-ons cannot.
Exit path: Every CMS collection exports to CSV, and form submissions download as CSV. Paid Workspace plans export the site’s HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images, but CMS content, localized pages and password protection do not carry over, and forms and site search stop working on the exported copy. When a Site plan ends, the custom domain is removed and the site is unpublished; the project stays in the Workspace.

### Wix

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/wix
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/wix
Category: Website builders
Vendor: Wix.com Ltd.
Tagline: A drag-and-drop website builder with built-in business apps, from $17 a month on yearly billing in the US, with a free plan and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Value: A drag-and-drop business site with multilingual, bookings, payments and a broad compliance file, on one platform that grows with the plan.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Built-in reach, Compliance included
Value detail: Wix lets a small business build its site from a template or a prompt, then add tools from the same dashboard: a blog, forms, Wix Multilingual, site search, bookings, payments and an online store as the plan grows. Light ($17 a month on yearly billing in the US) covers the custom domain, removes Wix branding and allows 2 collaborators. Wix states its own SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and PCI DSS Level 1, and its DPA is part of the terms.
- Business apps on the same plan: The plan table lists scheduling, payments, ecommerce, memberships and pricing plans from Core ($29), with Wix Multilingual and Wix Site Search as apps that name no plan requirement. (Plans page comparison table and help center (2026-10-16))
- Own audits and certificates: The trust center lists SOC 2 Type 2, PCI DSS Level 1 and ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701, plus 2FA by email, SMS or app; HIPAA compliance is on Business and Business Elite. (Trust center security page and plans page (2026-10-16))
- Collaborators and site history included: Light includes 2 site collaborators with custom roles, and the site history records every save and publish, with who made each change and a one-step restore. (Plans page and help center: site history, custom roles (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small businesses that want one platform for their site, bookings, payments and multilingual pages, with a compliance file a client may ask for.
Things to know: A Wix site runs only on Wix: the site and its blog posts cannot be exported to another platform.
Score: 7.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $17/site/mo (Light (billed yearly, US price) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per site; prices vary by country
Free option: Free plan on a wixsite.com address with Wix ads; 14-day money-back guarantee
Reference scenario (annual): $17/mo on Light (US price)
Month-to-month price: Monthly billing offered; price not shown on the plans page
Free custom domain: Voucher for 1 year with a first yearly plan
Second editor: 2 site collaborators on Light, 5 on Core
Multiple languages: Wix Multilingual; 3,000 free auto-translation words
Online selling: From Core ($29/mo billed yearly)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2; ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701; PCI DSS Level 1
Refund window: 14 days on new plans, yearly or monthly
Export: CMS collections and contacts to CSV; blog posts and the site cannot be exported
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Wix is the most complete all-in-one builder here: multilingual, collaborators and a broad compliance file from Light at $17 a month in the US, with selling from Core. The trade-off is lock-in: the site and its blog cannot be exported.
Choose it if: You want bookings, payments, an online store and multilingual pages in one builder. · A client or partner asks for SOC 2 Type 2 or ISO 27001. · Two people will edit the site on the entry plan.
Look elsewhere if: You may want to move the site or its blog to another platform later. · You want to sell or run memberships on the entry plan.
Compared with: Squarespace (https://proofyo.com/products/squarespace) — pick Wix when You want built-in multilingual, a stated SOC 2 and ISO 27001, and a lower entry price ($17 vs $19 a month billed yearly).; pick Squarespace when You want to sell products or memberships on the entry plan and export your blog to WordPress. | WordPress.com (https://proofyo.com/products/wordpress-com) — pick Wix when You want bookings, payments and multilingual in one drag-and-drop builder with a vendor-stated SOC 2.; pick WordPress.com when You want the lowest entry price and a full export of posts and pages to move your site later. | Webflow (https://proofyo.com/products/webflow) — pick Wix when You want two collaborators, multilingual and business apps without paying for seats or add-ons.; pick Webflow when You want pixel-level design control and a way to export your site’s code.
Strengths:
- Multilingual without an add-on fee: Wix Multilingual translates the site into other languages with a language menu, names no plan requirement and includes 3,000 free auto-translation words. (Webflow, Framer and Squarespace price extra languages as an add-on or a third-party integration.)
- Broad compliance file: SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701, PCI DSS Level 1, 2FA and a DPA that is part of the terms; HIPAA compliance on Business. (Squarespace and WordPress.com state neither SOC 2 nor ISO 27001 on the pages we read.)
- Two collaborators and a change history on Light: Light includes 2 site collaborators, custom roles can limit what each one does, and the site history shows who changed what and restores older versions. (Webflow and Framer charge for a second editor seat.)
- 14-day money-back guarantee on yearly and monthly plans: New plans can be cancelled for a full refund within 14 days; domains are excluded.
Things to know:
- The site stays on Wix: The help center says a Wix site cannot be hosted elsewhere, blog posts cannot be exported to other platforms and a backup cannot be stored outside Wix. Workaround: CMS collections and contacts export to CSV, and a site can be duplicated inside your account.
- Selling and memberships start on Core: Payments, ecommerce, scheduling and memberships start on Core at $29 a month on yearly billing, with a 4% fee on pricing plans on Core.
- Prices vary by country: The plans page sets prices by location and shows only yearly prices; the final price appears on the purchase page.
Pricing reality: Wix bills per site, with prices set by country. In the US, our scenario costs $17 a month on Light billed yearly ($204 a year) before tax, with Wix branding removed, 2 GB of storage, 4 lead-capture forms and 2 collaborators. A first yearly plan includes a voucher for a free domain for one year; it renews at the domain price. Selling, bookings and memberships need Core ($29), and Business ($39) adds automated sales tax and HIPAA compliance. Monthly billing exists, but its price is not on the plans page. Auto-translation beyond 3,000 free words needs paid word credits.
Exit path: Wix says its sites must run on Wix servers: the site cannot be moved to another host, blog posts cannot be exported and no external backup is offered. CMS collections export to CSV, contacts export to CSV (up to 50,000 at once), and the site history restores older versions. A domain bought elsewhere can stay with its registrar.

### Squarespace

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/squarespace
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/squarespace
Category: Website builders
Vendor: Squarespace, Inc.
Tagline: A template-based website builder with selling, invoicing and memberships on every plan, from $19 a month billed yearly after a 14-day trial with no card.
Value: A polished template site that can sell products, services, courses and memberships from the first plan, without adding a store or membership tool.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Built-in reach
Value detail: Squarespace starts every site from a designed template and a drag-and-drop editor, and every plan can sell products, services, invoices, courses and memberships through Squarespace Payments, Stripe or PayPal. Basic ($19 a month billed yearly) covers a custom domain with a free first year, forms, a blog, unlimited bandwidth and 2 contributors. Higher plans lower the fees on sales rather than unlock selling.
- Selling and memberships on every plan: The plan table lists ecommerce, unlimited products, invoices, gift cards and selling courses, videos and memberships on Basic, with a 2% store fee and a 7% content fee that fall to 0% on higher plans. (Pricing page, Internet Archive copy of Oct 13, 2026 (2026-10-16))
- 14-day trial with no card: Every site starts with a 14-day free trial, no credit card required, and new annual plans can be refunded within 14 days. (Pricing page FAQ and website refund policy (2026-10-16))
- Forms that store to CSV, Sheets or email: Form blocks can download submissions to CSV, send them by email or to Google Drive; page passwords and search blocks are part of the editor. (Help center: form storage, page passwords, adding search (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small businesses, creators and service providers who want a designed site that sells products, services or memberships from day one.
Things to know: There is no free plan, and the security pages we read state no SOC 2 or ISO 27001.
Score: 6.3/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $19/site/mo (Basic (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per site; fees on sales by plan
Free option: No free plan; 14-day trial, no card
Reference scenario (annual): $19/mo on Basic
Month-to-month price: $25 on Basic ($25 / $39 / $65 / $139)
Free custom domain: For 1 year on annual plans
Second editor: 2 contributors on Basic, unlimited from Core
Multiple languages: Weglot integration: free for 1 language up to 2,000 words
Online selling: Every plan; 2% store fee on Basic, 0% from Core
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated; PCI-DSS for built-in payments
Refund window: 14 days on new annual plans; monthly plans not refunded
Export: WordPress XML of layout pages and one blog; forms to CSV
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Squarespace is the builder that sells from the first plan: products, services and memberships on Basic at $19 a month billed yearly, with fees that fall on higher plans. It states no SOC 2 or ISO 27001, and its export covers only part of a site.
Choose it if: You want a designed template site that sells products, services or memberships from day one. · You want to try it for 14 days without entering a card. · Two people will edit the site, or more from Core.
Look elsewhere if: A client or partner asks for SOC 2 or ISO 27001 from the vendor. · You need a complete export of the site to move it later. · You want a permanent free plan.
Compared with: Wix (https://proofyo.com/products/wix) — pick Squarespace when You want to sell or run memberships on the entry plan and export your blog to WordPress.; pick Wix when You want built-in multilingual and a vendor-stated SOC 2 and ISO 27001. | WordPress.com (https://proofyo.com/products/wordpress-com) — pick Squarespace when You want selling, invoicing and memberships with no plugins to choose or update.; pick WordPress.com when You want the lowest entry price and a full export of your posts and pages. | Framer (https://proofyo.com/products/framer) — pick Squarespace when You want to sell from the same site and give a second contributor access at no extra cost.; pick Framer when You want a free-form design canvas and a stated SOC 2 and ISO 27001.
Strengths:
- Selling and memberships from Basic: Basic can sell unlimited products, services, courses and memberships and send invoices, with a 2% store fee and a 7% content fee. (Wix starts payments and memberships on Core ($29), and WordPress.com’s store tools start on Business ($25).)
- Two contributors on Basic, unlimited from Core: Basic includes 2 contributors with permission roles such as website manager and store manager; Core removes the limit. (Webflow and Framer bill extra editors as seats.)
- Trial without a card: Every site starts with a 14-day free trial and no credit card, and new annual plans can be refunded within 14 days.
- Unlimited bandwidth and storage: The plan table lists no caps on bandwidth or storage on any plan; video storage grows from 30 minutes on Basic.
Things to know:
- No SOC 2 or ISO 27001 stated: The security page covers SSL, 2FA, a 24/7 security operations center and PCI-DSS for built-in payment integrations, but names no SOC 2 report or ISO 27001 certificate.
- Partial content export: The export is a WordPress XML file with layout pages, one blog and basic blocks; store pages, products, other page types, drafts and styles do not export, and trial sites cannot export. Workaround: Form submissions download as CSV.
- Languages through a third party: Multilingual sites use the Weglot integration (free for one language up to 2,000 words, then Weglot’s plans) or separate pages built by hand.
- Monthly plans are not refunded: The refund policy covers annual plans cancelled within 14 days; monthly plans and renewals are not refunded.
Pricing reality: Squarespace bills per site. For our scenario, one business site with a blog on Basic costs $19 a month billed yearly ($228 a year), or $25 month to month, before tax, with a free domain for the first year on annual terms. Fees on sales are the main variable: Basic charges a 2% online store fee and 7% on digital content and memberships, Core ($29) 0% and 5%, Plus ($49) 0% and 1%, Advanced ($99) none, on top of card rates from 2.9% + $0.30 on Squarespace Payments. Custom code, Mailchimp and Zapier start on Core. Discounts apply only to the first payment. Monthly plans are not refunded.
Exit path: The Import & export panel creates a WordPress XML file with layout pages, one blog with its posts and comments, and text and image blocks; other page types, products, more than one blog, drafts and styles do not export, and trial sites cannot export. Form submissions download as CSV. Deleted pages and blog posts can be restored. Squarespace is an ICANN-accredited registrar, so a domain bought there is transferred out separately.

### Framer

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/framer
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/framer
Category: Website builders
Vendor: Framer B.V.
Tagline: A design-first website builder with a CMS, AI agents and hosting, from $10 a month per site on yearly billing, with editors and languages priced as add-ons.
Value: A designed, fast-to-publish marketing site with a small CMS for $10 a month on yearly billing, built on a canvas that feels like a design tool.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Worth the price
Value detail: Framer lets designers lay out pages on a free-form canvas and publish them straight to Framer hosting, with AI agents for building and translating. Basic ($10 a month on yearly billing) connects your own domain, removes the badge and includes a CMS with 2 collections, site search and password protection. Framer states an ISO 27001 certificate and a SOC 2 Type 2 audit, and its DPA is part of the terms.
- Custom domain, CMS and search for $10: Basic lists a custom domain, 30 pages, 2 CMS collections with 1,000 items, password protection, site search and 50 GB of bandwidth at $10 a month on yearly billing. (Pricing page plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Forms that send to email, Sheets or a webhook: Native forms send submissions to email, Google Sheets or a custom webhook, with built-in spam protection and rate limiting. (Help center: Adding a contact form (2026-10-16))
- SOC 2 and ISO 27001 stated: The security page says Framer completed a SOC 2 Type 2 audit and holds ISO 27001; the reports go to Enterprise customers on request, and the DPA is part of the terms. (Security page and Data Processing Addendum (2026-10-16))
Best for: Designers, freelancers and startups who want a polished marketing site with a small blog at a low yearly price.
Things to know: Each extra editor ($20 a month) and each extra language ($20) is billed on top, and online selling is not offered.
Score: 6.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $10/site/mo (Basic (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per site, plus $20 per extra editor and $20 per extra language
Free option: Free plan on a Framer domain with the badge; refund within 7 days worldwide
Reference scenario (annual): $10/mo on Basic
Month-to-month price: Not listed; the help center says monthly costs more
Free custom domain: Listed on yearly plans; the help center says Framer does not sell domains
Second editor: $20/mo per editor, $10/mo per content editor
Multiple languages: $20 per locale per month, up to 20
Online selling: Not offered
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001; reports to Enterprise customers on request
Refund window: 7 days worldwide, 14 days in the EU and Turkey (refund policy)
Export: CMS to CSV or JSON through plugins; HTML export described differently on two pages
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Framer offers the cheapest designed site with a CMS among the canvas builders here, at $10 a month on yearly billing, with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 stated. Editors and languages cost extra, and some pages disagree on domains, refunds and export.
Choose it if: You design in a canvas tool and want to publish without handing off to a developer. · Your site needs a small blog or case-study CMS and a low yearly price. · You want a vendor that states SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001.
Look elsewhere if: You need an online store or member logins on the same site. · Several people will edit and the budget has no room for $20 seats. · You need a clear, documented way to move the site to other hosting.
Compared with: Webflow (https://proofyo.com/products/webflow) — pick Framer when You want a designed site with a small blog for less: $10 a month instead of $25 on yearly billing.; pick Webflow when You need a larger CMS, a documented code export or month-to-month prices on the pricing page. | Squarespace (https://proofyo.com/products/squarespace) — pick Framer when You want a free-form design canvas and a vendor-stated SOC 2 and ISO 27001.; pick Squarespace when You want to sell products, courses or memberships from the same site. | Wix (https://proofyo.com/products/wix) — pick Framer when You want the lower entry price ($10 vs $17 a month on yearly billing) and a design-tool canvas.; pick Wix when You want built-in multilingual, bookings and two collaborators on the entry plan.
Strengths:
- Second-lowest price for the scenario: Basic covers a custom domain, no badge, 2 CMS collections with 1,000 items, site search and password protection for $10 a month on yearly billing. (Webflow’s CMS starts on Premium at $25 a month billed yearly.)
- Search and password protection on Basic: The plan comparison checks site search and password protection on Basic, Pro and Enterprise.
- Own SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001: The security page states a SOC 2 Type 2 audit covering security and availability and an ISO 27001 certificate; the DPA is incorporated into the terms. (Squarespace and WordPress.com state neither on the pages we read.)
- CMS content leaves in CSV or JSON: The data portability article says CMS content exports through plugins as CSV or JSON.
Things to know:
- Editors and languages add up: The workspace owner is free; each extra editor is $20 a month and each content editor $10, up to 10 seats, and each extra language is $20 a month. Workaround: Viewers who only comment are free.
- No online store or member logins: The plans list no checkout, product catalog or member area; the contact form guide lists third-party services such as HubSpot and Typeform for other form needs.
- Pages disagree on domains, refunds and export: The pricing page and help center differ on the complimentary domain, on who can get a refund and on whether a site can be exported as HTML. Workaround: Ask Framer support to confirm the point that matters to you before buying.
- Monthly price not listed: Only yearly prices appear on the pricing page; the help center says monthly billing exists and typically costs more.
Pricing reality: Framer bills per site. For our scenario, one business site with a small blog on Basic costs $10 a month on yearly billing ($120 a year) before tax, with the owner seat free. Basic is capped at 30 pages, 2 CMS collections and 1,000 items; Pro ($30) raises that to 150 pages, 10 collections and 2,500 items, with paid add-ons beyond. Extra editors cost $20 a month each and content editors $10, extra languages $20 per locale, A/B testing $50 per 500,000 events and advanced hosting $200. AI credits come with each plan. The monthly billing price is not listed. Legacy plans bought before Oct 9, 2025 keep their price.
Exit path: CMS content exports through plugins as CSV or JSON, and form submissions can go to Google Sheets. Whether the site itself can leave is unclear: one help article says Framer does not provide a way to export published sites as HTML, while the data portability article says the files can be downloaded and hosted anywhere. Framer does not register domains, so a domain bought elsewhere stays with its registrar.

## Category: Business email and office suites

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/business-email

### Zoho Workplace

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-workplace
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/zoho-workplace
Category: Business email and office suites
Vendor: Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd.
Tagline: Zoho Mail on your own domain, free for up to 5 users, with paid mail plans from $1 per user a month and a suite with documents and meetings from $3, billed annually.
Value: Business mail on your own domain from $1 per user a month, with SSO, audit logs and an online DPA on every paid plan, and a free plan for 5 users.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Mail Lite gives each user mail and shared calendars on the company domain, up to 30 domains, shared mailboxes, IMAP and SAML single sign-on for $1 a month on annual terms, with mail storage sold in 10 to 200 GB units at $1 a year per 10 GB. Mail Premium ($4) adds retention and eDiscovery; Workplace Standard ($3) adds the Writer, Sheet and Show editors and Zoho Meeting. Zoho states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for all its cloud services, and the EU data center is chosen at sign-up.
- Low per-user prices: Mail Lite is $1 per user a month (5 GB), Mail Premium $4 (50 GB) and Workplace Standard $3 on annual terms; extra mail storage is $1 a year per 10 GB. (Workplace pricing page (US price data) and additional storage help (2026-10-16))
- A free plan for 5 users: Mail Free covers up to 5 users on one custom domain with 5 GB each, mail, calendar and the mobile app, without ads; it is offered in some data centers only. (Workplace pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Admin controls on every paid plan: SAML SSO is on all paid plans, admin audit logs are kept for one year, and admins can require two-factor authentication for the whole organization. (Plan comparison and help articles on SAML, log reports and two-factor authentication (2026-10-16))
- Audits and EU hosting: The compliance page lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701 for all cloud services; the data center, EU included, follows the country chosen at sign-up. (Zoho compliance and data center pages (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small and price-conscious teams that want business mail with admin controls at a low per-user price, and may start on the free plan.
Things to know: Mail Lite and Mail Premium are sold yearly only, the office editors and meetings start on Workplace Standard, and retention and eDiscovery on Mail Premium.
Score: 8.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $1/user/mo (Mail Lite 5 GB (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user; Mail plans yearly only, Workplace plans yearly or monthly
Free option: Mail Free for up to 5 users on one domain; 15-day trial, no card
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $6.88/mo on Mail Lite 5 GB + 45 GB add-ons ($1 × 5 + $1.88), computed; $15 on Workplace Standard
Month-to-month price: None for Mail Lite and Mail Premium; $4 / $7 for Workplace Standard / Professional
Storage per user: 5 or 10 GB (Lite), 50 GB (Premium), 30 GB + team drive (Standard), 100 GB + 1 TB team drive (Professional)
Domains, aliases and catch-all: Up to 30 domains and 30 addresses per mailbox on paid plans; catch-all
Office apps: Writer, Sheet and Show in the browser from Workplace Standard
Video meetings: Zoho Meeting with cloud recording from Workplace Standard
Retention and eDiscovery: Mail Premium ($4) and Workplace Professional ($6)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 for all cloud services (report under online NDA)
HIPAA BAA: BAA template on request from Zoho legal
EU data storage: EU data center (Amsterdam, Dublin) chosen by country at sign-up
SAML SSO: Every paid plan
Mailbox export: Users: EML in ZIP; admins: every mailbox as ZIP or PST on paid plans
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Zoho Workplace is the lowest-priced suite here, with SSO, audit logs, shared mailboxes and migration on every paid plan and retention from $4. Mail plans are yearly only, editors and meetings start on Workplace Standard, and a few prices differ between pages.
Choose it if: You want business mail on your domain at a low per-user price, or free for up to 5 users. · You need SAML SSO, audit logs and required 2FA without moving to a top plan. · You want retention and eDiscovery for $4 per user.
Look elsewhere if: You want to pay month to month for a mail-only plan. · You need desktop office apps. · You need IMAP or phone sync on the free plan.
Compared with: Google Workspace (https://proofyo.com/products/google-workspace) — pick Zoho Workplace when You want a free plan for 5 users, retention and eDiscovery from $4, and seats you can cut mid-term.; pick Google Workspace when You want a HIPAA BAA accepted in the admin console, Docs and Meet on the entry plan, and data regions at no extra cost on Standard. | Microsoft 365 Business (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-365-business) — pick Zoho Workplace when You want a free plan, a catch-all address and retention and eDiscovery from $4 per user.; pick Microsoft 365 Business when You want a 100 GB mailbox and 1 TB of OneDrive on the entry plan, desktop Office apps and Teams meetings for 300. | Fastmail for Business (https://proofyo.com/products/fastmail-for-business) — pick Zoho Workplace when You need SAML SSO, required 2FA, SOC 2 and ISO 27001, or document editors and meetings.; pick Fastmail for Business when You want month-to-month billing on a mail plan with 60 GB per user and a 30-day trial without a card.
Strengths:
- Lowest scenario price here: 5 users on Mail Lite with 45 GB of add-on storage each cost $6.88 a month on annual terms; Workplace Standard, with documents and meetings, costs $15 for five (computed). (Microsoft 365 Business Basic (no Teams) costs $27 and Google Business Starter with a storage add-on $50 for five.)
- Admin controls on every paid plan: SAML SSO, up to 30 domains, shared mailboxes, IMAP, a free migration tool and PGP encryption are on Mail Lite, and admins can require two-factor authentication. (Proton Mail does not support SSO yet; Fastmail offers no SSO and describes no admin-enforced 2FA.)
- Retention and eDiscovery at $4: Mail Premium ($4, annual) includes email retention, holds and eDiscovery search and export, S/MIME and 50 GB per user. (Google puts Vault on Business Plus ($22); Microsoft puts eDiscovery export on Business Premium ($22).)
- Flexible on refunds and seats: Annual plans can be refunded in full within 45 days, and seats can be removed mid-term for credit as a subscription extension. (Google reduces licences only at renewal; Microsoft allows it within 7 days of buying or renewing.)
Things to know:
- Mail plans are yearly only: Mail Lite and Mail Premium have no monthly price, and moving a monthly Workplace plan down requires switching to yearly billing. Workaround: Workplace Standard and Professional have month-to-month prices ($4 and $7).
- Editors, meetings and retention are split across plans: Writer, Sheet, Show and Zoho Meeting are not in Mail Lite or Mail Premium, and Workplace Standard has no retention or eDiscovery. Workaround: Workplace Professional ($6, annual) has the editors, meetings, retention and eDiscovery together.
- The free plan has no IMAP or sync: Mail Free works in the web and Zoho apps only: IMAP, POP, ActiveSync, forwarding and SAML SSO are paid features, and the free plan is offered in some data centers only.
- Cancellation takes effect at once: Cancelling moves the organization to the free plan where that plan is offered; otherwise manual cancellation locks the account at once and blocks mail, and after a non-renewal it locks 15 days after expiry. A retention period after cancelling is not stated. Workaround: Export with the admin backup tool before cancelling; export files are kept 30 days.
Pricing reality: Zoho bills per user, yearly for the Mail plans and yearly or monthly for Workplace. For our scenario, Mail Lite 5 GB plus 45 GB of mail storage add-ons per user (sold in 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 GB units at $1 a year per 10 GB, so 25 + 10 + 10 GB is $4.50 a year) costs 5 × $1 + 5 × $4.50 ÷ 12 = $6.88 a month on annual terms (computed), before tax; this assumes the add-on can be bought on Mail Lite, as the add-on pages name no plan limit. Mail Premium (50 GB, retention and eDiscovery) is $20 for five, Workplace Standard (30 GB of mail plus a 100 GB team drive, 50 GB each) $15, and Professional $30 (computed). Zia AI is included in paid plans with usage limits that are not stated. The 1 TB WorkDrive add-on has two different prices on Zoho’s pages.
Exit path: Users can export folders as EML files in ZIP archives, and admins can export every mailbox, 50 users at a time as ZIP or 10 as PST (PST on paid plans); files are kept 30 days. Calendars export as ICS and contacts as CSV or vCard, IMAP and a Mail REST API are on paid plans, and Writer exports DOCX and PDF. Cancelling moves the organization to the free plan where it exists, otherwise it is locked; a later retention period is not stated.

### Microsoft 365 Business

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-365-business
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/microsoft-365-business
Category: Business email and office suites
Vendor: Microsoft Corporation
Tagline: Exchange email on your own domain with a 100 GB mailbox, 1 TB of OneDrive and Office for the web, from Business Basic at $5.40 per user without Teams or $7 with it, billed annually.
Value: A 100 GB Exchange mailbox, 1 TB of OneDrive and Office for the web per user from $5.40 a month, with desktop Office apps one plan up.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Business Basic gives each user Exchange Online mail on the company domain with a 100 GB mailbox and a 50 GB archive, 1 TB of OneDrive, and Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook on the web and mobile, at $5.40 a month without Teams or $7 with it on annual terms. Shared mailboxes need no licence, and the HIPAA BAA comes with Microsoft’s data protection terms by default. Business Standard adds the desktop Office apps; Business Premium adds litigation hold, eDiscovery export, Intune and Defender.
- Large mailbox on the entry plan: The plan comparison lists a 100 GB primary mailbox, a 50 GB archive and 1 TB of cloud storage per user on Business Basic; Business Basic (no Teams) is $5.40 per user a month on annual terms. (Plans and pricing pages and Exchange Online limits (2026-10-16))
- Shared mailboxes without a licence: A shared mailbox can hold up to 50 GB without a licence of its own; each user who opens it needs a licensed mailbox. (Shared mailboxes article on Microsoft Learn (2026-10-16))
- BAA and audits by default: Microsoft’s HIPAA page says the BAA is part of the data protection addendum by default for covered entities and business associates; Office 365 is in scope for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. (Microsoft compliance offerings: HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001 (2026-10-16))
- Audit log, MFA and SSO on Basic: The plan comparison lists Purview Audit (Standard), kept 180 days, multifactor authentication and single sign-on for apps and services on Business Basic. (Plans comparison and audit retention docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small businesses that work in Outlook and Office files and want large mailboxes and shared mailboxes at a low per-user price.
Things to know: Litigation hold comes with Business Premium ($22) or the $3 Exchange Online Archiving add-on, eDiscovery export needs Premium, and the pages describe no catch-all address.
Score: 7.6/10
Free option: 30-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Card required
Starter price: $5.40/user/mo (Business Basic (no Teams), annual commitment plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; up to 300 users across all Business plans
Free option: No free plan; one-month trial for up to 25 users, credit card required
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $27/mo on Business Basic (no Teams) ($5.40 × 5), computed; $35 with Teams
Month-to-month price: $6.48 per user on Business Basic (no Teams); $8.40 with Teams
Storage per user: 100 GB mailbox + 50 GB archive and 1 TB of OneDrive (1.5 TB archive on Premium)
Domains, aliases and catch-all: Up to 5,000 domains, 300 to 400 aliases per user; no catch-all stated
Office apps: Office for the web and mobile on Basic; desktop apps from Standard
Video meetings: Teams for 300 with recording in the plans with Teams
Retention and eDiscovery: Litigation hold and eDiscovery export on Premium ($22); archiving add-on $3
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Office 365 in SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 scope (Service Trust Portal)
HIPAA BAA: Included in the data protection addendum by default
EU data storage: EU Data Boundary for EU and EFTA sign-ups
SAML SSO: Single sign-on for apps with Entra ID on every plan
Mailbox export: PST from classic Outlook per user; admin eDiscovery export on Premium
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Microsoft 365 gives a large mailbox and 1 TB of OneDrive per user at a low price, with shared mailboxes, an audit log and a BAA on Business Basic. Retention and eDiscovery sit on Premium or add-ons, and refunds and seat cuts are limited to 7 days.
Choose it if: Your team works in Outlook and desktop Word, Excel and PowerPoint. · You want 100 GB mailboxes and shared mailboxes without extra licences. · You need a HIPAA BAA and SOC 2 and ISO 27001 coverage without a sales call.
Look elsewhere if: You need a catch-all address for your domain. · You want a refund or fewer seats after the first 7 days of an annual term. · You need eDiscovery export without Business Premium.
Compared with: Google Workspace (https://proofyo.com/products/google-workspace) — pick Microsoft 365 Business when You want a 100 GB mailbox and 1 TB of OneDrive per user for $27 a month for five, and desktop Office apps on Standard.; pick Google Workspace when You want a catch-all address and an admin export of the whole organization on every plan. | Zoho Workplace (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-workplace) — pick Microsoft 365 Business when You need desktop Office apps, Teams meetings for 300 and a HIPAA BAA that comes with the terms.; pick Zoho Workplace when You want a free plan for up to 5 users, a catch-all address, retention and eDiscovery from $4, and seats you can cut mid-term. | Proton for Business (https://proofyo.com/products/proton-for-business) — pick Microsoft 365 Business when You need SAML SSO, a mail API, shared mailboxes or the EU Data Boundary.; pick Proton for Business when You want mail encrypted end to end by default and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Strengths:
- Large mailboxes from the cheapest plan: A 100 GB primary mailbox, a 50 GB archive and 1 TB of OneDrive per user on Business Basic, at $5.40 without Teams or $7 with Teams on annual terms. (Google Business Starter pools 30 GB per user across Gmail and Drive; Proton Mail Essentials has 15 GB.)
- Shared mailboxes that need no licence: A shared mailbox holds up to 50 GB without a licence of its own on every Business plan; each user who opens it needs a licensed mailbox. (Proton’s email groups forward to members rather than giving a shared mailbox.)
- Compliance by default: The HIPAA BAA comes with the data protection addendum, Office 365 is in SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 scope, and organizations that sign up in the EU or EFTA are in the EU Data Boundary. (Fastmail states no SOC 2 report or ISO 27001 certificate and offers no BAA.)
- Desktop Office one plan up: Business Standard ($14, annual) adds desktop Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook; Business Basic has the web and mobile versions. (Google, Zoho and Proton list no desktop office apps; their editors run in the browser.)
- AI add-on price on the page: Copilot Business is $21 per user a month on annual terms, with $18 promotional pricing for the first year until Dec 31, 2026, shown next to the regular price.
Things to know:
- Retention and eDiscovery need Premium or an add-on: Litigation hold, retention policies and eDiscovery (Standard) with export are in Business Premium ($22). Basic and Standard can add Exchange Online Archiving for $3 per user. Workaround: Exchange Online Plan 2 ($8 per user, email only) is another route to litigation hold.
- No catch-all address described: The domains, alias and Exchange limits pages describe aliases (300 or 400 per user) and up to 5,000 domains, but not a catch-all address for a domain.
- Refunds and seat cuts within 7 days: On Microsoft Customer Agreement billing, a prorated refund and licence reductions are possible only within 7 days of buying or renewing; annual plans paid monthly are charged for the rest of the term. Workaround: Monthly commitment plans cost 20% more but run month to month.
- The Teams-free plans have no meetings: Business Basic (no Teams) at $5.40 has no video meetings; Business Basic with Teams is $7 and records meetings. Workaround: Teams Essentials is sold on its own at $4 per user.
Pricing reality: Microsoft bills per user per month, for up to 300 users across all Business plans. For our scenario, Business Basic (no Teams) already gives each user a 100 GB mailbox and 1 TB of OneDrive, so 5 users cost 5 × $5.40 = $27 a month on annual terms (computed), before tax; with Teams it is $35. Month to month the same seats cost 20% more. Costs rise with Business Standard ($14, desktop apps), Business Premium ($22, litigation hold, eDiscovery, Intune, Defender) and add-ons: Exchange Online Archiving $3, Defender for Office 365 P1 $2, Intune P1 $8, Copilot Business $21 ($18 in the first year until Dec 31, 2026) and Teams Premium $10. Basic and Standard prices rose on July 1, 2026, and existing customers see them at their next renewal.
Exit path: Each user can export mail, calendar and contacts to a PST file in classic Outlook, contacts as CSV and calendars as ICS, and IMAP and the Microsoft Graph mail API are on every plan. Admin export across mailboxes is eDiscovery (Standard) on Business Premium. After a subscription expires, data stays accessible for 30 days, then to admins only for 90 more; deleting a subscription deletes OneDrive and SharePoint data at once. A custom domain must be removed before cancelling.

### Google Workspace

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/google-workspace
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/google-workspace
Category: Business email and office suites
Vendor: Google LLC
Tagline: Gmail on your own domain with Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Meet, from Business Starter at $7 per user a month on annual terms, with storage pooled across the team.
Value: Gmail on your own domain with Docs, Sheets, Drive and Meet in one per-user plan, with SSO, audit logs and a HIPAA BAA on the entry plan.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Compliance included
Value detail: Each user gets Gmail on the company domain, shared calendars, Drive, and Docs, Sheets and Slides that several people edit at once in the browser, so a small team does not run a separate office suite or file server. Storage is one pool for the whole organization. Business Starter, at $7 per user a month on annual terms, already includes SAML single sign-on, six months of admin logs, required two-step verification, a whole-organization export tool and a HIPAA BAA accepted in the Admin console.
- Docs, Sheets and Slides on every plan: The plan comparison lists Docs, Sheets and Slides, interoperability with Office files and Drive for desktop on Business Starter, alongside Gmail, Calendar and Meet. (Business editions comparison in the help center (2026-10-16))
- Security controls on the entry plan: The comparison ticks single sign-on with a third-party identity provider on all Business plans, the reports help keeps admin and Gmail log events for 6 months, and admins can require 2-Step Verification. (Business editions comparison, data retention and 2-Step Verification help (2026-10-16))
- Audits and a self-serve BAA: Google Cloud pages state SOC 2 Type II reports and ISO 27001 certificates for Google Workspace through the Compliance Reports Manager; the HIPAA guide says the BAA is accepted electronically in the Admin console. (Google Cloud SOC 2 and ISO 27001 pages, HIPAA help article (2026-10-16))
- Free import from IMAP, Exchange and Gmail: The data import tool on Starter, Standard and Plus moves mail from another Google Workspace account, Microsoft Exchange Online, an IMAP account or a Gmail account. (Data import tool help article (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small teams that work together in documents and spreadsheets and want mail, calendars, files and meetings under one admin console.
Things to know: Business Starter pools 30 GB per user and Meet cannot record there; EU data regions start on Business Standard and Vault on Business Plus.
Score: 6.8/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $7/user/mo (Business Starter (annual plan) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; storage pooled across the organization
Free option: No free plan with Gmail; 14-day trial for up to 10 users, payment method needed
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $50/mo on Business Starter + 100 GB storage ($7 × 5 + $15), computed
Month-to-month price: $8.40 per user on Business Starter (Flexible plan; $16.80 / $26.40 for Standard / Plus)
Storage per user: 30 GB (Starter), 2 TB (Standard), 5 TB (Plus), pooled across Gmail and Drive
Domains, aliases and catch-all: Up to 600 domains, 30 aliases per user, catch-all on every plan
Office apps: Docs, Sheets and Slides in the browser on every plan; no desktop apps
Video meetings: Meet for 100 on Starter without recording; recording from Standard
Retention and eDiscovery: Vault on Business Plus ($22)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II reports and ISO 27001 certificates (Compliance Reports Manager)
HIPAA BAA: Accepted electronically in the Admin console
EU data storage: Data regions on Business Standard and Plus at no extra cost
SAML SSO: Every Business plan
Mailbox export: Admin Data Export tool on every edition; Vault exports PST or mbox (Plus)
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Google Workspace is a full collaboration suite with SSO, audit logs, export and a self-serve BAA from Business Starter. Starter storage is small, recording and data regions start on Standard, Vault on Plus, and annual plans cannot be cut mid-term.
Choose it if: Your team writes and edits documents and spreadsheets together in the browser. · You want SSO, audit logs and required 2FA on the entry plan. · You need a HIPAA BAA you can accept yourself in the admin console.
Look elsewhere if: You need 50 GB per user on the entry plan without a storage add-on. · You need to cut seats or cancel mid-term on annual terms. · You want a permanent free plan with mail on your domain.
Compared with: Microsoft 365 Business (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-365-business) — pick Google Workspace when You want a catch-all address and an admin export of the whole organization on every plan.; pick Microsoft 365 Business when You want a 100 GB mailbox and 1 TB of OneDrive per user for $27 a month for five (Business Basic, no Teams), and desktop Office apps on Standard. | Zoho Workplace (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-workplace) — pick Google Workspace when You want a HIPAA BAA accepted in the admin console, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Meet on the entry plan, and data regions at no extra cost on Standard.; pick Zoho Workplace when You want a free plan for up to 5 users, retention and eDiscovery from $4 per user, or seats you can cut mid-term. | Proton for Business (https://proofyo.com/products/proton-for-business) — pick Google Workspace when You need SAML SSO, a documented mail API and an admin export of every mailbox.; pick Proton for Business when You want mail encrypted end to end by default, 1 TB per user with recorded meetings in one plan, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Strengths:
- A collaboration suite on the entry plan: Business Starter ($7, annual) includes Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive and Meet for 100 participants, with Office file interoperability. (Fastmail has file storage but no document editors; Proton has Docs and Sheets but no presentations.)
- SSO, audit logs and required 2FA on every Business plan: SAML sign-in with your identity provider, 6 months of admin and Gmail log events, email log search and required 2-Step Verification are all on Business Starter. (Proton Mail does not support SSO yet; Fastmail offers no SSO, and its pages describe no way for admins to require 2FA.)
- Self-serve HIPAA BAA: The BAA is accepted electronically in the Admin console and covers Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Meet, Vault and Gemini among other services; no edition limit is stated. (Zoho and Proton send the BAA on request by email; Fastmail does not offer one.)
- Free import and whole-organization export: The data import tool brings mail from IMAP, Exchange Online and Gmail on every Business plan, and the Data Export tool exports the whole organization on every edition. (Proton has no admin export of all mailboxes; Microsoft 365 puts eDiscovery export on Business Premium.)
Things to know:
- Recording, data regions and Vault sit on higher plans: Meet recording and data regions start on Business Standard ($14), and Vault retention, holds and eDiscovery on Business Plus ($22). Basic email retention rules are listed on every plan. Workaround: Data regions are included at no extra cost on Standard and Plus.
- Small pooled storage on Starter: Starter pools 30 GB per user for Gmail and Drive. A user over their limit is affected in sending and receiving mail; an organization over its pool by 25% or for 14 days cannot add new files. Workaround: Additional Storage adds 100 GB for $15 a month, 1 TB for $40 or 10 TB for $300 to the pool.
- Annual plans are firm: Cancelling an annual plan early charges the rest of the contract with no refund, and licences can be reduced only at renewal. Workaround: The Flexible plan costs 20% more but can be cancelled at any time without penalty, billed prorated.
- No export after cancelling: The export tool excludes core data once a subscription is cancelled or suspended, and the cancellation article says user data is then deleted and cannot be restored. Workaround: Run the Data Export tool before cancelling; each export stays available for 60 days.
Pricing reality: Google bills per user per month, with storage pooled across the organization. For our scenario, Business Starter gives 5 users a 150 GB pool, so reaching 50 GB per user takes one 100 GB storage add-on: 5 × $7 + $15 = $50 a month on annual terms (computed), before tax. Business Standard, with 2 TB per user, Meet recording and data regions, costs $70 a month for five, and Business Plus, with Vault, $110 (computed). On the Flexible plan the same seats cost 20% more. The introductory discount varies by region and by day and is left out here. AI Expanded Access (Standard and Plus) has no published price, and Vault add-on licences are priced by sales. Business plans stop at 300 users; Enterprise is priced by sales.
Exit path: A super admin can export the whole organization with the Data Export tool on every edition; exports are deleted 60 days after they start. Calendars export as ICS, contacts as CSV or vCard, Docs as Office files or PDF, and IMAP and the Gmail API are on every plan. The Takeout pages we read do not state the file format for Gmail, and Vault (Business Plus) exports mail as PST or mbox. Once a subscription is cancelled the export tool excludes core data, so export first.

### Proton for Business

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/proton-for-business
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/proton-for-business
Category: Business email and office suites
Vendor: Proton AG
Tagline: End-to-end encrypted mail and calendar on your own domain with Drive, Docs, Sheets and Meet, from Mail Essentials at $6.99 per user and Workspace Standard at $12.99, billed annually.
Value: End-to-end encrypted email and calendar on your own domain, with 1 TB per user, Docs, Sheets and recorded meetings on Workspace Standard.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Proton encrypts mail end to end by default, can send password-protected mail to people outside Proton and works with contacts’ existing PGP keys. Workspace Standard, at $12.99 per user a month on annual terms, adds 1 TB of pooled storage per user, Proton Drive with Docs and Sheets, Meet with recording, email groups and Proton Sentinel. Proton states a SOC 2 Type II audit and ISO 27001 certification, its DPA is part of the terms, and it offers a BAA to all users on request.
- Encryption by default: The business features page lists end-to-end encryption on all plans, password-protected emails for outside recipients and support for contacts’ existing PGP keys. (Proton for Business features page (2026-10-16))
- Audits, DPA and BAA: The trust page states a SOC 2 Type II audit and ISO 27001 certification; the DPA forms part of the terms, and the healthcare page says Proton offers BAAs to all users, signed on request. (Trust page, DPA, BAA model and healthcare page (2026-10-16))
- A suite on Workspace Standard: Workspace Standard lists 1 TB per user, Docs and Sheets, Meet for 100 people for 24 hours with recording, email groups and 15 custom domains. (Business pricing page and plan comparison (2026-10-16))
- Free migration with Easy Switch: Easy Switch imports from Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook and any IMAP account per user, and from Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 for a whole organization. (Easy Switch help articles (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small teams that want encrypted email by default and a Swiss provider, and can work without SSO or an admin export of every mailbox.
Things to know: Proton Mail does not support SAML SSO or SCIM yet, has no admin export of all mailboxes, and IMAP works through the Proton Mail Bridge app.
Score: 6.4/10
Free option: 14-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $6.99/user/mo (Mail Essentials (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; storage pooled across Mail and Drive
Free option: No free plan on a custom domain; 14-day trial for up to 10 users, payment method needed; 30-day money-back guarantee
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $64.95/mo on Workspace Standard ($12.99 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $14.99 per user on Workspace Standard ($7.99 / $24.99 for Essentials / Premium)
Storage per user: 15 GB (Mail Essentials), 1 TB (Workspace Standard), 3 TB (Premium), pooled
Domains, aliases and catch-all: 3, 15 or 20 domains (extra $1.40/mo on Workspace); 10 or 20 addresses per user; catch-all
Office apps: Proton Docs and Sheets in the browser on every plan
Video meetings: Proton Meet for 100 for 24 hours with local recording on Workspace Standard
Retention and eDiscovery: Retention policies on Workspace Premium; no eDiscovery
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (report on request) and ISO 27001
HIPAA BAA: Offered to all users, signed on request by email
EU data storage: Swiss jurisdiction; no region choice stated
SAML SSO: Not supported for Proton Mail yet
Mailbox export: Per user with the Export Tool (EML and JSON); no admin export of all mailboxes
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Proton for Business is the encryption-first option here, with audits, a BAA on request and a 30-day guarantee. The scenario needs Workspace Standard at $64.95 for five, and SSO, admin-wide export and a mail API are not offered.
Choose it if: You want mail encrypted end to end by default, including password-protected mail to outsiders. · You want a Swiss provider with a SOC 2 Type II audit, ISO 27001 and a BAA on request. · You want Docs, Sheets, Drive and recorded meetings with the mail.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO or SCIM for mail. · You need an admin export of all mailboxes or eDiscovery. · You need a choice of EU data region.
Compared with: Google Workspace (https://proofyo.com/products/google-workspace) — pick Proton for Business when You want mail encrypted end to end by default, 1 TB per user with recorded meetings in one plan, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.; pick Google Workspace when You need SAML SSO, an admin export of every mailbox and a documented mail API. | Microsoft 365 Business (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-365-business) — pick Proton for Business when You want encryption by default and seats you can reduce at any time for credit.; pick Microsoft 365 Business when You need shared mailboxes, SSO or the EU Data Boundary, or a lower price ($27 for five on Business Basic without Teams). | Fastmail for Business (https://proofyo.com/products/fastmail-for-business) — pick Proton for Business when You need end-to-end encryption, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, a BAA, or Docs, Sheets and meetings.; pick Fastmail for Business when You want IMAP without a bridge app, a JMAP API and a lower price ($25 a month for five on Standard).
Strengths:
- Encrypted mail by default: End-to-end encryption on every plan, password-protected mail to outside recipients and PGP support, with no add-on. (Fastmail does not offer end-to-end encryption in its own apps; Microsoft 365 lists message encryption on Business Premium.)
- Docs, Sheets and recorded meetings in Workspace Standard: Workspace Standard ($12.99, annual) includes 1 TB per user, Docs and Sheets, and Meet for 100 people for up to 24 hours with local recording. (Fastmail offers no editors or meetings; Google Business Starter has Meet without recording.)
- Money-back guarantee and seat credits: Paid plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee, and removing users gives a prorated credit at any time. (Google reduces licences only at renewal and gives no refunds on annual plans.)
- Audit trail and required 2FA: The organization monitor keeps admin events permanently with CSV export, and admins can require 2FA for every member. (Fastmail’s pages describe no way for admins to require 2FA, and admins see a four-week login log.)
Things to know:
- No SSO for mail yet: Proton Mail does not support SAML SSO or SCIM; Proton offers SSO for Pass, VPN and Lumo Professional only.
- Admins cannot export every mailbox: Each user exports their own mail with the free Export Tool, but there is no admin export across mailboxes and no eDiscovery, and admins cannot open private users’ mailboxes. Workaround: Ask each user to run the Export Tool, or keep mail with retention policies on Workspace Premium.
- IMAP through the Bridge app: IMAP works through the Proton Mail Bridge desktop app on paid plans, POP3 is not offered, and no public mail or admin API is stated.
- No EU region choice: Proton markets Swiss jurisdiction; a choice of data region is not stated, and the DPA limits transfers to Switzerland, the EU and adequate countries where possible.
Pricing reality: Proton bills per user per month, with storage pooled across the organization and shared by Mail and Drive. Mail Essentials stops at 15 GB per user and storage grows only by adding users, so our scenario needs Workspace Standard: 5 × $12.99 = $64.95 a month on annual terms (computed), before tax, or $74.95 month to month. Workspace Premium (3 TB, retention, Scribe and Lumo Plus) costs $99.95 for five on annual terms (computed). Add-ons are priced on the pricing page: extra custom domains $1.40 a month, Scribe $2.99 and Lumo Plus $9.99 per user, a dedicated VPN server $39.99. Enterprise is priced by sales. Plans renew at the then-current price.
Exit path: Each user can export all mail with the free Export Tool as EML and JSON files, or as mbox through Bridge and a mail client; calendars export as ICS, contacts as VCF, Docs as DOCX or PDF and Sheets as XLSX or CSV. There is no admin export of all mailboxes and no public mail API. After cancelling, the plan runs to the end of the billing period; accounts over the free limits then lose the custom domain and have a year before data may be deleted.

