Version 0.1 (pre-board-ratification) · Last updated: 2026-05-27
v0.1 — pre-board-ratification. Substantive commitments below will not weaken between v0.1 and v1.0 of this page; ratification by the advisory board is procedural. Figures are calibration estimates against modeled cost ranges; every January we publish prior-year actuals, variance from modeled ranges, and rate-adjustment rationale — with ≥90 days notice for active customers. The structure (capacity-normalized, tiered-by-org-size, fixed-plus-variable decomposition) is what stays stable; the headline numbers refine as real data comes in. The canonical source is the markdown file at FTP/_shared/regulator-facing/pricing.md in the public repository; this page is rendered from it.
Why this page exists: regulator IT shops will math the AWS bill the moment "at cost" gets published. So we publish the math first. This page is the public counterpart to Article VI — Transparent pricing of the Regulator's Bill of Rights.
Our pricing covers the actual cost of serving your agency, not just per-seat overhead. Cost decomposes into two parts: a fixed-per-org component (support time, infrastructure amortization, onboarding, contract overhead) plus a variable-per-active-user component (inference compute, retrieval, storage, audit retention).
Honest-cost formula:
"Active users" = staff who would routinely query the tool, NOT total agency headcount. Empirically, ~5–15% of relevant-division staff are active users at sustained engagement. We help estimate during onboarding; the figure is recalibrated against actuals as the relationship progresses.
Published rates round the honest cost down. Holistic Quality absorbs the small delta from enterprise-tier margin. Effective per-user pricing drops as scale rises — exactly the shape regulators expect from honest-cost models.
| Size tier | Active users | Published rate / month | Effective per-user |
|---|---|---|---|
| XS | up to 5 | $399 flat | $80/user (at 5 users) |
| S | 6 – 15 | $549 + $40/seat above 5 (10 users = $749, 15 users = $949) |
$50–75/user |
| M | 16 – 50 | $849 + $30/seat above 15 (25 users = $1,149, 50 users = $1,899) |
$38–46/user |
| L | 51 – 200 | $1,899 + $25/seat above 50 (100 users = $3,149, 200 users = $5,649) |
$28–37/user |
| XL | 200+ | Custom — capacity-SLA basis | $25–30/user negotiated |
Here is the credibility artifact: what each tier costs us, side-by-side with what we charge. Where the published rate sits below honest cost, the delta comes out of enterprise-tier margin per the precommitment. Where it sits above, the surplus subsidizes the XS and small-S tiers and contributes to operator-salary basis at calibration.
| Size tier | Active users | Honest cost / mo | Published / mo | Holistic Quality absorbs / Operator surplus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XS | 5 | $460 | $399 | Holistic Quality absorbs $61 |
| S | 10 | $620 | $749 | Operator surplus $129 (offsets org-overhead amortization) |
| S | 15 | $780 | $949 | Operator surplus $169 |
| M | 25 | $1,100 | $1,149 | Operator surplus $49 |
| M | 50 | $1,900 | $1,899 | Rounds even |
| L | 100 | $3,500 | $3,149 | Holistic Quality absorbs $351 |
| L | 200 | $6,700 | $5,649 | Holistic Quality absorbs $1,051 |
The fact that small-S/M sit slightly above honest cost while L sits below it is the structural feature, not a bug — per-user effective pricing drops with scale because the fixed component amortizes across more users. This is how honest-cost models behave.
Honest-cost formula:
The fixed-per-org component is ~6× the regulator-tier base ($1,800 vs $300). It funds named contact, 24-hour P1 SLA, quarterly business review, and custom onboarding. The per-user variable cost ($32) is identical across both tiers because the product is identical.
| Active users | Published rate / month | Effective per-user |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | $2,495 | $1,248/user |
| 5 | $2,995 | $599/user |
| 10 | $3,995 | $400/user |
| 25 | $6,995 | $280/user |
Same model. Same retrieval indices. Same audit-store. Same manifest-signing. Same provenance chains. Same rate limits. The 6× premium on the fixed base is on operator time + support investment, not on what the product does. This is the structural fact behind Bill of Rights Article II — Same product, same outputs.
Triggers when enterprise ARR ≥ $500K sustained 4 consecutive quarters.
When this threshold is hit, regulator-tier pricing flips to $0 with 6 months advance notice for the first 10 qualifying agencies (Scenario A). Larger cohort expansion (20–40 agencies; Scenarios B / C) is at advisory-board discretion as enterprise revenue grows further.
The trigger condition is dated, public, and one-way: the precommitment is binding once met. Read the full Pre-commitment disclosure for the cohort-scope (Scenarios A / B / C), trigger language, and what "one-way" means in practice.
Every January, we publish: last year's actuals (compute, storage, infrastructure, support-hours per customer), variance from modeled ranges, the new year's rates with rationale for any change, and the trigger-threshold status (what fraction of $500K ARR we hit; what is tracking ahead/behind plan). Recalibration carries ≥90 days advance notice for active customers; new-customer rates effective day-of. The annual cadence preempts "they keep moving the goalposts" accusations.
Pricing changes require advisory-board majority approval per the governance charter.
Pricing questions, agency-size estimation help, or onboarding inquiries — email regulator@holisticquality.io or fill out our intake form. Per Bill of Rights Article IX, any deviation between this published rate and what we actually charge a regulator-tier customer can be published by that regulator without legal exposure.