The Hidden 40% Fee.
SASE pricing is broken. We fixed the math. Most managed SASE providers hide 30% to 50% of your true TCO in below-the-line fees. We eliminated the tiered support, ticket taxes and hardware cliffs: one fee, everything included, uncapped service.
Why cheap offers are often the most expensive.
What defines the quality of a managed SASE service is not the subscription price, it is what that price actually includes. The elements below decide whether a service runs smoothly or creates downstream cost and effort.
| Service element | Open Systems | Typical SASE vendor | Hidden markupEstimated uplift to total contract value from a la carte pricing. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24x7 NOC | Included | Premium (office hours standard) | 10-15% |
| Expert support (L3 only) | Included | Tiered: L1 to L2 to L3 | 8-12% |
| Unlimited calls, tickets & requests | Included | Metered / per-ticket fees | 5-8% |
| 2x dedicated Success Engineers | Included | Consultant fee (help desk standard) | 4-8% |
| Full lifecycle management | Included | Manual patching / CAPEX refresh | 3-7% |
| Total hidden markup | 30-50% |
Once you factor in the operational elements missing from the base offer, the real price commonly climbs to nearly twice the initial proposal.
How Kemet cut costs in half by partnering with Open Systems →Is your SASE budget surprise-proof?
Managed SASE offers typically look cheaper on paper because the quote only covers partial support. The real costs appear after the contract is signed: in the exceptions, the add-ons and the support gaps. These are the five places where hidden markup usually creeps in.
01 · The explanation tax
Many providers still rely on L1/L2 help desks, forcing your engineers to repeat context before reaching someone who can act. Those lost 30 to 90 minutes per ticket are rarely priced in. With Open Systems, every interaction starts with an expert.
02 · The after-hours gap
If 24x7 coverage is not included at the base level, off-hour incidents trigger emergency or after-hours fees, which makes cost unpredictable. With Open Systems, follow-the-sun coverage removes time-based fees entirely.
03 · The request surcharge
Per-ticket, per-call or per-change fees are still common across the industry. They look small individually but expand quickly across a growing environment. With Open Systems, unlimited operational requests and support are included.
04 · The expertise gap
Ongoing network strategy or operational advice often falls under professional services at $250+ per hour. With Open Systems, two dedicated Success Engineers support you continuously, without hourly billing.
05 · The lifecycle burden
Hardware typically reaches end-of-life five to seven years into a deployment. The cost is entirely predictable, yet rarely included in standard contracts. With Open Systems, all of it is covered.
Count these cost drivers in and it becomes clear why many SASE contracts drift far beyond their base price. With Open Systems' surprise-proof model they simply disappear: the service is complete, predictable and free from fine-print add-ons.
See where the ROI actually came from at Kemet →Two variables. Zero guesswork.
Most SASE pricing makes you track a shifting mix of tiers, add-ons, usage thresholds and lifecycle events. Open Systems removes that complexity from the start: your subscription is based on just two inputs, the number of users and your deployment platforms.
Because the model stays constant, future-state TCO is easy to calculate. Whether you are planning new sites, onboarding more users or evolving your security posture, you always know exactly how those changes translate into cost.
See how reducing complexity accelerates ROI →Leave complexity behind.
To learn how the SASE Experience can benefit your organization, talk to a specialist today.