Pricing-model fit, not pricing-model marketing
SaaS pricing models explained.
The eight indie SaaS pricing models — flat-rate, per-seat, usage-based, freemium, tiered, hybrid, pay-what-you-want, lifetime deal. Each page covers how the model works, who it best fits, who it does NOT fit, the unit-economics implications, the common implementation mistakes, and (when relevant) the positioning trap the model often hides.
Distinct from /pricing-teardown (specific products) — this is the structural “what is model X and when does it work” surface.
Flat-rate pricing
Flat-rate pricing charges every customer the same amount regardless of usage, seats, or feature consumption. It is the simplest pricing model and the most over-applied — many SaaS products that 'should' have tiered or usage-based pricing default to flat rate because it is easy to communicate.
Per-seat pricing
Per-seat pricing charges per active user inside a customer's account. It is the dominant B2B SaaS model and the most-attempted indie SaaS pricing model — but works only for products where multi-user collaboration is core to the value.
Usage-based pricing
Usage-based pricing charges by what the customer consumes — API calls, GB of data, emails sent, messages processed. It is the dominant developer-tools pricing model and increasingly common in AI products. Done well, it aligns customer cost with customer value.
Freemium pricing
Freemium offers a free tier alongside paid tiers. The free tier acquires users at zero acquisition cost; some convert to paid. Done well it produces a wide top-of-funnel; done badly it produces a population of non-customers who consume support and infrastructure without paying.
Tiered pricing
Tiered pricing offers 2-4 paid plans at increasing price points, with each tier including more features, more usage, or both. It is the most common B2B SaaS pricing model and works well at scale — but requires real understanding of customer cohorts to design well.
Hybrid (subscription + usage) pricing
Hybrid pricing combines a fixed subscription base with a usage-based component on top. The subscription covers operational predictability; the usage component captures upside from heavy users. It is the dominant model for modern infrastructure SaaS.
Pay-what-you-want pricing
Pay-what-you-want pricing lets the customer choose any price above a minimum (or zero). It is an unusual model with narrow fit — works for indie creators with strong audience, fails for most commercial SaaS. Honest analysis below.
Lifetime deal pricing
Lifetime deals charge a one-time payment in exchange for permanent access. They produce a cash spike that can fund initial development — and a customer cohort that costs money forever after. Most indie SaaS founders regret LTDs within 18 months. The framework below names when LTDs work and when they do not.
See pricing models applied to real products
The pricing teardowns analyze how specific indie SaaS apply these models in practice — tier structure, anchor mechanics, upgrade triggers.