How do you budget for employee experience software?

Budget from the vendor's minimum, not the per-seat rate, because at small headcounts the minimum is the price. Of the seven platforms compared, three publish rates: 15Five at $4, $11 or $16 per user per month depending on tier, Lattice at $13 per seat for Foundations with engagement as a $4 module and a $4,000 minimum annual agreement, and BambooHR at $10, $17 or $25 per employee per month with a flat rate under 25 employees. Culture Amp, Qualtrics and Workday are quote-only, and Microsoft Viva is licensed inside Microsoft 365. For a 100-person company that puts the published options between roughly $5,000 and $30,000 a year before implementation. Figures from vendor pricing pages, September 2026.