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The Internet Compass

Pricing

Usage-Based Pricing

Also known as: Consumption pricing, Pay-as-you-go

Usage-based pricing charges customers according to measured consumption (API calls, compute credits, data volume or transactions) instead of a fixed per-seat subscription.

The model lowers the barrier to adoption and lets revenue expand with customer success, which is why infrastructure and AI companies favour it.

The cost is predictability on both sides: customers cannot budget confidently and vendors cannot forecast reliably, which is why hybrid commit-plus-overage contracts have become standard.