You've never bought an ISO standard, have you. They explain the reason for the costs on the website. When you buy a personal copy, each page will have a footer

You've never bought an ISO standard, have you. They explain the reason for the costs on the website. When you buy a personal copy, each page will have a footer that reads something like, "Licensed to Bob Smith for Bob Smith's use only." Group licenses cost much more. Anyway, this is off-topic as all ISO standards cost money and have for a long time now. I'm glad C++ has a new standard. The boost additions are great and make C++ even better than it was.