The current AI pricing landscape in SaaS is chaotic—every company seems to be trying its own playbook, and it’s a bit hard to follow. Just look at Canva. Recently, they raised the price for their Teams subscription from $120 to a whopping $500 per year for up to five users. The reason? Canva claimed it was all to support their new, advanced AI features. This 300% jump didn’t sit well with users, who weren’t thrilled about paying so much more, even with the promise of smarter tools.
The backlash was swift. In response, Canva backtracked, rolling back the price hike for early adopters and introducing a “Pricing Promise” to give at least 60 days’ notice for future price changes. But this situation sums up where we’re at: without standardized AI pricing, companies are making it up as they go, and users are left feeling uncertain about what they’re really paying for.
Adobe, meanwhile, takes a different approach by bundling its Firefly AI right into Creative Cloud, no extra fee required. Notion keeps it straightforward with an AI add-on for $10 a month, and Zoom ties its AI perks to higher-tier plans. It’s a patchwork of pricing models that leaves users scratching their heads.
Until there’s a standard in place, this confusion isn’t going away. But when it does, SaaS companies will finally have to compete on what their AI tools can actually deliver—not just who can pull off the cleverest pricing model.
