GrowthPad

For the last 20 years, SaaS pricing was relatively simple.

Charge per seat.

Maybe add a Free plan, a Pro plan, and an Enterprise plan.

Scale revenue by adding users.

Investors loved it. Customers understood it. Finance teams could forecast it.

That era is ending.

AI is fundamentally changing software economics, customer behavior, and how value is delivered. The pricing models that powered the growth of companies like Salesforce, Atlassian, and HubSpot are becoming increasingly disconnected from the value customers receive.

The next generation of software companies won’t be built on seat-based pricing.

They’ll be built on outcomes, usage, intelligence, and hybrid monetization models.

The companies that adapt will create entirely new revenue streams.

The companies that don’t will see margins compressed, growth slow, and competitors capture the value they’ve spent years creating.

Why Traditional SaaS Pricing Is Breaking

The original SaaS model worked because software was primarily a productivity tool.

More employees meant more value.

More value meant more seats.

Revenue scaled naturally with headcount.

But AI changes that equation.

A team of five can now produce the output of twenty.

Software increasingly performs work rather than enabling work.

This creates a fundamental problem:

Customers want more outcomes while paying for fewer users.

Imagine a marketing team generating hundreds of campaigns through AI.

A traditional seat-based pricing model captures none of that additional value.

The customer receives 10x more output.

The software company receives exactly the same revenue.

That’s not sustainable.

Three Forces Reshaping Pricing

1. Value Is Moving From Users To Usage

Historically:

Revenue = Number of Users × Price Per Seat

Increasingly:

Revenue = Value Consumed

Customers expect pricing to scale with actual usage rather than employee count.

Examples:

• AI generations
• API calls
• Messages sent
• Data processed
• Reports generated
• Tasks completed

This is why we’re seeing more companies introduce usage-based components into previously seat-based businesses.

2. Marginal Costs Matter Again

One of SaaS’s greatest advantages was near-zero marginal cost.

AI changes that.

Every prompt, generation, inference, and model call has a cost.

Suddenly pricing and unit economics are connected again.

Companies can no longer offer unlimited plans without understanding:

• Cost per generation
• Cost per customer
• Cost per workflow
• Cost per model interaction

The businesses that understand their AI cost structure earliest will have the largest advantage.

3. Customers Want Flexibility

Customers don’t want to commit to large seat purchases when AI adoption is uncertain.

They want:

• Pay-as-you-go options
• Credits
• Hybrid models
• Expandable usage limits

Rigid pricing creates friction.

Flexible pricing accelerates adoption.

What The Future Looks Like

The future isn’t usage-based pricing.

It’s hybrid pricing.

The strongest businesses will combine multiple monetization models simultaneously.

Model 1: Seats + Usage

Examples:

• Canva
• Notion
• Figma
• Atlassian

Customers pay:

• Base subscription
• Additional usage charges

This maintains predictable recurring revenue while capturing increasing value from power users.

Model 2: Platform Fee + Consumption

Examples:

• Shopify
• Stripe
• Twilio

Customers pay:

• Platform subscription
• Transaction-based fees

Revenue scales directly with customer success.

The more customers grow, the more the platform earns.

Model 3: Outcome Pricing

The most disruptive model.

Customers pay for:

• Leads generated
• Revenue created
• Support tickets resolved
• Documents processed
• Engineering tasks completed

This aligns pricing directly with business value.

It’s difficult to implement.

But it creates enormous pricing power.

What Canva, Shopify and Notion Are Teaching Us

Canva

Canva started with straightforward subscription plans.

Over time they evolved toward a platform monetization model.

Key shifts included:

• Team plans
• Enterprise controls
• Additional products
• AI-powered creation tools
• Credits and consumption layers

The lesson:

Don’t replace your subscription business.

Expand it.

Create new monetization surfaces around existing subscriptions.

Shopify

Shopify mastered hybrid monetization.

Revenue comes from:

• Subscription plans
• Payments
• Financial products
• Merchant services
• Capital
• POS
• Shipping

The subscription is no longer the business.

It’s the entry point.

The real value capture happens across the ecosystem.

Notion

Notion’s AI launch is one of the clearest examples of pricing evolution.

Instead of completely rebuilding pricing, they layered AI monetization on top of existing subscriptions.

This allowed them to:

• Preserve existing revenue
• Test willingness to pay
• Understand usage patterns
• Gradually increase monetization sophistication

Most companies should follow a similar path.

The GrowthPad Pricing Transformation Framework

When helping companies redesign pricing, we recommend a five-stage process.

Stage 1: Understand Value Drivers

Before changing pricing, identify:

• What customers actually value
• What correlates with expansion
• What drives retention
• What creates cost

Most pricing projects fail because companies optimize for simplicity rather than value capture.

Stage 2: Instrument Usage

Track everything.

Examples:

• AI generations
• Projects created
• Workflows executed
• Data processed
• Reports generated

You cannot monetize what you cannot measure.

Stage 3: Introduce Soft Limits

Before charging for usage:

Introduce visibility.

Examples:

“You’ve used 82% of your monthly AI credits.”

This creates awareness without creating friction.

Stage 4: Launch Packaging Experiments

Test:

• Credit systems
• Usage tiers
• Add-ons
• Premium features
• Enterprise bundles

Start small.

Measure adoption.

Expand gradually.

Stage 5: Introduce Monetization

Only after customers understand the value.

Never charge for something customers don’t yet understand.

Pricing Experiments Every SaaS Company Should Run

Experiment #1: AI Add-On

Keep existing pricing.

Add:

“$10/user/month AI package”

Measure:

• Attach rate
• Usage
• Retention
• Expansion

Experiment #2: Credits Model

Give customers monthly credits.

Examples:

• 500 AI generations
• 1,000 reports
• 5,000 API calls

Measure willingness to consume.

Experiment #3: Overage Pricing

Allow customers to exceed limits.

Charge only for excess consumption.

This reduces friction while increasing revenue.

Experiment #4: Outcome Packaging

Instead of charging for features:

Charge for results.

Examples:

• Resolved support conversations
• Qualified leads
• Generated content
• Successful automations

Experiment #5: Enterprise Usage Commitments

Offer discounts for annual consumption commitments.

Creates predictability for both sides.

How To Make The Transition Without Breaking Revenue

The biggest pricing mistake companies make is changing everything at once.

Instead:

Keep Existing Customers Protected

Grandfather existing customers.

Maintain trust.

Avoid forced migrations.

Launch New Models For New Customers

New pricing should start with new cohorts.

Learn before broad rollout.

Test Before Global Rollout

Run:

• Geographic tests
• Segment tests
• Cohort tests

Pricing should be treated like product development.

Monitor Expansion Closely

Track:

• Net Revenue Retention
• Expansion Revenue
• Gross Margin
• Churn
• Usage Growth

Revenue growth without healthy margins is not success.

The Next Decade Of Pricing

The next generation of great software companies won’t ask:

“How many users do you have?”

They’ll ask:

“How much value are we creating?”

Pricing is moving from access to outcomes.

From seats to usage.

From subscriptions to ecosystems.

From software licenses to intelligence platforms.

Companies that embrace this shift early will build stronger businesses, healthier margins, and more durable growth.

The question isn’t whether pricing is changing.

The question is whether your business will adapt before your competitors do.