What is packaging in SaaS pricing?

Written by Madalena Rugeroni, founder of Mazo · Updated 15 September 2026

Packaging is how a SaaS company groups features, usage limits and services into the plans and add-ons buyers choose between, such as Starter, Growth and Scale tiers. Pricing sets what each plan costs; packaging decides what is inside each plan, which customers land where, and what makes them upgrade.

Where packaging fits in pricing

Kyle Poyar breaks SaaS pricing into six elements: modality (one-time, subscription or usage), metric (what you charge per — your value metric), value ladder (the tiers), packaging (what's in each tier), price (the number) and CTA (trial, demo or buy now). Founders tend to agonise over the price and improvise the packaging, but packaging is what makes a price feel fair.

Worked example

A fictional booking tool for clinics packages three tiers on one value metric, practitioners:

Tier	Price and limit	What's in it
Starter	€49 a month, up to 3 practitioners	Online booking, reminders
Growth (highlighted)	€149 a month, up to 15 practitioners	Everything in Starter, plus payments and reporting
Scale	€399 a month, unlimited practitioners	Everything in Growth, plus multiple locations and single sign-on

A clinic upgrades when it hires (the metric) or opens a second location (the feature that only large customers need). Each tier has one clear reason to move up.

Why packaging matters from €0 to €1M ARR

Pre-product-market fit: one plan. You don't yet know which features drive willingness to pay, so tiers are guesses that complicate every sales conversation.
After product-market fit, around €10k MRR: move to good/better/best. Anchor the top tier high — it makes the middle look reasonable — and design the middle tier as the one you want most buyers to choose.
€50k+ MRR: look for what Madhavan Ramanujam calls a hidden gem — a valuable capability buried in a plan and never monetised — and consider packaging it as its own tier or add-on.

Mazo's rule of thumb: before product-market fit, sell one plan. After that, offer three tiers at most, highlight the middle one, and charge on something that grows as the customer gets more value. If nobody ever pushes back on your price, or you win nearly every deal, raise it, and keep existing customers on their old price the first time.

Packaging on the pricing page

Poyar's pricing-page patterns: three tiers at most, the most popular tier highlighted, the value metric in the tier name or first line, a monthly/annual toggle, and an FAQ under the table for objections. If your ACV is under about €10K, show the prices publicly.

Common packaging mistakes

Feature shock. Ramanujam's term for stuffing so much into one plan that buyers can't see the value. The fix is to unbundle.
More than three tiers. Four or five plans turn a decision into research.
Copying an incumbent's packaging. Incumbents package for their scale, not yours.
"Contact us" on a low-priced product. Hiding pricing below about €5K ACV loses buyers who would have self-served.

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FAQ

What is the difference between pricing and packaging?

Pricing is the number each plan costs. Packaging is what each plan contains: features, usage limits, support and services. Packaging decides who buys which plan and why they upgrade.

How many pricing tiers should an early-stage SaaS have?

One plan before product-market fit. After that, three tiers at most, with the middle tier highlighted as the one most buyers should choose.

Should a B2B SaaS show prices on its pricing page?

Yes if your annual contract value is under about €10K. Above that you can ask buyers to book a demo first, but still give a ballpark on the website.

Who wrote this

Madalena Rugeroni built Mazo. She's an ex-Googler, a startup advisor and investor, and runs a portfolio of internet companies. Before that, as Head of Growth at Amplemarket, she scaled a B2B SaaS to $10M ARR. LinkedIn

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Further reading. Operators and books referenced: Kyle Poyar (Growth Unhinged), Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation). These are published methodologies credited to their authors; Mazo is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.