· 10 min read · Pricing
Seat subscriptions vs pay-per-lookup credits – a cost model
Seat subscriptions tax access whether you look up or not.
Seats tax access. Credits meter outcomes. A monthly enrichment seat charges whether your desk looks up ten people or zero. Pay-per-lookup credits charge when a contact lookup returns an email, a phone, or both. and timeouts/errors do not spend. For India boutique desks and global PAYG builders, that difference is the cost model – not a slogan.
1 credit only when we return an email, a phone, or both. Timeouts and errors do not spend.
When do seats look cheaper (and when are they not)?
Seats look simple on an invoice: one line, one month. They get expensive when:
- Only some teams actively enrich.
- Volume is bursty across sprints.
- You already have profile URLs and only need contact fields.
- USD pricing collides with an INR desk P&L.
Credits look noisier line-by-line and cleaner in margin math when work is URL → contact. Pack feel: INR Credit Packs for Contact Lookup – How Razorpay Pricing Feels.
What cost model should a boutique desk sketch?
| Question | Seat world | Credit world (Invenitor) |
|---|---|---|
| Pay if nobody enriches this week? | Usually yes | No – idle does not bill |
| Pay on timeout/error? | Vendor-dependent | No |
| Currency for India desk | Often USD | INR via Razorpay/UPI |
| Fit for “I have the URL” | Oversized | Native |
Example sketch (illustrative, not a forecast): 80 profile URLs in a sprint, 50 returns with email and/or phone → about 50 credits. Compare that to a seat that bills the whole month regardless. Do not use hit-rate % theater – Coverage varies; model with your shortlist samples.
Who still benefits from a seat?
Teams that need a full engagement suite – sequencing, shared dialers, marketplace browsing as the core workflow – may still want a suite seat for those jobs. Keep a credit API for the paste-URL moments so you are not paying seat tax for a lookup. Product boundary: What a Contact Lookup API Actually Does.
How should global PAYG buyers read the same model?
Global builders get the same REST + MCP and prepaid credits – no monthly seat required for the lookup step. India rail details help INR desks; the cost logic is shared.
What checklist should finance use before renewing seats?
- Count active enrichers vs paid seats.
- Sample 20 real shortlist URLs on a credit API.
- Separate suite needs (CRM/sequencer) from lookup needs.
- Check currency and refund/expiry rules.
Live packs and trial: pricing. API: /docs.
How do you explain the model to a skeptical CFO in one minute?
“We already have the profiles. We only need contact fields when they exist. A seat charges whether we look up or not. Credits charge when email or phone comes back. We pay INR on UPI. Packs last 30 days so we buy for the sprint.” If that sentence matches the desk, credits win. If the desk needs a full sequencer suite as the daily OS, keep the suite – and still use credits for paste-URL moments.
What should you do next?
Sign in, run free credits on real URLs, buy a small INR pack if the path fits, and keep seats only where you truly need suite workflows. Hub steps: LinkedIn or GitHub Profile URL → Contact Lookup API. Seats tax – credits don’t.
How do you run a 30-day pilot without politics?
Run free credits, buy a small pack, compare the invoice to the seat line item you would have paid. Bring the sample sheet to finance. Pilots fail when they optimize for vanity coverage claims; they succeed when they optimize for honest filled fields.
How do credits interact with shared agency pools?
A ten-person boutique desk can share one pool if that matches your security practice. That is the opposite of seat tax, where idle licenses still invoice. See also INR Credit Packs for Contact Lookup – How Razorpay Pricing Feels.
A one-page memo you can paste to finance
Subject: Seat vs credit for contact lookup. We already have profile URLs. We need email/phone only when available. Proposal: prepaid INR credits (~₹2) with found-only billing – pay only when email/phone returned; timeouts free; 30-day packs; 25 free signup credits. Keep any suite seat only for sequencing/CRM needs, not for paste-URL lookup. Sources: /pricing and /docs.
Questions
What is the core difference between seats and credits?
Seats charge for access over time. Credits charge per billed lookup outcome – at Invenitor, when email, phone, or both are returned.
Are Invenitor packs in INR?
Yes. Packs are about ₹2 per credit via Razorpay/UPI, expire in 30 days, with the free signup credits for new accounts. See /pricing.
When should a team keep a seat?
When they need suite workflows (sequencing, full CRM engagement) as the core product – not merely URL → contact lookup.
Where can builders read the API?
/docs for REST and /mcp.md for MCP.
