[johngalt]

No problem at all with the concept of price discrimination. The economics make sense. In any scenario where unit costs are low, but development costs are high, the ideal situation is where everyone gets the benefit of having the product at a price they are willing to pay. Maximizes total value to all parties.

The problem with the SSO tax is that it wedges itself into the pre-existing cracks in most organizations. Security practitioners are already in conflict with other departments. What happens when a department head has pitched a new SaaS as being 1x price, but then it becomes 2x price after the security team's requirements are added? It is not seen as the [application is expensive], it seen as [security team's requirements have doubled the price]. Conversely a price discrimination strategy which locks specific user facing features behind a specific tiers means that the same person championing the software, would also advocate for the appropriate payment tier.

Price discrimination is a valid strategy. Responding to organizations who are actively making the security practitioners job more difficult is also valid.