FinOps analysis note · July 2026

Why consolidating the intelligence layer reduces cost, not just friction

An analysis of the real cost of each platform's native AI agents — SAP, Microsoft, Atlassian, ServiceNow — against the cost of consolidating the intelligence layer in a Commons Farm.

Adaptant Studio · Public and independent-analyst pricing as of June 2026

Every platform a Technology area already uses added its own AI consumption meter this past year, on top of the license already being paid.

None of those meters uses the same unit, none is easy to compare against the next, and in more than one case the vendor doesn't even publish the per-unit price. This is the problem the industry already names as the "tokenization" of software cost: the invoice stops being predictable per seat and starts depending on how much each AI function is used, measured in each vendor's own currency — AI Units, credits, assists.

The 2026 landscape: each platform sells its own meter

A survey of public and independent-analyst pricing. The ranges are market estimates — no vendor on this list publishes a complete, definitive price list.

Platform	AI product	Pricing model	Published range
SAP	Joule Premium	AI Units — consumption per interaction, not per fixed seat	No public per-unit price. Overconsumption bills at 150–200% of the contracted rate
Microsoft	365 Copilot	Mandatory add-on over base license	$18–30/user/mo + base license → real cost $34–87/user/mo
Atlassian	Rovo / Rovo Dev	Credits grouped per seat, pooled at the organization level	Rovo core mostly free for now. Rovo Dev: $20/dev/mo + $0.01/extra credit
ServiceNow	Now Assist	Bundle per tier or add-on per fulfiller	$25–75/fulfiller/mo, or a 25–60% surcharge over the base tier

The common pattern behind the four platforms

It stacks on top of the base license — it never replaces it, it always makes it more expensive.

It's measured in each vendor's own unit (AI Units, credits, assists) with no clear conversion to dollars until the invoice arrives.

Today's "included free" is often tomorrow's promotional window — Atlassian already announced it will start billing for surplus Rovo credits.

Overconsumption is penalized hard — up to 200% of the contracted rate in SAP's case.

No vendor says how much will be spent until after the contract is signed — all point to "consult your account executive."

How the equation changes with Commons Farm

Connecting SAP, Jira, ServiceNow, and M365 to a Commons Farm is extraction work — an engineering cost, mostly one-time — not an AI subscription that multiplies per system. Four structural reasons explain why a single number covers the entire organization:

A single point of LLM consumption

Not one per connected system. AI consumption doesn't multiply with each platform added.

Model abstraction (LiteLLM)

If a provider raises prices, you change one environment variable — you don't rewrite the system or renegotiate under renewal pressure.

A floor near $0 with a local model

Ollama + Llama. No metered SaaS vendor offers that escape — all are uncapped consumption the client doesn't control.

Cache of frequent answers (Redis)

Reduces repeated consumption. Another lever the client operates, not something a vendor exposes.

Illustrative comparison

Reference scenario: an organization of 100 people with M365 Copilot, 30 ServiceNow fulfillers, and 20 developers with Rovo Dev. SAP Joule is left out on purpose — there's no public per-unit price to estimate it, which is itself part of the argument.

M365 Copilot — 100 users × $30/mo$36,000/yr

Now Assist — 30 fulfillers × ≈$50/mo$18,000/yr

Rovo Dev — 20 devs × $20/mo$4,800/yr

Subtotal — just the AI add-on of 3 of 4 platforms$58,800/yr

150 people, each limited to their own tool · with no conversation crossing to another system

— versus —

A Commons Farm Open Enterprise — for the entire organization, cross-querying all four platforms at once

$6,960–30,000/yr

What this argument doesn't claim

For this to hold up in the meeting, it's worth saying out loud what it isn't promising:

It doesn't replace the execution capability inside each system — if Joule fires a purchase order inside SAP, that's still the right tool. The Commons doesn't compete there.

It isn't free — connecting each system (the extraction layer) has its own engineering cost, bounded and mostly one-time, but real.

The comparison numbers are for reference, not a quote — they depend on real usage volume and the client's specific scenario.

The market prices cited are from public sources and independent analysts as of May–June 2026, subject to change — the four vendors don't publish complete, stable lists.

The question worth leaving with the CFO isn't "how much does the Commons cost?" but "how much are we paying today, summed across all platforms, for an intelligence that doesn't talk to itself?"

Let's talk about your organization's Commons →

Sources: SAP Business AI — Software Packages and Pricing; SAP Joule Licensing (saplicensingexperts.com). Atlassian — Rovo Dev Pricing; Rovo usage allowance (support.atlassian.com). Microsoft — 365 Copilot Plans and Pricing. ServiceNow — Now Assist Pricing 2026. Adaptant Studio — OC Product Portfolio v5. Accessed July 2026.