What it costs, answered

Per-seat or flat-rate project management pricing: which is cheaper for you

Per-seat pricing is cheaper until occasional users reach about fifteen. After that a flat workspace fee is cheaper, and the gap widens. The crossover is arithmetic you can run in five minutes.

Published Sep 26, 2026 · Cadenta

What each model actually bills

Per-seat bills per person with access, usually with reduced or free tiers for limited access. Cadenta charges $19 on Business, half that for contractors scoped to named projects, and nothing for read-only guests.

Flat-rate bills per workspace and does not count people. The constraint moves to what a workspace holds, which is typically a project ceiling rather than a member ceiling.

The crossover, worked

Take a twenty-person core team and vary the number of occasional collaborators. Flat rate is held at $890 a month for one workspace, which is the common mid-market figure.

Monthly cost, 20 core seats on Business plus N occasional people
Occasional people	Per seat (contractor rate)	Flat rate	Cheaper
0	$380	$890	per seat
10	$475	$890	per seat
15	$522	$890	per seat
30	$665	$890	per seat
60	$950	$890	flat rate
100	$1,330	$890	flat rate

Why the crossover moves

The figure above puts the crossover near fifty, not fifteen, because every occasional person is billed at the contractor half rate. If they all need full access it arrives nearer twenty-five. If they are read-only guests it never arrives at all, because guests are free.

So the question that settles it is not how many occasional people you have. It is what access they need.

Read-only, one project: free on Cadenta, so per seat stays cheaper at any number.
Scoped comment and assignment: half rate, crossover near fifty.
Full portfolio access: full rate, crossover near twenty-five.

The second variable is projects

Seat count moves smoothly. Workspace count moves in steps. A flat-rate workspace has a project ceiling, and a portfolio that crosses it adds a second whole fee at once, with no view spanning the two workspaces.

Cadenta has no workspace fee and no project ceiling, so a twelve-project portfolio is one rollup at the same per-seat rate as one project.

Running it for your own shape

Count the people who log in less than weekly and sort them by the access they need. Multiply, compare, and then project the same arithmetic twelve months out with the headcount and project count you expect rather than the ones you have.

Teams that choose on this month's invoice alone tend to move twice.

Frequently asked questions

Is per-seat or flat-rate project management pricing better value?

It depends on how many people need access and what kind. With read-only collaborators per seat stays cheaper at any number, because Cadenta does not bill guests. With scoped contractor access the crossover is near fifty occasional people, and with full access near twenty-five. Above those counts a flat workspace fee totals less.

Does Cadenta charge for guests and read-only users?

No. A read-only guest scoped to one project is free on every plan, with no cap on the number. The charge begins when someone needs to comment, be assigned work, or see more than one project.

What happens when a portfolio outgrows one workspace?

On Cadenta nothing changes, because there is no workspace construct and no project ceiling; a twelve-project rollup costs the same per seat as a single project. On a flat-rate tool a portfolio past the ceiling runs as two workspaces, each with its own fee and no view spanning them.