Seat
One user license within a shared subscription. Team billing is typically 'per seat per month' — total cost scales with number of active users.
A seat represents one person's access to a product within a shared workspace or account. On a team plan, you pay per seat per month; adding a person adds a seat, removing them releases it.
Seats are typically counted by "active users" — someone who has logged in or used the product in the current billing cycle. Some products count invited-but-not-yet-active users; better products only count active seats to avoid billing you for people who never showed up.
Seat billing versus per-user consumption billing: - **Seat billing** (LADLE, Notion, Slack): predictable cost per person, regardless of usage. Simpler to budget. - **Usage-based billing** (many APIs, some data tools): cost varies by how much each user actually consumes. Harder to forecast.
Most productivity SaaS uses seat billing because it's the most predictable for the customer, even if it's not always the most cost-efficient.
Watch for: "minimum seat commitments" (you have to pay for at least N seats even if you have fewer users), "true-up periods" (the vendor audits your seat count and charges retroactively), and enterprise tier "unlimited seats" pricing (usually more expensive per active user than transparent per-seat).