What it means
A seat is one named staff user. The model is easy to read, which is its appeal, and it hides as much as it shows. Two products can both say “per seat” while one includes everything and the other charges again for each module, for AI, for read-only users, for exporting your own data, or for a platform fee before the first seat.
The alternatives are pricing by module, by usage or by a flat platform fee. Each moves the cost somewhere different: by module, onto every new capability you adopt; by usage, onto your busiest months; by flat fee, onto the smallest customers.
Why it matters when you choose software
The seat price is the number every comparison starts with and the least useful one to finish with. What matters is the cost of the whole stack a product replaces, and how that cost moves as the team and the client base grow.
Per-seat pricing also decides who you can afford to give access to: a contractor, a part-time bookkeeper, or every one of your clients. A tool that charges for client access tends to get rationed, and a rationed portal is one clients stop using.
Questions to ask a vendor
- Which modules and AI features does one seat include, and what costs extra?
- Are clients or read-only users charged for?
- Is there a platform fee, a minimum seat count or a charge for exporting data?
- How does the price per seat change as we grow, and is it fixed for the contract?
- Are prices published, or negotiated case by case?
How Cyril approaches it
Cyril charges per staff seat, and every seat includes every module. The published plans are Starter at $29, Growth at $59 and Business at $99 per seat per month, with Enterprise priced individually. There is no platform fee and no per-module upsell, an AI credit allowance is bundled with every seat, client portal users are free and unlimited, and exporting your data never costs anything.