Software makers have put AI into nearly everything they sell, and the way they charge for it is quieter than the talk of per-token and per-result billing suggested. The most common choices are to put AI in a higher-priced tier or to include it at no extra charge, each used by about four in ten software makers. A bit more than a third sell a flat subscription with a usage meter on top. Some vendors are being pushed toward pay-per-result pricing, but most of the software a business buys is not heading there soon.
Buyers pick flat prices, and flat prices pay the seller
Software makers are almost three times as likely to put predictable pricing ahead of squeezing out the most revenue, 47% against 16%, because buyers refuse bills they cannot forecast. Buyers also lean that way on their own: people tend to choose a flat rate even when paying by use would cost them less. For the seller, a flat price earns the most from the customers who use the least.
AOL shows how that works. A customer who logged on twice a week paid the same $19.95 as one who stayed on every evening, and the light users covered the heavy ones until the heavy ones multiplied. AOL then had to pay for a large upgrade to its network. Almost half of software makers now see low customer use of their new AI features, which is the same cushion in a new form. Customers pay for AI they never open, and that pays for the people who use it all day.
The meter moves into the plan
Every AI request costs the vendor computing time, so heavy use cannot stay unlimited forever. Expect the meter to come back in a form that still looks flat: a monthly allowance, a fair-use limit, credits that run out, or a higher price at the next renewal. Microsoft raised the price of its business suites on July 1 while adding more AI, security and management tools to them. That is the bundle-and-raise pattern at the largest scale.
What a buyer can do at renewal
For example, a recruiting firm with 40 staff is offered the plan that includes AI for $4 more per person each month. That is $1,920 a year. If ten people use the AI, each real user costs the firm an extra $16 a month, and the other thirty are paying for a feature they never open.
That firm has more leverage than it thinks. Nearly half of software makers feel pressure to lower prices because of AI, and nearly one in four expect AI agents to reduce the number of seats customers need. The per-seat price is the part of the contract they are least sure of. They have not lost much yet, since only 7% have sold fewer seats because of AI, so the fear that subscriptions would collapse has not come true, and a vendor who wants a renewal will still talk.
Before signing, ask three things: which AI is in the price, how many of your people used it in the last three months, and what the plan costs without it.