Tribal Habits pricing is based on Monthly Active Users (MAUs), not stored accounts or total headcount, meaning you only pay for people who log in each month.
The choice comes down to what your organisation needs and is prepared to commit to: Business Plans require you to commit to a minimum MAU number, in exchange for a lower per-user rate and no platform fee. The Business PAYG and Lite Plans both have no minimum commitment but do have an annual platform fee and a higher per MAU rate, with the Lite Plan having a reduced feature set. This guide explains how MAU pricing works and how to size the right plan.
If you manage training for your organisation without a dedicated L&D team, you may have found LMS pricing hard to compare. Features can vary a lot, and most platforms quote you per learner, per year, whether that learner logs in constantly or never. You end up paying for accounts nobody uses.
Tribal Habits prices differently, based on Monthly Active Users. It’s a fairer model, but it’s a genuinely different way of buying software from what most people are used to, so it’s worth understanding properly before you pick a plan.
What does “Monthly Active User” actually mean?
A Monthly Active User (MAU) is anyone who logs into your portal at least once in a calendar month. Log in once, and you count for that month. Log in fifty times, and you still only count once. Don’t log in at all; you don’t count.
This applies to everyone: learners, admins, content creators, assessors, managers. There’s no separate seat cost for the people building your training versus the people completing it.
You can store as many users as you like at no extra cost: historical staff, contractors, casuals who train twice a year, people on leave. None of them cost you anything until the month they log in.
Why does MAU pricing actually save money?
Most organisations don’t have every staff member doing training every month. Someone finished induction in March, and they don’t need to do any more training for another 6 months. Someone else won’t need their next compliance refresher until the new financial year.
Under a per-seat model, you pay for all of them, every month, active or not. Under MAU pricing, you pay for whoever is actually active on the platform.
In practice, organisations typically pay for 30-80% of total headcount, not 100% of it. If you’ve got 500 staff but only 200 tend to train in a given month, you need a plan built around 200 monthly logins, not 500 stored accounts.
What’s the difference between the Lite Plan, Business Plans, and Business PAYG?
It comes down to one decision: do you commit to a minimum number of MAUs, or not?
Business Plans are for organisations willing to commit to a minimum number of MAUs per year. In exchange, the annual platform fee is waived, and you get a lower per-user rate. The higher your committed minimum, the lower that rate, scaling from smaller commitments (Business 50) up through Business 500 and beyond, with plans available up to 10,000+ MAU. Current rates for each tier are on our pricing page.
Business PAYG is for organisations that don’t want to commit to a minimum MAU number. You pay an annual platform fee, and at the end of each month, you’re simply billed for however many MAUs logged in that month, at a flat per-MAU rate higher than any committed Business Plan. It carries the full Business feature set: full Sage AI, SSO, competency and skills mapping, custom domains, multi-portal support, and public API access. HR and payroll integrations are also available on Business PAYG, as an additional costed service.
The Lite Plan works the same way commercially as Business PAYG: an annual platform fee, no minimum commitment, and is billed monthly per MAU. The difference is entirely in features, not mechanics. Sage AI creation is limited, and features like SSO, competency mapping, and custom domains aren’t included. See the Lite vs Business feature comparison table for the full breakdown or the pricing page for current rates.
How do I know how many MAUs my organisation needs?
Don’t start from your headcount. Start with how many people log in and train in a typical month.
If you’re not sure, work from:
- How often do your compliance and induction cycles run
- The ratio of new starters to long-tenured staff
- Whether training is ongoing (frontline, high-turnover roles) or occasional (desk-based, low-turnover roles)
As a rough guide, organisations typically need a plan sized at 30-80% of total staff. A 500-person organisation where most staff only train a couple of times a year might only need Business 200, or even Business 100, but if they are rolling out more consistent regular training they may be a Business 400 plan.
We typically recommend starting smaller – you can always move up a plan, and we will also help figure out the most cost effective plan for you.
What if our usage is seasonal or unpredictable?
This is a genuine strength of MAU pricing, not a workaround. Your monthly usage doesn’t need to be consistent.
If you commit to a Business 50 plan but hit 250 MAUs during a busy onboarding period for two months of the year, you’re not penalised. Your 50 MAU commitment is prepaid for the year, so those two months you’re simply billed for the extra users at your standard rate — 200 extra MAUs each month. Your plan should match your regular monthly usage, not your busiest months — you pay a bit more in only the months you spike, rather than committing to a higher plan all year round to cover months that aren’t typical.
If your usage is too unpredictable to commit to any minimum with confidence, Business PAYG removes that risk. You pay per active user with no minimum and can move to a committed Business Plan later once you have a clearer usage pattern.
What happens if we go over our plan?
Nothing complicated. Your plan’s included MAUs are a minimum, not a cap. If more people log in during a month than your plan includes, you’re billed for the extra users at your standard per-MAU rate at month-end. No penalty rate.
Moving between plans works in one direction. You can move up to a larger plan at any point during your contract if your usage grows, but you can’t move down. Because of that, it’s generally best to pick a plan a bit smaller and pay for some overages, rather than a bigger plan you don’t fully utilise.
Do we need to think about add-ons?
Some industries have specialist add-on libraries available on top of your plan, billed separately per active user. Aged care, NDIS and Healthcare providers, for example, can sign up to the separate HealthStaffEd Clinical Library package, available on both the Lite Plan and Business Plans, which adds a separate library of clinical training content on top of your standard content library.
FAQs: How to choose the right plan for your organisation
What is a Monthly Active User (MAU)?
A Monthly Active User is anyone who logs into your Tribal Habits portal at least once during a calendar month, whether they’re a learner, admin, creator, assessor, or manager. If they don’t log in, they don’t count.
How is Tribal Habits pricing different to other LMS platforms?
Most LMS platforms charge per stored user, regardless of activity. Tribal Habits charges only for Monthly Active Users, so you’re not paying for staff who are stored in the system but not actively training in a given month.
What’s the difference between the Lite Plan, Business Plans, and Business PAYG?
It comes down to commitment. Business Plans require you to commit to a minimum MAU number in exchange for a lower per-user rate and no platform fee. Business PAYG and the Lite Plan both have no minimum commitment and an annual platform fee, and are billed monthly based on actual usage. Business PAYG carries the full Business feature set at a higher per-MAU rate; the Lite Plan has a reduced feature set at a lower per-MAU rate.
How many MAUs does my organisation need?
Base this on how many staff log in and train in a typical month, not your total headcount. Most organisations need a plan sized at 30-80% of total staff, depending on how ongoing or occasional their training needs are.
What happens if we exceed our plan’s included MAUs in a given month?
You’re simply billed for the additional MAUs at your plan’s standard rate at the end of that month. There are no penalty rates.
Can we change plans later?
You can move up to a larger plan at any point during your contract. You can’t move down, so it’s worth sizing your plan conservatively rather than optimistically.
Choosing a plan doesn’t need to be a guess. It comes down to how your organisation actually trains, not how many people are on the payroll.
Tribal Habits is an Australian-built workplace LMS for Australian and New Zealand organisations that combines an editable training library with 100s of ready-to-use modules, an AI-assisted course builder, and full LMS management in one platform, priced only on Monthly Active Users.