### Fastmail for Business

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/fastmail-for-business
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/fastmail-for-business
Category: Business email and office suites
Vendor: Fastmail Pty Ltd
Tagline: Email, calendars and contacts on your own domain from Standard at $5 per user a month on 12-month terms, with 60 GB per user, a JMAP API and a 30-day trial without a card.
Value: Email, calendars and contacts on your own domain with 60 GB per user for $5 a month on 12-month terms, with open protocols and a documented API.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Fastmail Standard gives each user 50 GB of mail and 10 GB of file storage, custom domains, aliases and catch-all addresses, shared folders and shared addresses, with IMAP, CalDAV, CardDAV and the JMAP API, for $5 a month on 12-month terms. The free import tool and migration support move mail from IMAP servers, Gmail, Outlook.com and Office 365, iCloud and MBOX files. Mail can be stored in the EU or the US, and users can be removed at any time for a pro-rata credit.
- 60 GB per user at $5: The US pricing page lists 50 GB of mail and 10 GB of files per user on Standard at $5 a month on 12-month terms, and $4.67 on 36-month terms. (US pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Open protocols and an API: The developer page documents JMAP, IMAP and POP for mail, CardDAV and JMAP for contacts, CalDAV for calendars and WebDAV for files, plus an MCP server; API tokens start on Standard. (Developer page and API token help (2026-10-16))
- Free import and migration support: The import tool brings mail from any IMAP server, Gmail and Google Workspace, Outlook.com and Office 365, Yahoo, iCloud and MBOX files; the FAQ adds free migration support. (Import help article and pricing FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Seats and cancellation without penalty: Users can be added or removed at any time with a pro-rata credit, and the account can be cancelled at any time with no further payments. (Pricing FAQ and billing help (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small teams that want email, calendars and contacts on their own domain at a low price and use other tools for documents and meetings.
Things to know: There are no office editors, meetings, SSO or SOC 2 report, the pages describe no admin-enforced 2FA, and unused time is not refunded.
Score: 5.7/10
Free option: 30-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $3/user/mo (Basic (12-month terms; no own domain) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; cheaper on 12-, 24- and 36-month terms
Free option: No free plan; 30-day trial for 5 active users, no card
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $25/mo on Standard ($5 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $6 per user on Standard ($4 / $10 for Basic / Professional)
Storage per user: 6 GB (Basic), 60 GB (Standard), 150 GB (Professional), per user
Domains, aliases and catch-all: From Standard: 100 domains plus 1 per user, 600 aliases plus 15 per user, catch-all
Office apps: None; file storage with WebDAV
Video meetings: Not offered
Retention and eDiscovery: Retention archive on Professional ($9); no eDiscovery
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: No SOC 2 certification pursued; ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Not offered (not HIPAA compliant)
EU data storage: EU or US primary storage on every plan; replica, backups and logs in the US
SAML SSO: Not offered
Mailbox export: ZIP per folder for each user (format not stated); no admin export of all users
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Fastmail is a focused email, calendar and contacts service with 60 GB per user for $5, open protocols and no lock-in. It has no office suite, meetings, SSO or SOC 2 report, and its help articles disagree on a few limits and deletion periods.
Choose it if: You want email, calendars and contacts on your own domain with 60 GB per user at a low price. · You value open protocols (IMAP, JMAP, CalDAV, CardDAV) and a documented API. · You want to cancel or remove users at any time without a contract.
Look elsewhere if: You need SSO, required 2FA, a SOC 2 report or a HIPAA BAA. · You want document editors or video meetings in the same subscription.
Compared with: Proton for Business (https://proofyo.com/products/proton-for-business) — pick Fastmail for Business when You want IMAP without a bridge app, a JMAP API, EU or US data residency and $25 a month for five.; pick Proton for Business when You need end-to-end encryption, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, a BAA, or Docs, Sheets and meetings. | Zoho Workplace (https://proofyo.com/products/zoho-workplace) — pick Fastmail for Business when You want month-to-month billing on a mail plan, 60 GB per user and a 30-day trial without a card.; pick Zoho Workplace when You need SAML SSO, required 2FA, eDiscovery or a free plan for up to 5 users. | Microsoft 365 Business (https://proofyo.com/products/microsoft-365-business) — pick Fastmail for Business when You want catch-all addresses, open protocols and cancellation at any time without penalty.; pick Microsoft 365 Business when You need office apps, Teams meetings, SSO or a HIPAA BAA.
Strengths:
- Large mailboxes at a low price: Standard has 50 GB of mail and 10 GB of files per user at $5 a month on 12-month terms, or $25 for five users. (Proton Workspace Standard costs $64.95 for five; Google Business Starter needs a storage add-on to reach 50 GB per user.)
- Open standards and a documented API: JMAP, IMAP, POP, CalDAV, CardDAV and WebDAV are documented, with API tokens on Standard and Professional. (Proton states no public mail API and offers IMAP through its Bridge app.)
- Seats and cancellation without lock-in: Users can be removed at any time for a pro-rata credit, and the account can be cancelled at any time with no further payments. (Google reduces licences only at renewal, and Microsoft within 7 days of buying or renewing.)
- EU data residency on every plan: The admin can choose EU (Amsterdam) or US storage on Basic, Standard and Professional; the primary copy moves to the EU, while a replica, backups and logs stay in the US. (Proton states no choice of region; Google offers data regions from Business Standard.)
Things to know:
- No office suite or meetings: Fastmail has file storage but no document editors and no video meetings; Office attachments get an inline PDF preview.
- Fewer admin and compliance controls: Fastmail states it has not pursued SOC 2 certification, does not state ISO 27001, offers no HIPAA BAA or SSO, and its pages describe no way for admins to require 2FA; the admin log covers logins for four weeks. Workaround: The GDPR DPA is switched on in the team settings, without a request.
- The Basic plan has no own domain: Basic ($3) cannot use your own domain unless an admin is on Standard or Professional, and has no IMAP, POP or API tokens. Workaround: With one Standard or Professional admin, Basic users can use custom-domain addresses.
- No refunds: The pricing FAQ says unused subscriptions are not refunded, and removing users gives account credit, not cash. Workaround: The 30-day trial needs no card.
Pricing reality: Fastmail bills per user, with longer terms cheaper: Standard is $6 month to month, $5 on 12 months, $4.75 on 24 and $4.67 on 36. For our scenario, Standard already gives 50 GB of mail and 10 GB of files per user, so 5 users cost 5 × $5 = $25 a month on 12-month terms (computed), before tax. Professional ($9) adds the retention archive and 150 GB per user; more storage there costs the same as one extra user for each 100 GB of mail and 50 GB of files. There are no paid add-ons for AI, security or meetings, and no enterprise plan. Prices are tax-exclusive, and unused time is not refunded.
Exit path: Each user can download mail as a ZIP file per folder (up to 4 GB at a time; the format inside is not stated), contacts as vCard, CSV or LDIF, calendars as ICS and files as originals or a ZIP, and IMAP and JMAP work from Standard. There is no admin export of all users. After cancelling, the account runs to the end of the billing period and then closes; mail sent afterwards is rejected, and the help center and DPA give different deletion periods.

## Category: E-commerce platforms

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/ecommerce-platforms

### Square Online

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/square-online
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/square-online
Category: E-commerce platforms
Vendor: Block, Inc.
Tagline: An online store tied to Square’s POS and payments, with a free plan that takes real orders and Square Plus at $49 a month per location.
Value: An online store that shares one catalog, customer list and payments account with Square POS, free to start and taking real orders.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: A Square account includes the online store at no monthly fee: unlimited items, pickup, local delivery and shipping, discounted labels, gift cards, coupons, Facebook, Instagram and free Google listings, with the same items and customers as Square POS. Card payments run through Square with no gateway to set up, and Square covers PCI compliance in its processing rate. Square Plus, at $49 a month per location, adds a custom domain, abandoned cart emails, subscriptions, reviews and inventory tracking and lowers the online rate to 2.9% + 30¢.
- A free plan that takes real orders: Square Free has no monthly fee, only a processing fee per sale, and includes the website builder, unlimited items, shipping, pickup and delivery, gift cards and coupons. (Online store plans page and plan data (2026-10-16))
- Online and in-person from one catalog: The online store and Square POS sell from the same item catalog on every plan, and discounts created in the POS can apply automatically at online checkout. (Online store plans page (2026-10-16))
- Meta and Google listings on every plan: Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping connect through Meta Commerce Manager, and Google free and local product listings are free for US sellers, on every plan. (Help center: Meta and Google listing articles (2026-10-16))
- One online rate, Amex included: Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cost the same, 2.9% + 30¢ online on Plus and Premium; Square covers PCI compliance and chargeback fees in that rate. (Payments fee page and developer pricing docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Shops, cafés and service businesses that already sell in person with Square and want an online store on the same items and payments.
Things to know: A custom domain and abandoned cart emails need Square Plus at $49 a month per location, and real-time shipping rates need Premium at $149.
Score: 7.7/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $49/location/mo (Square Plus plan)
Pricing model: Flat rate
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Monthly plan per location, plus card processing
Free option: Square Free with real orders (unlimited products, square.site address); 30-day trial of Plus or Premium
Reference scenario ($10K/mo, 2 staff, annual): $399/mo on Square Plus ($49 + $290 + $60), computed; monthly billing only
Month-to-month price: $0 / $49 / $149 per location for Free, Plus and Premium
US online card rate: 3.3% + 30¢ (Free), 2.9% + 30¢ (Plus and Premium)
Fee with another payment provider: Checkout lists only Square payments
Products and staff: Unlimited items; team members on every plan, no limit stated
Abandoned cart recovery: Square Plus and up
Selling channels: Square POS, Facebook, Instagram and Google listings on every plan
PCI / SOC 2 / ISO 27001: PCI DSS Level 1; SOC 2 not stated on a public page; ISO 27001
Data export: Items and customers to CSV; order export not stated; Square APIs and webhooks
Data after closing: No fixed retention period stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Square Online offers the most complete free start here: a store with unlimited items that takes real orders and shares Square’s POS and payments, with Plus at $49 for a custom domain and cart emails. Live shipping rates need Premium, and payments are in one currency.
Choose it if: You already take payments with Square in person and want the store on the same items. · You want to start on a free plan that takes real orders. · You want one online card rate for every card brand.
Look elsewhere if: You sell across currencies or on Amazon and eBay. · You need live carrier rates without a $149-a-month plan.
Compared with: Shopify (https://proofyo.com/products/shopify) — pick Square Online when You want a permanent free plan, American Express at the standard rate and $399 a month for our scenario (computed).; pick Shopify when You need real-time carrier rates, local-currency prices or marketplaces on the plan you buy. | BigCommerce (https://proofyo.com/products/bigcommerce) — pick Square Online when You already sell in person with Square, or want a free plan to start.; pick BigCommerce when You need multi-currency, Amazon and eBay channels, real-time carrier rates on every plan or SOC reports in a trust center. | Ecwid (https://proofyo.com/products/ecwid) — pick Square Online when You want a free plan, two-step login for staff and Square POS on the same items.; pick Ecwid when You want to add a store to an existing website, with real-time carrier rates on a $49 plan.
Strengths:
- A free plan with real orders: Square Free has no monthly fee and unlimited items, with shipping, pickup, delivery, gift cards, coupons and social and Google listings; it pays 3.3% + 30¢ per online card payment. (Shopify, BigCommerce and Ecwid have no free plan for new stores; Big Cartel’s free plan allows 5 products.)
- Online and POS on one account: The store sells from the same item catalog as Square POS, POS discounts can apply at online checkout, and in-person card payments are 2.5% + 15¢ on Plus. (BigCommerce connects in-person selling through third-party POS apps.)
- Simple card pricing: Online card payments cost 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium, with American Express at the same rate and no platform fee on top. (Shopify charges business cards and American Express a premium rate, 3.3% + 30¢ on Grow.)
- Two-step verification for every team member: The help center says team members who have not set up two-step verification are required to on their next sign-in, on every plan. (Ecwid and Big Cartel document no native two-factor login.)
Things to know:
- Domain and cart emails start on Plus: Square Free uses a square.site address; a custom domain, abandoned cart emails, subscriptions, reviews and inventory tracking need Square Plus at $49 a month per location. Workaround: Plus and Premium can be tried for 30 days.
- Real-time shipping rates on Premium: Live carrier rates at checkout are a Premium feature ($149 a month per location); other plans use flat or custom rates, with discounted labels on every plan.
- One currency and no marketplaces listed: Payments are processed in the country’s currency only, and the current pages list no Amazon, eBay or TikTok Shop connection.
- Monthly billing per location: Plus and Premium are billed monthly with no annual option, and the fee applies to each active location. Workaround: Square Free can create multiple locations at no cost.
Pricing reality: Square bills each paid plan per active location per month, with no annual option. For our scenario, a custom domain and abandoned cart emails need Square Plus: $49 a month plus 2.9% of $10,000 ($290) and 30¢ on 200 orders ($60), $399 a month (computed). On Square Free the store would pay $0 plus 3.3% + 30¢, $390 a month (computed), but without a custom domain or cart emails. Cards issued outside the US add 1.5%, Afterpay is 6% + 30¢, gift cards carry a 2.5% load fee below Premium, and processing fees are not returned on refunds. Real-time shipping rates need Premium at $149 per location.
Exit path: Items export to CSV or Excel and customers to CSV on every plan, and Square’s APIs and webhooks are documented with no plan limit stated; the order-export article now leads to the help home, so the current order export is not stated. A purchased domain can be transferred out with an EPP code. On termination Square may delete account data, with no fixed period stated.

### Shopify

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/shopify
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/shopify
Category: E-commerce platforms
Vendor: Shopify Inc.
Tagline: A hosted online store with its own payments, POS and sales channels, from Basic at $29 a month billed yearly, with card rates that fall on higher plans.
Value: A store, its payments, in-person selling and the main sales channels in one admin, with card rates that fall as you move up a plan.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Every Shopify plan includes unlimited products, a custom domain, abandoned checkout recovery, gift cards, local-currency prices, casual in-person selling and channels for Google, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, with Amazon, eBay and Walmart through Shopify’s own Marketplace Connect. Shopify Payments is built in, so there is no separate gateway to sign up for, and Shopify is certified PCI DSS Level 1 for the stores it hosts. Subscriptions and digital downloads come through free first-party apps, and products, orders and customers export to CSV on every plan.
- Channels and POS on every plan: The plan table lists selling on social channels and marketplaces and casual in-person sales on all plans. Marketplace Connect syncs Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Target Plus orders, free for the first 50 a month, then 1% capped at $99. (Pricing page (Internet Archive copy of Oct 1, 2026) and Marketplace Connect app page (2026-10-16))
- Payments, tax and labels built in: Shopify Payments, built-in fraud analysis, automated sales tax calculation and discounted shipping labels are on every plan; Shopify Protect covers eligible fraudulent chargebacks at no charge. (Pricing page plan table and Shopify Protect help article (2026-10-16))
- PCI Level 1 and SOC 2 Type II: Shopify is certified PCI DSS Level 1, and that certification covers each store’s checkout and hosting; the security page states SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports, and the DPA is part of the terms. (PCI compliance page, security page and DPA (2026-10-16))
- Free first-party apps for subscriptions and downloads: Shopify Subscriptions and Shopify Digital Products are listed as free in the Shopify App Store. (Shopify App Store listings (2026-10-16))
Best for: Merchants who want online, in-person and marketplace sales in one admin and expect to grow into higher plans with lower card rates.
Things to know: Basic has no staff accounts, so a store with staff starts on Grow ($79 a month billed yearly).
Score: 7.5/10
Free option: 3-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $29/mo (Basic (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Flat rate
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat monthly plan per store, plus card processing
Free option: No free store plan; 3-day trial, no card, then $1/mo for 3 months on most plans
Reference scenario ($10K/mo, 2 staff, annual): $409/mo on Grow ($79 + $270 + $60), computed
Month-to-month price: $39 / $105 / $399 for Basic, Grow and Advanced
US online card rate: 2.9% + 30¢ (Basic), 2.7% + 30¢ (Grow), 2.5% + 30¢ (Advanced)
Fee with another payment provider: 2% / 1% / 0.6% (Plus 0.2%)
Products and staff: Unlimited products; staff 0 / 5 / 15 / unlimited
Abandoned cart recovery: Every plan
Selling channels: POS, Google, Meta, TikTok on every plan; Amazon, eBay, Walmart via Marketplace Connect
PCI / SOC 2 / ISO 27001: PCI DSS Level 1; SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 not stated
Data export: CSV of products, orders and customers; Admin API on every plan
Data after closing: Kept 2 years after deactivation
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Shopify has the broadest set of selling features here on the plan our scenario needs, with PCI Level 1, SOC 2 Type II and a 2-year data window. Staff accounts start on Grow, and a store that uses another payment provider pays Shopify a fee on top.
Choose it if: You want online, in-person and marketplace sales from one catalog and one admin. · You expect to sell in several currencies or through Amazon, eBay, Google and TikTok. · Your store has a few staff and you want card rates that fall on higher plans.
Look elsewhere if: You want a permanent free plan to start. · You plan to use your own payment provider and want no platform fee on top.
Compared with: BigCommerce (https://proofyo.com/products/bigcommerce) — pick Shopify when You sell $10,000 a month or more: our scenario costs $409 on Shopify Grow against $598 on BigCommerce Scale, where the sales cap moves the store (computed).; pick BigCommerce when You want unlimited staff accounts and product reviews on the entry plan, or ISO 27001. | Square Online (https://proofyo.com/products/square-online) — pick Shopify when You need real-time carrier rates and local-currency prices without moving to a $149 plan.; pick Square Online when You want a permanent free plan, or a lower scenario cost: $399 a month on Square Plus (computed). | Ecwid (https://proofyo.com/products/ecwid) — pick Shopify when You want unlimited products, staff two-step authentication and data kept after closing.; pick Ecwid when You want to add a store to a site you already have, at $399 a month for our scenario on Business (computed).
Strengths:
- The widest set of selling features on the plan our scenario needs: Carrier-calculated rates (on Grow billed yearly), gift cards, free first-party subscriptions, local-currency prices, in-person selling and marketplace and social channels are all available on the scenario plan. (Square Online puts real-time shipping rates on Premium and has no multi-currency pricing; BigCommerce needs apps for subscriptions and POS.)
- Unlimited products on every plan: The plan table lists unlimited products from Basic, with up to 2,048 variants and three options per product in the help center. (Big Cartel allows 500 products on Diamond; Ecwid allows 2,500 on Business.)
- Strong security file: PCI DSS Level 1 covering each store, SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports, a DPA built into the terms and two-step authentication for staff. (BigCommerce does not state whether its SOC 2 reports are Type II; Ecwid documents no native two-factor login.)
- Long data retention after closing: The help center says a deactivated store’s information is guaranteed for 2 years, and a Shopify-managed domain can be transferred out even when the store is paused. (BigCommerce deletes data 30 days after cancellation; Ecwid erases data when the account is deleted.)
Things to know:
- No staff accounts on Basic: The help center lists 0 staff accounts on Basic, 5 on Grow and 15 on Advanced. Collaborator accounts do not count toward the limit. Workaround: A one-person store can run on Basic; for our scenario with 2 staff, Grow is the cheapest plan.
- A fee on top with other payment providers: Stores that use a provider other than Shopify Payments pay Shopify 2% (Basic), 1% (Grow) or 0.6% (Advanced) of each order, besides the provider’s own fees. Workaround: Shopify Payments has no extra fee; PayPal Wallet is listed from 3.49% + 49¢.
- Fees that start with volume: Shopify Tax is free on the first $100,000 of lifetime sales, then charges 0.35% for stores created since May 13, 2026, capped at $0.99 per order; marketplace orders beyond 50 a month cost 1%, capped at $99. Workaround: Both rates and caps are published, so they can be budgeted before launch.
- Product reviews need another app: Shopify’s first-party Product Reviews app is no longer available in the App Store, so reviews come from third-party apps.
Pricing reality: Shopify bills a flat plan per store plus card processing. For our scenario, Basic does not qualify because it has no staff accounts, so the store needs Grow: $79 a month billed yearly, plus 2.7% of $10,000 ($270) and 30¢ on 200 orders ($60), $409 a month (computed); month to month, $435. Business cards and American Express are charged the premium rate, 3.3% + 30¢ on Grow, and international cards 1% more. Without staff, Basic would come to $379 (computed). Costs rise with Shopify Tax after $100,000 of lifetime sales, marketplace orders above 50 a month, paid themes and apps, and POS Pro at $89 per location. The $1-a-month offer for the first 3 months is an introductory price; we used the regular price.
Exit path: Products, orders and customers export to CSV on every plan (customer files up to 15 MB; large exports are emailed), but product images are not in the product CSV and blog posts and pages have no native export. The Admin API is on every plan. A deactivated store’s data is kept 2 years, and a Shopify-managed domain can be transferred out. Plan changes take effect at the end of the billing cycle.

### Ecwid

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/ecwid
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/ecwid
Category: E-commerce platforms
Vendor: Ecwid, Inc. (Lightspeed)
Tagline: An online store you can add to an existing website or run on its own Instant Site, from Starter at $5 a month, with no Ecwid transaction fees.
Value: A store you can add to the website you already have, with no Ecwid transaction fee and abandoned cart emails and subscriptions from $49 a month.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: Ecwid adds a store to an existing site on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace and other builders, or runs one on its own Instant Site, and the same catalog feeds Facebook and Instagram shops, free Google listings and a mobile POS. Business, at $49 a month billed yearly, covers 2,500 products, 2 staff accounts, abandoned cart emails, recurring subscriptions, gift cards, product reviews and real-time carrier rates. Ecwid’s pricing page lists no transaction fee on any plan, and Lightspeed Payments charges 2.9% + 30¢ in the US.
- Adds to the website you already have: The store can be embedded in an existing website on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Joomla and others, or run on Instant Site, from Starter up. (Ecwid pricing page and site menus (2026-10-16))
- No Ecwid transaction fees: The plan table shows $0 in fees charged per sale by Ecwid on every plan, and the FAQ says there are no setup or transaction fees. (Pricing page plan table and FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Subscriptions and cart emails on Business: Business ($49 billed yearly) includes abandoned cart emails, recurring subscriptions through Lightspeed Payments or Stripe, product reviews and wholesale groups. (Pricing page plan table (2026-10-16))
- Social and Google listings: Facebook and Instagram shops start on Venture in supported countries, and Google Shopping for Ecwid lists products for free, with an optional $20-a-month managed service. (Pricing page and Sell on Google page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small merchants who already have a website or blog and want to add a store to it without a platform fee per sale.
Things to know: Abandoned cart emails and staff accounts start on Business, which allows 2 staff; more staff needs Unlimited ($119 a month billed yearly).
Score: 6.1/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $5/mo (Starter plan)
Pricing model: Flat rate
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat monthly plan per store, plus card processing
Free option: No free plan for new sign-ups; no trial listed; Starter $5/mo
Reference scenario ($10K/mo, 2 staff, annual): $399/mo on Business ($49 + $290 + $60), computed
Month-to-month price: $5 / $35 / $65 / $149 for Starter, Venture, Business and Unlimited
US online card rate: 2.9% + 30¢ on Lightspeed Payments, every plan
Fee with another payment provider: $0 on Ecwid pages; Lightspeed agreement sets a monthly fee for eligible customers
Products and staff: 10 / 100 / 2,500 / unlimited products; staff 0 / 0 / 2 / unlimited
Abandoned cart recovery: Business and up
Selling channels: Facebook, Instagram, Google listings; marketplaces through third-party apps; mobile POS
PCI / SOC 2 / ISO 27001: PCI DSS Level 1; SOC 2 Type II (Lightspeed E-Series); ISO 27001 not stated
Data export: CSV of products, orders and customers from Venture; REST API on paid plans
Data after closing: Erased when the account is deleted; $12.50/mo Suspension plan
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Ecwid is a low-cost way to add a store to an existing site, with cart emails, subscriptions and full CSV export from $49 a month. There is no free plan or trial, and whether Lightspeed’s monthly fee for other payment providers applies to Ecwid stores is worth asking.
Choose it if: You already have a website or blog and want to add a store to it. · You want subscriptions, abandoned cart emails and reviews at $49 a month billed yearly. · You want no Ecwid fee per sale on any plan.
Look elsewhere if: You want a free plan or trial to start. · You need multi-currency pricing or two-factor login for staff.
Compared with: Shopify (https://proofyo.com/products/shopify) — pick Ecwid when You want to add a store to your existing website, at $399 a month for our scenario (computed).; pick Shopify when You need more than 2 staff with two-step login, multi-currency prices or data kept after closing. | Square Online (https://proofyo.com/products/square-online) — pick Ecwid when You want annual billing, real-time carrier rates on a $49 plan and a SOC 2 Type II report stated.; pick Square Online when You want a permanent free plan and Square’s own POS, at the same $399 for our scenario (computed). | Big Cartel (https://proofyo.com/products/big-cartel) — pick Ecwid when You need staff accounts, more than 500 products or a full CSV export.; pick Big Cartel when You sell a small catalog alone and want a free plan with real orders.
Strengths:
- Adds a store to an existing website: Ecwid embeds in WordPress, Wix, Squarespace and other sites as well as running its own Instant Site, so a merchant can keep the website they have. (Shopify, BigCommerce and Big Cartel run the store on their own hosted storefront.)
- Lower scenario cost on Business: For our scenario, Business costs $49 billed yearly plus Lightspeed Payments at 2.9% + 30¢: $399 a month (computed), with abandoned cart emails, subscriptions and reviews included. (Shopify Grow comes to $409 and BigCommerce Scale to $598 for the same scenario (computed).)
- PCI Level 1 and SOC 2 Type II from Lightspeed: The pricing FAQ says Ecwid is a PCI DSS validated Level 1 Service Provider, and Lightspeed’s security page lists a SOC 2 Type II report for its E-Series, the Ecwid line in its service agreement. (Big Cartel states neither and leaves card handling to Stripe and PayPal.)
- Full CSV export from Venture: Products, orders and customers export to CSV on Venture, Business and Unlimited, and custom apps reach the REST API and webhooks on paid plans. (Big Cartel exports orders only.)
Things to know:
- No free plan or trial for new stores: The help center says the free plan was discontinued for sign-ups after March 17, 2025, and the pricing page lists no trial; Starter costs $5 a month. Workaround: Plans are month to month, so a store can start on Starter or Venture and change later.
- Two staff accounts on Business: Business includes 2 staff accounts with set permissions; more staff need Unlimited. No native two-factor login or staff activity log is documented. Workaround: The help center recommends two-step verification on the Google or Facebook account used to sign in.
- Prices in one currency: A $4.49-a-month app converts displayed prices, but customers pay in the store’s main currency, so there is no multi-currency pricing.
- Deleting the account erases the data: For stores created after March 17, 2025, cancelling means deleting the account, which erases store data; subscription charges are non-refundable. Workaround: Export products, orders and customers to CSV first, or pause on the $12.50-a-month Suspension plan.
Pricing reality: Ecwid bills a flat plan per store, and its pricing page lists no transaction fee. For our scenario, Business is the first plan with abandoned cart emails and staff: $49 billed yearly, plus Lightspeed Payments at 2.9% of $10,000 ($290) and 30¢ on 200 orders ($60), $399 a month (computed); month to month, $415. More than 2 staff need Unlimited at $119 billed yearly ($469 a month in our scenario, computed). Lightspeed Payments keeps its fee on refunds, charges $15 per chargeback and does not allow digital downloads or drop-shipped and print-on-demand items. Marketplace apps, multi-currency display ($4.49) and the managed Google service ($20) cost extra.
Exit path: From Venture up, products, orders and customers export to CSV, and gift cards and abandoned carts can be exported too; Starter has no export. Custom apps reach the REST API and webhooks on paid plans. A downgrade takes effect at once, with remaining time as credit. Deleting the account erases store data with no grace period stated, and domain fees are non-refundable.

### BigCommerce

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/bigcommerce
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/bigcommerce
Category: E-commerce platforms
Vendor: Commerce.com, Inc.
Tagline: A hosted online store with unlimited staff and products, priced by annual sales: Core from $29 a month billed yearly for up to $30K in sales.
Value: A hosted store with unlimited staff and products on every plan, marketplace channels built in and ISO 27001 behind it.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Compliance included
Value detail: Every BigCommerce plan includes unlimited products and staff accounts with per-user permissions, real-time carrier rates, gift cards, more than 70 discount types, product reviews, a blog, multi-currency and Amazon, eBay and Walmart channels, with Google and Meta feeds free up to 100,000 SKUs. 21 embedded payment providers, Stripe and PayPal among them, carry no platform fee. The trust center lists ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and Level 1 PCI DSS attestations, and a staff action log keeps 365 days on every plan.
- Unlimited staff and products on Core: The plan card lists unlimited products and users on Core; staff permissions can be set per user, with no plan restriction stated in the help center. (Pricing page and User Permissions help article (2026-10-16))
- Marketplaces and feeds without a plan step: Amazon, eBay and Walmart are ticked for all plans, and Google, Meta, TikTok, Microsoft and Pinterest feeds run through Feedonomics Surface, free for up to 100,000 SKUs. (Pricing page and channel help articles (2026-10-16))
- ISO 27001 and PCI Level 1: The trust center lists ISO/IEC 27001:2022 with 27701, 27017 and 27018, and Level 1 PCI DSS attestations as merchant and service provider; the DPA is part of the terms. (Trust center, PCI compliance help and DPA (2026-10-16))
- Staff action log on every plan: Store Logs track staff actions for the past 365 days, and email two-step verification is required for staff logins every 30 days. (Store Logs and 2FA help articles (2026-10-16))
Best for: Stores with several staff, larger catalogs or B2B ambitions that want marketplace channels without apps.
Things to know: Plans are tied to trailing 12-month sales, so a store above $100K a year in GMV is moved to Scale ($299 a month billed yearly).
Score: 6.0/10
Free option: 15-day free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $29/mo (Core (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Tiered
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat monthly plan per store, tied to annual sales (GMV caps), plus card processing
Free option: No free plan; 15-day trial, no card
Reference scenario ($10K/mo, 2 staff, annual): $598/mo on Scale ($299 + $239 + $60), computed; Growth’s $100K sales cap is exceeded
Month-to-month price: $39 / $105 / $399 for Core, Growth and Scale
US online card rate: 2.89% + 30¢ (Core), 2.59% + 30¢ (Growth), 2.39% + 30¢ (Scale)
Fee with another payment provider: 2.0% / 1.0% / 0.6% on Open Payment Providers; 0% on 21 embedded providers
Products and staff: Unlimited products and staff accounts on every plan
Abandoned cart recovery: Growth and up
Selling channels: Amazon, eBay, Walmart built in; Google and Meta through Feedonomics; POS through apps
PCI / SOC 2 / ISO 27001: PCI DSS Level 1; SOC 2 (type not stated); ISO/IEC 27001:2022
Data export: CSV or XML of products, orders and customers; API and webhooks on every plan
Data after closing: Deleted 30 days after cancellation
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, BigCommerce puts unlimited staff, reviews and marketplace channels on every plan and lets you keep your own processor. Plans are tied to sales, so our $10,000-a-month store lands on Scale, and several pages disagree on trial and billing details.
Choose it if: Several people run the store and you want unlimited staff accounts from the first plan. · You want to keep your own processor, such as Stripe or Braintree, with no platform fee. · Your security review asks for ISO 27001 and a staff action log.
Look elsewhere if: You expect more than $100K a year in GMV and want to stay on the $79 Growth plan. · You want subscriptions or in-person selling without third-party apps.
Compared with: Shopify (https://proofyo.com/products/shopify) — pick BigCommerce when You want unlimited staff accounts, built-in product reviews and no platform fee with Stripe or another embedded provider.; pick Shopify when You sell $10,000 a month or more: our scenario costs $409 on Shopify Grow against $598 on Scale (computed). | Square Online (https://proofyo.com/products/square-online) — pick BigCommerce when You need multi-currency, Amazon, eBay and Walmart channels, real-time carrier rates on every plan or SOC reports in a trust center.; pick Square Online when You want a free plan, Square’s own POS on the same inventory, and $399 a month for our scenario (computed). | Ecwid (https://proofyo.com/products/ecwid) — pick BigCommerce when You need more than 2 staff, a staff action log or data kept 30 days after cancelling.; pick Ecwid when You want no sales caps on plans and $399 a month for our scenario on Business (computed).
Strengths:
- Unlimited staff accounts on the entry plan: Core includes unlimited users with per-user permissions, so a team does not need a higher plan for logins. (Shopify Basic has no staff accounts and Ecwid Business allows 2; Big Cartel has one owner login.)
- Built-in features that others sell as apps: Real-time carrier rates, gift cards, more than 70 discount types, product reviews and a blog are on every plan. (Shopify’s first-party Product Reviews app is no longer available; Big Cartel needs apps for gift cards and reviews.)
- No platform fee with 21 payment providers: Stripe, PayPal Braintree, Adyen, Checkout.com, Worldpay and other embedded providers carry no BigCommerce fee, so a store can keep its own processor. (Shopify charges 2% to 0.6% when a store uses any provider other than Shopify Payments.)
- ISO 27001 and a year of staff logs: The trust center lists ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and Store Logs keep 365 days of staff actions on every plan. (Shopify does not state ISO 27001, and its activity log shows at most 250 results and cannot be exported.)
Things to know:
- Plans move with sales: Core is capped at $30K and Growth at $100K in trailing 12-month GMV, counting taxes, shipping and cancelled and refunded orders; passing a cap upgrades the plan, and Scale charges 0.9% above $33,333 a month. Workaround: A downgrade is allowed once GMV is back below the lower plan’s cap.
- Abandoned cart emails start on Growth: The Abandoned Cart Saver needs Growth or higher ($79 a month billed yearly). Workaround: Core includes the other main store features, so a store without cart emails can start there.
- Subscriptions and POS through apps: Recurring billing needs an app or a specific payment gateway, and in-person selling runs through third-party POS apps whose prices the pages do not list; POS orders also carry the Open Payment Provider Fee. Workaround: The help center lists Square, Clover, Lightspeed, PayPal Zettle and Teamwork as POS options.
- SOC 2 type not stated: The trust center lists SOC 1, SOC 2 and SOC 3 reports behind an access request, without saying whether the SOC 2 report is Type I or Type II. Workaround: Request the report through the trust center to confirm its type.
Pricing reality: BigCommerce bills a flat plan per store, tied to sales. In our scenario the store needs abandoned cart emails, which start on Growth, but $10,000 a month is $108K a year in GMV (less 10%), above Growth’s $100K cap, so the plan becomes Scale: $299 billed yearly, plus 2.39% of $10,000 ($239) and 30¢ on 200 orders ($60), $598 a month (computed); month to month, $698. While trailing sales are still under $100K, Growth costs $79 + $259 + $60 = $398 (computed). International cards add 1.5% and PayPal and Venmo are 3.49% + 49¢. Open Payment Providers cost 2.0% to 0.6% on top. Fees are non-refundable.
Exit path: Products, orders and customers export to CSV or XML on every plan (customers without passwords), and product images can be downloaded over WebDAV. Blog posts and web pages have no CSV export; they move through the API or by copying their HTML. A purchased domain can be unlocked with an EPP code. After cancellation, the help center says data is deleted after 30 days and cannot be recovered; plans renew unless notice reaches BigCommerce 2 business days before the billing date.

### Big Cartel

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/big-cartel
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/big-cartel
Category: E-commerce platforms
Vendor: Big Cartel, LLC
Tagline: A simple online store for artists and makers, free for up to 5 products and $12 to $24 a month billed yearly, with no transaction fees.
Value: A simple store for one maker with a small catalog: no transaction fees, US sales tax remitted for you, free for 5 products and $24 a month for 500.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Big Cartel keeps a store small and inexpensive: Gold is free for up to 5 products, Platinum is $12 a month billed yearly for 50, and Diamond is $24 for 500. Big Cartel takes no transaction fee on any plan; you connect Stripe or PayPal and pay their rates. On every plan, including Gold, Big Cartel calculates, collects and remits US sales tax on orders in US dollars. Paid plans add a custom domain, Meta and Google Shopping, discounted shipping labels, in-person selling and theme code editing.
- Free for 5 products, $24 for 500: Gold is free with no card; Platinum is $12 and Diamond $24 a month billed yearly ($15 and $30 month to month), and the only promotion is a 7-day trial. (Pricing page and plan help articles (2026-10-16))
- No transaction fees: The help center says Big Cartel charges no transaction fees; processing fees go to the connected processor, such as Stripe at 2.9% + 30¢ in the US. (Processing fees help article and product FAQ (2026-10-16))
- US sales tax on autopilot: For orders in US dollars, Big Cartel calculates, collects and remits applicable US sales tax on every plan, the free plan included. (US sales tax help article (2026-10-16))
- Labels, Meta and Google on paid plans: Platinum and Diamond include unlimited discounted shipping labels through Shippo, Meta Shopping and Google Shopping at no extra cost. (Shipping labels, Meta and Google Shopping help articles (2026-10-16))
Best for: Artists, makers and small brands who run the shop themselves and sell up to a few hundred products.
Things to know: A shop has one owner login and no staff accounts, no two-factor login is documented, and the largest plan allows 500 products.
Score: 4.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $12/mo (Platinum (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Flat rate
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat monthly plan per shop; card processing paid to Stripe or PayPal
Free option: Gold free for up to 5 products; 7-day Platinum trial, card required
Reference scenario ($10K/mo, 2 staff, annual): Not met: one owner login, no staff accounts; Diamond would be $374/mo, computed
Month-to-month price: $0 / $15 / $30 for Gold, Platinum and Diamond
US online card rate: No own payments; Stripe 2.9% + 30¢, PayPal 3.49% + 49¢
Fee with another payment provider: None: 0% transaction fees; Stripe and PayPal only
Products and staff: 5 / 50 / 500 products; owner login only
Abandoned cart recovery: Diamond
Selling channels: Meta and Google Shopping, in-person through the app on paid plans
PCI / SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated; card data handled by Stripe and PayPal
Data export: Orders to CSV; read API; webhooks for partner apps only
Data after closing: Deleted permanently; kept when downgrading to Gold
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Big Cartel is the lowest-cost store here for one person with a small catalog, with no transaction fees and US sales tax handled. It has no staff accounts, so our scenario cannot be priced, and it publishes no PCI, SOC 2 or ISO statement of its own.
Choose it if: You are an artist or maker running the shop yourself with up to 500 products. · You want a free start and no platform fee on sales. · You want US sales tax collected and remitted for you.
Look elsewhere if: Other people need their own logins to the store. · Your security review asks for PCI, SOC 2 or two-factor login from the platform.
Compared with: Ecwid (https://proofyo.com/products/ecwid) — pick Big Cartel when You run the shop alone and want a free plan or a $24 plan with abandoned cart emails.; pick Ecwid when You need staff accounts, more than 500 products or CSV export of products and customers. | Square Online (https://proofyo.com/products/square-online) — pick Big Cartel when You want US sales tax collected and remitted for you, and cart emails at $24 a month.; pick Square Online when You want unlimited items on a free plan, staff with two-step login and Square POS. | Shopify (https://proofyo.com/products/shopify) — pick Big Cartel when You sell a small catalog alone and want to pay $12 to $24 a month with no platform fee.; pick Shopify when You need staff, marketplaces, multi-currency prices or a full export.
Strengths:
- The lowest price for a small catalog: Diamond allows 500 products with abandoned cart emails for $24 a month billed yearly; Platinum allows 50 for $12. (Ecwid’s cart emails start on Business at $49 and Shopify’s Basic is $29, both billed yearly.)
- Free plan with real orders: Gold takes real orders through Stripe and PayPal for up to 5 products, with no card required to sign up. (Shopify, BigCommerce and Ecwid have no free plan for new stores.)
- US sales tax collected and remitted: On orders in US dollars, Big Cartel calculates, collects and remits US sales tax on every plan. (Shopify Tax calculates tax and, for new stores, charges a 0.35% fee after $100,000 of lifetime sales.)
- No platform fee and no held funds: Big Cartel charges 0% transaction fees and says it does not hold your funds; payouts and reserves are managed by Stripe or PayPal.
Things to know:
- One login, no staff accounts: A shop is built for one owner, the only address that can have admin access, and the help center documents no two-factor login or activity log. Workaround: An Active devices list lets the owner see sessions and log them out.
- Catalog and image limits: Plans allow 5, 50 or 500 products and show 1, 5 or 25 images per product; a store downgraded to Gold with more than 5 products goes into maintenance mode.
- Gift cards and reviews through apps: Gift cards come through Gift Up! at 3.49% per card, and product reviews through Fera, free for 10 a month and paid from $7 a month.
- Limited export and API: Orders export to CSV with customer details, but there is no product or customer CSV export; the API cannot create products, and webhooks are for approved partner apps. Workaround: The help center suggests downloading product images before closing, and theme code can be backed up.
Pricing reality: Big Cartel bills a flat plan per shop and takes no transaction fee; card processing is paid to Stripe (2.9% + 30¢ in the US) or PayPal (3.49% + 49¢). Our scenario needs 2 staff accounts, which no plan offers, so it cannot be priced. Without staff, Diamond covers 300 products, a custom domain and abandoned cart emails at $24 billed yearly plus $290 and $60 in Stripe fees, $374 a month (computed), though without the staff accounts the scenario asks for. The 7-day trial converts to monthly Platinum ($15) unless changed. Annual plans can be refunded within 14 days; after that the year is committed.
Exit path: Orders, with customer names, emails and addresses, export to CSV on every plan; products and customers have no separate export, and the API reads products and pages but cannot create products. Closing an account deletes its data permanently, while a downgrade to Gold keeps order history and shop data. A domain bought through Big Cartel is held at IONOS.

