Explore the key components of commercial models—from how products charge, to how you can build your own. This guide walks through core building blocks, real-world examples, and emerging trends to help you design a model that fits.
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You've built something valuable—a tool, a platform, or a service people actually want to use. But how do you turn that value into profit?
It's time to build your commercial model.
A commercial model defines how your product makes money, how customers pay, and how that money flows into your business. That might be as simple as a flat monthly fee, or more dynamic, with usage-based pricing, tiered plans, or outcome-based contracts.
Getting this right isn't just about setting a price; your commercial model should evolve as your customer base grows. Aligning the value your product delivers to your customers is often a moving target, and there are a range of different pricing approaches available to maximise profit while maintaining a great customer experience.
In this guide, we'll break down the key components of a commercial model, explain how they fit together, and show how leading products—and flexible platforms like Salable—handle this in the real world.
We've analysed how successful products approach this, and what we're sharing here reflects industry best practices. So, it all starts with the building blocks.
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A commercial model is the full go-to-market blueprint, combining a monetisation strategy, pricing structure, revenue mechanics, and billing logistics into one cohesive system. To understand what this looks like in practice, let's break down the commercial model of one of the most talked-about businesses in the world right now: OpenAI.
To start off with, monetisation defines where revenue will come from. It’s your high-level strategy for turning value into income.
OpenAI’s monetisation strategy for its API is usage-led, it doesn't charge for access or setup. Instead, it earns when customers interact with its products and services. OpenAI monetises on activity, and ties its revenue to the number of tokens consumed–not the number of users for instance.
OpenAI actually monetises two main services:
Each of these is monetised independently, creating multiple revenue streams, all anchored to real product usage.
If monetisation is the strategy, the revenue model is the execution. Your revenue model describes the way money is earned—the specific behaviours your customers take that generate income.
The OpenAI API's revenue model, when using the API, is built around per-token fees. Large Language Models (LLMs) break down the ‘cost’ of generating text and images into smaller pieces, or "tokens", which a user pays a fee for each.
While enterprise customers may negotiate pricing and terms, the basic revenue model is the same: customer actions in the product.
Monetisation is the high-level play—it answers where the money comes from: "We make money when people use our API."
Revenue is the engine underneath—it shows how that money flows in: "They consume tokens, and we bill them monthly."
One spots the opportunity. The other runs the system.
Pricing is how you package and present your value. It defines how much your customer pays, and for what.
OpenAI’s pricing is:
This model works well for developer tools and infrastructure products. It keeps the barrier to entry low and ensures that pricing grows with usage.
At this point, it's good to take a minute to expand on the different revenue models that are available. Salable stands out here, giving businesses full control to design pricing models that match their product, customer base, and growth goals.
Salable is built for composable pricing–so you can mix and match models, test new structures, and adapt as your product and customer base grow.
Whether you want to charge a flat platform fee, add usage overages, gate features by tier, or sell optional modules, Salable lets you combine it all into one flexible plan. No need to choose just one model or rewrite your backend when you need to change.
There’s no universal rule, but here's a helpful way to think about it:
Some products use just plans. Others use tiers inside a plan. Make sure your terms are clear and consistent.
With your monetisation, revenue, and pricing strategy under control, the last step is understanding your approach to billing. Billing defines when your customers pay and how payments are collected—monthly vs annual, prepaid vs postpaid, automated vs invoiced.
OpenAI uses:
This setup allows OpenAI to align revenue collection with customer activity, keeping cash flow predictable and scaling without friction.
OpenAI’s commercial model works because each component reinforces the others:
Together, these components create a commercial model that's simple to adopt, scales with usage, and aligns value delivery with revenue.
Of course, not every part is optimised for profitability today. OpenAI, like many others, also leans on a loss-leader strategy—offering generous free tiers to grow adoption and build long-term value.
Freemium + Tiered Pricing + Per-User Billing
You'd set this up with feature gating across plans, usage thresholds, and per-seat pricing logic. Salable handles tier visibility, billing intervals, and conversion flows automatically.
Free users see value fast. Teams can expand gradually. Billing grows with usage.
You can define usage metrics per seat (e.g. "active" user logic), bill monthly based on real usage, and support trial-to-paid transitions. Salable's metering logic supports this directly.
