Stripe survey: Four trends reshaping how SaaS platforms compete in the AI era

AI is lowering software development costs and increasing competitive pressure on SaaS platforms, prompting leaders to redesign products, pricing, revenue models, and retention strategies. In Stripe’s March 2026 survey of 200 North American and European SaaS executives, 57% cited concern about AI-driven customer losses, while most reported using AI both to improve internal operations and add customer-facing features; 81% used it for R&D acceleration, 58% rebuilt workflows around agents, and 79% introduced AI features. Platforms are increasingly testing usage-, credit-, and outcome-based charges to offset AI inference costs, although seat-based subscriptions are expected to remain a predictable component of hybrid pricing. Horizontal platforms serving larger businesses expect usage and hybrid software pricing to dominate, while vertical platforms serving small businesses see greater potential in embedded finance, including payments, financing, accounts, and card issuing. Embedded financial services are also viewed as a major retention tool because they deepen customer relationships, generate proprietary transaction data, and enable platforms to provide additional services such as working capital.

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