## Category: AI coding assistants

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/ai-coding-assistants

### GitHub Copilot

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/github-copilot
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/github-copilot
Category: AI coding assistants
Vendor: GitHub, Inc.
Tagline: An AI coding assistant for many editors with unlimited completions, chat, agents and pooled AI credits: Business at $19 per user a month.
Value: Unlimited completions plus chat and agents on models from several providers, with no training on your code and IP indemnity from $19 a user.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price, Built-in reach
Value detail: Copilot Business, at $19 per user a month, gives each developer unlimited code completions and next edit suggestions, and 1,900 AI credits ($19 of chat and agent usage) a month pooled across the organization, with models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI and others. GitHub states that Business data is not used to train its models, offers IP indemnity for unmodified suggestions when the public-code filter is on, and lists SAML SSO, an audit log, content exclusion and budgets on Business.
- No training and IP indemnity on Business: The plans FAQ says GitHub does not use Copilot Business or Enterprise data to train its models, and IDE prompts and suggestions are not retained. IP indemnity covers unmodified suggestions when the public-code filter is enabled. (Copilot plans page and FAQ; GitHub Docs on Copilot plans and policies (2026-10-16))
- Unlimited completions, pooled credits: Code completions and next edit suggestions do not use credits on paid plans. Business includes 1,900 credits per user a month, pooled at the billing entity, so 5 users share 9,500 credits ($95, computed). (GitHub Docs: billing for organizations and enterprises (2026-10-16))
- Works where the team already codes: The plans page lists VS Code, Visual Studio, Xcode, JetBrains IDEs, Neovim, Eclipse, Zed, the CLI, github.com and GitHub Mobile; the cloud agent and pull request code review start on Pro. (Copilot plans page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams on GitHub that want completions and agents in the editors they already use, with no-training terms and IP indemnity at $19 a user.
Things to know: Only monthly prices are published, and paid usage beyond the pooled credits is on by default for organizations unless a budget stops it.
Score: 8.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $10/mo (Pro (individual) plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; chat and agent usage in AI credits ($0.01 each)
Free option: Copilot Free: 2,000 completions a month, limited chat and agent usage
Reference scenario (5 developers): $95/mo on Business ($19 × 5, billed monthly), computed
Included usage (organization plan): 1,900 AI credits ($19) per user a month, pooled; completions unlimited
Usage beyond the plan: Per-token rates in AI credits; on by default for organizations, budgets available
Models: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, Microsoft and Moonshot models on Business
Training on your code: Not on Business and Enterprise; Free to Max train unless you opt out
Data retention: IDE prompts not retained; other surfaces 28 days (Business)
IP indemnity: Business and Enterprise, unmodified suggestions with the filter on
SSO / SCIM / audit log: SAML SSO and audit log listed for Business; SCIM through managed users in an enterprise account
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 cover Copilot Business and Enterprise
Editors and surfaces: VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Eclipse, Neovim, Zed, CLI, github.com
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Copilot Business puts unlimited completions, $19 of pooled usage per user, a wide model choice and the main enterprise controls on a $19 seat. Set budgets early: extra usage is on by default for organizations.
Choose it if: Your team uses several editors, or VS Code, Visual Studio or Xcode. · You want unlimited completions and usage priced in dollars. · You need IP indemnity, SAML SSO and an audit log without an enterprise contract.
Look elsewhere if: You want an annual price. · You need EU-only processing without GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency.
Compared with: Cursor (https://proofyo.com/products/cursor) — pick GitHub Copilot when You want unlimited completions, usage priced in dollars, and SCIM and an audit log at $19 a seat.; pick Cursor when You want an editor built around agents, with privacy mode enforced for the team and zero data retention with model providers. | Claude Code (https://proofyo.com/products/claude-code) — pick GitHub Copilot when You want inline completions, models from several providers and an audit log on the team plan.; pick Claude Code when You want a terminal-first agent on Anthropic models, with Claude chat on the same seat, at $20 a seat on annual terms. | JetBrains AI (https://proofyo.com/products/jetbrains-ai) — pick GitHub Copilot when Your team uses several editors and wants an organization seat with usage included.; pick JetBrains AI when Your team works in JetBrains IDEs and wants prepaid credits at API rates with no surcharge.
Strengths:
- Unlimited completions on every paid plan: Code completions and next edit suggestions do not draw on AI credits on paid plans; Free has 2,000 completions a month. (Cursor does not say whether Tab is unlimited on its current plans; Claude Code has no inline completion.)
- Usage priced in dollars: One AI credit is $0.01, Business includes 1,900 credits per user a month pooled across the organization, and per-token rates are listed for each model, with 10% off model costs under auto model selection. (Cursor and Claude Code state their included usage only as multiples of another plan.)
- Wide model and editor choice: Business gets the full model catalog from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, Microsoft and Moonshot, in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Eclipse, Neovim, Zed, the CLI and github.com. (Claude Code runs Anthropic models only; JetBrains AI runs in JetBrains IDEs.)
- Business controls on the $19 plan: The plans page lists IP indemnity and SAML SSO on Business, the plan docs add audit logs, content exclusion and organization-wide policy management, and SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 cover Copilot Business. (Cursor and Claude Code keep SCIM and the audit log on Enterprise.)
Things to know:
- Extra usage is on by default for organizations: Usage beyond the pooled credits is enabled by default for organizations, and organization budgets stop usage only when "Stop usage when budget limit is reached" is turned on, which is off by default. User-level budgets always stop usage. Workaround: Set an organization budget and turn on the stop setting before assigning seats.
- Monthly billing only: Only monthly prices are published and annual plans are no longer sold. Seats removed mid-cycle are billed to the end of the cycle without a refund, and removing seats does not shrink that month’s credit pool.
- Retention depends on the surface: On Business, IDE chat and completion prompts are not retained; prompts from other surfaces are kept for 28 days. Claude Fable models are not under zero data retention by default.
- Conditions on exclusion and indemnity: Content exclusion is not supported in VS Code edit and agent modes, and IP indemnity applies only to unmodified suggestions with the public-code filter enabled.
Pricing reality: Copilot bills each seat per month. For our scenario, 5 developers on Business cost 5 × $19 = $95 a month ($1,140 a year, computed), billed monthly because no annual price is sold. That includes unlimited completions and 1,900 AI credits ($19) per user, pooled into 9,500 credits ($95) a month. Beyond that, usage is billed at per-token rates, for example $4 in and $20 out per million tokens for Claude Opus 5.5, and data-residency or FedRAMP requests cost 10% more. Enterprise ($39) needs GitHub Enterprise Cloud, from $21 per user for the first 12 months, with the later price not stated. Code review also uses GitHub Actions minutes.
Exit path: There is no code index to move. Usage metrics download as NDJSON through the REST API, the audit log keeps 180 days and can stream to a SIEM, and CLI and app sessions can be shared as a link, gist or file. There is no bulk admin export of chats, and cloud agent sessions cannot be deleted. Organization customers can migrate data for up to 90 days after the term.

### Cursor

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/cursor
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/cursor
Category: AI coding assistants
Vendor: Anysphere, Inc.
Tagline: An AI code editor with agents, Tab completions and its own models, sold within The X Subscription; Teams seats from $30 a month.
Value: An editor built around coding agents, with zero data retention with model providers and privacy mode enforced for the team on Teams.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Cursor puts agents, chat and Tab completions in its own editor, CLI and web app, with cloud agents and Bugbot code review from Premium seats. On Teams, at $30 per seat a month, Privacy Mode is enforced for every member, Cursor states zero data retention agreements with its model providers, and SAML SSO is included. Cursor’s terms say it will not use customer data to train models unless the customer explicitly agrees, and its security page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001.
- Privacy Mode enforced on Teams: The Teams page says Privacy Mode is enforced for every team member. With it on, Cursor states zero data retention agreements with all model providers, except Claude Fable models, which need admin approval, and your own API keys. (Cursor Teams page and data-use page (2026-10-16))
- Agents in the editor, terminal and web: Agent, chat and Tab run in the Cursor desktop app, the CLI works with any editor, and cloud agents that open pull requests and Bugbot reviews start on Premium seats. (Cursor pricing page and docs (2026-10-16))
- Certifications on the security page: Cursor lists AIUC-1, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 42001:2023 and a SOC 2 Type II attestation, with reports on request through its trust center. (cursor.com/security, updated Aug 25, 2026 (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that want an AI-first editor and agents, with privacy mode enforced for everyone and SSO from the first paid team seat.
Things to know: Included usage is stated only as multiples of the Plus plan, and SCIM and the audit log are on Enterprise, priced by sales.
Score: 6.4/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $8/mo (Plus (individual) plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month; third-party models from prepaid credit at API list price
Free option: Free plan with limited Agent and Chat on Cursor models; Tab on Free not stated
Reference scenario (5 developers): $150/mo on Teams Premium seats ($30 × 5, monthly), computed
Included usage (organization plan): Premium weekly pool per seat (4x Plus); no absolute size stated
Usage beyond the plan: Prepaid credit at per-token rates, plus $0.25 per million tokens on Teams
Models: Cursor (Grok, Composer), Anthropic, OpenAI and Google models
Training on your code: Not without explicit agreement (terms); Privacy Mode enforced on Teams
Data retention: Zero data retention with providers in Privacy Mode, with exceptions
IP indemnity: In the MSA; plans covered not stated
SSO / SCIM / audit log: SAML SSO on Teams; SCIM and audit log on Enterprise
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001
Editors and surfaces: Cursor app, CLI, web, iOS; JetBrains and Xcode integrations on paid plans
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Cursor gives a team an agent-first editor with privacy mode enforced and SSO for $30 a seat. Included usage is stated only as multiples, several pages disagree, and SCIM and the audit log need Enterprise.
Choose it if: You want an AI-first editor with agents, Tab and cloud agents. · You want privacy mode enforced for the whole team from the first paid seat. · You want Cursor's own models plus Anthropic, OpenAI and Google models.
Look elsewhere if: You need SCIM or an audit log without an Enterprise contract. · You want included usage stated in requests or dollars. · You want a coding tool sold on its own rather than within a bundle.
Compared with: GitHub Copilot (https://proofyo.com/products/github-copilot) — pick Cursor when You want an editor built around agents, with privacy mode enforced for the team and zero data retention with model providers.; pick GitHub Copilot when You want unlimited completions, usage priced in dollars, and SCIM and an audit log at $19 a seat. | Claude Code (https://proofyo.com/products/claude-code) — pick Cursor when You want Tab completions in the editor and models from several providers on one seat.; pick Claude Code when You want a terminal agent with Claude chat on the same seat at $20 on annual terms, and IP indemnity in the standard terms.
Strengths:
- Privacy Mode enforced for the team: Teams enforces Privacy Mode for every member, and Cursor states zero data retention agreements with all model providers when it is on, with exceptions for Claude Fable models and your own keys. (Claude Code offers zero data retention only to qualified Enterprise accounts through sales; Copilot keeps non-IDE prompts for 28 days.)
- SAML SSO on the first team plan: SSO with SAML 2.0 is included at no extra cost on Teams and Enterprise, and Teams is bought online by card.
- Models from several providers: Premium and higher seats can use Anthropic, OpenAI and Google models at API list price from prepaid credit, alongside Cursor’s own Grok and Composer models in the weekly pool. (Claude Code runs Anthropic models only; Gemini Code Assist runs Google models only.)
- A long certification list: The security page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 42001 and AIUC-1, and Cursor signs HIPAA BAAs for Enterprise customers. (JetBrains lists SOC 2 Type II but no ISO 27001.)
Things to know:
- Usage stated only as multiples: The weekly pool is given as multiples of Plus (Premium 4x, Super 15x, Ultra 50x) with no absolute size, and the Teams page’s "at least $20 a month" differs from the docs. Workaround: Set a team spend limit and watch the usage dashboard during the first weeks.
- SCIM and audit log on Enterprise: The pricing table and SSO help put SCIM and the audit log on Enterprise, priced through sales; model access controls and repository blocklists are Enterprise-only too.
- Sold within a bundle: Subscriptions are sold by X Subscription Corp as part of The X Subscription, with Grok and X perks. The bundle terms make payments and top-ups final, apart from statutory cancellation rights for consumers in some regions, such as 14 days in the EEA, UK and Switzerland.
- Tab limits not stated: Legacy plans included unlimited Tab completions; for current plans the pages do not say whether Tab is unlimited or draws on the weekly pool.
Pricing reality: Cursor bills each seat per month. For our scenario, 5 developers on Teams with Premium seats cost 5 × $30 = $150 a month ($1,800 a year, computed); the docs publish annual prices for individual plans ($300 a year for Premium) but not for Teams seats. Each seat gets the Premium weekly pool for Cursor models, not shared between seats. Third-party models are paid from prepaid credit at API list price, for example $4 in and $20 out per million tokens for Claude Opus 5.5, plus $0.25 per million tokens on Teams; top-ups expire after 365 days. Super ($100) and Ultra ($200) seats raise the pool to 3.75x and 12.5x Premium. Pooled usage, SCIM and the audit log need Enterprise, priced by sales.
Exit path: Code stays in your repositories: Cursor's search docs say it does not upload code to build an index or store embeddings. Teams can download analytics as CSV; exporting chat history is not described. Cancelling moves the account to Free, account deletion removes data within 30 days, and under the MSA data can be downloaded for 30 days after termination.

### Claude Code

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/claude-code
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/claude-code
Category: AI coding assistants
Vendor: Anthropic, PBC
Tagline: Anthropic’s coding agent for the terminal, IDEs, desktop and web, included in paid Claude plans: Team seats from $20 a month billed annually.
Value: A coding agent for the terminal, IDEs and the web, sold with Claude chat on one seat, with no training and IP indemnity on Team.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: A Team Standard seat, at $20 a month billed annually, includes Claude Code alongside Claude chat, with one usage pool for both. Claude Code reads the codebase, edits files and runs commands in the terminal or IDE, and cloud sessions on the web can work on pull requests with no separate charge for the VM. Anthropic’s commercial terms say it may not train models on customer content and cover IP claims on outputs without a liability cap, and Team includes SAML SSO, spend controls and usage analytics.
- One seat for the agent and chat: The pricing page lists Claude Code on Team seats, and terminal work and chats draw from one pool; cloud sessions on the web run with no separate charge for the VM. (claude.com/pricing and Claude Code docs (2026-10-16))
- No training and uncapped IP indemnity: The pricing page says Team and Enterprise content is not used for model training by default; the Commercial Terms cover claims that paid use or outputs infringe IP and exclude that section from the liability limits. (claude.com/pricing and Anthropic Commercial Terms, sections K and L (2026-10-16))
- SSO and spend controls on Team: Team includes SAML SSO, central billing, usage analytics and user and organization spend limits; SCIM, audit logs and custom data retention are on Enterprise. (claude.com/pricing comparison table (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that want a terminal and IDE coding agent plus Claude chat on one seat, with no-training terms and IP indemnity from the team plan.
Things to know: Usage is stated only as multiples of Pro, there are no inline completions, and only Anthropic models are offered.
Score: 5.6/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $20/mo (Pro (billed monthly; $17 billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month; extra usage as usage credits at API rates
Free option: None with Claude Code; the Free plan excludes it
Reference scenario (5 developers): $100/mo on Team Standard seats ($20 × 5, annual), computed
Included usage (organization plan): 1.25x Pro per session per seat, shared with chat; no absolute size stated
Usage beyond the plan: Usage credits at API rates, off until turned on; spend limits
Models: Anthropic only (Fable, Opus, Sonnet, Haiku)
Training on your code: Not on Team and Enterprise by default; Free, Pro and Max opt-out
Data retention: 30 days on Team; zero data retention on qualified Enterprise accounts
IP indemnity: Commercial plans (Team, Enterprise, API), no liability cap
SSO / SCIM / audit log: SAML SSO on Team; SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001
Editors and surfaces: Terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, desktop, web, iOS and Android, Slack, CI
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Claude Code gives a team an agent for the terminal, IDE and web, plus Claude chat, on a $20 annual seat with no-training terms and uncapped IP indemnity. Usage is stated only as multiples, and models are Anthropic-only.
Choose it if: You want a coding agent in the terminal or your IDE, plus Claude chat for the team. · You want IP indemnity and no training on your content in the standard team terms. · You prefer to work with Anthropic models.
Look elsewhere if: You want inline completions or models from other providers. · You need SCIM, an audit log or zero data retention for fewer than 20 seats. · You need EU data storage.
Compared with: GitHub Copilot (https://proofyo.com/products/github-copilot) — pick Claude Code when You want an agent-first tool for the terminal with chat on the same seat, and IP indemnity without a filter condition.; pick GitHub Copilot when You want inline completions, models from several providers, usage priced in dollars and an audit log on Business. | Cursor (https://proofyo.com/products/cursor) — pick Claude Code when You want the agent in your own terminal and IDE, with Claude chat on the same seat.; pick Cursor when You want an AI-first editor with Tab, several model providers and zero data retention with providers on Teams.
Strengths:
- An agent in the terminal, IDE, desktop and web: Claude Code runs in the terminal on macOS, Linux and Windows, in VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, in the desktop app, on the web, on iOS and Android, and in Slack, GitHub Actions and GitLab CI/CD. (Gemini Code Assist runs its agent mode locally and has no cloud agent.)
- IP indemnity without a cap: The Commercial Terms cover claims that paid use or outputs infringe third-party IP, and the liability limits do not apply to that section; no public-code filter is required. (Copilot’s indemnity needs the public-code filter on; Cursor’s is in an MSA whose plan coverage is not stated.)
- Chat and agent on one seat: A Team Standard seat at $20 a month billed annually covers Claude chat and Claude Code from one usage pool, with SSO and spend controls. (JetBrains sells organization usage only as prepaid credits.)
- Admin settings for the agent: Managed settings can deny reads of files such as .env or secrets and restrict models and MCP servers, and Team and Enterprise can deliver them from the server.
Things to know:
- Usage stated only as multiples: Allowances are given as multiples of Pro and Free with no request count or dollar value, and Anthropic says it may limit usage in other ways, such as weekly and monthly caps, at its discretion. Workaround: Turn on usage credits with a monthly spend limit, or use a Console API key billed per token.
- Anthropic models only, no inline completion: Claude Code runs Fable, Opus, Sonnet and Haiku models only, and its docs list no tab-completion feature; on Team, Fable models need Premium seats.
- Zero data retention through sales: Team keeps prompts and code for 30 days. Zero data retention is available only to qualified Enterprise accounts through sales, and it excludes cloud sessions.
- SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise: SCIM and audit logs are on Enterprise, which has a 20-seat minimum. Data is stored in the US, and no EU storage option is stated.
Pricing reality: Claude bills each seat per month. For our scenario, 5 developers on Team Standard seats cost 5 × $20 = $100 a month on annual billing ($1,200 a year, computed), or $125 a month billed monthly. Each seat gets 1.25x Pro's per-session usage, shared between chat and Claude Code, with weekly limits; no dollar value is stated. Heavier users can move to Premium seats ($100 annual, $125 monthly) or turn on usage credits at API rates, for example $4 in and $20 out per million tokens for Opus 5.5. The Team's pooled monthly API credits do not apply to Claude Code. Seat reductions take effect at renewal with no prorated refund.
Exit path: Claude Code keeps no remote code index. Team and Enterprise owners can export conversations and users, Claude Code analytics and spend reports download as CSV, and OpenTelemetry metrics work on every setup. Local transcripts stay on the developer's machine for 30 days by default. Cancelling does not delete data; deleting an organization goes through support.

### JetBrains AI

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/jetbrains-ai
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/jetbrains-ai
Category: AI coding assistants
Vendor: JetBrains s.r.o.
Tagline: AI completion, chat and agents inside JetBrains IDEs: AI Pro at $10 a month for individuals; organizations buy pooled credits at API rates.
Value: AI completion, chat and agents inside JetBrains IDEs, with usage at API rates and no surcharge, and free governance for organizations.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: JetBrains AI adds unlimited code completion from its own Mellum models, chat and agents to the JetBrains IDEs a team already uses. Usage is sold as AI credits worth $1 each at the model providers’ public API rates with no surcharge, pooled across an organization, with per-user monthly limits on the free Air Governance Basic tier. JetBrains’ terms say it will not use inputs, outputs or code to train models and require its AI subcontractors to commit to the same.
- Credits at API rates, no surcharge: One AI credit equals $1 of AI use, third-party models are billed at public API rates with no surcharge, and organization credits are pooled and valid for 12 months. (JetBrains AI store page and FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Unlimited completion in the IDE: Code completion and next edit suggestions run on JetBrains’ own models and do not consume AI credits; next edit suggestions are not on AI Free. (AI in IDEs page and AI Assistant docs (2026-10-16))
- No training by contract: The AI terms say JetBrains will not use inputs, data, outputs or suggestions to train language models unless you agree, and that its AI subcontractors must commit to the same. (JetBrains AI Service Terms and AI Platform Terms v3.0 (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that work in JetBrains IDEs and want to pay for AI usage at API rates, with spending limits per developer.
Things to know: No organization plan includes AI usage, there is no IP indemnity, and several governance features are marked as coming soon.
Score: 5.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Card required
Starter price: $10/mo (AI Pro (individual) plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: AI credits ($1 of use each); individual plans per month; governance per seat
Free option: AI Free with a JetBrains IDE licence; 30-day AI Pro trial, card needed
Reference scenario (5 developers): Not priced: no organization plan includes usage (credits bought separately)
Included usage (organization plan): None; pooled prepaid credits, 20 per seat with All Products Pack
Usage beyond the plan: Prepaid credits at API rates, no surcharge; per-user limits
Models: Anthropic, OpenAI and Google models; JetBrains Mellum for completion
Training on your code: Not without your agreement (terms), on every tier
Data retention: Not persisted unless detailed data collection is on; provider retention not stated
IP indemnity: Not offered
SSO / SCIM / audit log: SSO listed on Basic; SAML in IDE Services; SCIM coming soon; console audit page
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II covers JetBrains AI; ISO 27001 not listed
Editors and surfaces: JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio, JetBrains Air app and web
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, JetBrains AI suits teams in JetBrains IDEs that want unlimited completion and usage at API rates with per-user limits. There is no IP indemnity, no seat with usage included, and several governance features are still coming.
Choose it if: Your team works in JetBrains IDEs. · You want to pay for AI usage at API rates with no surcharge. · You want per-user credit limits on a free governance tier.
Look elsewhere if: You need IP indemnity for generated code. · You want a fixed seat price with usage included. · You need SCIM or an AI audit log today.
Compared with: GitHub Copilot (https://proofyo.com/products/github-copilot) — pick JetBrains AI when Your team works in JetBrains IDEs and wants usage at API rates with per-user limits and no seat fee on Basic.; pick GitHub Copilot when You want an organization seat with usage included, IP indemnity and support for many editors. | Cursor (https://proofyo.com/products/cursor) — pick JetBrains AI when You want to stay in JetBrains IDEs with unlimited completion and your own keys.; pick Cursor when You want an AI-first editor with privacy mode enforced for the team and a weekly usage pool per seat. | Claude Code (https://proofyo.com/products/claude-code) — pick JetBrains AI when You want models from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google in the IDE with unlimited completion.; pick Claude Code when You want a terminal agent and Claude chat on one seat with usage included and IP indemnity.
Strengths:
- Unlimited completion at no credit cost: Completion and next edit suggestions run on JetBrains’ Mellum models and do not consume credits; AI Free includes unlimited completion. (Gemini Code Assist counts completions against a 6,000-request daily quota.)
- Usage at API rates with no surcharge: Credits are $1 of use at public API rates for Anthropic, OpenAI and Google models, pooled for organizations, with per-user monthly limits on the free Basic tier. (Cursor adds $0.25 per million tokens on Teams for third-party models.)
- A free plan and a 30-day trial: AI Free gives unlimited completion and 3 credits every 30 days to users with an active JetBrains IDE licence, and AI Pro has a 30-day trial. (Claude Code has no free plan, and Gemini Code Assist’s free tier has stopped.)
- Your own keys and local models: BYOK for Anthropic, OpenAI and Google, local models through Ollama or LM Studio, and air-gapped AI Enterprise through IDE Services on-premises.
Things to know:
- No organization plan includes usage: Organizations buy all chat and agent usage as prepaid credits; Basic is free and Business is $20 per seat without usage, so a team’s monthly cost depends on how much it uses. Workaround: Set per-user monthly credit limits and use the session explorer to see credits per user.
- No IP indemnity: The terms offer no IP indemnity for outputs; the customer indemnifies JetBrains for claims about its inputs and outputs, and liability is capped at the greater of $100 or six months of fees.
- Governance features still arriving: SCIM, AI audit logs and hybrid deployments are listed for Enterprise and marked "Coming soon" in the docs; the console audit page records user, role and limit changes but not how AI is used.
- JetBrains IDEs only: AI features run in JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio and the Air app; VS Code and other editors are not listed. AI Free is not available in IntelliJ IDEA or PyCharm without a paid edition, or in Android Studio.
Pricing reality: For an organization, JetBrains AI has two parts. Air Governance is free on Basic (central billing, spending limits, SSO and analytics) or $20 per seat a month on Business (model and agent controls, MCP management, the Analytics API, managed BYOK); the annual Business price is not stated. Usage is bought separately as prepaid AI credits at $1 each, pooled and valid for 12 months. Because no organization plan includes usage, our price item scores 0: a 5-developer team pays for the credits it buys, plus $100 a month on Business (5 × $20, computed). All Products Pack and dotUltimate licences add 20 credits per seat every 30 days. IDE licences are separate.
Exit path: The session explorer, credit batches and audit log export as CSV, and Business adds an Analytics API. The JetBrains Context index is kept 14 days after its last search and can be removed with a command. Seats cannot be reduced within a paid period, and credits are non-refundable; moving from Business to Basic keeps the configuration but stops applying it.

### Gemini Code Assist

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/gemini-code-assist
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/gemini-code-assist
Category: AI coding assistants
Vendor: Google LLC
Tagline: Google’s coding assistant for VS Code, JetBrains IDEs and Google Cloud at $19 a user billed annually; new subscriptions ended on Oct 9, 2026.
Value: For existing Google Cloud customers: completion, chat and an agent mode with daily request quotas, IP indemnity and no prompt storage.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Existing subscribers get code completion, chat and an agent mode with usage stated as daily request quotas (6,000 code requests, 960 chat requests and 1,500 agent requests per user on Standard), so the seat price is the whole cost. Google states that Gemini does not train on prompts or responses and that Code Assist does not store them, and lists Standard and Enterprise as generative AI indemnified services. New subscriptions are no longer sold, so new teams cannot buy it.
- IP indemnity and no prompt storage: The Service Specific Terms list Gemini Code Assist Standard and Enterprise as a Generative AI Indemnified Service for unmodified output, and the security page calls it a stateless service that does not store prompts and responses. (Google Cloud Service Specific Terms and Code Assist security, privacy and compliance docs (2026-10-16))
- A fixed cost per seat: Usage is stated as daily per-user request quotas and there is no overage: at the limit, requests stop until the quota resets, so spend does not go beyond the seats. (Gemini for Google Cloud quotas docs (2026-10-16))
- Code customization on Enterprise: Enterprise indexes up to 20,000 GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket repositories, reindexed daily in a single-tenant environment, to tailor suggestions to your code. (Code customization overview (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that already hold a Gemini Code Assist subscription on Google Cloud and want to know what it covers until renewal.
Things to know: New Standard and Enterprise subscriptions are no longer sold since Oct 9, 2026; Google points new customers to Antigravity.
Score: 4.1/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Not observed yet
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $22.80/user/mo (Standard (existing customers; $19 with an annual commitment) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; daily request quotas, no overage
Free option: None now; the individual tier stopped on June 18, 2026
Reference scenario (5 developers): Not priced: new subscriptions ended Oct 9, 2026 (existing: $95/mo on Standard)
Included usage (organization plan): 6,000 code, 960 chat and 1,500 agent requests per user a day
Usage beyond the plan: None; requests stop until the quota resets
Models: Google Gemini models only
Training on your code: Gemini does not train on prompts or responses
Data retention: Stateless: prompts and responses not stored
IP indemnity: Standard and Enterprise, unmodified output
SSO / SCIM / audit log: SSO through Cloud Identity federation; SCIM not stated; Cloud Audit Logs
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 1, 2 and 3 (Type II not stated), ISO 27001
Editors and surfaces: VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio, Cloud Shell, Cloud Workstations
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Gemini Code Assist offers clear quotas, IP indemnity and no prompt storage, but new subscriptions ended on Oct 9, 2026, so it suits existing Google Cloud customers rather than new buyers.
Choose it if: You already have a subscription and want to use it until your contract ends. · You want a fixed seat price with daily request quotas and no overage. · You build on Google Cloud and use its audit logging and VPC Service Controls.
Look elsewhere if: You are buying a coding assistant for a new team. · You want models from providers other than Google. · You need to choose the processing region.
Compared with: GitHub Copilot (https://proofyo.com/products/github-copilot) — pick Gemini Code Assist when You already hold a subscription and want daily request quotas with no overage on Google Cloud.; pick GitHub Copilot when You are buying today and want several model providers, unlimited completions and pooled credits at $19 a seat. | JetBrains AI (https://proofyo.com/products/jetbrains-ai) — pick Gemini Code Assist when You want IP indemnity and stated request quotas on a fixed seat price.; pick JetBrains AI when You work in JetBrains IDEs and want prepaid credits at API rates with no surcharge.
Strengths:
- Usage stated as request quotas: Standard allows 6,000 code requests, 960 chat requests and 1,500 agent requests per user a day (2,000 agent requests on Enterprise), with no overage charges. (Cursor and Claude Code state usage only as multiples of another plan.)
- Indemnity and data terms on Standard: IP indemnity for unmodified output, no training on prompts or responses, no storage of prompts and responses outside the customer’s account, and Code Assist is on the Google Cloud HIPAA BAA list. (JetBrains offers no IP indemnity.)
- File exclusion and a citation filter: .aiexclude and .gitignore files keep files out of completion, chat and customization, and an IDE setting blocks suggestions that match cited sources outside agent mode.
- Audit logging in Google Cloud: Cloud Audit Logs record Code Assist activity, and optional prompt and response logging goes to the customer’s own Cloud Logging bucket.
Things to know:
- No longer sold to new customers: Since Oct 9, 2026 new Standard and Enterprise subscriptions cannot be bought; licences can be added until Jan 31, 2027, and subscriptions cannot be cancelled during their term. Workaround: Google points new customers to Antigravity in Gemini Enterprise editions.
- Google models only: Code Assist uses Google’s Gemini models. Gemini 3.1 Pro needs the Preview release channel, which puts the project’s usage under pre-GA terms, and the model cannot be changed in VS Code agent mode.
- Region cannot be chosen: Prompts may be processed in any Google Cloud data center and the region cannot be chosen. The product security page lists SOC 1, 2 and 3 without saying Type II.
- No free tier or trial now: The free tier for individuals stopped on June 18, 2026, and no trial of Standard or Enterprise is stated.
Pricing reality: Gemini Code Assist bills each user per month. For an existing customer, 5 developers on Standard cost 5 × $19 = $95 a month with an annual commitment ($1,140 a year, computed), or 5 × $22.80 = $114 month to month; Enterprise is $45 or $54. There is no overage: completions, chat and agent requests count against daily quotas, and requests stop when a quota is reached. A Google Cloud project and billing account are required, with no separate fee stated. Because new subscriptions are no longer sold, our price item scores 0 for a team buying today. Licence reductions take effect only at the end of the term, and committed fees are owed whether or not the seats are used.
Exit path: Prompt, response and metadata logs sit in the customer's own Cloud Logging and can be exported, metrics are in Cloud Monitoring and audit logs in Cloud Audit Logs. When auto-renewal is off, licences end with the term and the subscription cannot be re-enabled. The Data Processing Addendum deletes customer data within 180 days, after a recovery period of up to 30 days.

## Category: AI meeting notetakers

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/ai-meeting-notes

### Granola

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/granola
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/granola
Category: AI meeting notetakers
Vendor: Granola, Inc.
Tagline: A bot-free notetaker that transcribes device audio in any meeting app, with full history, integrations and the API on Business at $14 a user, billed monthly.
Value: Meeting notes without a bot in the call: Granola transcribes your computer’s audio in any meeting app and keeps no recording.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Worth the price
Value detail: Granola listens to device audio on Mac or Windows, so it works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack huddles and other apps without a bot joining, and deletes the audio after transcription. You write notes during the call and Granola fills them out with templates, and AI chat works across meetings. Business, at $14 a user a month, keeps the full history and adds HubSpot, Notion and Zapier integrations, the API and webhooks.
- No bot, any meeting app: The security page says the desktop app works with any meeting platform and that no bot joins; help says audio is deleted from Granola and third-party systems after transcription. (Granola security page and security FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Full history and integrations at $14: Business lists unlimited meeting notes and history, integrations with Notion, Zapier and HubSpot, the API and webhooks for $14 a user a month. (Granola pricing page and API help (2026-10-16))
- Per-user auto-delete: Each user on Basic or Business can auto-delete transcripts after 1 day to 1 year; Enterprise sets one policy for the workspace. (Granola help: transcript auto-deletion (2026-10-16))
Best for: People and small teams who want AI notes from any meeting app without a bot joining and without stored recordings.
Things to know: There is no audio or video recording or file import, and Business is billed monthly only.
Score: 7.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $14/user/mo (Business (billed monthly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per active member per month
Free option: Basic: no transcription limit, notes visible for 30 days; trials of paid plans (length not stated)
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $70/mo on Business ($14 × 5, billed monthly), computed
Month-to-month price: $14 per user on Business; Enterprise $35, monthly or annual
Meeting length cap: Not stated; transcription stops after 15 minutes of silence
Meeting platforms: Any app through device audio (Zoom, Meet, Teams, Slack huddles)
Bot-free capture: Always: no bot; desktop, iOS and Android apps
Video recording: Not offered; audio is not stored
Training on your data: Anonymized data unless each user opts out; Enterprise off by default
SOC 2 / HIPAA: SOC 2 Type II; HIPAA BAA on Enterprise through sales
EU data storage: Not offered; AWS US region
SSO: Enterprise, 50+ seats
Transcript export: CSV of all notes per user; API from Business
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Granola is the one notetaker here built without a bot or stored audio, with the lowest 5-user price ($70 a month on Business) and self-serve retention settings. It trains on anonymized data unless each user opts out, and SSO needs 50 seats.
Choose it if: You want AI notes without a bot joining your calls. · You prefer that no audio or video is stored. · You want full history, integrations and the API for $14 a user, month to month.
Look elsewhere if: You need recordings to replay or share as clips. · You need annual billing below Enterprise, or SSO for fewer than 50 seats. · You need EU data storage.
Compared with: Fathom (https://proofyo.com/products/fathom) — pick Granola when You want bot-free capture on Mac and Windows, no stored audio and a $14 plan billed monthly.; pick Fathom when You want video of each call and unlimited history on a free plan. | Otter.ai (https://proofyo.com/products/otter-ai) — pick Granola when You want no stored audio, retention settings on a self-serve plan and a lower 5-user cost ($70 a month, computed).; pick Otter.ai when You want audio playback, bulk export for the team and built-in 2FA. | Fireflies.ai (https://proofyo.com/products/fireflies-ai) — pick Granola when You want no stored audio, retention settings on a self-serve plan and a lower 5-user cost ($70 a month, computed).; pick Fireflies.ai when You want video, many export formats and a stated promise not to train on your meetings.
Strengths:
- No bot and no stored audio: The desktop app captures device audio in any meeting app, so no participant joins the call, and the audio is deleted after transcription. (Otter, Fireflies, Fathom and tl;dv record through a bot by default and keep the recording.)
- Lowest scenario cost here: 5 users on Business cost $70 a month (computed), with full history, integrations and the API. (Fathom Team is $75 and tl;dv Pro $90 a month for 5 users on annual terms (computed).)
- Retention on the self-serve plans: Basic and Business users can auto-delete their transcripts after 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or 1 year. (Otter, Fireflies and Fathom keep retention settings on Enterprise.)
- Export of the full history: Basic and Business users can export all their notes, including those older than 30 days, as a CSV with title, summary and transcript, once a day. (tl;dv says it does not support bulk transcript exports.)
Things to know:
- No recording or import: Granola does not record or keep audio or video; it does not import audio files either, and speaker labels work for Google Meet, Zoom and Teams only.
- Trains on anonymized data by default: On Basic and Business, Granola trains on anonymized data unless each user opts out; Enterprise is off by default. Help notes that data from before an opt-out may already have been used. Workaround: Each user can opt out with one click in Settings.
- Business is monthly only: Annual billing is for Enterprise contracts only, and the Platform Terms describe annual renewal while billing help describes monthly billing for Business.
- Enterprise for SSO, audit and HIPAA: SSO needs Enterprise with 50 or more seats, the audit API and Salesforce are Enterprise, the HIPAA BAA is through sales and covers the desktop app only; no EU data residency or built-in 2FA is offered.
Pricing reality: Granola bills per active workspace member per month. For our scenario, Basic does not qualify because notes older than 30 days are hidden, so 5 users go on Business: 5 × $14 = $70 a month (computed), before tax, billed monthly because Business has no annual option. That covers unlimited history, AI chat across all notes, Notion, Zapier and HubSpot, the API and webhooks. Enterprise is $35 a user ($175 a month for 5, computed), bought in the app with no seat minimum stated, but SSO needs 50 seats. Nothing is metered: there are no minute or AI credit top-ups. Startups, students, nonprofits and referrals get published discounts.
Exit path: Basic and Business users export all their notes as one CSV (title, summary, transcript) by email, once a day; there is no admin export of the whole team, and Enterprise turns export off by default. The API on Business returns transcripts. After a downgrade, notes older than 30 days are hidden but stored; the terms allow deletion after 30 days of inactivity, with notice.

### tl;dv

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/tldv
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/tldv
Category: AI meeting notetakers
Vendor: tldx Solutions GmbH
Tagline: A meeting recorder hosted in the EU, with video recordings on its free plan (up to 40 a week), Pro at $18 a seat billed annually and no training on your meetings.
Value: Video recordings of Zoom, Meet and Teams calls hosted and stored in the EU on every plan, with no training on your meetings.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: tl;dv records Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls with video on every plan and stores them in the EU, in Germany and Finland, which suits teams that need EU data residency without an enterprise contract. Its privacy policy says customer content is not used to train AI models. Pro, at $18 a seat billed annually, adds downloads, custom note templates, CRM field mapping for HubSpot, Salesforce and Pipedrive, and the API.
- EU storage on every plan: The pricing page says "hosted and stored in EU", and the privacy policy names Google Cloud, Wasabi and Hetzner in Germany and Finland. Limited parts of transcripts are processed for AI features in the EU or the US, depending on the AI hosting location chosen in account preferences. (tl;dv pricing page, privacy policy and DPA (2026-10-16))
- No training on your meetings: The privacy policy says tldx does not use customer content to train, fine-tune or improve models, and the security page says no customer data is used to train the AI. (tl;dv privacy policy and security commitment page (2026-10-16))
- Video recording on the free plan: Free includes unlimited video recordings and transcription in 30+ languages, up to 40 meetings a week and 3 hours each. (tl;dv pricing page (Internet Archive copy of Oct 12, 2026) and help: free plan (2026-10-16))
Best for: European teams that want meeting recordings stored in the EU and CRM sync on a self-serve plan.
Things to know: Free recordings are deleted after 3 months, and transcripts cannot be bulk-downloaded; the API on Pro and Business is the export route.
Score: 7.0/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $18/seat/mo (Pro (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month
Free option: Free: unlimited video recordings, 40 a week, kept 3 months; no card
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $90/mo on Pro ($18 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $29 per seat on Pro; $39 on Business
Meeting length cap: 3 hours on every plan
Meeting platforms: Zoom, Google Meet and Teams by bot on every plan
Bot-free capture: Desktop app (audio only) and mobile app
Video recording: Every plan; downloads from Pro
Training on your data: Not used to train AI, every plan (privacy policy)
SOC 2 / HIPAA: SOC 2 Type II on request; BAA mentioned only in blog posts
EU data storage: Every plan (Germany and Finland); AI processing in the EU or the US, as chosen in preferences
SSO: Enterprise (SAML, OIDC)
Transcript export: Copy per meeting; API on Pro and Business; no bulk export
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, tl;dv is the EU-hosted option here, with video on its free plan, no training on your meetings, and CRM mapping and the API on Pro at $18 a seat. Recordings are capped per week (80 a user on Pro), and SSO, retention and the audit log are Enterprise.
Choose it if: Your meeting data has to stay in the EU and you want a self-serve plan. · You want video recordings on the free plan. · You want CRM field mapping and an API from $18 a seat.
Look elsewhere if: You need to keep free-plan recordings longer than 3 months. · You need a bulk transcript export in the app. · You need SSO or an audit log without an Enterprise contract.
Compared with: Fireflies.ai (https://proofyo.com/products/fireflies-ai) — pick tl;dv when You need EU data storage on a self-serve plan and video on the free plan.; pick Fireflies.ai when You want no weekly recording counts, transcript downloads in many formats and the API on every plan. | Fathom (https://proofyo.com/products/fathom) — pick tl;dv when You need EU storage and CRM field mapping for every user on Pro.; pick Fathom when You want history kept indefinitely on the free plan and a lower 5-user cost ($75 a month on Team, computed). | Otter.ai (https://proofyo.com/products/otter-ai) — pick tl;dv when You want EU hosting, video on every plan and no training on your meetings.; pick Otter.ai when You want bulk export in the app and built-in 2FA.
Strengths:
- EU data storage by default: Recordings are hosted and stored in Germany and Finland on every plan, and the DPA is a public PDF ready to sign. (Fireflies offers EU storage only through Enterprise private storage; Otter, Fathom and Granola store data in the US.)
- Video on the free plan: Free records video of every meeting, up to 40 a week, with transcription in 30+ languages. (Otter keeps video replay on Enterprise; Granola does not record audio or video.)
- CRM field mapping and API on Pro: Pro maps meeting notes to HubSpot, Salesforce and Pipedrive fields per user and adds the API and webhooks (MeetingReady, TranscriptReady). (Fathom limits CRM syncs to 3 users per domain below Business.)
- No training on meeting content: The privacy policy rules out using customer content to train or improve models, for tl;dv and its AI providers, on every plan.
Things to know:
- Weekly recording caps: Recordings are "unlimited" but capped per week: 40 on Free, 80 on Pro, 120 on Business, 500 on Enterprise. The terms say recording stops until the weekly allowance renews and include a fair-use clause. Workaround: Our scenario’s 20 hours a user a month is about 5 one-hour meetings a week (computed).
- Free recordings expire: Free recordings are deleted after 3 months, and help says that outside a 4-week warning window they cannot be downloaded, even by a user on Pro.
- No bulk transcript download: Help says tl;dv does not support bulk transcript downloads or exports; transcripts are copied per meeting, and downloads need a paid plan. Workaround: The API on Pro and Business returns each meeting’s transcript, notes and a signed download link.
- SSO, audit log and retention on Enterprise: Custom SSO (SAML, OIDC), SCIM, the organization activity log and custom data retention are Enterprise, priced on request; a HIPAA BAA is mentioned only in blog posts, through sales.
Pricing reality: tl;dv bills per seat per month. For our scenario, 5 users on Pro cost 5 × $18 = $90 a month on annual terms ($1,080 a year), or 5 × $29 = $145 month to month (computed), before tax. Pro allows 80 recordings a week per user, 3 hours each, and keeps recordings until the account is deleted; several seats need a company email domain. Business, at $29 a seat ($145 a month for 5 on annual terms, computed), adds unlimited multi-meeting AI, team CRM workflows and coaching. The Business card says there are no usage-based AI fees, and no top-ups are sold. The terms say fees are non-refundable.
Exit path: Pro and up download recordings; transcripts are copied one meeting at a time, and help says bulk exports are not supported. The API on Pro and Business lists meetings and returns transcripts, notes and download links. After a downgrade, meetings stay accessible without Pro features; Free recordings are deleted after 3 months.

