SSO Tax: Why Scalr Is Not Charging Extra For SecuritySSO TAX BAD. SCALR NO CHARGE FOR SECURITY.

Software vendors can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.

Most of the time the frustration comes from opaque "talk to sales" pricing. You schedule a phone call, get asked for your life story, and walk away with some forced laughter and a vague promise of a quote. Then the protracted conversation about budgets begins.

But I'm not here today to complain about that.

I'm here to complain about the SSO tax.

The SSO tax (because yes, it is a tax) is the 5-10x increase in pricing vendors charge you for the privilege, the nerve even, to want to increase your organization's security. How dare you.

You'd think this could be justified by some quality integrations that, beyond simple authentication, include user provisioning, user deactivation, maybe group push or attribute sourcing in the case of Okta.

No dice.

You often pay 10x, only to get authentication alone.

How does this all relate to Scalr, I hear you asking? Well, as a matter of principle, we don't charge extra for security, and we don't charge extra for SSO. All new and existing accounts can now be configured using LDAP/SAML SSO at no extra cost. Maybe you're a small organization laying down good foundations to grow. Maybe you're a large organization still getting started with Terraform.

(The same principle is why we picked usage-based, per-run pricing instead of the concurrency-based pricing used by some alternatives. Selling fixed parallel run slots forces customers to over-provision capacity for incident response and release peaks; we'd rather charge for runs that actually executed.)

It doesn't matter to us.

What matters is that you have the right security mindset, and we're not going to charge you for being right.

Tool sellers make caveman very angry sometimes.

Usually anger come from "talk to sales" pricing. Caveman just want know price. Instead, caveman forced to sit through talking ritual where caveman tell life story, get fake laughs back, and vague promise of quote someday. Then many more moons of budget talk.

But caveman not here to complain about that today.

Caveman here to complain about SSO tax.

SSO tax — and yes, it IS tax — is when vendor charge tribe 5 to 10 times more shells for the privilege, the NERVE even, of wanting to make tribe cave safer. How dare caveman want strong door.

Caveman could maybe understand if big price came with good things — not just checking who enter cave, but also adding tribe members, removing tribe members, syncing tribe groups from Okta spirit.

No such luck.

Tribe often pay 10x shells and get only door check. Nothing else.

What this have to do with Scalr, caveman ask? Simple: Scalr chief believe charging extra for safety is wrong. Scalr no charge extra for security, no charge extra for SSO. All new and old accounts can use LDAP/SAML SSO at no extra shells. Maybe tribe small, building good foundation to grow. Maybe tribe huge, just starting with Terraform.

(Same belief is why Scalr charge per run instead of selling fixed parallel run slots like some other vendors. Selling fixed slots force tribe to buy extra capacity for emergencies and big hunt days. Scalr rather charge for hunts that actually happen.)

Scalr no care how big tribe is.

What matter is tribe have right security thinking. Scalr not going to charge tribe for being right. Ugh.