What is the most common SaaS pricing model?

Per seat. Of the 57 tracked products with a classified model, 22 charge per seat, followed by flat per account (9) and per editor (4). Seat-based variants such as per editor, per host and per active user push the share of people-based pricing higher still.

What is the difference between per seat and per active user pricing?

Per seat charges for every account that exists, whether or not it is used. Per active user charges only for accounts that were active during the billing period, so a company that adds its whole staff pays for the people who actually log in. Slack is the best known example of active user billing.

What is usage-based pricing in SaaS?

Usage-based pricing bills on what is consumed, such as API calls, automation tasks, messages or payment volume, instead of on the number of users. Many products mix it with a base subscription: a flat fee that includes an allowance, with usage above it metered.

How do I choose a SaaS pricing model?

Price the metric that grows when the customer gets more value. Seats fit tools that every employee uses, editors fit tools with many readers and few creators, usage fits infrastructure and APIs, and flat prices fit small teams and consumers. The products tracked here show that the model rarely changes after launch, while prices and packaging change often.

SaaS pricing models explained with real examples

17 ways software companies charge for their products, each one illustrated with tracked products, the price on their pricing page today and what that price did over the years. Prices are as read from each pricing page, 2026.

How to read this page

A pricing model is the unit a vendor multiplies to get to your invoice: a person, a site, a contact, a credit or nothing at all. It is a separate question from the price level, and it changes far less often. Each section below defines one model, then lists tracked products that use it with their entry price and, where we have archived pricing pages, how that price moved. Products are grouped by the metric that drives the bill, so a product with a free plan and a contact sales tier still sits under per seat if seats are what its paid plans count.

Per seat pricing

Priced per user or member per month.

The default for collaboration software. Every person who logs in is a paid seat, almost always with a lower price when billed annually, and that annual price is the one shown on the pricing page. Seats are easy to forecast and easy to sell, but they are also the first thing a customer cuts when headcount shrinks, which is why many per seat products now bundle usage limits or AI add-ons on top of the seat.

Notion pricing
From $8 per year on Plus, USD per member per month, billed annually
Plus has been listed since Apr 2021, starting at $8. It went up to $10 by Jul 2024 (+25%).
GitHub pricing
From $4 on Team, USD per user per month, billed monthly
Team has been listed since Jul 2016, starting at $9. It came down to $4 by Jul 2020 (-56%).
monday.com pricing
From $9 on Basic, USD per seat per month, billed annually
Basic has been listed since Oct 2018, starting at $5. It went up to $7.80 by Jan 2020 (+56%), then went up to $8 by Jul 2021 (+3%), and finally went up to $9 by Jan 2024 (+13%).

Per active user pricing

Priced per user, but only users who were active in the billing period are charged.

A variant of per seat where only the people who actually used the product during the billing period are charged. It lowers the risk of paying for idle accounts and makes a company-wide rollout less scary, at the cost of an invoice that moves from month to month.

Slack pricing
From $7.25 on Pro, USD per user per month, billed annually
Pro has been listed since Jul 2014, starting at $6.67. It went up to $7.25 by Jan 2025 (+9%).

Per editor pricing

Priced per person who can edit; viewers are free.

Design and data tools split users into editors who pay and viewers who do not. Free viewers carry the product through an organisation while the vendor earns on the smaller group that creates. The seat type matters more than the seat count, and repackaging seat types is the usual way these products raise prices.

Figma pricing
From $16 on Professional, USD per editor per month, billed annually
Professional has been listed since Jul 2018, starting at $12. It went up to $16 by Jul 2025 (+33%).
PopSQL pricing
From $19 per editor per month on Premium, USD per editor per month, billed monthly
Hex Technologies pricing
From $36 per editor per month on Professional, USD per editor per month, billed monthly
Professional has been listed since May 2022, starting at $24. It went up to $36 by Aug 2023 (+50%).

Per host pricing

Priced per person who can host a meeting, not per participant.

Meeting tools charge the person who schedules, not the people who join. One licence serves a whole team of guests, so the cost per company stays low until every employee wants to host their own meetings.

Zoom pricing
From $14.99 on Pro, USD per host per month, billed monthly
Pro has been listed since Jan 2013, starting at $9.99. It went up to $14.99 by Jan 2016 (+50%).

Per agent pricing

Priced per support agent using the tool.