### Fathom

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/fathom
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/fathom
Category: AI meeting notetakers
Vendor: Fathom Video, Inc.
Tagline: A free notetaker with unlimited recordings, video and history, a team plan at $15 a seat with a 2-user minimum, and the API on every plan.
Value: Unlimited recording, transcription, video and history on a free plan, and a shared team workspace from $15 a seat.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Fathom records Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls with no monthly limit and keeps recordings until you delete them, on every plan including Free. Each call has video, a transcript and an AI summary, and recordings download as MP4. Team, at $15 a seat billed annually with a 2-user minimum, adds a shared workspace with folders and global search, and the API and webhooks are on every plan.
- Unlimited on the free plan: The pricing page lists unlimited recordings, transcription, storage, call downloads and clips on Free; help says recordings are stored indefinitely or until you delete them. (Fathom pricing page and help: recording limits (2026-10-16))
- Team workspace at $15: Team adds team members, folders, comments, global search and organization settings for auto-capture and consent messages at $15 a user billed annually, with a 2-user minimum. (Fathom pricing page and help: organization settings (2026-10-16))
- API and webhooks on every plan: The developer FAQ says API keys and webhooks are included on all plans, at 60 calls a minute. (Fathom developer docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small teams that want video, transcripts and summaries of every call at a low per-seat price, with history kept until they delete it.
Things to know: Transcripts cannot be downloaded as files in the app; they are copied or pulled as JSON through the API.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $15/user/mo (Team (billed annually, 2-user minimum) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month
Free option: Free: unlimited recordings and history, for individuals; 30-day Premium preview
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $75/mo on Team ($15 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $19 per user on Team; $20 on Premium; $34 on Business
Meeting length cap: Not stated; the bot does not join Zoom meetings over 250 attendees
Meeting platforms: Zoom, Google Meet and Teams on every plan
Bot-free capture: Mac-only beta (not Teams yet); iOS app for in-person
Video recording: Every plan, MP4 download
Training on your data: De-identified data for in-house models; opt-out per user, org-wide on Team
SOC 2 / HIPAA: SOC 2 Type II; BAA in the terms, signed BAA on Enterprise
EU data storage: Not offered; stored in the US
SSO: Enterprise
Transcript export: Copy in the app; JSON through the API
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Fathom has the strongest free plan of the bot notetakers here and the lowest 5-user price among them, $75 a month on Team. Transcripts leave only through copy or the API, and its pages disagree on several plan details.
Choose it if: You want unlimited recordings, video and history on a free plan. · Your team wants a shared workspace at $15 a seat. · You want the API and webhooks without an upgrade.
Look elsewhere if: You need transcripts as DOCX, PDF or SRT files. · You need EU data storage. · You need SSO or an audit log without an Enterprise contract.
Compared with: Otter.ai (https://proofyo.com/products/otter-ai) — pick Fathom when You want unlimited recording and video on the free plan and a lower 5-user cost.; pick Otter.ai when You want bulk export in the app, an activity log and built-in 2FA. | Fireflies.ai (https://proofyo.com/products/fireflies-ai) — pick Fathom when You want unlimited storage on a $15 team plan and history kept until you delete it.; pick Fireflies.ai when You want transcript downloads in several formats, Webex support and a stated promise not to train on your meetings. | Granola (https://proofyo.com/products/granola) — pick Fathom when You want video of each call and a bot that joins scheduled meetings automatically.; pick Granola when You want bot-free capture on Mac and Windows, no stored audio and a $14 plan billed monthly.
Strengths:
- Unlimited recording and history free: Free records and transcribes without a monthly limit, keeps recordings indefinitely and includes video, summaries and MP4 downloads. (Otter’s Basic gives 300 minutes and the 25 most recent conversations; tl;dv deletes Free recordings after 3 months.)
- A team plan at $15 a seat: Team adds the shared workspace, folders, global search and admin settings at $15 a user billed annually; 5 users cost $75 a month (computed). (Fireflies Business is $95 and Otter Business $99.95 a month for 5 users on annual terms (computed).)
- API and webhooks on every plan: API keys and webhooks are included on all plans at 60 calls a minute, and the MCP server and Claude and ChatGPT connectors are ticked on Free. (Otter keeps its API and webhooks on Enterprise.)
- Consent settings for the team: Team admins can enforce the in-meeting consent message and turn on recording-consent emails for everyone (for bot recordings, only when a meeting has one guest); if an attendee declines, auto-record is turned off for that meeting.
Things to know:
- No transcript file download: Help says transcripts cannot be downloaded directly, only copied; the API returns them as JSON, 10 results a page, with no bulk endpoint. Recordings download as MP4. Workaround: The API on every plan can pull all transcripts page by page.
- Pages disagree on plan contents: The pricing page, help and trust FAQ place custom summaries, coaching metrics, Ask Fathom on Free, retention and the HIPAA BAA on different plans, and the 90-day guarantee sits beside terms that say fees are non-refundable. Workaround: Ask Fathom to confirm in writing what your plan includes.
- Bot-free capture is a Mac beta: Bot-free recording is in beta on Mac only and does not yet cover Teams; the bot does not join Zoom meetings with over 250 attendees or those that need registration.
- SSO and retention through sales: SAML SSO, SCIM and retention settings are Enterprise, sold through sales; no audit log or built-in two-factor sign-in is stated, and data is stored in the US.
Pricing reality: Fathom bills per user per month. For our scenario, 5 users on Team cost 5 × $15 = $75 a month on annual terms ($900 a year), or 5 × $19 = $95 month to month (computed), before tax; Team and Business need at least 2 users, and Free and Premium are for individuals. Business, at $25 a seat ($125 a month for 5, computed), lifts the 3-users-per-domain limit on CRM syncs and adds CRM field sync and coaching metrics. Nothing is metered: no minute or AI credit top-ups are sold. Cancelling a Team plan takes an email to Fathom.
Exit path: Recordings download as MP4 on every plan; transcripts are copied in the app or pulled as JSON through the API, which has no bulk endpoint. After a cancel, an individual account reverts to Free, which keeps recordings indefinitely. The trust FAQ says deleted data leaves backups 7 days later; the terms say up to 30.

### Otter.ai

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/otter-ai
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/otter-ai
Category: AI meeting notetakers
Vendor: Otter.ai, Inc.
Tagline: An AI notetaker that joins Zoom, Meet and Teams on every plan, with 1,200 minutes a user on Pro and unlimited meetings on Business at $19.99 a seat, billed annually.
Value: A notetaker that joins Zoom, Google Meet and Teams on every plan, with AI chat across meetings and a desktop app that records without a bot.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Worth the price
Value detail: Otter joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet calls on every plan, Basic included, and writes summaries with action items. AI Chat works within and across meetings from the free plan, and the desktop app records with no bot in the meeting on macOS and Windows. Business, at $19.99 a seat billed annually, removes the monthly minute cap for meetings, allows 4-hour conversations and adds bulk export, activity logs and CRM sync for 5 users.
- Three platforms on every plan: The pricing table ticks joining Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet on Basic, Pro, Business and Enterprise. (Otter pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Bot-free desktop recording: The desktop page says you can record with headphones on and no bot in the meeting, on macOS 12.3 or later and Windows 10 or later; the Chrome extension captures Google Meet calls without a bot. (Otter desktop and integrations pages (2026-10-16))
- Unlimited meetings on Business: Business lists unlimited meetings and in-app recordings, 4 hours per conversation, bulk export and activity logs at $19.99 a user a month billed annually. (Otter pricing page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that meet on a mix of Zoom, Teams and Google Meet and want AI chat across their meetings on a self-serve plan.
Things to know: Video replay, the API, SSO, custom retention and the HIPAA add-on are Enterprise features set up through sales.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $8.33/user/mo (Pro (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month
Free option: Basic: 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation; 7-day Business trial, card required
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $99.95/mo on Business ($19.99 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $30 per user on Business ($24 for 3 months for first-time subscribers); $16.99 on Pro
Meeting length cap: 30 minutes on Basic, 90 on Pro, 4 hours on Business
Meeting platforms: Zoom, Teams and Google Meet on every plan
Bot-free capture: Desktop app (macOS, Windows) and Chrome extension for Google Meet
Video recording: Enterprise only; audio playback on every plan
Training on your data: De-identified data used for training; Enterprise opted out by default
SOC 2 / HIPAA: SOC 2 Type II; HIPAA add-on on Enterprise
EU data storage: Not offered; AWS US West
SSO: Enterprise, 100-user minimum
Transcript export: TXT, PDF, DOCX, SRT from Pro; bulk export from Business
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Otter covers the three big platforms and AI chat from the free plan, and Business adds unlimited meetings and bulk export at $19.99 a seat. The API, video, retention and HIPAA sit on Enterprise, and data is stored in the US.
Choose it if: Your team meets on Zoom, Teams and Google Meet and wants AI chat across meetings. · You want bulk export and activity logs on a self-serve plan. · Your meetings stay under 90 minutes and Pro’s 1,200 minutes are enough.
Look elsewhere if: You need the API, video replay or custom retention without an Enterprise contract. · You need EU data storage. · You want no training on your meeting data on a self-serve plan.
Compared with: Fireflies.ai (https://proofyo.com/products/fireflies-ai) — pick Otter.ai when You want 4-hour conversations on Business, bulk export in the app and built-in 2FA.; pick Fireflies.ai when You want the API and video recording on a self-serve plan and a stated promise not to train on your meetings. | Fathom (https://proofyo.com/products/fathom) — pick Otter.ai when You want bulk export, an activity log and built-in 2FA on a self-serve plan.; pick Fathom when You want unlimited recording and video on the free plan and a lower 5-user cost ($75 a month on Team, computed). | Granola (https://proofyo.com/products/granola) — pick Otter.ai when You want a bot that joins scheduled meetings and audio you can play back.; pick Granola when You want no stored audio, retention settings on a self-serve plan and a lower 5-user cost ($70 a month on Business, computed).
Strengths:
- AI chat from the free plan: AI Chat works within and across meetings on every plan, with 20 queries a user a month on Basic, 50 on Pro and 200 on Business. (tl;dv gives Free and Pro up to 5 multi-meeting AI queries; Fathom marks account-wide Ask Fathom as limited use on Free.)
- Every major platform on Basic: Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet are joined on every plan, and the desktop app and Chrome extension capture calls without a bot. (Fathom’s bot-free capture is a Mac-only beta that does not yet cover Teams.)
- Unlimited meetings and bulk export on Business: Business removes the monthly cap for meetings, allows 4 hours per conversation and adds bulk export as a ZIP, activity logs and CRM sync for 5 users. (Fathom has no bulk export in the app, and tl;dv says it does not support bulk transcript downloads.)
- Built-in two-factor sign-in: Two-factor sign-in with an authenticator app is on every plan, with SMS codes on Business and up (US and Canada only). (Fireflies.ai, Fathom, tl;dv and Granola state no built-in two-factor sign-in.)
Things to know:
- Pro caps conversations at 90 minutes: Pro gives 1,200 minutes a user a month, shared with imports, and 90 minutes per conversation; monthly minutes reset without rollover, and help suggests upgrading for more. Workaround: Business has no monthly meeting cap and allows 4 hours per conversation.
- Training on de-identified data: The privacy policy says Otter trains its AI on de-identified recordings and transcripts. No opt-out is stated for Basic, Pro or Business; help says Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default.
- Several features through sales: Video replay, the API and webhooks, custom retention, the HIPAA add-on and a workspace-wide recording disclaimer email are Enterprise; SSO and SCIM need a 100-user license.
- US data storage only: Help says data is stored in the AWS US West region, and the subprocessor list places AWS in the United States; no EU option is stated.
Pricing reality: Otter bills per user per month. For our scenario, Pro does not qualify because it caps conversations at 90 minutes, so 5 users go on Business: 5 × $19.99 = $99.95 a month on annual terms ($1,199.40 a year, computed), before tax. Month to month, Business is $30 a user ($150 for 5, computed), with $24 for the first 3 months for first-time subscribers. Pro, at $8.33 billed annually, fits teams whose meetings stay under 90 minutes and 1,200 minutes a month. No extra minutes are sold. Business seats are capped at 25 billed users, and the terms say fees are non-refundable.
Exit path: Pro exports single conversations as TXT, PDF, DOCX or SRT and audio as MP3; Business adds bulk export, sent as a ZIP link by email. Help says conversations stay in the account after a downgrade or cancellation, with older ones archived on Basic, not deleted. The API is Enterprise only.

### Fireflies.ai

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/fireflies-ai
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/fireflies-ai
Category: AI meeting notetakers
Vendor: Fireflies.ai Corp.
Tagline: A meeting bot with unlimited transcription from Pro at $10 a seat, unlimited storage on Business at $19, the API on every plan and no training on your meetings.
Value: A notetaker bot with unlimited transcription from $10 a seat, CRM sync and an API on every plan, and a written promise not to train on your meetings.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Fireflies joins Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Webex and transcribes without a monthly cap from Pro, with video, CRM sync to Salesforce or HubSpot and downloads in PDF, DOCX, SRT, CSV, JSON or Markdown. The API is on every plan, Free included. Its terms say it will not use your content to train generative AI models, on any plan. Business, at $19 a seat billed annually, removes the storage cap so a team keeps its full history.
- Unlimited transcription from Pro: Pro lists unlimited transcription for bot meetings, the Chrome extension and the mobile app at $10 a seat billed annually; Business adds unlimited storage. (Fireflies pricing page (2026-10-16))
- API on every plan: Help says the API is available to all users regardless of plan: 60 requests a minute on Pro and pooled per paid seat on Business; webhooks are documented. (Fireflies API overview and rate-limit help (2026-10-16))
- No training on your meetings: The terms say Fireflies will not use your content to train, retrain or fine-tune generative AI models, and the privacy policy says vendors are contractually barred from training on it. (Fireflies terms of service and privacy policy (2026-10-16))
Best for: Sales and customer teams that want a notetaker bot with CRM sync, video and an API without an enterprise contract.
Things to know: Pro stores 8,000 minutes per seat, after which older meetings must be deleted to open new ones; Business removes the cap.
Score: 6.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $10/seat/mo (Pro (billed annually) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per seat per month; AI credits in monthly packs
Free option: Free: 3 meetings, unlimited with Auto-join; 400 minutes of storage; 7-day Business trial, card required
Reference scenario (5 users, annual): $95/mo on Business ($19 × 5), computed
Month-to-month price: $29 per seat on Business; $18 on Pro; Enterprise annual only
Meeting length cap: 2 hours on Free and Pro, 3 on Business, 4 on Enterprise
Meeting platforms: Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and Webex on every plan
Bot-free capture: Chrome extension (Google Meet), desktop and mobile apps
Video recording: From Pro (720p) on the pricing page; Business in one FAQ
Training on your data: Not used to train generative AI, every plan (terms)
SOC 2 / HIPAA: SOC 2 Type II under a mutual NDA; HIPAA BAA on Enterprise with private storage
EU data storage: Enterprise private storage or your own bucket; processed in the US
SSO: Enterprise
Transcript export: PDF, DOCX, SRT, CSV, JSON, MD from Pro; full export on request
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Fireflies puts the most features on its scenario plan here: video, CRM sync, the API and no training on your meetings. Several pages disagree on limits, Pro has a storage cap, and SSO and retention controls are Enterprise.
Choose it if: You want CRM sync, video and many export formats from $10 a seat. · You need an API on every plan. · You want a written promise that your meetings are not used to train AI.
Look elsewhere if: You need SSO or retention controls without an Enterprise plan. · You want every limit on one page, without checking help articles. · You need EU storage without an Enterprise private storage setup.
Compared with: Otter.ai (https://proofyo.com/products/otter-ai) — pick Fireflies.ai when You want the API and video recording on a self-serve plan and a stated promise not to train on your meetings.; pick Otter.ai when You want bulk export in the app, built-in 2FA and AI chat across meetings on the free plan. | Fathom (https://proofyo.com/products/fathom) — pick Fireflies.ai when You want many download formats, Webex support and the API with pooled limits on Business.; pick Fathom when You want unlimited recordings and history free and a lower 5-user cost ($75 a month on Team, computed). | tl;dv (https://proofyo.com/products/tldv) — pick Fireflies.ai when You want 4-hour meetings, SSO and HIPAA on an Enterprise plan with a published price.; pick tl;dv when You want EU data storage on every plan and video on the free plan.
Strengths:
- API on every plan: The API is open on all plans: Free at 30 requests a minute and 500 a day, Pro at 60 a minute, Business pooled per paid seat up to 1,200 a minute. (Otter keeps its API on Enterprise; tl;dv and Granola start theirs on paid plans.)
- No training on meeting content: The terms rule out training generative AI on your content on every plan, with no opt-out needed, and the AI vendors work under zero-retention agreements. (Otter trains on de-identified data below Enterprise; Granola trains on anonymized data unless each user opts out.)
- Many export formats: Paid plans download transcripts as PDF, DOCX, SRT, CSV, JSON or Markdown, video as MP4 and audio as MP3, and any user can request a full account export. (Fathom’s transcripts are copied in the app or pulled through the API.)
- Consent controls in the meeting: An optional email tells attendees an hour before with a link to decline, a pinned chat note announces the bot, and chat commands pause or remove it.
Things to know:
- Storage cap on Pro: Pro stores 8,000 minutes per seat, pooled across the team; at the cap new meetings are still captured, but older ones must be deleted to open them. Workaround: Business, at $19 a seat billed annually, and Enterprise have unlimited storage.
- Pages disagree on several limits: The plan card, comparison table and help differ on Free transcription, Free storage (per team or per seat), whether AI credits are monthly or one-time, and whether video starts on Pro or Business. Workaround: Ask Fireflies to confirm the limits that matter to you before buying.
- SSO, retention and audit on Enterprise: SAML SSO, SCIM, auto-delete (1 week to 1 year), the audit-events API and HIPAA with private storage are Enterprise, at $39 a seat billed annually.
- Google or Microsoft sign-in only: The pricing FAQ says sign-in is only possible with Google or Outlook accounts, and no built-in two-factor sign-in is stated.
Pricing reality: Fireflies bills per seat per month. For our scenario, Pro would cover the minutes and the 2-hour meetings, but its 8,000 minutes of storage per seat fill up at 1,200 minutes a user a month (in about 7 months for 5 users, computed), so 5 users go on Business: 5 × $19 = $95 a month on annual terms ($1,140 a year), or 5 × $29 = $145 month to month (computed), before tax. AI credits for AskFred, extra summary templates and CRM autofill are extra: packs run from $5 for 50 to $600 for 10,000 a month. A custom bot name is $5 a month, and uploads over 3,000 minutes per source cost $0.01 a minute.
Exit path: Paid plans download each meeting’s transcript, summary, video and audio; there is no bulk download in the app, but any user can request a full export (audio, video, transcripts and metadata) through a form, and the API serves every plan. After cancelling, meetings stay within the Free plan limits; a deleted account is removed after 30 days.

## Category: Vector databases

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/vector-databases

### Zilliz Cloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/zilliz-cloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/zilliz-cloud
Category: Vector databases
Vendor: Zilliz Inc.
Tagline: Managed Milvus with serverless clusters billed per vCU and dedicated clusters per CU-hour, a free 5 GB cluster and no monthly minimum.
Value: Managed Milvus with a serverless option billed per request, free bulk import from object storage, and the Apache 2.0 engine as a way out.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: Zilliz Cloud runs Milvus for you in two forms: Serverless, billed per vCU with no minimum and no capacity to size, and Dedicated clusters billed per CU-hour on AWS, GCP and Azure. Bulk import from S3, GCS or Azure Blob is free, the free cluster holds about 1M 768-dimension vectors, and code written with the Milvus SDKs runs against self-hosted Milvus. The trust center lists a SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001:2022.
- Serverless with no minimum: Serverless clusters bill $4 per million vCUs for reads and writes and $0.30 per GB-month for storage, with no monthly minimum; import and bulk insert "do not incur costs". (List price guide and serverless cost docs (2026-10-16))
- Free import from object storage: Data imports from S3, GCS, Azure Blob or other object storage as Parquet, JSON or NumPy files, at no charge. (Data import docs and serverless cost docs (2026-10-16))
- Milvus underneath: The engine is Milvus under Apache 2.0, and the docs use the Milvus SDKs, so the same client code works against self-hosted Milvus. (Zilliz vs Milvus page and Milvus GitHub LICENSE (2026-10-16))
- A free cluster and trial credits: The free cluster holds 5 GB, about 1M 768-dimension vectors, and a work-email sign-up adds $100 in credits for 30 days without payment details. (Free trial docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that want per-request serverless billing or dedicated clusters on Milvus, with bulk loads from object storage.
Things to know: Serverless has no AWS region in the US (only GCP us-west1 and AWS Frankfurt), and backups need a Dedicated cluster.
Score: 7.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $4/million vCUs (Standard, Serverless cluster plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Serverless: vCUs and GB-month; Dedicated: CU-hours and GB-month
Free option: Free 5 GB cluster, no card; $100 trial credits for 30 days
Reference scenario (1M vectors, 1M queries): $113.28/mo on Serverless (GCP us-west1), computed
Plan minimum: None
Hybrid search: Every plan (BM25 full-text plus vector)
Backups: Dedicated clusters; point-in-time recovery on Business Critical
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (under NDA) and ISO 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Business Critical, through sales
EU regions: Serverless in AWS Frankfurt; Dedicated in AWS, GCP and Azure EU regions
SSO: SAML or OIDC on Enterprise and up
BYOC: Through sales, annual commitment
Data export: SDK iterators; backup file export in private preview
Self-host path: Milvus (Apache 2.0), same SDKs
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Zilliz Cloud is managed Milvus with per-request serverless billing, free bulk import, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and an open-source exit. Serverless runs in two regions only, and several prices differ between its pages.
Choose it if: You want serverless billing with no monthly minimum, or dedicated clusters on Milvus. · You load data in bulk from S3, GCS or Azure Blob. · You want the option to self-host Milvus with the same SDKs.
Look elsewhere if: You need serverless in an AWS US region. · You need a HIPAA BAA without a sales-led plan.
Compared with: Qdrant Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/qdrant-cloud) — pick Zilliz Cloud when You want per-request serverless billing, free import from object storage, ISO 27001 and SSO on a self-serve plan.; pick Qdrant Cloud when You want provisioned nodes in AWS us-east-1 at a lower scenario cost ($102.51) and audit logs on the first paid plan. | Pinecone (https://proofyo.com/products/pinecone) — pick Zilliz Cloud when You want no monthly minimum, an open-source engine behind the service and a lower scenario cost ($113.28 against $176.60).; pick Pinecone when You want serverless in AWS us-east-1, backups on the serverless plan and a HIPAA add-on bought online. | Weaviate Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/weaviate-cloud) — pick Zilliz Cloud when You want bulk import from object storage and SSO without a sales contract.; pick Weaviate Cloud when You want no per-request billing and three replicas included on the first paid plan.
Strengths:
- Per-request serverless with no minimum: Serverless bills only the vCUs and storage you use, with no monthly minimum, from the Standard plan. (Pinecone’s Standard plan has a $50 monthly minimum and turbopuffer’s launch plan $16.)
- Free import from object storage: Bulk import from S3, GCS or Azure Blob is free on every plan: up to 1 GB per request on Free, and up to 1 TB per import on Serverless and Dedicated. (Weaviate Cloud and Qdrant Cloud document no import from object storage into their managed services.)
- Open-source Milvus as the exit: The engine is Milvus (Apache 2.0) and the SDKs are Milvus SDKs, so self-hosting the same API is possible. (Pinecone has no open-source engine.)
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001: The trust center lists a SOC 2 Type II report (on request under NDA) covering Free, Serverless, Dedicated and BYOC, and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification audited by BSI. (Qdrant Cloud and turbopuffer do not state ISO 27001.)
Things to know:
- Serverless has no US AWS region: Free and Serverless run only in AWS eu-central-1 and GCP us-west1; AWS us-east-1 needs a Dedicated cluster, from $0.175 per CU-hour.
- Read cost depends on data scanned: Each serverless read scans the whole collection unless a partition key narrows it, and its vCUs grow with the fields returned; the docs give a 6-vCU minimum per read and publish reference examples, not a formula. Workaround: A partition key filter limits the scan to matching partitions.
- Backups need Dedicated: Backups are available only on Dedicated clusters; point-in-time recovery and cross-region backup are on Business Critical, selected through sales.
- Enterprise controls start on Enterprise: SAML or OIDC SSO, audit logs ($0.034 per CU-hour) and private endpoints start on Enterprise; HIPAA and customer-managed keys (AWS only) are on Business Critical.
Pricing reality: Zilliz Cloud bills Serverless clusters $4 per million vCUs and $0.30 per GB-month of storage, and Dedicated clusters per CU-hour ($0.175 Standard, $0.273 Enterprise, $0.41 Business Critical in AWS us-east-1) plus $0.025 per GB-month. For our scenario on Serverless in GCP us-west1: 1M reads use about 25M vCUs ($100, from the docs’ reference table, excluding metadata), 1M upserts use 0.25 vCU per KB inserted plus 1 vCU per replaced entity, 2.785M vCUs ($11.14), and storage is $2.14: $113.28 a month (computed). One Standard Dedicated CU in us-east-1 is about $126 a month. Costs rise with collection size, returned fields, replicas, audit logs and egress beyond 100 GB.
Exit path: Data leaves through the Python and Java SDK iterators, which page through a collection; the RESTful API has no iterator export. Exporting backup files to object storage is a private preview for Enterprise Dedicated clusters, priced through support. Self-hosted Milvus (Apache 2.0) uses the same SDKs, though the docs describe migrations into Zilliz Cloud, not out of it. Deleted clusters stay in a recycle bin for 30 days; the terms say fees are non-refundable.

### Qdrant Cloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/qdrant-cloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/qdrant-cloud
Category: Vector databases
Vendor: Qdrant Solutions GmbH
Tagline: Managed clusters of the Apache 2.0 Qdrant engine, billed per node-hour on AWS, GCP or Azure, with a free 1 GB cluster and no minimum on Standard.
Value: A managed open-source vector engine on nodes you size, with no per-query charge, an exit to self-hosted Qdrant and a free cluster for about 1M vectors.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Qdrant Cloud bills the nodes you provision by the hour, so a steady query and write load costs the same as an idle one; our scenario comes to $102.51 a month on three small nodes in AWS us-east-1. The engine is Apache 2.0, and the cloud FAQ answers "Can I move workloads back from Cloud to OSS later?" with yes, through snapshots. Hybrid search, payload filtering, multi-tenancy and scoped API keys are on every plan, and Standard adds backups, high availability and audit logs without a contract.
- No per-request billing: The pricing FAQ lists compute, memory, storage, backups and paid inference tokens as the charges, billed hourly; the cloud FAQ says there are no overage charges and size changes need your authorization. (Pricing page FAQ and cloud page (2026-10-16))
- Exit to the same open-source engine: The engine is Apache 2.0, and a downloaded snapshot restores on self-hosted Qdrant of the same or the next minor version. (Cloud page FAQ, migration and recovery docs, GitHub LICENSE (2026-10-16))
- A free cluster for about 1M vectors: The free cluster (0.5 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 4 GB disk) "supports serving about 1 M vectors of 768 dimensions" and needs no card. (Pricing page and create-cluster docs (2026-10-16))
- Audit logs on Standard: Audit logs are available for all paid clusters from Qdrant 1.17.0, stored on the cluster and downloadable through the API. (Configure-cluster docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that want predictable node-based pricing and a plain path to running the same engine themselves.
Things to know: SAML SSO, private networking and customer-managed keys need Premium, a committed-spend contract with a minimum Qdrant does not publish.
Score: 7.0/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.03566/node-hour (Standard, smallest node (AWS us-east-1) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Provisioned nodes per hour (RAM, vCPU and disk), plus backup storage
Free option: Free 1 GB cluster (about 1M 768-dimension vectors), no card
Reference scenario (1M vectors, 1M queries): $102.51/mo on Standard (3 × mx1 nodes), official calculator
Plan minimum: None on Standard; Premium minimum not published
Hybrid search: Every plan (dense plus sparse or BM25)
Backups: Standard and up, scheduled; collection snapshots on every plan
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: From Standard; BAA scope through Solutions Engineering
EU regions: AWS Frankfurt and Ireland, GCP Frankfurt, Azure Germany West Central
SSO: Premium (console sign-in)
BYOC: Hybrid Cloud and Private Cloud, through sales
Data export: Downloadable snapshots; scroll API
Self-host path: Qdrant open source (Apache 2.0), restore from snapshot
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Qdrant Cloud is managed open-source Qdrant billed by node-hour: no per-query charge, a large free cluster and a documented way back to self-hosting. Prices live in the calculator, and SSO and private networking need Premium.
Choose it if: You want a predictable monthly bill set by the nodes you choose. · You want the option to run the same open-source engine yourself. · You want a free cluster large enough for about 1M vectors to start.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO or private networking without a committed contract. · You would rather not size RAM and disk yourself.
Compared with: Pinecone (https://proofyo.com/products/pinecone) — pick Qdrant Cloud when You want node-based pricing with no per-query charge, an Apache 2.0 engine to fall back on and a lower scenario cost ($102.51 against $176.60).; pick Pinecone when You want SAML SSO, bulk import and a HIPAA add-on on a self-serve plan without sizing nodes. | Weaviate Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/weaviate-cloud) — pick Qdrant Cloud when You want audit logs on the first paid plan, downloadable snapshots and a lower scenario cost.; pick Weaviate Cloud when You want three replicas and backups included without sizing nodes, and ISO 27001. | Zilliz Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/zilliz-cloud) — pick Qdrant Cloud when You want provisioned nodes in AWS us-east-1 and audit logs without moving to an enterprise plan.; pick Zilliz Cloud when You want per-request serverless billing, ISO 27001, bulk import from object storage and SSO on a self-serve plan.
Strengths:
- Apache 2.0 engine with a stated way back: The same engine runs self-hosted, and the cloud FAQ says workloads can move back to open source by exporting a snapshot and restoring it. (Pinecone and turbopuffer have no self-hostable engine.)
- No metering of queries or writes: Standard bills provisioned nodes hourly, so 1M queries and 1M upserts a month add nothing beyond the nodes in our scenario. (Pinecone bills read units per GB of namespace on each query.)
- A free cluster for about 1M vectors: The free cluster holds about 1M 768-dimension vectors with hybrid search, filtering and multi-tenancy, and needs no card. (Weaviate Cloud’s free tier holds 100,000 objects; turbopuffer has no free tier.)
- Audit logs and scoped keys without a contract: Audit logs come with every paid cluster, and API keys can be read-only or limited to chosen collections, with an expiry. (Weaviate Cloud lists no audit log on any plan.)
- Three clouds and EU regions on Standard: Standard runs on AWS, GCP and Azure, including Frankfurt and Ireland on AWS, Frankfurt on GCP and Germany West Central on Azure.
Things to know:
- You size the cluster: Standard bills the nodes you provision. When RAM or disk use stays above 80%, the account owner gets an email alert, and resizing needs your approval. Workaround: The calculator and the capacity-planning guide estimate RAM and disk from vector count, dimensions, replication and quantization.
- Prices sit in the calculator: The pricing page has no unit prices; node prices are in the calculator, and backup storage, extra disk and paid inference models have no published price.
- Enterprise controls on Premium: SAML SSO, private links, customer-managed keys and multi-AZ clusters are on Premium, a committed-spend contract whose minimum and rates are not published.
- The free cluster pauses quickly: Free clusters are suspended after 1 week unused and deleted after 4 weeks if not reactivated.
Pricing reality: Qdrant Cloud bills provisioned nodes by the hour, each a bundle of RAM, vCPU and disk: in AWS us-east-1 from $0.03566 an hour (2 GiB RAM) up to $4.56448 (256 GiB, 64 vCPU; GPU nodes cost more), plus backup storage and paid inference tokens. There is no minimum on Standard and no charge per query or write. For our scenario the calculator recommends 3 × mx1 nodes (4 GiB RAM, 0.5 vCPU, 16 GiB disk each): $0.04668 × 24 hours × 30.5 days × 3 = $102.51 a month, before backups. Costs rise with RAM: replicas, more vectors or no quantization need more or larger nodes. Premium rates and its minimum are set by contract; startups can get 20% off for 12 months.
Exit path: Collection snapshots are tar archives you can download through the API, per node on multi-node clusters, and restore on self-hosted Qdrant (Apache 2.0) of the same or the next minor version; the scroll API pages through points. Managed backups stay in the cluster’s provider and region and cannot be downloaded. The service agreement allows deletion 30 days after an order expires, and orders renew for 12 months unless notice is given 90 days ahead.

### Pinecone

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/pinecone
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/pinecone
Category: Vector databases
Vendor: Pinecone Systems, Inc.
Tagline: A serverless vector database billed by read units, write units and storage, with a free Starter tier, a $20 Builder plan and Standard from a $50 monthly minimum.
Value: A serverless vector index with hybrid search, hosted models, backups and bulk import on a plan bought online, with no servers or replicas to size.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Pinecone runs the index for you and bills by use: you do not pick node sizes or replicas, and Standard charges reads, writes and storage above a $50 monthly minimum. Dense, sparse and full-text search, metadata filtering, namespaces and hosted embedding and reranking models are on every plan. Standard, bought online, adds scheduled backups, bulk import from S3, GCS or Azure Blob, RBAC, SAML SSO and, for $190 a month, a HIPAA BAA with audit logs, on top of SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
- No capacity to size: Serverless indexes bill read units, write units and storage; the cost docs say top_k and the fields returned do not change query cost, only the size of the namespace searched does. (Pricing page and understanding-cost docs (2026-10-16))
- Search and models in one service: Dense, sparse and full-text indexes are listed on every plan, and hosted models such as llama-text-embed-v2 ($0.16 per million tokens) and bge-reranker-v2-m3 ($2 per 1,000 requests) run inside Pinecone. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- HIPAA on a self-serve plan: Standard can add HIPAA for $190 a month (6-month minimum) with a BAA and audit logs; the trust center lists a SOC 2 Type II report (an EY attestation from its 2025 audit) and ISO 27001:2022. (Pricing page, cost docs and trust center (2026-10-16))
- EU regions from Builder: Builder and up can create indexes in AWS eu-west-1 (Ireland) and eu-central-1 (Frankfurt) and GCP europe-west4 (Netherlands), besides US and Asia regions. (Create-an-index docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that want a hosted vector index with hybrid search and backups on a self-serve plan, and do not plan to run the engine themselves.
Things to know: Query cost grows with namespace size (1 read unit per GB searched), and there is no open-source or self-hosted version of the engine.
Score: 6.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $20/mo (Builder (flat, usage capped) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Read units, write units and GB-month of storage (serverless)
Free option: Starter free tier (2 GB, AWS us-east-1); 21-day Standard trial with $300 in credits
Reference scenario (1M vectors, 1M queries): $176.60/mo on Standard, computed
Plan minimum: Builder $20 flat; Standard $50; Enterprise $500 a month
Hybrid search: Every plan (dense, sparse and full-text indexes)
Backups: Standard and up, scheduled; $0.10 per GB-month
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Standard add-on $190/mo (6-month minimum); included on Enterprise
EU regions: AWS Ireland and Frankfurt, GCP Netherlands, from Builder
SSO: SAML on Standard and Enterprise
BYOC: Enterprise only, priced by sales
Data export: List and fetch API; no bulk export
Self-host path: None (Pinecone Local reached end of life on Oct 7, 2026)
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Pinecone puts the most on a self-serve plan here: hybrid search, backups, bulk import, SAML SSO and a HIPAA add-on all on Standard. Query cost grows with namespace size, and there is no open-source engine to fall back on.
Choose it if: You want a hosted vector index without choosing node sizes or replicas. · You need hybrid or full-text search, backups and bulk import on a self-serve plan. · You need SAML SSO or a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.
Look elsewhere if: You want an open-source engine you can run yourself later. · You run many queries against one large namespace and want flat pricing without Dedicated Read Nodes.
Compared with: Qdrant Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/qdrant-cloud) — pick Pinecone when You want per-request billing with no nodes to size, and SAML SSO and a HIPAA add-on on a plan bought online.; pick Qdrant Cloud when You want an Apache 2.0 engine you can self-host, downloadable snapshots and a lower scenario cost ($102.51 a month). | Weaviate Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/weaviate-cloud) — pick Pinecone when You want bulk import from object storage, SAML SSO on a self-serve plan and a lower scenario cost ($176.60 against $255).; pick Weaviate Cloud when You want an open-source engine with the same API and a bill that does not grow with the number of queries. | turbopuffer (https://proofyo.com/products/turbopuffer) — pick Pinecone when You want a free tier, scheduled backups and bulk import from object storage.; pick turbopuffer when You want the lowest scenario cost here ($30 a month), billed by the bytes stored, written and queried.
Strengths:
- Hybrid and full-text search on every plan: Dense, sparse and full-text indexes are listed on every plan, Starter included, and BM25 full-text search became generally available on Sep 2, 2026, all billed in the same read and write units. (Weaviate Cloud and Qdrant Cloud also include hybrid search on every plan, but bill by stored dimensions or provisioned nodes rather than per query.)
- Backups and bulk import on Standard: Scheduled backups ($0.10 per GB-month, restore $0.15 per GB) and import from S3, GCS or Azure Blob ($0.25 per GB) start on Standard, bought online. (Weaviate Cloud and Qdrant Cloud document no import from object storage into their managed services.)
- SSO and RBAC without an enterprise contract: SAML SSO, RBAC and API keys scoped by role are on Standard, from a $50 monthly minimum. (Weaviate Cloud and Qdrant Cloud put SAML SSO on Premium, a committed plan arranged with sales.)
- HIPAA as a published add-on: Standard adds HIPAA for $190 a month with a 6-month minimum, including a BAA and audit logs; Enterprise includes it.
Things to know:
- Query cost scales with namespace size: Every query is billed 1 RU per GB of the namespace it searches, so a 7.14 GB namespace costs about 7 RU per query. Splitting data into namespaces, for example by tenant, lowers it. Workaround: Dedicated Read Nodes bill a fixed hourly rate instead of read units; their rates appear in the cost estimator.
- Builder caps usage rather than billing it: Builder ($20 flat) stops at 10 GB, 5M write units and 2M read units a month and returns errors beyond them; there is no overage on that plan. Workaround: Standard bills usage above its $50 minimum and keeps serving reads.
- No self-hosted path: There is no open-source engine; Pinecone Local reached end of life on Oct 7, 2026, and BYOC needs the Enterprise plan, with a platform fee and node rate that are not published.
- Unit prices as ranges: The pricing page lists RU and WU prices as ranges by cloud and region with no per-region table, and the cross-region restore rate is not published. Workaround: The cost estimator applies $16 per million RU and $4 per million WU on Standard.
Pricing reality: Pinecone bills serverless usage: storage $0.33 per GB-month, write units from $4 per million and read units from $16 per million on Standard (Enterprise from $6 and $24), above a $50 monthly minimum ($500 on Enterprise). For our scenario, 1M queries on a 7.14 GB namespace use 7.14M RU ($114.24), 1M upserts that replace 7.14 KB records use 15 WU each, 15M WU ($60), and storage is $2.36: $176.60 a month (computed). Builder ($20 flat) holds the data but blocks reads above 2M RU a month. Costs rise with namespace size, backups ($0.10 per GB-month), import ($0.25 per GB), egress beyond 100 GB ($0.10 per GB), the HIPAA add-on ($190) and paid support (Developer $29, Pro $250 a month).
Exit path: Records leave through the API: list returns up to 100 IDs per call and fetch up to 1,000 records, both billed in read units. There is no bulk export to object storage, and backups stay in the same project and region. Downgrading deletes backups and collections; after termination the MSA allows retrieval for up to 30 days on written request. With no open-source engine, moving out means loading the data into another database.

### Weaviate Cloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/weaviate-cloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/weaviate-cloud
Category: Vector databases
Vendor: Weaviate B.V.
Tagline: Managed hosting of the open-source Weaviate engine, billed by stored vector dimensions and storage, with a free tier and Flex from a $45 monthly minimum.
Value: The open-source Weaviate engine run for you, with hybrid search, RBAC and multi-tenancy on every plan and no per-query or per-write charges.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: Weaviate Cloud hosts the same engine you can run yourself under the BSD-3-Clause licence, so code written against it moves either way. The bill follows what you store (vector dimensions, disk and backups), not how often you query or write, so query traffic does not add to it. Every paid cluster runs three replicas with daily backups, and hybrid BM25 and vector search, RBAC scoped to collections and tenants, multi-tenancy and hosted embeddings come with every plan.
- Managed open-source engine: The pricing FAQ says Weaviate Cloud uses the Weaviate open-source project; the repository is BSD-3-Clause, with some enterprise features in a separately licensed directory since Sep 2026. (Pricing page FAQ and GitHub LICENSE (2026-10-16))
- Queries and writes are not metered: The pricing FAQ bills vector dimensions, persistent storage and backups "rather than abstract Read/Write units"; data transfer is free for a promotional period. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- High availability and backups by default: All paid plans include highly available clusters (replication factor 3), and backups are on by default, kept 7 days on Flex. (Billing and default-settings docs, SLA page (2026-10-16))
- Hybrid search and RBAC on every plan: The plan table ticks hybrid search, RBAC, multi-tenancy and vector compression on Free, Flex and Premium. (Pricing page plan table (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that want a managed vector database now and the option to run the same open-source engine themselves later.
Things to know: SAML SSO, HIPAA, PrivateLink and customer-managed keys are on Premium, a prepaid contract through sales; no plan lists an audit log.
Score: 6.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $45/mo minimum (Flex plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Vector dimensions, GiB of storage and GiB of backup, for each of 3 replicas
Free option: Free cluster (100,000 objects), no card
Reference scenario (1M vectors, 1M queries): $255/mo on Flex, official calculator
Plan minimum: Flex $45 a month; Premium through sales
Hybrid search: Every plan (BM25F plus vector, fused)
Backups: Daily on Flex, kept 7 days; restore through support
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 (Markdown copy of the security page)
HIPAA BAA: Premium Dedicated, through sales
EU regions: Region selection on Dedicated tiers; EU regions not named
SSO: SAML on Premium
BYOC: Named on the security page; through sales
Data export: Cursor API; Parquet export not available on Cloud
Self-host path: Weaviate open source (BSD-3-Clause; some enterprise features licensed separately)
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Weaviate Cloud is the managed form of an open-source engine, billed by what you store with three replicas included. Enterprise controls sit on Premium through sales, and its rates are easiest to read through the calculator.
Choose it if: You want a managed service now and the option to self-host the same open-source engine later. · Your workload is query-heavy and you prefer a bill based on what you store. · You want hybrid search, RBAC and multi-tenancy from the free tier up.
Look elsewhere if: You need SAML SSO, HIPAA or private networking without a sales contract. · You need to load data from S3 or GCS in bulk.
Compared with: Pinecone (https://proofyo.com/products/pinecone) — pick Weaviate Cloud when You want an open-source engine with the same API and a bill that does not grow with query volume.; pick Pinecone when You want SAML SSO, bulk import from object storage and a HIPAA add-on on a plan bought online. | Qdrant Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/qdrant-cloud) — pick Weaviate Cloud when You want three replicas and backups included without sizing nodes, and ISO 27001.; pick Qdrant Cloud when You want an audit log on the first paid plan, downloadable snapshots and a lower scenario cost ($102.51 a month). | Zilliz Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/zilliz-cloud) — pick Weaviate Cloud when You want no per-request charges and three replicas on the first paid plan.; pick Zilliz Cloud when You want bulk import from object storage, and SAML SSO and an audit log on a plan bought online.
Strengths:
- Open-source engine behind the service: The managed service runs the Weaviate open-source project, so self-hosted Weaviate is a documented exit, with the cursor API and backups for moving data. (Pinecone and turbopuffer have no open-source engine with the same API.)
- The bill does not grow with query volume: Reads and writes are not metered; the bill follows stored dimensions, disk and backups, so 1M queries and 1M upserts a month add nothing in our scenario. (Pinecone bills about 7 read units per query on a 7 GB namespace.)
- Three replicas and backups on every paid cluster: Flex clusters are highly available by default and back up daily, kept 7 days; Premium keeps backups 30 or 45 days.
- Access control on every plan: RBAC with roles scoped to collections, tenants and operations, API keys tied to roles, and MFA are available to every organization. (Pinecone limits API key permissions to All on Starter and Builder.)
Things to know:
- Enterprise controls through sales: SAML SSO, HIPAA, PrivateLink (AWS) and customer-managed keys are on Premium, a prepaid contract through sales; Flex has none of them, and no plan lists an audit log.
- The free tier is small and pauses: Free holds 100,000 objects in 1 GB of memory; the cluster is suspended after 7 days without use and deleted after 30 days, with one warning email the day before. Workaround: A suspended free cluster keeps its data until deletion.
- No object-storage import or export on Cloud: There is no documented import from S3 or GCS into Weaviate Cloud, and the engine’s Parquet export "is not available in Weaviate Cloud"; restoring a backup goes through support. Workaround: The cursor API pages through every object with its vectors.
- Rates need the calculator: Unit rates are "from" prices that vary by index type, compression and region, with no time unit, and the billing of three replicas is explained by the calculator and a blog post rather than the pricing page. Workaround: The calculator and the console’s Running Costs module show rates for your data.
Pricing reality: Weaviate Cloud bills stored vector dimensions (from $0.00465 per million on Flex), disk (from $0.12 per GiB) and backups (from $0.03036 per GiB), each for the three replicas of an HA cluster, with a $45 monthly minimum on Flex; reads, writes and, for now, data transfer are not billed. For our scenario the official calculator gives $255 a month on the default Performance Optimized profile (HNSW, RQ-8) and $198 on Cost Optimized (HFresh index, compressed); it offers no uncompressed profile. Query volume does not change that figure. Costs rise with objects and dimensions (10M objects come to $2,550 on Performance Optimized, $1,980 on Cost Optimized), embeddings from $0.025 per million tokens, the Query Agent ($30 a month) and Premium, priced by sales.
Exit path: The cursor API pages through all objects with their vectors, and the migration guide covers copying data between instances; self-hosted Weaviate (BSD-3-Clause) runs the same API. The engine’s Parquet export to S3, GCS or Azure is not available in Weaviate Cloud, and restoring a managed backup needs support. Fees are non-refundable. The DPA deletes data within 30 days of cessation, while its annex mentions 180 days plus 180 in backups.

