AI agents don't need licenses or dashboards. The SaaS pricing model just broke. Here's what's exposed, what's defensible, and how to price for what comes next.
Connectors and open ecosystem plays I think will be essential moving forward, once we get that fully integrated ecosystem it will be harder than ever to standout, you cant just have a generic offering.
Agree with you on these steps. Thank you so much for reading!
The seat-based model was always counting humans, not value. AI agents just made that obvious faster. I've been watching the pricing shift from the buying side and the winners so far are exactly who you'd predict - the systems holding data nobody wants to migrate.
The category I'm watching: tools where the agent is the only interface. If humans don't need to log in, the per-seat model is already dead regardless of what the vendor's pricing page says. The SaaS vendors who figure out outcome pricing in the next 18 months will be fine. Everyone else is in a slow squeeze.
This is so true, especially the UI-agnostic AI offerings, I think that's the big play here. Headless commerce is the next wave of innovation. OpenClaw brought that to life, now everyone wants a piece of the pie.
The "seat vs. outcome" pricing shift is the central procurement challenge right now. Buyers are being asked to move from predictable per-seat budgets to usage-based models with no historical data. That's a hard CFO conversation when you can't forecast your bill.
The SaaS per-seat model was already strained before AI agents arrived. Now buyers are actively auditing whether they need seats at all. Mid-market procurement teams are leading this renegotiation.
Interesting perspective, especially the shift from seat-based pricing to usage and outcome-based models. The emphasis on owning high-quality, operational data as a defensible layer feels particularly important as more processes become automated and less dependent on human interface
This is the content of my next week’s post! So glad other smart guys are seeing the transition as well. AI has changed so much software not just in terms of delivery but the whole crazy game. Decades ago, agencies were charging for high fidelity front ends, so now that AI is pointing to interfaceless what are they going to pursue now? How this messy processes will have to transform to address the current demand?
Amazing post guys! I’ll quote you in my article. :)
Companies will end up here, but the transition for large enterprises will be slow, messy, and uneven. They’re deeply entangled in existing data estates and compliance regimes, while vendors are scrambling to bolt agents onto SaaS without really rethinking seat-based economics yet. Will be interesting to watch, thank you for putting this together!
I agree! Data estates and existing compliance regimes are slowing down new agentic protocols adoption. While this maybe viewed as bureacratic entanglement, it is slowing down software rewiring and, indirectly, jobs redundancy in organisations. What's key is somewhere in the middle.
I'd say the best way going forward for building SaaS are:
1. Build workflows and connectors (or at least make your SaaS easy to connect with)
2. Build APIs with valuable data that can't be easily replicated. AI agents, under the hood, call APIs.
3. Build for non-devs/technical people.
AI has changed a lot, but I think it's also pointing towards a direction.
Connectors and open ecosystem plays I think will be essential moving forward, once we get that fully integrated ecosystem it will be harder than ever to standout, you cant just have a generic offering.
Agree with you on these steps. Thank you so much for reading!
The seat-based model was always counting humans, not value. AI agents just made that obvious faster. I've been watching the pricing shift from the buying side and the winners so far are exactly who you'd predict - the systems holding data nobody wants to migrate.
The category I'm watching: tools where the agent is the only interface. If humans don't need to log in, the per-seat model is already dead regardless of what the vendor's pricing page says. The SaaS vendors who figure out outcome pricing in the next 18 months will be fine. Everyone else is in a slow squeeze.
This is so true, especially the UI-agnostic AI offerings, I think that's the big play here. Headless commerce is the next wave of innovation. OpenClaw brought that to life, now everyone wants a piece of the pie.
Thank you so much for reading!
The "seat vs. outcome" pricing shift is the central procurement challenge right now. Buyers are being asked to move from predictable per-seat budgets to usage-based models with no historical data. That's a hard CFO conversation when you can't forecast your bill.
The SaaS per-seat model was already strained before AI agents arrived. Now buyers are actively auditing whether they need seats at all. Mid-market procurement teams are leading this renegotiation.
Interesting perspective, especially the shift from seat-based pricing to usage and outcome-based models. The emphasis on owning high-quality, operational data as a defensible layer feels particularly important as more processes become automated and less dependent on human interface
This is the content of my next week’s post! So glad other smart guys are seeing the transition as well. AI has changed so much software not just in terms of delivery but the whole crazy game. Decades ago, agencies were charging for high fidelity front ends, so now that AI is pointing to interfaceless what are they going to pursue now? How this messy processes will have to transform to address the current demand?
Amazing post guys! I’ll quote you in my article. :)
Thank you Elena for reading this post! Yes, isn't it a bit overwhelming to see AI try to be the engine and front end of all SaaS? 😅
Looking forward to your post on this theme! 🤗
Companies will end up here, but the transition for large enterprises will be slow, messy, and uneven. They’re deeply entangled in existing data estates and compliance regimes, while vendors are scrambling to bolt agents onto SaaS without really rethinking seat-based economics yet. Will be interesting to watch, thank you for putting this together!
Thanka for reading the post, Anna! 🤗
I agree! Data estates and existing compliance regimes are slowing down new agentic protocols adoption. While this maybe viewed as bureacratic entanglement, it is slowing down software rewiring and, indirectly, jobs redundancy in organisations. What's key is somewhere in the middle.