PricingSaaS Q2 2026 Trends Report: SaaS Shifts From Seats to Hybrid Seat-Plus-Credit Models

A new quarterly trends report on SaaS pricing finds that the shift to AI-driven pricing dominated the first three months of 2026, with software companies moving away from simple per-seat pricing toward hybrid seat-plus-credit models.

According to the report, one in five SaaS companies made pricing changes tied specifically to AI features during the quarter. The report also finds that vendors are increasingly cutting back on free AI credits previously offered as a growth incentive, and are beginning to price AI agents as distinct, billable SKUs rather than bundling them into existing plans. Several vendors are also tying monetization more directly to measurable usage and business outcomes rather than seat counts.

The findings reflect a broader industry recognition that AI features carry real, variable compute costs that don't scale the same way traditional software features do, forcing pricing teams to rethink packaging models that were designed for a pre-AI cost structure.