### turbopuffer

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/turbopuffer
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/turbopuffer
Category: Vector databases
Vendor: turbopuffer Inc.
Tagline: Serverless vector and full-text search on object storage, billed per GB stored, written and queried, from a $16 monthly minimum, with no free tier.
Value: Vector and full-text search billed by the bytes you store, write and query, with every database feature on the $16 plan.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: turbopuffer keeps namespaces on object storage and bills logical bytes rather than nodes or replicas, so a large index that is queried occasionally costs little to keep. Our scenario comes to $30 a month on launch, the lowest of the five products in this category. Hybrid BM25 and vector search, filtering, unlimited namespaces, native embedding models and EU regions are on every plan; scale adds SSO, audit logs and a HIPAA BAA from a $256 minimum.
- Billed by bytes, not capacity: Storage is $0.33 per logical GB-month, writes $2 per GB and queries $1 per PB searched, with marginal discounts of 80% above 32 GB and 96% above 128 GB per query. (Pricing page calculator and FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Every feature on the first plan: The pricing page says each plan "Includes all database features": vector and BM25 search with server-side rank fusion, filtering and unlimited namespaces. (Pricing page and hybrid search docs (2026-10-16))
- Native embedding models: Embedding models such as openai/text-embedding-3-small ($0.02 per million tokens) and voyage-4 ($0.06) run inside turbopuffer, billed per token. (Embedding docs (2026-10-16))
- EU and US regions on every plan: AWS and GCP regions in the US and Europe (Frankfurt, Ireland, Belgium and London) are listed with no plan restriction, and data stays in the region you choose. (Regions and security docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams with large or many namespaces that query each one occasionally and want to pay for bytes rather than provisioned capacity.
Things to know: No free tier or trial, no automated backups, no bulk import from object storage and no open-source engine.
Score: 5.6/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $16/mo minimum (launch plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: GB stored, GB written, PB queried and GB returned
Free option: None; refund if cancelled within 30 days (sign-up page)
Reference scenario (1M vectors, 1M queries): $30/mo on launch, computed
Plan minimum: launch $16; scale $256; enterprise from $4,096 a month
Hybrid search: Every plan (BM25 plus vector, rank fusion)
Backups: Manual namespace copies and branches; no automated backups
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: scale and enterprise
EU regions: AWS Frankfurt, Ireland and London; GCP Frankfurt and Belgium
SSO: scale and enterprise, enabled on request
BYOC: enterprise
Data export: Paged query API (JSON)
Self-host path: None
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, turbopuffer is the lowest-cost option for our scenario, with every database feature from a $16 minimum. It has no free tier, no automated backups and no open-source engine, and some pricing details differ between pages.
Choose it if: You keep large or many namespaces and query each one occasionally. · You want hybrid search and native embedding without a plan upgrade. · You batch writes and want to pay by bytes, not provisioned capacity.
Look elsewhere if: You want a free tier to start, or automated backups. · You need an open-source engine or a file export as a fallback.
Compared with: Pinecone (https://proofyo.com/products/pinecone) — pick turbopuffer when You want the lowest bill for our scenario ($30 against $176.60) and every feature from a $16 minimum.; pick Pinecone when You want a free tier, scheduled backups and bulk import from object storage. | Qdrant Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/qdrant-cloud) — pick turbopuffer when You want to pay for bytes rather than size nodes, with unlimited namespaces.; pick Qdrant Cloud when You want a free cluster, an Apache 2.0 engine to self-host and downloadable snapshots. | Zilliz Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/zilliz-cloud) — pick turbopuffer when You want serverless pricing in AWS US regions such as us-east-1.; pick Zilliz Cloud when You want a free tier, free import from object storage and an open-source engine.
Strengths:
- Lowest scenario cost in this category: Our scenario comes to $30 a month on launch: $2.36 storage, $20 writes, $7.14 queries and $0.50 returned data. (Qdrant Cloud comes to $102.51 and Pinecone to $176.60 for the same scenario.)
- All features on every plan: Hybrid search with rank fusion, filtering, unlimited namespaces and native embedding are on launch, from a $16 minimum. (Pinecone puts backups and bulk import on Standard, above Builder.)
- EU regions without a plan restriction: Frankfurt, Ireland and London on AWS, and Frankfurt and Belgium on GCP, are listed for every plan. (Weaviate Cloud ties region selection for data residency to Dedicated tiers.)
- SSO and HIPAA on a self-serve plan: scale, from a $256 minimum, adds SSO, audit logs (streaming for $128 a month), a HIPAA BAA and IP allowlisting, switched on by contacting turbopuffer.
Things to know:
- No free tier or trial: The FAQ describes a "commercial-only model": the cheapest option is launch at a $16 monthly minimum. Workaround: The sign-up page offers a refund if you cancel within 30 days.
- Backups are manual copies: The docs say "We don't currently offer automated backups"; you copy a namespace with copy_from_namespace or branch it, billed as writes and storage.
- Exit is a paged query: Export pages through documents with the query API; there is no file or Parquet export, no migration tooling and no open-source engine.
- Enterprise options through sales: BYOC, single-tenancy, private networking and customer-managed keys are on enterprise, from $4,096 a month with a 35% usage premium.
Pricing reality: turbopuffer bills logical bytes on every plan: $0.33 per GB-month stored, $2 per GB written (at least 10 kB per write; up to 50% off for batches up to about 3 MB), $1 per PB queried (at least 1.28 GB per query) and $0.05 per GB returned, above a $16 monthly minimum on launch or $256 on scale. For our scenario: storage 7.14 GB × $0.33 = $2.36; 1M single upserts billed at the 10 kB minimum, 10 GB × $2 = $20; 1M queries × 7.14 GB = 7.14 PB × $1 = $7.14; about 10 GB returned, $0.50: $30 a month (computed). Writes dominate here, and batching cuts them. Costs rise with pinned namespaces (about $9.67 per GB a month in the docs’ calculator, 128 GB minimum), audit log streams ($128), the enterprise premium and native embedding by token.
Exit path: Documents leave through the query API, paging by advancing a filter on the id attribute, with vectors and attributes returned as JSON; native embedding vectors can be read and exported too. There is no file export, no migration tool and no open-source engine, and a deleted namespace cannot be recovered. On termination the terms say customer data is deleted; the DPA commits to deletion within 30 days of a request.

## Category: Cloud servers (VPS)

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/cloud-servers

### Akamai Cloud (Linode)

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/akamai-cloud-linode
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/akamai-cloud-linode
Category: Cloud servers (VPS)
Vendor: Akamai Technologies
Tagline: Linode virtual servers under Akamai: shared and dedicated CPU plans billed hourly up to a monthly cap, with pooled transfer at $0.005 per GB over the allowance.
Value: A 2 vCPU, 4 GB Linode for $24 a month with 4 TB of pooled transfer, overage at $0.005 per GB and ISO 27001 coverage for compute.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Akamai Cloud keeps Linode's simple plan list: the Linode 4 GB has 2 shared vCPUs, 80 GB of SSD, 4 TB of transfer and an IPv4 address for $24 a month, capped at the monthly price. Transfer is pooled across most core regions and overage is $0.005 per GB. Akamai's ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 certificates list the compute plans, the DPA is part of the MSA, and standard support is included. It suits teams that move a lot of data or want ISO-certified hosting at small-server prices.
- Low-cost transfer, pooled: Allowances from every Linode go into one global pool for most core regions, overage is $0.005 per GB in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, inbound is free, and emails arrive at 80, 90 and 100% of the pool. (Network transfer docs and pricing pages (2026-10-16))
- Monthly cap on shared, G6 and G7 plans: Usage is rounded up to the hour and capped at the monthly price; the Linode 4 GB is $24 with 4 TB of transfer and one IPv4 address, and Backups add $5. (Billing docs, shared CPU and backups pricing (2026-10-16))
- ISO 27001 for compute: The compliance page lists Dedicated, Shared, High Memory and GPU compute, Backups, Images, Block Storage and NodeBalancers in its ISO 27001:2022, 27017 and 27018 scope, and compute in HIPAA scope with a BAA on request. (Akamai compliance page, failover copy on akamai.com (2026-10-16))
- Support and extras included: Standard 24x7 phone and online support is included, and Cloud Firewall, VPC, DNS Manager and Longview for up to ten clients are free. (Akamai MSA and compute instance docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that move a lot of data between servers and the internet, or want ISO-certified hosting for small servers.
Things to know: Cloud compute has a SOC 2 Type 1 report rather than Type 2, and backups cannot be downloaded.
Score: 6.7/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Card required
Starter price: $5/mo (Nanode 1 GB plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Reference server: Linode 4 GB: 2 vCPU (shared), 4 GB, 80 GB SSD, 4 TB transfer, $24/mo
Reference scenario (US, monthly): $29: $24 plan + $5 Backups add-on, computed
Billing: Hourly, rounded up, capped at the monthly price; G8 plans and extra IPv4 uncapped
Transfer overage: $0.005/GB (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific); pooled; inbound free
Public IPv4: One per Linode included; extra addresses need justification, price not listed
Backups: Priced per plan ($2 to $5/mo at small sizes); daily, weekly and biweekly copies
Snapshots: One manual snapshot in Backups; captured images $0.10/GB-month
Free credit: $100 for new customers via promo page or referral, payment method required
Dedicated vCPU from: $36/mo (G6 Dedicated 4 GB) or $43 (G7)
Image export: No backup download; raw .img image upload up to 6 GB
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 1 for compute; ISO 27001:2022 covers compute
HIPAA BAA: On request; compute listed in HIPAA scope
EU regions: Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Stockholm
Spend cap: None; transfer emails at 80, 90 and 100%
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Akamai Cloud keeps Linode's clear plan list and adds low-cost pooled transfer ($0.005 per GB over the allowance), ISO 27001 for compute and free support. Compute has a SOC 2 Type 1 report, and G8 plans are billed without a cap.
Choose it if: Your servers send a lot of data and you want overage at $0.005 per GB, pooled across them. · Your review asks for an ISO 27001 certificate that names the compute plans. · You want standard support included without a paid plan.
Look elsewhere if: You need a SOC 2 Type II report for the compute service. · You need a hard cap on spending. · You want to download backups or images to move them elsewhere.
Compared with: DigitalOcean Droplets (https://proofyo.com/products/digitalocean-droplets) — pick Akamai Cloud (Linode) when You want lower overage ($0.005 per GB), a $100 credit and ISO 27001 that covers compute.; pick DigitalOcean Droplets when You want a SOC 2 Type II report, backups as often as every 4 hours and a $28.80 scenario price (computed). | Vultr Cloud Compute (https://proofyo.com/products/vultr-cloud-compute) — pick Akamai Cloud (Linode) when You want a DPA that is part of the terms, published regional prices and support included.; pick Vultr Cloud Compute when You want the lowest scenario price here ($24, computed) and a SOC 2 Type II report. | Hetzner Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/hetzner-cloud) — pick Akamai Cloud (Linode) when You want 4 TB of transfer on a $24 US server, a HIPAA BAA and SAML single sign-on.; pick Hetzner Cloud when You run servers in the EU, where plans include 20 TB of transfer, and want overage at $1.20 per TB.
Strengths:
- Transfer overage at $0.005 per GB: Allowances are pooled across most core regions and overage is $0.005 per GB in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific; inbound transfer is free. (DigitalOcean and Vultr charge $0.01 per GB over the allowance; Amazon Lightsail $0.09 in US regions.)
- ISO 27001 scope names the compute plans: ISO 27001:2022, 27017 and 27018 list Dedicated, Shared, High Memory and GPU plans, Backups, Images and Block Storage; the certificate can be downloaded. (DigitalOcean lists SOC 2 Type II but no ISO 27001 certificate of its own.)
- Support included: The MSA includes standard 24x7 telephone and online support at no charge, and no paid support tiers are listed. (DigitalOcean sells support plans from $24 to $999 a month per team.)
- SAML single sign-on and audit logs you can keep: Single sign-on works with SAML 2.0 identity providers and can be enforced for the account; account events are kept for 90 days, and login and configuration audit logs can be streamed to Object Storage or an HTTPS endpoint, one stream per account at no cost.
Things to know:
- SOC 2 Type 1 for compute: The compliance page lists a SOC 2 Type 2 report for CDN, security and DNS products, and a SOC 2 Type 1 report for cloud compute. Workaround: ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 certificates cover the compute plans.
- G8 plans are uncapped and include no transfer: G8 dedicated plans are billed hourly with no monthly cap, all their transfer is billed, and the 4x2 size has a 40 GB disk. Workaround: G6 and G7 dedicated plans keep a monthly cap and 4 TB of transfer at the 4 GB size.
- Backups cannot be downloaded: Backups restore only to a Linode; image upload accepts raw .img files up to 6 GB uncompressed, and image export is not described. Workaround: Restore a backup and copy the disk over SSH with dd, or use Rescue Mode to transfer data.
- No spending cap: Only transfer-pool emails at 80, 90 and 100% are described; the $50 billing threshold triggers an invoice and does not stop usage.
Pricing reality: Plans are priced per server and billed by the hour up to the monthly price. For our scenario, the Linode 4 GB (2 shared vCPUs, 80 GB, 4 TB of transfer, one IPv4 address) costs $24 a month and the Backups add-on $5, so $29 a month (computed); the 2 TB of transfer fits in the pooled allowance, and overage would be $0.005 per GB. Dedicated CPU at the same size is $36 (G6, legacy hardware) or $43 (G7); G8 is hourly only, $0.07 an hour for 4 GB with no transfer included. Jakarta and São Paulo cost more (the Linode 4 GB is $28.80 and $33.60). Block Storage and captured images are $0.10 per GB-month, a NodeBalancer $10 and Linode Managed $100 per server.
Exit path: Backups cannot be downloaded and restore only to a Linode. The docs describe restoring a backup and copying the disk over SSH with dd as a .img file, or booting Rescue Mode to transfer data off the disks. Image upload accepts raw .img files; image export is not described. Cancelling the account marks all services for deletion immediately, and deleting a Linode deletes its backups.

### DigitalOcean Droplets

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/digitalocean-droplets
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/digitalocean-droplets
Category: Cloud servers (VPS)
Vendor: DigitalOcean
Tagline: Bundled virtual servers billed per second up to a 672-hour monthly cap, from $4 a month, with pooled transfer, IPv4 included and backups from 20% of the server price.
Value: A 2 vCPU, 4 GiB server with 4,000 GiB of pooled transfer and a public IPv4 address for $24 a month, billed per second and capped at 672 hours.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt, Compliance included
Value detail: DigitalOcean bundles vCPU, memory, SSD, transfer and an IPv4 address into one monthly price, billed per second and capped at 672 hours, so a month never costs more than the listed price. Transfer allowances add up across the team, overage is $0.01 per GiB and inbound is free. Backups are a flat share of the server price (20% weekly, 30% daily), and firewalls, VPC networking, monitoring alerts and DDoS protection come at no extra charge. It suits developers who want simple, predictable bills.
- Bundled price with a monthly cap: Bundled Droplets are billed per second with a 60-second minimum and capped at 672 hours a month; the 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 80 GiB plan is $24 with 4,000 GiB of transfer and a public IPv4 address included. (Droplet pricing page and pricing docs (2026-10-16))
- Transfer pooled across the team: Allowances are pooled across all Droplets on a team, extra outbound transfer is $0.01 per GiB with no regional variation, and inbound transfer is free. (Droplet pricing docs and bandwidth billing docs (2026-10-16))
- Networking extras at no charge: Cloud Firewalls, VPC traffic, monitoring with CPU, memory, disk and bandwidth alerts, and layer 3 and 4 DDoS protection are listed at no additional cost. (Firewall, VPC, monitoring and DDoS protection docs (2026-10-16))
- SOC 2 Type II and team SSO: The trust pages list a SOC 2 Type II report by Schellman, the DPA is part of the terms, and teams can require OIDC single sign-on at no extra cost. (Trust certification page, DPA and SSO docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Developers and small teams who want a predictable monthly bill for a few servers, with transfer that adds up across them.
Things to know: Backups and snapshots cannot be downloaded; moving off means copying data out of the server or through the recovery console.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Card required
Starter price: $4/mo (Basic Regular 512 MiB plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Reference server: Basic Regular: 2 vCPU (shared), 4 GiB, 80 GiB SSD, 4,000 GiB transfer, $24/mo
Reference scenario (US, monthly): $28.80: $24 plan + $4.80 weekly backups, computed
Billing: Per second, 60-second minimum, capped at 672 hours a month
Transfer overage: $0.01/GiB in every region; pooled across the team; inbound free
Public IPv4: Included on bundled plans; reserved IPv4 $5/mo when unassigned
Backups: Weekly 20% or daily 30% of the Droplet price; usage-based from $0.01/GiB
Snapshots: $0.06/GB-month
Free credit: $5 for 90 days, payment method required
Dedicated vCPU from: $42/mo (CPU-Optimized, 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 25 GiB)
Image export: No snapshot download; custom image import (raw, qcow2, VHDX, VDI, VMDK)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; own ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Through sales or support
EU regions: Amsterdam, Frankfurt (London in the UK)
Spend cap: Spend alerts only
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, DigitalOcean is a predictable choice for small servers: IPv4 included, a monthly cap, pooled transfer at $0.01 per GiB and backups at a flat share of the price. Images cannot be downloaded, and new accounts start with limits.
Choose it if: You want a fixed monthly price per server with IPv4 included and per-second billing. · You run several servers and want their transfer allowances pooled. · Your security review asks for a SOC 2 Type II report and SSO for the team.
Look elsewhere if: You need to download server images or backups to move them elsewhere. · You need dedicated vCPUs on a brand-new account without a prepayment. · You need an ISO 27001 certificate from the vendor itself.
Compared with: Akamai Cloud (Linode) (https://proofyo.com/products/akamai-cloud-linode) — pick DigitalOcean Droplets when You want a SOC 2 Type II report for the servers, spend alerts and backups as often as every 4 hours.; pick Akamai Cloud (Linode) when You want lower transfer overage ($0.005 per GB), a $100 credit and ISO 27001 for compute, at $29 a month for the scenario (computed). | Vultr Cloud Compute (https://proofyo.com/products/vultr-cloud-compute) — pick DigitalOcean Droplets when You want the same price in every region, free DDoS protection and a DPA that is part of the terms.; pick Vultr Cloud Compute when You want the lowest scenario price here ($24 a month, computed) and ISO 27001 alongside SOC 2. | Amazon Lightsail (https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-lightsail) — pick DigitalOcean Droplets when You want transfer overage at $0.01 per GiB pooled across all servers, and a HIPAA BAA path.; pick Amazon Lightsail when You want up to $200 in AWS credits and snapshots you can export to Amazon EC2.
Strengths:
- IPv4 included and a capped monthly price: Bundled plans include a public IPv4 address, and billing stops at 672 hours, so the $24 plan never costs more than $24 a month before add-ons. (Hetzner Cloud charges $0.60 a month for each primary IPv4 address on top of the server price.)
- Pooled transfer at $0.01 per GiB: Allowances add up across every Droplet on the team, overage is $0.01 per GiB with no regional variation, and inbound transfer is free. (Amazon Lightsail charges $0.09 per GB over the allowance in US regions and pools only instances of the same plan in a region.)
- Flexible backup schedules: Weekly backups cost 20% of the Droplet price and daily 30%; usage-based backups run as often as every 4 hours at $0.01 to $0.04 per GiB-month, kept from 3 days to 6 months.
- SOC 2 Type II and team SSO: The trust pages list a SOC 2 Type II report, teams can enforce OIDC single sign-on, and Security History records each action with the user and IP address. (Hetzner Cloud states no SOC 2 report and no single sign-on.)
Things to know:
- Backups and snapshots cannot be downloaded: The docs say backups and snapshots cannot be downloaded; they can be copied to other regions or transferred to another DigitalOcean team. Workaround: The Recovery ISO and console let you mount the disk and copy data off with scp or SFTP.
- New accounts start with limits: Tier 1 allows 3 Droplets on Basic plans up to $48 a month; dedicated CPU needs Tier 2, reached with a $50 prepayment, payment history or a request. Workaround: The resource limits docs list each tier and how to request an increase from the console.
- HIPAA BAA through sales: Droplets are HIPAA eligible, but new customers request the BAA from sales and existing customers from support; there is no online acceptance.
- No hard spending cap: Spend alerts warn at a budget but do not limit usage, and the late-payment docs give no fixed timeline before resources are deleted.
Pricing reality: Droplets are priced per bundle and billed per second up to a 672-hour cap. For our scenario, the Basic Regular plan with 2 vCPUs, 4 GiB and 80 GiB costs $24 a month with 4,000 GiB of transfer and a public IPv4 address, and weekly backups add 20% ($4.80), so $28.80 a month (computed); daily backups would make it $31.20. The 2 TB of transfer fits in the allowance; beyond it, outbound costs $0.01 per GiB. Premium CPU versions of the same size cost $28, and dedicated CPU starts at $42 (CPU-Optimized, 25 GiB disk). Snapshots are $0.06 per GB-month, volumes $0.10 per GiB-month and an unassigned reserved IPv4 $5 a month. Paid support plans run from $24 to $999 a month per team.
Exit path: Backups and snapshots cannot be downloaded; they can only be copied to another region or transferred to another DigitalOcean team. To leave, boot the Recovery ISO, mount the disk and copy files off with scp or SFTP, or copy data from the running server. Custom images can be imported (raw, qcow2, VHDX, VDI, VMDK), but no export is described. The late-payment docs publish no fixed timeline before resources are deleted.

### Vultr Cloud Compute

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/vultr-cloud-compute
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/vultr-cloud-compute
Category: Cloud servers (VPS)
Vendor: Vultr
Tagline: Shared and dedicated vCPU servers billed hourly up to 672 hours a month, with a 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 80 GB plan at $20, backups at 20% of the server price and an own SOC 2 Type II report.
Value: A 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 80 GB server for $20 a month with 3 TB of pooled transfer, backed by Vultr's own SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Vultr has the lowest list price for the reference server among the five products we compare: $20 a month for 2 shared vCPUs, 4 GB, 80 GB SSD and 3 TB of transfer with an IPv4 address, plus 20% for automatic backups. Transfer is pooled across the account with 2 TB free per account, and overage is $0.01 per GB. The compliance file is broad: a SOC 2 Type II report with HIPAA, ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018, free OIDC single sign-on and an activity log. It suits cost-conscious teams that still face a security review.
- Lowest plan price for the reference size: Regular Performance with 2 vCPUs, 4 GB, 80 GB SSD and 3 TB of transfer lists at $20 a month ($0.03 an hour), capped at 672 hours; backups add 20%. (Pricing page, Internet Archive copy of Sep 26, 2026)
- Account-wide transfer pool: Each server adds its allowance to an account pool with 2 TB free per account; overage is $0.01 per GB and inbound traffic is not metered. (Bandwidth billing docs (2026-10-16))
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO certificates: The compliance docs offer a SOC 2 Type II report with the HIPAA Security Rule in the console, and the compliance page lists ISO 27001:2022, 27017, 27018 and 20000-1. (Compliance docs (2026-10-16); compliance page, Internet Archive copy of May 17, 2026)
- Free SSO and an activity log: OIDC single sign-on carries no extra charge, and account activity logs are kept 30 days, with paid audit log retention of up to 10 years. (SSO and account activity docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Cost-conscious teams that want a small server at the lowest list price here and still need SOC 2 and ISO reports.
Things to know: Some locations are priced differently, and the pricing page does not list them; it points to the control panel, and the public plans API has them.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Card required
Starter price: $2.50/mo (Regular Performance 0.5 GB (IPv6 only) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Reference server: Regular Performance: 2 vCPU (shared), 4 GB, 80 GB SSD, 3 TB transfer, $20/mo
Reference scenario (US, monthly): $24: $20 plan + $4 backups (20%), computed
Billing: Hourly, 1-hour minimum, capped at 672 hours; VX1 and GPU at 730 hours
Transfer overage: $0.01/GB; pooled across the account with 2 TB free; inbound free
Public IPv4: One included; reserved IP $3/mo; extra addresses for an unlisted fee
Backups: 20% of the server price; daily to monthly schedules; two most recent kept
Snapshots: $0.05/GB-month of compressed size
Free credit: Coupon credit up to $300 (up to 30 days); free tier server by application
Dedicated vCPU from: $28/mo (CPU Optimized, 1 vCPU, 2 GB); 2 vCPU, 4 GB at $40
Image export: No snapshot download; ISO and raw image import from a URL
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (with HIPAA) in the console; ISO 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: By contract, after an architecture review
EU regions: Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid, Stockholm, Warsaw, Milan
Spend cap: None self-serve; bandwidth usage emails
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Vultr has the lowest list price for the reference server and a broad compliance file with free SSO. Some regional prices are missing from the pricing page, and several pages disagree on details such as DDoS protection.
Choose it if: You want the lowest monthly price for a 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 80 GB server. · Your security review asks for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 reports. · You want free SSO and IAM roles for the team.
Look elsewhere if: You need every regional price on the pricing page before signing up. · You need a DPA or HIPAA BAA without contacting Vultr. · You need DDoS protection included at no charge.
Compared with: DigitalOcean Droplets (https://proofyo.com/products/digitalocean-droplets) — pick Vultr Cloud Compute when You want the lowest scenario price ($24, computed) and ISO 27001 alongside a SOC 2 Type II report.; pick DigitalOcean Droplets when You want the same price in every region, free DDoS protection and a DPA that is part of the terms. | Akamai Cloud (Linode) (https://proofyo.com/products/akamai-cloud-linode) — pick Vultr Cloud Compute when You want a SOC 2 Type II report and a lower scenario price.; pick Akamai Cloud (Linode) when You want overage at $0.005 per GB, published regional prices and support included. | Hetzner Cloud (https://proofyo.com/products/hetzner-cloud) — pick Vultr Cloud Compute when You need US servers at a lower price, a SOC 2 report or single sign-on.; pick Hetzner Cloud when You run servers in the EU with 20 TB of transfer included and a DPA accepted in the account.
Strengths:
- Lowest plan price for the reference size: $20 a month for 2 vCPUs, 4 GB, 80 GB SSD and 3 TB of transfer, or $24 with backups (computed). (DigitalOcean, Akamai Cloud and Amazon Lightsail list the same size at $24 before backups.)
- Pooled transfer with 2 TB free per account: Allowances add up across the account, plus 2 TB free, and inbound traffic is not metered; overage is $0.01 per GB. (Amazon Lightsail pools only instances of the same plan in a region and charges $0.09 per GB in US regions.)
- Broad compliance file: SOC 2 Type II with HIPAA, ISO 27001:2022, 27017, 27018 and 20000-1, plus per-data-center reports in the console. (Hetzner Cloud lists ISO 27001 and BSI C5 but no SOC 2 report or HIPAA BAA.)
- Free OIDC SSO and IAM roles: OIDC single sign-on carries no charge, IAM organizations have roles, groups and policies, and account activity logs are kept 30 days.
Things to know:
- Regional prices not on the pricing page: The pricing page says certain locations have different hourly and monthly prices and points to the control panel; the web pages do not say which, and only the public plans API lists them (São Paulo is $30 for the reference plan). Workaround: Check the price for your location in the control panel or the plans API before deploying.
- DDoS protection is a paid add-on: The pricing FAQ lists DDoS protection with 10 Gbps of mitigation at $10 a month per instance, while the product page describes it as built in.
- DPA and BAA on request: The DPA is requested for electronic signature through an account manager or a ticket, and HIPAA servers are contracted after an architecture review.
- No self-serve spending cap: Notifications cover outages, invoices and bandwidth usage; there is no self-serve spending cap, and sub-account budget caps are set through support.
Pricing reality: Servers are priced per plan and billed hourly up to 672 hours a month. For our scenario, Regular Performance with 2 shared vCPUs, 4 GB, 80 GB SSD and 3 TB of transfer is $20 a month, and automatic backups add 20% ($4), so $24 a month (computed); Vultr's public plans API lists the same $20 in every US location, with only São Paulo higher ($30). The 2 TB of transfer fits in the allowance; overage is $0.01 per GB. High Performance and High Frequency versions of the same size are $24 with more disk; dedicated vCPUs start at $28 (1 vCPU), and the 2 vCPU, 4 GB CPU Optimized plan is $40. Snapshots are $0.05 per GB-month, a reserved IP $3, DDoS protection $10 per instance, a load balancer $10 and NVMe block storage $0.10 per GB-month.
Exit path: Snapshots and backups cannot be downloaded; the data portability guide suggests deploying a temporary server to reach the data. Snapshots work across all Vultr regions, and ISO files and raw disk images can be imported from a URL, but not exported. Block storage can move between servers in one location, and backups stay up to 7 days after a server is deleted. The terms reserve an early termination charge, and payments and credits are not refunded.

### Amazon Lightsail

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-lightsail
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/amazon-lightsail
Category: Cloud servers (VPS)
Vendor: Amazon Web Services
Tagline: AWS virtual servers sold as fixed monthly bundles with SSD, transfer and an IPv4 address, from $5 a month or $3.50 IPv6-only, with daily automatic snapshots billed by storage.
Value: A fixed-price AWS server: 2 vCPUs, 4 GB, 80 GB SSD, 4 TB of transfer and an IPv4 address for $24 a month, with a path to Amazon EC2.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Built-in reach
Value detail: Lightsail packages an AWS server into a monthly bundle with SSD, transfer, an IPv4 address and a firewall, priced the same in every region, so a small project does not have to assemble EC2, EBS and data transfer pricing. Automatic daily snapshots cost only their storage, private networking to other AWS resources is free, and snapshots can be exported to Amazon EC2. Sign-in uses AWS IAM with MFA, IAM Identity Center and CloudTrail. It suits small projects that may later grow into the wider AWS platform.
- One price per bundle: Each bundle has one monthly price with SSD, transfer and IPv4 included, billed hourly up to that price; the price file shows the same hourly rate in all 19 regions. (Lightsail pricing page and AWS price file (2026-10-16))
- Path to Amazon EC2: Instance snapshots can be exported to Amazon EC2 as an AMI and EBS snapshot in the same region, and private IPs reach other AWS resources at no charge. (Lightsail export docs and FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Snapshots billed by storage: Automatic daily snapshots keep the latest 7 and cost only $0.05 per GB-month, charged for the data that changed since the previous snapshot. (Automatic snapshot docs and billing FAQ (2026-10-16))
- AWS sign-in and audit: IAM users, MFA with passkeys or security keys, SAML through IAM Identity Center at no extra charge, and CloudTrail event history of 90 days of console and API calls. (IAM, Identity Center and CloudTrail docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small projects and side apps that want one fixed AWS price and may move to EC2 later.
Things to know: Lightsail is not on AWS's SOC, ISO, PCI or HIPAA scope lists, and outbound overage is $0.09 per GB in US regions.
Score: 5.6/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $3.50/mo (Linux 512 MB (IPv6 only) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Reference server: Linux General Purpose: 2 vCPU (burstable), 4 GB, 80 GB SSD, 4 TB transfer, $24/mo with IPv4
Reference scenario (US, monthly): $28: $24 plan + $4 for one 80 GB snapshot, computed
Billing: Hourly up to the monthly bundle price
Transfer overage: $0.09/GB in US regions; inbound counts toward the allowance; pooled per plan and region
Public IPv4: Included in IPv4 bundles; IPv6-only bundles $1.50 to $4 less
Backups: Automatic daily snapshots, latest 7 kept, billed as snapshot storage (Linux only)
Snapshots: $0.05/GB-month, incremental
Free credit: $100 in AWS credits, up to $100 more, Free plan up to 6 months
Dedicated vCPU from: Not offered (burstable plans)
Image export: Snapshot export to Amazon EC2 only; no download or import
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Lightsail not listed in AWS SOC or ISO scope
HIPAA BAA: Lightsail not on the HIPAA eligible services list
EU regions: Frankfurt, Ireland, Paris, Stockholm, Spain (opt-in)
Spend cap: AWS Budgets alerts; project spend limits that pause resources only in AWS's new sign-up experience, which is in limited release
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Lightsail is a simple way to a fixed-price AWS server, with snapshots billed by storage and an export path to EC2. It is not on AWS's compliance scope lists, and transfer beyond the allowance costs $0.09 per GB.
Choose it if: You want one fixed monthly price for a small server, the same in every region. · You expect to move to Amazon EC2 or use other AWS services later. · You want a free start that suspends instead of billing when it ends.
Look elsewhere if: Your security review asks for SOC 2, ISO 27001 or a HIPAA BAA for the server. · Your servers send a lot of data beyond the allowance. · You need dedicated vCPUs.
Compared with: DigitalOcean Droplets (https://proofyo.com/products/digitalocean-droplets) — pick Amazon Lightsail when You want the same price in every region, a Free plan that stops rather than bills, and a path to Amazon EC2.; pick DigitalOcean Droplets when You want pooled transfer at $0.01 per GiB, a SOC 2 Type II report and a HIPAA BAA path. | Akamai Cloud (Linode) (https://proofyo.com/products/akamai-cloud-linode) — pick Amazon Lightsail when You want AWS identity tools, CloudTrail and snapshots that export to EC2.; pick Akamai Cloud (Linode) when You want overage at $0.005 per GB, ISO 27001 for compute and a HIPAA BAA on request. | Vultr Cloud Compute (https://proofyo.com/products/vultr-cloud-compute) — pick Amazon Lightsail when You want the same published price in every region, a free start that suspends rather than bills when it ends, and a path to Amazon EC2.; pick Vultr Cloud Compute when You want a lower scenario price ($24, computed), a SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001.
Strengths:
- Same price in every region: The price file shows each bundle at the same hourly rate in all 19 regions; some regions include half the transfer allowance. (Hetzner Cloud prices its US plans higher than its EU plans.)
- Snapshots priced by storage: Automatic daily snapshots keep the latest 7, cost $0.05 per GB-month and charge only for changed data.
- A Free plan that stops instead of billing: New AWS accounts get $100 in credits and up to $100 more; when the Free plan ends, the account is suspended rather than switched to paid, and data is kept 90 days. (DigitalOcean's $5 credit and Akamai Cloud's $100 credit convert to paid billing when they end.)
- AWS identity and audit tools: IAM users and policies, MFA with passkeys, SAML sign-in through IAM Identity Center at no extra charge, and 90 days of CloudTrail event history.
Things to know:
- Not in AWS compliance scope: Lightsail is not on AWS's SOC, ISO 27001, PCI or HIPAA eligible service lists; only the Korea CSAP list includes it. Workaround: Workloads that need those reports can export snapshots to Amazon EC2, which is on the SOC and ISO lists.
- Transfer overage at $0.09 per GB: Outbound transfer over the allowance is $0.09 per GB in US and EU regions and up to $0.17 in Sydney, and inbound counts toward the allowance.
- No dedicated vCPU or image import: All plans are burstable, custom image or ISO import is not described, and the system disk cannot be detached.
- Plans are not resized in place: Moving to a larger plan means taking a snapshot and launching a new, larger instance from it.
Pricing reality: Bundles are priced per month and billed hourly up to that price. For our scenario, the Linux bundle with 2 vCPUs, 4 GB, 80 GB SSD, 4 TB of transfer and a public IPv4 address is $24 a month, and automatic snapshots cost $0.05 per GB-month; counting one full 80 GB snapshot, that is $4, so $28 a month (computed). Later daily snapshots add only changed data. The 2 TB of outbound transfer fits in the 4 TB allowance, but inbound counts too, and overage is $0.09 per GB in US regions. The same size without IPv4 is $20. Block storage is $0.10 per GB-month, a load balancer $18 and an unattached static IP $0.005 an hour. AWS Business Support+ starts at $29 a month.
Exit path: Instance snapshots can be exported to Amazon EC2 as an AMI and an EBS snapshot in the same region; automatic snapshots cannot be exported directly, and some blueprint snapshots cannot be exported at all. No download format is described. A root-volume snapshot can become a block storage disk attached to another instance. After closing, the AWS Customer Agreement lets you retrieve content for 30 days if all amounts are paid.

### Hetzner Cloud

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/hetzner-cloud
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/hetzner-cloud
Category: Cloud servers (VPS)
Vendor: Hetzner Online GmbH
Tagline: German cloud servers billed hourly up to a monthly cap, with 20 TB of transfer in the EU, overage at $1.20 per TB and a DPA accepted in the account; US plans cost more.
Value: EU servers with 20 TB of transfer, overage at $1.20 per TB and a DPA accepted in the account, from a German provider with ISO 27001 and BSI C5.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Hetzner Cloud's value is in its European locations: the CPX22 with 2 vCPUs, 4 GB and 80 GB is $22.99 a month in Nuremberg or Helsinki with 20 TB of transfer, and each extra TB is $1.20. The contracting company is German, the DPA is concluded in the customer account, and the ISO 27001 certificate and a BSI C5 Type 2 attestation are published. In the US, the older CPX line costs more and includes 2 TB at the reference size. It suits teams that serve European users or move large amounts of data.
- 20 TB of transfer in the EU: EU plans include at least 20 TB of outbound transfer, each extra TB is $1.20 in the EU and US, and inbound and internal traffic are free. (Plan pages and the price data they load (2026-10-16))
- DPA in the account: The DPA is concluded by checkbox in the customer account, supplemented by EU standard contractual clauses for third-country products, and TÜV Rheinland reviews the technical measures each year. (Data protection docs and terms (2026-10-16))
- ISO 27001 and BSI C5: The ISO 27001:2022 certificate (SOCOTEC, valid to Sep 2028) covers all hosting services at the Nuremberg, Falkenstein and Tuusula sites; Hetzner also publishes a BSI C5 Type 2 attestation. (ISO certificate PDF and information security docs (2026-10-16))
- Networking extras at no charge: Cloud Firewalls, private networks and DDoS protection carry no charge; IPv6 is free and a primary IPv4 address is $0.60 a month. (Firewall, network, DDoS and primary IP pages (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams serving European users that want EU data centers, generous transfer and a German contracting party.
Things to know: US locations use an older, more expensive CPX line with 2 TB of transfer at the reference size.
Score: 4.7/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $7.49/mo (CPX02 (EU, plus $0.60 IPv4) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Reference server: US CPX21: 3 vCPU (shared), 4 GB, 80 GB NVMe, 2 TB transfer, $37.49/mo plus $0.60 IPv4
Reference scenario (US, monthly): $45.59: $37.49 plan + $0.60 IPv4 + $7.50 backups (20%), computed
Billing: Hourly, rounded up, capped at the monthly price
Transfer overage: $1.20/TB in the EU and US ($8.30 in Singapore); inbound free
Public IPv4: $0.60/mo per primary IPv4; IPv6 free
Backups: 20% of the server price; 7 daily slots
Snapshots: $0.0199/GB-month of compressed size
Free credit: None
Dedicated vCPU from: $50.49/mo EU, $50.99 US (CCX13, 2 vCPU, 8 GB)
Image export: Snapshot download not described; custom ISOs added by support from a link
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: No SOC 2; ISO 27001:2022 (German and Finnish sites) and BSI C5 Type 2
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU regions: Falkenstein, Nuremberg, Helsinki
Spend cap: Cost alerts only
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Hetzner Cloud is strongest in Europe: 20 TB of transfer, $1.20 per extra TB and a DPA in the account. In the US the reference server costs the most of the five we compare, and SOC 2, HIPAA and SSO are not described.
Choose it if: Your users are in Europe and you want EU data centers with 20 TB of transfer. · You want a DPA accepted in the account and a published ISO 27001 certificate. · You move large amounts of data and want overage at $1.20 per TB.
Look elsewhere if: You need servers in the US at the lowest price. · Your review asks for SOC 2, a HIPAA BAA or single sign-on. · You want a sign-up credit to try the service.
Compared with: DigitalOcean Droplets (https://proofyo.com/products/digitalocean-droplets) — pick Hetzner Cloud when Your servers are in the EU, where 20 TB of transfer is included, and you want overage at $1.20 per TB.; pick DigitalOcean Droplets when You need US servers at a lower price, a SOC 2 Type II report or team SSO. | Vultr Cloud Compute (https://proofyo.com/products/vultr-cloud-compute) — pick Hetzner Cloud when You want a DPA accepted in the account, free DDoS protection and published prices for every location.; pick Vultr Cloud Compute when You need a SOC 2 report, single sign-on or a lower price in the US. | Akamai Cloud (Linode) (https://proofyo.com/products/akamai-cloud-linode) — pick Hetzner Cloud when You want EU servers with 20 TB of transfer and a German contracting party.; pick Akamai Cloud (Linode) when You need a HIPAA BAA, SAML single sign-on or 4 TB of transfer on a $24 US server.
Strengths:
- Generous transfer in the EU: EU servers include at least 20 TB a month, and extra transfer is $1.20 per TB in the EU and US. (DigitalOcean and Vultr charge $0.01 per GB ($10 per TB) over the allowance.)
- DPA concluded in the account: The DPA is accepted by checkbox in the customer account, with EU standard contractual clauses for third-country products, and customers receive the yearly TÜV Rheinland audit report. (Vultr provides its DPA on request for electronic signature.)
- Daily backups with 7 slots: Backups cost 20% of the server price and keep 7 daily copies; snapshots are $0.0199 per GB-month of compressed size.
- Free firewalls, networks and DDoS protection: Cloud Firewalls, private networks and DDoS protection carry no charge on any plan. (Vultr charges $10 a month per instance for its DDoS protection add-on.)
Things to know:
- US plans cost more: In the US, the reference size is the older CPX21 at $37.49 plus $0.60 for IPv4, with 2 TB of transfer; the EU CPX22 is $22.99 with 20 TB. Workaround: Teams whose users are in Europe can use the EU locations.
- No SOC 2, HIPAA BAA or SSO stated: The information security page says Hetzner focuses on ISO 27001 rather than SOC 2; no HIPAA BAA, single sign-on or account audit log is described. Workaround: The ISO 27001 certificate and BSI C5 attestation are published as PDFs.
- No sign-up credit: There is no free credit or trial, the referral program was discontinued, and accounts are verified by ID or a card prepayment.
- No image download or self-serve upload: The docs describe no way to download snapshots or backups, and custom ISOs are added by support from a download link you send. Workaround: The Rescue System gives access to the data on the disks, so you can copy it off yourself.
Pricing reality: Servers are priced per plan and location, billed by the hour up to the monthly price, with each primary IPv4 at $0.60 a month. For our US scenario, the CPX21 (3 shared vCPUs, 4 GB, 80 GB NVMe, 2 TB of transfer) is $37.49, plus $0.60 for IPv4 and backups at 20% of the server price ($7.50), so $45.59 a month (computed); the 2 TB of transfer fits in the allowance. In Nuremberg or Helsinki, the CPX22 with the same RAM and disk is $22.99, or $28.19 with IPv4 and backups (computed), and includes 20 TB. Dedicated vCPUs start at $50.49 in the EU and $50.99 in the US (CCX13). Snapshots are $0.0199 per GB-month of compressed size.
Exit path: The docs describe no way to download snapshots or backups; they can create or rebuild a server, and snapshots can move to another Hetzner project. The Rescue System gives access to the data on the disks, so you can copy it off yourself. Backups are deleted with their server; snapshots remain. Deleting a project deletes all its resources, which cannot be restored. After payment reminders on an unpaid invoice, the account can be deactivated.