👉 Why it works: Customers only pay for what they use. Easy onboarding, minimal friction.
Use Salable's metering system to track API calls, storage, or bandwidth. Apply graduated pricing and bill monthly in arrears. Optional usage caps, alerts, or credit top-ups are supported.
👉 Why it works: Aligns revenue with value delivered. Low entry barrier, highly scalable.
Enable token or credit-based pricing via credit burndown. Define consumption units (e.g. generations, API calls), offer prepaid packs, and allow custom refill logic or automation.
👉 Why it works: Easy to manage consumption while offering predictable base revenue.
Use tier gating and seat pricing for self-serve, and add granular usage tracking (file usage, editor count) for enterprise. Salable allows flexible pricing by user role or activity.
👉 Why it works: Matches growth stage—individuals start free, orgs can scale.
Use free vs paid plan gating, with bundle support (linked accounts or group seats). Billing cadence logic and promotional pricing rules help deliver trials and loyalty discounts.
👉 Why it works: Multiple paths to revenue; lets customers choose their preferred experience.
Set a base price per product module, then layer in usage-based add-ons. Use feature flags, entitlements, and billing events to handle expansion pricing easily.
👉 Why it works: Modular, scalable pricing that matches product value.
Pricing model: Free, Plus, Premium, Metal (flat monthly fee) + variable commission on some services
* Billing model: Monthly billing + per-transaction revenue
- Monetisation: Mix of subscriptions, interchange, and commission
Combine subscription plans with pay-per-use monetisation. Salable's hybrid model support makes it easy to define bundled value + transactional overages
Low base price, monetisation grows as users engage more.
You've seen how others do it—now it's your turn.
Designing a commercial model doesn't start with pricing tables or billing software. It starts with understanding your product, users, and value delivery. Below is a framework to help you think it through—no jargon, no overthinking.
Why it matters: Per-seat pricing works great for teams. Usage-based pricing might be a better fit for solo power users.
Why it matters: Daily-use tools lend themselves to subscriptions. Spiky usage might call for a pay-as-you-go approach.
Why it matters: Salable lets you monetise any of these with different models, so clarity here gives you flexibility later.
Why it matters: Matching your billing rhythm to the customer's buying pattern reduces friction and churn.
Why it matters: Your first model won't be your last. Salable makes it easy to adapt pricing and plans without engineering effort.
Start simple, then optimise
You don't need the perfect model from day one. Many of the companies we admire started with something simple and evolved over time.
A good starting point:
The world of monetisation is shifting fast, and the best commercial models evolve with it. Here are the key trends shaping how modern products charge, bill, and grow revenue.
Usage-based everything
More SaaS companies are shifting from fixed tiers to pay-as-you-go pricing, especially for developer tools, AI APIs, and platforms with variable usage.
Why it works:
With Salable: Meter anything—API calls, file uploads, active users, and bill based on actual consumption.
Especially popular in AI, gaming, and design tools, credits offer predictable pricing for unpredictable usage.
Why it works:
With Salable: Let users buy credits upfront, then deduct them automatically as they use features. Want to learn how to get this working? Get in touch!
Some platforms now use machine learning to dynamically set prices based on demand, behaviour, or outcomes.
Why it works:
With Salable: While Salable doesn't set prices for you, it gives you the building blocks to experiment with custom plans, A/B pricing, and metered logic tied to user behaviour.
Instead of charging for usage or access, some products charge only when results are delivered—like a % of cost savings or conversions.
Why it works:
With Salable, you can track value metrics (like conversions or output), then trigger billing only when specific milestones are hit.
Most modern pricing strategies now combine elements—e.g. a base subscription + usage overages, or a freemium entry + premium credits.
Why it works:
With Salable: You can mix and match subscription tiers, usage caps, credit systems, and seat-based logic—all from one platform.
More products are adjusting pricing to match purchasing power across different countries.
Why it works:
With Salable: Set different prices or plans by region, apply local taxes (like VAT), and manage currencies–with no code required.
Flexibility is no longer a nice-to-have, it's the foundation of modern commercial strategy. Whether you're experimenting with new revenue streams or adapting to customer feedback, you need a model that can flex as fast as your product evolves.
Salable gives you that flexibility, without needing to rebuild your backend every time your pricing changes.