Per-task pricing
A pricing model where you pay per completed task — per PR generated, per ticket resolved, per email drafted — rather than per seat or per month.
Per-task pricing aligns vendor incentives with customer outcomes. The agent only charges when it delivers; if it fails, you don't pay. It's closer to how you'd pay a contractor than how you'd pay a SaaS subscription.
The model works well when "completed task" is unambiguous (PR merged, ticket closed-resolved, email sent). It works poorly when success is fuzzy.
A growing share of 2026 agent vendors — particularly in support and coding — are moving to outcome-based pricing as their core model.
Frequently asked
Is per-task pricing always cheaper than per-seat?+
At low volume, yes. At high volume, per-seat usually wins because the marginal cost of more tasks is zero. The break-even is usually around 50–200 tasks per user per month.