Anyone else feels like they’re hitting a wall with pricing strategy lately?
I’ve been struggling with my 2026 roadmap for our SaaS product. We’re adding heavy AI automation, and it feels like charging "per seat" is literally punishing our users for being efficient. But every time I look at usage-based pricing, I get night terrors about churn and unpredictable MRR.
I couldn't get a straight answer from my mentors. half said "stick to seats for stability," the other half said "usage is the only way to survive AI."
Instead of spinning my wheels, I decided to run an experiment. I used a tool I’ve been working on called Roundtable.now where you can basically force different AI models (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok) to debate a specific problem.
I pitted them against each other. One model had to defend Seat-Based pricing, one had to argue for Pure Usage, and the third acted as a "Rational Skeptic" surfacing blind spots.
The Result: They actually found a "Third Way" I hadn't considered.
Instead of a binary choice between seats or usage, the models converged on a Hybrid "Platform + Capacity" Model. They essentially agreed that seat-based pricing is a "suicide mission" for AI-integrated SaaS because it creates a "tax on efficiency."
I’ve made the full debate log public here if you want to see the specific arguments and the "Hybrid Capacity" framework they built.
he most interesting part wasn't just the answer. it was the conflict. Watching the 'Analyst' argue for complexity while the 'Ideator' pushed for simplicity forced a synthesis that was much more robust than any single AI (or human) would have given me.
I’m curious, for those of you moving away from seats this year, what’s your "Value Metric"? Are you doing credits, tasks, or something else entirely?
I’ve been struggling with my 2026 roadmap for our SaaS product. We’re adding heavy AI automation, and it feels like charging "per seat" is literally punishing our users for being efficient. But every time I look at usage-based pricing, I get night terrors about churn and unpredictable MRR.
I couldn't get a straight answer from my mentors. half said "stick to seats for stability," the other half said "usage is the only way to survive AI."
Instead of spinning my wheels, I decided to run an experiment. I used a tool I’ve been working on called Roundtable.now where you can basically force different AI models (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok) to debate a specific problem.
I pitted them against each other. One model had to defend Seat-Based pricing, one had to argue for Pure Usage, and the third acted as a "Rational Skeptic" surfacing blind spots.
The Result: They actually found a "Third Way" I hadn't considered.
Instead of a binary choice between seats or usage, the models converged on a Hybrid "Platform + Capacity" Model. They essentially agreed that seat-based pricing is a "suicide mission" for AI-integrated SaaS because it creates a "tax on efficiency."
I’ve made the full debate log public here if you want to see the specific arguments and the "Hybrid Capacity" framework they built.
he most interesting part wasn't just the answer. it was the conflict. Watching the 'Analyst' argue for complexity while the 'Ideator' pushed for simplicity forced a synthesis that was much more robust than any single AI (or human) would have given me.
I’m curious, for those of you moving away from seats this year, what’s your "Value Metric"? Are you doing credits, tasks, or something else entirely?