The Pricing Cookbook is a guide to help you create Turnstile quotes that match your company's pricing models. Each recipe below shows examples of how different pricing types work together in the real world - so you can pick the one that best fits your quoting needs.

Scenario:
You sell a product where every customer pays a base monthly charge for platform access plus an extra fee per each user or seat.

Summary:
This model combines a predictable platform fee with flexible per-seat pricing so revenue grows with your customers’ teams.

How pricing works:
Customers pay a fixed monthly fee (Flat Fee) for the shared workspace and an additional per-month per-user cost (License).

When to use:
Perfect for SaaS tools like CRMs, HR systems, or project managers where team size drives value.

Example:
A 12-person team pays $50 + (12 × $10) = $170 / month.

Turnstile setup:

Scenario:
Your product needs onboarding before customers can use it, and some choose premium support after launch.

Summary:
You charge once to get them started, then collect recurring fees for access and optional ongoing help.

How pricing works:
One-time setup (Flat Fee) covers implementation. The recurring subscription (Flat Fee) grants continued access. Support can be another monthly recurring add-on (Flat Fee).

When to use:
Great for payroll, compliance, or HR systems that require data migration or configuration.

Example:
A new customer pays $300 once to onboard and $124/month for the subscription and additional support they chose to opt into.

Turnstile setup:

Scenario:
Your API gets cheaper per call as customers send more requests, but you want to bill in tidy batches to keep invoices clean.

Summary:
You reward your customers’ growth by lowering the price per call as usage increases, while grouping requests (e.g., per 1000 API calls) in batches so customers aren’t billed fractions of a cent.

How pricing works:
Usage is billed in tiers, and only the units within each tier are charged at that tier’s rate. To simplify billing, usage rounds up to the nearest batch size (e.g., 1000 calls or 5 licenses).

When to use:

Perfect for APIs, analytics, or messaging products where customers’ activity grows with success and where micro-charges need to be grouped for clarity.

Example:

Turnstile setup:

Scenario:
You charge per GB, but the rate depends on total usage for the month.

Summary:
Once a customer crosses a usage threshold, that lower rate applies to all their usage for that period. This is in contrast to Graduated Usage, where each usage event is charged by the tier it falls in when it was incurred.

How pricing works:
The price per unit is determined by the total volume used (Volume-based Usage).

When to use:
Good fit for cloud storage, hosting, or computing services.

Example:
Customer stores 1TB → falls into Tier 2 → $0.02 × 1000GB = $20.

Turnstile setup:

Scenario:
Customers pre-buy a set amount of usage and pay a bit more if they exceed it.

Summary:
You secure steady revenue while still letting customers exceed their commitment.

How pricing works:
The committed portion (Committed Usage) is billed at one rate; extra usage is billed as overage at a slightly higher rate.

When to use:
Ideal for APIs, data, or communications tools with predictable baselines.

Example:

120k calls → (100k × $0.01) + (20k × $0.02) = $1400.

Turnstile setup:

Scenario:
You process payments and take a small cut from each transaction.

Summary:
A mix of a percentage fee and a flat per-transaction fee keeps small and large transactions fair.

How pricing works:
Each payment includes both a % of the transaction and a small flat fee to cover processing.

When to use:
Great for marketplaces, ticketing, or payment gateways.

Example: $100 sale → 2.9 % ($2.90) + $0.30 = $3.20 total.

Turnstile setup:

Scenario:
Sellers in your product pay a monthly fee to list products and share a small percentage of each sale.

Summary:
Combines stable recurring income with growth-linked commission.

How pricing works:
Each seller pays a Flat fee subscription plus a Percentage fee applied to transactions.

When to use:
Perfect for creator or seller platforms (art, templates, digital goods).

Example: A seller commits to a minimum of $400 in monthly sales. You charge 5% on that committed amount and 2% on any sales above $400, plus a $50 monthly subscription fee for access to your marketplace.

Turnstile setup:

Scenario:
You offer both a monthly plan and a discounted annual plan, and customers choose the billing frequency that fits them best.

Summary:
Annual plans encourage longer commitments and improve cash flow, while monthly plans keep onboarding friction low. Structuring them as two separate plans makes the difference clear and easy to manage.

How pricing works:
You create two standalone Flat fee products and add a discount depending on the quote:

Customers pick one or the other at contract creation. No credits or adjustments - just different price points for different billing intervals.

When to use:
Perfect for SaaS subscriptions with predictable usage, where you want to support flexible billing while incentivizing annual commitment.

Examples:

A customer who prefers flexibility chooses the Monthly Plan and pays $100 each month.

A customer ready to commit selects the Annual Plan and pays $1080 upfront, saving $120 per year.

Turnstile setup:

Scenario:
You charge per connected device plus extra for heavy data activity.

Summary:
Each device pays a fixed monthly fee, with additional charges for data beyond a set limit.

How pricing works:
Base cost comes from the number of devices (License); extra events are billed by usage volume.

When to use:
Great for IoT, logistics, or telematics products.

Example:

200 devices → $1000 base. Each sends 5k extra pings ($5 each) = $2000 total.

Turnstile setup:

Scenario:
You offer discounted unit prices as customers buy more usage within a billing period.

Summary:
Functions like a loyalty or volume discount but handled through usage tiers.

How pricing works:
Define Graduated or Volume tiers with lower rates at higher quantities. This creates a built-in discount for scale.

When to use:
Ideal for any consumption-based product (API calls, emails, data processing) where you want to incentivize growth.

Example: A customer using 1.2M units gets the lower rate on higher volumes → average price drops from $0.02 to $0.01 overall.

Turnstile setup: