Possible Duplicate:
Can you help me with my software licensing question?

I'm trying to get a sense of the average price range for support and updates (not services) for small opensource software apps. I'm aware that the big boys, SAP, Oracle etc. have well established pricing plans based on # CPUs, users, etc.

I'm wondering if there's any rule of thumb for a reasonable price to pay for extending a support contract with access to product updates and upgrades for a single site/user open-source product-- 20% of purchase? 50%?

Thanks for any input.

link|improve this question
feedback

closed as exact duplicate by sysadmin1138 Jan 14 at 3:15

This question covers exactly the same ground as earlier questions on this topic; its answers may be merged with another identical question. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

2 Answers

Anywhere between 7.5% and 25% in my experience.

link|improve this answer
feedback

If it's an open-source product the purchase price is probably zero for at least some of the users -- any percentage of that would be zero, which I feel is an eminently reasonable price for support :-)

Speaking seriously now, the best rule of thumb I can give you for setting the price is the basic rule of business: "Charge enough that with N customers you'll make back your expenses and turn a tidy profit. Set N low enough that you don't have to corner the market, but high enough that your prices aren't prohibitive for your target audience." (Remember that generally speaking you can charge big investment banks more than a 5-person non-profit in your home town, and there's no rule that says everyone has to pay the same amount...).

For accepting a price, that depends on your business, how much money you can spend, and how much value you think you'll get out of the support -- it's really too personal to give you advice on.
I will say that 10% of purchase price for ongoing maintenance isn't out of the range of reason in many fields (it's pretty standard in medical devices/software for example), and depending on the scope of work included in the maintenance/support agreement more can probably be justified (for example if your maintenance contract includes giving you any new version of the software released during the contract period 20-50% may be quite reasonable: If you get a new major version during the life of the contract you're getting it at a substantial discount).

link|improve this answer
feedback

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.