## Category: Domain registrars

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/domain-registrars

### Cloudflare Registrar

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-registrar
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/cloudflare-registrar
Category: Domain registrars
Vendor: Cloudflare, Inc.
Tagline: At-cost domain registration: a .com is $10.46 to register and to renew, with free WHOIS redaction, DNS, DNSSEC and email routing, on Cloudflare nameservers.
Value: A .com at the registry’s own price, $10.46 a year for registration and renewal alike, with DNS, DNSSEC and email routing included.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: Cloudflare charges what the registry and ICANN charge it, so the first-year price is also the renewal price and there is no promotion to expire. The domain comes with Cloudflare DNS, one-click DNSSEC, WHOIS redaction, Email Routing and redirects at no charge, on any plan including Free. It suits teams that already run DNS on Cloudflare, or want to, and would rather not manage a separate registrar account.
- One price for registration and renewal: The public search shows a .com at $10.46 and "Renews at $10.46/year"; the domains page says registration, transfer and renewal prices are at or below what registries and ICANN charge, with no hidden fees or required add-ons. (Domain search and domains page (2026-10-16))
- DNS, DNSSEC and email routing built in: Every domain uses Cloudflare DNS; DNSSEC is one click and Cloudflare publishes the DS records itself; Email Routing (up to 200 rules) and redirects are on every plan. (Registrar, DNSSEC and Email Routing docs (2026-10-16))
- Self-serve exit and an API: The auth code is shown in the dashboard after unlocking; DNS records export as a zone file; the Registrar API (beta) and the DNS API need an API token, a payment method and a default contact, with no spend or balance condition. (Transfer-out, import-and-export and Registrar API docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that run, or are happy to run, their DNS on Cloudflare and want a .com that costs the same every year.
Things to know: Domains must use Cloudflare nameservers; to use another DNS provider you transfer the domain away.
Score: 8.6/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $10.46/yr (.com renewal (yearly list price) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per domain per year, at cost
.com year 1 / renewal: $10.46 / $10.46
3-year .com cost (scenario): $31.38, computed
.io and .ai: .io $32 year 1, renews $50; .ai $80/yr, 2-year minimum
ICANN fee: Passed through at cost, not itemised
Restore (redemption) fee: Varies by TLD; amount not stated
Grace period after expiry: 40 days for most TLDs (FAQ)
Refund window (new registration): None; registrations and renewals are final
Nameservers: Cloudflare nameservers only
Email forwarding: Free Email Routing, 200 rules
Domain/DNS API: Registrar API (beta) and DNS API; no spend condition
2FA: Security keys (WebAuthn), authenticator app, email
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Company SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022; Registrar not named in the SOC 2 service list
Registry lock: Enterprise only, through sales
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Cloudflare Registrar has the lowest 3-year .com cost here and the same price every year, with the essentials included. The trade-offs are Cloudflare nameservers only, no refunds and no published restore fee.
Choose it if: You already use Cloudflare DNS or plan to. · You want the .com renewal to cost the same as the first year. · You want DNSSEC, email routing and redirects without extra services.
Look elsewhere if: You need to use another DNS provider’s nameservers. · You want a refund window for a mistyped registration.
Compared with: Porkbun (https://proofyo.com/products/porkbun) — pick Cloudflare Registrar when You want DNS, DNSSEC and email routing on Cloudflare itself and an API with no prepaid-credit step.; pick Porkbun when You want to use any nameservers you like, a published restore fee and a refund window in the help center. | Namecheap (https://proofyo.com/products/namecheap) — pick Cloudflare Registrar when You want the renewal to cost the same as the first year ($10.46 vs $18.48 plus the ICANN fee).; pick Namecheap when You want external nameservers, a 5-day refund window and a published restore price.
Strengths:
- No first-year discount to expire: Registration and renewal are the same at-cost price, $10.46 for a .com, so the second-year bill matches the first. (Namecheap renews a .com at $18.48 after an $11.28 first year; Squarespace at $20 after $10.)
- Essentials included on the Free plan: DNS, one-click DNSSEC, WHOIS redaction, Email Routing with catch-all, redirects and the transfer lock come with every domain at no charge.
- Self-serve exit: The auth code is shown in the dashboard after unlocking, the 60-day lock after a registrant change can be declined, and DNS records export as a zone file. (Squarespace Domains describes no DNS export and suggests a screenshot of your records before a transfer.)
- Security keys and SSO for the account: Two-factor authentication supports security keys and built-in authenticators as well as authenticator apps; dashboard SSO is available on all plans, and the audit log keeps 18 months.
Things to know:
- Cloudflare nameservers only: The FAQ and the registration agreement say domains registered here must use Cloudflare nameservers; to change nameservers you transfer the domain to another registrar. Workaround: Records can still point anywhere, and subdomains can be delegated to other nameservers.
- No refunds: The FAQ and the agreement say registration, renewal and restore fees are non-refundable; a domain deleted within 5 days is released without a refund. Workaround: Auto-renew can be turned off per domain before the charge, which is made about 30 days before expiry.
- Restore fee and transfer-in price not published: The restore fee for an expired domain varies by TLD with no figure, and the transfer-in price is not shown on a public page.
- Registry lock is Enterprise only: Custom Domain Protection (registry lock) is offered through the Enterprise account team, and the agreement allows a much higher price if the Enterprise agreement ends.
Pricing reality: Cloudflare bills each domain per year at the registry and ICANN price. For our scenario, one .com for 3 years costs 3 × $10.46 = $31.38 (computed), with no ICANN fee on top and nothing extra for privacy, DNS or DNSSEC. .io is $32 for the first year and $50 after; .ai is $80 a year, paid 2 years at a time. Prices follow the registry, so they move when the registry changes its price. Custom-branded nameservers need the Business plan ($200 a month billed annually), and registry lock is sold through Enterprise. Tax may be added by billing address.
Exit path: Unlock the domain in the dashboard and copy the auth code; a pending transfer is approved automatically on day 5 if you do nothing. Transfers out are blocked for 60 days after registration or a transfer in. DNS records export from the dashboard or the API as a zone file. The pages do not say what happens to the DNS zone, redirects or Email Routing after the domain leaves, so recreate them at the new provider first.

### Porkbun

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/porkbun
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/porkbun
Category: Domain registrars
Vendor: Porkbun LLC
Tagline: A registrar with all-in prices: a .com is $11.08 to register, renew or transfer, ICANN fee included, with free privacy, DNS, DNSSEC and forwarding.
Value: An all-in $11.08 .com that costs the same to register, renew or transfer, with privacy, DNS, DNSSEC and forwarding included.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Porkbun’s table shows every fee, the ICANN fee included, and marks the .com "At Cost", with no first-year discount that later doubles. Privacy, DNS on Cloudflare’s network, one-click DNSSEC, email and URL forwarding and free SSL come with the domain, and you can use other nameservers. A free API registers, renews and manages DNS. It suits individuals and small teams who want a low, steady yearly bill and a few developer conveniences.
- Same price every year: The price table lists a .com at $11.08 for registration, renewal and transfer, and says all prices include ICANN and any other fees; the cart shows "Hidden Fees none" and a total of $11.08. (Price table and cart before login (2026-10-16))
- Essentials included, any nameservers: WHOIS privacy is on by default, DNS (up to 200 records) runs on Cloudflare, DNSSEC is a toggle, URL forwarding supports HTTPS, and external nameservers and DS records can be set. (Privacy, DNS, DNSSEC and URL forwarding pages (2026-10-16))
- A free API with scoped keys: The documented REST API registers, renews and transfers domains and manages DNS and DNSSEC; keys can be limited by IP, domain and permission, and a free sandbox key is offered. (API documentation (2026-10-16))
Best for: Individuals and small teams who want a low .com price that does not jump at renewal, and an API.
Things to know: The restore fee for an expired domain is $200 plus the renewal, and the refund pages disagree.
Score: 8.5/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $11.08/yr (.com renewal (yearly list price) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per domain per year, all fees included
.com year 1 / renewal: $11.08 / $11.08 (about $11.81 announced from Nov 1, 2026)
3-year .com cost (scenario): $33.24, computed at the prices listed on Oct 16
.io and .ai: .io $28.12 year 1, renews $51.80; .ai $82.70/yr, 2-year minimum
ICANN fee: Included in the shown price
Restore (redemption) fee: $200 plus the renewal (price page)
Grace period after expiry: Ends day 35–45 at the normal price; auction possible from about day 26
Refund window (new registration): 96 hours with a 5% fee (help center); cart and agreement say no refunds
Nameservers: Porkbun DNS (on Cloudflare) or any external nameservers
Email forwarding: Free, 20 per domain, no catch-all
Domain/DNS API: Free; purchases use prepaid credit by default
2FA: Security keys and passkeys (WebAuthn), authenticator app, email
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated
Registry lock: Not stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Porkbun pairs an all-in .com price that does not rise at renewal with free essentials and a capable API. The restore fee is $200, and its refund pages disagree.
Choose it if: You want a .com that renews at the price you registered it for. · You want to keep DNS elsewhere or use Porkbun’s free DNS with DNSSEC. · You want a free API to register and manage domains.
Look elsewhere if: You need catch-all email forwarding. · You want one clear refund rule for new registrations.
Compared with: Cloudflare Registrar (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-registrar) — pick Porkbun when You want external nameservers, a published restore fee and a refund window in the help center.; pick Cloudflare Registrar when You want DNS zone file export, an API with no prepaid credit and a slightly lower .com price. | Namecheap (https://proofyo.com/products/namecheap) — pick Porkbun when You want the same .com price every year with the ICANN fee included.; pick Namecheap when You want a lower restore price ($88.48 including renewal), 100 email forwards and a catch-all.
Strengths:
- No renewal jump on .com: Register, renew and transfer are all $11.08, ICANN fee included, so a 3-year .com is $33.24 at the listed price. (Squarespace Domains renews at $20 after a $10 first year; Namecheap at $18.48 plus the ICANN fee.)
- Essentials included, external DNS allowed: Privacy, DNS, DNSSEC, email and URL forwarding and SSL are free, and you can switch to any nameservers. (Cloudflare Registrar requires Cloudflare nameservers.)
- Developer-friendly API: A free REST API covers registration, renewal, transfer-in and full DNS and DNSSEC management, with per-key IP, domain and permission scoping.
- Account security: 2FA supports WebAuthn security keys and passkeys and authenticator apps, with passwordless passkey login; authorized users cannot unlock domains or fetch auth codes.
Things to know:
- Restore fee of $200: The price page lists a $200 restore fee in addition to the renewal price; the help center says the fee varies by registry. Workaround: Auto-renew is on by default, and the domain renews at the normal price until the grace period ends on day 35–45.
- Refund rules differ by page: The help center offers deletion with a refund within 96 hours (5% fee, some TLDs excluded); the cart and the agreement say there are no refunds.
- API purchases use prepaid credit by default: API purchases spend prepaid account credit by default (a one-off card hold through a Stripe Link agent wallet is the alternative), need a verified email and phone, and are capped at $100 per registration and $100 a month until you change the limit.
- No zone file export described: The pages describe a CSV export of the domain list but no DNS zone file export; records can be read through the API.
Pricing reality: Porkbun bills each domain per year and includes the ICANN fee in the shown price. For our scenario, one .com for 3 years costs 3 × $11.08 = $33.24 (computed) at the prices listed on Oct 16, 2026; Porkbun has announced that the .com price rises to about $11.81 on Nov 1, 2026, which would make later renewals about $0.73 a year higher. .io is $28.12 in the first year and $51.80 after; .ai is $82.70 a year, 2 years at a time. Email forwards beyond 20 cost $3 each a year, and email hosting is $36 a year. An ACH-only account can save over 3%.
Exit path: Unlock the domain with the lock icon and choose "Get Authorization Code"; you can approve the transfer out to skip the 5-day wait, and a bulk CSV export can include auth codes. No transfer-out fee is listed. The agreement opts you out of the 60-day lock after a registrant change, except for marketplace purchases. No DNS zone export is described, so copy records through the API or by hand.

### Namecheap

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/namecheap
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/namecheap
Category: Domain registrars
Vendor: Namecheap, Inc.
Tagline: A long-running low-cost registrar: a .com is $11.28 for the first year and $18.48 to renew, plus the $0.20 ICANN fee, with free privacy, DNS, DNSSEC and forwarding.
Value: A low first-year .com with free privacy, DNS, DNSSEC and email and URL forwarding, and the freedom to point it at any nameservers.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Namecheap sells the domain on its own and includes the services most owners need: WHOIS privacy on by default, BasicDNS with one-click DNSSEC, up to 100 email forwards with a catch-all, and URL forwarding. External nameservers are allowed, and DNSSEC records can be entered for them. The first .com year is on sale for any buyer, the restore price is published, and a 5-day refund window is offered for new registrations. Renewals cost more than the first year.
- Essentials free with every domain: The cart adds Domain Privacy at $0.00 "FREE FOREVER", and the help center describes free BasicDNS with DNSSEC, up to 100 email forwards with a catch-all, and 301, 302 or framed URL forwarding. (Cart before login, privacy page and help center (2026-10-16))
- First-year sale without a code: A .com is $11.28 for the first year (on sale from the $14.98 list price) for any buyer; the cart adds the $0.20 ICANN fee for a total of $11.48. (Price table, search and cart (2026-10-16))
- Any nameservers, bulk tools: Custom DNS can point a domain anywhere; bulk actions change nameservers, contacts, auto-renew and privacy for many domains at once, and the domain list exports to CSV. (Help center articles on Custom DNS and bulk actions (2026-10-16))
Best for: Owners of one or many domains who want privacy, DNS and forwarding included and may host DNS elsewhere.
Things to know: A .com renews at $18.48 plus the $0.20 ICANN fee, above its $14.98 list price for a new registration.
Score: 7.6/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $18.48/yr (.com renewal (yearly list price, plus $0.20 ICANN fee) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per domain per year
.com year 1 / renewal: $11.28 (sale, list $14.98) / $18.48, each plus $0.20 ICANN fee
3-year .com cost (scenario): $48.84, computed
.io and .ai: .io $34.98 year 1, renews $75.98; .ai $89.98/yr, 2-year minimum, renews $114.98
ICANN fee: $0.20 a year, added in the cart
Restore (redemption) fee: $88.48 for .com including the renewal
Grace period after expiry: About 30 days at the normal renewal price
Refund window (new registration): 5 days, at Namecheap’s discretion
Nameservers: Namecheap BasicDNS or any external nameservers
Email forwarding: Free, up to 100 forwards, catch-all
Domain/DNS API: Yes, after 20 domains, a $50 balance or $50 spent; IP allowlist
2FA: Security keys and passkeys (FIDO/WebAuthn), authenticator app
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated
Registry lock: Domain Vault for .com and some TLDs; price not stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Namecheap includes everything most owners need and keeps the cart clean, with a published restore price. Renewals cost more than the first year, the ICANN fee is added on top, and its pages disagree on the new-customer code and on renewal refunds.
Choose it if: You want privacy, DNS, DNSSEC and forwarding included and the option of external nameservers. · You manage many domains and want bulk actions and a CSV export of the list. · You want a published restore price and a refund window for new registrations.
Look elsewhere if: You want the renewal to cost the same as the first year. · You need an API without a balance or domain-count condition.
Compared with: Porkbun (https://proofyo.com/products/porkbun) — pick Namecheap when You want a lower restore cost ($88.48 including renewal vs $200 plus renewal), a 5-day refund window and 100 email forwards.; pick Porkbun when You want a .com that renews at the same $11.08 it costs to register, with the ICANN fee included. | Cloudflare Registrar (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-registrar) — pick Namecheap when You want to use external nameservers and have a refund window for new registrations.; pick Cloudflare Registrar when You want the lowest renewal ($10.46) and DNS, DNSSEC and email routing on Cloudflare. | GoDaddy (https://proofyo.com/products/godaddy) — pick Namecheap when You want free email forwarding, a lower restore price and a one-year first purchase.; pick GoDaddy when You want BIND zone export, ISO 27001 for the registrar platform and a 45-day refund on one-year auto-renewals.
Strengths:
- Free essentials, external DNS allowed: Privacy, BasicDNS, one-click DNSSEC, email and URL forwarding are free, and you can switch to any nameservers and add DS records for them. (Cloudflare Registrar requires Cloudflare nameservers.)
- Restore price published: The redemption table lists the full restore price per TLD after clicking "Show all TLDs": $88.48 for a .com including the renewal. (Cloudflare states no restore figure; GoDaddy lists up to $99.99 plus the renewal.)
- A clean cart: For a plain .com the cart pre-selects only free privacy; the default term is one year and no paid add-on is selected.
- Security keys and delegated access: 2FA supports hardware keys, biometrics and passkeys as well as authenticator apps, and Share Access can give another account DNS-only rights to a domain.
Things to know:
- Renewal above the first-year price: A .com renews at $18.48 a year plus the $0.20 ICANN fee, after an $11.28 first year; multi-year renewals are offered at lower "special offer" prices (3 years $49.89). Workaround: The .com page lists the multi-year renewal prices, which lower the yearly cost if you renew several years at once.
- API behind a usage threshold: API access needs 20 domains, a $50 account balance or $50 spent in the last 2 years, and an IPv4 allowlist; API purchases use the account balance only.
- No DNS zone export described: The help center describes a CSV export of the domain list but no export of DNS records; Support can import a zone manually. Workaround: With API access, host records can be read through the API.
- Restore goes through Support: An expired domain in redemption is restored by adding funds to the account balance and contacting Support.
Pricing reality: Namecheap bills each domain per year and adds the $0.20 ICANN fee on .com in the cart. For our scenario, one .com for 3 years costs $11.28 + 2 × $18.48 + 3 × $0.20 = $48.84 (computed), with privacy, DNS and DNSSEC free. A new customer with the $6.48 code would pay less in year one, but the code is limited to one domain per household and left out of the scenario. .io is $34.98 then $75.98 a year; .ai is $89.98 a year, 2 years at a time, renewing at $114.98. PremiumDNS ($4.88 the first year, then $9.98) is optional. Accounts with 50 or more domains can ask for special pricing.
Exit path: Unlock the domain under Sharing & Transfer and request the auth code, which is emailed to the registrant; Namecheap has 5 days to release it, and bulk transfer-out sends codes for many domains at once. There is no transfer-out fee. The agreement opts you out of the 60-day lock after a registrant change. An expired domain cannot be unlocked in the dashboard. No DNS export is described, so copy your records first.

### Squarespace Domains

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/squarespace-domains
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/squarespace-domains
Category: Domain registrars
Vendor: Squarespace, Inc.
Tagline: Domains sold on their own, no website needed: a .com is $10 for the first year and $20 to renew, with free privacy, DNSSEC on by default and email forwarding.
Value: A domain with privacy, DNSSEC, email aliases and forwarding switched on, managed in a simple dashboard, with no website plan required.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Worth the price
Value detail: Squarespace Domains turns on the common protections for you: privacy, DNSSEC and the transfer lock are on by default, and email aliases (with a catch-all) and URL forwarding are free. You can keep the domain on Squarespace DNS or point it at up to 13 custom nameservers. The restore fee is published, there is no transfer-out fee, and domain managers can be added without sharing billing. It suits owners of a few domains, whether or not they build a Squarespace site.
- Protections on by default: Help articles say free privacy is included automatically, DNSSEC is enabled for every Squarespace-managed domain whose TLD supports it, and the domain lock is on by default. (Help center articles on privacy, DNSSEC and domain lock (2026-10-16))
- Email aliases and forwarding included: Up to 100 email aliases with a catch-all (*) and 301 or 302 URL forwarding with SSL, at no charge. (Email forwarding and URL forwarding help articles (2026-10-16))
- Published restore fee, no transfer-out fee: The redemption table lists $45 for a .com, and the transfer article says Squarespace does not charge to transfer a domain away. (Redemption-fee and transfer help articles (2026-10-16))
Best for: Owners of a few domains, with or without a Squarespace site, who want privacy and DNSSEC set up for them.
Things to know: A .com renews at $20 after a $10 first year, and there are no bulk actions, DNS export or customer API.
Score: 6.8/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $20/yr (.com renewal (yearly list price) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per domain per year
.com year 1 / renewal: $10 (first-year discount) / $20
3-year .com cost (scenario): $50, computed
.io and .ai: .io $60 year 1 (list $70); .ai $85, 2-year minimum
ICANN fee: Not mentioned; home page says fees are included
Restore (redemption) fee: $45 for .com
Grace period after expiry: 30 days (Squarespace Domains LLC); 40 days for Tucows domains
Refund window (new registration): 5 days for gTLDs; none for .io
Nameservers: Squarespace DNS or 2–13 custom nameservers
Email forwarding: Free, up to 100 aliases, catch-all
Domain/DNS API: Reseller API only, for approved resellers
2FA: Passkeys and hardware keys, authenticator app, SMS in five countries
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Not stated
Registry lock: Not stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Squarespace Domains is the most hands-off option here, with protections on by default and a $45 restore fee. A .com renews at $20 after a $10 first year, and bulk tools, DNS export and a customer API are not offered.
Choose it if: You own a few domains and want privacy, DNSSEC and email aliases set up for you. · You build or plan a Squarespace site and want the domain in the same account. · You want a low, published restore fee.
Look elsewhere if: You manage many domains and need bulk changes or an API. · You want the .com renewal to match the first-year price.
Compared with: Namecheap (https://proofyo.com/products/namecheap) — pick Squarespace Domains when You want privacy and DNSSEC set up for you and a $45 restore fee.; pick Namecheap when You want bulk actions, a domain list export and an API. | GoDaddy (https://proofyo.com/products/godaddy) — pick Squarespace Domains when You want a lower .com renewal ($20 vs $22.99), free email forwarding and a 30-day grace period.; pick GoDaddy when You want BIND zone export, an API and ISO 27001 on the registrar platform.
Strengths:
- Protections switched on for you: Privacy, DNSSEC and the domain lock are on by default; custom nameservers are allowed, with a DS record field for them. (GoDaddy limits free DNSSEC to the first five domains in an account.)
- Low, published restore fee: The redemption table lists $45 for .com and .io, and the grace period is 30 days at the regular rate. (Porkbun lists a $200 restore fee.)
- Catch-all email aliases included: Up to 100 aliases, with an asterisk alias catching all other addresses. (Porkbun’s forwarding has no catch-all.)
- Managers without billing access: Unlimited domain managers can be added; they cannot see billing or turn off auto-renew, and a 90-day activity log is kept per domain.
Things to know:
- Renewal doubles after year one: A .com is $10 for the first year and $20 a year after; transfers in are charged the regular $20. Workaround: Registering for more years at once locks in the current price, per the help center.
- No bulk actions, DNS export or customer API: The help center says you cannot apply bulk changes, no DNS export is described, and the API is for approved resellers only. Workaround: The transfer guide suggests a screenshot of your DNS settings before moving.
- Pages disagree on fees and requirements: Tax inclusion, the redemption fee cap and whether a site plan is needed differ between the home page, the agreement and help articles.
Pricing reality: Squarespace bills each domain per year. For our scenario, one .com for 3 years costs $10 + 2 × $20 = $50 (computed), with privacy, DNS and DNSSEC included and no ICANN fee mentioned. Sales tax may be added at checkout according to the help center. .io is $60 for the first year (list $70), with no refund window; .ai is $85 with a 2-year minimum and cannot be transferred in. An annual Squarespace website plan includes one free domain for the first year, which then renews at its regular price ($20 for a .com). The restore fee is $45 for .com.
Exit path: Turn off Domain Lock, choose "Request transfer code" and reauthenticate; the code is emailed to the registrant, and Squarespace charges no transfer-out fee. DNSSEC must be removed before the transfer. No DNS export is described and DNS settings are not carried over, so record them first. The agreement allows opting out of the 60-day lock when you change registrant details.

### GoDaddy

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/godaddy
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/godaddy
Category: Domain registrars
Vendor: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Tagline: A large registrar with free privacy, DNS and URL forwarding: a .com is $0.01 for year one with a 3-year purchase, then $22.99 a year, plus the $0.20 ICANN fee.
Value: Free privacy and DNS on an ISO 27001-certified registrar platform, from a large provider, with self-serve auth codes and BIND zone export.
Value kinds: Easy to adopt, Compliance included
Value detail: GoDaddy sells domains on their own or with its hosting and website plans, with free privacy, DNS with up to 500 records, URL forwarding with HTTPS, and DNSSEC for the first five domains. Its registrar and DNS platform holds an ISO 27001:2022 certificate, auth codes and BIND zone files are self-serve, and a Domains API is documented. It suits buyers who want one large provider for the domain and the services around it, and who will compare the renewal price, not the first-year offer.
- ISO 27001 for the registrar platform: The trust center says the domain registrar and registry service is ISO 27001:2022 certified; the certificate (Schellman, expires Dec 18, 2027) covers the GoDaddy Domain Registrar platform and DNS services. (Trust center compliance page (Archive copy, re-checked live) and certificate PDF (2026-10-16))
- Self-serve exit tools: The auth code is shown in the dashboard and emailed to the registrant; zone files export in BIND format; the domain list exports as CSV with auth codes. (Help center articles (Archive copies, re-checked live) (2026-10-16))
- Privacy, DNS and forwarding included: Free privacy through Domains By Proxy (.com, .io and .ai eligible), DNS with up to 500 records, and 301, 302 or masked forwarding with HTTPS at no extra cost. (Domains page and help center (Archive copies, re-checked live) (2026-10-16))
Best for: Buyers who want domains, DNS and other web services from one large provider with a certified registrar platform.
Things to know: The advertised .com price is for the first year of a 3-year purchase; later years are $22.99 plus the $0.20 ICANN fee.
Score: 5.5/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $22.99/yr (.com renewal (yearly list price, plus ICANN fee) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per domain per year
.com year 1 / renewal: $0.01 with a 3-year purchase / $22.99, each plus $0.20 ICANN fee
3-year .com cost (scenario): $46.59, computed
.io and .ai: .io $0.01 year 1 (3-year purchase), renews $89.99; .ai $49.99 year 1 (2-year purchase), renews $159.99
ICANN fee: $0.20 a year, added at checkout
Restore (redemption) fee: Up to $99.99 for .com, plus the renewal
Grace period after expiry: 12 days at the normal renewal price
Refund window (new registration): 5 days; 45 days for a 1-year auto-renewal
Nameservers: GoDaddy DNS or any external nameservers
Email forwarding: Separate paid product; price not stated
Domain/DNS API: Domains API v3; help center adds conditions for availability checks
2FA: Passkeys and FIDO U2F security keys, authenticator app, SMS
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: ISO 27001:2022 for the registrar and DNS platform; SOC 2 not stated
Registry lock: Not offered as a product on the pages read
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, GoDaddy offers a certified registrar platform, free privacy and DNS, and good exit tools. Its first-year offers are well below the $22.99 renewal, the ICANN fee is added on top, and the grace period at the normal price is short.
Choose it if: You want domains, DNS, email and hosting from one large provider. · Your review asks for ISO 27001 on the registrar platform. · You want BIND zone export and self-serve auth codes.
Look elsewhere if: You want the renewal to stay close to the first-year price. · You want free email forwarding with the domain.
Compared with: Namecheap (https://proofyo.com/products/namecheap) — pick GoDaddy when You want BIND zone export, ISO 27001 for the registrar platform and a 45-day refund on one-year auto-renewals.; pick Namecheap when You want free email forwarding, a lower restore price ($88.48 including the renewal) and a one-year first purchase. | Squarespace Domains (https://proofyo.com/products/squarespace-domains) — pick GoDaddy when You want a domain API, zone file export and a domain list export with auth codes.; pick Squarespace Domains when You want a $45 published restore fee, a 30-day grace period and a lower .com renewal ($20).
Strengths:
- Certified registrar platform: An ISO 27001:2022 certificate names the GoDaddy Domain Registrar platform and DNS services. (Namecheap, Porkbun and Squarespace state no ISO 27001 or SOC 2 on the pages we read.)
- BIND zone export and self-serve auth codes: Zone files export in BIND format, auth codes are in the dashboard, and the 60-day lock after a registrant change can be declined. (Namecheap, Porkbun and Squarespace Domains describe no DNS zone export.)
- Privacy, DNS and HTTPS forwarding included: Privacy, DNS with up to 500 records and HTTPS URL forwarding are free, and external nameservers are allowed.
- Long refund on 1-year auto-renewals: The refund policy gives 5 days on new registrations and 45 days on a one-year auto-renewal.
Things to know:
- Renewals at $22.99 after a $0.01 first year: The $0.01 first year needs a 3-year purchase, and each later year is $22.99 plus the $0.20 ICANN fee; .io renews at $89.99 and .ai at $159.99. Workaround: The API pricing page lists lower rates ($9.79, then $14.99 on auto-renewal) for .com bought and auto-renewed through the v3 API.
- Short grace before redemption: The expiry timeline keeps the normal renewal price for 12 days after expiry; from day 18 a redemption fee of up to $99.99 for .com applies on top of the renewal. Workaround: Auto-renew is the default setting and charges on the expiry date.
- Email forwarding is a separate product: Email forwarding credits bundled with domains ended with Workspace Email; forwarding is now its own product, with no price on the pages we read.
- Prices differ between pages: The .com first year appears as $0.01 (3-year purchase), $2.99 (code, new customers) and $12.99 ("Regular Price") across three pages.
Pricing reality: GoDaddy bills each domain per year; prices exclude taxes and the $0.20 ICANN fee. For our scenario, one .com for 3 years costs $0.01 + 2 × $22.99 + 3 × $0.20 = $46.59 (computed), using the .com page offer that needs a 3-year purchase and no code. Without that offer, the Discount Domain Club table lists $12.99 for the first year. .io follows the same pattern ($0.01, then $89.99), and .ai is $49.99 then $159.99, 2 years at a time. Discount Domain Club ($9.99–$29.99 a month, billed annually) lowers renewals; v3 API purchases get member rates without the membership. DNSSEC beyond five domains needs Premium DNS.
Exit path: Unlock the domain, turn off privacy and downgrade any Domain Protection, then copy the auth code from the dashboard or the registrant email; transfers out are approved automatically within seven days. No transfer-out fee is listed. Zone files export in BIND format and the domain list as CSV, with auth codes. Ultimate Domain Protection blocks transfers until you downgrade it.

## Category: Secrets management

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/secrets-management

### Google Secret Manager

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/google-secret-manager
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/google-secret-manager
Category: Secrets management
Vendor: Google Cloud
Tagline: Pay-per-use secret storage in Google Cloud at $0.06 per active version, with a permanent free tier, IAM per secret and Google Cloud’s compliance scope.
Value: A pay-per-use secret store inside Google Cloud with a permanent free tier, IAM per secret and Google Cloud’s compliance coverage.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Compliance included
Value detail: Google Secret Manager charges $0.06 per active secret version a month and $0.03 per 10,000 access operations, after a permanent monthly free tier of 6 versions and 10,000 accesses. Secrets get IAM bindings per secret, versions you can roll back to, CMEK keys in Cloud KMS and location control with regional secrets. It is in scope for SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, FedRAMP and HIPAA, and Cloud Run, GKE, Cloud Build and GitHub Actions read secrets natively.
- Low cost for a small team: 200 secrets and 1,000,000 reads come to $14.61 a month: 194 versions above the free 6 at $0.06 and 99 × 10,000 accesses above the free 10,000 at $0.03 (computed). (Pricing page, monthly tab (2026-10-16))
- Covered by Google Cloud’s audits: Secret Manager is in scope for SOC 1, 2 and 3, ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 and PCI DSS; the Google Cloud BAA covers it with no plan gating, and FedRAMP Moderate and High are listed. (Services in scope, HIPAA and Secret Manager compliance pages (2026-10-16))
- Built into Google Cloud runtimes: Cloud Run, Cloud Run functions, Cloud Build, Compute Engine and GKE read secrets natively; the GKE add-on mounts them through the Secrets Store CSI Driver. (Docs: using Secret Manager with other products; GKE add-on (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams on Google Cloud that want a low-cost secret store under the IAM, KMS and audit logging they already use.
Things to know: Rotation mostly sends notifications for your own code to act on, and there are no dynamic secrets or push syncs to other platforms.
Score: 8.5/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.06/secret version/mo (Pay as you go (plus $0.03 per 10,000 access operations) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per active secret version per location and per 10,000 access operations
Free option: Permanent free tier: 6 versions, 10,000 accesses, 3 rotation notifications a month
Reference scenario (monthly): $14.61 (194 × $0.06 + 99 × $0.03), computed
Machine identities: Service accounts and IAM principals, not billed
Audit log retention: Secret reads: 30 days once Data Access logs are on; admin activity 400 days
Dynamic secrets: Not offered
Database rotation: Managed Cloud SQL rotation in Preview (regional secrets); Pub/Sub notifications otherwise
Kubernetes: Secret Manager add-on for GKE (CSI driver), sync to Kubernetes Secrets
SAML SSO / SCIM: Through Cloud Identity Free; Entra ID provisioning guide
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 1, 2, 3; ISO 27001, 27017, 27018
HIPAA BAA: Covered by the Google Cloud BAA, every account
EU data storage: Regional secrets or user-managed replication in EU locations
Self-hosting: Not offered
Secret export: One version at a time
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Google Secret Manager is the lowest-cost option here, at $14.61 a month for our scenario, with a permanent free tier and Google Cloud’s compliance coverage. Rotation is mostly yours to build, and there are no dynamic secrets or push syncs.
Choose it if: Your apps run on Cloud Run, GKE or Cloud Build. · You want a permanent free tier and low per-use pricing. · You need HIPAA, PCI DSS or FedRAMP coverage without a plan upgrade.
Look elsewhere if: You need managed rotation or dynamic secrets out of the box. · Your apps live outside Google Cloud and need push syncs. · You want a bulk .env export.
Compared with: AWS Secrets Manager (https://proofyo.com/products/aws-secrets-manager) — pick Google Secret Manager when You run on Google Cloud and want a permanent free tier and $14.61 a month for the scenario.; pick AWS Secrets Manager when You run on AWS and want managed rotation for RDS, Aurora, Redshift and DocumentDB. | Doppler (https://proofyo.com/products/doppler) — pick Google Secret Manager when You want per-use pricing with no seat fees and Google Cloud’s compliance coverage.; pick Doppler when You want push syncs to CI and hosting platforms and one UI for environments across clouds. | Infisical (https://proofyo.com/products/infisical) — pick Google Secret Manager when You want the lowest cost and IAM per secret inside Google Cloud.; pick Infisical when You want rotation for many databases and APIs, dynamic secrets and a self-hostable core.
Strengths:
- A permanent free tier: 6 active secret versions, 10,000 access operations and 3 rotation notifications every month, per billing account, during and after the free trial. (AWS Secrets Manager offers only Free Tier credit for new AWS accounts.)
- Lowest cost for our scenario: $14.61 a month for 200 secrets and 1,000,000 reads (computed), with no per-user or per-identity fee. (AWS Secrets Manager comes to $85 and Doppler Team to $210.)
- Compliance with no plan gate: SOC 2, ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018, PCI DSS, FedRAMP Moderate and High and a HIPAA BAA, offered to every account at the same price.
- Control over keys and location: CMEK keys in Cloud KMS, including Cloud EKM external keys, and regional secrets that keep data in one location.
Things to know:
- Rotation mostly runs through your own code: Global secrets get rotation notifications on Pub/Sub for your own code to act on; managed rotation is in Preview for regional Cloud SQL PostgreSQL and SQL Server secrets.
- No dynamic secrets or push syncs: There is no dynamic secret engine and no push sync to GitLab, Vercel, Netlify or other clouds; GitHub Actions and Google runtimes pull secrets.
- Secret reads are not logged by default: Data Access audit logs, which record secret reads, are off by default; once on, the default bucket keeps 30 days, and Cloud Logging bills $0.50 per GiB beyond 50 GiB per project a month. Workaround: Turn on Data Access logs for Secret Manager and route them to a longer-retention bucket or a SIEM through a log sink.
- Export one version at a time: The CLI and API read one secret version at a time; there is no bulk or .env export, and disabled versions keep billing until destroyed.
Pricing reality: Secret Manager bills $0.06 per active secret version per location a month and $0.03 per 10,000 access operations, after 6 free versions and 10,000 free accesses per billing account each month. For our scenario, 194 × $0.06 = $11.64 and 99 × $0.03 = $2.97, $14.61 a month in all (computed), with one version per secret and automatic replication, billed as one location. Older versions left enabled or disabled are billed too; destroyed versions are free. Rotation notifications are $0.05 each after 3 free. Adjacent costs: Cloud KMS for CMEK keys, Pub/Sub and your own rotation code, and Cloud Logging for Data Access logs beyond 50 GiB a month. The $300 new-customer credit is left out.
Exit path: Secrets are read one version at a time through gcloud or the API, which returns base64 payloads; there is no bulk export or migration tool. Cloud Asset Inventory exports secret metadata to BigQuery. Destroying a version is permanent unless delayed destruction is set, and a deleted secret is removed at once. The Cloud terms let you stop using the service at any time.

### Doppler

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/doppler
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/doppler
Category: Secrets management
Vendor: Doppler Technologies, Inc.
Tagline: A secrets platform billed per engineer, with machine identities free, syncs to CI and hosting, and SSO with 90-day logs on Team at $21 a user.
Value: One place to store, sync and rotate app secrets across environments, billed per engineer with machine identities free.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: Doppler keeps each project’s secrets per environment and delivers them where apps run: the CLI, a Kubernetes operator and syncs to GitHub Actions, Vercel, AWS, GCP and Azure stores. It bills only human users, so CI pipelines and services add no cost, and the free Developer plan covers 3 users. Team, at $21 per user a month, adds SAML SSO, automatic rotation, role-based access per environment and 90 days of activity logs.
- Syncs to where apps run: Config syncs push secrets to GitHub Actions, GitLab, Vercel, Netlify, AWS Secrets Manager, GCP Secret Manager, Azure Key Vault and more: 5 on Developer, 100 on Team. (Pricing page and integrations docs (2026-10-16))
- Machine identities are free: The pricing FAQ says pricing is based solely on per-seat human user fees, with no licensing, base or usage fees, and that machine identities are free. (Pricing page FAQ (2026-10-16))
- SSO, rotation and 90-day logs on Team: Team includes SAML SSO, automatic rotation (GCP Cloud SQL databases, IAM keys and API tokens through their APIs) and 90 days of activity logs. (Pricing page, rotation docs and platform limits (2026-10-16))
Best for: Engineering teams with many services and pipelines that want one secrets source synced to CI and hosting, priced by the number of engineers.
Things to know: Dynamic secrets, SCIM, SIEM forwarding and customer-managed keys are Enterprise features, and the cloud service is hosted in the US only.
Score: 7.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $21/user/mo (Team plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per human user per month; no secret, API or usage fees
Free option: Developer: 3 users free, $8 per additional user up to 25; 14-day Team trial, no card
Reference scenario (monthly): $210 on Team (10 × $21), computed
Machine identities: Free; service accounts from Team
Audit log retention: 3 days on Developer, 90 days on Team, custom on Enterprise
Dynamic secrets: Enterprise (AWS IAM, Azure Service Principal)
Database rotation: Team for GCP Cloud SQL via API; proxied AWS databases on Enterprise
Kubernetes: Doppler Kubernetes Operator and External Secrets provider, all plans
SAML SSO / SCIM: SAML on Team; SCIM on Enterprise
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001
HIPAA BAA: Not described
EU data storage: No EU region; GCP us-central1
Self-hosting: Doppler On-prem, Enterprise only
Secret export: CLI and API download as JSON, .env or YAML
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Doppler is a simple seat-priced secrets platform: machine identities are free, and Team at $21 a user adds SSO, rotation and 90-day logs. Dynamic secrets, SCIM, SIEM forwarding and customer-managed keys need Enterprise, and the cloud runs in the US only.
Choose it if: You have more machine identities than people and want them free. · You want syncs to CI and hosting platforms and SAML SSO on one self-serve plan. · You want a free plan for up to 3 users with integrations included.
Look elsewhere if: You need secret data stored in the EU on the cloud service. · You need dynamic secrets, SCIM or SIEM forwarding without an Enterprise contract. · Your security review requires a HIPAA BAA.
Compared with: Infisical (https://proofyo.com/products/infisical) — pick Doppler when You run many machine identities and want them free, with 90 days of logs on the $21 plan.; pick Infisical when You want an MIT-licensed core you can self-host, an EU cloud region, or dynamic secrets on a self-serve plan. | AWS Secrets Manager (https://proofyo.com/products/aws-secrets-manager) — pick Doppler when You want one place for secrets across clouds and hosting, synced to GitHub Actions, Vercel and others.; pick AWS Secrets Manager when Your workloads run on AWS and you want $85 a month for the scenario, a HIPAA BAA and customer-managed KMS keys. | HCP Vault Dedicated (https://proofyo.com/products/hcp-vault-dedicated) — pick Doppler when You want a seat-priced service at $210 a month for the scenario rather than a cluster billed by the hour.; pick HCP Vault Dedicated when You need dynamic database credentials, Vault policies and SCIM without an Enterprise contract.
Strengths:
- Machine identities ride free: Doppler bills only human seats; service accounts and machine identities cost nothing on plans that support them, and there are no per-secret or API fees. (Infisical bills every identity, human or machine, at the same per-identity price.)
- A free plan a small team can use: Developer allows 3 free users, 10 projects, 50 service tokens, 5 config syncs and 3 days of activity logs, with no secret cap beyond 1,200 per config. (Google Secret Manager’s free tier covers 6 active secret versions a month.)
- Syncs, rotation and Kubernetes on Team: Team includes 100 config syncs to targets such as GitHub Actions, Vercel and AWS Secrets Manager, rotation of GCP Cloud SQL databases and cloud keys through their APIs, and the Kubernetes operator.
- SSO and 90-day logs at $21: Team includes SAML SSO and keeps activity logs for 90 days, with Slack, Teams and Discord notifications. (Infisical keeps audit logs 30 days on Pro and 90 days on Advanced.)
Things to know:
- Dynamic secrets, SCIM and SIEM on Enterprise: Dynamic secrets (AWS IAM and Azure), SCIM, log forwarding to Splunk, Datadog and Sumo Logic, proxied AWS database rotation and customer-managed keys are Enterprise features, priced by sales.
- US hosting only: The security fact sheet places Doppler’s servers in GCP us-central1, and no EU region is offered for the cloud service. Workaround: Doppler markets Doppler On-prem, an Enterprise option, for data residency requirements.
- A shorter compliance file: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 are stated; the security, legal and pricing pages do not describe a HIPAA BAA or FIPS validation. Workaround: Reports are requested through the trust center at trust.doppler.com.
- Monthly billing only: Prices are per seat per month; no annual price or annual discount is published outside Enterprise contracts.
Pricing reality: Doppler bills each human user per month; machine identities, secrets and API calls are not billed. For our scenario, 10 engineers on Team cost 10 × $21 = $210 a month ($2,520 a year, computed), and the 5 machine identities are free. Developer would cost 7 × $8 = $56 a month for 10 users (computed), but it keeps 3 days of activity logs, short of the 30 days the scenario asks for. Team add-ons are $9 per seat a month each for custom roles, user groups and 500 syncs instead of 100. Dynamic secrets, SCIM, SIEM forwarding and customer-managed keys need Enterprise. Proxied rotation runs AWS Lambda functions in your own AWS account. Non-profits and students can ask for a 33% discount.
Exit path: The CLI command doppler secrets download and the download API export a config as JSON, .env, YAML or Docker formats, and the terms let you download your secrets at any time. After termination you can request an export within 30 days; a deleted workplace cannot be recovered. Activity logs can be read through the API.

### AWS Secrets Manager

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/aws-secrets-manager
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/aws-secrets-manager
Category: Secrets management
Vendor: Amazon Web Services
Tagline: Pay-as-you-go secret storage in your AWS account at $0.40 per secret a month, with managed RDS rotation, KMS keys and AWS’s compliance programs.
Value: Secrets stored and rotated inside your AWS account, under AWS’s compliance programs, IAM controls and CloudTrail audit trail.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: AWS Secrets Manager charges $0.40 per secret a month and $0.05 per 10,000 API calls, with no seats, tiers or minimums. It rotates Amazon RDS, Aurora, Redshift and DocumentDB credentials natively, encrypts with KMS keys you can manage yourself, and logs API calls to CloudTrail. It is in scope for SOC, ISO 27001, PCI DSS and FedRAMP and is HIPAA-eligible, so teams on AWS can add it under audits they already rely on.
- In scope for AWS’s audits: The compliance doc lists ISO/IEC 27001, 27017, 27018 and 9001; the services-in-scope pages list SOC 1, 2 and 3, PCI DSS and FedRAMP; it is HIPAA-eligible under a BAA with AWS. (Secrets Manager compliance doc and AWS services-in-scope pages (2026-10-16))
- Managed database rotation: Managed rotation covers Aurora, RDS, DocumentDB and Redshift, as often as every four hours, and managed external secrets cover partners such as Databricks, MongoDB Atlas and Snowflake. (FAQ and user guide: managed rotation and managed external secrets (2026-10-16))
- Pay per secret, not per person: No seats or tiers: $0.40 per secret a month and $0.05 per 10,000 API calls, no setup fees or commitments, and no charge for secrets scheduled for deletion. (Pricing page and AWS price file (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams whose workloads run on AWS and want secrets under the same IAM, KMS and CloudTrail controls they already use.
Things to know: There are no dynamic secrets or push syncs to other platforms, and there is no free tier beyond credit for new AWS accounts.
Score: 7.0/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.40/secret/mo (Pay as you go (plus $0.05 per 10,000 API calls) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per secret per month and per 10,000 API calls
Free option: No free tier of its own; up to $200 of AWS Free Tier credit for new accounts
Reference scenario (monthly): $85 (200 × $0.40 + 100 × $0.05), computed
Machine identities: IAM roles and users, not billed
Audit log retention: CloudTrail event history, 90 days; trails to S3 for longer
Dynamic secrets: Not offered
Database rotation: Managed rotation for RDS, Aurora, DocumentDB and Redshift
Kubernetes: Secrets Store CSI provider (ASCP), EKS add-on
SAML SSO / SCIM: IAM Identity Center, no extra charge
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 1, 2, 3; ISO 27001, 27017, 27018
HIPAA BAA: HIPAA-eligible under a BAA with AWS
EU data storage: Any EU region you choose
Self-hosting: Not offered
Secret export: One secret, or up to 20 per batch call
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, AWS Secrets Manager is a low-cost, widely certified secrets store for AWS workloads, at $85 a month for our scenario with native database rotation. It has no free tier of its own, no dynamic secrets and no push syncs beyond AWS.
Choose it if: Your apps run on AWS and use IAM roles. · You need HIPAA, PCI DSS or FedRAMP coverage for the secrets store. · You rotate RDS, Aurora or Redshift credentials.
Look elsewhere if: You need dynamic secrets or push syncs to other platforms. · You keep thousands of secrets and want a flat per-seat price. · You want a bulk .env export.
Compared with: Google Secret Manager (https://proofyo.com/products/google-secret-manager) — pick AWS Secrets Manager when Your workloads are on AWS and you want managed rotation for RDS, Aurora, Redshift and DocumentDB.; pick Google Secret Manager when You run on Google Cloud and want a permanent free tier and $14.61 a month for the scenario. | Doppler (https://proofyo.com/products/doppler) — pick AWS Secrets Manager when You want AWS’s compliance programs and KMS keys at $85 a month for the scenario.; pick Doppler when You want push syncs to GitHub Actions, Vercel and other clouds, and environments for every project in one UI. | Infisical (https://proofyo.com/products/infisical) — pick AWS Secrets Manager when You want one service per AWS account with IAM controls and no per-identity fee.; pick Infisical when You want dynamic secrets, syncs across clouds and an MIT core you can self-host.
Strengths:
- Broad compliance coverage: SOC 1, 2 and 3, ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018, PCI DSS, FedRAMP and HIPAA eligibility, with audit reports downloaded through AWS Artifact. (Doppler’s pages describe no HIPAA BAA, and HCP Vault Dedicated does not support one.)
- Native database rotation: Managed rotation for RDS, Aurora, DocumentDB and Redshift, and Lambda-based rotation for other targets. (Google Secret Manager’s managed rotation is in Preview for regional Cloud SQL secrets only.)
- Your own keys and network rules: Secrets can be encrypted with customer-managed KMS keys, an external key store or CloudHSM, reached over VPC endpoints, and limited by source IP or VPC in IAM policies; FIPS endpoints are available.
- Low cost at small scale: 200 secrets and 1,000,000 reads cost $85 a month (computed), with no per-user fee. (Doppler’s Team plan comes to $210 a month for 10 engineers.)
Things to know:
- No dynamic secrets or push syncs: There is no built-in dynamic secret engine, and secrets are pulled by GitHub Actions, the Kubernetes CSI provider or SDKs rather than pushed to other platforms.
- Cost grows with the secret count: Each secret and each replica region is $0.40 a month; 2,000 secrets would cost $800 a month before API calls (computed). Workaround: A secret can hold several values as JSON, up to 65,536 bytes, which the GitHub Action can split into variables.
- Export is one secret or 20 at a time: GetSecretValue returns one secret and BatchGetSecretValue up to 20 per call; there is no .env or YAML export and no importer from other vendors.
- No free tier of its own: The only free option is AWS Free Tier credit for new accounts, up to $200 over 6 months; an account not upgraded by then is suspended and later erased.
Pricing reality: Secrets Manager bills $0.40 per secret a month, prorated by the hour, and $0.05 per 10,000 API calls, with no seats, tiers or minimum. For our scenario, 200 secrets cost 200 × $0.40 = $80 and 1,000,000 reads cost 100 × $0.05 = $5, $85 a month in all (computed). People and machines are IAM principals and are not billed. Adjacent costs: a customer-managed KMS key adds $1 a month plus $0.03 per 10,000 requests; Lambda-based rotation pays Lambda rates; CloudTrail’s 90-day event history is free, while trails pay for S3 storage. Replicas in other regions are billed as separate secrets. Volume pricing is through AWS sales.
Exit path: Secrets are read through the CLI, SDKs or API, one at a time or up to 20 per BatchGetSecretValue call; there is no bulk file export or migration tool. A deleted secret can be restored for 7 to 30 days and is not billed in that window. After an AWS account is closed, content can be retrieved for 30 days.

