Episode 147: AI Pricing in 2025: Hybrid, Usage & Outcome Models
Description
Pricing GenAI products is not “seats + shrug” anymore. In this episode of #TheGTMPack, host Justin Dorfman digs into AI pricing and packaging with Michael Hoy, Co-Founder & CEO of Atlas - the billing infrastructure purpose-built for AI-native SaaS. We cover why seat-based breaks for AI, how to design hybrid pricing (subscription + usage/credits), what “outcome-based” could look like, and practical steps to price v1 of your product today.
What you’ll learn:-Why seat-based pricing fails for AI agents and automation-How to structure hybrid models (base subscription + usage/credits)-Managing variable COGS (model calls) without killing margins-Buyer predictability: minimums, maximums, tiers & rollover-PLG to sales-led handoffs using credits/pay-as-you-go-A 3-point framework to find your first price: customers, internal ROI math, market comps-Examples to study (Snowflake, cloud compute, leading AI apps)
Chapters:00:00 Intro & why pricing AI is hard02:45 What Atlas is (billing infra + pricing agent)06:10 Why seat-based breaks for AI09:20 Variable costs & margin protection10:45 Hybrid pricing done right15:00 Credits: where they help (and where they confuse)17:50 Enterprise predictability: floors, caps, tiers20:30 Who’s doing it well & what to copy21:50 How to price your v1 (3 data points)24:30 Pricing as differentiation in crowded markets26:00 Resources & who to follow30:30 Follow-up by AssetMule: early pricing thoughts
Guest:Michael Hoy, Co-Founder & CEO, Atlas — billing infrastructure with an AI pricing & packaging agent for AI-enabled SaaS.Resources mentionedMetronome: State of AI Pricing reportKyle Poyer (Tidemark) on AI/SaaS pricing & GTMManny Medina (PAID) on modern pricing motionsAtlas “20 live AI pricing examples” resourceFollow-up by AssetMule (AI that turns sales call transcripts into personalized Digital Sales Rooms)
Try the productsAtlas (AI-native billing + pricing agent): [runonatlas.com]Follow-up by AssetMule (Digital Sales Rooms from transcripts): [https://www.gofollowup.ai/]About the show#TheGTMPack is for founders, product marketers, and AEs who want practical GTM, pricing, and sales enablement tactics—no fluff.Connect:Michael on LinkedIn (look for the 🚀): https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelthoy/Atlas: [runonatlas.com]Justin / #TheGTMPack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justindorfman87/If this helped, hit 👍, subscribe, and drop your AI pricing questions in the comments - we’ll cover them in a follow-up episode.