Support software counts the staff who answer tickets. Agent counts change slowly, so vendors grow revenue by packaging more channels, help centre features and AI into higher suites rather than by adding seats.

Zendesk pricing
From $55 on Suite Team, USD per agent per month, billed annually
Suite Team has been listed since Feb 2021, starting at $49. It went up to $55 by Jul 2023 (+12%).

Per seat plus outcome pricing

Human seats are priced per user, while the AI agent is billed per resolved conversation.

A newer hybrid: human seats are priced per user while the AI agent is billed per resolved conversation. The vendor is paid for the work the agent completes rather than for the number of people who log in, which makes the bill scale with support volume.

Intercom pricing
From $0.99 per resolved outcome on Fin AI Agent, per resolved outcome

Flat per account pricing

One price per account or subscription, not per team member.

One subscription per person or account, the consumer model. AI assistants, writing tools and creative apps use it, typically with a $20 a month anchor plan and a premium tier priced by how much usage is included. Team plans on the same pages usually switch back to per seat.

ChatGPT pricing
From $8 per month on Go, USD per person per month, billed monthly
Pro appeared by Jan 2025 at $200. It came down to $100 by Sep 2026 (-50%).
Claude pricing
From $17 per month, billed annually on Pro, USD per person per month, billed annually where offered
Team standard seat has been listed since Sep 2025, starting at $25. It came down to $20 by Apr 2026 (-20%).
Cursor pricing
From $20 per month on Pro, USD per month for individual plans, per user per month for Teams
Pro+ appeared by Oct 2025 at $60. The price was unchanged through Sep 2026.

Flat per company pricing

One price for the whole company regardless of how many people use it.

One price covers everyone in the company. It suits small teams that would otherwise stall on seat maths, and it is rare above a few hundred users because revenue does not grow with the customer. The vendors that use it tend to raise the flat price rather than add tiers.

Basecamp pricing
From $299 on Flat plan, USD per month for the whole company, unlimited users
The plan has been listed since Mar 2012, starting at $150. It came down to $99 by Nov 2016 (-34%), and finally went up to $299 by Jan 2023 (+202%).
Metabase pricing
From $100 per month for 5 users, then $6 per user on Starter, USD per month for the included users (5 on Starter, 10 on Pro), billed monthly
Starter has been listed since Jun 2021, starting at $85. It went up to $100 by Apr 2026 (+18%).

Per store pricing

One subscription per online store, plus transaction fees.

Shop builders sell one subscription per online store and take a transaction fee on top. Plan tiers are separated by features, staff accounts and the size of that fee, so the subscription is only part of what a merchant pays.

Shopify pricing
From $39 on Basic, USD per month, billed monthly
Basic has been listed since Jan 2012, starting at $29. It went up to $39 by Jul 2023 (+34%).

Per site pricing

One subscription per published website, priced by features and traffic rather than by users.

Website builders and hosting platforms charge per published site, priced by features, bandwidth and visitor limits rather than by the number of people editing it. Agencies with many client sites pay many times over.

Squarespace pricing
From $8 on Entry plan, USD per month, billed annually
Entry plan has been listed since Jan 2005, starting at $7. It went up to $8 by Jul 2009 (+14%).
Webflow pricing
From $14 on Basic, USD per site per month, billed yearly
Basic has been listed since May 2019, starting at $12. It went up to $14 by Jan 2023 (+17%).
Wix.com pricing
From $17 per month, billed annually on Light, USD per site per month, billed annually

Per channel pricing

Priced per connected account or channel managed, not per person.

Social media tools count connected accounts. A one-person agency running ten client accounts pays for ten channels, and adding a user is often cheaper than adding a channel.

Buffer pricing
From $5 per channel per month, billed yearly on Essentials, USD per social channel per month, billed yearly

Per contact pricing

Priced by the size of the contact list rather than by users.

Email marketing and CRM tools price by the size of the contact list. The same plan gets more expensive as the list grows, which turns list hygiene into a cost lever and makes the advertised entry price the price for the smallest tier only.

Mailchimp pricing
From $13 on Essentials, USD per month at the smallest contact tier, billed monthly
Essentials has been listed since May 2021, starting at $9.99. It went up to $11 by Jul 2022 (+10%), and finally went up to $13 by Jan 2023 (+18%).
HubSpot pricing
Prices not extracted yet

Per project plus usage pricing

A base price per project or organization, with usage such as storage and bandwidth billed on top.

