SaaS pricing models
SaaS pricing model trends 2026
Just last quarter, the split between pricing models was fairly even. Now, not only has the gap widened, but consumption-based pricing has become the leading model for the first time.
This shift signifies a continued change in the vendor-buyer relationship:
- Per-usage takes the lead: Per-usage pricing rose from 34% to 36.5% in just one quarter, making it the single most common pricing model in Q2 2026. This reflects vendors' continued push to tie costs directly to consumption, particularly for AI-powered features where usage can vary dramatically month to month.
- The decline of seat-based pricing: Per-user pricing fell to 32.4%, a decline of 2.6 percentage points, continuing a broader shift away from flat per-seat fees toward usage-based pricing.
- Hybrid holds steady: Hybrid pricing barely moved, up just 0.1 percentage points to 31.1%. Unlike the clear shift away from per-user pricing, hybrid models – which combine a fixed base fee with variable usage costs – appear to have found a stable share of the market for now.
For finance and procurement teams, this means an increasing share of software spend is now genuinely variable rather than fixed. AI cost optimization tools help track and forecast this variable spend before it causes unexpected budget overruns – our own data shows that spend on consumption-priced tools can vary by as much as 37.6% month to month, making that kind of forecasting more important than ever. Opting for a tool that also has access to real-time pricing benchmarks helps confirm whether usage-based rates and overage charges are fair, not just whether a fixed license fee is competitive.
Data source: These insights are derived from over $75bn of global processed spend managed by Vertice in 2026.
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Are you overpaying for SaaS?
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As of Q2 2026, consumption based (per-usage) pricing is the most common model (36.5% of contracts), overtaking per-user pricing (32.4%) for the first time.
Yes. Per-usage pricing rose from 34.0% in Q1 2026 to 36.5% in Q2 2026, while per-user (seat-based) pricing declined from 35.0% to 32.4% over the same period.
Variable volatility. Unlike seat-based models where costs are fixed, hybrid models allow the usage-based portion of costs to scale indefinitely. Without annual credit rollovers and overage price protection, a single high-activity month can consume a large share of the annual budget. Vertice's research on monthly budget variance shows spend on consumption-priced tools can vary by as much as 37.6% month to month, making this risk far from theoretical. Having the right SaaS spend management tool in place– particularly one with budget management capabilities – is crucial for catching these swings before they blow through a quarterly budget. For a deeper look at how consumption-based pricing is reshaping software costs, download Vertice's report on consumption-based pricing models.
How can companies manage the shift toward usage-based SaaS pricing?
AI cost optimization tools help track and forecast variable, consumption-based spend before it causes budget overruns, while pricing benchmarks help confirm whether usage-based rates and overage charges are competitive, not just the fixed portion of a contract.