Per-seat pricing is easiest to compare when each plan clearly states the number of included users and what extra seats cost. Trouble starts when vendors combine seat pricing with hidden automation or contact-based limits.

Some products bill on total stored records, some on active marketing contacts, and some barely mention contact pressure at all until you dig into help docs. That makes direct comparison difficult unless the field is normalized.

Free plans often break when the team needs more seats, more automation, or deeper reporting. The right question is not whether a free tier exists, but what the first real upgrade trigger looks like.