Per-user or per-manager pricing: which model suits your firm

    The four licensing models you will meet on the market, what genuinely separates them, and how to work out in two minutes which one fits the shape of your firm.

    The licensing model matters more than the discount

    Negotiations spend hours on the discount percentage and almost none on the model. That is backwards: the model decides what you pay in three years, the discount decides what you pay in the first.

    • Different models presented as comparable when they are not
    • A per-user price that looks low until you count how many people you must license
    • Consultants who open the software twice a month and cost the same as a partner
    • Costs that rise with every hire — exactly when you need to invest elsewhere
    • First-year discounts that vanish at renewal, while the model stays
    • No simple way to tell which model suits your own shape

    The number that decides it: your manager-to-consultant ratio

    There is no best model in the abstract. There is the model that fits how many people run the firm and how many deliver. You already know that ratio, and it is enough to decide.

    • «How many managers and how many consultants do we actually have?» → the only figure you need to choose
    • «With 5 managers and 40 consultants, what does the two-tier model cost?» → €351 a month
    • «And if I hire 10 consultants?» → +€29 a month, not +€300
    • «And if I promote 2 consultants to manager?» → +€94 a month; cost follows responsibility
    Try it in chat

    Examples you can ask:

    Static demo of hice's AI chat.

    What you get

    Two tiers, not one

    MAIN users at €49.90 for the people who run the firm, BASIC users at €2.90 for those logging time and expenses.

    Cost follows responsibility

    Decision-makers cost, deliverers barely do. It is the same logic your P&L already uses.

    Hiring is not a penalty

    Ten extra consultants cost €29 a month. On a flat $30 per-user model they would cost $300.

    No seat minimum

    You do not pay a floor of five or ten users you do not have.

    No volume meters

    Invoices, projects and clients do not move the bill. You grow without the licence growing.

    Reclassify freely

    A user moves from BASIC to MAIN when their role changes, with no contract renegotiation.

    Published list price

    You can do the arithmetic before speaking to us, and redo it whenever the firm changes shape.

    No annual lock-in

    The model does not trap you: cancel from the platform and export your data.

    The four models you will meet

    Almost every professional services product falls into one of four models. Recognising which one you are looking at is the first step, because two quotes built on different models cannot be compared by looking at the bottom line.

    Each has a defensible logic from the vendor's side. The question is not which is fairest, but which fits the shape of your firm.

    • Flat per-user: everyone costs the same. Simple to understand, penalises firms with many deliverers and few decision-makers
    • Two-tier: decision-makers cost, deliverers cost little. This is hice.ai's model and, at different figures, BoondManager's
    • Seat plus usage: a low per-user base plus fees on invoices, projects or clients. The bill follows your revenue
    • Quote-only: no published list, price negotiated by team size. Impossible to compare without a call

    How to work out which one wins, in two minutes

    Count how many people in your firm use the software to run things — partners, managers, staffing leads, administration — and how many use it only to log time and expenses. Call them decision-makers and deliverers.

    On a flat per-user model you pay full rate for both groups. On a two-tier model you pay full rate only for the first. The advantage of the second grows with the ratio of deliverers to decision-makers: at one to one the two models are equivalent, at seven to one the gap is roughly threefold at the same headline rate.

    A concrete example. Forty-five people, of whom 5 are decision-makers and 40 deliverers. On flat $30 per user: $1,350 a month. On two tiers at €49.90 and €2.90: €351 a month. If instead you were a ten-person firm of all-senior people, the two models would land much closer together and the choice would turn on something else.

    The questions to ask a vendor about the model

    Before looking at the figure, establish how the model behaves when the firm changes. Three questions, and ask them in writing, because the answer ends up in the contract.

    First: what happens to the price if I hire ten consultants. Second: what happens if I promote two people. Third: what happens at renewal — does the first-year discount hold, or does the price return to list.

    If the vendor does not publish a list, add a fourth: what is the list price before discount. Without that number you are not negotiating, you are guessing.

    Engineering firm, 28 to 61 people in two years

    They were on a flat per-user contract. Over two years they went from 28 to 61 people, almost all engineers on client projects; decision-makers stayed at six. The licence more than doubled while the number of people actually running the software had not moved. Switching to a two-tier model brought the cost back in proportion to who used it, and subsequent hiring stopped showing up as an IT line item.

    Flat per-user against two-tier

    Featurehice.aiFlat per-user model
    Cost of a decision-maker€49.90 a monthFull rate
    Cost of a deliverer€2.90 a monthFull rate
    Effect of ten hires+€29 a month+ ten full rates
    Effect of a promotionCost follows the roleNo difference
    At a 1:1 ratioEquivalentEquivalent
    At an 8:1 ratioClearly betterPenalising
    TransparencyPublished listVaries

    FAQ

    Which licensing model is best?+

    It depends on the ratio between the people who run the software and those who only log time. Below one to one the models are equivalent. Above four to one, which is the norm in consulting, two-tier is clearly cheaper.

    What separates a MAIN user from a BASIC one?+

    A MAIN user runs things: opens engagements, staffs people, approves, watches margin and KPIs. A BASIC user logs time and expenses and sees their own data. A user is reclassified when their role changes, with nothing to renegotiate.

    Is two-tier more expensive for firms with few consultants?+

    It can be, and we will say so. A ten-person all-senior firm pays for ten MAIN users, and there a good flat per-user rate can be competitive. The advantage comes from the ratio, not from size.

    Why do so many vendors use flat per-user pricing?+

    Because it is simple to explain and to bill, and because revenue grows with the customer's headcount. That is defensible logic from the vendor's side. It is just not yours.

    How do I compare quotes built on different models?+

    Do not look at the total. Reduce both to annual cost per consultant at your real headcount, including minimums, modules, implementation and usage fees.

    What happens as the firm grows?+

    On a two-tier model, delivery hires barely register and promotions move cost in proportion to responsibility. That is the behaviour you want while you are investing in people.

    Are there seat minimums?+

    Not on hice.ai. It is always worth checking, because several products in this category impose a floor of five or ten users even on the entry plan.

    Can I change model later?+

    With hice.ai you do not need to: the model adapts as the ratio between roles changes. Changing vendor in order to change model is a migration project, which is why it pays to choose well at the start.

    Run the numbers on your own ratio

    Count the decision-makers and the deliverers in your firm, then check the result against a real month. Free up to 10 employees.

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