AI is reshaping SaaS pricing, shifting businesses away from static, seat-based pricing models toward dynamic, outcome-based pricing. In this model, vendors are only paid when they deliver value—aligning incentives for both businesses and customers.
In a recent webinar, Metronome CEO Scott Woody and SaaS pricing expert Kyle Poyar discussed outcome-based pricing: why you’d use it, its opportunities and challenges, and which early adopters are successfully using the model today. If you’re new to usage- and outcome-based pricing, we hope these takeaways can help you get up to speed and determine if this is the pricing model for you.
Outcome-based pricing, defined
The shift to outcome-based pricing represents a fundamental change in how businesses think about monetization. Slightly more niche than usage-based pricing, which focuses on the total product usage in some format, outcome-based pricing essentially makes a promise to the customer that something will happen as a result of using the product, and the customer pays for the number of successful outcomes. Essentially: Instead of paying a flat fee for software access, customers pay for tangible results—like successfully resolved sales or support conversations—in this model. This approach ensures that companies are compensated for the value they provide, rather than simply selling access to a product or service—while also ensuring that customers are getting real value for their money.
What I think is so fascinating about these outcome-based or next-gen, usage-based models is that the vendor only gets paid when the customers actually adopt the product, so there's no shelfware. The customer is essentially renewing with their usage.
– Kyle Poyar (4:44)
This model tightly interlinks revenue with customer success. Instead of hoping that customers keep renewing subscriptions, the business’s earnings are based on fulfilling the outcomes they’ve promised the customer. This, in turn, can essentially turn R&D into a revenue driver. If you build products that help customers succeed, you can monetize it.
Benefits of outcome-based pricing
Aligning costs with value delivered
One of the biggest advantages of outcome-based pricing is that it strengthens the relationship between a business and its customers. Since customers only pay when they see results, the approach generally leads to stronger trust, lower churn rates, and more sustainable revenue growth. The business takes on more risk here, but it also stands to benefit more when customers get meaningful returns.
When I see these shift towards more flexible pricing models where the risk is on the vendor, the benefit to that is you can share in a lot more of the value you're creating for the customer because it's seen as highly incremental—very tied to your product, and where where you're really taking on the risk on their behalf.
– Kyle Poyar (18:38)
If customers see direct ROI, they’re willing to pay more. That’s why many companies decide to move from ‘pay for access’ to ‘pay for results.’
Strengthening a sustainable, strategic moat
Outcome-based pricing creates a compounding advantage—the more value you deliver, the stronger your position becomes. As you iterate on a product or service that drives measurable outcomes, you generate proprietary data that no one else has. This fuels better outcomes, deeper relationships, and a stronger product—making it harder for competitors to replicate your success.
If you build a purpose-built workflow in one specific domain, as you start to become the market leader in that domain, you sit on a data moat that no one has access to and can build something stronger and stronger, which means you're actually monetizing better because you're you're making more money as you're more successful to your customers your customers are happier what you're doing, and it's harder and harder for anyone to ever replicate that at the same success rate.
– Kyle Poyar (22:11)
Outcome-based pricing early adopters
Several notable industry leaders have already embraced outcome-based pricing, particularly in AI-powered and automation-driven services.
Company
Industry
Outcome-Based Pricing Model
Key Metrics for Pricing
Notable Features
Salesforce (Agentforce)
CRM / AI Customer Service
$2 per conversation handled by Agentforce (AI agent)
A conversation is defined as when a customer sends at least one message or selects at least one menu option or choice other than the End Chat button within a 24-hour period.
Number of support conversations handled by the AI agent
First major CRM to adopt a "semi"outcome-based pricing for AI; aligns cost with actual support volumes (clear ROI)
Addresses inefficiencies of idle licenses by charging only when value (a handled conversation) is delivered
Intercom (Fin AI)
Customer Support Software
$0.99 per successful resolution by "Fin" AI chatbot - clients pay only when the bot successfully resolves a customer query
Fees accrue based on AI-solved issues
Count of support conversations resolved by the AI agent
Early adopter of AI outcome-based pricing in 2023
Lowers adoption risk by charging for resolved queries instead of a flat rate; combines usage- and value-based pricing to tie cost directly to support effectiveness.
Zendesk (AI Answer Bot)
Customer Support
Per successful AI chatbot-handled resolution
No charge if the bot fails and a human must step in
Number of customer issues or tickets auto-resolved by the bot
Aimed at cost-conscious customers wary of paying for unproven AI
Aligns price with realized automation benefit; part of a broader industry shift from per-agent pricing to value-delivered pricing in support
Chargeflow
Fintech (Chargeback Management)
Charges a fraction of recovered funds on chargebacks
Example: ~25% fee per successful chargeback recovery
No fees for chargebacks lost
Alert service charges $39 per prevented chargeback
Value/count of chargebacks recovered (disputes won) and chargebacks prevented (for prevention alerts)
4× ROI guarantee on recoveries
No contracts or monthly fees
Revenue comes only from successful outcomes; pricing directly aligns with merchant's regained revenue, meaning Chargeflow only profits when the client does (win-win model)
Riskified
E-commerce Fraud Prevention
remain fraud-free
PAYGO, 0.4% per transaction
Only charges for transactions it approves that remain fraud free
Number or value of approved transactions without fraud (i.e. successfully processed legitimate sales).
