TL;DR
Per-user pricing models for NDIS software create significant obstacles for providers looking to expand. Each new hire leads to increasing software costs, discouraging providers from growing their teams and limiting their business potential. This “growth tax” can result in thousands of dollars in additional software fees, making it harder for providers to meet the rising demand for services. Vertex360 offers a participant-based pricing model, enabling guilt-free hiring and business expansion without escalating software costs. By eliminating these barriers, providers can scale efficiently and focus on delivering better care for participants.
The Hidden Cost of Scaling Your NDIS Business
NDIS providers face a constant challenge: balancing the need to grow their workforce with the financial realities of running a sustainable business. As demand for disability services continues to increase across Australia, providers must hire additional support workers, coordinators, and administrative staff to meet participant needs.
However, many providers discover a hidden obstacle that silently undermines their growth plans: per-user pricing models for NDIS management software.
These pricing structures create what industry experts call a “growth tax”—a penalty that increases your operational costs every time you hire someone new. For NDIS providers planning to expand their services, these rising software costs can discourage hiring and slow business growth, ultimately limiting your ability to serve more participants.
<p>Understanding the difference between pricing models is crucial for making informed software decisions. Read our detailed comparison of ShiftCare vs Vertex360 pricing models to see exactly how per-user and participant-based approaches affect your bottom line.
The financial impact is substantial. As your team grows from 3 staff members to 20, per-user pricing can add $7,600+ in cumulative software costs over five years—money that could instead fund better wages, improved participant services, or business development.
How Per-User Pricing Creates a $10,000+ Annual Growth Penalty
The mechanics of per-user pricing are straightforward but problematic: every time you hire a new team member, your monthly software bill increases. This pricing model forces you to make tough decisions—not based on business needs or participant demand, but on the rising cost of your management software.
The Real-World Impact
Consider ShiftCare, one of the popular NDIS software solutions. While their entry price appears affordable at $12 per user per month, the costs escalate quickly:
ShiftCare Cost Trajectory:
- 3 staff members: $36/month ($432/year)
- 5 staff members: $60/month ($720/year)
- 10 staff members: $120/month ($1,440/year)
- 15 staff members: $180/month ($2,160/year)
- 20 staff members: $240/month ($2,880/year)
For enterprise-focused solutions like SupportAbility, the impact is even more severe. While they hide their pricing behind “contact us” forms, industry estimates place their costs at $50-150 per user per month:
SupportAbility Estimated Costs:
- 5 staff members: $250-750/month ($3,000-9,000/year)
- 10 staff members: $500-1,500/month ($6,000-18,000/year)
- 15 staff members: $750-2,250/month ($9,000-27,000/year)
This “growth tax” leads to several adverse outcomes:
Staffing Decisions Based on Software Costs: Providers delay or forgo hiring additional staff because each new team member adds permanent monthly expenses—even before considering wages, training, or equipment costs.
Business Expansion Stagnation: As teams grow, the per-user pricing structure makes it increasingly difficult to scale operations effectively. What starts as $36/month becomes $240/month as you grow to 20 staff—an increase of $2,448 annually.
Profitability Pressures: Rather than investing in business growth, providers keep teams artificially small to control software expenses. This limits both profitability and the number of participants you can serve.
Budget Unpredictability: Unlike participant-based revenue which is predictable through NDIS funding, per-user software costs create budget uncertainty every time you need to hire.
Real Provider Scenarios: How Scaling Costs Affect Hiring Decisions
Let’s examine three realistic scenarios where NDIS providers face difficult choices due to per-user pricing:
Scenario A: Solo Provider Growing to Small Team (1→5 Staff)
Meet Sarah: Sarah runs a support coordination service in Melbourne. She currently works solo but has a waiting list of 15 participants requesting her services. To meet this demand, she needs to hire 4 additional support coordinators.
