Flat-fee pricing

Concepts

Flat-fee pricing is a model where a fixed price is agreed upon in advance for a specific product or service. Unlike usage-based models, the total cost, scope, and timeline are determined upfront, providing transparency and predictability for both the provider and the customer.

In Zenskar, the flat-fee model is governed by a hierarchical relationship between entities:

Contract: The legal agreement between you and your customer.
Phase: A specific time-bound period (e.g., Q1, Implementation Phase) within that contract.
Product: The actual service or software module being sold.
Pricing Model: The specific logic (Flat Fee) that defines how that product is billed.

flowchart LR
    CONTRACT[Contract] ---|"has one or more"| PHASE[Phase]
    PHASE ---|"has one or more"| PRODUCT[Product]
    PRODUCT ---|"has exactly one active"| PRICINGMODEL[Pricing model]

style PRICINGMODEL fill:#90ee90

Real-world application

To understand when to apply this model, consider how various industries structure their flat-fee offerings:

Industry	Example Service	Flat-Fee Structure	User Benefit
Legal Services	Trademark Filing	$1,500 per application, regardless of hours spent.	Predictable legal budget.
SaaS	Enterprise Security Suite	$10,000 per year for unlimited users.	Fixed cost; no scaling "surprises."
Creative Agencies	Brand Identity Package	$5,000 for a logo, palette, and style guide.	Clear scope of deliverables.
Software Dev	API Integration	$2,000 for a one-time connection setup.	Known upfront capital expenditure.

Contract documentation

Learn how contracts contain data related to usage, pricing models, and other billing determinants.

Product documentation

Learn how products define services or products you sell to your customer as part of a contract.

Get started

To implement flat-fee pricing, you must first define the product in your library.

Navigate to Contracts > Products in the left side panel.
Click the + CREATE NEW drop-down and select Product.
Complete the Create Product form and click SAVE & PROCEED.
On the Edit Product page, click + ADD PRICE.
In the Pricing Models drop-down, select the Flat Fee option.

How-to: Add a flat-fee product to a contract

Once a product exists in your library, follow these steps to attach it to an active contract.

Navigate to Contracts > Contracts and select the desired contract.
In the Summary tab, click the + ADD PRODUCT link.
Search for the product you created in the library.
Choose your pricing method:

+ ADD NEW PRICE: Attach a fresh pricing model directly.
Search/Select: Use an existing model from the list.

Click ADD PRODUCT.

🚧
NOTE
Only one pricing model can be attached to a single product instance.

Reference

Technical specifications

UI Path: Contracts > Products or Contracts > Contracts > [Target] > Summary
Data Object: pricing_model_type: flat_fee
Billing Frequency: Defined at the Phase level.
Pro-ration Support: Applicable if the product is added or removed mid-phase.