Infrastructure platforms charge a base fee per project or organisation and meter storage, bandwidth and compute above an included allowance. The base fee is easy to compare, the usage bill is where the differences hide.

Supabase pricing
From $25 per month per organization, plus usage on Pro, USD per month per organization, plus usage (per project before late 2023)
Team appeared by Nov 2023 at $599. The price was unchanged through Sep 2026.
Vercel pricing
From $20 per month on Pro, USD per member per month, plus usage (flat per account before 2019)
Pro appeared by Jan 2019 at $25. It came down to $20 by Apr 2020 (-20%).

Usage-based pricing

Billed on what is consumed, such as API calls, messages or payment volume.

Pure metering: API calls, automation tasks, messages or payment volume. Cost tracks the value delivered and the pricing page often shows a calculator instead of a plan grid. Tiers, where they exist, bundle a usage allowance and lower the unit price at volume.

Zapier pricing
From $19.99 per month, billed annually, from on Professional, USD per month, billed annually, at the smallest task tier
Stripe pricing
Prices not extracted yet
Twilio pricing
Prices not extracted yet

Credit-based pricing

Plans include a monthly allowance of credits that usage consumes.

Generative media and AI app builders sell a monthly allowance of credits that each generation or build consumes. Higher plans buy more credits, faster generation and commercial rights. Credits let the vendor reprice compute without touching the plan names.

ElevenLabs pricing
From $6 per month, 30,000 credits on Starter, USD per month, billed monthly, with a credit allowance per plan
Starter has been listed since Nov 2024, starting at $5. It went up to $6 by Jul 2026 (+20%).
Lovable pricing
From €25 per month incl. VAT, 100 credits on Pro, USD per month, with a monthly credit allowance (shown as EUR including VAT to European visitors)
Pro has been listed since Nov 2024, starting at $20. It went up to $25 by Jun 2025 (+25%).

One-time licence

Paid once per device or seat, not a subscription.

The old desktop model: pay once per device or seat and keep the version you bought, often with a year of updates included. Rare in SaaS but alive in developer tools, where a perpetual licence next to a subscription is a selling point.

TablePlus pricing
From $79 per seat, one-time, from 3 seats on Team, USD per license, paid once

Contact sales

No list price; pricing is quoted by sales.

No list price at all. It is standard for the top tier of a plan grid and for enterprise deals, where the price depends on volume, security requirements and negotiation. On this tracker a product is listed as contact sales only when none of its plans shows a price.

Choosing a SaaS pricing model

Price the value metric, not the login. Seat pricing works when every extra person gets value from the product; usage pricing works when value scales with volume and the number of people is incidental. The models above are not interchangeable: a design tool that charged per viewer or a payments API that charged per seat would punish exactly the behaviour the vendor wants.

Keep the entry price stable and reprice the middle. Several tracked products held their cheapest paid plan at the same list price for many years while adding tiers above it and moving features between them. The increases, when they came, arrived with a rename or a new bundle, which is why a dated feed of price changes is more useful than a single before and after number.

Show the annual price, sell the monthly one. Nearly every per seat page on this site quotes a price per user per month billed annually, with the monthly price a click away and 15 to 25 percent higher. The unit next to each example above records which one the page shows.

Expect to change prices, not models. Across the price histories we track, the metric a product charges for stayed the same from the first archived pricing page to the latest one. Plan names, tier counts and prices changed constantly.

SaaS pricing model questions

What is the most common SaaS pricing model?: Per seat. Of the 57 tracked products with a classified model, 22 charge per seat, followed by flat per account (9) and per editor (4). Seat-based variants such as per editor, per host and per active user push the share of people-based pricing higher still.
What is the difference between per seat and per active user pricing?: Per seat charges for every account that exists, whether or not it is used. Per active user charges only for accounts that were active during the billing period, so a company that adds its whole staff pays for the people who actually log in. Slack is the best known example of active user billing.
What is usage-based pricing in SaaS?: Usage-based pricing bills on what is consumed, such as API calls, automation tasks, messages or payment volume, instead of on the number of users. Many products mix it with a base subscription: a flat fee that includes an allowance, with usage above it metered.
How do I choose a SaaS pricing model?: Price the metric that grows when the customer gets more value. Seats fit tools that every employee uses, editors fit tools with many readers and few creators, usage fits infrastructure and APIs, and flat prices fit small teams and consumers. The products tracked here show that the model rarely changes after launch, while prices and packaging change often.