Adobe Plans Outcome-Based Pricing for New AI Product Suite

Adobe plans to use outcome-based pricing for its new suite of artificial intelligence (AI) products called Adobe CX Enterprise, The Information reported Tuesday (April 21), citing its interview with Adobe President Anil Chakravarthy.

While the company hasn’t disclosed the details, this pricing policy will be based in part on the value the product produces, such as the number of ad campaigns completed by its AI agents, according to the report.

On Adobe CX Enterprise, the policy will be used in place of Adobe’s previous AI pricing policies that were subscription-based or consumption-based, per the report.

“Tokens don’t equate to value,” Chakravarthy told The Information.

Adobe will continue to use usage-based pricing and subscription-based pricing on some of its products, including some of its other AI offerings, according to the report.

Outcome-based pricing was pioneered by some firms that offer AI solutions for customer service interactions, the report said. They charge based on the number of interactions their AI agents complete, rather than how many tokens they process.

PYMNTS reported in February that some vendors are experimenting with outcome-based pricing, with contracts that are tied to performance metrics, such as faster loan approvals, higher eCommerce conversion rates or reduced fraud losses. With these contracts, they link fees to demonstrable business impact rather than charging for seats or API calls.

Outcome-based pricing shifts risk, as vendors must prove that their AI delivers quantifiable gains, contracts become more complex and measurement frameworks become vital. But this model can resonate in a budget environment in which executives demand clarity on return on investment, the report said.

PYMNTS reported in March that Foundation Capital observed that buyers are increasingly turning off deployments that cannot defend their spend and that pricing models are evolving from activity-based to outcome-based structures that tie AI revenue directly to measurable results.

Adobe unveiled Adobe CX Enterprise on Monday (April 20), saying this new agentic AI system brings together AI agents, agent skills and Model Context Protocol (MCP) endpoints to help businesses manage their customer lifecycle, including acquisition, engagement, conversion and loyalty.

Chakravarthy said in a press release that the system “enables businesses to scale agentic AI with a fully customizable solution that is tailored to the needs of their organization.”

For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.