Vendor Review: the Premium Plan Quote
Tab & Shift Engineering Ltd. · Paste Special Software quote PS-26-0419, checked line by line
| Prepared for | Prepared by | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paige Tab and Carl Shift Co-founders | Floor 16 Technologies | Oct 12, 2026 | v1.0 · For decision |
Summary
Paste Special quoted $38,000 a year to move Tab & Shift to its Premium plan from November 1. Checked against Tab & Shift's own usage, two of the eight lines are worth buying. Stay on the current plan, add the two things you use, and revisit Premium next year.
The two lines worth buying are a higher API limit, because the timesheet sync keeps hitting the current one, and analytics seats for the 12 people who use them. The other six pay for features, storage, support and tools nobody at Tab & Shift uses today. Premium itself goes on the year plan for the third quarter: revisit, not yet.
The ask
On September 28 Paste Special's account rep asked Tab & Shift to upgrade from the Standard plan to Premium before the November 1 renewal. IT said it was a business decision, so Paige Tab asked Floor 16 for a second opinion before anyone signed. The Standard plan renews at its current price either way; everything on the quote is on top of it.
| Vendor | Paste Special Software, quote PS-26-0419, sent Sep 28, 2026 |
|---|---|
| For | Premium plan upgrade, 90 seats, on top of the Standard plan |
| Term | 12 months from Nov 1, 2026 |
| Valid until | Oct 31, 2026 |
| Quoted | $38,000 a year, in eight lines |
What the usage shows, line by line
Usage is from Paste Special's admin console for July 1 to September 30, 2026, unless the line says otherwise. Prices are annual, in US dollars before tax, as quoted.
| # | Line on the quote | Quoted | What the usage shows | Call | Pay | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Premium plan upgrade90 seats at $150 | 13,500 | 4 of 90 people used a Premium-only feature in the August trial. Nobody used one after the first week. | Skip | 0 | 13,500 |
| 2 | Advanced analytics90 seats at $80 | 7,200 | 12 of 90 people opened an analytics dashboard in the last 90 days, all in Finance and project controls. | Negotiate: 15 seats | 1,200 | 6,000 |
| 3 | Extra storage2 TB more | 3,000 | 41% of the 2 TB already included is used: 820 GB. It grew 290 GB last year, so it lasts until 2030. | Skip | 0 | 3,000 |
| 4 | Premium support24/7, one-hour response | 4,500 | 3 tickets in the last 12 months, each answered within a day on standard support. | Skip | 0 | 4,500 |
| 5 | Onboarding and trainingFour sessions, onboarding manager | 2,400 | 88 of 90 people already use the software every week, most since 2022. New starters learn from their team. | Skip | 0 | 2,400 |
| 6 | Higher API limitTen times the current calls | 3,000 | The timesheet sync hit the current API limit 14 times last quarter and stopped for a day twice. | Buy | 3,000 | 0 |
| 7 | Sandbox workspaceA copy for testing changes | 1,800 | 0 changes to workflows or settings in the last 12 months. There is nothing to test. | Skip | 0 | 1,800 |
| 8 | Compliance packSeven-year audit log, legal hold | 2,600 | Not required by any client contract or by the insurer. Project records are already kept 10 years in Microsoft 365. | Skip | 0 | 2,600 |
| Total, per year | 38,000 | 2 of 8 lines worth buying | 4,200 | 33,800 |
Recommendation
Stay on the Standard plan, add the two things Tab & Shift uses, and revisit Premium next year.
| Call | Lines | Quoted | Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy | Higher API limit | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| Negotiate | Advanced analytics, 15 seats instead of 90 | 7,200 | 1,200 |
| Skip | Premium plan upgrade, extra storage, premium support, onboarding and training, sandbox, compliance pack | 27,800 | 0 |
| 8 lines | 38,000 | 4,200 | |
Paste Special sells the higher API limit and analytics seats on the Standard plan; the rep confirmed both on October 9. Analytics stays at $80 a seat, so the negotiation is about the count, not the price: 15 seats covers the 12 people who use it, with room for three.
Premium: revisit, not yet. Premium is a good plan for a company that uses it. In the August trial 4 of 90 people used a Premium-only feature, and nobody did after the first week. It goes on the year plan for the third quarter, ahead of the November 2027 renewal. Buy it then if 30 or more people need a Premium feature, or a client contract asks for guest portals.
Savings
| What | Why it differs | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| As quoted | All eight lines | 38,000 |
| As recommended | Higher API limit and 15 analytics seats | 4,200 |
| Saving | 89% of the quote, from the first month | 33,800 |
Every line starts on November 1, so there is nothing to phase in: the full saving applies to the whole twelve-month term.
Next steps
| # | Step | Owner | By |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reply to Paste Special: no to Premium this year, yes to the higher API limit and to analytics at 15 seats | Paige Tab | Oct 16 |
| 2 | Ask the rep to hold the $150 Premium seat price until the November 2027 renewal | Paige Tab | Oct 16 |
| 3 | Confirm the Standard plan renews November 1 at 90 seats with no price change | Marcus Chen | Oct 23 |
| 4 | Sign the revised order for $4,200 a year, before the quote expires | Marcus Chen | Oct 30 |
| 5 | Give the 15 analytics seats to Finance and project controls | Sam Okafor | Nov 6 |
| 6 | Track the timesheet sync against the new API limit, in the monthly leadership update | Floor 16 | Monthly from Dec |
| 7 | Revisit Premium with fresh usage data, ahead of the November 2027 renewal | Carl Shift, Floor 16 | Jul 2027 (Q3) |
Where the numbers come from
- Paste Special admin console usage reports, July 1 to September 30, 2026.
- The vendor's report on the August Premium trial.
- Support ticket history from October 2025 to September 2026, and the API log for the timesheet sync.
- Conversations with Marcus Chen and the project controls lead about who uses analytics, and for what.
Decision
| Approve the recommendation | Signature | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Paige Tab, Co-founder and Managing Partner |