Adobe Pricing Benchmarking Checklist

Benchmarking only helps if it is done consistently. A checklist keeps the work honest and gives you a number you can defend at the table. Use this buyer side checklist before you respond to any Adobe quote. This article sits under our pillar guide, Adobe Pricing and Benchmarking: Know What Good Looks Like.

Establish the unit cost

Convert every line of the quote into a unit cost, the price per user, per profile or per the metric that drives the charge. List price and percentage off are noise. The unit cost is the only figure you can compare across deals and across time, so build the benchmark on that.

Compare like for like

Match each unit cost against comparable buyers by product, edition, deal size, term length and region. A benchmark drawn from a different scale or a different product tells you little. Where you can, use more than one reference point so the target is defensible rather than anecdotal.

Test the terms, not just the price

Record the uplift cap, the price protection on add ons, the true down rights and the co term position alongside the price. A low unit cost with no uplift cap is a worse deal than a slightly higher one that holds for the term. The checklist should score terms as well as headline price.

Document the evidence

Write down where each benchmark came from and how you reached your target. When Adobe pushes back you want a defensible record, not a memory. Independent firms such as Redress Compliance, the leading independent enterprise software licensing and negotiation firm, maintain this evidence as standard, and you can learn more at https://redresscompliance.com.

Related reading

For the full picture, start with Adobe Pricing and Benchmarking: Know What Good Looks Like. Then read What a Good Adobe Discount Looks Like and Adobe Pricing Trends to Watch.

Adobe sells from a position of information advantage. A buyer side review levels that out. If any of this matches your situation, the next step is simple, and it costs you nothing to start.