What it costs, sourced.
Price, spending and market-size statistics with the publisher and exact quote behind every figure, plus our own price indexes and tools ranked by value.
- sourced cost figures
- 980
- sourced cost figures
- statistics pages
- 20
- statistics pages
- prices quoted verbatim
- 97
- prices quoted verbatim
- tools ranked
- 110
- tools ranked
Cost statistics
20 statistics pages- Cybersecurity Spending Statistics$308 billion
IDC projects global security spending of $308 billion in 2026 and $430 billion by 2029.
- Freelance Rate Statistics74.9 million
A record 74.9 million Americans worked independently in 2026, according to MBO Partners' State of Independence survey.
- Subscription Economy Statistics7.7%
US subscription spending rose 7.7% year over year in July 2026, faster than overall card spending, based on Bank of America payments data.
- AI Tool Pricing Statistics$20
ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per month, billed monthly.
- Payroll Cost Statistics$49.46
US employers spent an average of $49.46 per hour worked on compensation for civilian workers in June 2026.
- AI Investment Statistics$2 trillion
Global AI spending is forecast to top $2 trillion in 2026, led by AI in smartphones, PCs and infrastructure.
- Cloud Spending Statistics$1 trillion
IDC forecasts global public cloud services spending to pass $1 trillion in 2026, growing over 21%, and to double by 2029.
- Fitness Industry Statistics$1,143.9 billion
The global physical activity market was worth $1,143.9 billion in 2024, after 4.6% annual growth from 2019, per the Global Wellness Institute.
- Household Budget Statistics$81,905
US households (consumer units) spent an average of $81,905 in 2025, up 4.3 percent from 2024.
- Smartphone Price Statistics$581
IDC forecasts the global average selling price of a smartphone will reach $581 in 2026, up 27.6% in one year and above the $550 it projected a quarter earlier.
- Streaming Price Statistics$69
US households subscribing to paid streaming video reported paying $69 a month on average in late 2024, up 13% from $61 a year earlier.
- Web Hosting Statistics$168 billion
Worldwide enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure services reached $168 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up 55% year over year.
- Digital Advertising Spending Statistics$294.6 billion
US internet advertising revenue reached $294.6 billion in 2025, a 13.9% increase on 2024.
- IT Spending Statistics$7.35 trillion
Gartner forecasts worldwide IT spending of $7.35 trillion in 2027, up 15% from 2026.
- SaaS Spending Statistics$299,071 million
Gartner's November 2024 forecast put worldwide end-user spending on SaaS at $299,071 million in 2025, up 19.2% from 2024.
- SEO Industry Statistics$114.2 billion
US search ad revenue, including AI search, reached $114.2 billion in 2025.
- Ecommerce Market Statistics$340.2 billion
US retail ecommerce sales were $340.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, seasonally adjusted, up 3.8% from the first quarter.
- Edtech Market Statistics$2.6 billion
Global edtech venture funding totaled $2.6 billion in 2025, and workforce companies captured nearly half of it, according to HolonIQ.
- Email Marketing ROI Statistics35%
35% of companies in Litmus's 2025 State of Email survey of nearly 500 marketing professionals earn $10 to $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing.
- IT Downtime Cost Statistics$15,000
The average cost of unplanned downtime reached $15,000 per minute in 2026, according to a Splunk survey of 2,000 executives at Global 2000 companies.
Original data
The price index
- AI tools$12median start / mo71% have a free plan · cheapest $8
- Marketing & SEO$19median start / mo58% have a free plan · cheapest $9
- Finance & accounting$9.04median start / mo42% have a free plan · cheapest $6.25
- HR & work$9median start / mo33% have a free plan · cheapest $3.99
- Developer tools$2.95median start / mo39% have a free plan · cheapest $1
- Ecommerce$29median start / mo44% have a free plan · cheapest $15
- Education$60.5median start / mo20% have a free plan · cheapest $9
The rankings
All 12- AI toolsBest AI Image Generators
- 01
ChatGPT$20 - 02
Canva$12 - 03
Midjourney$8
- 01
- AI toolsBest AI Meeting Assistants
- 01
Fathom$15 - 02
Fireflies.ai$10 - 03
Otter.ai$8.33
- 01
- Finance & accountingBest Budgeting Apps
- 01
Quicken Simplifi$6.99 - 02
Copilot Money$9 - 03
Monarch$8.33
- 01
- EcommerceBest Ecommerce Platforms
- 01
Shopify$29 - 02
BigCommerce$29 - 03
WooCommerceFree
- 01
- Marketing & SEOBest Email Marketing Software
- 01
Brevo$9 - 02
MailerLite$12 - 03
Kit$33
- 01
- Finance & accountingBest Invoicing Software
- 01
Zoho InvoiceFree - 02
Invoice Ninja$11.67 - 03
Wave$19
- 01
- EducationBest Online Course Platforms
- 01
Systeme.io$17 - 02
Teachable$29 - 03
Heights Platform$19
- 01
- HR & workBest Payroll Software
- 01
OnPay$49 - 02
Gusto$49 - 03
Square Payroll$35
- 01
- Marketing & SEOBest SEO Tools
- 01
Rank MathFree plan - 02
Ahrefs$29 - 03
SE RankingCheck price
- 01
- HR & workBest Time Tracking Software
- 01
Clockify$3.99 - 02
TimeCamp$3.99 - 03
Toggl Track$9
- 01
- Developer toolsBest Uptime Monitoring Tools
- 01
HetrixTools$9.95 - 02
UptimeRobotFree plan - 03
Better Stack$29
- 01
- Developer toolsCheapest Web Hosting Plans
- 01
Hostinger$1.99 - 02
IONOS$1 - 03
Namecheap$2.28
- 01
How we rank
Value first. Same formula for every tool.
We compare documented features and published prices, then rank by price to features. 50 of 110 tools we track have a permanent free plan.
Read the method- 40%Value
- 35%Features
- 25%Ease of use
Browse by topic
- Software & SaaS 4
- AI tools 4
- Marketing & SEO 5
- Finance & accounting 3
- HR & work 4
- Developer tools 5
- Ecommerce 2
- Education 2
- Health & wellness 1
- Home & lifestyle 1
- Consumer tech 1
Top score across all rankings: Fathom, 9.0.