Flat-fee vs per-seat pricing
Compare per-person pricing with Hoursmith's included member allowances and Agency's purchased 25-seat quantities.
How a tool charges shapes how you use it. Many time trackers and SaaS tools have historically priced per seat — you pay for each person who uses the product. Hoursmith instead charges a fixed plan price or purchased Agency quantities, rather than charging per occupied seat. This page explains the tradeoff in general terms so you can decide what suits you. We won't quote any other tool's prices — those change, and you should confirm them at the source.
The two models
- Per-seat. You pay a price multiplied by the number of users. Add a person, your bill goes up; remove one, it comes down. Common across SaaS, and simple to reason about for a single user.
- Flat-fee (per plan). You pay one price for a plan that includes up to a certain number of people. Within that limit, adding a teammate doesn't change your bill.
Neither is "right" in the abstract — they optimize for different situations.
The tradeoff
| Situation | Per-seat tends to mean | Flat-fee (per plan) tends to mean |
|---|---|---|
| You're solo | You pay for one seat | You pay one plan price (often a free tier) |
| You add a teammate | Your bill goes up per person | No change, up to the plan's limit |
| You add contractors | Each one is another seat | Included, up to the limit |
| Your team size swings | Bill tracks headcount up and down | Predictable within a plan |
| You cross a plan limit | Keep paying per seat | Change plan or purchase more capacity |
The honest read: per-seat can be cheaper when you're very small and staying that way, and flat-fee tends to win once you add people — especially contractors you'd otherwise pay a seat for just to log time.
Why Hoursmith chose flat-fee
Hoursmith is built for freelancers, consultants, and small agencies — and those teams grow by adding people, often contractors. We didn't want pricing to punish that. So each plan is one price for everyone within purchased capacity:
| Plan | Members included |
|---|---|
| Free | up to 3 |
| Studio | up to 10 |
| Agency | 25 per purchased quantity |
This pairs naturally with money-blind contractors: because Members never see your rates or invoices, you can add them to track time, and flat-fee pricing means doing so within purchased capacity doesn't raise your bill. Agency grows in paid 25-seat blocks: 50 seats require two quantities, 75 require three. Adding/removing members does not automatically change the purchased quantity. For current prices and what each plan includes, see Plans & limits or the pricing page.
Flat-fee doesn't mean unlimited — each plan includes members up to a limit. When you outgrow one, you can change plans or, on active paid Agency, purchase more quantities rather than paying per occupied seat. See Plans & limits.
Which is right for you?
- Choose flat-fee (Hoursmith) if you have — or expect — more than a person or two, or you bring in contractors and don't want each one to cost a seat.
- Per-seat may be fine if you're a solo user who'll stay solo, and a per-seat tool otherwise fits your needs better.
Either way, do the arithmetic with your real team size against current prices. For Hoursmith, that's Plans & limits; for any other tool, its own pricing page.
Ready to try flat-fee?
Start a 14-day trial, or see how the model plays out for a team in the small agencies guide.
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