The direction of travel is away from seats and towards usage and outcomes, because when software does the work, charging per human is charging for the wrong thing. Hybrid is winning in practice: a platform fee that includes a defined amount of usage, with overages beyond it, which gives the customer predictability and you expansion. Pure outcome pricing (charge per resolved ticket, per completed task) is the most aligned and the hardest to operate, since you need to agree what counts as an outcome and you carry variable model costs underneath. AI-native companies are moving fastest here while incumbents bolt AI onto per-seat plans. Expect worse gross margins than classic SaaS, and expect to change your pricing more than once.
4 hand-picked resources, 2 India-specific, 4 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.
Why we picked it The clearest statement of why per-seat pricing breaks when software does the work, with the support agent example (115 dollars per seat per month becomes a price per resolved ticket) and the variable cost problem underneath AI products.
From Andreessen Horowitz by Ivan Makarov, James da Costa and Bobby Pinero short read
Open a16z.com →Why we picked it Survey data from 230 B2B software and AI companies, so you can see what your peers are actually charging rather than what conference talks claim. Notable findings: hybrid pricing is now dominant and AI products carry thinner margins than classic SaaS.
From Growth Unhinged by Kyle Poyar long read
Open growthunhinged.com →Why we picked it Tracks adoption of usage-based pricing from 45 percent to 63 percent of SaaS companies and, more usefully, flags data mediation as the thing that breaks when you switch. Includes investor views on moving early, around five million dollars ARR, rather than after scale.
From Chargebee by Arijit Bose 6 min read
Open chargebee.com →Why we picked it Explains the platform fee plus included usage plus overage structure that most AI-era companies are converging on, with Twilio and Intercom as worked examples. From the Chennai-built billing company that has to make these models actually invoice correctly.
From Chargebee by Harikrishna 9 min read
Open chargebee.com →How pricing and packaging reads from a different seat.
The same ground, over in Money, pricing & model, our Starting Up track.
The same ground, over in Money, pricing & unit economics, our D2C track.
