HgCapital says customer trust is key to adoption of AI software pricing models
QQQ•HgCapital says AI is pushing software pricing from seats toward usage- and outcome-based models. Gartner expects at least 40% of enterprise SaaS spending to use usage-, agent- or outcome-based pricing by 2030.
1. Pricing model shift
HgCapital says customer acceptance of AI software pricing depends on predictable bills, verifiable results and clearly communicated changes, which create additional costs for vendors. Outcome-based pricing shifts performance risk to vendors, but disagreements over what counts as a successful outcome complicate adoption.
2. AI impact disclosure
Only 11% of S&P 500 companies quantified AI productivity effects on specific business applications in the second quarter of 2026, while 2% quantified earnings impacts.
