A new framework for AI agent pricing

Analyzing patterns from 60+ AI agent companies

👋 Hi, it’s Kyle Poyar and welcome to Growth Unhinged, my weekly newsletter exploring the hidden playbooks behind the fastest-growing startups.

Y’all know I’m passionate about AI monetization. Turns out, I’m not alone. Manny Medina, the founder of Outreach (last valued at $4.4B), just took his new startup out of stealth — and announced €10M in pre-seed funding. It’s called Paid and it tackles what Manny calls the biggest problem not enough people talk about in AI: how to monetize and capture the value of AI agents.

After analyzing patterns from 60+ AI agent companies, Manny has put together a new framework for AI agent pricing. Keep reading for highly tactical advice with plenty of examples from early adopters.

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Struggling to price your AI agent? You're not alone.

Most founders I've worked with leave money on the table with the wrong pricing model. Following our recent launch of Paid.ai, 130 of 175 (that’s 75%!) of our signups said “I am not sure how to price my AI features”.

After analyzing 60+ AI agent companies, I've identified four pricing frameworks that actually work, and one that consistently outperforms the rest.

This guide will show you exactly which model to choose based on your specific agent capabilities, how to implement it without tanking your margins, and how to future-proof your pricing against inevitable LLM cost reductions.

By the end, you'll have a concrete pricing strategy that scales with your business instead of against it.

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The four AI Agent pricing models dominating the market

Many companies use just one of the four models, but some hybrid approaches exist too (e.g., Per seat pricing together with Per agent pricing). Read on to understand each of the models.