From per-seat to per-outcome
The deepest economic shift in the agent market: when the software is the worker, you stop paying per seat and start paying per resolved outcome. Customer-support agents led: Intercom Fin bills $0.99 per resolution, not per agent. Rates and resolution definitions are the vendor's own; where a vendor keeps the definition private, we mark it – rather than guess.
| Vendor | Model | Rate | Unit | Resolution definition | ARR | Customers | src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom Fin | Per resolution | $0.99 | / resolution | Customer confirms, stops asking, or a Procedure completes | $100M+ | 7,000+ | ↗ |
| Salesforce Agentforce | Per conversation | $2.00 | / conversation | One agent–customer conversation (launched Oct 2024) | ~$1.2B (Q1 FY27) | 29,000+ deals | ↗ |
| Salesforce Flex Credits | Per action | $0.10 | / action | One agent action / step (May 2025) | – | – | ↗ |
| Salesforce Digital Labor License | Per seat | $125 | / user / mo | Flat seat license (late 2025) | – | – | ↗ |
| Zendesk AI Agents | Per resolution | $1.50 | / resolution (committed) | Automated resolution; $2.00 pay-as-you-go | – | – | ↗ |
| HubSpot Breeze | Per resolution | $0.50 | / resolution | Resolution definition undisclosed | – | – | ↗ |
| Sierra AI | Outcome-based | – | – | Pure outcome pricing; exact rate undisclosed | $150M+ | 25% of customers >$10B revenue | ↗ |
| Decagon | Outcome-based | – | – | Outcome pricing; rate undisclosed | – | – | ↗ |
| Ada | Outcome-based | – | – | Automated-resolution pricing; rate undisclosed | – | – | ↗ |
When the software is the worker, you pay for resolved outcomes, not seats
The direction is away from seats. A seat prices access to a tool; an agent does work, and buyers increasingly want to pay for work done. Outcome pricing is the strongest signal of vendor confidence, because it only pays when the agent actually resolves something.
How are AI agents priced?
Three ways, mostly. Per seat is a fixed monthly fee for each user; per action charges each time the agent does something; per outcome charges only when it resolves something. Customer-support agents have moved to outcome pricing fastest.
What is outcome-based pricing?
You pay for a completed piece of work instead of for access. A support agent that charges each time it closes a conversation is the standard example. Check how the vendor defines a resolution, because that decides how often you are billed.
How much does Intercom Fin cost?
Fin is priced at $0.99 per resolution, charged only when it actually answers the customer's question (Intercom). It was the pricing model that most of the support market then copied.
Why do vendors define a resolution differently?
There is no shared standard, so each draws the line where its own economics work. One counts a resolution when the customer stops replying; another when an internal process completes. Compare the definitions before comparing the rates.
Is per-seat pricing going away?
It is shrinking, not disappearing. A seat prices access for a person, and an agent does work without occupying one. Vendors are moving to whatever unit they can count, and keeping a seat fee for the humans supervising the agents.