What changed
PulseSignal's living 2026 pricing census now renders an October 2 snapshot covering 3,846 monitored SaaS companies. Of those, 1,865 expose a numeric-priced paid plan and enter the model-share denominator. Flat / platform remains the largest classification at 669 companies (36%), followed by Per-user at 431 (23%), Other per-unit at 235 (13%) and Mixed at 206 (11%). The USD entry-price analysis now covers 1,571 companies and the median cheapest paid plan remains $29 per month. The latest disclosed weekly plan-level extraction audit, dated September 27, reports 64 of 64 sampled readings accurate against live vendor pages, or 100%.
Why it matters
The October refresh changes the exact headline numbers without overturning the useful conclusion. Pure per-seat pricing is still not the dominant observable public model, but flat/platform's share is now 36% rather than the September snapshot's 41%. For founders and buyers, that reinforces why a living dataset should be used for broad market structure and category comparison rather than frozen as a permanent percentage. The same methodological boundary remains: this is public numeric pricing, not negotiated contract data.
Flat/platform still leads, but its measured share is lower
Among 1,865 companies with a numeric paid plan in the October 2 snapshot, PulseSignal classifies 669 as Flat / platform (36%) and 431 as pure Per-user (23%). Other per-unit accounts for 235 companies (13%) and Mixed 206 (11%). The leadership ordering is intact, but the old 41% flat/platform figure is no longer current.
Usage and ambiguous models remain minority slices
PulseSignal now lists 131 companies as Usage-based and 193 as Not labeled. These categories remain much smaller than Flat / platform or Per-user under this public-pricing methodology, while quote-only and free-only products remain outside the model-share denominator.
The median public entry price is still $29
Across 1,571 companies contributing a qualifying cheapest paid USD plan, the median monthly-equivalent entry price remains $29. Current model-level medians include $39 for Flat / platform and $19 for Per-user and Mixed, illustrating why the pricing meter and the entry price answer different questions.
The latest disclosed extraction audit improved to 100%
PulseSignal says its September 27 weekly plan-level audit marked 64 of 64 sampled readings accurate against live vendor pages. That is a stronger quality signal than the previously disclosed 95% audit, but it still does not prove every company-level classification is correct.
Use the census as a moving benchmark, not a fixed statistic
The monitored corpus, priced-company denominator and classifications can move as vendor pages change and the extraction system refreshes. Builders should use the broad structure, category tables and vendor-linked records, then verify direct competitors individually before making pricing decisions.