In January of 2023 Oracle updated their Java price list to change the metric for Java subscriptions. The change was from traditional processor and user counts to simply counting all employees at the customer’s company. This article is not about this new metric, rather it is about some fun with the numbers when looking at the per employee costs. For further background on the new metric and what it means please review the following: Oracle 2023 Java Pricing Explodes.
In this article it will be assumed that you need a Java subscription and that it is just a simple matter of determining the costs. In the Java price list there are built-in price breaks based on volume (# of employees). These price breaks are the reason for this article.
From the Java price list (1 March 2023), just for reference:
Straight to the point, it may be of benefit to “subscribe” for more employees than you actually have due to the volume discounts. The quick example here assumes a company has a total of 850 employees. At the no discount price of $15/month ($180/yr) the total subscription price would be $179,820/yr (850*$180). However, if 1,000 employees were licensed, the first available discount, the total would be $144,000/yr. This would be approximately $35,000/yr in savings. Using this example, the following chart details the “break even” point for each of these price breaks.
If at least 800 employees need a subscription, then it may be of benefit to license 1,000. This is not only an immediate cost savings but could also be of benefit if new employees are added during the year. The new employees would be covered. As subscription counts can be adjusted annually, if fewer subscriptions are needed in subsequent years the numbers can be lowered.
Before the above chart is of much use the first thing is to determine if you actually need a subscription. There are several factors that go into that decision including Java version, environment, application and distribution. We are always available to help with determining the need for a subscription or to determine what can be done to eliminate a need for a Java subscription. Contact us today to get started.