Current Situation:
- Staff: 1 (Sarah)
- Participants: 8
- Current software cost (ShiftCare): $12/month
Growth Plan:
- Staff needed: 5 (Sarah + 4 coordinators)
- Potential participants: 40
- Projected software cost (ShiftCare): $60/month
Financial Impact:
- Monthly increase: $48
- Annual increase: $576
- 3-year cumulative cost: $1,728
Sarah’s Decision: While $576/year seems manageable, Sarah also calculates that hiring 4 coordinators means $180,000+ in annual wages. The software increase, though smaller, represents another fixed cost that will never decrease—even if she reduces her team temporarily. She decides to hire only 2 coordinators initially, limiting her growth and keeping 25 participants on her waiting list.
Scenario B: Small Team Scaling to Medium Provider (5→15 Staff)
Meet David: David operates a disability services provider in Brisbane offering personal care and therapy services. His current team of 5 staff members serves 35 participants, but demand in his region has increased significantly.
Current Situation:
- Staff: 5
- Participants: 35
- Current software cost (ShiftCare): $60/month ($720/year)
Growth Plan:
- Staff needed: 15 (to cover new service areas)
- Potential participants: 100
- Projected software cost (ShiftCare): $180/month ($2,160/year)
Financial Impact:
- Monthly increase: $120
- Annual increase: $1,440
- 5-year cumulative cost: $7,200 additional
If Using SupportAbility (estimated $50/user):
- Current cost: $250/month ($3,000/year)
- Projected cost: $750/month ($9,000/year)
- Annual increase: $6,000
- 5-year cumulative cost: $30,000 additional
David’s Decision: David realizes that his software costs will triple just to accommodate necessary hiring. With margins already tight in the NDIS sector, he questions whether regional expansion is financially viable. He decides to grow more slowly, hiring only 5 additional staff over two years instead of 10 immediately—limiting his ability to serve his community.
Scenario C: Medium Provider Avoiding the Enterprise Trap (15→30 Staff)
Meet Jennifer: Jennifer runs an established NDIS provider in Sydney with 15 staff members serving 80 participants. She’s planning regional expansion that would require doubling her workforce.
Current Situation:
- Staff: 15
- Participants: 80
- Current software cost (ShiftCare): $180/month ($2,160/year)
Growth Plan:
- Staff needed: 30 (for regional offices)
- Potential participants: 180
- Projected software cost (ShiftCare): $360/month ($4,320/year)
Financial Impact:
- Monthly increase: $180
- Annual increase: $2,160
- Just first year cost difference: $2,160
If Using SupportAbility (estimated $75/user average):
- Current cost: $1,125/month ($13,500/year)
- Projected cost: $2,250/month ($27,000/year)
- Annual increase: $13,500
- 3-year expansion cost: $40,500 additional
Jennifer’s Decision: The software scaling costs alone represent a significant barrier to her expansion plans. With ShiftCare, she’s looking at an additional $2,160/year. With enterprise software like SupportAbility, it could be $13,500+/year. Jennifer shelves her regional expansion plans, citing unsustainable cost trajectory. She decides to focus on “optimizing current operations” instead of growing—a decision driven entirely by software pricing structure.
The Exponential Cost Curve: 5-Year Growth Penalty Analysis
The true impact of per-user pricing becomes clear when you examine cumulative costs over time. As your business grows naturally—hiring staff to meet participant demand—your software expenses climb exponentially.
ShiftCare 5-Year Growth Trajectory
Assume a provider starts with 3 staff and grows steadily to 20 staff over five years:
Year 1 (3 staff): $36/month = $432/year
Year 2 (5 staff): $60/month = $720/year
Year 3 (10 staff): $120/month = $1,440/year
Year 4 (15 staff): $180/month = $2,160/year
Year 5 (20 staff): $240/month = $2,880/year
Total 5-Year Software Cost: $7,632
SupportAbility 5-Year Growth Trajectory (Estimated $75/user average)
Year 1 (3 staff): $225/month = $2,700/year
Year 2 (5 staff): $375/month = $4,500/year
Year 3 (10 staff): $750/month = $9,000/year
Year 4 (15 staff): $1,125/month = $13,500/year
Year 5 (20 staff): $1,500/month = $18,000/year
Total 5-Year Software Cost: $47,700
The Growth Penalty Visualized
Notice how costs don’t just increase—they accelerate. From Year 1 to Year 5:
- ShiftCare costs increase by 567% (from $432 to $2,880 annually)
- SupportAbility costs increase by 567% (from $2,700 to $18,000 annually)
This exponential growth means that your software becomes progressively more expensive relative to your business operations. The percentage of revenue consumed by software costs increases as you scale—exactly the opposite of what should happen as you achieve economies of scale.
