SaaS Model
Common SaaS billing models supported by ShipNext.
ShipNext abstracts several common SaaS business models so you can choose the one that fits your product.
Most payment providers support two payment modes:
- Subscription: users pay monthly or yearly, optionally with a free trial.
- One-time purchase: users pay once.
Most SaaS products combine those with one of two usage models:
- Unlimited usage: paid users can use the feature without a per-use quota while the entitlement is active.
- Quota usage: the plan includes credits or units that are consumed by specific actions.
Subscription + unlimited usage
Users pay monthly or yearly and can use the product without per-use limits during the paid period. Common examples:
- PDF tools
- Document converters
- SEO checkers
- JSON / CSV / Excel tools
- Image compression or format conversion
- QR code generators
- Template libraries
- Component libraries
- Icon libraries
- CRM-style tools
Subscription + quota usage
This is common for modern AI and API products. Users subscribe and receive credits every cycle.
Examples:
- AI chat
- AI image generation
- AI video generation
- AI translation
- SEO tools
- Email, SMS, and notification products
- API services
One-time purchase + unlimited usage
This is usually similar to a lifetime license. It is less common for traditional SaaS but can work for templates, downloadable tools, or standalone digital products.
One-time purchase + quota usage
Users buy additional credits only when needed. This is common for AI SaaS because resource usage can be intermittent.
Examples:
- AI chat
- AI image/video
- Translation tools
- SEO tools
- API services
Subscription + one-time top-ups + quota usage
This is the mainstream hybrid model: a base subscription includes credits, and users can buy additional quota beyond the plan allowance.
ShipNext's entitlement model supports this with subscription grants, top-up sources, quota transactions, and expiration/rollover rules.