How Postman’s core plans work

Postman now offers four main plans: Free, Basic, Professional, and Enterprise. Each plan is priced per user, per month, with the Enterprise tier available only through annual contracts.

The progression is simple at the surface, Free for individuals, Basic for small teams, Professional for growing organizations, and Enterprise for large-scale deployments, but the details matter.

Free gives up to 3 users with limited runs and APIs, good for solo developers or very small teams.

• Basic ($19/user) removes seat caps and increases API and monitor quotas, making it the first real step for teams.

• Professional ($39/user) introduces partner workspaces, role-based access, and larger quotas, a clear fit for scaling teams.

• Enterprise (~$49/user, billed annually) adds governance features like SSO, audit logs, and advanced security features compliance-heavy organizations require.

A key point here is that Postman prices seats at the team level but layers critical functionality on higher tiers. That means your cost is driven not just by team size but also by the compliance, automation, and collaboration features you need.

How usage-based pricing works in Postman

Postman’s plans cover the basics, but a big part of the cost comes from usage-based pricing, features that scale with how much you run them. 

This structure makes sense for an API platform: every monitor call, mock request, or flow execution consumes real infrastructure resources.

The model works like this: you pay a predictable per-seat fee for the plan, and then usage on top. For example:

• Monitor calls: $20 per 50,000 requests.

• Mock calls: sold in bulk, often quoted as $0.75 per 1,000 calls.

• Custom domains: $10 per domain/month.

Think of it like a mobile data plan: your base subscription covers everyday use, but heavy testing, monitoring, or mocking drives the bill up if you cross certain thresholds.

Example: Suppose your team of 5 is on the Professional plan ($39/user/month). That’s $195 for seats. If you run 120,000 monitor calls per month, you’ll need 3 monitor bundles ($60). 

Add 2 custom domains ($20), and your monthly bill is $275, not including any add-ons like Postbot or Flows. A small detail like heavy monitoring can increase costs by ~40% compared to the base seat price.

Developers often object to this structure because it introduces unpredictability. But Postman’s logic is clear: teams that run massive automated suites or external mocks consume significantly more bandwidth and compute than a small startup. Usage-based pricing ensures costs are tied to activity, not just headcount.

How Postbot pricing works

Postbot is Postman’s AI assistant. It can generate tests, write documentation, visualize responses, and even suggest fixes. But every action counts as a Postbot activity, and that’s where the pricing comes in.

Here’s the structure:

• Free and Basic plans include 50 activities per user each month.

• Beyond that, you pay for a Postbot add-on: $9/user/month on Free, Basic, and Professional; $19/user/month on Enterprise.

The challenge for teams is that 50 activities disappear quickly. A single developer testing and documenting a new API can use up the quota in a few sessions.

Example: Imagine a team of 10 on Professional. Each user burns through their 50 activities in a week. To keep working, they’ll need the add-on, which adds another $90/month to their bill. Scale that across a larger team, and Postbot becomes a meaningful line item, not a small extra.

Developers often push back here because costs feel unpredictable, AI assistants are meant to “save time,” but the bill grows as usage grows. Postman’s pricing logic is straightforward though: light users can try AI without paying more, while heavy users fund the additional compute Postbot requires.

How Flows pricing works

Flows is Postman’s low-code automation tool. Instead of writing scripts, developers chain together blocks to create workflows, triggering requests, transforming data, or orchestrating APIs. But like Postbot, Flows runs on a credit system.

Here’s how it’s structured:

• Free: 5,000 credits/month, 1 MB payload limit, 100 snapshots.

• Basic ($19/user): 25,000 credits/month, 3 MB payload, 1,000 snapshots.

• Professional ($39/user): 100,000 credits/month, 5 MB payload, 1,000 snapshots.

• Enterprise: Access by invitation, with extended quotas.

Credits are consumed based on the number and type of blocks executed. AI-powered blocks consume more credits than standard logic or request blocks. While runs are technically unlimited, your credits decide how much you can actually get done.

Example: A Pro team sets up an automated workflow that processes 2,000 API responses daily. If each execution consumes 2 credits, that’s 120,000 credits per month, 20% above their quota. They’ll either need to optimize their flows or pay for an upgrade.

This setup often frustrates developers who assume “unlimited runs” means unlimited usage. The distinction is subtle but intentional: unlimited executions are allowed, but the cost is tied to resource consumption, not just the number of workflows.

How Add-Ons expand pricing

Beyond core plans and usage tiers, Postman sells several add-ons that unlock advanced functionality. These are priced per user, per month, and can quickly shift your total bill if your team depends on them.

This modular structure is deliberate. Instead of bundling everything into higher plans, Postman charges separately for specialized tools so smaller teams aren’t paying for features they’ll never use.

Example: A mid-size company on Professional with 20 users might add 5 Partner Editor licenses for external contractors ($145/month) and Collection Runner for all 20 seats ($980/month). Those add-ons alone nearly double the cost of the base plan.

Developers often see this as nickel-and-diming, but the logic mirrors cloud services: you pay a base fee, then layer on specialized tools as your needs mature.

How Enterprise pricing works

Enterprise is Postman’s highest tier, priced at around $49 per user/month (annual contracts only). Unlike lower plans, Enterprise isn’t just about higher quotas—it’s about governance, compliance, and advanced security that larger organizations can’t skip.

Here’s what Enterprise adds on top of Professional:

• Governance and Compliance: SSO, audit logs, advanced RBAC, private API network.

• Security and Control: Vault integrations, secret scanning, BYOK encryption (via add-ons).

• Collaboration at Scale: Multi-partner workspaces, Partner Manager roles, extended package libraries.

• Support: Dedicated Customer Success and 1-day response time.

The annual-only model is deliberate. For Postman, it reduces churn and simplifies procurement cycles. For buyers, it’s a signal of long-term stability—though it does mean teams can’t “try Enterprise for a month” before committing.

Example: A 50-person organization on Professional would pay $1,950/month. Moving to Enterprise brings that to about $2,450/month, but also unlocks SSO, audit logs, and governance features required for SOC 2 compliance. For companies in regulated industries, that upgrade isn’t optional, it’s a prerequisite.

Enterprise isn’t just “a bigger Pro plan.” It’s a different category entirely: compliance and scale. That’s why many companies end up upgrading earlier than expected once security and audit needs surface.

Choosing the right [lan

Postman’s pricing can feel complicated at first glance, plans, credits, add-ons, and enterprise gates. But the logic is consistent: a base subscription for predictability, usage-based charges for scale, and add-ons for specialization.

For individual developers or small teams, the Free and Basic tiers cover most needs until monitoring, flows, or collaboration start to strain limits. Professional adds the controls required for external partners, while Enterprise shifts the conversation to compliance and governance, costly, but often non-negotiable once a company grows.

The key to avoiding surprise bills is mapping your actual workflow against Postman’s pricing levers. Look closely at usage (monitors, flows, Postbot), collaboration needs (partner editors, workspaces), and compliance triggers (SSO, audit logs). 

That’s where real costs surface.

With this breakdown, you should be able to evaluate where your team fits today, what might push you into the next tier, and how to avoid the traps that turn a $19 seat into a much larger spend.