The benchmark methodology, in detail
Every price gap shown in Qorbow follows a strict methodology, designed to never display a number that could mislead.
Median, not average
We use the community panel's median as the primary reference — the middle value of the distribution, insensitive to the handful of extreme contracts that would distort a simple average.
Two columns, never merged
Every comparison shows both the gap to the median and the gap to the first quartile (the best-negotiating quarter of companies) — always in two distinct columns. A price can sit right at the median while still being far from the best-negotiated deals: both pieces of information are useful on their own, never collapsed into a single number.
Exact match, never an approximation
A gap is only shown if the panel contains a row matching the exact same software, the same plan, AND the same license-volume tier. Without an exact match, Qorbow clearly displays "insufficient data" — never an approximate number built on a partial match.
Plan-to-plan comparison
The same software is compared plan against plan (Business against Business, never Business against Enterprise, for instance) — pricing tiers from the same vendor can vary two- or three-fold, and a comparison that ignores the plan isn't a reliable one.
Apple-to-apple comparison across pricing models
A software billed per seat, per user, on tiered volume, on usage, or through an enterprise-negotiated rate can't be compared the same way. Qorbow identifies each contract's pricing model before computing any gap, so two prices that don't share the same basis are never lumped together — a genuinely apple-to-apple comparison.
Matching by license volume
The comparison panel is filtered by license-volume tier before any calculation runs — every software line in your portfolio is compared against the panel for its own tier (100, 500, 1,000, 2,500, or 5,000 licenses), not your company's as a whole: a rate negotiated for 3,000 licenses isn't a relevant reference point for a 20-license contract, even within the same company.
License volume tiers, visualized
Illustrative example — fictional dataWhere the panel data comes from
The community panel is built from aggregated contract and invoice data, never unverified self-reported figures. It's a fixed snapshot, refreshed regularly — not a real-time feed.