What brand protection software actually costs (2026)
The category sells by quote, so buyers walk in blind. Here is every published price anchor we could verify — vendor-by-vendor with sources — plus the costs that don't appear on the quote and a framework for when enterprise pricing is actually worth it.
Disclosure: we build Brand Protector, the one vendor in this piece with a public price — so we have an obvious interest in pricing transparency. To keep this useful anyway, every number below is either linked to a source or labeled as an estimate, and we say where the expensive options are genuinely worth it.
Why is brand protection pricing so opaque?
Walk the category’s websites and you will find feature tours, case studies, ROI calculators — and almost no dollar signs. Red Points’ pricing page is the cleanest example: three named tiers (Starter, Professional, Enterprise), real feature differentiation, and a “Request Pricing” button where every number would be. This isn’t laziness; it is structural:
- Contracts are scoped to the buyer. MarqVision’s buyer’s guide lists the variables candidly: number of brands, products, marketplaces, geographies, languages, enforcement volume, and service level. Two customers can legitimately pay 10× apart.
- Quote-gating prices against exposure. A vendor who learns on the scoping call that counterfeits cost you $2M a year can anchor the quote to the problem, not to a sticker. That is rational value-based selling — and exactly why buyers should collect anchors before the call.
- The category grew up selling to legal budgets. Enterprise IP enforcement was bought by general counsel, where five-figure line items are unremarkable. The tooling kept the sales motion even as e-commerce moved the pain to founders and marketplace managers.
What do the published numbers actually say?
Everything we could verify as of June 2026, with the source for each cell. Where no public figure exists we say so — an unknown is not a zero.
| Vendor | Public price? | Published / reported figures | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Points | No — tiers gated behind Request Pricing | ~$35k/yr average, up to ~$70k; annual prepay standard | Vendr buyer guide |
| MarqVision | No — custom quotes | Their own guide: focused programs <$2k/mo; growth $25k–$100k/yr; enterprise can exceed seven figures | MarqVision buyer’s guide |
| BrandShield | No — demo/inquiry flow | No published or reliably reported figures; our estimate on the comparison page is $15–30k+/yr | Our comparison (estimate labeled) |
| Corsearch | No — custom quotes | No published figures; enterprise-scoped, subscription-based | corsearch.com |
| Brand Protector | Yes | $199/mo or $1,499/yr, all features in one plan; 7-day trial, no charge until day 8 | /pricing |
What does the quote leave out? (TCO)
The subscription is the visible cost. Four others belong in the spreadsheet:
- Time-to-value.Sales-led platforms run demo → scoping → procurement → onboarding before the first detection reaches you. Self-serve tools compress that to the same day (Brand Protector’s first scan completes about 30 minutes after signup). Count the weeks of exposure between signing and seeing.
- Prepay and lock-in. Annual prepay is the category norm — one reviewer on Red Points’ Trustpilot page reports prepaying roughly €34,000 for a 12-month term. The cost isn’t the cash alone; it is being unable to leave for a year if detection quality disappoints.
- Your team’s hours. Managed desks reduce them; alert-heavy tools multiply them. Ask every vendor: of 100 alerts, how many are actionable? Low-precision detection turns a software line item into a hidden payroll one.
- Switching costs.Enforcement history, seller allowlists, evidence archives. If the platform can’t export them, year two’s renewal negotiation starts from a hostage position.
When is enterprise pricing actually worth it?
Often. The honest cases for a $35k–$100k contract:
- Your exposure is global — APAC and LATAM marketplaces where the enterprise platforms have coverage (100+ marketplaces at Red Points; MarqVision publishes 1,500+) and self-serve tools don’t.
- You need test-buy authentication with chain of custody for litigation — a physical-world service no $199 tool performs.
- Enforcement volume exceeds what your team can review — hundreds of filings a month across languages justifies a managed desk and human investigators.
- Counterfeit losses run seven figures: against that, $35k is cheap insurance, and the procurement friction is noise.
If none of those describe you, you are the buyer the category hasn’t priced for — typically a $1M–$50M brand whose problem concentrates on a handful of US/EU surfaces. That gap is the reason we publish a price at all: $199/mo covers counterfeits, unauthorized sellers, lookalike domains, MAP monitoring, and AI visibility in one plan, and the payback math clears at roughly one successful removal a month — worked through honestly (estimates labeled as estimates) in our ROI piece.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Red Points cost?
Red Points doesn't publish prices — their pricing page lists Starter, Professional, and Enterprise tiers, each behind a Request Pricing button. Vendr's transaction data puts the average annual contract at about $35,000, ranging up to roughly $70,000, with annual prepay terms standard.
Why don't brand protection vendors publish pricing?
Because contracts are scoped to the buyer: number of brands, marketplaces, geographies, languages, and service level all move the number, and quote-gating lets vendors price against your exposure rather than a sticker. MarqVision's own buyer's guide says this plainly — cost varies with scope — and publishes bands instead of prices.
What is the cheapest brand protection software?
Among tools with published pricing, Brand Protector at $199/mo (or $1,499/yr) is the lowest we know of that includes automated detection and takedown filing. Cheaper monitoring-only tools exist in adjacent categories, but monitoring without an enforcement path mostly produces a more depressing inbox.
Is cheap brand protection software worse?
Sometimes — MarqVision's guide fairly warns that the lowest quote can raise labor costs through low-confidence alerts. A tool is only cheap if its detections are precise enough to act on. Compare coverage and detection quality against your actual threat surface, not the invoice: a $35k platform covering 100+ marketplaces is overpriced for a brand whose problem lives on three of them, and a $199 tool is underpowered for a global luxury house.
What does Brand Protector's $199/mo include?
Everything — one plan: counterfeit detection across 14 surfaces, unauthorized-seller and lookalike-domain monitoring, MAP monitoring with screenshot evidence, AI shopping-tool visibility checks, trademark-filing watch (USPTO + EUIPO), and triple-validated takedown filing. 7-day trial, card upfront but no charge until day 8, cancel anytime.
Collecting quotes anyway? Take the anchors above into the calls — and if you want the transparent option in the spreadsheet for contrast, pricing is public and the 7-day trial shows you real detections before you pay anything.
Comparing brand protection tools?
Brand Protector is the self-serve option: $199/mo, 7-day trial, no sales call. See how it stacks up against the enterprise suites.
7-day free trial · card required, no charge until day 8 · cancel in-app