Agency software is usually priced in one of two ways: by the number of people who log in (seats), or by the number of brands or profiles you manage. Neither is better in every case. They reward different shapes of agency, and the difference grows as you add clients.
This article explains how each model behaves, gives you a simple way to compare them with your own numbers, and lists the questions worth asking any vendor.
How seat pricing behaves
With seat pricing, the bill grows with your headcount. That feels fair at first: a bigger team, a bigger bill. The trouble starts with the people who need access but are not on your payroll:
- Client approvers. If each client's marketing lead needs a login to approve posts, every new client adds at least one seat.
- Freelancers and specialists. A designer who needs access two days a month costs the same as a full-time manager.
- Read-only stakeholders. A client's CEO who wants to look at the calendar once a week is a seat too.
Teams respond in predictable ways: shared logins, approvals by e-mail, screenshots of the calendar. Each one breaks the record of who did what, which is exactly what an approval process is meant to keep.
How brand pricing behaves
With brand pricing, the bill grows with the number of brands you manage. Agencies usually bill clients per brand or per account too, so the software cost follows revenue more closely than it follows headcount.
It also changes behaviour: if seats are free, there is no reason not to invite the client approver, the freelancer and the CEO, each with the right role. Access becomes a safety decision instead of a budget one.
Brand pricing has its own catches:
- What counts as a brand? A client with one company and five product lines may be one brand or five. Ask the vendor how they count, and whether channels or ad accounts are limited per brand.
- Many small brands. An agency that manages dozens of tiny local businesses, each with one profile, may pay more per brand than the work is worth. Look for packs of extra brands rather than a jump to the next plan.
- Plan steps. If going from 10 to 11 brands doubles the price, the model is fair on paper and painful in practice.
A simple comparison with your own numbers
You do not need a spreadsheet model to decide. Write down four numbers for today and for twelve months from now:
- B: brands you manage.
- S: people in the agency who need access.
- C: people on the client side who need access (approvers, viewers).
- F: freelancers who need access at least monthly.
Then compare:
- Seat model: price per seat × (S + C + F), or × S only if you plan to keep clients out of the tool.
- Brand model: the plan that fits B, plus any extra-brand packs.
Then ask the question that decides most cases: would you rather give clients a real login or keep them on e-mail? If you want clients inside the approval flow, count C honestly. That is where seat pricing usually tips.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Are client approvers and viewers free, or do they need a paid seat?
- Is white-label reporting included, and from which plan?
- Is there an API, and does it cost extra?
- What happens to the price when you add one more brand than the plan allows?
- Are yearly plans discounted, and can you change plan mid-year?
- What happens to your data, and for how long, if you leave?
Ask for the answers in writing, or check them on the vendor's own pricing and terms pages.
How Reachio prices
Reachio counts brands, never seats. Every plan has unlimited users, including client approvers and client viewers, and each role sees only what it should (client roles see only their own client's brands). Extra brands come in small packs, so one more brand does not force a plan change. White-label reports and the API come with the higher plans; the Agency plan can add the API separately. The current plans and what each includes are on the pricing page.
Reachio is in free early access today: payment is not open yet, and the prices on that page are the ones planned for when it opens. If you are comparing Reachio with a tool you already use, the comparison pages list each rival's facts from its own site, with the date they were checked.