"We don't need PMM tools," I told my boss. "We have Google Workspace. That's free."
She looked at our team's capacity: "You're spending 35 hours per week on competitive intelligence, battle cards, and launch coordination. Is that efficient?"
I pulled up our time tracking. Our 3-person PMM team spent:
- 12 hours/week on competitive intelligence (Google Sheets)
- 10 hours/week on battle cards (PowerPoint)
- 8 hours/week on launch coordination (Spreadsheets)
- 5 hours/week on enablement updates (Slides)
35 hours weekly on manual PMM work across the team.
Our "free" tool stack:
- License cost: $0
- Time cost: 35 hours × 50 weeks × $80/hour (loaded cost) = $140,000 annually
Our free tools were costing $140,000 per year in team time.
That's when I learned: Free tools aren't free. They're expensive in hidden ways.
Why Free Tools Feel Free
The appeal of free tools is obvious:
No budget approval needed Start using Google Docs immediately. No procurement process.
No vendor lock-in Don't like our setup? Change it. No contract.
Familiar to everyone Everyone knows Google Docs. Zero training time.
Flexible Build whatever structure you want. Not constrained by software.
These benefits are real. But they mask hidden costs.
Hidden Cost #1: Manual Everything
With free tools, everything is manual:
Competitive intelligence workflow:
- Check competitor websites manually (30 min daily)
- Update 40-tab Google Sheet (30 min daily)
- When positioning changes:
- Update Sheet (15 min)
- Rebuild battle card PowerPoint (1 hour)
- Update sales deck (45 min)
- Update messaging doc (30 min)
- Notify sales in Slack (10 min)
One competitive update = 3 hours of manual work.
We averaged 4 competitive updates per month = 12 hours monthly on updates alone.
Annual cost: 12 hours × 12 months × $80/hour = $11,520 just on competitive updates.
A platform with auto-updates: 10 min per update × 4 updates × 12 months = 8 hours annually = $640.
Free tools cost $10,880 more per year on competitive updates alone.
Hidden Cost #2: Duplicate Maintenance
Information lived in multiple places:
Messaging existed in:
- Google Doc (master messaging doc)
- PowerPoint (sales deck)
- Slides (launch presentations)
- Sheets (competitive battle cards)
When messaging changed:
- Update Doc (30 min)
- Update PowerPoint (45 min)
- Update Slides (45 min)
- Update Sheets (30 min)
One messaging change = 2.5 hours updating 4 different files.
We updated messaging quarterly = 4 times × 2.5 hours = 10 hours per quarter = 40 hours annually.
Annual cost: 40 hours × $80 = $3,200 just maintaining messaging consistency.
A platform with "update once, propagate everywhere": 30 min per messaging change × 4 per year = 2 hours = $160.
Free tools cost $3,040 more per year on messaging maintenance alone.
Hidden Cost #3: Finding Information
With free tools, information is scattered:
To find competitive battle card for Competitor X:
- Search Google Drive (30 seconds)
- Find 6 results (3 outdated versions, 3 current)
- Open 3 files to determine which is current (2 min)
- Download or share correct version
Time per search: 3 minutes
Sales reps searched for battle cards 15-20 times daily across team = ~60 searches daily.
60 searches × 3 minutes = 180 minutes (3 hours) daily searching for information.
Annual cost: 3 hours × 250 work days × $60/hour (sales rep cost) = $45,000 in sales productivity lost to searching.
A platform where battle cards are in one place, always current: 30 seconds per search × 60 searches = 30 min daily = $7,500 annually.
Free tools cost $37,500 more per year in search time alone.
Hidden Cost #4: Version Control Chaos
Google Docs has version history. But it doesn't prevent chaos:
Battle card version chaos:
- Battle_Card_CompetitorX.pptx
- Battle_Card_CompetitorX_v2.pptx
- Battle_Card_CompetitorX_final.pptx
- Battle_Card_CompetitorX_final_v2.pptx
- Battle_Card_CompetitorX_Sept2024.pptx
Which is current? Nobody knows without opening them all.
Sales reps used outdated battle cards regularly because they couldn't tell which was current.
Impact: Deals lost because sales had wrong competitive information.
Estimated cost: 2 deals/year lost × $50K average deal size = $100,000 in lost revenue.
A platform with automatic version control and "always latest": $0 lost deals from outdated information.
Free tools cost ~$100,000 per year in lost deals from version control chaos.
Hidden Cost #5: No Automation
Free tools can't automate workflows:
Manual tasks that could be automated:
1. Battle card updates
- Current: Manually rebuild in PowerPoint (1 hour)
- Automated: Auto-generate from competitive intelligence (5 min)
- Time saved: 55 min per update × 20 updates/year = 18 hours
- Cost saved: $1,440/year
2. Sales enablement materials
- Current: Manually rebuild slides and docs (2 hours per launch)
- Automated: Auto-generate from messaging (15 min)
- Time saved: 1.75 hours per launch × 6 launches = 10.5 hours
- Cost saved: $840/year
3. Competitive alerts
- Current: Manually check websites (30 min daily)
- Automated: Auto-monitoring with relevant alerts only (5 min daily)
- Time saved: 25 min × 250 days = 104 hours
- Cost saved: $8,320/year
Total automation savings: $10,600/year
Free tools cost $10,600 per year by preventing automation.
