[neilv]

I've had good luck with getting GitLab Issues to do an appropriate variation on Kanban, so long as I have their Scoped Labels (which seems to be in the $29/user/month Premium plan). I like the tight integration with the Git workflows, and I like not having to manage yet another SaaS.

Do some of your users need the $99 Ultimate plan, and GitLab salespeople couldn't meet you at workable pricing for your users who mostly only need to use Issues?

[Hamuko]

I don't think you can pick and choose the plans per user? We're currently using the security features of GitLab Ultimate and as far as I've understood it, that's $99/month/user for every user you need on your GitLab license.

[neilv]

I think enterprise software agreements can often be negotiated.

In the case of GitLab, their pricing page has the usual easy ordering buttons for each pricing tier, but the $99 tier button also has a prominent "Contact Sales" link right below the button. https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/

Once you're already paying sticker price, and have invested in using it (i.e., moving to a competitor is a lot of work), your negotiating position will be different, but the vendor can still lose the account, if customer is unhappy enough to eat the moving costs.