# Transparent Pricing Built for Real Consultation Work

Airtym · March 12, 2026 · Updated August 24, 2026

> Per-seat, per-transaction and per-client pricing each tax a different thing. For a practice built on repeat clients, only one of them charges you for retention.

## How should consultation software be priced? {#how-should-consultation-software-be-priced}

**By something that does not grow when your practice gets healthier. Per-seat pricing taxes headcount, per-transaction pricing taxes revenue, and per-active-client pricing taxes the size of your roster. A solo expert adds no seats, so the real choice is between paying a share of what you earn and paying for the clients you keep.**

Most pricing comparisons stop at the monthly number. The more useful question is what the number is attached to, because that decides which part of your growth costs you more.

There are four models in common use for this category, and they behave very differently as a practice matures.

**[Definition]** The unit you are charged by decides what the software makes expensive. Read the unit before the number.

## What does per-seat pricing tax? {#what-does-per-seat-pricing-tax}

Headcount. Calendly Standard is $10 per seat per month on monthly billing, about $8.30 on annual, and their page is explicit that seats are required for users who connect calendars and host meetings while invitees need none ([Calendly pricing](https://calendly.com/pricing)).

For a solo practice this is close to a flat fee. One person, one seat, a predictable line item that does not move whether you see three clients or thirty. Per-seat is the friendliest model there is for an individual, which is part of why the category defaults to it.

It also means the tool has no reason to care what happens between sessions, because nothing about your relationships changes what you pay.

## What does per-transaction pricing tax? {#what-does-per-transaction-pricing-tax}

Revenue. Stripe takes 2.9% plus $0.30 on card transactions ([Stripe pricing](https://stripe.com/pricing)), so a $300 session costs $9.00 to collect.

This model is honest in one respect: it costs nothing until you earn. It scales exactly with billing, which means it is cheapest when you are starting and most expensive when you are established, and it never stops.

## What does per-active-client pricing tax? {#what-does-per-active-client-pricing-tax}

Your roster, directly. CoachAccountable states that "the price you pay is based on the number of clients you serve", running from $20 a month for 2 clients to $4,000 a month for 1,000, across roughly thirty tiers ([CoachAccountable pricing](https://coachaccountable.com/pricing)). Twenty clients is $120 a month; a hundred is $400.

The logic is coherent. More clients means more value delivered, so more cost. Their page also notes that only active clients count and that clients can be deactivated and reactivated at any time, which is a genuine mitigation for a practice with seasonal or dormant relationships.

The consequence is still worth naming. This is the one model where keeping a client is itself the cost driver, and where the monthly line grows along the same axis as the repeat book.

**[Key takeaways]** Per-seat grows with staff. Per-transaction grows with revenue. Per-active-client grows with retention, which for most expert practices is the growth they are trying to produce.

## Why does the retention axis matter most? {#why-does-the-retention-axis-matter-most}

Because it is where the revenue is. David A. Fields puts healthy repeat business at 40 to 80 percent of a consulting firm's revenue, with anything below 40 percent treated as a problem ([David A. Fields Consulting Group](https://davidafields.com/whats-the-right-amount-of-repeat-consulting-business/)).

It is also where the value of a client record accumulates. A first session has no history to carry; a ninth has eight sessions of context that make the ninth worth more than the first. A practice that keeps clients is compounding something.

Pricing by roster size charges more for that compounding at the moment it starts paying off. The model and the value move in the same direction, which is fine for the vendor and worth understanding as the buyer.

[See how a per-client record works →](/signup)

## What does Airtym charge, and what does it tax? {#what-does-airtym-charge-and-what-does-it-tax}

Two options, and one of them is a transaction tax. Starter is free with no monthly cost and takes 10% on paid calls, and nothing at all if you do not charge through the platform. Pro is $19.99 a month and removes the commission entirely ([Airtym pricing](https://airtym.com/pricing)).

So the free tier is per-transaction pricing, with the same property described above: cheapest at the start, most expensive once established. The crossover sits around $200 a month in bookings, past which the flat fee costs less than the commission.

The flat tier taxes nothing that grows. It does not move with client count, session volume or revenue, which means the number of clients whose history you are keeping has no effect on the bill.

**[Key takeaway]** Boundary condition: if you are not charging through the platform at all, the commission never applies and the comparison is between free and $19.99. If you bill under $200 a month, the free tier is cheaper and this whole argument is theoretical.

## What should you actually check? {#what-should-you-actually-check}

Before the monthly figure, work out three things:

- What the price is attached to. Seats, transactions, clients or nothing.
- What that unit does over the next two years if the practice goes well.
- Whether the crossover point sits above or below your current billing.
- What happens to a dormant client. On roster pricing this is the difference between paying for them and not.

## Frequently Asked Questions {#frequently-asked-questions}

### Is commission-based pricing worse than a flat fee? {#is-commission-based-pricing-worse-than-a-flat-fee}

It depends entirely on volume. Commission costs nothing before you earn and scales without limit afterwards, so it favours early practices and penalises established ones. A flat fee reverses that. The crossover point is the only number that settles it, and for Airtym it sits near $200 a month in bookings ([Airtym pricing](https://airtym.com/pricing)).

### Why do coaching platforms charge per client? {#why-do-coaching-platforms-charge-per-client}

Because roster size is a reasonable proxy for value delivered. CoachAccountable prices on the number of clients served, from $20 a month for 2 up to $4,000 for 1,000 ([CoachAccountable pricing](https://coachaccountable.com/pricing)). The trade-off is that the bill rises with retention, and only active clients are counted, so dormant relationships can be deactivated to keep the tier down.

### Does per-seat pricing suit a solo practice? {#does-per-seat-pricing-suit-a-solo-practice}

It behaves like a flat fee, which is the point in its favour. Calendly requires a seat only for users who connect calendars and host meetings, not for invitees ([Calendly pricing](https://calendly.com/pricing)), so one person pays for one seat regardless of how many clients they see.

### What is the real cost of consultation software? {#what-is-the-real-cost-of-consultation-software}

The subscriptions are the countable part and usually the smaller one. The larger cost is the time spent reassembling a client's history before each repeat session, which no pricing page lists and which grows with tenure rather than with the monthly fee.

[Airtym](/) keeps booking, the video room, payment and the session summary on one running record per client, so the next conversation opens with the last one already in front of you.

## Related Articles {#related-articles}

- [The Tool Tax Nobody Counts: Your Stack Forgets Your Clients](/blog/tool-tax-your-stack-forgets-your-clients) — what the assembled stack costs per month, and the larger cost of every tool in it filing by event rather than by client.
- [Meeting Notes Apps for Client Calls: Two Questions Before You Pick One](/blog/meeting-notes-app-for-client-calls) — per-client grouping exists in every major notetaker; what decides it is who does the filing, and what none of them hold.
- [The Real Cost of Time Leakage for Solo Professionals and Virtual Consultants](/blog/the-real-cost-of-time-leakage-for-solo-professionals-and-virtual-consultants) — the unbilled hour that grows with client tenure rather than client count.