The Future of Cloud Services: Why Usage-Based Pricing Is Taking Over

For more than a decade, fixed monthly subscriptions have defined the economics of cloud services. Businesses and individuals alike have grown accustomed to paying a predictable fee for storage, software, websites, and productivity tools. The model was simple: choose a plan, pay a set price, and adjust only when your needs significantly change.

But that era is quietly evolving.

A growing number of companies are moving away from flat subscriptions and embracing usage-based pricing (UBP) - a model in which customers pay strictly for what they consume. The shift reflects a broader demand for fairness, flexibility, and transparency in digital services.

A Rapidly Accelerating Trend

According to a joint survey conducted earlier this year by software sales platform Metronome and investment firm Greyhound Capital, 85% of cloud service providers have already adopted usage-based pricing. Even more telling: 64% of startups identified by Forbes as future billion-dollar companies are building their models around UBP from the outset.

Revenera’s “2025 Monetization Monitor” further reinforces the momentum. Nearly six in ten software developers expect the share of companies using usage-based pricing to grow this year.

While the model itself is not new (roughly one-fifth of major cloud providers experimented with it in the previous decade) its adoption has accelerated sharply since 2020. In fact, nearly half of current UBP adopters made the transition in 2023 or later.

Why Customers Prefer Paying for What They Use

The appeal of usage-based pricing is straightforward: fairness.

Research by Zuora’s Subscribed Institute shows that 80% of users perceive UBP as a fairer approach. Instead of paying for capacity they may never fully utilize, customers are billed precisely for actual consumption.

This addresses a long-standing inefficiency in traditional subscription models. Vendr SaaS reports suggest that roughly one-third of fixed software spending in companies goes to waste: unused features, dormant licenses or services that no longer match operational needs.

Usage-based pricing eliminates that friction. In accounting software, for example, charges can be tied directly to measurable outputs: the number of invoices issued, employees processed in payroll, or transactions handled. If a small business sends 62 invoices in a year, it pays for 62, not for a package covering “up to 100.” The difference may seem minor, but psychologically and financially it builds trust.

Transparency is not just a billing feature; it becomes a competitive advantage.

Lower Barriers, Greater Flexibility

Beyond fairness, flexibility is driving adoption.

Startups can begin with minimal costs and scale expenses as their operations expand. Seasonal businesses pay more during peak months and significantly less during quieter periods. Companies facing temporary slowdowns are not locked into rigid pricing tiers.

For emerging businesses and micro-enterprises, this lower entry threshold can be decisive. It enables experimentation and growth without long-term financial pressure.

A More Complex Model for Providers

Of course, usage-based pricing is not without challenges. For service providers, the operational complexity increases. Billing becomes more granular. Monthly invoicing requires precise tracking of consumption. Cash flow forecasting becomes less predictable.

Yet the market signal is clear: customers prioritize flexibility and fairness over predictability alone.

With Jumis Finance and Jumis People, we are also transitioning toward a usage-based approach. This allows clients to define precisely how many users they need and which services they actually use. The result is greater accessibility, particularly for newly established and very small businesses, and a pricing structure that grows alongside the customer.

The Next Stage of Cloud Economics

To fully capitalize on usage-based pricing companies must carefully design transparent and understandable measurement criteria. The model works best when customers clearly see what they are paying for and why.

For service providers offering complex solutions with multiple measurable variables experimentation is essential. The goal is to find the right balance - a system that is both economically sustainable for the provider and intuitively fair for the customer.

Cloud services began as a promise of flexibility. Usage-based pricing may be the next logical step in fulfilling that promise.