How do you price a feature that costs you money per use (e.g., AI credits)? A flat fee seems wrong, but usage-based billing is complex.

Payments & Revenue
1

Rolling out an AI feature that burns through OpenAI credits fast. Heavy users would kill our margins with flat pricing.

Usage-based feels right but adds billing complexity. How are you handling features with real per-use costs?

2

Had the same issue with my photo editing app that does AI background removal. Started with credits because usage billing felt too risky.

First month was a disaster - some users blew through 500+ credits while others used 5. Heavy users cost me $40 in API calls but only paid $9.99.

Switched to consumption pricing after that. Added a simple meter showing credits used. Billing got messier, but margins stayed healthy.

Be upfront about costs. Show per-use pricing clearly, maybe offer starter packs for testing.

This breakdown helped me figure out the pricing:

Don’t let complexity fears wreck your margins. Users who need the feature will pay for usage.

3

Bundle credits into tiers. Works better than pure usage tracking.

4

Hybrid pricing is the way to go. Monthly base fee covers normal usage, then charge extra when people go over. Casual users get predictable bills, heavy users pay what they actually cost you. Stripe, Twilio, most hosting companies - they all do this. Make your base limits generous so most users never hit overages. Keeps billing simple but protects you from people who’d otherwise kill your margins.