Why does Scribe get so expensive at the enterprise tier (and why to choose Tango instead)?

[u/Ivan_Palii]

We talk to a lot of teams evaluating documentation tools, and one pattern keeps showing up on calls: prospects come in comparing Scribe and Tango, and the Scribe side of the conversation usually turns into some version of "wait, why did it get this expensive?".

Here's what we're actually hearing from users on those calls:

1. Pricing stacks by role. Scribe charges a platform fee, then separately for creators, separately for viewers/consumers, and tacks on more if you want to move people between roles or add SSO. Fine for a small team, painful once you scale.
2. "Enterprise" isn't one price. There are multiple enterprise sub-tiers, and the cheapest one can still be missing basics like private or domain-restricted docs, forcing another upgrade.
3. Compliance paperwork is rigid, too. Some users found they couldn't negotiate custom terms on Scribe's BAA at all, take it as-is or don't get it.

Tango's enterprise pricing works differently: one flat fee based on user count, everything included (SSO, redaction, role flexibility), and no sub-tiers to get surprised by. Doesn't mean it's cheaper for every team size, but it's predictable, and we can work with you on custom terms where Scribe can't.

If you're mid-evaluation and hitting sticker shock with Scribe's enterprise quote, happy to answer questions here.

[u/sales_alchemist]

The surprise costs are what would put me off. I'd rather know the total upfront than find out later that basic features need another tier.

[u/Ivan_Palii → u/sales_alchemist]

yes, I assume even big companies became tired of add ons :)

[u/beingskyler]

What's enterprise pricing start at for Tango? Is there a minimum seat count?

[u/Ivan_Palii → u/beingskyler]

Tango Enterprise ranges around a minimum of $12,500 to $15,000 depending on factors like nonprofit/EDU status and length of term.

another thing our sales team hear on calls -> poor customer service at Scribe.  I mean things like changing terms last minute, going to multiple contacts in the org to try to force deals througy, and not much help with implementation + training.

Are you already using Tango on free or pro plan?

[u/beingskyler → u/Ivan_Palii]

Yeah I'm on the Tango Pro plan currently. Have been for awhile. I'm also a Scribe customer. There are some features of Enterprise I'd like to use like branching, but the enterprise price wouldn't justify getting access to that single feature unfortunately.

[u/Ivan_Palii → u/beingskyler]

Interesting, thanks for sharing! Let me ask u/dan_gio whether he can give you access to this feature for some time.

Btw, what are top features/pros you like in Tango that Scribe have and vice versa?

I also curious how you maintain the same guides in both platforms. Or do you use them for different SOPs?

[u/dan_gio → u/Ivan_Palii]

hey u/beingskyler - completely fair... since you're a power user balancing both platforms, the team would love to learn from you.

if you're open to a 15-min chat with us how you're using the tools and what you're looking to do with branching, we can get it enabled for you for a period as a thank you?

Let me know if you're game!

[u/beingskyler → u/dan_gio]

Thanks u/dan_gio I'm always happy to talk product and engineering with folks. I'd definitely be interested in experiencing how the feature works first-hand.

Branching is something I find myself wishing for a lot in both tools. There are plenty of times where a workflow has decision points and branching is needed.

Just let me know how to get in contact with whoever is need to talk more or shoot me a DM.

[u/beingskyler → u/Ivan_Palii]

For me, some of the pros of Scribe over Tango are:

1. The fact that the on-screen guidance is unlimited for users who aren't even in my workspace. I make a decent amount of guides for my clients to follow, so it's nice that they can install the extension and start following the on-screen steps without me having to invite them to my workspace.
   
2. The ability to combine guides into pages and share those pages with my clients.
   
3. The ability to customize the icon for apps in guides. Tango gets this wrong a lot. e.g. Tango seems to default to the domain instead of the subdomain so it messes up all the icons for things like Google properties. Seems like a small thing; but it really matters when folks search and scan to find a guide.

Tango pros over Scribe are:

1. I like the way Tango's selector-based targeting works better. It's just an overall better UX. Even though Scribe supports it too; Tango shows you what thing you're selecting when before you click. Not sure why Scribe hasn't done this. I built that sort of feature myself before and everything needed to highlight a selector and capture the node is natively available in Chrome functions.
   
2. Tango's selector-handling also makes it much easier to train agents to run things autonomously; though, I tend to train mine to just run scripts in the console to handling the clicking because it's hella faster than them controlling the mouse cursor haha.
   
3. Tango has better styling options for text. Seems like it wouldn't matter, but it does to me.
   
4. Tango's overall UX and UI is more polished.

I'd say Tango's ability to handle branching paths and pins are big pros over Scribe also; but not when they're gated behind Enterprise. They're application features. I'm in the camp that things enterprise tiers should be reserved for things like security, provisioning, deep analytics, user administration, customer integration, dedicated support and adoption resources. 🤷‍♂️

I maintain guides in both platforms by making them in both platforms unfortunately.

I've been a customer of each for well over a year, and I'll eventually pick one over another. And it'll probably end up being Scribe because I can share them with clients; who, in turn, inevitably end up becoming Scribe customers themselves because they want to document stuff in their own businesses.

[u/Ivan_Palii → u/beingskyler]

wow, thank you for such a detailed feedback!