How AI economics reshape software pricing models

AI inference and token economics are becoming embedded in enterprise SaaS, adding marginal cost to every AI feature a vendor ships. That cost changes the math on how software is priced and how buyers should evaluate it. The per-seat licensing model is not universally dead, but its viability now depends on whether enough users actively engage with the software they are paying for. Seat-based pricing remains defensible only where engagement is high enough that consumer surplus exceeds the vendor’s incremental AI serving costs. Where organizations pay for seats that go largely unused, the model breaks down. Buyers should evaluate every technology agreement on engagement and value delivered per seat, not just price. Vendors defending the traditional SaaS model must optimize for user engagement to justify recurring revenue expansion as idle seats become a direct cost liability.