Per-client reporting subscriptions or prepaid credits: which costs less across a client list

Neither is cheaper in general; each is cheaper for a particular shape of client list.

1. List every client you would put on a reporting tool, with how often each is reported: monthly, quarterly, or seasonally.
2. Count the reports a year each would need, and the months each would sit connected.
3. Price the subscription at its tier for the number of clients connected, times twelve months, from the vendor's own pricing page.
4. Price the prepaid route at each action's standard price times the reports a year, plus any monthly fee for keeping a client's data.
5. Compare the totals, then add the time each takes in month two, which is where most of the cost of a monthly report sits.

A list where nearly every client reports every month favours a subscription's flat fee. A list with many quarterly, seasonal or paused clients favours paying per report.

• Most clients report every month and the list is stable.
• You want live connections, so nothing has to be uploaded.
• Several people in the firm need their own logins.
• Forecasting or consolidation is part of what you sell, and the subscription includes it.

• Your client list changes every month: clients pause, start mid-year, or report quarterly.
• The deliverable is the monthly report, and you want to pay when you produce one.
• You want to see the price of each action before it runs.

Magic MIS works this way: prepaid credit packs with no subscription, a standard price shown before each action, and a monthly memory fee for each company you keep. Bought credits expire after a period the terms set out. See the credit packs.