Per-user (per-seat) pricing
The most common model in business software. You pay a fixed price for every person who needs an account, so the bill moves in step with your headcount.
Example: a plan at $10 per user per month costs $50 a month for 5 people and $250 a month for 25. The advertised price is the cost of one seat, not the cost for your team.
Watch for who counts as a user. Some vendors charge for every account, others only for editors or agents while viewers are free.
Flat-rate pricing
One price for the whole account, regardless of how many people use it. This is predictable and often good value for growing teams.
Flat plans usually come with limits instead: a maximum number of users, projects, storage or contacts. When you cross a limit, you move to the next tier, which can be a big jump.
Usage-based pricing
You pay for what you consume: contacts in an email list, messages sent, devices protected, credits used or transactions processed.
Usage pricing is fair when activity is low, but harder to forecast. Estimate your volume for the next 12 months, not just today, before comparing tools.
A team-size calculation does not apply here. On SpecEntry, plans priced per device, contact or site are calculated on that unit, never multiplied by team size.
Hybrid models
Many vendors mix models, for example a base fee that includes a few users plus a per-user price for extra seats. Read what is included in the base price before comparing it with a pure per-user plan.
How to compare fairly
Convert every option to the same question: what will this cost my team, per year, on the billing terms I will actually choose? That single annual figure is the only fair comparison across models.
Use it on real prices