Table of Content
What are examples of SaaS?
SaaS (software as a service) is software you use over the internet on a subscription instead of installing and owning it. Common examples are Salesforce and HubSpot for CRM, QuickBooks and Zoho Books for accounting, Notion and Smartsheet for work management, Zapier and Make for automation, Shopify and BigCommerce for e-commerce, and Slack and Zoom for communication. Each one earns money in a different way, which is the business model.
- This guide groups SaaS examples by category and names the business model behind each: per seat, tiered by limits, usage-based, outcome-based, freemium, transaction fee, and hybrid.
- Per-seat pricing is the default for work tools. Notion lists $10 and $20 plans, Smartsheet $9 and $19, and Airtable $20 and $45, each per seat.
- Usage and outcomes are growing in infrastructure and AI. Fivetran bills on monthly active rows, Supabase and Neon bill on compute and storage, and Intercom Fin charges $0.99 per resolved outcome.
- Some SaaS earns on the transaction, not the subscription. Wave lists 2.9% plus $0.60 per card payment, Gumroad 10% plus $0.50, and Shopify charges a third-party gateway fee of 2% down to 0.2% depending on plan.
- SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS differ by what you manage. In SaaS the vendor runs everything, in PaaS you run the app, and in IaaS you also manage the operating system.
- Prices are as listed in October 2026 and change often. CommercePundit builds custom SaaS products. See the last section.
What is SaaS?
SaaS stands for software as a service. The vendor hosts the application, maintains it, and charges a recurring fee. You open it in a browser or app, and the vendor handles servers, updates, and security patches. That is the difference from software you buy once and install. A SaaS company is therefore a subscription business, and how it charges is as important a design choice as what it builds.
What business models do SaaS companies use?
Most SaaS business models are one of seven patterns, and many companies mix them. The examples are real pricing listed at the time of writing.
| Model | How it charges | Examples (as listed) |
|---|---|---|
| Per seat | A price per user per month | Notion $10 and $20, Smartsheet $9 and $19, Airtable $20 and $45 |
| Tiered by limits | Plans cap tasks, records, or sales | Zapier from $19.99 for 750 tasks, Make from $9 for 5,000 credits, BigCommerce plans with sales caps |
| Usage-based | You pay for what you consume | Fivetran by monthly active rows, Supabase by compute and egress, Neon by usage |
| Outcome-based | You pay when a result happens | Intercom Fin at $0.99 per resolved outcome |
| Freemium | A free tier that upgrades | Zoho Books Free, Wave at $0, Notion Free |
| Transaction fee | A cut of money that moves through it | Wave 2.9% plus $0.60, Gumroad 10% plus $0.50, Shopify gateway fee |
| Hybrid | Seats plus usage | Claude Enterprise ($20 seat plus API usage), Retool, GitHub Copilot with plans and AI credits |
What are SaaS examples by category?
CRM and sales
Salesforce and HubSpot sell CRM by seat with feature tiers. Salesforce’s Agentforce adds consumption-style options on top: Flex Credits, per-resolution, and per-user. The model is a seat for people plus usage for AI work, which is the hybrid pattern spreading across enterprise software.
Accounting and finance
QuickBooks and Zoho Books are subscription accounting tools. Zoho Books has a Free plan and Wave lists a $0 plan, which are freemium, and Wave earns on payments, listing 2.9% plus $0.60 per card transaction. Free software funded by transaction fees is a model worth studying before you copy it, because the fees only work with payment volume.
Work management and databases
Notion, Smartsheet, and Airtable are the clearest per-seat examples. The risk of per-seat pricing is that buyers limit who gets a seat, so vendors add paid limits on records, automations, or storage. See our look at web application examples for how these products are built.
Automation
Zapier and Make price by the amount of work done, not the number of people. Zapier lists a Professional plan from $19.99 for 750 tasks, and Make lists a $9 plan with 5,000 credits. That is the tiered-by-limits model: cheap to start, and a bill that grows with automation volume. Our guide to AI workflow automation tools compares them.
E-commerce
Shopify and BigCommerce combine a subscription with a share of sales. Shopify charges a third-party payment gateway fee that falls from 2% to 1%, 0.6%, and 0.2% as the plan gets larger, and BigCommerce caps online sales per plan. If you are choosing a platform, see Shopify alternatives.
