How to Read a Vendor Pricing Page Like an Auditor

A pricing page is a marketing artifact wearing a spreadsheet's clothes. Read it the way an auditor reads a contract — from the footnotes up.

Words that cost money

• 'Starting at' — a floor, not a price. Find the volume band that matches you.
• 'Per active user' — a metric definition, not a headcount. Whose definition of active?
• 'Unlimited*' — the asterisk usually leads to a fair-use policy that is, in fact, a limit.
• 'Included generative credits' — an allowance with an overage rate somewhere below the fold.

Screenshot everything

Pricing pages change silently. A dated screenshot is your evidence of the terms you bought under — which is exactly why we archive them at Cadence.