Provider shares financial risk of fraud with clients; pricing tied to outcome of increased safe sales
Incentivizes vendor to maintain high accuracy (they only profit when fraud is stopped)
Foster continuous improvement in their fraud-detection algorithms
Challenges of adoption and implementation
Success outcome attribution
While outcome-based pricing is straightforward in theory, it gets a bit murkier in practice. As Kyle notes, most products aren’t currently able to truly tie the work their product performs to a successful outcome, from start to finish.
I think most products are just not built in a way that they own the outcome from beginning to end and can prove the incrementality to customers. . . . I do think people will tap into the concept of success based pricing to market their products. They'll be calling themselves ‘success based’ but really charge based on the amount of work that's completed.
– Kyle Poyar (41:09)
One example of this issue might be an AI customer support agent: if a user interacts with the bot and eventually leaves the chat without submitting a ticket—and also without explicitly choosing “Yes, this answered my question,” does the vendor get to claim that the outcome was successful? Those are the kinds of conversations that must be had before contracts are in place to ensure that both parties are clearly understanding what “successful outcome” means.
Financial planning and investor expectations
Finally, outcome-based pricing can pose challenges for financial planning and fundraising. Investors are used to predictable, recurring revenue models and may struggle to evaluate the long-term viability of this approach.
Investors are expecting predictable revenue, ARR, be able to measure all the classic SAS metrics, any sort of seasonality is like a deal breaker, and there's a lot of investors that just don't understand these next-gen models and how to how to unpack the kind of underlying health of the business.
– Kyle Poyar (35:48)
Educating investors and the market on what to expect, and also helping your internal teams understand how to communicate about the business, are both critical for the success of any business with a usage- or outcome-based model.
How Metronome can help with transitioning to outcome-based models
Whether your company is adopting a hybrid pricing model, introducing an outcome-based add-on, or fully transitioning from seat-based or subscription models, Metronome has the expertise gained from working with market leaders across the industry that can make pricing transitions painless.
Metronome enables SaaS companies to:
Launch and experiment with outcome-based pricing without engineering effort
Use real-time billing data to understand product adoption, analyze revenue performance, and conduct margin analysis.
Take action on customer signals by giving Sales and Marketing insight into customer consumption by individual accounts or cohorts.
With outcome-based pricing becoming an essential strategy for companies looking to align their success with their customers’ success, the time for pricing to evolve is now. While the transition requires effort, companies that adopt this model stand to gain stronger customer relationships, more sustainable revenue, and a competitive edge. Metronome provides the infrastructure businesses need to make this shift efficiently.
If you’re interested in updating your pricing model with the help of our experts, get in touch. We’re here to help you navigate the transition with confidence.
Hubspot’s VP of Pricing Strategy, Sam Lee, joins Metronome CEO, Scott Woody, to discuss how to know when to make the shift, best practices, and how to avoid common pitfalls.
Company
Industry
Outcome-Based Pricing Model
Key Metrics for Pricing
Notable Features
Salesforce (Agentforce)
CRM / AI Customer Service
$2 per conversation handled by Agentforce (AI agent)
A conversation is defined as when a customer sends at least one message or selects at least one menu option or choice other than the End Chat button within a 24-hour period.
Number of support conversations handled by the AI agent
First major CRM to adopt a "semi"outcome-based pricing for AI; aligns cost with actual support volumes (clear ROI)
Addresses inefficiencies of idle licenses by charging only when value (a handled conversation) is delivered
Intercom (Fin AI)
Customer Support Software
$0.99 per successful resolution by "Fin" AI chatbot - clients pay only when the bot successfully resolves a customer query
Fees accrue based on AI-solved issues
Count of support conversations resolved by the AI agent
Early adopter of AI outcome-based pricing in 2023
Lowers adoption risk by charging for resolved queries instead of a flat rate; combines usage- and value-based pricing to tie cost directly to support effectiveness.
Zendesk (AI Answer Bot)
Customer Support
Per successful AI chatbot-handled resolution
No charge if the bot fails and a human must step in
Number of customer issues or tickets auto-resolved by the bot
Aimed at cost-conscious customers wary of paying for unproven AI
Aligns price with realized automation benefit; part of a broader industry shift from per-agent pricing to value-delivered pricing in support
Chargeflow
Fintech (Chargeback Management)
Charges a fraction of recovered funds on chargebacks
Example: ~25% fee per successful chargeback recovery
No fees for chargebacks lost
Alert service charges $39 per prevented chargeback
Value/count of chargebacks recovered (disputes won) and chargebacks prevented (for prevention alerts)
4× ROI guarantee on recoveries
No contracts or monthly fees
Revenue comes only from successful outcomes; pricing directly aligns with merchant's regained revenue, meaning Chargeflow only profits when the client does (win-win model)
