What Is Usage Pricing vs. Resolution Pricing?

Usage pricing and resolution pricing are not the same model.

Usage pricing charges customers based on activity consumed. In AI software, that activity may be measured through tokens, credits, API calls, inference volume, workflow runs, messages, automations, or other consumption meters.

Resolution pricing charges customers based on verified business problems solved.

The distinction matters because usage is not proof of value. A system can consume tokens without resolving the issue. An agent can trigger a workflow without completing the work. A model can generate output without producing a defensible business result.

Usage pricing answers the vendor’s cost-allocation question: how much AI activity did the customer consume?

Resolution pricing answers the customer’s value question: what problem was actually resolved?

Under usage pricing, the buyer usually carries the risk that activity may not translate into completed work. Under resolution pricing, the vendor takes on more accountability because the billable unit must be verifiable, attributable, finite, economically measurable, and contractually defensible.

This is why usage pricing is not the destination beyond seat-based SaaS. It is often a transitional model. It moves software pricing away from human access, but it does not move it all the way to customer value.

Resolution as a Service requires more than a meter. It requires the architecture to define, measure, verify, and price completed work at the resolution level.