Pricing · Comparison Ledger
Sixteen pricing models, one honest ledger.
Software is billed in more ways than "per-seat" and "tiered" — sixteen structural patterns cover nearly every pricing page you will meet. This ledger sorts and filters all sixteen: how each is billed, who it genuinely suits, where it bites, and the exact phrase that gives it away. No vendor is named for its price — read the live page with this ledger in hand.
Every figure above describes this page, not a vendor — nothing here is a market statistic.
01 — The Ledger
All sixteen, sorted your way.
Search by name, filter by family, sort any column. Every row is a structural pattern, not a vendor — the "tell" column is what to look for on a live pricing page.
| Per-seat (named)Seat-based | Per licensed login, active or not | Small, stable teams with known headcount | Licences outlive people who left | “per user/month, billed annually” |
| Per-seat (active)Seat-based | Only logins counted that period | Teams with fluctuating headcount | “Active” is often defined loosely | “billed on monthly active users” |
| Role-tiered seatsSeat-based | Different price by role | Teams with many read-only stakeholders | “Free” viewer seats often aren’t | “viewer seats” / “guest seats” |
| Minimum-seat commitmentSeat-based | Contract floors a minimum seat count | Vendors wanting a revenue floor | Bites teams that later shrink | “minimum 5 seats” |
| Usage-meteredUsage-based | Per counted unit — calls, minutes, messages | Steady, forecastable usage | Spikes hit with no ceiling | “pay as you go” |
| Credits / prepaidUsage-based | Buy a block, draw down across features | Mixed usage across several features | Unused credits often expire | “credits” · “top-up” |
| Overage / true-upUsage-based | Usage beyond a limit billed after the fact | Large agreements, forecastable floor | Surprise reconciliation invoices | “true-up” / “annual reconciliation” |
| Platform fee + usageUsage-based | Fixed base fee plus metered overage | A predictable floor, variable ceiling | Overage rates dwarf the base | base price + “additional usage billed at…” |
| Tiered (good-better-best)Bundle | Feature bundles at fixed price points | Teams that know their one must-have | One feature forces the whole upgrade | “compare plans” |
| Flat-rate (unlimited users)Bundle | One price, any headcount | Larger teams, high seat count | Costly per head for tiny teams | “unlimited users” |
| Per-transactionScale-based | Per invoice, envelope, contact synced | Transactional tools (payments, e-sign) | Cost climbs quietly with volume | “per transaction” / “per envelope” |
| Storage-basedScale-based | Per data or file volume kept | Archival and document tools | Grows silently as data accumulates | “additional storage” tiers |
| Contact/list-sizeScale-based | Per contact or subscriber, not seat | Email/marketing tools, any team size | Unsubscribed contacts often still count | “billed by subscribers” |
| Per-employee-per-monthScale-based | Per total headcount, not just users | Company-wide mandatory tools (HR, benefits) | Grows with hiring, not adoption | “per employee” (not “per user”) |
| FreemiumAccess-window | A capped free plan, runs indefinitely | Solo use and small-scale testing | The cap forces an abrupt paid jump | “free forever” (check the caps) |
| Free trialAccess-window | Full access for a fixed window | Evaluation before committing | A saved card may charge by default | “trial ends in 14 days, card required” |
Method: sixteen structural patterns synthesised from publicly observable pricing-page conventions. Static HTML so crawlers and no-script readers see every row; the controls enhance on top.
02 — The Five Families
Every model has one counted unit.
Find what is actually being counted and you know the family — and the family tells you which question to ask next.
- Seat-based
- The counted unit is a person, or a login. Ask whether a seat means “could log in” or “did log in,” and whether every role (viewer, guest, admin) counts the same.
- Usage-based
- The counted unit is an action — a call, a message, a minute, a credit. Ask for the meter’s exact definition and whether there is a spending cap.
- Bundle
- The counted unit is a feature tier or a headcount ceiling, not an action. Ask which single feature you actually need, and start comparing from that row.
- Scale-based
- The counted unit is a business metric other than logins — contacts, records, storage, employees. Ask what happens to the price as that metric grows on its own, without you adding a single new user.
- Access-window
- The counted unit is time itself — a free tier that never ends, or a trial that does. Ask what happens the day the window closes, and whether a saved card is charged by default.
03 — Reading The Fine Print
Read a pricing page bottom-up.
Every one of the sixteen models keeps its real secrets in the same four places, regardless of family. Check these four before you compare a single number:
The billing cycle
The headline price is very often the annual rate divided by twelve, available only if you commit for a year. A true month-to-month price is usually shown separately, and is usually higher.
The seat or usage floor
Minimums exist to protect the vendor’s revenue, not your budget. A five-seat minimum on a three-person team is a 67% premium hiding in plain sight.
The overage rate
Whatever is metered has a price past the included allowance, and that per-unit rate is almost always steeper than the bundled rate. Ask for it explicitly if it is not on the page.
The renewal clause
Year-one pricing is frequently promotional. What the second year costs — and how much notice you must give to avoid it — belongs in the contract, not the marketing page. AFG SaaS covers this in full on the pre-signing checklist.
04 — FAQ
Real questions, short answers.
Is one pricing model always cheaper than another?
No single model is inherently cheaper — it depends on how your team actually uses the tool. A steady five-person team usually does better on per-seat; a spiky, occasional workload usually does better on usage-based. Model against your real pattern, not the label.
What is the single biggest pricing-page trick to watch for?
An annual price dressed as a monthly figure. The large number on the page is often only available if you pay for the whole year up front — check for “billed annually” in the fine print before you compare it with a true month-to-month rate.
How do I tell which family a pricing page is using?
Find the unit actually being counted: a logged-in person, a metered action, a feature-bundle tier, or a business metric like contacts or storage. That unit tells you the family, and the family tells you which question to ask next.
Do vendors mix more than one model on the same plan?
Often — a base seat price with metered overage, or a tiered plan with per-transaction add-ons, are both common hybrids. That is exactly what the “platform fee + usage” row in the ledger describes.
Where do I check what a specific tool actually charges right now?
Its own live pricing page — prices change often and this ledger will not repeat them. This page teaches you to read that page correctly, not to substitute for it.
Is this list of sixteen models exhaustive?
No — these sixteen structural patterns cover most pricing pages you will meet, but unusual hybrids exist. Ask the concierge to help classify anything that does not fit cleanly.
05 — Sources
Where this classification comes from
- AFG SaaS — “The Pricing Decoder,” the homepage section this ledger expands on.afgsaas.allfrontierglobal.com/#decoderInternal · companion page · accessed 25 Jul 2026
- AFG SaaS — “How to Evaluate a SaaS Tool,” the pre-signing checklist this ledger’s fine-print section feeds into.afgsaas.allfrontierglobal.com/evaluate/Internal · companion page · accessed 25 Jul 2026
About this page: the sixteen-row classification is original editorial synthesis of publicly observable SaaS billing structures — no vendor name, price, rating or ranking is quoted anywhere on this page. Where a specific tool’s current price matters, read its own live pricing page.
The Concierge
Not sure which model you’re looking at?
Paste in what a pricing page says and the concierge will name the model, flag the fine print worth checking, and point at the right AFG SaaS page — it never quotes a vendor’s price back to you.