Cross-company analysis generated from the dataset. Each issue identifies a pattern, cites the evidence, and explains why it matters.
Q1 2026 brought a quiet pattern: companies pulling back on give-aways. Not price increases — capacity decreases. The common thread is AI cost pressure forcing vendors to reclaim margin they gave away
90 of 144 companies in the dataset (62%) offer a free tier. But the interesting question isn't who offers free — it's what the free tier is designed to do, and how it's evolving.
Three companies — Figma, Zapier, and GitHub — simultaneously bundled Model Context Protocol (MCP) access on their free tiers in Q1 2026. Each sourced from the same PricingSaaS Q2 2026 Report (p.20). T