Generative AI Pricing Models: A Strategic Buying Guide

This IDC Perspective provides a definitive overview of the generative AI (GenAI) pricing models to help IT and sourcing professionals budget for GenAI deployments across multiple types of use cases. The generative AI pricing landscape is complicated because of the interdependencies across the tech stack. In addition, the relative "newness" of this market means that it is going through rapid packaging and pricing evolution, which brings a level of volatility that makes it difficult to plan or budget for. Early AI technology movers employ a low discounting strategy, signaling ongoing pricing model refinement. Enterprises are advised to take a cautious "wait and see" approach for noncritical use cases. In the evolving market, enterprises should evaluate providers based on flexibility, transparency, and accessibility, considering various pricing structures."In this fast-moving GenAI pricing landscape, enterprises should evaluate providers based on flexibility, transparency, and accessibility, considering various pricing structures," says Philip Carter, group vice president of Worldwide Thought Leadership Research at IDC. "With this document, IDC aims to provide a definitive overview of the generative AI pricing models to help IT and sourcing professionals budget for GenAI deployments across multiple types of use cases."