What period of time means
A period of time product is charged for access held across a defined window, regardless of how much of that access is actually used. A seat costs $10 for the month whether the person logs in once or every day. The customer pays for the right to use something during a period, not for individual moments of consumption.A quick heuristic: Read the unit phrasing
The way a price is naturally phrased is usually enough to tell whether a product belongs here. Period of time prices always carry a time denomination.
This heuristic is not a formal test, since phrasing can be ambiguous. When phrasing does not settle it, use the underlying question instead: is the customer paying for access over time, or for consumption at a moment? Prices with no time word, such as “$X per unit,” point to point in time instead; see Product type: Point in time for that side of the heuristic.
Quantity source: Fixed or metered
As with point in time products, quantity source determines how the system knows the number of units:Fixed
A known, declared quantity set explicitly, for example 10 seats on a contract. The system bills exactly what was declared, regardless of actual usage, and changes happen through amendments.
Metered
A quantity tracked from events or an external system, for example counting active users rather than provisioned seats. The customer pays for what was measured, not what was reserved.
Quantity type: On demand or recurring
Independent of whether quantity is fixed or metered, a period of time product also carries an on demand or recurring choice, the same one available on point in time products. The distinction is about activation, not invoicing:On demand
The product remains inactive until a triggering event occurs (a customer action, a usage event, or similar). Once triggered, the resulting charge is billed through the contract’s normal invoicing, typically as a line item alongside other charges.
Recurring
The product activates as soon as the contract goes live and is billed on the contract’s regular cadence from that point forward.
Mid-cycle changes to a fixed quantity are amendments
The distinction below applies specifically to fixed recurring quantities, seats, licenses, and similar declared counts. It does not concern the on demand versus recurring choice covered above. Adding two seats mid-month can look like a one-off action. For a fixed quantity that persists period over period, it is a different kind of change: an amendment, not a standalone event. An amendment can move quantity up (an upgrade, prorated for the remaining days at the new count) or down (a downgrade, prorated similarly, typically with a credit for the unused portion). Multiple amendments can land inside the same period, each prorated for the segment of time it was in effect.How recurring metered quantity works on period of time
With a fixed quantity, the number persists until an amendment changes it. With a metered quantity, nothing persists between periods. Instead, the system re-measures the quantity from usage data at each pricing-period boundary, and that measurement determines what gets charged for that period. Active user billing works this way: the system asks the aggregate how many active users existed this period and bills whatever comes back, with no memory of the prior period’s count.Why pricing period is required, not optional
This is the mirror image of point in time products, where pricing period does not apply at all. Here, it is essential and performs three specific functions:- Billing frequency conversion. A price expressed as $20 per seat per month can be billed monthly, quarterly, or annually without requiring a separate price for each cadence. The pricing period decouples how the price is denominated from how often an invoice is generated.
- Proration. The pricing period defines what “full” means, so a customer starting on day 15 of a 31-day month can be charged 17/31 of the monthly rate.
- Tier and bracket evaluation. For tiered or volume pricing, the system typically evaluates brackets at the same cadence as the pricing period. This is why period of time products do not need a separate tier reset period, discussed next.
No separate tier reset period, and here is why
Point in time products need an explicit tier reset period because their quantity accumulates with no natural reset point of its own. Something must declare when the counter returns to zero. Period of time quantities do not accumulate in that sense. Thirty seats is thirty seats: a current snapshot, not thirty plus whatever the count was last month. Brackets re-evaluate at each quantity cadence boundary or at each amendment, so no separate configuration is needed. See tiered: how accumulation differs by product type and volume: how accumulation differs by product type for how this plays out in each pricing model.
Pricing period and tier reset period are left out of this table since they’re already covered above, pricing period is required and explained in why pricing period is required, and tier reset period does not apply, as explained in no separate tier reset period.
Quantity and Feature: the two subtypes of a period of time product
Everything above applies to a period of time product regardless of which of its two subtypes it uses:- Quantity: a specific amount of usage held over a period, such as 5 seats per month. The running example throughout this page.
- Feature: a service enabled or disabled for the period, such as priority support or white-labeling, available through the API. The dashboard’s product subtype selector currently disables it.