// Original data · updated July 2026

AI Software Pricing Index 2026

What does professional software actually cost? We checked the official pricing of 279 tools across 9 professions - the CRMs, AI writers, schedulers, and platforms working professionals pay for. Here is what the numbers say.

$29median starting price / month
34%of tools offer a free tier or plan
279tools tracked, 9 professions
25tools hide pricing behind "contact sales"

Median starting price by profession

Tooling up is cheapest in Web Design (median $10.50/mo starting price) and priciest in Recruiting & HR ($49/mo).

ProfessionTools trackedMedian starting priceFree tier
Web Design27$10.50/mo11%
Insurance23$19/mo22%
Real Estate47$25/mo43%
Accounting26$27.50/mo27%
Marketing49$29/mo37%
E-commerce30$29/mo60%
Coaches & Creators30$35/mo33%
Legal25$39/mo20%
Recruiting & HR22$49/mo36%

Price distribution

Of the 254 tools with public starting prices:

Starting priceToolsShare
Under $15/mo5321%
$15 - $49/mo13955%
$50 - $99/mo4618%
$100+/mo166%

Methodology

Prices are the lowest advertised paid tier on each vendor's official pricing page as of July 2026, in USD, monthly equivalent (annual billing where that is the advertised rate). Free tiers are counted when a vendor advertises a permanently free plan - free trials do not count. Tools with quote-only pricing (25 of 279) are excluded from price math but counted in totals. The underlying directory is browsable here.

Cite this data

This data is free to use under CC BY 4.0: quote any number with a link tohttps://toolsray.com/data/ai-software-pricing-2026/. For press or custom cuts of the data, email contact@toolsray.com.