Hybrid SaaS Pricing Is Here: What Finance and Procurement Teams Need to Know

Over the past quarter, a clear trend has emerged: leading SaaS vendors are rolling out hybrid pricing models that combine flat per-seat licenses with usage-based AI credits.

While this may seem like a logical step in the age of generative AI, it introduces a new layer of complexity, and risk for finance, IT, and procurement teams tasked with managing cost and vendor leverage.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s changing, why it matters, and how to stay ahead of it.

What Is Hybrid SaaS Pricing?

Hybrid pricing models bundle two elements:

• Flat license fees (e.g. £X per user/month)

• AI usage units or “credits” (e.g. 1 credit = 1 task or API call)

These credits are often pooled at the account level, with overages charged separately, adding unpredictability to costs.

Examples:

• Monday .com offers 500 free AI credits with each account, then charges beyond that threshold.

• ServiceNow includes “digital agent” tasks as metered AI workflows within its Pro Plus and Enterprise Plus tiers.

This trend is extending to Microsoft 365 Copilot, Salesforce Einstein, and many others. It’s often referred to as modular or layered AI pricing.

Why Vendors Are Making the Shift

From the vendor side, there are three main reasons:

1. AI compute costs (especially for LLM inference) are high.

2. Flat pricing models limit scalability and revenue expansion.

3. Usage-based models open new paths for upsell, especially as AI adoption grows internally.

Put simply: this is not just about charging fairly, it’s about monetising AI capabilities at scale.

What to Watch Out For

These hybrid models bring significant challenges for buyers. Here are the biggest red flags:

1. Forced AI Bundling

Some vendors are sunsetting older plans and embedding AI credits into new tiers, even if your team isn’t ready to adopt those features.

How to respond:

Negotiate to keep legacy plans or request AI feature gating. If you’re being pushed into AI-based tiers, demand credit rollovers or monthly caps.

2. Agent Washing

Gartner recently highlighted “agent washing”, the practice of rebranding chatbots or basic workflows as “AI agents” without meaningful upgrades. This allows vendors to increase pricing without real innovation.

How to respond:

Push for clear breakdowns of what’s genuinely powered by generative AI versus traditional automation.

3. Ambiguous Credit Definitions

Vendors often fail to define what one “credit” actually covers, is it per sentence, document, or action? Without clarity, cost control becomes difficult.

How to respond:

Ask for full documentation on AI task definitions. Don’t accept vague language. Request usage simulations or reports before committing.

4. Overages and No Spend Ceilings

Hybrid models frequently allow for unlimited usage without any cost cap, leading to surprise billing spikes.

How to respond:

Negotiate hard limits, threshold alerts, and even clawback clauses for unexpected overages.

5. Forecasting Becomes More Difficult

Unpredictable AI usage makes it harder to model next year’s renewal costs. A £50K license could easily double if adoption accelerates mid-cycle.

How to respond:

Model aggressive growth scenarios internally. Ask for pricing tiers or “guardrail” contracts with hard ceilings over 12-24 months.

What Finance and Procurement Teams Can Do Now

• Audit current vendor contracts for embedded AI pricing

• Push back on vague terms like “enhanced AI” or “smart agent access”

• Benchmark peer usage and pricing for similar AI modules

• Ask for detailed usage reporting and live dashboards

• Establish internal AI adoption controls across business units

Final Thoughts

Hybrid pricing isn’t going away, but that doesn’t mean you have to accept it blindly.

As vendors monetise AI more aggressively, finance and procurement leaders need to sharpen their approach. The good news? You can still negotiate flexibility, transparency, and cost predictability, if you start early and ask the right questions.

If you’re preparing to renew with vendors like Salesforce, ServiceNow, or Microsoft, now is the time to take a closer look at the AI pricing mechanics.

We’re already seeing huge variation in credit costs and model structures, and catching them early can make all the difference.

Want to see how your vendors stack up?

At Wyn, we’ll review any contract containing AI modules, free of charge, to benchmark risk and cost exposure before your next renewal.