Developer and data infrastructure
Fivetran bills on monthly active rows. Supabase and Neon bill on compute, storage, and data transfer. This usage-based model suits products where customer consumption varies widely, and it makes forecasting harder for the buyer. Compare databases in our Supabase alternatives guide.
AI and customer support
AI products are testing new models. Intercom Fin charges $0.99 per resolved outcome. Claude Enterprise lists a $20 seat plus API usage. GitHub Copilot has plans and AI credits. Retool prices builders and internal users differently. The shift is from paying for access to paying for work done.
What is the difference between SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS?
The three terms describe how much of the stack the vendor runs for you. Examples of PaaS, IaaS, and SaaS are usually taught with this table, which follows the standard definitions from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST SP 800-145).
| Model | What you manage | What the vendor manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS | Your data and settings | Everything else | Gmail, Salesforce, Notion, Zoom |
| PaaS | Your application and its data | Servers, runtime, operating system | Heroku, Google App Engine, Azure App Service |
| IaaS | Operating system, runtime, and application | Physical servers, storage, networking | Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, Azure Virtual Machines |
Is ChatGPT SaaS? A paid ChatGPT plan is software delivered over the internet by subscription, so it fits the SaaS description. Is Gmail PaaS or SaaS? SaaS. Is Netflix SaaS? Netflix is a subscription service, but it sells entertainment to consumers rather than business software, so it is not usually called SaaS.
How do you choose a SaaS pricing model for your own product?
- Find what scales with value. If value grows with users, charge per seat. If it grows with volume, charge by usage. If it grows with results, consider outcomes.
- Check your costs. A product with variable costs, such as AI calls or data transfer, needs a usage component or margins disappear.
- Start simple. One price and two tiers is easier to explain than a hybrid.
- Use freemium only with a plan. A free tier must convert or be cheap to serve.
- Measure the Rule of 40. Investors often add annual growth rate to profit margin and look for 40% or more.
Our MVP development guide shows how to launch the first version, best backend frameworks covers the stack, and web application development explains how the product gets built.
If you want a team to build the product, see our MVP development services, custom web development services, and AI development services.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some examples of SaaS?
Salesforce, HubSpot, QuickBooks, Zoho Books, Notion, Smartsheet, Airtable, Zapier, Make, Shopify, BigCommerce, Slack, and Zoom are all SaaS. Each is software delivered over the internet by subscription.
What are SaaS company examples by business model?
Notion and Smartsheet charge per seat, Zapier and Make by limits, Fivetran and Supabase by usage, Intercom Fin per resolved outcome, Wave and Gumroad take transaction fees, and Claude Enterprise mixes a seat with API usage.
What are the main SaaS business models?
Per seat, tiered by limits, usage-based, outcome-based, freemium, transaction fee, and hybrid. Most companies combine two of them.
What is the difference between SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS?
In SaaS the vendor runs everything and you use the app. In PaaS you run your application on the vendor’s platform. In IaaS you rent servers and manage the operating system and software.
What are examples of PaaS, IaaS, and SaaS?
SaaS: Gmail, Salesforce, Notion. PaaS: Heroku, Google App Engine, Azure App Service. IaaS: Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, Azure Virtual Machines.
Is ChatGPT considered SaaS?
A paid ChatGPT plan is software delivered over the internet on a subscription, so it fits the SaaS description. The underlying models can also be bought through an API.
Is Gmail PaaS or SaaS?
Gmail is SaaS. Google runs the application and you only manage your account and data.
Is Netflix SaaS?
Netflix is a subscription service, but it sells entertainment to consumers, not software for work, so it is not usually called SaaS.
What is the Rule of 40 in SaaS?
It is a rule of thumb that annual revenue growth rate plus profit margin should total 40% or more. Investors use it to judge whether a SaaS company balances growth and profit.
Bottom Line
SaaS examples look alike on the surface, but the business model under each one decides how it grows. Per-seat tools charge for people, automation tools charge for volume, infrastructure charges for consumption, and AI products are starting to charge for results. Choose the model that tracks the value you deliver and the cost you carry. To build a SaaS product of your own, talk to us about MVP development services.
