About this tool
Pricing estimator, explained
Estimate what a per-seat software plan costs for a whole team. Set the seats, the price per seat and the annual billing discount, add volume pricing or a longer contract, and see the yearly bill, its monthly equivalent and the saving from paying annually.
How to use it
- 1Start from Startup, Scale-up or Enterprise, or set the number of Seats, the Price per seat, per month and the Annual billing discount.
- 2Under Volume pricing, set where Volume pricing from starts, the Discount on the extra seats and the Contract length in years.
- 3Read the Yearly cost, billed annually, with the monthly equivalent, the saving against monthly billing and the effective price per seat.
- 4Check the chart of yearly cost by team size and the table comparing monthly and annual billing, then Copy results, Download CSV or Copy link.
How it works
How the cost is calculated
Seats up to the volume threshold are charged the full price, and each seat above it gets the volume discount. Monthly billing costs those seats times 12 months. Annual billing takes the annual discount off that yearly figure, and the per month amount is the annual bill divided by 12: what the annual plan comes to each month, not the price of monthly billing.
The effective price per seat is the annual bill divided by 12 and by the number of seats, which shows how far volume pricing and the annual discount bring the list price down. With a contract longer than a year, the contract total is the annual bill times the number of years, at today's seat count.
With the defaults, 40 seats at $29 cost $13,920 a year billed monthly and $11,136 billed annually, which is $928 a month or $23.20 per seat. At 150 seats, the 50 seats above the 100-seat threshold get 10 percent off, for $40,368 a year billed annually.
Taxes, minimum seat counts and paid add-ons vary by vendor and are not included. Everything runs in your browser.
Monthly list cost = full-price seats × price + seats above the threshold × price × (1 − volume discount). Yearly cost, billed annually = monthly list cost × 12 × (1 − annual discount). Per month = yearly cost ÷ 12
When to use it
Ways people use it
Budgeting a new tool
Turn a per-seat price into the yearly figure your finance team will ask for, and the contract total if the vendor asks for several years.
Monthly or annual billing
The table puts both billing options side by side, so you see what the annual discount is worth in dollars before committing for a year.
Planning for growth
Read the chart of yearly cost by team size to see how the bill grows with headcount and where volume pricing starts to bend the curve.
Preparing a quote
Sales teams can start from Enterprise, set a prospect's team size, price and contract length, and give a figure on a call.
FAQ
Questions people ask
What is per-seat pricing?
Per-seat pricing charges a set amount for each user who has access to the software, usually per month. The bill grows with the team, which makes it simple to predict but sensitive to headcount.
How much does annual billing save?
It depends on the discount the vendor offers. The saving is the discount percentage applied to a full year of monthly payments: with a 20 percent discount, 40 seats at $29 cost $13,920 a year billed monthly and $11,136 billed annually, a saving of $2,784.
Is a 20 percent annual discount the same as two months free?
Not quite. Two months free means paying for 10 months out of 12, a discount of about 16.7 percent. A 20 percent discount saves a little more, close to two and a half months.
How does volume pricing work?
Many vendors lower the price for seats beyond a threshold. This estimator applies the volume discount only to the seats above the threshold, as tiered pricing usually works. Some vendors instead lower the price of every seat once you cross it, so check the terms.
What counts as a seat?
Usually one named user account that can log in. Vendors differ on guests, viewers and inactive users, some charging for them and others not, so check the terms before counting.