Per unit billing in Zoho Billing is a pricing model where the total subscription cost is determined by multiplying a fixed price per unit by the quantity of units the customer has subscribed to. Units can be user seats, devices, API calls, or any other countable entity. If a customer subscribes to 5 user seats at INR 2,000 per seat per month, their monthly invoice is INR 10,000.
When creating a plan with per unit billing, you set the price per unit and define what a unit represents. At subscription time, the customer specifies their unit quantity. Zoho Billing multiplies the quantity by the unit price to calculate the subscription amount and generates invoices accordingly. If the customer changes their quantity mid-cycle, proration applies to the difference.
Per unit billing scales linearly with the customer’s growth. As a customer adds more users or devices, their invoice increases proportionally. This model aligns pricing with value for both the customer (they pay for what they use) and the vendor (revenue grows as customers expand). It also simplifies the customer’s decision to add seats since the per-unit cost is transparent and predictable.
Yes. Customers or admins can increase or decrease the unit quantity on a subscription at any time. Zoho Billing calculates proration for mid-cycle changes and adjusts the next invoice accordingly. Some businesses configure quantity changes to take effect only at the next renewal to simplify billing management.
In per unit billing, every unit costs the same fixed price regardless of total quantity. In tiered pricing, the price per unit decreases as the quantity moves into higher tiers. Per unit billing is linear; tiered pricing rewards higher volumes with lower per-unit costs, making it suitable for businesses that want to incentivise customers to buy more seats.
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