Costs and pricing
Part of Social listening budget: the four ledgers behind the licence
Social listening cost guide: Awario plans in pounds and a worked year with labour and VAT
Awario's three plans priced in pounds, what annual billing saves, and a worked twelve-month social listening budget using ONS pay and 20 per cent VAT.
What to take away
This social listening cost guide prices one real plan range in pounds, then adds the labour and VAT around it.
- Awario's Starter, Pro and Enterprise plans cost £29, £89 and £249 a month on annual billing, against £49, £149 and £399 billed monthly.
- Annual billing lowers the twelve-month licence line by £240, £720 and £1,800 respectively.
- In the worked example below, internal labour is about 74 per cent of the net cost, so hours matter more than the plan tier.
- VAT at 20 per cent applies to the licence line unless your tax adviser confirms it is recoverable.
What the published prices look like
Awario publishes three plans in pounds. Each has a lower per-month price on annual billing and a higher one on monthly billing. The table turns both into twelve-month totals, the unit a budget needs.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing, per month | Topics | New mentions a month | Team members | 12 months, annual billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | £49 | £29 | 3 | 30,000 | 1 | £348 |
| Pro | £149 | £89 | 15 | 300,000 | 10 | £1,068 |
| Enterprise | £399 | £249 | 100 | 1,000,000 | Unlimited | £2,988 |
The Starter plan allows one team member. A second analyst therefore pushes the team to Pro, which allows ten members and 15 topics. On annual billing that step costs £60 a month more, or £720 over twelve months. Choose the tier on people and topics first, then check mentions.
Treat every listed price as net of VAT until a checkout page or invoice shows otherwise. Record the date you read the page, because plan prices change. The twelve-month figures are plain multiplication of the listed monthly prices. They carry no discount, trial or tax. How seats, usage and add-ons shift risk is covered in pricing models.
Add the labour the licence leaves out
A licence does not run itself. Someone writes queries, reviews results and produces the report. The ONS median hourly earnings figure for full-time employees, excluding overtime, was £19.67 in April 2025.
Use that median only when you have no payroll rate. A real rate for the person doing the work is better, because it reflects their grade and your on-costs. The hours are the assumption that moves the total. One extra hour of review each week adds 52 hours a year, which is £1,022.84 at £19.67.
Count four kinds of time: set-up, regular review, a data protection check and an exit task. The last one is easy to forget. It covers exporting your data and keeping evidence that the supplier deleted what it held, and the contract should say who does it. See commercial contracts for the terms to ask for.
Example: one year on the Pro plan
This is an illustrative budget, not a quote. It assumes Pro on annual billing and the hours shown. Every figure is arithmetic on those stated inputs.
| Line | Inputs (illustrative) | Net cost |
|---|---|---|
| Pro licence, annual billing | £89 × 12 | £1,068.00 |
| Set-up and query writing | 20 hours × £19.67 | £393.40 |
| Weekly review and reporting | 120 hours × £19.67 | £2,360.40 |
| Data protection and contract check | 6 hours × £19.67 | £118.02 |
| Exit: export and deletion evidence | 8 hours × £19.67 | £157.36 |
| Total net | £4,097.18 |
Add VAT at 20 per cent to the licence line only: £1,068.00 × 0.2 = £213.60. If that VAT cannot be recovered, the gross cost is £4,310.78. Labour makes up £3,029.18 of the net total, about 74 per cent. Switching the same plan to monthly billing adds £720 and lifts the net total to £4,817.18.
The same layout extends into a fuller whole-life budget, and a ready-made budget template holds the rows. The benefit side of the sum belongs in return on investment, because a cost with no stated benefit cannot be judged.
Where VAT fits
The standard VAT rate is 20 per cent. In the example it is charged on the licence only, since internal time is not invoiced. Whether your organisation can reclaim the VAT depends on its registration and the use made of the service.
Keep four columns in the sheet: net charge, VAT, gross cash and recoverable amount. A named tax adviser should confirm the treatment of each invoice. If a supplier bills in another currency, record the rate used on the payment date as well.
Before you buy
- Record the date you read each plan price and whether it is monthly or annual billing.
- Choose the tier on team members and topics, then check mentions.
- Value internal hours with payroll rates if you have them, not the ONS median.
- Add an exit line for exports and deletion evidence.
- Confirm VAT recovery with a tax adviser.
- Re-run the table whenever the plan or the hours change.
