Per-contact pricing

A billing model that charges by the number of contacts stored — every person who has ever messaged you — so your bill grows with audience size rather than usage.

Under per-contact pricing, the meter is the size of the list the tool has to remember, not the work it does this month. Anyone who once commented a keyword or replied to a story counts, whether or not they ever message again.

The practical effect is that a good growth quarter raises your bill even if conversations stay flat — which is why some tools have moved to per-conversation pricing, where you pay for conversations actually handled.