Medium — weeks Pre-Revenue

Should I charge per seat, per usage, or flat rate?

Per-seat scales with team size but penalises collaboration. Usage-based aligns cost with value but is hard to predict. Flat rate is simple but leaves money on the table. At pre-revenue, you're choosing a pricing architecture that's hard to change later.

1–1 people SaaS Medium — weeks

The Pattern

Based on 325 decisions

72%

Positive outcome

7.0

Avg score

325

Decisions

63 positive 24 negative 238 pending

10 scale 304 optimise 11 experiment

What founders did

high confidence

Monetisation Case Studies

Curated library

Startup: Evaluate pivot to GUI App + subscription model (2024)

An early-stage SaaS startup is grappling with a fundamental business model decision: whether to continue with a 'GitHub repo + deployment fee' model, which might appeal to developers, or pivot …

SaaS Building — Pre-launch Experiment — Promising but unvalidated

5.9

SaaS Founder: Evaluate business model pivot from deployment fee to subscription GUI app (2026)

A SaaS founder is at a crossroads, considering whether to transition their business model from a GitHub repository with a deployment fee to a GUI application with a subscription. This …

SaaS £0–5k/month Experiment — Promising but unvalidated

5.9

SaaS Founder (Unnamed): Choose between open-source with deployment fee or proprietary GUI with subscription (2026)

An early-stage SaaS founder is grappling with a fundamental business model decision for their software. The strategic choice is between offering the core product as an open-source GitHub repository with …

SaaS Building — Pre-launch Experiment — Promising but unvalidated

5.9

Salesforce: Per-seat subscription pricing model (1999)

Instead of large upfront licence fees (the Siebel/Oracle model), Salesforce charged $50/user/month. This was radically lower entry cost but required sustained retention. Enterprise buyers were unfamiliar with subscriptions for business …

Positive outcome Net revenue retention: 120%+; became industry standard

SaaS Launched — Pre-Revenue Optimise — Working but needs refinement

7.8

Stripe: Transparent, flat-rate pricing at 2.9% + 30c (2011)

Instead of complex tiered pricing with interchange-plus rates, Stripe offered simple flat-rate pricing. This was slightly more expensive for high-volume merchants but radically simpler. No contracts, no negotiation, no hidden …

Positive outcome Millions of businesses onboarded; simple pricing became industry …

SaaS Launched — Pre-Revenue Optimise — Working but needs refinement

7.8

Spotify: Launch freemium model with ad-supported free tier (2008)

Spotify launched with a free ad-supported tier alongside premium subscriptions. Labels were hostile — they feared free access would cannibalise sales. The bet was that free users would convert to …

Positive outcome 615M users; 36% free-to-paid conversion

SaaS Launched — Pre-Revenue Optimise — Working but needs refinement

6.6

Canva: Freemium design tool targeting non-designers (2013)

Canva launched a drag-and-drop design tool aimed at people who couldn't use Photoshop or Illustrator. The free tier was generous — thousands of templates and basic features. The bet was …

Positive outcome 170M+ MAU; $2.3B ARR; valued at $26B

SaaS Launched — Pre-Revenue Optimise — Working but needs refinement

7.3

Reddit Founder: Offer unlimited usage on entry-level SaaS plan (2026)

A SaaS company decided to include 'unlimited usage' as a key feature on its entry-level plan, priced at $29/month. This was likely intended to attract users with a perception of …

Negative outcome Server costs exceeded revenue for power users

SaaS £0–5k/month Optimise — Working but needs refinement

6.1

As founders contribute their monetisation decisions, you'll see what people at your exact stage are doing too.