You're paying for AI you never asked for
Software bills went up this year, and the reason given was nearly always the same — new AI features, folded into the plan you already had, whether you wanted them or not. Here's how a small business takes back control of its subscriptions, including the one for its website.
On 1 July, the office software that runs a huge share of the world’s small businesses — email, documents, spreadsheets — got more expensive. Most of its business plans went up by around 16% on average.
The reason given wasn’t better email. It was AI: an assistant built into the documents, the spreadsheets and the inbox, plus new AI features in security and “agent” tools. Folded into the plan you already pay for.
Nobody asked whether you wanted them. You just got them, and a bigger bill.
It isn’t one company
This is the pattern of the year. A survey of more than 230 software companies found that three in four changed their pricing in the last year. The part of it that comes with AI attached has picked up a nickname, not a fond one: the “AI tax”.
The mechanics are usually the same:
- AI features get added to the plan you already have rather than sold as an optional extra.
- The price goes up to match — and the old plan, without the AI, can quietly disappear.
- The renewal email mentions the new features in the first line and the new price somewhere further down.
For a large company with a procurement department, that’s an annual negotiation. For a small business, it’s a dozen direct debits that each crept up a little, and nobody had time to look.
Why it adds up faster than you think
Count the subscriptions in an ordinary small business: email and documents, accounting, payroll, booking, the till, a design tool, a newsletter tool, the website, maybe a scheduling app and a phone system.
If even half of those add 10 or 15% for features you don’t use, the combined rise is real money — and it arrives as small, forgettable increases spread across the year, which is exactly why it’s easy to miss.
The fair point in the other direction
Some of these AI features are genuinely useful, and some people will be glad to have them. A fair price for something you use is fine.
The problem isn’t AI. It’s paying for things you didn’t choose and don’t use, and losing the cheaper option that would have suited you.
The fair question
devkoi is a subscription too, so it should be held to the same test.
Its prices are written plainly on the pricing page: free to build, $19 a month to publish one site on your own address, $49 for Pro, $99 for Agency. If you’re on a bigger plan than your business needs, the right move is to move down — the same as with anything else on this list.
And one thing worth knowing: a website shouldn’t need five subscriptions bolted together — a builder, separate hosting, a pile of plugins and a chat widget — each with its own renewal date and its own price rises. Fewer moving parts means fewer bills that can creep.
What to do this week
1. List every subscription the business pays for. Go through a month of bank and card statements. Most people find at least one they’d forgotten.
2. Note the renewal date and current price of each. The renewal date is when you have leverage. After it, you’ve usually agreed for another year.
3. Check whether the price went up this year, and why. If the answer is “new AI features”, ask yourself honestly whether anyone in the business has used them.
4. Ask for a plan without the extras. Sometimes a cheaper tier still exists and isn’t advertised. Sometimes asking at renewal is enough. You won’t know unless you ask.
5. Cut duplicates. Two tools that write emails, two that make graphics, two that store files. Keep the one you actually open.
6. Count your website’s moving parts. How many separate bills does it take to keep your site online? If it’s more than one or two, it’s worth simplifying.
“Tell me what plan I’m on and whether a smaller one would do.”
7. Put a reminder in the diary a month before each renewal. Ten minutes once a year per subscription. It’s the cheapest negotiation you’ll ever do.
Nobody minds paying for something useful. What stings is discovering you’ve been paying, for months, for something you never chose.
The fix isn’t to avoid new tools. It’s to keep a list, know your renewal dates, and make each subscription earn its place — once a year, before it renews.