### Infisical

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/infisical
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/infisical
Category: Secrets management
Vendor: Infisical
Tagline: An open-source secrets platform with syncs, rotation and dynamic secrets, billed per identity (human or machine) from $20, in US or EU cloud or self-hosted.
Value: An open-source secrets platform with syncs, rotation and dynamic secrets that you can use in its cloud or run yourself.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: Infisical stores secrets per project, environment and path and delivers them through its CLI, agent, Kubernetes operator and CSI provider, and through syncs to GitHub, Vercel, AWS, GCP, Azure and others. Its core is MIT-licensed, so a team can self-host it for free, and its cloud has US and EU regions. Pro, at $20 per identity a month billed annually, adds SAML SSO, point-in-time recovery and 30 days of audit logs; Advanced adds dynamic secrets and full rotation.
- An MIT-licensed core you can self-host: The deployment docs say the open-source core is MIT-licensed, with enterprise features under a commercial license; self-hosting runs on Docker, Docker Compose or Kubernetes. (Deployment models and self-hosting docs; vendor GitHub LICENSE (2026-10-16))
- Rotation and dynamic secrets for many targets: Rotation covers PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL, Oracle, MongoDB, Redis, cloud IAM keys, LDAP and APIs such as Stripe and Okta; dynamic secrets on Advanced cover databases, cloud IAM, Kubernetes and SSH. (Secret rotation and dynamic secrets docs (2026-10-16))
- US or EU cloud: The secrets management page offers EU or US cloud regions, and the cloud architecture doc describes a dedicated EU AWS account behind eu.infisical.com. (Secrets management page and cloud architecture docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that want a full secrets platform with an open-source exit path, or that need their secrets stored in an EU region.
Things to know: Every identity, human or machine, is billed; audit logs start on Pro with 30 days, and SCIM and SIEM streaming are Enterprise features.
Score: 6.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $20/identity/mo (Pro (billed annually; $23 month to month) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per identity (human or machine) per month
Free option: Free: 5 identities, 10 syncs; 30-day trial of paid plans, no card
Reference scenario (monthly): $300 on Pro (15 × $20, annual), computed
Machine identities: Billed like users; machines with identical permissions can share one
Audit log retention: None on Free, 30 days on Pro, 90 on Advanced, custom on Enterprise
Dynamic secrets: Advanced ($40 per identity)
Database rotation: Pro for public databases; full rotation on Advanced
Kubernetes: Operator, Agent Injector and CSI provider; External Secrets provider
SAML SSO / SCIM: SAML on Pro; SCIM on Enterprise
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; no ISO 27001 stated
HIPAA BAA: HIPAA compliance stated; BAA by agreement, plan not stated
EU data storage: EU cloud region (eu.infisical.com)
Self-hosting: MIT-licensed core free; enterprise features need a license
Secret export: CLI export as dotenv, CSV, JSON or YAML
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Infisical pairs broad rotation, syncs and dynamic secrets on self-serve plans with an MIT core to self-host and an EU region. Every identity is billed, audit logs start on Pro with 30 days, and SCIM and SIEM streaming need Enterprise.
Choose it if: You want the option to self-host an MIT-licensed core later. · You need secrets stored in an EU region. · You want rotation and dynamic secrets for many databases and APIs on a self-serve plan.
Look elsewhere if: You have many machine identities that cannot share permissions and want them free. · You need SCIM or SIEM streaming without an Enterprise contract. · Your security review requires ISO 27001.
Compared with: Doppler (https://proofyo.com/products/doppler) — pick Infisical when You want an EU region, an open-source self-host path, or dynamic secrets without an Enterprise contract.; pick Doppler when You run many machines and want them free, with 90-day logs on the $21 seat plan. | HCP Vault Dedicated (https://proofyo.com/products/hcp-vault-dedicated) — pick Infisical when You want $300 a month for the scenario, with syncs to CI and hosting on the entry paid plan.; pick HCP Vault Dedicated when You need dynamic secrets on the entry production tier and already use Vault policies and tooling. | AWS Secrets Manager (https://proofyo.com/products/aws-secrets-manager) — pick Infisical when Your apps span several clouds and hosting platforms and you want syncs and environments in one UI.; pick AWS Secrets Manager when Your workloads are on AWS and you want $85 a month for the scenario, with ISO 27001 and FedRAMP.
Strengths:
- Self-host the MIT core: The open-source core is MIT-licensed; self-hosted paid features need a license key, and when a license expires Infisical keeps running with those features turned off. (Doppler’s self-hosted option, Doppler On-prem, is an Enterprise plan.)
- Rotation across many targets: Rotation covers PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL, Oracle, MongoDB, Redis, AWS, Azure and GCP keys, LDAP and APIs such as Stripe and Okta; Pro rotates public databases, Advanced the rest. (Google Secret Manager’s managed rotation is in Preview for regional Cloud SQL secrets.)
- Dynamic secrets on a self-serve plan: Advanced, bought online at $40 per identity, generates dynamic credentials for databases, AWS, GCP and Azure identities, Kubernetes, SSH and more. (Doppler keeps dynamic secrets on Enterprise.)
- EU cloud region: Infisical Cloud runs in US and EU regions; the EU cloud at eu.infisical.com uses a dedicated EU AWS account. (Doppler hosts its cloud in GCP us-central1 only.)
Things to know:
- Machine identities are billed: Pro and Advanced charge for every identity, human or machine, and the 5 free identities become billable after an upgrade. Workaround: The identity docs let machines that need identical permissions share one machine identity.
- Audit logs start on Pro: Free keeps no audit log; Pro keeps 30 days and Advanced 90. Audit log streaming to a SIEM, SCIM and approval workflows are Enterprise features.
- Plan pages disagree in places: Custom roles and gateways sit on different plans on the pricing page and in the docs, and rate limits are given only as Normal, Higher and Custom. Workaround: Confirm the plan for a feature with Infisical before buying.
- No ISO 27001 stated: The pages state SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance, with reports in a trust center; no ISO 27001 certificate is claimed, and FIPS and external KMS or HSM keys are Enterprise.
Pricing reality: Infisical bills per identity, and an identity is any human or machine that authenticates. For our scenario, 10 engineers and 5 machine identities on Pro cost 15 × $20 = $300 a month billed annually ($3,600 a year), or 15 × $23 = $345 month to month (computed). Pro is the cheapest plan that covers it: Free stops at 5 identities and keeps no audit log, and Pro keeps 30 days. Advanced, at $40 per identity, adds dynamic secrets, full rotation and 90 days of logs: $600 a month for 15 (computed). Machines with identical permissions may share one identity, which lowers the count. SCIM, SIEM streaming, approval workflows and external KMS or HSM keys are Enterprise features priced by sales, and so is self-hosted support.
Exit path: The CLI command infisical export writes secrets as dotenv, CSV, JSON or YAML, and secret syncs can push to Vault, AWS, GCP and Azure stores. The terms keep customer data available for export for 60 days after termination before deletion. The MIT-licensed core can also be self-hosted.

### HCP Vault Dedicated

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/hcp-vault-dedicated
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/hcp-vault-dedicated
Category: Secrets management
Vendor: HashiCorp, an IBM company
Tagline: Managed single-tenant Vault clusters with dynamic secrets and rotation on every tier, billed per cluster-hour plus $72.92 per client a month.
Value: Vault run for you by HashiCorp: dynamic credentials, rotation and fine-grained policies on a single-tenant cluster you do not operate.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time
Value detail: HCP Vault Dedicated is a managed, single-tenant Vault cluster with most Vault Enterprise features. Every tier includes dynamic secrets, auto-rotating secrets, versioned key/value storage and path-based policies, and Essentials adds audit logs with streaming, high availability and snapshots. You pay per cluster-hour plus a monthly fee per client, so the cost follows how many people, apps and pipelines authenticate rather than how many secrets you keep.
- Dynamic secrets on every tier: The tier comparison marks dynamic secrets and auto-rotating secrets on Development, Essentials and Standard; database plugins include PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL, Oracle, MongoDB Atlas and Snowflake. (Vault pricing tab, Internet Archive copy of 2026-06-06; integrations docs (2026-10-16))
- Vault policies and namespaces: Path-based ACL policies are deny by default, tokens can be bound to CIDR blocks, and namespaces are available on all tiers. (Policies and token docs; tiers and features (2026-10-16))
- Audit streaming on Essentials: Essentials streams audit logs to CloudWatch, Datadog, Elasticsearch, Grafana Cloud, New Relic, Splunk or HTTP, and keeps 30 days for download. (Logs and metrics and integrations docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that already use Vault or need dynamic database and cloud credentials, and want HashiCorp to run the cluster.
Things to know: Cost starts at a cluster-hour fee plus $72.92 per client a month, and the managed service has no HIPAA BAA, customer-managed keys or FIPS mode.
Score: 5.2/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.62/cluster-hour (Development (Extra Small, up to 25 clients) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per cluster-hour by tier and size, plus per client per month
Free option: No free tier; $500 of trial credit for 6 months, no card
Machine identities: Billed as clients, like people, at $72.92 a month
Audit log retention: 30 days for download from Essentials; none on Development
Dynamic secrets: Every tier
Database rotation: Every tier (database static roles)
Kubernetes: Vault Secrets Operator and CSI provider
SAML SSO / SCIM: HCP SAML or OIDC SSO and SCIM, no plan gate stated
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: Restricted-use SOC 2 report, type not stated; ISO 27001 and 27017
HIPAA BAA: Not supported
EU data storage: EU regions on AWS and Azure; snapshots in the US
Self-hosting: Vault Community (BSL 1.1); Vault Enterprise through sales
Secret export: Per path via CLI or API; no bulk export
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, HCP Vault Dedicated puts the most secret-lifecycle features on its entry production tier, with SSO, SCIM and audit streaming self-serve. At $2,245.73 a month it costs the most for our scenario, and it offers no HIPAA BAA or customer-managed keys.
Choose it if: You already run Vault tooling and want HashiCorp to operate the cluster. · You need dynamic database and cloud credentials on the entry production tier. · You want SSO, SCIM and audit streaming without a sales contract.
Look elsewhere if: You want to pay per secret or per engineer rather than per cluster-hour and client. · You need a HIPAA BAA or customer-managed keys on a managed service. · You want to export all secrets in one command.
Compared with: Doppler (https://proofyo.com/products/doppler) — pick HCP Vault Dedicated when You need dynamic credentials, Vault policies and SCIM without an Enterprise contract.; pick Doppler when You want seat pricing at $210 a month for the scenario, free machine identities and syncs on the same plan. | Infisical (https://proofyo.com/products/infisical) — pick HCP Vault Dedicated when You want Vault’s API, policies and ecosystem, with dynamic secrets on the first production tier.; pick Infisical when You want $300 a month for the scenario, syncs on the entry paid plan and an MIT core to self-host. | AWS Secrets Manager (https://proofyo.com/products/aws-secrets-manager) — pick HCP Vault Dedicated when You need dynamic secrets and one Vault across several clouds.; pick AWS Secrets Manager when Your apps run on AWS and you want $85 a month for the scenario, a HIPAA BAA and customer-managed KMS keys.
Strengths:
- Dynamic secrets from the first tier: Dynamic and auto-rotating secrets are on every tier, with database plugins for PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL, Oracle, MongoDB Atlas, Snowflake and Redshift, and AWS, Azure and GCP secrets engines. (Doppler keeps dynamic secrets on Enterprise; Infisical starts them on Advanced.)
- SSO, SCIM and audit streaming without sales: HCP organizations can set up SAML or OIDC SSO and SCIM with no plan gate stated, and Essentials streams audit logs to Splunk, Datadog and other targets. (Doppler and Infisical keep SCIM and SIEM streaming on Enterprise.)
- Vault policies and namespaces: Path-based policies are deny by default and can bind tokens to CIDR blocks; namespaces are available on all tiers.
- A self-managed path: Vault Community is free for production use under the BSL 1.1 license, except in competing hosted offerings, and Vault Enterprise can be self-managed through sales.
Things to know:
- Cluster and client fees add up: Essentials Small is about $1,152 a month for 730 hours before clients, and each client adds $72.92 a month; a client that uses several clusters is counted on each. Workaround: Development is $0.62 an hour for up to 25 clients, though the pricing page positions it for exploring features in a limited environment.
- Secrets sync on Standard, billed per secret: Push syncs to GitHub, Vercel and AWS, Azure and GCP stores are on Standard only, and each synced secret counts as a billable client. Workaround: The Vault GitHub Action and Kubernetes integrations read secrets on every tier.
- No HIPAA BAA or customer-managed keys: The security overview says HIPAA BAAs and external AWS KMS or Azure Key Vault keys are not supported; FIPS 140 and HSM auto-unseal are only in self-managed Vault Enterprise.
- Export is per path: The CLI reads secrets path by path as tables, JSON or YAML; there is no bulk export command or migration tool, only example scripts.
Pricing reality: HCP Vault Dedicated bills cluster-hours by tier and size plus a monthly fee per client, pay as you go with no commitment; contract pricing is through sales. For our scenario, an Essentials Small cluster for 730 hours costs 730 × $1.57799 = $1,151.93, and 15 clients (10 engineers and 5 machine identities) cost 15 × $72.92 = $1,093.80, $2,245.73 a month in all (computed from IBM’s list). Development is left out because it has no audit logging. Secrets sync needs Standard and adds a client for every synced secret. Client counts reset monthly and cannot be reduced mid-month. Support is included: Silver on Essentials, Gold on Standard. IBM calls its prices indicative, before taxes.
Exit path: Secrets come out per path through the CLI or API as JSON or YAML; HashiCorp offers example scripts rather than a migration tool. A deleted cluster can be restored for up to 30 days. Audit logs can be downloaded for 30 days or streamed. Vault Community can be self-hosted with the same API and policies.

## Category: Zero-trust access and business VPN

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/zero-trust-access

### Cloudflare Zero Trust

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-zero-trust
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/cloudflare-zero-trust
Category: Zero-trust access and business VPN
Vendor: Cloudflare, Inc.
Tagline: Zero-trust access, a secure web gateway and a device client on Cloudflare’s network, free for up to 50 users and $7 per user a month above that.
Value: Zero-trust access, DNS and web filtering and device posture for up to 50 users at no cost, with a $7 per-user plan above that.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time, Compliance included
Value detail: The Free plan is a working zero-trust setup rather than a trial: up to 50 users sign in with Okta, Entra ID, Google Workspace or any SAML or OIDC provider, private apps and networks are reached through the cloudflared connector, and Gateway filters DNS, HTTP and network traffic. Posture checks such as disk encryption, firewall and OS version, and integrations with CrowdStrike, SentinelOne and Intune, are on that plan too. Above 50 users, Pay-as-you-go costs $7 per user a month, and the compliance file includes SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
- Free for up to 50 users: The plans page lists the Free plan at "$0 forever" with a 50-user limit, for teams under 50 users or enterprise proof-of-concept tests, with no non-commercial restriction stated. (Plans page data (2026-10-16))
- Private access and filtering in one client: Access policies, DNS, HTTP and L4 filtering, antivirus inspection and SSH command logging are listed on every plan, so one client covers private access and web filtering. (Plans page data (2026-10-16))
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for all plans: The trust hub says all Cloudflare plans are in scope of its SOC 2 report and lists ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701; dashboard SSO is free on every plan. (Trust hub SOC 2 and compliance pages, dashboard SSO docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams of up to 50 people, or larger teams that want private access and web filtering from one vendor, who sign in with a SAML or OIDC identity provider.
Things to know: Logpush to a SIEM, dedicated egress IPs and EU data localization are listed for the Contract or Enterprise plan, priced by sales.
Score: 8.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $7/user/mo (Pay-as-you-go plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user who authenticates; no device count published
Free option: Free plan for up to 50 users, business use allowed; no trial
Reference scenario (25 users): $0/mo on Free (25 of 50 users), computed
Annual vs monthly price: $7 per user on Pay-as-you-go; pages disagree on monthly or annual billing
Devices per user: Not stated
Okta / Entra ID sign-in: Every plan (any SAML or OIDC provider)
SCIM: SAML and OIDC providers; no plan restriction stated
Device posture: Built-in checks and EDR or MDM integrations on every plan
Network flow logs: Every plan; 24 hours on Free, 30 days on Pay-as-you-go
SIEM streaming: Logpush on Contract per the plans page; the docs say all customers
Self-hosted parts: cloudflared connector (open source)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (in the dashboard, under NDA); ISO 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise-level customers handling PHI
EU data storage: Data Localization Suite, Enterprise add-on
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Cloudflare Zero Trust puts access, filtering and posture on a Free plan for up to 50 users. Activity logs are short below Contract, and SIEM export, egress IPs and EU storage go through sales.
Choose it if: Your team has 50 users or fewer and wants a free plan it can use for business. · You want DNS and web filtering in the same client as private access. · You sign in with any SAML or OIDC provider and want posture checks with EDR integrations.
Look elsewhere if: You need SIEM streaming, egress IPs or EU data storage without a sales contract. · You want traffic end-to-end encrypted between devices on every path.
Compared with: Tailscale (https://proofyo.com/products/tailscale) — pick Cloudflare Zero Trust when You want up to 50 users free for business use, with DNS and web filtering in the same client.; pick Tailscale when You want direct WireGuard connections between devices, unlimited devices per user and a policy file in Git. | Twingate (https://proofyo.com/products/twingate) — pick Cloudflare Zero Trust when You need Okta or Entra ID sign-in, SCIM and MDM posture without paying for a Business plan.; pick Twingate when You want traffic end-to-end encrypted through relays and a 14-day trial of a paid plan. | NordLayer (https://proofyo.com/products/nordlayer) — pick Cloudflare Zero Trust when You want filtering and posture without a dedicated server fee.; pick NordLayer when You want a dedicated static IP and a HIPAA BAA on a self-serve annual plan.
Strengths:
- Most features on the Free plan: IdP sign-in, access policies, device posture integrations, connectors, DNS and HTTP filtering, SSH command logging and Terraform are all on Free, for up to 50 users. (Tailscale’s free plan is non-commercial and Twingate’s Starter allows 5 users.)
- Built-in DNS and web filtering: Gateway filters DNS, HTTP(S) with TLS inspection and L4 traffic by port and protocol on every plan. (Tailscale sells DNS filtering through sales, Twingate as an unpriced add-on on Business, and ZeroTier does not offer it.)
- Any SAML or OIDC identity provider: Okta, Entra ID, Google Workspace and generic SAML and OIDC connectors are supported on Free, and SCIM works with SAML and OIDC providers with no plan restriction stated.
- Broad compliance file: SOC 2 Type II with all plans in scope, ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701, and dashboard SSO free on every plan.
- Temporary access with approval: Access policies can require a purpose justification and an approver who grants access for up to 24 hours, listed on every plan.
Things to know:
- Short activity logs below Contract: Access, DNS, network and HTTP logs are kept 24 hours on Free and 30 days on Pay-as-you-go; admin logs are kept 18 months on every plan. Workaround: Log Explorer stores logs for $1 per GB a month after 10 GB free.
- A hard seat cap: Once purchased seats (or Free’s 50) are used, more users are blocked at login; seats stay taken until users are removed, and inactive-seat expiry is off by default. Workaround: Turn on seat expiration, or buy more seats before adding users.
- Enterprise-only data options: Dedicated egress IPs, EU data localization and a HIPAA BAA are Enterprise items with no published price; with the EU metadata boundary, Access user logs are not available outside the US region and the docs point EU customers to Logpush.
- TLS inspection runs in Cloudflare data centers: With TLS inspection on, Gateway decrypts traffic in memory in Cloudflare data centers and re-encrypts it. Mesh, the device-to-device option, is in beta and routes through the nearest Cloudflare data center.
Pricing reality: Cloudflare bills per user who authenticates, with no device count published. For our scenario, 25 users fit the Free plan: $0 a month (computed). Pay-as-you-go is $7 per user a month ($175 for 25 users, computed), mainly for teams over 50 users or that want 30-day logs; the pages disagree on whether that price is billed monthly or annually. Contract plans are priced by sales and hold Logpush to a SIEM (per the plans page), longer retention, dedicated egress IPs, DLP and email security. Logpush is usage-priced in the docs (25 GB a month included, then $0.03 to $0.10 per GB) and Log Explorer is $1 per GB after 10 GB. Fees are non-refundable.
Exit path: Policies, applications and settings can be managed through the API and the official Terraform provider on every plan, so they can be kept as code; no export button is described. Logs leave through Logpush or Log Explorer. After cancelling, access continues to the end of the term, and the DPA lets you choose deletion or return of personal data; user records themselves cannot be deleted.

### Twingate

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/twingate
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/twingate
Category: Zero-trust access and business VPN
Vendor: Twingate Inc.
Tagline: Resource-level remote access through connectors you run in your own networks, free for 5 users and $5 per user a month on Teams billed yearly.
Value: Resource-by-resource access to private networks through connectors you run, with Google Workspace sign-in and posture checks from $5 per user.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Twingate replaces a VPN gateway with lightweight Connectors deployed inside each network (Docker, Kubernetes, systemd or cloud images), so users reach individual Resources by group policy rather than a whole subnet. Google Workspace sign-in, resource-level policies, native posture checks (disk encryption, firewall, antivirus, minimum OS) and real-time network logs are on every plan. Teams costs $5 per user a month billed yearly, and traffic is end-to-end encrypted through Twingate’s relays.
- Teams at $5 per user, billed yearly: Teams covers up to 100 users, 3 admins, 20 Remote Networks and 100 Resources, with the admin audit log, for $5 per user a month billed yearly or $6 monthly. (Pricing page and its plan table (2026-10-16))
- Connectors instead of a VPN server: Connectors run on Docker, Helm, systemd, ECS, AMIs and more, as many per Remote Network as needed, and reach CIDR ranges or single hosts with port restrictions. (Connectors, Remote Networks and Resources docs (2026-10-16))
- Native posture checks on every plan: Disk encryption, screen lock, firewall, antivirus and minimum OS checks are on every plan, Starter included. (Plan table and device posture docs (2026-10-16))
- SOC 2 Type 2 and a DPA in the terms: Twingate has an annual SOC 2 Type 2 report, requested through its trust portal; the DPA and SCCs are part of the terms, and the subprocessor list is published. (SOC 2 and security docs, DPA and subprocessor page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Small and mid-size teams on Google Workspace that want per-resource access to private networks without running a VPN server.
Things to know: Okta and Entra ID sign-in, SCIM and MDM or EDR posture integrations start on Business ($10 per user billed yearly).
Score: 7.3/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $5/user/mo (Teams (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month, counting admins, pending and disabled users and service accounts
Free option: Starter: free for 5 users; 14-day trial of paid plans
Reference scenario (25 users): $125/mo on Teams ($5 × 25, yearly), $5 per user, computed
Annual vs monthly price: Teams $5 yearly or $6 monthly; Business $10 or $12
Devices per user: 5 on every plan; custom on Enterprise
Okta / Entra ID sign-in: Business and up; Google Workspace on every plan
SCIM: Business and up (Okta SCIM)
Device posture: Native checks on every plan; MDM and EDR integrations from Business
Network flow logs: Every plan; 24 hours Starter, 7 days Teams, 30 days Business
SIEM streaming: Business and up per the docs; the plan table also ticks Home
Self-hosted parts: Connectors (always customer-run)
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 (trust portal, on request); ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Not stated; the HIPAA page says to ask by email
EU data storage: No; data stored in the US
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Twingate offers per-resource access through your own connectors at $5 per user on Teams, with posture checks and an audit log. Enterprise identity providers, SCIM and longer logs start on Business, and data is stored in the US.
Choose it if: Your company signs in with Google Workspace and has up to 100 users. · You want access per resource rather than to whole subnets. · You want a free plan for up to 5 users that you can use for business.
Look elsewhere if: You need Okta or Entra ID sign-in at the entry paid price. · You need EU data storage or ISO 27001.
Compared with: Tailscale (https://proofyo.com/products/tailscale) — pick Twingate when You sign in with Google Workspace and want the lowest yearly per-user price, with connectors you run in each network.; pick Tailscale when You sign in with Okta or Entra ID and want SCIM and MDM posture at $8 per user, with unlimited devices per user. | Cloudflare Zero Trust (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-zero-trust) — pick Twingate when You want traffic end-to-end encrypted through relays and a 14-day trial of a paid plan.; pick Cloudflare Zero Trust when You have 50 users or fewer and want a free plan with Okta or Entra ID sign-in, posture integrations and DNS filtering. | NordLayer (https://proofyo.com/products/nordlayer) — pick Twingate when You want per-resource access through your own connectors without a dedicated server fee.; pick NordLayer when You also want internet egress through shared or dedicated gateways in 40+ countries.
Strengths:
- Low entry price for paid access: Teams is $5 per user a month billed yearly, with group policies per Resource, native posture checks, the admin audit log and network logs. (Tailscale Standard is $8 per user, and NordLayer Core $11 plus a $40 server, billed yearly.)
- Connectors you control: Connectors run in your networks with no cap on their number, and nothing between Client and Connector, Twingate’s Relays included, can decrypt the traffic, per the encryption docs.
- A free plan small teams can use for business: Starter is free for 5 users with Google Workspace sign-in, resource policies, native posture checks and the Admin API, with no non-commercial restriction stated. (The free plans of Tailscale and ZeroTier are for non-commercial use.)
- API, Terraform and Pulumi on every plan: The GraphQL Admin API, Terraform and Pulumi providers and a Kubernetes Operator are listed on every plan.
Things to know:
- Enterprise identity providers start on Business: Okta, Entra ID, JumpCloud and other IdPs, SCIM and MDM or EDR posture integrations are on Business ($10 yearly, $12 monthly); Teams supports Google Workspace and social logins.
- Short log retention on Teams: The plan table lists 7 days of log retention on Teams, 30 days on Business and 12 months on Enterprise; S3 and SIEM sync start on Business per the docs. Workaround: Connector logs can be forwarded from journald to your own syslog or SIEM.
- Every account counts as a seat: Admins, pending and disabled users and every service account are billed; on yearly plans, added users are charged monthly and reductions wait for renewal. Fees are not refundable.
- US-only data storage: Customer data is stored on Controller servers in the United States; no EU storage option or ISO 27001 certificate is stated.
Pricing reality: Twingate bills per user a month, counting admins, pending and disabled users and service accounts. For our scenario, 25 users on Teams cost 25 × $5 = $125 a month billed yearly, or $5 per user ($150 a month month to month), computed, with Google Workspace sign-in. If the company signs in with Okta or Entra ID, Business is needed: 25 × $10 = $250 a month billed yearly (computed). Teams allows 100 users, 20 Remote Networks and 100 Resources; Business 500, 100 and 300. DNS filtering (a Business add-on), static IPs (an Enterprise add-on), extra support and privileged access beyond 5 Resources have no published price. Non-profits and education get a discount through sales.
Exit path: Configuration (Remote Networks, Resources, groups, users, devices and policies) can be read through the GraphQL Admin API and managed with Terraform or Pulumi; no policy export file is described. Audit logs and network events download from the Admin Console as gzipped JSON. Cancelling means switching the subscription to Starter in the Admin Console, and the paid plan ends with its current term; the DPA commits to deleting or returning personal data, without a number of days.

### Tailscale

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/tailscale
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/tailscale
Category: Zero-trust access and business VPN
Vendor: Tailscale Inc.
Tagline: A WireGuard mesh network for teams, with identity-provider sign-in, access rules and subnet routers on every plan, from $8 per user a month with unlimited user devices.
Value: A private WireGuard network for every laptop, phone and server, reached through your identity provider and one policy file instead of a VPN gateway.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Easy to adopt
Value detail: Tailscale connects devices and servers directly over WireGuard, and users sign in with the identity provider the company already uses (Okta, Entra ID, Google Workspace and others) on every plan. Access is default-deny and written in one policy file that can live in Git or Terraform, so there is no VPN gateway to size or patch. User devices are unlimited and 50 servers or subnet routers are included, which suits teams where each person carries a laptop and a phone.
- One policy file for the whole network: ACLs are directional and default-deny, kept in a HuJSON policy file that the API, GitOps and the official Terraform provider can read and write on every plan. (Security page, tailnet policy file and Terraform docs (2026-10-16))
- IdP sign-in and subnet routers on every plan: SSO with any identity provider, subnet routers, exit nodes and app connectors are listed on all plans, the free Personal plan included. (Pricing page comparison table, subnet router and app connector docs (2026-10-16))
- Devices are not the billing unit: Plans are priced per user; user devices are unlimited on every plan, and 50 tagged resources are included, with more at $1 a month each. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- SOC 2 Type II and a DPA in the terms: Tailscale has completed a SOC 2 Type II audit; the DPA is part of the agreement with the EU SCCs, and the subprocessor list is published with notice of changes. (Security page, DPA and subprocessor page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Engineering-led teams replacing a VPN who want every device, server and cloud network on one identity-aware network, managed as code.
Things to know: Network flow logs and log streaming to a SIEM start on Premium ($18 per user), and there is no HIPAA BAA on any plan.
Score: 6.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $8/user/mo (Standard plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month; user devices unlimited; 50 tagged resources included, then $1/mo each
Free option: Personal: free for up to 6 users, non-commercial only; 14-day Enterprise trial for company domains
Reference scenario (25 users): $200/mo on Standard ($8 × 25), $8 per user, computed
Annual vs monthly price: One price per plan with no billing term; annual plans through sales
Devices per user: Unlimited on every plan
Okta / Entra ID sign-in: Every plan (OIDC)
SCIM: Standard and up (Okta, Entra ID, Google Workspace)
Device posture: Built-in checks on every plan; MDM and EDR integrations from Standard
Network flow logs: Premium and up, 30 days
SIEM streaming: Premium and up
Self-hosted parts: DERP relays and peer relays
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (on request); ISO 27001 not stated
HIPAA BAA: Not offered
EU data storage: Not guaranteed; coordination server in Frankfurt
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Tailscale gives a team identity-aware access to every device and server from the first plan, with unlimited user devices and policy as code. Flow logs and SIEM streaming start on Premium, and there is no BAA or EU residency guarantee.
Choose it if: Your users carry several devices each and you do not want to count them. · You want access rules kept as code in Git or Terraform. · You sign in with Okta, Entra ID or Google Workspace and want SCIM and MDM posture on a self-serve plan.
Look elsewhere if: You need a HIPAA BAA or guaranteed EU data residency. · You need flow logs or SIEM streaming below $18 per user. · You want built-in DNS filtering or a secure web gateway.
Compared with: Cloudflare Zero Trust (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-zero-trust) — pick Tailscale when You want direct device-to-device WireGuard connections, unlimited devices per user and a policy file kept in Git.; pick Cloudflare Zero Trust when You want up to 50 users free for business use, with DNS and web filtering in the same client. | Twingate (https://proofyo.com/products/twingate) — pick Tailscale when You sign in with Okta or Entra ID and want SCIM and MDM posture at $8 per user rather than on a $10 Business plan.; pick Twingate when You sign in with Google Workspace and want a lower yearly price ($5 per user on Teams) with connectors you run in each network. | ZeroTier (https://proofyo.com/products/zerotier) — pick Tailscale when You need device posture, SCIM or flow logs, which ZeroTier does not offer.; pick ZeroTier when You want to pay per device rather than per user, or need Layer 2 networking.
Strengths:
- Identity sign-in and access rules on every plan: SSO with Okta, Entra ID, Google, GitHub, OneLogin or custom OIDC, default-deny ACLs, subnet routers and exit nodes are on every plan, Personal included. (Twingate keeps Okta and Entra ID sign-in for Business; ZeroTier offers OIDC sign-in from Essential, on desktops only.)
- Unlimited user devices: Each user can sign in on as many laptops and phones as needed; only servers and other tagged resources are counted, with 50 included. (Twingate allows 5 devices per user and NordLayer 6 connections.)
- Policy as code: The tailnet policy file is HuJSON and can be managed through the API, GitOps or the official Terraform provider on every plan.
- Posture with MDM and EDR from Standard: Built-in checks (OS, client version, auto-update, encrypted state) are on every plan; CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Intune, Jamf, Iru (Kandji) and other integrations start on Standard.
- Relays you can run yourself: DERP relays are open source and can be self-hosted, customer-run peer relays are on every plan, and traffic stays end-to-end encrypted through relays.
Things to know:
- Flow logs and SIEM streaming start on Premium: Network flow logs (30 days, through the API and streaming only) and log streaming to Splunk, Datadog, S3 and others are on Premium at $18 per user. Workaround: The configuration audit log (90 days) and webhooks are on every plan.
- No published annual price, no refunds: The pricing page shows one price per plan and annual plans go through sales. Fees are non-refundable, and a seat added when a new user logs in stays billed even if the user is removed right away. Workaround: Self-serve plans can be cancelled from the Billing page and drop to Personal at the end of the period.
- No HIPAA BAA or EU residency guarantee: The security page says Tailscale does not execute BAAs; its EU page says EU data residency is not guaranteed today, although there is a coordination server in Frankfurt.
- DNS filtering through sales: DNS filtering by Control D is bought from the sales team with no published price, and there is no secure web gateway. Workaround: NextDNS or Control D can be set as the network’s nameservers.
Pricing reality: Tailscale bills per user a month; user devices are unlimited and 50 tagged resources (servers, subnet routers, exit nodes, app connectors) are included, then $1 a month each. For our scenario, 25 users on Standard cost 25 × $8 = $200 a month, or $8 per user (computed); the 10 servers fit in the included resources. The page gives no billing term, and annual plans go through sales. Seats grow automatically when a new user logs in and are prorated on the next bill. Premium ($18, so $450 a month for 25 users, computed) adds flow logs, log streaming, 300 ACL groups and custom posture attributes. Mullvad exit nodes are $5 a month per 5 devices; DNS filtering (Control D), PAM and multiple tailnets go through sales, and SLA support packages (Silver is self-serve) have no published price. Non-profits and educational institutions get 50% off.
Exit path: The policy file is plain HuJSON, readable through the API and Terraform; device and user lists export as CSV, and audit logs come through the API on every plan. Cancelling drops the network to Personal at the end of the period, but a network with more than six users must delete or suspend users first. Deleting it removes node and user data, with backups rotating out within 60 days.

### NordLayer

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/nordlayer
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/nordlayer
Category: Zero-trust access and business VPN
Vendor: Nord Security Inc.
Tagline: A business VPN with shared gateways in 40+ countries and a dedicated-IP server for private access, from $8 per user a month billed yearly (5-user minimum).
Value: A business VPN with gateways in 40+ countries, a dedicated IP for your team, and SSO, DNS filtering and posture monitoring on one per-user plan.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Compliance included
Value detail: NordLayer gives each user an app (NordLynx, built on WireGuard, or OpenVPN) that connects to shared gateways in 40+ countries, or to a dedicated server with your own IP, which Core and Premium require. Admins assign Teams to each gateway and set DNS filtering by category; port and protocol rules (Cloud Firewall) are included on Premium and through sales on Core. SSO with Okta, Entra ID, OneLogin, Google and JumpCloud is on every plan, and the compliance file includes SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and a BAA for yearly subscribers.
- Shared and dedicated gateways: Shared gateways in 40+ countries are on every plan; Virtual Private Gateways on a dedicated IP server start on Core, at $40 a month billed yearly. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- BAA for yearly subscribers: The HIPAA help article offers a BAA to customers with a yearly or longer subscription, on request; SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001:2022 documents are requested through the trust center. (HIPAA BAA and security compliance help articles (2026-10-16))
- SSO on every plan: SSO with Okta, Entra ID, OneLogin, Google and JumpCloud covers both the apps and the Control Panel, from Lite. (Pricing page and MFA and SSO help article (2026-10-16))
- Logs kept 60 days on every plan: Activity reports for connections and admin actions are kept for the past 60 days regardless of plan, with CSV download. (Activity information help article (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that want a managed business VPN with a fixed egress IP and internet filtering, plus private access to servers through dedicated gateways.
Things to know: Core and Premium require a dedicated server at $40 a month billed yearly ($50 monthly) on top of the per-user price, and there is no free plan.
Score: 6.2/10
Free option: Paid only
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $8/user/mo (Lite (billed yearly) plan)
Pricing model: Per seat
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per user per month, 5-user minimum, plus a dedicated server on Core and Premium
Free option: No free plan; 14-day money-back guarantee on the first purchase
Reference scenario (25 users): $315/mo on Core ($11 × 25 + $40 server, yearly), $12.60 per user, computed
Annual vs monthly price: Core $11 yearly or $14 monthly; server $40 or $50
Devices per user: 6 simultaneous connections
Okta / Entra ID sign-in: Every plan
SCIM: Premium; unpriced add-on on Lite and Core
Device posture: Monitoring on Core, blocking on Premium; SentinelOne and CrowdStrike integrations on every plan
Network flow logs: Every plan, 60 days
SIEM streaming: CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM; plan not stated
Self-hosted parts: None
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2 (Type I on the pricing page); ISO/IEC 27001:2022
HIPAA BAA: Yearly subscriptions, on request
EU data storage: Not stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, NordLayer is a managed business VPN with SSO on every plan, a fixed IP and a strong compliance file. The required server raises the per-user cost on Core, and there is no free plan, admin API or Terraform provider.
Choose it if: You want a managed VPN with a dedicated IP for allowlisting. · You sign in with Okta, Entra ID, OneLogin, Google or JumpCloud and want SSO on the entry plan. · You need a HIPAA BAA on a self-serve yearly subscription.
Look elsewhere if: You want a free plan, or a trial without paying first. · You manage your network through an API or Terraform.
Compared with: Cloudflare Zero Trust (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-zero-trust) — pick NordLayer when You want a dedicated static IP and a HIPAA BAA on a self-serve yearly plan.; pick Cloudflare Zero Trust when You want a free plan for up to 50 users and an admin API with a Terraform provider. | Twingate (https://proofyo.com/products/twingate) — pick NordLayer when You want Okta or Entra ID SSO on the entry plan and internet egress through managed gateways.; pick Twingate when You want per-resource access through your own connectors at $5 per user without a server fee. | Tailscale (https://proofyo.com/products/tailscale) — pick NordLayer when You want vendor-run gateways and a fixed IP rather than exit nodes you run.; pick Tailscale when You want unlimited devices per user, policy as code and an admin API.
Strengths:
- SSO with the main identity providers on every plan: Okta, Entra ID, OneLogin, Google and JumpCloud SSO are included from Lite, for the apps and the Control Panel. (Twingate starts Okta and Entra ID sign-in on Business.)
- A fixed IP and egress in 40+ countries: A dedicated server gives the team its own IP, and shared gateways cover 40+ countries on every plan. (Tailscale, Twingate and ZeroTier rely on exit nodes you run yourself for a fixed egress IP.)
- Logs kept 60 days on every plan: Connection and admin activity reports are kept 60 days on every plan, with CSV download and forwarding to CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM. (Cloudflare’s Free plan keeps network logs 24 hours and Twingate Teams 7 days.)
- ISO 27001 and a BAA: The help center lists ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and SOC 2 Type 2, and a BAA for yearly subscribers.
Things to know:
- A dedicated server is required from Core: Core and Premium need a dedicated server at $40 a month billed yearly ($50 monthly), and each dedicated server needs its own license.
- No free plan or published trial: There is no free plan; the "risk-free" offer is a 14-day money-back guarantee on the first purchase, requested by email. Workaround: The pricing page says the Control Panel can be explored for free before buying.
- No admin API or Terraform provider: No general admin API or Terraform provider is documented; custom-integration webhooks can only log out a user or device, and the Service Management Portal API is for MSPs.
- Several controls are Premium or unpriced add-ons: SCIM, posture blocking and site-to-site are on Premium; on Core, SCIM and posture blocking are add-ons without a published price and Cloud Firewall is through sales.
Pricing reality: NordLayer bills per user a month with a 5-user minimum, plus a dedicated server on Core and Premium. For our scenario, 25 users on Core cost 25 × $11 + $40 = $315 a month billed yearly, or $12.60 per user (computed); month to month it is 25 × $14 + $50 = $400. One server is our assumption; each additional server is another $40 or $50. Premium ($14 yearly) adds SCIM, posture blocking, site-to-site and Cloud Firewall. CrowdStrike Falcon Go and Enterprise add-ons are $2 and $9 per device a month. Each user may connect 6 devices at once, browser extensions and manual configurations included. Lowering the license count goes through support, and renewals are not refunded.
Exit path: Members export as CSV and activity reports download as CSV; no export of gateways, firewall rules or policies is documented, and firewall rules are lost when a gateway is deleted. After cancelling, access lasts to the end of the period, then a 7-day grace period keeps the same gateways and private IPs if you resubscribe.

