The pricing model is great and makes sense. We have talked about how to get into more of a frequent billing cycle than once a year. That would be an interesting concept to add into the product, having the ability to have monthly billing instead of having to do a one-year licensing renewal. However, the way the license works by charging for storage consumed is definitely what makes them the most competitive.

There is no vendor lock-in. The ongoing support and maintenance costs are not through the roof like some vendors, especially those that specialize in backup appliances. So, they're very economical in regards to their ongoing support and maintenance. 

The pricing and licensing are capacity-based, so it's hard to put my finger on them, because so many different vendors charge in different ways. We are still saving significantly over any of the other options that we evaluated because we can choose the best hardware at the best price, then put SwiftStack software on it. So, it's hard to complain, even though a part of me goes, "It would be nicer if it were less expensive."

All in, with hardware and everything else - and I hate to say a dollar amount because it's been awhile since I computed it - I know I'm under the $300 to $500 per terabyte mark. I call that my "all in" price, which has replications built in and protections built in. It's not like you're spending that dollar amount on enterprise storage, and then you have to buy some software for replication, and buy other software to do mirroring, and other software to actually back up that data in case your storage itself dies.

The costs of enterprise storage add up when you look at everything you need to run it. With SwiftStack, I can use a whole data center in my current deployment model. The price per terabyte that we pay for the SwiftStack software doesn't seem all that much to me right now. It may in the future, but right now, it doesn't.

One of their advantages of being a commercial open source platform is, for the scale that they offer, the pricing is pretty competitive.

We find the pricing rather steep. Of course, you get quality for your money, that's absolutely true. But I do get questions about it from my management. When you look at the prices of the licensing and the prices of your hardware, it's quite substantial.

It's pricey for us because we're a nonprofit. I'm not privy to any amount or cost, but I have been told that it is pricey.

There are no costs in addition to the licensing fees, and it seems to come with the support.

Other than the standard licensing fees, you need to have the hardware.