Pricing
How to evaluate SaaS pricing models for your product
“Which pricing model is best” is the wrong question. “Which fits how my customers get value, and survives my unit economics” is the right one. Here's how to evaluate.
Evaluating pricing models by copying whoever's biggest in your space is how you inherit a model that fits their product, not yours. A real evaluation scores each candidate model against criteria that matter for how YOUR customers get value.
| Criterion | The question to ask |
|---|---|
| Value alignment | Does price rise as the customer gets more value? |
| Predictability | Can the customer forecast their bill? |
| Expansion | Does revenue grow as the account succeeds? |
| Adoption friction | Does the model slow down getting started? |
| Unit economics | Does it clear your cost to serve, with margin? |
Score, don't copy
Run each candidate model — flat, tiered, usage, freemium, hybrid — through those criteria for your specific product. A model that aces value alignment but tanks predictability (pure usage-based) might lose to a hybrid that balances both. The winner is the one with the best total fit, not the one your biggest competitor happens to use.
And the evaluation isn't complete until you've checked it against your cost to serve — a model that customers love but that runs your margins underwater isn't a model, it's a countdown.
Evaluating against your economics
Cadenly's Pricing Strategy workflow lays out the fitting models with honest pros and cons for your case, then runs a unit-economics check — margin over cost, LTV:CAC, payback — so you evaluate each model against the business, not just customer appeal.
- Don't copy the biggest competitor's model — evaluate against your product.
- Score models on value alignment, predictability, expansion, friction, economics.
- A model customers love that breaks your margins isn't viable.
Evaluate models against your business
Cadenly weighs each model's fit and checks it against your unit economics.
Start free →