Indentured servants in the early 17th century cost much less than the average slave of the time. The average slave cost three to five times more than the contract length for a servant. Indentured servants also had a longer lifespan than the average slave, which made them work longer for their master. This has also been improved with the right of head included in the purchase of each indentured servant. During this period, as an incentive to move to the New World, an entitlement was offered to anyone who moved to the colonies. A headright was a fifty-acre plot of land that you received upon arrival in the colonies. When a landowner purchased an indentured servant, they received ownership rights to the servant, which they used to expand their farms and grow more crops. All these factors made purchasing an indentured servant more profitable than a slave in the early 17th century