Fun_Ostrich_5521 💸 Usage-Based Pricing: Is SaaS Finally Charging Fairly, or Setting Up a Revenue Rollercoaster? 🤔
Forget $X/seat/month. More SaaS products are letting users pay for what they actually use—users are charged based on consumption, not seats or fixed tiers—and it’s shaking up growth strategies.
Why founders are curious:
Try-before-you-buy:Â Lower barrier = more users onboard quickly.
Organic expansion:Â No seat limits. Teams grow, usage grows, revenue grows.
Reach more people:Â Even small teams or occasional users can now adopt your product.
- Userpilot: “Userpilot uses a hybrid pricing model, applying usage limits on some features while keeping others unlimited, allowing customers to pay only for what they use.”
- Twilio: “Twilio famously charges based on API usage—texts, calls, emails—aligning revenue with actual customer consumption.”
Interesting trend: SaaS companies with hybrid pricing models report a median growth rate of ~21%, outperforming purely subscription or purely usage-based plans (2025 pricing trends report).
Challenges: Transparent billing and revenue forecasting are crucial—73% of SaaS companies with usage-based models actively manage these to prevent surprises for both users and internal finance teams. Disclaimer: Not promoting these tools—just examples.
My take: If your product delivers value as usage grows, this can be a rocket for MRR. If value is mostly fixed, traditional subscriptions still win.
So, fellow SaaS builders—is usage-based pricing the future in 2025, or just another trend? Drop your thoughts!