.png)
Frameworks, core principles and top case studies for SaaS pricing, learnt and refined over 28+ years of SaaS-monetization experience.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
In today's SaaS landscape, pricing strategy can make or break your business growth. One of the most challenging aspects is creating a pricing structure that feels fair to customers across different team sizes while still maximizing your revenue potential. Whether you're serving startups with five employees or enterprises with thousands, your pricing needs to scale appropriately without alienating either end of the spectrum.
The Challenge of Fair Pricing Across Organization Sizes
Implementing equitable pricing isn't just good ethics—it's good business. When smaller teams feel they're paying too much relative to their usage, they churn. When larger organizations feel they're not getting enterprise value, they look elsewhere. According to a ProfitWell study, companies with fair value-based pricing see 30% higher retention rates than those with arbitrary pricing models.
The fundamental question becomes: how do you create pricing that scales with company size while maintaining perceived fairness for all customers?
Understanding Value Perception at Different Scales
Before implementing any pricing strategy, you need to understand how value perception changes across team sizes:
- Small teams (1-10 employees): Value individual productivity gains and direct ROI
- Mid-market (11-100 employees): Focus on team collaboration and workflow efficiencies
- Enterprise (100+ employees): Prioritize governance, compliance, and organization-wide impact
Research from Price Intelligently reveals that these different segments often have up to 3-6x variation in willingness to pay for the same core product, based solely on how they perceive its value to their organization.
Strategies for Implementing Scalable Pricing
1. Per-User Pricing with Volume Discounts
The most straightforward approach to team size pricing is a per-user model with built-in volume discounts. This naturally scales with organization size while acknowledging the efficiency of serving larger customers.
Example Implementation:
- $49/user/month for 1-10 users
- $45/user/month for 11-50 users (8% discount)
- $39/user/month for 51-100 users (20% discount)
- Custom enterprise pricing for 100+ users
Slack successfully employs this model, making their pricing feel fair across the spectrum while still capturing more revenue from larger deployments.
2. Usage-Based Pricing with Tiered Thresholds
Usage-based pricing can be inherently more equitable since customers only pay for what they use. However, it's important to tie usage metrics to actual value.
Example Implementation:
- Base platform fee: $199/month
- 1-1,000 transactions: Included in base fee
- 1,001-10,000 transactions: $0.10 per transaction
- 10,001+ transactions: $0.05 per transaction
Stripe and AWS have mastered this approach by ensuring that as usage (and presumably value gained) increases, the per-unit cost decreases proportionally.
3. Value-Metric Pricing
Instead of charging directly for users or usage, consider pricing based on a value metric that naturally correlates with company size but more directly ties to the value your product delivers.
Example Implementation:
For a marketing automation platform:
- Starter: Up to 5,000 contacts ($199/month)
- Growth: Up to 25,000 contacts ($499/month)
- Scale: Up to 100,000 contacts ($999/month)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for larger contact databases
HubSpot has successfully used this model to create fair pricing that scales with customer size without explicitly charging per user.
Implementing Equitable Pricing in Practice
Conduct Willingness-to-Pay Research
Before finalizing your pricing structure, conduct research across different customer segments. According to OpenView Partners' 2022 SaaS Benchmarks Report, companies that regularly conduct pricing research grow 25% faster than those that don't.
Tools like price sensitivity surveys, customer interviews, and competitive analysis can help determine appropriate pricing bands for each segment.
Test Your Pricing with Pilot Customers
Before rolling out new pricing publicly, test it with a cohort of customers across different size bands. Gather feedback specifically on fairness perception:
- "Does this pricing seem fair for a company of your size?"
- "How does this compare to what you're currently paying for similar solutions?"
- "At what price point would this feel like a bargain/too expensive?"
Transparent Presentation of Value
How you present your pricing is almost as important as the pricing itself. According to a study by ConversionXL, transparent pricing that clearly shows what customers get at each tier increases conversion rates by up to 25%.
For each tier, clearly articulate:
- The primary use case it's designed for
- The typical team size it serves
- The key value points that justify the price increase
Balancing Fairness with Business Objectives
While fair pricing is crucial, remember that your business needs to remain profitable. According to Paddle's SaaS Pricing Page Benchmark, companies that optimize pricing can increase revenue by 25% without acquiring a single new customer.
Some considerations to balance fairness with profitability:
- Grandfather existing customers when increasing prices
- Offer annual payment discounts that benefit both you (cash flow) and the customer (savings)
- Include clear upgrade paths that make scaling with your product attractive
Conclusion
Implementing fair pricing across different team sizes isn't just about creating a pricing page with multiple options. It requires a deep understanding of how different segments perceive value, careful consideration of appropriate scaling metrics, and constant iteration based on customer feedback.
The most successful SaaS companies view pricing as an ongoing strategic initiative rather than a one-time decision. By focusing on equitable pricing that scales appropriately with team size, you can build stronger, longer-lasting customer relationships while maximizing your revenue potential at every level of the market.
Remember that true pricing fairness isn't about charging everyone the same—it's about ensuring everyone receives commensurate value for what they pay, regardless of their organization's size.