Metered vs. Unlimited: Enterprise Pricing Decision Model

NovaTech is evaluating a proposal from UX-Hero to replace per-MAU metering with an unlimited enterprise agreement.

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Deal Inputs

Current Contract

Annual contract cost Contracted MAU Actual MAU today Overage rate ($/MAU/yr) most sensitive input

Vendor Proposal

Unlimited ELA (annual) Annual escalator (%) Add-on module (annual, optional)

Our Assumptions

Organic MAU growth (%/yr) Suppressed demand unlocked (MAU) demand the meter is blocking today Term (years) Discount rate (%)

Effective rate today

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Rate under ELA

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Break-even volume

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Growth required

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Crossover: annual cost vs. consumption volume

drag the overage rate and watch the decision flip

Metered cost rises with usage. Unlimited is flat. Where they cross is the only number that matters.

Scenario Analysis NPV over term, discounted. Negative means unlimited costs more.

Scenario	Growth	Ending MAU	Metered NPV	Unlimited NPV	Delta	Verdict

Sensitivity: growth required to break even overage rate (rows) vs. proposed ELA price (columns)

Green: break-even reachable at or below your growth assumption. Red: requires growth you have no basis to forecast.

Vendor ROI Decomposition drag each haircut to test what survives finance review

Vendor case → Finance case

Value driver	Type	Vendor claim	Haircut	Finance case
Total 3-year benefit

Why haircuts are mechanics, not cynicism: a recovered hour is only a saving if the hour comes out of a budget. Productivity benefits scaled linearly from a smaller composite organization assume every recovered minute converts to cash. It does not unless headcount or spend actually changes.