Hidden Cost #6: Onboarding Time
New hire onboarding with free tools:
Week 1-2: Finding everything
- Where are competitive intelligence sheets? (scattered across Drive)
- Where are battle cards? (6 different folders)
- Where is messaging? (8 different docs)
- Where are launch materials? (Asana + Drive + Slack)
New hires spent 20 hours just learning where information lived.
Week 3-4: Learning our structure
- How do we structure competitive intelligence? (unique to us)
- What's our battle card format? (custom PowerPoint template)
- How do we coordinate launches? (tribal knowledge)
Another 20 hours learning our specific approach.
Total onboarding time: 40 hours per new hire
We hired 3 PMMs in 2 years = 120 hours × $80/hour = $9,600 in onboarding time.
A platform with standard structure and centralized information: 8 hours onboarding = $1,920.
Free tools cost $7,680 extra on onboarding.
Hidden Cost #7: Collaboration Overhead
Free tools require lots of manual coordination:
Launch coordination in spreadsheets:
- Update task status manually
- Check dependencies manually
- Notify stakeholders manually in Slack
- Sync across Engineering (Jira), Product (ProductBoard), PMM (Sheets)
Time spent coordinating: 8 hours per launch
6 launches annually = 48 hours × $80 = $3,840/year
A platform with integrated launch management: 2 hours per launch = 12 hours annually = $960.
Free tools cost $2,880 more per year on collaboration overhead.
The Total Cost of "Free" Tools
Adding up all hidden costs:
Direct costs:
- Tool licenses: $0
Hidden costs:
- Competitive updates (manual): $11,520
- Messaging duplication: $3,200
- Information search time: $45,000
- Version control chaos (lost deals): $100,000
- No automation: $10,600
- Onboarding overhead: $9,600
- Collaboration overhead: $3,840
Total hidden costs: $183,760
Total cost of "free" tools: $183,760 per year
The Alternative
After calculating real costs, I evaluated consolidated PMM platforms as an alternative.
For teams facing similar hidden costs, platforms like Segment8 demonstrate how consolidation can reduce time investment:
Consolidated platform costs:
- License: ~$2,400/year
- Time managing platform: ~2 hrs/week × 50 weeks × $80 = $8,000
Total: ~$10,400/year
vs. "free" tools at $183,760/year
Potential savings: $173,360 annually (94% reduction)
But I needed proof, not just calculations.
Testing the Economics
I compared workflows between free tools and consolidated platforms:
Competitive update comparison:
- Free tools: 3 hours per update
- Consolidated platform: ~10 min per update
- Potential time saved: 96%
Messaging change comparison:
- Free tools: 2.5 hours updating 4 different files
- Consolidated platform: ~20 min (updates propagate automatically)
- Potential time saved: 87%
Battle card creation comparison:
- Free tools: 1 hour manually creating in PowerPoint
- Consolidated platform: ~15 min (auto-generated from CI)
- Potential time saved: 75%
Information search comparison:
- Free tools: 3 min average search time
- Consolidated platform: ~30 seconds (everything in one place, always current)
- Potential time saved: 83%
Onboarding comparison:
- Free tools: 40 hours for new hire
- Consolidated platform: ~8 hours
- Potential time saved: 80%
The time savings were real and measurable.
Making the Switch
After proving the ROI, I switched from free tools to consolidated platform:
Results after 3 months:
- PMM team time on manual work: 35 hours/week → 10 hours/week (71% reduction)
- Time per competitive update: 3 hours → 10 min (94% reduction)
- Sales time searching for info: 3 hours/day → 30 min/day (83% reduction)
- New hire onboarding: 40 hours → 8 hours (80% reduction)
Annual savings: $173,360
ROI: 17x (saved $173K by spending $10K)
When Free Tools Make Sense
Free tools aren't always wrong. They make sense when:
You should use free tools if:
- Team <2 people
- Products <2
- No growth plans
- Manual work <5 hours/week
- No collaboration complexity
You shouldn't use free tools if:
- Team 3+ people
- Products 3+
- Growing team/products
- Manual work >10 hours/week
- Complex cross-functional collaboration
Most PMM teams outgrow free tools between 2-4 people or 2-4 products.
The Free Tools Trap
Free tools create a psychological trap:
"We're not paying for tools, so we're being efficient."
But efficiency isn't lack of tool costs. It's time spent relative to value created.
Spending $0 on tools but 35 hours/week on manual work is inefficient.
Spending $2,400 on tools and 10 hours/week on strategic work is efficient.
Free tools optimize for $0 tool cost. Consolidated platforms optimize for team productivity.
Choose which you want to optimize for.
The Hidden Cost Calculation
Before you say "we don't need tools, we have free Google Workspace," calculate real costs:
1. Time on manual updates
- Hours per update × updates per month × $80/hour
2. Time on duplicate maintenance
- Hours updating same info across tools × frequency × $80/hour
3. Search time lost
- Minutes per search × searches per day × days per year × hourly cost
4. Version control issues
- Deals lost per year × average deal size
5. Automation prevented
- Hours doing manually what could automate × $80/hour
6. Onboarding overhead
- Hours per new hire × new hires per year × $80/hour
7. Collaboration overhead
- Hours coordinating manually × frequency × $80/hour
Add it all up. That's what your "free" tools actually cost.
For our team: $183,760/year.
Your number might be lower or higher. But it's definitely not $0.
Free tools have a cost. It's just hidden in time instead of visible in licenses.
Calculate the real cost. Then decide if "free" is actually cheaper than a consolidated platform.
For most PMM teams of 3+ people, free tools are the most expensive option.
Measure time costs, not just license costs. That's what actually matters.