Pricing Models

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Overview

Flowglad supports flexible pricing models to fit various business needs. This guide explores different pricing patterns with complete example implementations. Each pattern includes a fully functional example project you can reference or fork.

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Example Implementations

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Generation-based Subscription

A hybrid pricing model combining subscriptions, one-time payments, and usage-based billing - perfect for AI-powered applications with variable compute costs. Next.js | Tanstack Start Features:

• Recurring subscription plans
• One-time credit topups
• Usage-based quotas per plan for resource consumption (e.g., image generation)
• Subscription management

Use Cases:

• AI image generation services
• API platforms with consumption-based pricing
• Compute platform with subscription and additional paid usage

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Tiered Usage-Gated Subscription

Tiered subscription plans with usage limits and feature access varying by tier - similar to ChatGPT’s pricing model with different quotas and capabilities per plan level. Next.js Features:

• Multiple subscription tiers (e.g., Free, Plus, Pro, Business)
• Feature access controlled by subscription tier
• Usage credit grants that renew monthly
• Multiple usage meters with tier-specific limits

Use Cases:

• Freemium SaaS products
• AI chat applications with tiered usage
• Collaboration tools with seat-based pricing

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Usage Limit Subscription

Hybrid subscription model with included usage credits that renew each billing period, plus optional overage billing. Next.js Features:

• Base subscription with included usage credits
• Monthly credit renewal on billing cycle
• Optional on-demand credit purchases
• Multiple plans with different usage allowances
• Real-time usage tracking and balance monitoring

Use Cases:

• API platforms (like Cursor, Anthropic, OpenAI)
• Analytics platforms with query limits

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Choosing a Pricing Model

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Generation-based / Hybrid Model

Choose this when:

• Costs vary significantly per user action
• You want to offer both subscription and pay-as-you-go options
• Resource consumption is unpredictable
• You need to monetize specific high-cost features

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Tiered Usage-Gated Model

Choose this when:

• You want a clear upgrade path from free to paid
• Different user segments need different feature sets
• Usage patterns are relatively predictable
• You want to gate premium features behind higher tiers

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Usage Limit Model

Choose this when:

• Most users fit within predictable usage ranges
• You want to provide certainty with base subscription pricing
• Power users should pay more for extra usage
• You need flexibility for occasional spikes in usage

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Pricing Configuration

Pricing models can be defined in the Flowglad dashboard. These models can be stored in a pricing.yaml file in your codebase. This file specifies:

• Subscription plans and their prices
• Usage meters and their billing rates
• Feature gates and access rules
• Credit grants and renewal policies

This file can be imported/exported from Flowglad as a source of truth that can be checked into version control.

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Next Steps