8 SaaS usage-based pricing examples from successful SaaS companies

Looking for usage‑based pricing examples? Below are eight real‑world SaaS examples from enterprises like  AWS to startups like Relevance AI. Read to discover examples like pay‑per‑use, credit, percentage, and outcome models work.

What Is Usage-Based Pricing?

Usage-based pricing charges customers for usage within a billing cycle. This means either paying a flat fee which includes limited usage or paying varied fees based on how much you use.

SaaS companies using usage-based pricing typically bill customers using measurable value metrics. The company tracks usage over a billing period, applies the unit price, and bills accordingly.

Where usage-based pricing works—and where it doesn't

Usage-based pricing is most common in infrastructure (cloud services, databases, DevTools, APIs.) because costs per customer are more varied: A database customer with 100 users costs much less than one with millions of users. It wouldn't be fair to charge them the same.

With AI, usage-based pricing has arrived at the application layer. Apps are more likely to charge a subscription that includes usage (via credits or other forms of hybrid pricing) to keep it simple for users.

Usage-based pricing is unlikely to work in scenarios where users don't get value out of each bit of usage. For example, nobody would like to pay for Figma by the frame. A great example of this contrast is Anthropic's Claude, where the API is priced on usage while the app is paid for by subscription. The underlying AI is the same.

8 Examples of SaaS Usage-Based Pricing Models

1. Pay-per-use pricing: Amazon Web Services (AWS)

The "purest" usage-based pricing is to only charge for consumption. This is what AWS pricing looks like:

Customers pay no flat fee, only their exact usage. This is most common for infrastructure and cloud services like AWS and usually doesn't work for application-layer companies.

Consumption-based billing always means directly charging for a metric. Other examples include: 

• Paying per SMS/email like Twilio
• Paying for database rows like Fivetran
• Paying for tokens like the Mistral API

Benefits of consumption-based pricing

• Full transparency for customers: Customers never pay for anything they don't use, which is the opposite of subscriptions, which frequently go unused.
• Guaranteed margins: Software companies know their cost, which means they can calculate the usage charges to guarantee margins.
• Revenue expansion: If a customer's business grows, so does yours.

Downsides of consumption-based pricing

• Hard to monitor: For customers, it's often annoying to need to stay on top of how much you've spent. This makes it more difficult to add a new consumption-based vendor than a subscription-based one.
• Difficult to forecast revenue: When all of your revenue is recurring (like with subscriptions), it's easier to forecast revenue than with consumption-based pricing.
• Revenue contraction: If a customer's business shrinks, so does yours.

2. Credit-based pricing: Relevance AI

Credit-based pricing is perhaps the most popular AI pricing model for generative AI apps. It means issuing a number of credits to users which are included in their subscription. These credits can be spent on using the product. When users run out of credits, they can either top up their wallets by buying more or wait until credits are replenished at the next billing cycle.

Credits work best when users directly initiate usage and doesn't work well for infrastructure. That's because infrastructure should be reliable and in the background while other workflows are less essential. As an example: You wouldn't want your production database to run out of credits and stop working. But if an AI prospecting tool runs out of credits, you can wait a few weeks and use it again.

An example of this is AI agent platform Relevance AI:

‍Benefits of credit-based pricing:

• Guaranteed revenue: You can charge a subscription and get recurring revenue instead of relying on unpredictable usage-based revenue.
• No surprise bills: Users know exactly how much they're paying.
• Margin guarantee: You can exactly calculate the maximum amount of usage a subscription gets a user. By monitoring AI prices, you can ensure you never lose money on a user.

Downsides of credit-based pricing:

• Confusion: As credit pricing gets more complex, it becomes confusing, especially if you have multiple products or types of usage that all consume the same credits.
• Intransparent: If credits don't correspond to user actions, it can be hard for users to calculate how many credits they'll consume.
• Varying margins: Calculating your margins gets harder because users consume different quantities of credits.

3. Percentage-based pricing: Stripe

Some companies charge a percentage of another metric, typically revenue. This is a specialized example of usage-based pricing because it only applies rarely. A great example of this is payment provider Stripe, which charges a fixed percentage of a company's transaction volume.

Percentage-based pricing is rare. This is because it is rarely applicable. Few companies have enough visibility into customers' financial data to charge a percentage of anything.

But when you do, it can be a powerful example of usage-based pricing that directly corresponds with the customer's success.

Benefits of percentage-based pricing:

• It feels fair: You only make money when the customers make money, which makes customers feel at ease.
• No guaranteed revenue: Your business stands and falls with your customers' businesses. This means you're not guaranteed any revenue.

Downsides of percentage-based pricing:

• Rarely applicable: Very few businesses can execute this pricing strategy.
• Can feel predatory: Especially for bigger businesses, a revenue cut of just a few percent can quickly mean paying millions.

4. Outcome-based pricing

Outcome-based pricing is a novel example of usage-based pricing. It means only charging a customer for success. A great example of this is Chargeflow, a chargeback recovery product. It charges about 25% of recovered chargebacks (or $39 per prevented chargeback). In SaaS, this usage-based pricing strategy is enabled by AI. Previously, only (human-powered) services could do outcome-based pricing. Examples are commission-only sales agencies or recruiters.

