Let’s say you deployed 12 features last quarter. Industry data shows 1 in 3 product changes negatively impacts key metrics. That means you probably shipped 3-4 revenue-hurting features—and left them live for weeks.

If you're generating $100K monthly and a bad deploy drops conversion 15%, you're losing $15,000 per month if it stays live. Multiply by 2-3 bad deploys per quarter: $90K-$180K in preventable annual losses.‍

So what do enterprise teams actually pay to stop this bleeding? We analyzed contracts from leading platforms. Here are the real numbers.

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The Testing Stack: Three Categories

Analytics (Amplitude): Track user behavior, understand baseline performance
Feature Flags (LaunchDarkly, Split): Control rollouts, kill switches, progressive delivery
Experimentation (Optimizely, VWO, AB Tasty): A/B tests, multivariate testing, personalization

Most mature teams need all three. Total annual cost: $50K-$500K+ depending on scale.

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Amplitude: Analytics Pricing

Free Starter: 50K monthly tracked users (MTUs), basic analytics, no support

Plus: $49-$582/month for 1K-300K MTUs. Includes custom dashboards, behavioral cohorts, online support.

Growth: $995/month minimum ($12K-$40K/year typical). Advanced analysis, A/B testing, real-time streaming, account manager.

Enterprise: $46K-$150K/year based on Vendr data. Custom volumes, advanced permissions, bandit experiments.

Hidden costs: Event overages (clicks, scrolls count separately from MTUs), data export fees, integration syncs can add 50%+.

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LaunchDarkly: Feature Flags Pricing

Free Developer: 10 users, 3 environments, 1K client-side contexts

Foundation: $10-12/month per service connection. Basic flagging for small teams.

Enterprise: $20K-$120K annually based on company size:

• Small teams: $20K-$50K
• Mid-sized: $50K-$90K
• Large enterprises: $90K-$120K+

Guardian: Enterprise + release monitoring, adds $30K+

Pricing shock: LaunchDarkly shifted from seat-based to usage-based pricing. Companies on legacy plans see 50-100% increases at renewal.

Hidden costs: Experimentation is extra add-on, data export requires separate module, no volume discounts by default.

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Optimizely: Experimentation Pricing

No public pricing. All plans require sales contact.

Entry minimum: $36K/year for basic web experimentation (10M impressions)

Standard: $64K-$113K/year

• Business: ~$64K for 10M impressions
• Enterprise: ~$113K for 10M impressions

High-traffic enterprise: $200K-$400K+ annually for 50M+ impressions, multiple modules

Real deals:

• One company: $40K → $23K using competition + quarter-end timing
• Another: Paid $66K but didn't get requested features
• Surprise renewal: $24K for unused service due to auto-renewal clause

Hidden costs: Impression-based pricing means traffic spikes = expensive months. Each module (Personalization, Full Stack, Analytics) adds significantly. Annual contracts only—no monthly option.

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VWO: All-in-One Pricing

Products sold separately, costs stack:

Testing: $0 (Starter) → $314/month (Growth) → $1,265/month (Enterprise)

Insights: $0 (Starter) → $159/month (Growth) → $886/month (Enterprise)

Personalize: $295/month (Growth) → $1,095/month (Enterprise)

Rollouts: $113/month (Growth) → $886/month (Enterprise)

The stacking problem: Mid-sized company needs Testing + Insights + Personalize = $32K/year. Add Rollouts = $35K-$45K/year total.

Real deal: One company reduced usage but faced price increase. VWO offered 35% discount only with multi-year commitment.

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AB Tasty: Modular Pricing

Custom pricing only.

Average annual cost: $45K (based on Vendr data)

Typical range:

• Minimum: $23K-$30K
• Mid-range: $40K-$80K
• Maximum: $150K+

Modular structure: Web Experimentation (base) + Feature Experimentation + Rollouts + Personalization + AI Recommendations. Each added module escalates cost quickly.

Real deal: Negotiated from $40K → $23K for Accelerate Plan + 2 free domains ($5K value each) using competition and Q4 timing.

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Real Total Cost by Company Stage

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Early-Stage (<$5M revenue)

Tools: $5K-$8K/year (mostly free tiers)
Team: 1 part-time analyst ($60K)
Total program cost: $65K-$75K/year

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Growth Company ($5M-$50M revenue)

Tools: $80K-$140K/year (full stack)
Team: 2-3 people ($300K-$450K)
Total program cost: $380K-$590K/year

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Enterprise ($50M+ revenue)

Tools: $380K-$700K/year (white-glove everything)
Team: 5-10 people ($750K-$1.2M)
Total program cost: $1.1M-$2M/year

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What You Actually Pay For

The reality is that testing infrastructure doesn't generate revenue. It prevents losses and accelerates velocity. And the official recommendation? Budget 4X the tool cost for personnel. These complex tool investments typically need lots of skilled team salary to operate effectively.

ROI Example (Mid-Market) Using Tools Mentioned above:

• Revenue: $20M
• Tool cost: $100K/year (0.5% of revenue)
• Staffing cost: $400k salary
• Bad deploys prevented: 3/year × $50K = $150K saved
• Faster shipping: 20% velocity increase = $100K gained
• Total value: NEGATIVE $150K | ROI: -1.5X

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The Bottom Line

Your competitors are testing. You're guessing.

The companies winning in 2026 aren't the ones with the fanciest tools—they're the ones who right-size tooling to usage, take advantage of recent advances in automation,  and measure opportunity cost of not testing. You need to lower your tool cost and eliminate tool complexity. That’s where Surface AI comes in.

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The question isn't whether you can afford to keep shipping blind. It's how will you manage your tool spend and make sure you’re getting the insights at a price that makes sense?

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About Surface AI: We use multivariate bandit testing to give you answers in hours, not weeks. Test multiple ideas simultaneously, catch problems in 200 sessions instead of 20,000. Learn how you can optimize your site in minutes with our free analysis at surface-ai.io.