Principles for pricing ReportLab products

Contact for pricing information.

We build enterprise solutions, and license technology. A price quotation is always part of an overall analysis stage aimed at solving a problem or delivering overall value. All figures below should be regarded as guidelines. ReportLab does not employ dedicated sales staff and we are listing guideline prices to save time in the evaluation process.

In all cases we aim to offer a risk-free and fair approach which respects the value of everyone's time. After initial discussions, this may involve use of an evaluation package which is fully functioning except for a 'nag line', and either a "pilot project" or a modest mentoring/support agreement to help you find out quickly if the desired benefits can be achieved.

We almost always sell a license to our entire framework, including RML, PageCatcher and Diagra. The components work together to provide an integrated document generation framework and we do not wish to limit anyone's functionality. We only unbundle components when licensing the technology.

Whichever model is selected, our goal with license pricing is to earn a degree of pure "product revenue" over and above the services cost, which allows us to continue to develop our technology.

Enterprise Solutions

This generally involves corporate server-side use aiming to automate a substantial document workflow. Examples might include creation of account opening packs, client statements, invoicing systems or personalized product catalogues. We are usually engaged either to build the first solution, or to mentor your developers while they do so. In these cases, there is always a project of which the license is just one component. The discussion should focus first on the business requirements or opportunity.

The table on the right shows the license prices. There is a steep fall-off, aiming to cover our costs of supporting customers but to make high-volume use on server farms affordable.

Hosted Solutions

Organisations looking for the benefits of dynamic PDF without the burden of internal IT projects or maintenance often prefer to start by outsourcing the hosting and management of the application. Instead of selling a license, we will host the application for a monthly fee including full support. Hosting fees generally start from £500 per month, increasing depending on the complexity of the system and volumes involved. A hosted, low volume account opening pack for a financial process might have an initial development cost in the £5k-10k region and a hosting fee of £500 per month; addition of further forms would become progressively cheaper. This cost is negligible compared to the extra business which can be won through cutting out a postal loop!

Resellers and Integrators

We welcome chances to work with integrators who build solutions for customers, possibly with their own industry or regional focus. If you are prepared to put in the time learning the framework, we will generally support you with evaluation copies, and potentially with a production license for demo, pre-sale or internal applications. Companies with skills in Python based web development will be given first preference.

Academic and Charitable licenses

Universities and registered charities may (subject to our approval) purchase the first license at the "tenth CPU" price of GBP 1000 per server, with a minimum annual support contract of £1000. This is subject either to demonstrating the necessary skills to develop, maintain and deploy the intended system, or to contract with a firm who possesses these skills. In the UK we work with Simplistix to support Universities. Support from our own staff will be "bug fix and upgrade protection only".

Technology Licensing / Embedding

This may involve using RML, Diagra and our other components to deliver a valuable and flexible reporting or output solution. We have considerable expertise in helping to provide compact runtime deployments for desktop or server use. It is not possible to quote prices as the structures would need to be totally different for a shareware startup costing $20, a piece of server software costing six figures, or a publishing system in the USD 1,000 per seat range would need to be completely different. We would need answers to the following questions:

• what the product does, in business terms
• the actual or anticipated level of sales
• the current or proposed price
• how critical reporting or document generation is to the product

We generally aim to agree a one-off or annual fee to cover the maximum anticipated sales volumes. Fees have varied from £3,000 to £50,000. An alternative for server products is to purchase EPRS licenses at list price.

For startups where projected sales are unknown, we will often quote a first year price which is modest, and some options on the follow-on fees depending on the success of the business. The "floor price" for smaller licensing propositions will depend on skills, ability to integrate and the help needed. We want everyone's experiences to be successful and we will not enter into agreements unless we are satisfied that enough time is covered and skills are present to achieve the intended benefits.

Other situations

We are happy to discuss special arrangements for any commercial situations which are not covered above.

Contact for pricing information.