USAGE BASED MODELS: WHY THEY SUCK AS A CUSTOMER

Summary from the TLDR Founders newsletter

Software companies sold us on usage-based pricing with a simple promise - pay only for what you use. In practice, you buy a year's worth of cloud credits for $100,000, use only $50,000, then discover those unused credits disappear unless you spend another $100,000 next year. One founder called it "infrastructure hostage-taking" after going through exactly this. You ask to pay less since you're using less, they say no, and your unused credits become leverage for them to force a renewal.