### ZeroTier

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/zerotier
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/zerotier
Category: Zero-trust access and business VPN
Vendor: ZeroTier, Inc.
Tagline: A peer-to-peer virtual network priced per device: free for 10 devices for personal use, $18 a month for 10 devices on Essential and $179 for 100 on Scale.
Value: A peer-to-peer virtual network at Layer 2 and Layer 3 for laptops, servers and embedded devices, priced per device rather than per user.
Value kinds: Saves engineering time, Worth the price
Value detail: ZeroTier joins devices into virtual networks that behave like one Ethernet or IP network, with traffic sent directly between peers and end-to-end encrypted. Pricing counts devices, not users: Essential is $18 a month with 10 devices and $2 for each extra one, and Scale is $179 with 100. The client is open source (MPL-2.0), the rules engine supports tags and capabilities for microsegmentation, and a TCP relay can be self-hosted.
- Priced per device, unlimited users: Scale includes 100 devices for $179 a month with unlimited users and networks; extra devices are $1.80 each, and a device in several networks is counted once. (Pricing page, pricing.md and node-counting FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks: Virtual Layer 2 and Layer 3, bridging, multipath and custom routes let one network span offices, clouds and devices without a gateway in the middle. (pricing.md, bridging and routing docs (2026-10-16))
- A rules engine with tags and capabilities: Custom flow rules on Scale use a text rules language with tags and capabilities, enforced by both the sender and the receiver of each packet. (Flow rules docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams that connect many devices, including servers, IoT or embedded hardware, and want a flat virtual network priced per device.
Things to know: There is no device posture, SCIM, DNS filtering or vendor-hosted flow log, and OIDC sign-in works on desktop operating systems only.
Score: 5.2/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $18/mo (Essential (10 devices) plan)
Pricing model: Seat + usage
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Flat monthly base with included devices, then per device; no per-user fee
Free option: Personal: free, 10 devices, 1 network, non-commercial only
Reference scenario (25 users): $179/mo on Scale (100 devices included, 60 used), $7.16 per user, computed
Annual vs monthly price: Monthly prices only
Devices per user: No per-user limit; devices counted once per organization
Okta / Entra ID sign-in: Essential and up (OIDC, desktop only)
SCIM: Not offered
Device posture: Not offered
Network flow logs: Not offered by the vendor
SIEM streaming: Not offered; webhooks from Essential
Self-hosted parts: TCP relay; controller under licence or Enterprise
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 "coming soon"
HIPAA BAA: Not stated
EU data storage: Not stated
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, ZeroTier is a flexible per-device virtual network with an open-source client and a strong rules engine. It does not offer device posture, SCIM or vendor-hosted flow logs, which many zero-trust buyers check for.
Choose it if: You connect many servers or embedded devices and want to pay per device. · You need virtual Layer 2 networking or bridging. · You want an open-source client and a relay you can host yourself.
Look elsewhere if: You need device posture checks, SCIM or DNS filtering. · Your users sign in with Google Workspace or from phones.
Compared with: Tailscale (https://proofyo.com/products/tailscale) — pick ZeroTier when You want to pay per device, need Layer 2 networking, or want a controller you can host under licence.; pick Tailscale when You need device posture, SCIM, flow logs or identity-provider sign-in on phones. | Twingate (https://proofyo.com/products/twingate) — pick ZeroTier when You want a flat network across many devices rather than per-resource access through connectors.; pick Twingate when You want posture checks, Google Workspace sign-in and a free plan you can use for business. | Cloudflare Zero Trust (https://proofyo.com/products/cloudflare-zero-trust) — pick ZeroTier when You want direct peer-to-peer traffic that the vendor’s infrastructure cannot observe.; pick Cloudflare Zero Trust when You want posture checks, DNS filtering and SAML or OIDC sign-in, free for up to 50 users.
Strengths:
- Unlimited users, priced by device: Essential, Scale and Enterprise list unlimited users; only authorized devices are counted, once per organization. (Tailscale, Cloudflare Zero Trust, Twingate and NordLayer all bill per user.)
- Open-source client and a relay you can host: The agent is MPL-2.0, a TCP relay can be self-hosted with the vendor’s container, and the controller is source-available.
- Direct, end-to-end encrypted traffic: Traffic goes directly between peers and is end-to-end encrypted, so ZeroTier’s infrastructure cannot observe or modify packets, per the security docs.
- API and audit log from Essential: Essential adds the Central API with service accounts, webhooks and a 30-day audit log; Enterprise keeps 90 days.
Things to know:
- No posture, SCIM or DNS filtering: The pages describe no device posture checks, SCIM provisioning, DNS filtering, just-in-time access or session recording on any plan.
- Sign-in limits: Device SSO uses OIDC with PKCE on desktop operating systems only; Google Workspace is not supported directly, and the docs say rules are not yet integrated with OIDC. Workaround: The docs suggest Keycloak as a broker for Google Workspace and SAML providers.
- No vendor-hosted flow logs or SIEM: There are no hosted flow logs or SIEM streaming; rules can copy traffic to an observer node you run, and events go out through webhooks.
- Monthly billing, no refunds: Only monthly prices are published; unused time is not refunded, and cancelling must be done at least 3 days before the next term.
Pricing reality: ZeroTier bills a flat monthly base plus extra devices, with no per-user fee. For our scenario, 60 nodes (50 user devices and 10 servers) on Scale cost $179 a month, or $7.16 per user (computed), because group rules with device tags need custom flow rules. Essential would cost $18 + 50 × $2 = $118 a month (computed) with templated rules only. Only monthly prices are published. Scale covers 100 devices before $1.80 per extra device. Enterprise (500+ devices, self-hosting, FIPS) and Quantum are priced by sales. Charities and educational organizations get up to 50% off.
Exit path: Networks, members and flow rules can be read through the Central API from Essential and managed with Terraform, though the docs say the provider may not be fully compatible with the New Central API. Flow rules are a text language. The DPA offers a copy of covered data on request within 60 days after the agreement ends; deleting the organization deletes all its networks.

## Category: Speech-to-text APIs

URL: https://proofyo.com/categories/speech-to-text-apis

### AssemblyAI

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/assemblyai
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/assemblyai
Category: Speech-to-text APIs
Vendor: AssemblyAI, Inc.
Tagline: A speech-to-text API priced per audio hour, from $0.15 for Universal-2 batch or Universal-Streaming, with $50 of free credit and a self-serve BAA on paid accounts.
Value: A transcription API whose BAA, training opt-out and retention controls are self-serve on paid accounts, with diarized batch audio from $0.17 an hour.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: Paid accounts can sign a HIPAA BAA online at no cost, opt out of model training, and set how long audio and transcripts are kept, down to one hour, without a sales contract. The DPA applies with the terms, and the EU region costs the same as the US. Universal-2 transcribes 99 languages in batch for $0.15 an hour plus $0.02 for speaker labels, and add-ons such as PII redaction and keyterm prompting have per-hour prices.
- BAA online at no cost: The BAA FAQ says paid customers can review and sign the standard BAA from the Data Controls page at no additional cost; signing it stops training use and sets a 72-hour default retention. (BAA FAQ and Data Controls docs (2026-10-16))
- Retention you set yourself: Paid plans can set a TTL as low as one hour; by default uploads are deleted within 24–48 hours and transcripts from 30 days, and DELETE /v2/transcript removes one sooner. (Data retention and Data Controls docs (2026-10-16))
- Low batch rate for diarized audio: Universal-2 is $0.15 an hour with batch diarization at $0.02, so our 500-hour scenario costs $85 a month (computed); Universal-3.5 Pro is $0.21 an hour. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- EU processing at the US price: The EU batch endpoint keeps data in the European Union, streaming has an EU data zone, and pricing.md says the EU region is the same price as the US. (Region docs and pricing.md (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams handling health, call-center or other personal audio that need a BAA and retention controls without an enterprise contract.
Things to know: Free accounts cannot opt out of training, set retention or sign a BAA; these start once you add a card and pay as you go.
Score: 8.4/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.15/hr (Universal-2, pre-recorded plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per second of pre-recorded audio; streaming by session time, idle included; multichannel per channel
Free credit: $50 at sign-up, no card, does not expire
Streaming rate: Universal-Streaming $0.15/h; Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime $0.45/h
Diarization: Batch +$0.02/h; streaming +$0.12/h (beta in the docs)
Languages: 99 on Universal-2; 18 on Universal-3.5 Pro
Training on your audio: By default; paid accounts opt out online, free accounts cannot
HIPAA BAA: Signed online at no cost on paid plans
EU processing: EU endpoint for batch and streaming, same price as US
Self-hosted: Streaming only, $20,000 upfront commitment
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type 2; ISO 27001:2022
Console SSO: SAML/OIDC add-on, $199/month per connection
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, AssemblyAI combines the lowest 500-hour price here with compliance controls you switch on yourself: a BAA, a training opt-out and retention as short as an hour. A few add-on prices differ between its pages.
Choose it if: You need a HIPAA BAA, a training opt-out and retention controls without a sales contract. · You want the lowest batch price for diarized audio among these five. · You want EU processing at the US price.
Look elsewhere if: You need self-hosted batch transcription. · You want to opt out of model training on the free tier.
Compared with: Deepgram (https://proofyo.com/products/deepgram) — pick AssemblyAI when You want a BAA signed online, a DPA with the terms, ISO 27001 and a delete API.; pick Deepgram when You want diarization included in the batch rate, a $200 credit and self-hosted containers for batch as well as streaming. | Speechmatics (https://proofyo.com/products/speechmatics) — pick AssemblyAI when You want the lower 500-hour price ($85 against $120 a month, computed) and a BAA you can sign online.; pick Speechmatics when You want audio kept out of training by default and streaming diarization at no extra cost on Enhanced and Standard. | Google Cloud Speech-to-Text (https://proofyo.com/products/google-cloud-speech-to-text) — pick AssemblyAI when You want PII redaction, a $50 credit with no card and every add-on priced per hour.; pick Google Cloud Speech-to-Text when You already use Google Cloud and want its IAM, audit logs and BAA under your existing account.
Strengths:
- Compliance controls without a contract: Paid accounts sign the BAA online, opt out of training and set retention in Data Controls; the DPA applies automatically with the terms. (Deepgram's BAA is for Enterprise customers, and its DPAs are entered into on request.)
- The lowest scenario cost here: Universal-2 batch at $0.15 an hour plus $0.02 for diarization puts 500 hours at $85 a month (computed). (Speechmatics Melia 1 comes to $120 and Deepgram Nova-3 to $129 for the same scenario.)
- Broad certification list: The security page lists a SOC 2 Type 2 report in the trust center, and the docs state ISO 27001:2022 and PCI DSS v4.0. (Deepgram does not state ISO 27001.)
- Every add-on priced per hour: Diarization, keyterm prompting, PII redaction, Medical Mode, translation and the Speech Understanding models each have an hourly price, so a feature set can be costed from the page.
Things to know:
- Training use by default: The Terms let AssemblyAI use customer data to train its models; paid accounts can opt out, forward-looking only, and free accounts cannot. Workaround: Per the data retention docs, files are not used for training under a BAA, on the EU servers, or after an opt-out.
- Streaming is billed by session time: Streaming bills the time the WebSocket stays open, idle time included, and an unclosed session runs to the 3-hour cap; add-ons such as diarization apply to the whole session. Workaround: Close each session when the audio ends, as the billing docs advise.
- Pages disagree on some prices: Universal-2 keyterm prompting, the Sync API and summarization each have different prices on the pricing page and in pricing.md or the changelog. Workaround: Confirm the rates for the add-ons you need with AssemblyAI.
- Model coverage differs: The newer Universal-3.5 Pro lists 18 batch languages; the 99-language model is Universal-2. Streaming diarization is still described as beta in the docs.
Pricing reality: AssemblyAI draws usage from a prepaid balance, pre-recorded audio to the second and streaming by session time. For our scenario, 500 hours of pre-recorded English with diarization and word timestamps on Universal-2 cost 500 × ($0.15 + $0.02) = $85 a month (computed) before tax; on Universal-3.5 Pro it would be $115. PII redaction adds $0.08 an hour ($40 a month at that volume, computed) and Medical Mode $0.15. Streaming starts at $0.15 an hour on Universal-Streaming plus $0.12 for diarization, with idle session time billed. Volume pricing is through sales, and SAML SSO is $199 a month per connection. Paid fees are not refundable under the Terms.
Exit path: Transcripts are available as JSON and as SRT or VTT captions at no charge. GET /v2/transcript lists transcripts from the last 30 days only, and transcripts are deleted on the retention schedule, so export what you need to keep. Account deletion is permanent, and the free credit does not expire.

### Speechmatics

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/speechmatics
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/speechmatics
Category: Speech-to-text APIs
Vendor: Speechmatics (Cantab Research Ltd)
Tagline: A speech-to-text API with Melia 1 batch transcription at $0.24 an hour list price, audio kept out of training unless you opt in, and $100 of free credit.
Value: Transcription in 55+ languages where your audio stays out of model training unless you opt in, with EU, US and Australian processing for every account.
Value kinds: Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: The Terms say Speechmatics does not use your inputs or outputs for model training unless you opt in from the portal; opting in takes 33% off. Batch files are deleted after 7 days, or sooner through the API, and real-time audio is not stored. Every account can choose the EU, US or Australia region. Melia 1 transcribes 56 languages for $0.24 an hour at list price with diarization included, and Enterprise adds on-prem, virtual appliance and on-device deployment.
- No training unless you opt in: Terms §10.4: Speechmatics will not use your inputs, outputs or other data for machine learning or model training unless you enable model training in your portal workspace. (Terms of Service, published Oct 2, 2026 (2026-10-16))
- Short, stated retention: Batch audio, transcripts and job settings are kept 7 days and then deleted, or deleted sooner with the delete-job API; real-time audio is never recorded or stored. (Security and compliance docs (2026-10-16))
- Three regions for everyone: EU1, US1 and AU1 are available to all customers for batch and real-time, and the pricing page lists the choice of processing location on self-serve plans. (Regions docs and pricing page (2026-10-16))
- Diarization and dictionary at no extra cost: Speaker diarization, custom dictionary, word timestamps and language identification are listed as included features, not billed add-ons. (Pricing page features table (2026-10-16))
Best for: European and privacy-minded teams that want audio kept out of training by default and a regional choice without a contract.
Things to know: PII redaction, on-prem deployment and console SSO are on Enterprise, priced by sales.
Score: 8.1/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.24/hr (Melia 1, pre-recorded (pay-as-you-go list rate) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per second, from credits at hourly rates; credit price falls with packs and subscriptions
Free credit: $100 at sign-up, no card, valid 12 months
Streaming rate: Melia 1 $0.40/h; Standard $0.45/h; Enhanced $0.80/h (list)
Diarization: Included; real-time speaker labels on Enhanced, Standard and Linden, not Melia 1
Languages: 55+ (pricing page); 56 for Melia 1
Training on your audio: Only if you opt in (33% off)
Retention: Batch files 7 days, delete sooner by API; real-time audio not stored
HIPAA BAA: Sub-BAA through the Trust Center; plan and process not stated
EU processing: EU, US and Australia regions for all customers
Self-hosted: On-prem containers, virtual appliance and on-device on Enterprise
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (Trust Center, under NDA); ISO/IEC 27001:2022
Console SSO: SAML/OIDC on Enterprise, $280/month add-on
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Speechmatics has the strictest privacy defaults of the five: no training unless you opt in, 7-day batch retention and real-time audio not stored. Its pricing page leads with discounted rates, and redaction, SSO and on-prem are Enterprise features.
Choose it if: You want customer audio kept out of model training without flags or contracts. · You need EU, US or Australian processing on a self-serve plan. · You may need on-prem or on-device transcription later.
Look elsewhere if: You need PII redaction without an Enterprise contract. · You want a sign-up credit that does not expire.
Compared with: AssemblyAI (https://proofyo.com/products/assemblyai) — pick Speechmatics when You want audio kept out of training by default and streaming speaker labels at no extra cost.; pick AssemblyAI when You want a BAA signed online, PII redaction as a per-hour add-on and a lower 500-hour price ($85 a month, computed). | Deepgram (https://proofyo.com/products/deepgram) — pick Speechmatics when You want training off by default, processor terms in the Terms of Service and a stated 7-day retention.; pick Deepgram when You want a larger credit that the pricing page says has no expiration, and self-hosting through Amazon SageMaker. | Google Cloud Speech-to-Text (https://proofyo.com/products/google-cloud-speech-to-text) — pick Speechmatics when You want a $100 sign-up credit, a stated 7-day batch retention and a delete-job API without a cloud account.; pick Google Cloud Speech-to-Text when You already run on Google Cloud and want its IAM, audit logs and a BAA under your existing account.
Strengths:
- Audio kept out of training by default: Training on customer data happens only if you opt in from the portal; the 33% discount is the incentive, and the default is off. (Deepgram, AssemblyAI and Amazon Transcribe use customer audio by default unless you opt out.)
- Diarization included in batch and real-time: Speaker diarization is an included feature: in batch on every model, in real-time on Enhanced, Standard and Linden. (Deepgram and AssemblyAI charge $0.12 an hour for streaming diarization.)
- Regions and retention stated for everyone: EU, US and Australia regions are open to all customers for batch and real-time, and batch files are deleted after 7 days.
- Deployment choices: Enterprise adds on-prem containers, a virtual appliance, hybrid and on-device deployment. (Amazon Transcribe is cloud only; AssemblyAI self-hosts streaming only.)
Things to know:
- Headline prices include optional discounts: The pricing page shows rates after a 33% training opt-in and a 25% annual commitment; the pay-as-you-go list rate for Melia 1 is about twice the headline ($0.24 against $0.121 an hour). Workaround: The breakdown at the top of the pricing page shows the $0.24 base rate and each discount.
- Some features vary by model: Melia 1, the multilingual model the pricing page leads with, does not yet have real-time speaker labels, custom dictionary or confidence scores, and translation and summaries run on Enhanced and Standard only. Workaround: Enhanced and Standard include these, at $0.75 and $0.45 an hour for batch.
- Redaction, SSO and on-prem through sales: PII redaction is "On request" for Enterprise, SSO is a $280 a month add-on on Enterprise, and the BAA process is not described beyond a Sub-BAA in the Trust Center.
- Credits expire: The $100 sign-up credit, credit packs and annual subscription credits last 12 months; monthly subscription credits last 2 months.
Pricing reality: Speechmatics bills to the second from credits; each model uses credits at a fixed hourly rate, and the price of a credit depends on how you pay. For our scenario, 500 hours of pre-recorded English with diarization and word timestamps on Melia 1 cost 500 × $0.24 = $120 a month at list price (computed) before tax; diarization is included, and the docs' volume discount applies only above 500 hours. Opting in to model training would take 33% off and annual credit subscriptions up to 25%, but neither is part of our scenario. Real-time Melia 1 is $0.40 an hour; Enhanced, with custom dictionary and real-time speaker labels, is $0.75 for batch and $0.80 for real-time. Translation is $0.65 an hour.
Exit path: Batch transcripts download as JSON, plain text or SRT, but jobs expire after 7 days, so save results as they finish. The Terms say audio files are deleted seven days after the subscription ends and all content is removed when you delete the account. Refunds of unused credits are not stated.

### Google Cloud Speech-to-Text

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/google-cloud-speech-to-text
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/google-cloud-speech-to-text
Category: Speech-to-text APIs
Vendor: Google LLC
Tagline: Google Cloud's speech-to-text API at $0.016 a minute for batch, sync or streaming on the V2 API, or $0.003 a minute in dynamic batch, billed through a Google Cloud account.
Value: Speech recognition inside your Google Cloud account, with IAM, audit logs, a BAA and EU processing, and dynamic batch at $0.003 a minute.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: For teams already on Google Cloud, Speech-to-Text bills through the same account and uses its IAM roles, Cloud Audit Logs, SSO and compliance reports, and the HIPAA BAA covers it at no extra cost. Google's terms say customer data is not used to train models without permission. Dynamic batch transcribes at $0.003 a minute when results can wait, and Chirp 3 brings diarization and automatic language detection, generally available in the US and EU multi-regions.
- Part of your Google Cloud account: IAM predefined and custom roles, Cloud Audit Logs for admin activity and data access, and SSO through Cloud Identity apply to the API without a separate vendor account. (IAM, audit logging and Cloud Identity docs (2026-10-16))
- No training without permission: Service Specific Terms §18: Google will not use Customer Data to train or fine-tune any AI/ML models without prior permission or instruction; Speech-to-Text is also listed under the HIPAA BAA. (Service Specific Terms, modified Oct 12, 2026, and HIPAA page (2026-10-16))
- Dynamic batch at $0.003 a minute: The V2 API's dynamic batch processes audio at a lower level of urgency for $0.003 a minute, against $0.016 for standard recognition. (Pricing page and batch recognition docs (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams already running on Google Cloud that want transcription under their existing account, IAM and BAA.
Things to know: PII redaction is not part of the API, and the 60 free minutes a month apply to the V1 API only.
Score: 7.8/10
Free option: Free plan
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Card required
Starter price: $0.003/min (V2 dynamic batch plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per second of audio, no minimum; each channel billed
Free credit: 60 minutes a month on the V1 API; none on V2
Streaming rate: $0.016/min ($0.96/h), the same as batch
Diarization: No separate price; Chirp 3 diarization in batch only
Languages: Over 125 (product page)
Training on your audio: Not without your permission; V1 data logging opt-in gives a lower rate
Retention: Sync and streaming not stored; async transcripts about 5 days (V1)
HIPAA BAA: Covered; accepted in the console per the docs
EU processing: Chirp 3 GA in the eu multi-region
Self-hosted: Speech-to-Text On-Prem on GKE, through sales
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (Compliance Reports Manager)
Console SSO: SAML through Cloud Identity Free, no listed cost
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text suits teams inside Google Cloud: no training without permission, a BAA, EU processing and dynamic batch at $0.003 a minute. Features need checking per model, and there is no PII redaction.
Choose it if: You already run on Google Cloud and want transcription under the same account, IAM and BAA. · Your batch jobs can wait and you want the $0.003-a-minute dynamic batch rate. · You want customer audio kept out of training by default.
Look elsewhere if: You need PII redaction from the speech API itself. · You want a free tier on the V2 API.
Compared with: Amazon Transcribe (https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-transcribe) — pick Google Cloud Speech-to-Text when You want audio kept out of training by default and dynamic batch at $0.003 a minute.; pick Amazon Transcribe when You run on AWS and want PII redaction as a priced add-on and a documented delete API. | AssemblyAI (https://proofyo.com/products/assemblyai) — pick Google Cloud Speech-to-Text when You want training off by default and Google Cloud IAM, audit logs and SSO at no listed cost.; pick AssemblyAI when You want PII redaction, a $50 credit with no card and a BAA signed online in a speech-only account. | Speechmatics (https://proofyo.com/products/speechmatics) — pick Google Cloud Speech-to-Text when You want dynamic batch pricing and a BAA within your Google Cloud account.; pick Speechmatics when You want a $100 sign-up credit, a stated 7-day batch retention and a delete-job API.
Strengths:
- Low rate when results can wait: Dynamic batch costs $0.003 a minute, so our 500-hour scenario comes to $90 a month (computed), close to the lowest here. (Amazon Transcribe batch is $0.006 a minute ($180) and Deepgram Nova-3 $0.0043 ($129).)
- No training without permission: Google does not use customer data to train models unless you opt in; on V1, data logging is an opt-in that lowers the rate. (Amazon Transcribe and Deepgram use customer audio by default unless you opt out.)
- Inherits Google Cloud controls: IAM roles, Cloud Audit Logs, customer-managed encryption keys, SSO through Cloud Identity, and SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports from the Compliance Reports Manager.
- No add-on charges: Diarization, speech adaptation, automatic language detection and multichannel have no separate price; each channel is billed as audio.
Things to know:
- No PII redaction in the API: The Speech-to-Text docs do not offer redaction of personal data from transcripts. Workaround: Plan a separate redaction step after transcription.
- Features vary by model and mode: For en-US, diarization is listed on Chirp 3 (batch only) and the medical conversation model, and Chirp 3 lists word-level timestamps as unsupported while describing them in batch, where files are limited to 20 minutes with them on. Workaround: The Chirp 3 page says the locations API returns the current features per model and region.
- Free minutes on V1 only: The 60 free minutes a month apply to the V1 API; the V2 API, which carries Chirp 3 and dynamic batch, has no free tier. The $300 Google Cloud welcome credit needs a card and lasts 90 days.
- The standard rate is the highest here: Without dynamic batch, V2 recognition is $0.016 a minute for the first 500,000 minutes, so the same 500 hours cost $480 a month (computed). Workaround: Dynamic batch, the volume tiers above 500,000 minutes or a Flexible Savings Plan lower it.
Pricing reality: Google bills each second of audio processed, per channel, through your Google Cloud billing account. For our scenario, 500 hours of pre-recorded English with diarization and word timestamps on Chirp 3 in dynamic batch cost 30,000 × $0.003 = $90 a month (computed) before tax, if dynamic batch applies to Chirp 3 as the batch docs show; at the standard V2 rate it would be 30,000 × $0.016 = $480. Streaming costs the same $0.016 a minute. Volume tiers start above 500,000 minutes a month ($0.01, then $0.008 and $0.004). A Flexible Savings Plan takes 10% off for one year or 20% for three and cannot be cancelled. Medical models are $0.078 a minute. Cloud Storage for audio and results is billed separately.
Exit path: Results come back as JSON, inline or written to your own Cloud Storage bucket, and V2 batch can also write SRT and WebVTT captions. Operations can be polled, but listing past transcripts is not described. Under the Cloud Data Processing Addendum, data is deleted within 180 days after the account ends, after a recovery period of up to 30 days.

### Amazon Transcribe

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-transcribe
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/amazon-transcribe
Category: Speech-to-text APIs
Vendor: Amazon Web Services, Inc.
Tagline: AWS speech-to-text at $0.006 a minute for batch and $0.01 for streaming, with diarization, custom vocabulary and language identification included.
Value: Transcription inside your AWS account at $0.006 a minute for batch, with speaker labels, custom vocabulary and language identification in the rate.
Value kinds: Built-in reach, Compliance included, Worth the price
Value detail: For teams on AWS, Transcribe reads audio from and writes transcripts to your own S3 buckets, uses IAM permissions and CloudTrail logging, and is covered by the BAA you accept in AWS Artifact. The batch rate of $0.006 a minute includes diarization, custom vocabularies, language identification and two channels, and PII redaction is priced per minute. Batch runs in six EU regions, and the SOC and ISO reports come from AWS Artifact.
- Runs inside your AWS account: Input audio stays in your S3 bucket and output can go to your bucket; IAM controls access, CloudTrail records every API call, and PrivateLink endpoints keep traffic in your VPC. (Transcribe developer guide: data protection, IAM, CloudTrail (2026-10-16))
- BAA and reports self-serve: Transcribe is a HIPAA-eligible service; the BAA is accepted in AWS Artifact, which also serves the SOC and ISO reports. (HIPAA eligible services reference (updated Oct 15, 2026) and compliance pages (2026-10-16))
- Features in the base rate: The pricing page says the rate includes custom vocabularies, vocabulary filtering, speaker diarization and language identification; two channels cost the same as one. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
Best for: Teams already on AWS that want transcription under their existing account, IAM and BAA.
Things to know: Standard Transcribe stores and uses voice inputs to improve the service unless you set an AWS Organizations opt-out policy.
Score: 7.0/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: Not observed yet
Starter price: $0.006/min (Standard batch (US East) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per second, no minimum; two channels at no extra charge
Free credit: 60 minutes a month for 12 months
Streaming rate: $0.01/min ($0.60/h)
Diarization: Included in batch and streaming, up to 30 speakers
Languages: About 90 languages across 113 language rows (our count)
Training on your audio: By default; opt out with an AWS Organizations policy
Retention: Job records 90 days; output in your S3 bucket
HIPAA BAA: Accepted in AWS Artifact
EU processing: Six EU regions for batch, four for streaming
Self-hosted: Not offered
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 1, 2 and 3 and ISO 27001 (AWS Artifact)
Console SSO: IAM Identity Center, no extra charge
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Amazon Transcribe is the simple choice inside AWS: flat per-minute rates with the main features included and self-serve compliance paperwork. Voice inputs are used to improve the service unless your organization opts out.
Choose it if: You already run on AWS and want transcription under the same account, IAM and BAA. · You want diarization and custom vocabulary in the base rate for batch and streaming. · You need PII redaction priced per minute.
Look elsewhere if: You need more than two channels per file. · You need self-hosted or on-device transcription. · You want audio kept out of training without setting an organization policy.
Compared with: Google Cloud Speech-to-Text (https://proofyo.com/products/google-cloud-speech-to-text) — pick Amazon Transcribe when You want PII redaction, a documented delete API and transcription inside AWS.; pick Google Cloud Speech-to-Text when You want audio kept out of training by default and dynamic batch at $0.003 a minute. | Deepgram (https://proofyo.com/products/deepgram) — pick Amazon Transcribe when You want streaming diarization included and a BAA accepted in AWS Artifact.; pick Deepgram when You want a lower batch price ($129 against $180 a month for 500 hours, computed), a $200 credit and self-hosting. | AssemblyAI (https://proofyo.com/products/assemblyai) — pick Amazon Transcribe when You already run on AWS and want IAM, CloudTrail and S3 integration with no extra vendor account.; pick AssemblyAI when You want a lower 500-hour price ($85 a month, computed), retention you set yourself and a $50 credit.
Strengths:
- Main features in the base rate: Diarization (up to 30 speakers), custom vocabularies, vocabulary filtering and language identification are included in $0.006 a minute for batch and $0.01 for streaming. (Deepgram and AssemblyAI charge $0.12 an hour for streaming diarization.)
- Runs inside AWS: S3 input and output, IAM permissions, CloudTrail logging, PrivateLink endpoints, and FIPS endpoints in US, Canada and GovCloud regions.
- Compliance paperwork self-serve: The BAA is accepted in AWS Artifact, the DPA applies through the Service Terms, and SOC and ISO reports download from AWS Artifact. (Deepgram's BAA and DPA go through its sales team.)
- PII redaction priced per minute: Transcript redaction is $0.0024 a minute for the first 250,000 minutes, batch or streaming, with lower tiers above. (Google Cloud Speech-to-Text has no PII redaction; Speechmatics offers it on Enterprise.)
Things to know:
- Voice inputs used by default: The Service Terms let AWS store and use content processed by Transcribe to improve the service, possibly in another region, unless you set an AWS Organizations AI services opt-out policy. Transcribe Medical is excluded. Workaround: Set the opt-out policy in AWS Organizations before sending audio.
- Two channels at most: Transcribe does not support audio with more than two channels.
- Some pricing-page text describes older tiers: The page still says usage is billed on tiered pricing and that rates vary by region; the price file shows flat rates everywhere it lists them. Workaround: The worked examples on the page match the flat rates.
- No self-hosted option: Transcribe runs only as an AWS service; on-prem or on-device deployment is not offered.
Pricing reality: Amazon Transcribe bills each second of audio, with no minimum, through your AWS bill. For our scenario, 500 hours of pre-recorded English with diarization and word timestamps on the standard model cost 30,000 × $0.006 = $180 a month (computed) before tax; diarization is included. Streaming is $0.01 a minute. Add-ons are tiered by monthly minutes: PII redaction $0.0024 a minute for the first 250,000 ($72 a month at our volume, computed), custom language models $0.006, toxicity detection $0.0036 and Call Analytics $0.03. Transcribe Medical is $0.075 a minute. Larger volume discounts go through AWS sales, and S3 storage for audio and transcripts is billed separately.
Exit path: Transcripts are written as JSON to your S3 bucket, or to a service-managed bucket behind links valid for 15 minutes, with SRT and WebVTT subtitles for batch. ListTranscriptionJobs covers 90 days of job records. After an account closes, the Customer Agreement keeps content retrievable for 30 days if all amounts are paid.

### Deepgram

URL: https://proofyo.com/products/deepgram
API: https://proofyo.com/api/v1/products/deepgram
Category: Speech-to-text APIs
Vendor: Deepgram, Inc.
Tagline: A speech-to-text API with Nova-3 batch transcription from $0.0043 a minute, speaker labels included on pre-recorded audio, and $200 of credit with no card.
Value: Speaker-labelled transcripts of pre-recorded audio at $0.0043 a minute with nothing extra to add, plus regional endpoints and a self-hosting path for later.
Value kinds: Worth the price, Saves engineering time
Value detail: On pay-as-you-go, Nova-3 Monolingual transcribes pre-recorded audio for $0.0043 a minute with speaker diarization, smart formatting and word timestamps included, billed per second. The $200 sign-up credit needs no card and covers about 775 hours of that workload. Teams that must keep audio in a region can use EU, Australia or India endpoints with the same keys, and Enterprise adds self-hosted containers for a VPC or on-prem GPUs.
- Diarization included on pre-recorded audio: The pricing table lists speaker diarization as "Included" for pre-recorded audio on pay-as-you-go and Growth, so the batch rate is the whole price for diarized transcripts; streaming diarization is $0.0020 a minute. (Pricing page (2026-10-16))
- A $200 credit without a card: New accounts get $200 of credit with no card; the pricing page says it has no expiration, and the FAQ puts it at over 700 hours of Nova transcription. (Pricing page and FAQ (2026-10-16))
- Regional endpoints and self-hosting: EU, Australia and India endpoints use existing API keys. Enterprise customers can run self-hosted containers in their own VPC or on-prem, and the docs describe an Amazon SageMaker route billed through AWS. (Your Data docs, self-hosted docs and changelog (2026-10-16))
Best for: Developers transcribing large volumes of pre-recorded audio who want speaker labels in the base rate and room to test on free credit.
Things to know: Audio and transcripts are used to improve Deepgram's models unless each request sets mip_opt_out=true, and the HIPAA BAA is on Enterprise only.
Score: 6.6/10
Free option: Free trial
Getting access: Self-serve
Card to start: No card needed
Starter price: $0.0043/min (Nova-3 Monolingual, pre-recorded (pay-as-you-go) plan)
Pricing model: Usage-based
Pricing page: Public prices
Billing unit: Per second of audio; multichannel billed per channel
Free credit: $200 at sign-up, no card
Streaming rate: Nova-3 Monolingual $0.0077/min regular; $0.0048/min limited-time promotional
Diarization: Included on pre-recorded audio; streaming +$0.0020/min
Languages: 45+ (pricing page)
Training on your audio: By default; opt out per request (mip_opt_out=true)
Retention: Kept for model improvement by default; zero retention with the opt-out
HIPAA BAA: Enterprise, through sales
EU processing: EU endpoint with existing keys, no plan limit stated; also Australia and India
Self-hosted: Enterprise containers; Amazon SageMaker route with an AWS account
SOC 2 / ISO 27001: SOC 2 Type II (report on request); ISO 27001 not stated
Console SSO: Not documented
Facts checked: 2026-10-16
Evidence: public pages only (sign-up and pricing pages); no completed sign-up or API call is published.
Bottom line: From its public pages, Deepgram pairs low batch rates, diarization included, with a $200 credit and self-hosting. Model improvement is on unless each request opts out, the BAA is Enterprise only, and streaming runs on promotional rates.
Choose it if: You transcribe a lot of pre-recorded audio and want speaker labels in the base rate. · You want to test at scale on free credit without a card. · You may need to self-host the models later.
Look elsewhere if: You need a HIPAA BAA or a signed DPA without an Enterprise contract. · You want customer audio left out of model training without a per-request flag.
Compared with: AssemblyAI (https://proofyo.com/products/assemblyai) — pick Deepgram when You want the largest free credit, diarization included in the batch rate, or a self-hosted option beyond streaming.; pick AssemblyAI when You want a BAA signed online, a DPA with the terms, ISO 27001, a delete API and a lower 500-hour cost ($85 a month on Universal-2, computed). | Speechmatics (https://proofyo.com/products/speechmatics) — pick Deepgram when You want EU, Australia and India endpoints with one key and a $200 credit the pricing page says has no expiration.; pick Speechmatics when You want customer audio left out of training by default, batch files deleted after 7 days and streaming diarization included on Enhanced and Standard. | Amazon Transcribe (https://proofyo.com/products/amazon-transcribe) — pick Deepgram when You want a lower batch price ($129 against $180 a month for 500 hours, computed) and a self-hosted option.; pick Amazon Transcribe when You already run on AWS and want the BAA accepted in AWS Artifact and console SSO through IAM Identity Center.
Strengths:
- Speaker labels included in the batch rate: $0.0043 a minute ($0.26 an hour) for Nova-3 Monolingual pre-recorded audio, with diarization included; our 500-hour scenario costs $129 a month (computed). (AssemblyAI adds $0.02 an hour for batch diarization and still comes to $85; Amazon Transcribe includes it at $0.006 a minute ($180 for the same scenario).)
- The largest sign-up credit here: $200 of credit with no card, which the pricing page says has no expiration; at the scenario rate that is about 775 hours. (AssemblyAI gives $50 and Speechmatics $100; Google Cloud and Amazon Transcribe offer 60 free minutes a month.)
- Regional endpoints with existing keys: EU, Australia and India endpoints work with existing API keys, with no plan limit stated; the docs say a full in-region guarantee needs the regional endpoint plus mip_opt_out=true.
- Self-hosted options: Enterprise customers can run Deepgram in containers in their own VPC or on on-prem NVIDIA GPUs; the docs also describe an Amazon SageMaker deployment that needs only an AWS account. (AssemblyAI self-hosts streaming only, with a $20,000 commitment; Amazon Transcribe has no self-hosted option.)
Things to know:
- Model improvement is on by default: The Terms let Deepgram use your content to train its models, and requests join the Model Improvement Program unless each one sets mip_opt_out=true; opted-out requests get zero retention. Workaround: Since March 5, 2026, opting out has no effect on listed prices on pay-as-you-go and Growth.
- BAA and DPA through sales: The HIPAA BAA is for Enterprise customers, and the privacy policy says DPAs are entered into with customers; we found no DPA that applies with the terms. ISO 27001 and console SSO are not stated. Workaround: The SOC 2 Type II report is available from security@deepgram.com or your account executive.
- Streaming prices are promotional: Streaming rates are labelled limited-time promotional with no end date; the regular Nova-3 Monolingual streaming rate is $0.0077 a minute against $0.0048 promotional. Workaround: Budget on the regular rates shown in the same table.
- Add-ons for streaming speaker labels and redaction: Streaming diarization and redaction are $0.0020 a minute each and keyterm prompting $0.0013; entity redaction is English only, and multichannel audio is billed per channel.
Pricing reality: Deepgram bills each second of audio from prepaid credit. For our scenario, 500 hours of pre-recorded English with diarization and word timestamps on Nova-3 Monolingual cost 30,000 × $0.0043 = $129 a month (computed) before tax, since diarization is included on pre-recorded audio. Keyterm prompting adds $0.0013 a minute and redaction $0.0020 ($39 and $60 a month at that volume, computed). Streaming costs more than batch: $0.0077 a minute regular for Nova-3 Monolingual, plus $0.0020 for diarization. Growth prepays $4,000 or more a year for up to 20% off, with overage at the Growth rate plus 10%; larger volume discounts are on Enterprise.
Exit path: Transcripts come back as JSON, with SRT and WebVTT through the SDK caption helpers. The request-history API lists past requests but not their audio or transcripts, so keep your own copies. The FAQ offers refunds for credits bought in the last 30 days; the Terms otherwise say unused credits are not refunded. Growth renews yearly unless cancelled at least a day before the term ends.

## Posts

- Deepgram vs AssemblyAI vs Speechmatics: AssemblyAI 8.4, Speechmatics 8.1, Deepgram 6.6; 500 hours cost $85 to $129 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/deepgram-vs-assemblyai-vs-speechmatics
- Tailscale vs Cloudflare Zero Trust vs Twingate: Cloudflare 8.2, Twingate 7.3, Tailscale 6.8; 25 users cost $0 to $200 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/tailscale-vs-cloudflare-zero-trust-vs-twingate
- Doppler vs Infisical vs HCP Vault Dedicated: Doppler leads at 7.3; the scenario costs $210 to $2,245.73 a month (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/doppler-vs-infisical-vs-hcp-vault-dedicated
- Cloudflare Registrar vs Namecheap vs Porkbun: Cloudflare 8.6, Porkbun 8.5, Namecheap 7.6; a .com for 3 years costs $31.38 to $48.84 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/cloudflare-registrar-vs-namecheap-vs-porkbun
- DigitalOcean vs Akamai Cloud (Linode) vs Vultr: Akamai 6.7, DigitalOcean and Vultr 6.6; a 2 vCPU server costs $24 to $29 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/digitalocean-droplets-vs-akamai-cloud-linode-vs-vultr-cloud-compute
- Pinecone vs Weaviate Cloud vs Qdrant Cloud: Qdrant leads at 7.0; the same workload costs $102.51 to $255 a month (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/pinecone-vs-weaviate-cloud-vs-qdrant-cloud
- Otter.ai vs Fireflies.ai vs Fathom: Otter and Fathom tie at 6.6; 5 users cost $75 to $99.95 a month (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/otter-ai-vs-fireflies-ai-vs-fathom
- GitHub Copilot vs Cursor vs Claude Code: Copilot leads at 8.3; 5 developers cost $95 to $150 a month (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/github-copilot-vs-cursor-vs-claude-code
- Shopify vs BigCommerce vs Square Online: Square 7.7, Shopify 7.5; a $10K-a-month store pays $399 to $598 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/shopify-vs-bigcommerce-vs-square-online
- Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 vs Zoho Workplace: Zoho 8.5, Microsoft 7.6, Google 6.8; 5 users cost $6.88 to $50 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/google-workspace-vs-microsoft-365-business-vs-zoho-workplace
- Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress.com: WordPress.com 7.9, Wix 7.2, Squarespace 6.3; a small business site costs $4 to $19 a month (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/wix-vs-squarespace-vs-wordpress-com
- Hootsuite vs Sprout Social vs Buffer: Buffer and Hootsuite 6.6, Sprout Social 6.5; 3 users and 10 profiles cost $100 to $897 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/hootsuite-vs-sprout-social-vs-buffer
- Dropbox vs Box vs Google Drive: Dropbox 7.6, Google Drive 7.4, Box 7.3; 10 users cost $140 to $150 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/dropbox-vs-box-vs-google-drive
- Gusto vs Deel vs Justworks: Gusto and Deel 6.3, Justworks 5.6; 10 employees cost $109 to $220 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/gusto-vs-deel-vs-justworks
- QuickBooks Online vs Xero vs Zoho Books: Zoho Books 8.2, QuickBooks 7.5, Xero 7.1; 3 users cost $50 to $85 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/quickbooks-online-vs-xero-vs-zoho-books
- Zapier vs Make vs n8n Cloud: Make 7.8, n8n Cloud 6.6, Zapier 5.4; 2,000 runs cost $9 to $129 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/zapier-vs-make-vs-n8n-cloud
- Typeform vs Jotform vs SurveyMonkey: Jotform 6.5, Typeform 5.8, SurveyMonkey 4.9; 1,000 unbranded responses cost $34 to $139 a month (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/typeform-vs-jotform-vs-surveymonkey
- Calendly vs Cal.com vs Acuity Scheduling: Cal.com 8.3, Calendly 6.9, Acuity 5.0; 3 hosts cost $27 to $48 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/calendly-vs-cal-com-vs-acuity-scheduling
- Mailchimp vs Klaviyo vs Brevo: Klaviyo 7.4, Brevo 7.2, Mailchimp 6.9; 5,000 contacts cost $79 or $100 (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/mailchimp-vs-klaviyo-vs-brevo
- HubSpot vs Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM: Zoho leads at 9.1; 5 users cost $70 to $195 a month (comparison, 2026-10-16): https://proofyo.com/blog/hubspot-vs-pipedrive-vs-zoho-crm
- Shutterstock vs Adobe Stock vs Pond5 for video contributors: Shutterstock leads at 7.7; new sellers average 22% to 35% (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/shutterstock-vs-adobe-stock-vs-pond5
- DocuSign vs Dropbox Sign vs BoldSign: BoldSign leads at 9.2; 3 senders cost $15 to $135 a month (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/docusign-vs-dropbox-sign-vs-boldsign
- Zendesk vs Intercom vs Freshdesk: Freshdesk 6.7, Intercom 6.6, Zendesk 6.1; 5 agents cost $145 or $275 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/zendesk-vs-intercom-vs-freshdesk
- Twilio vs Plivo vs Telnyx: Telnyx leads at 8.2; 10,000 US texts cost $130.61, $1,046.46 or $85.89 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/twilio-sms-vs-plivo-sms-vs-telnyx-sms
- Amazon S3 vs Cloudflare R2 vs Backblaze B2: B2 leads at 8.6; 1 TB a month costs $6.95 to $122 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/amazon-s3-vs-cloudflare-r2-vs-backblaze-b2
- OpenAI API vs Anthropic API vs Google Gemini API: Anthropic leads at 7.2; the same tokens cost $20 or $55 a month (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/openai-api-vs-anthropic-api-vs-gemini-api
- OriginStamp vs Hedera Consensus Service vs Bernstein: Hedera leads at 4.8; 100,000 hashes cost $80 or need a sales call (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/originstamp-vs-hedera-consensus-service-vs-bernstein
- Bitwarden vs Dashlane vs 1Password: Bitwarden leads at 8.8; SSO for 25 users from $150 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/bitwarden-vs-dashlane-vs-1password
- Confluence vs Notion vs Coda: Confluence leads at 8.8; 30 people from $120 a month (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/confluence-vs-notion-vs-coda
- Slack vs Microsoft Teams vs Google Chat: Teams leads at 7.5; 50 people from $200 a month (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/slack-vs-microsoft-teams-vs-google-chat
- Jira vs Asana vs Linear: Jira leads at 8.7; 25 people from $204.17 a month (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/jira-vs-asana-vs-linear
- GitHub vs GitLab vs Bitbucket: GitHub leads at 9.2; 10 developers from $40 to $290 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/github-vs-gitlab-vs-bitbucket
- Algolia vs Typesense vs Meilisearch: Typesense leads at 7.6; 500,000 searches from $21.60 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/algolia-vs-typesense-vs-meilisearch
- LaunchDarkly vs Statsig vs ConfigCat: Statsig leads at 8.7; 50,000 users from $0 to $416.50 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/launchdarkly-vs-statsig-vs-configcat
- Supabase vs Neon vs PlanetScale: PlanetScale leads at 6.7; a 10 GB app from $15 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/supabase-vs-neon-vs-planetscale
- Stripe vs Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy: Stripe leads at 8.1; fees on $10,000 from $500 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/stripe-vs-paddle-vs-lemon-squeezy
- Vercel vs Netlify vs Cloudflare Workers: Cloudflare Workers leads at 8.6; our scenario from $5.12 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/vercel-vs-netlify-vs-cloudflare-workers
- Sentry vs Datadog vs New Relic: Sentry leads at 9.2; 100,000 errors from $37.50 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/sentry-vs-datadog-vs-new-relic
- Auth0 vs Clerk vs Supabase Auth: Supabase Auth leads at 9.3, with 100,000 users for $25 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/auth0-vs-clerk-vs-supabase-auth
- Amplitude vs Mixpanel vs PostHog: PostHog leads at 7.8, Amplitude lists 10M events for $720 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/amplitude-vs-mixpanel-vs-posthog
- Resend vs Postmark vs Mailgun: Resend leads at 8.2, with 50,000 emails for $20 (comparison, 2026-10-15): https://proofyo.com/blog/resend-vs-postmark-vs-mailgun