Per-Conversation vs Per-Resolution Pricing
Published September 10, 2026 · Reviewed by the Fidiora team
Per-conversation pricing bills for every conversation regardless of outcome, so a customer who gave up costs the same as one who was helped. Per-resolution bills only when the issue is solved. The gap shows up hardest during incidents, when thousands of unanswerable questions arrive at once.
Key takeaways
- Per-conversation pricing charges the same for success and failure.
- Vendors define a conversation differently, and inactivity resets can multiply the count.
- Incidents are where the two models diverge most sharply.
- Follow-ups caused by a poor answer can bill as new conversations.
The definition problem
A conversation sounds like an obvious unit and is not. Some vendors reset the session after a period of inactivity, so one customer's afternoon becomes three billable conversations. Others count a follow-up about the same issue as new. Ask specifically how sessions start, end, and reset before comparing any rate.
Why outcome matters in the unit
Under per-conversation billing, a vendor earns identically whether the customer left satisfied or gave up in frustration. That is not an accusation, it is an incentive structure. Under per-resolution billing, a failed conversation earns nothing, which aligns the vendor with the outcome you are actually buying.
Where the models diverge most
During an incident. A shipping outage or a service disruption generates thousands of near-identical questions, many of which cannot be resolved because the answer is that something is broken. Per-conversation billing charges for every one of them. Per-resolution billing charges for none that were not solved.
The follow-up loop
A poor answer generates a follow-up. Under per-conversation billing, that follow-up may bill as a new conversation, which means a low-quality answer can increase the invoice. It is worth asking directly how repeat contacts about the same issue are treated.
What to ask before signing either
For per-conversation: how is a conversation defined, does inactivity reset it, do follow-ups count as new, and is there a cap. For per-resolution: does abandonment count, are handoffs billed, does a reopen retract the charge, and can you audit.
Side by side
| Criterion | Per-conversation | Per-resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Billing trigger | A conversation happened | An issue was solved |
| Abandoned chat | Usually billable | Should not be billable |
| Handoff to a human | Usually billable | Should not be billable |
| Incident spike | Full cost for unanswerable questions | No cost for unresolved conversations |
| Effect of poor answers | May increase the bill via follow-ups | Reduces the bill, since nothing resolved |
| Definition risk | Session resets and follow-up counting | What counts as genuinely resolved |
| Vendor incentive | Volume of conversations | Successful outcomes |
| Cap needed | Yes | Yes |
An incident scenario
- Assume a two-day service disruption generates 3,000 extra conversations.
- Of those, 400 are answerable from your status content and 2,600 are people asking when it will be fixed.
- Per-conversation at an illustrative $0.50: 3,000 x $0.50 = $1,500.
- Per-resolution at Fidiora's published $0.59: 400 x $0.59 = $236.
The per-conversation rate above is an illustrative round number chosen to show the shape of the difference, not any vendor's actual price. Model your own incident volume and verify current rates on each vendor's site.
Fidiora charges $0.59 per genuine resolution. No seat fees, no add-on modules, no channel surcharges, and nothing billed for abandoned chats, timeouts, or handoffs to a human. Set a monthly spend cap and the bill cannot exceed it.
Questions
What is the difference between per-conversation and per-resolution pricing?
How is a conversation defined?
Is per-conversation pricing fair?
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