Day 5: Prorated Seats

Sometimes the industry standard isn't actually the best way to do things. We learned this lesson the hard way with our seat-based billing implementation at Autumn.

Following the Leader Isn't Always Right

When we first tackled seat-based billing, we naturally looked at how the big players like Stripe handled it. Their approach became our blueprint - after all, if the industry giants do it this way, it must be the right way, right?

But something felt off. Our implementation worked, but it felt clunky and unintuitive. Still, we kept ignoring that gut feeling because, well, "it's Stripe."

It took us weeks to finally acknowledge what we knew deep down - there had to be a better way. So we went back to the drawing board and reimagined our approach to seat-based billing from the ground up.

The result? A system that feels 10x more intuitive. We're now more confident than ever that we've found the right solution, not just for seat-based billing but for any pay-per-use system.

Introducing: Pay-Per-Use

Today, for DAY 4 of Launch Week, we're excited to introduce our completely revamped Pay-Per-Use system!

Let's look at the two main ways you can implement seat-based pricing with Autumn:

Option 1: Pay For What You Use

This approach is perfect for businesses like HubSpot, where users pay exactly for what they use.

For example, HubSpot's free tier includes two seats, with additional seats at $14 per seat per month. Here's how to set this up in Autumn:

• Set up a free tier with 2 seats included and no additional pricing

• Create a Pro tier that's fully usage-based with no seat allowance

• Make sure to select the option to carry over usage

• Set per-seat pricing at $14 per seat

From there, your application can simply check entitlements and report usage through Autumn's simple API.

Option 2: Pre-paid Seats

The second approach works like Figma, where users purchase a specific number of seats upfront and then use from that balance.

To implement this in Autumn, just select the "prepaid" option for your price when setting up your pricing model.

The Lesson: Trust Your Instincts

If we had followed first principles from the start, we probably could have saved ourselves weeks of work. But sometimes the most valuable lessons come from making mistakes and finding a better way forward.

The next time your gut tells you something isn't quite right with your product, even if everyone else is doing it that way - listen. That instinct might just lead you to building something 10x better.