# Why flat pricing is a product decision, not a discount

> Metered billing is not just expensive — it changes how you use your own database. Flat pricing with hard caps is a different product, built deliberately.

Source: https://scribase.com/blog/why-flat-pricing-is-a-product-decision

By Scribase, 2026-09-12.

Metered pricing has a hidden cost that never shows up on the invoice: it makes
you hesitate. You think twice before spinning up a preview branch. You leave
PITR off because it is $100/mo. You batch your egress. The pricing model quietly
edits your engineering decisions, and rarely for the better.

We made flat pricing a binding product rule, not a promotion.

## Three rules we will not break

- **Never add a metered line item.** The moment we bill per-MAU or per-GB-egress
  we become a worse version of the incumbent. Overage is a capacity pack you
  choose, not a surprise you discover.
- **PITR-class protection is in every project, not a paid add-on.** Verified
  restore is our strongest built asset. Charging separately for it would waste
  it and teach you to turn it off.
- **We do not pause projects.** "Your project is still running" is a real,
  cheap, emotionally-loaded promise, and we keep it.

## Hard caps beat soft meters

A cap is honest: you know exactly what you can use and exactly what it costs. A
meter is a slot machine you pay for after you pull the lever. When you outgrow a
cap, you buy a pack — a decision you make on purpose, at a price you saw first.

Flat pricing only works if the underlying system is efficient enough to afford
it. That is why the backend is Rust services with real fleet density, not a
markup on someone else's metered cloud. The price is a consequence of the
architecture, not a marketing choice bolted on top.