Indicators & Usage-Based Pricing
Indicators are the specific events or actions your AI agents perform. They form the foundation of usage-based pricing: activity-based and outcome-based models.
What are Indicators?
An indicator is a descriptive name for an action or outcome. For example:
message-sentticket-resolvedreport-generatedmeeting-bookedActivity-Based Pricing
Bill customers based on the AI activities they perform - tokens used, API calls made, or actions taken. This is the most common usage-based pricing model.
📖 Real-World Scenario
Rachel runs 'ContentAI', a service that generates blog posts, social media content, and ad copy using GPT-4 and Claude. Different customers have vastly different needs: a solopreneur might generate 5 articles per month, while a marketing agency generates 500. Charging everyone the same monthly fee would be unfair to light users and leave money on the table with heavy users.
💡 Solution
Rachel uses Paygent to track every content generation request and bill based on actual AI usage:
1import { PaygentClient } from '@paygent_org/paygent-sdk-node';
2
3const paygent = PaygentClient.newClient(process.env.PAYGENT_API_KEY);
4
5// Customer requests blog post generation
6async function generateBlogPost(customerId: string, prompt: string) {
7 // Generate content with AI
8 const article = await generateWithAI(prompt);
9
10 // Track the activity - Paygent automatically counts tokens & costs
11 await paygent.sendUsage(
12 'article-generator', // Agent performing the work
13 customerId, // Which customer
14 'article-generated', // Indicator: the activity performed
15 usageData
16 );
17
18 return article;
19}
20
21// Usage tracked automatically
22// - Customer A generates 5 articles → $12.50
23// - Customer B generates 500 articles → $1,250
24// Both pay exactly what they use!Activity Indicators Examples:
article-generatedimage-createdmessage-sentcode-reviewedtranslation-completedsummary-created✅ Result
Rachel's customers love the fair pricing. Light users pay $20-50/month for occasional content generation. Heavy users (agencies) pay $800-1,500/month but get massive value. Rachel's revenue scales perfectly with her AI costs - she's never losing money on power users.
Outcome-Based Pricing
Charge based on successful outcomes or results achieved, not just activities performed. Customers only pay when they get real value.
📖 Real-World Scenario
David built 'MeetBot AI', an AI sales assistant that helps B2B companies book qualified meetings. The AI sends personalized outreach emails, follows up with prospects, and books meetings on the calendar. David's AI might send 100 emails to only book 5 meetings - but customers don't care about emails sent, they care about meetings booked. How can David align his pricing with customer value?
💡 Solution
David tracks both activities (emails sent) and outcomes (meetings booked), but only charges for successful outcomes:
1import { PaygentClient } from '@paygent_org/paygent-sdk-node';
2
3const paygent = PaygentClient.newClient(process.env.PAYGENT_API_KEY);
4
5// Track activity (not billable - just for analytics)
6async function sendOutreachEmail(customerId: string, emailContent: string) {
7 await sendEmail(emailContent);
8
9 // Track activity but don't charge customer
10 await paygent.sendUsage(
11 'sales-ai',
12 customerId,
13 'email-sent', // Activity indicator (free for customer)
14 usageData
15 );
16}
17
18// Track outcome (BILLABLE - customer pays $50 per meeting)
19async function bookMeeting(customerId: string, meetingDetails: any) {
20 await createCalendarEvent(meetingDetails);
21
22 // Track successful outcome - THIS is what customer pays for
23 await paygent.sendUsage(
24 'sales-ai',
25 customerId,
26 'meeting-booked', // Outcome indicator → $50 charge
27 usageData
28 );
29}
30
31// Customer pays:
32// - $0 for 100 emails sent
33// - $50 × 5 meetings booked = $250
34//
35// Clear ROI: $50 per meeting often leads to $10,000+ dealsOutcome Indicators Examples:
meeting-booked → $50ticket-resolved → $5sale-closed → $200candidate-hired → $1,000bug-fixed → $25lead-qualified → $15Prices shown are examples - set yours based on customer value
✅ Result
David's customers absolutely love outcome-based pricing. They pay $50 per meeting booked, and each meeting typically results in a $10,000-50,000 deal. The ROI is crystal clear. David books $200,000 worth of meetings per month across his customers, charging $50,000 in total. Everyone wins.
Choosing the Right Indicator Strategy
Use Activity-Based When:
- • The action itself provides value (content generation, translations, analysis)
- • Outcomes are hard to measure objectively
- • You need predictable cost-based pricing
Use Outcome-Based When:
- • Results are clearly measurable (meetings booked, tickets resolved, sales closed)
- • You want to align pricing with customer value
- • Customers care about results, not the work done to achieve them
Pro Tip: Hybrid Approach
Many successful AI platforms use both: track activities for transparency and analytics, but charge based on outcomes for clear ROI.
Need property-based billing?
By default, indicators bill on raw event count. To aggregate usage from event properties (tokens, hours, bytes, etc.) before pricing, create a Billable Metric and link it to your indicator on the agent setup page.
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