Benefits of outcome-based pricing

• Easy to sell: It's easier to buy a tool whose ROI you can measure directly (and is even guaranteed)
• Most transparent: Money charged is directly linked to a measurable benefit generated.

Downsides of outcome-based pricing

• Hard to attribute: It's hard to agree on exactly how to measure the outcomes with perfect clarity.
• Limited application: Most outcomes in a business have too many variables as to be perfectly measurable.

In practice, most usage-based pricing strategies combine some of these into hybrid pricing models. If you want to implement some of these, here is a guide on how to build usage-based pricing in your SaaS company.

5. Hybrid pricing models: Supabase

Hybrid pricing combines aspects of usage-based pricing with a subscription model. A great example of this is Supabase. The database company charges a subscription which includes usage and then charges a pay-per-use fee on top of it for additional storage or active users.

These hybrid models give users flexibility while still offering predictability. This model works for Supabase because it's a database that always runs in the background and has bad consequences if it stopped working once a customer has consumed all of their usage.

But hybrid billing models also exist outside of infrastructure. Take email and SMS marketing vendor Brevo as an example: 

They charge a regular subscription and charge users extra if they use more notifications, users or landing pages. These hybrid models offer the best of consumption-based and subscription pricing. But hybrid pricing can also get overly complex.

Benefits of hybrid pricing

• Guaranteed revenue: You bill for usage not included in plans, which means power users don't threaten your margins.
• Expansion potential: Your revenue potentially increases from each customer.

Downsides of hybrid pricing

• Confusing: Customers might get confused by different charges.
• Unfair perception: Some customers might not like paying a subscription and also paying for usage.

How to implement usage-based pricing for SaaS

Implementing usage-based pricing requires careful planning and the right infrastructure. Here are key considerations:

1. Identify appropriate value metrics: Choose metrics that align with the value your customers receive from your product.
2. Set up reliable metering systems: Accurate usage tracking is essential for billing and customer trust.
3. Create transparent pricing tiers: Make your pricing structure easy to understand to avoid customer confusion.
4. Implement flexible billing systems: Your billing system must handle variable usage patterns and complex pricing rules.
5. Provide usage visibility to customers: Give customers tools to monitor their usage and understand their bills.

Modern billing platforms like Lago can help SaaS businesses implement and manage usage-based pricing models efficiently. With capabilities for real-time metering, flexible pricing configurations, and automated billing, such platforms eliminate many of the technical challenges associated with usage-based pricing.

Why Usage-Based Pricing Continues to Grow

The continued growth of usage-based pricing in SaaS is driven by several factors:

• Alignment with customer value: Customers pay based on the actual value they receive.
• Reduced friction in customer acquisition: Lower entry barriers make it easier to acquire new customers.
• Scalability for both parties: Businesses and customers can scale up or down as needed.
• Data-driven decision making: Usage data provides insights for product development and pricing optimization.
• Competitive advantage: Companies offering flexible pricing often outperform those with rigid subscription models.

According to industry research, 61% of SaaS companies are looking to launch consumption-based models, indicating that this trend will continue to strengthen in the coming years.

Usage-based pricing questions answered

What is usage‑based pricing (UBP) in SaaS?

UBP charges customers for actual consumption—whether API calls, data rows, or credits—instead of a flat monthly seat fee.

How is UBP different from seat‑based or flat‑rate pricing?

Seat‑based ties cost to users; flat‑rate is one price for unlimited use. UBP scales costs (and value) with measurable activity, aligning spend with usage.

Which billing metrics work best for AI products?

‍Common value metrics include tokens processed, inference seconds, images generated, or characters translated—anything closely tied to cloud‑compute costs.

When should I choose a hybrid model (subscription + credits)?

‍Use a hybrid when you need predictable recurring revenue and want to let power users burst beyond included usage without upgrading tiers.

How can I prevent surprise bills for customers?‍

Offer real‑time usage dashboards, spend alerts, and hard limits or auto‑top‑ups so buyers stay in control.

Does UBP hurt revenue forecasting?

‍It can add volatility, but cohort analysis, usage caps, and minimum‑commit contracts improve predictability while preserving upside.

What billing infrastructure do I need?

You’ll need metering, rating, and invoicing that handle high‑volume events in near‑real time—tools like Lago, Stripe Billing, or custom Kafka pipelines.‍

How do I pick the “right” value metric?

‍Choose a metric customers understand, map it to delivered value, and ensure you can measure it accurately and cheaply.

Is UBP suitable for B2C apps like design tools?

Rarely. If users don’t perceive incremental value per action (e.g., drawing a Figma frame), UBP feels punitive; subscription tiers work better.

How does UBP affect customer retention?

‍When priced fairly, churn often drops because users aren’t forced to over‑subscribe; they can scale down during quiet periods without canceling outright.

What’s a typical net dollar retention (NDR) for UBP SaaS?

Best‑in‑class usage‑based companies report 120 %–140 % NDR, driven by organic expansion as customer usage grows.

How do I migrate existing customers to UBP?

Communicate early, grandfather legacy plans, and offer usage credits or discounts during the transition to build goodwill.

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