Enterprise software pricing in 2025 entered a new phase. What had been predictable 3–5% annual escalators became something categorically different: restructured licensing models, eliminated perpetual options, bundled AI capabilities at significant premiums, and in VMware’s case, increases measured in hundreds of percent. Industry analysis published in 2025 found that annual cost impacts from software price increases range from $66,000 for organizations with 50 users to $6.8 million for large enterprises with 5,000 users — representing 67–132% of typical annual software budgets for affected organizations.
This is not a temporary market adjustment. The underlying drivers — AI monetization, post-acquisition pricing power, subscription model completion, and reduced competitive pressure from consolidation — are structural and will persist.
Here is a vendor-by-vendor summary of the most significant price changes, their drivers, and the strategic response every procurement team should be building.
Microsoft: EA Discount Removal and Across-the-Board M365 Increases
Microsoft’s November 2025 removal of automatic Enterprise Agreement volume discounts is one of the most impactful pricing changes affecting large organizations. Previously, EA agreements above certain thresholds received automatic volume discounts as a standard commercial term. Microsoft eliminated these automatic discounts, requiring organizations to negotiate for pricing that was previously a default.
This change compounds with Microsoft’s regular Microsoft 365 price increases — M365 Business Standard increased from $12.50 to $12.50 to $22/user/month for Business Premium, and M365 Copilot at $30/user/month is being pushed aggressively into renewals. Organizations with large Microsoft EA footprints that previously relied on automatic EA volume discounts are now operating with structurally higher licensing costs without any change in the capabilities they receive.
What to do: Engage Microsoft’s licensing team 6–9 months before EA renewal. The removal of automatic discounts doesn’t mean discounts are unavailable — it means they must be actively negotiated. Organizations with significant Azure consumption, M365 penetration above 90%, and demonstrated growth trajectories retain meaningful negotiating position. Microsoft’s fiscal year ends June 30; Q4 (April–June) is when EA deal flexibility is highest.
VMware/Broadcom: The Defining Price Shock of the Era
As detailed in our dedicated VMware pricing analysis, Broadcom’s changes to VMware licensing produced documented increases of 150–1,500% for customers across the market. The structural changes — elimination of perpetual licensing, product bundle consolidation from 8,000+ SKUs to 4, minimum 72-core requirement, and discontinuation of Essentials Plus — are permanent and will not be reversed.
What to do: If your VMware increase is above 300%, begin a formal alternative evaluation now. Hyper-V, Nutanix, and Proxmox are credible alternatives at different price points and capability levels. The evaluation process takes 3–6 months; migration takes 6–18 months depending on environment complexity. Every quarter of delay in starting is a quarter of inflated VMware costs.
Atlassian: Data Center +15–30%, Cloud +5–20%
Atlassian implemented two rounds of increases in 2025: Data Center products increased by 15–30% in February, and cloud plans increased by 5–20% in October. The Advantage Plan (preferred pricing available to qualifying partners) saw Data Center Jira pricing increase 30% across all tiers — the steepest increase in Atlassian’s history for that pricing track.
Atlassian also moved incident, problem, and change management features from JSM Standard to Premium-only — a feature migration that functions as a de facto price increase of 124% per agent for teams that need ITSM capabilities.
What to do: Audit your Atlassian user counts against active usage before renewal. The combination of price increases and feature migrations to higher tiers means your renewal quote will be materially higher than last year. Organizations with legitimate reasons to remain on Data Center (compliance, customization) should engage Atlassian Solution Partners for quotes before renewing direct — partner pricing can be more favorable, and migration funding may offset transition costs if you’re considering cloud.
ServiceNow: 5–10% Annual Uplift Plus AI Add-On Pressure
ServiceNow’s standard annual uplift of 5–10% at renewal is well-established. What’s new in 2025 is the aggressive bundling of Now Assist (AI) into renewal conversations — at $15–$25/agent/month additional cost. Organizations that feel they are being pushed toward Now Assist as a condition of favorable renewal terms should understand that this is a negotiation, not a mandate. Now Assist is a legitimate product with demonstrable value in high-volume service environments, but its inclusion in your renewal should be an informed choice based on your specific ROI case, not a renewal pressure tactic.
What to do: Evaluate Now Assist separately from your renewal negotiation. If the ROI case is there, buy it because it makes sense, not because it’s bundled. Multi-year ServiceNow commitments (3 years) typically unlock 20–35% discounts versus annual renewals — this lever is consistently worth modeling at ServiceNow’s price point.
SAP: Cloud ERP Renewals at 10%+ Premiums
SAP’s cloud ERP renewal premiums have been documented at 10%+ above initial contract rates, reflecting both the annual escalator and the transition pricing dynamics as customers migrate from SAP ECC (end of mainstream maintenance 2027) to S/4HANA. Organizations still on ECC are facing both the migration investment and higher cloud ERP renewal rates simultaneously.
What to do: If you’re on ECC, your strategic options narrow with each year of delay. SAP’s 2027 mainstream maintenance end date is firm, and the post-2027 extended maintenance pricing is higher still. Beginning the S/4HANA migration planning now, with 3 years of runway, gives you negotiating leverage that organizations beginning migration in 2026 with 12 months of pressure will not have. The organizations getting the best S/4HANA migration commercial terms in 2025 are the ones with credible competitive alternatives (Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle) and the time to explore them.
Oracle Database: The Audit Risk That Compounds Every Price Increase
Oracle’s licensing for database products (Oracle Database, Oracle WebLogic, Oracle Middleware) remains among the most audited and most financially risky in enterprise IT. Oracle License Management Services (LMS) — Oracle’s internal audit team — conducts license reviews that regularly identify compliance gaps costing organizations millions in back-licensing fees plus future support costs.
Oracle’s virtual machine (VM) licensing rules are particularly complex: Oracle licenses in virtualized environments are calculated based on the entire physical server’s core count, not just the virtual machine’s allocated resources in many common virtualization configurations. An organization running Oracle Database on 4 virtual CPUs on a 64-core physical server may owe licensing for the full 64 cores under Oracle’s policies — a multiplier that catches many organizations off guard.
What to do before Oracle LMS shows up: Commission an independent Oracle license position analysis from a firm not affiliated with Oracle. These typically run $10,000–$50,000 but identify exposure that can be remediated proactively at far lower cost than a post-audit settlement. If your Oracle database footprint is significant (more than $1M in annual support), this is an annual best practice, not a one-time event.
The Strategic Response: What Procurement Maturity Looks Like in 2025
The organizations that are navigating 2025’s pricing environment best share three characteristics:
They have complete visibility. A current, accurate software inventory with renewal dates, contract terms, and utilization data is the foundation of every effective negotiation. Organizations that discover a renewal is approaching in 45 days are price-takers. Organizations that have 6 months of lead time are negotiators.
They treat every major renewal as a strategic event. For any software contract above $100,000 annually, the renewal deserves a formal process: competitive evaluation, utilization analysis, stakeholder alignment on requirements, and a documented negotiation strategy before the first conversation with the vendor.
They have credible alternatives. The most consistent driver of favorable renewal outcomes is credible competitive alternatives. Not bluffs — real evaluations with real scoring criteria that the vendor can verify. In 2025’s pricing environment, every major software category has a credible alternative, and investing the time to genuinely evaluate them is worth far more than the evaluation costs.