SaaS chiefs expect pricing shift as AI threatens sales

Cruxy has published a survey showing that most SaaS chief executives expect to abandon seat-based pricing within two years. The findings are based on responses from 300 B2B SaaS CEOs in the UK and US.

The research found that 97% of respondents are likely to retire the pricing model that has long underpinned software subscriptions, even though 94% said seat-based pricing still reflects product value today. It also found that 85% see AI as a direct threat to their business model, while 82% said customers have asked for AI-related price cuts.

The figures point to growing pressure on software vendors as businesses use AI tools to automate tasks that once required more staff, and therefore more software licences. If fewer human users are needed to do the same work, the link between a customer's headcount and the value they receive from software becomes less clear.

Among the chief executives surveyed, concern about customers building their own tools with AI was more widespread than fear of losing ground to AI-native competitors. Some 54% said customer-built solutions, described in the research as "vibe-coding", posed the bigger threat, while 45% pointed to AI-first start-ups taking market share.

The survey also suggests pricing changes are happening alongside shifts in product development and spending. Respondents said just over 40% of product roadmaps are now focused on AI-driven work, while 41% of capital expenditure is being directed towards AI-based development.

Chief executives said they expect AI agents to automate 41% of core workflows within the next two years. Over the same period, they expect 35% of future revenue to come from consumption-based or value-based pricing models rather than the seat-based approach that has long dominated the sector.

Pricing Pressure

For listed software companies, the debate over AI has also fuelled investor concerns about how resilient recurring revenue models will be if automation reduces the number of paid users. Cruxy said publicly listed SaaS groups have lost close to $1 trillion in market value so far this year as investors assess the effect of AI tools and agentic systems on software demand.

The survey indicates that the issue cuts across ownership structures. Among private equity-backed SaaS companies, 94% of CEOs said it is critical to change their business model within the next two years, compared with 85% at companies without private equity backing.

That gap suggests financial sponsors may be pushing management teams more aggressively on pricing strategy. But the similarity in responses points to an industry-wide issue rather than one limited to a particular group of portfolio companies. The findings covered 150 private equity-backed businesses and 150 without private equity backing.

Cruxy chief executive Carrie Osman said the survey captures a shift many software leaders have been discussing privately as AI becomes more embedded in customer operations.

"Seat-based pricing was built for a world where humans did the work," Osman said. "AI doesn't log in and doesn't require a user license. In short, it doesn't politely prop up SaaS companies' revenue models. CEOs can either price the value being delivered or price themselves out of business."

The logic behind that view is simple: as software increasingly completes work through automated agents rather than individual employees, vendors may need to charge for outputs, usage or business outcomes instead of per user. That would mark a major shift for an industry that has long relied on expanding licence counts inside customer organisations.

Broader Shift

The sector-wide nature of the response is notable because seat-based pricing has remained attractive to both software companies and investors for its simplicity and predictability. It has given finance teams a clear way to forecast revenue and offered customers an easy procurement framework. The survey suggests that stability may now be under strain, even if executives still believe the model reflects value today.

The findings also underline the tension between current economics and future strategy. While almost all respondents said seat-based pricing still aligns with value today, nearly as many said they expect to move away from it. That suggests many software leaders see a mismatch emerging between how their products are sold now and how customers are likely to use them as AI adoption spreads.

Osman said the need to rethink pricing extends across software categories.

"From fintech to cybersecurity, ID verification to FP&A software, CEOs agree that the SaaS model that scaled the last decade will need to pivot to survive the next," she said.