Quick answer: our approach to SaaS pricing for a new product starts with how the customer already thinks about paying. Products used every day get a simple monthly plan priced per business. Products used once, like a wedding, get a one-off price. Every price is public, and costs that vary, like texts and calls, are passed on at cost.
- Decide the shape of the price first: monthly or one-off, per business or per user.
- Match the price to how often the customer gets value from the product.
- Publish every price, and pass variable costs through at cost rather than hiding them.
Unavoidable Studio builds and runs several products, and each one needs a price on the day it launches. This article is part of building in public: how we approach SaaS pricing, using the published prices of Unavoidable CRM and AisleReply as worked examples. Prices quoted here were checked on each product’s live site on 24 October 2026.
Where do we start when pricing a new product?
We start with how the customer already pays for the problem, not with a spreadsheet of competitor prices. A plumber already pays monthly for a phone line and accounting software. A couple already pays once for a venue, a photographer and a caterer. If our price fits the way they already think about money, the buying decision is simpler.
So the first questions are about shape. How often does the customer get value? Who in the business uses it? Which costs go up and down with use? Only once the shape is clear do we pick the number.
Should a product charge monthly or once?
It should match how often the customer uses it. Unavoidable CRM runs a business’s calls, quotes, jobs and invoices every working day, so it has monthly plans with no contract. Its pricing page lists Solo at £29 a month, Team at £149 and Agency at £399, with 20% off for paying yearly.
AisleReply handles the replies for one wedding, so a subscription would make no sense. Its homepage lists three one-off plans per wedding: Essential at £149, Standard at £349 and Premium at £599, with no subscriptions. A couple pays once, and there is nothing to cancel after the day.
Why price per business rather than per user?
Because per-user pricing quietly punishes growth. For a small service business, adding an apprentice or a part-time office manager should not mean a bigger bill every time. Unavoidable CRM’s plans include a set number of users (one, five or unlimited), and every plan has every feature. That keeps the comparison simple: you choose by the size of your team, not by which tier unlocks the tool you need. We set out more of the thinking in why we built Unavoidable CRM.
How do we handle costs that change month to month?
We pass them on at cost and say so plainly. In Unavoidable CRM, texts, calls and AI receptionist minutes are paid at the provider’s price with no markup, and the pricing page lists typical figures, such as 4p to 5p to send a UK text. A quiet month costs less than a busy one.
The alternative is to bundle usage into a higher plan price, which means light users subsidise heavy ones. We would rather show the moving part than hide it. It also lines up with UK consumer law: the CMA announced on 7 April 2025 that the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 brought in a ban on drip pricing, where extra charges appear late in checkout.
What separates one plan from the next?
The size of the job, not access to the basics. AisleReply’s plans step up by guest numbers and events: Essential covers up to 100 guests and one event, Standard up to 300 guests and two events, and Premium has unlimited guests and events. Unavoidable CRM’s plans step up by users and contacts. In both cases a smaller customer gets a product that works fully, just at a smaller scale.
This is one of the shared habits across the studio, alongside the ones in running several products with a small team. A consistent approach to pricing means each product team does not have to start the argument from scratch.
How do we know if a price is wrong?
We treat a launch price as a starting point, not a final answer. The signals that matter are the ones described in product market fit for small products: whether people who try the product go on to pay, whether they keep paying, and what they say when they leave. A price that nobody questions can be too low, and a price that stops people from starting a free trial is a warning sign. Unavoidable CRM’s 14-day free trial, with no card needed, makes that signal easier to read because the price is not the first hurdle.
FAQs
Why does AisleReply charge once when Unavoidable CRM charges monthly?
Because of how each product is used. A business uses a CRM every working day, so a monthly plan matches the value. A couple uses AisleReply for one wedding, so a one-off price per wedding is fairer than a subscription they would have to remember to cancel.
Do your products publish their prices?
Yes. Unavoidable CRM lists its plans on its pricing page and AisleReply lists its three plans on its homepage. We think a buyer should be able to see the full price before they talk to anyone.
Do you offer discounts for paying yearly?
Unavoidable CRM does: paying yearly saves 20% compared with monthly. AisleReply has no subscription to discount, because each plan is already a single payment for one wedding.
Will your prices change?
They might. A launch price is our best judgement at the time, and we review it as we learn. When a product's price changes, the product's own pricing page is always the place to check the current figure.
To see how each product prices itself today, visit the portfolio, read why we built AisleReply, or browse the blog for more on how the studio works.
Founder of Unavoidable Studio, a UK venture studio in Leeds building six software companies at once. Answers his own inbox.