If you're concerned about the price tag, you should look at alternatives to Allen-Bradley. There are many world class platforms that out class and out perform AB on every front that are significantly cheaper. AB's popularity is mostly based on brand recognition and industry inertia.
B&R and
Beckhoff are two high end platforms that are gaining momentum (B&R is, in my opinion, the superior of the two, but Beckhoff is getting better).
EDIT:
I don't know what Beckhoff charges for their TwinCAT software, I've never actually used it (I just know they very similar to B&R). you can get B&R's full blown Automation Studio for around $1500 (depends on your distributor and if you buy enough stuff, they might give it to you for free) and B&R offers "Maintenance" licenses that can do everything but make a new project for a few hundred, so you only really need one full seat and everyone else can use Maintenance versions. There is no other software, Automation Studio does PLC, Drives, HMI, Safety, everything (and it makes FactoryTalk and Studio 5000 look like a joke), so you don't have to worry about buying any other software from them.