Vertex360’s Participant-Based Alternative: Predictable Scaling
Vertex360 takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of penalizing you for hiring staff, we align our pricing with your actual business growth: the number of participants you serve.
Why Participant-Based Pricing Makes Sense
NDIS providers generate revenue through participant funding, not staff count. Your income scales with participants—so your software costs should too. When you hire more staff, it’s because you’re serving more participants, which means your revenue is also growing.
Per-user pricing disconnects costs from revenue, creating an artificial barrier to growth.
Vertex360 Pricing Structure
Month-to-Month Pricing:
- 1-5 participants: $35/month + GST (unlimited staff)
- 6-10 participants: $100/month + GST (unlimited staff)
- 11-20 participants: $200/month + GST (unlimited staff)
- 21-50 participants: $300/month + GST (unlimited staff)
- 51-100 participants: $500/month + GST (unlimited staff)
Annual Pricing (Save 10%):
- 1-5 participants: $31.50/month + GST (unlimited staff)
- 6-10 participants: $90/month + GST (unlimited staff)
- 11-20 participants: $180/month + GST (unlimited staff)
- 21-50 participants: $270/month + GST (unlimited staff)
- 51-100 participants: $450/month + GST (unlimited staff)
The Same 5-Year Growth Scenario with Vertex360
Let’s revisit the provider who grows from 3 to 20 staff over five years. Assume they start with 4 participants and grow to 45 participants:
Year 1 (3 staff, 4 participants): $31.50/month = $378/year
Year 2 (5 staff, 8 participants): $90/month = $1,080/year
Year 3 (10 staff, 20 participants): $180/month = $2,160/year
Year 4 (15 staff, 35 participants): $270/month = $3,240/year
Year 5 (20 staff, 45 participants): $270/month = $3,240/year
Total 5-Year Software Cost: $10,098
Comparing the True Cost of Growth
5-Year Cumulative Costs:
- ShiftCare (per-user): $7,632
- Vertex360 (participant-based): $10,098
- SupportAbility (per-user, estimated): $47,700
But Here’s the Critical Difference:
With ShiftCare, you pay $7,632 to manage 20 staff members serving 45 participants—but you’re penalized every time you hire.
With Vertex360, you pay $10,098 to manage unlimited staff serving 45 participants—and you can hire freely as needed.
With SupportAbility, you pay $47,700 to manage 20 staff members—nearly 5x more than Vertex360.
The Real Value: Hiring Freedom
The most significant advantage of participant-based pricing isn’t just cost—it’s freedom.
With Vertex360, you can:
- Hire seasonal support workers for holiday coverage without cost increases
- Add administrative staff to improve operations at no additional software cost
- Bring on specialist therapy staff as participant needs require
- Scale your team up or down based on demand, not software pricing
- Budget accurately based on participant numbers (which correlate with revenue)
Real-World Example:
A provider with 15 participants needs 8 support workers for adequate coverage. With ShiftCare, they pay $96/month ($1,152/year). If they need to hire 3 additional casual workers for summer holiday coverage, their cost jumps to $132/month—an extra $432/year for seasonal staffing.
With Vertex360, they pay $90/month year-round (6-10 participant tier), whether they have 8 staff or 11 staff. Seasonal hiring decisions are made based on participant needs, not software costs.
Managing a flexible workforce requires smart tools. Discover how Vertex360’s efficient rostering features help you manage unlimited staff without the complexity of license tracking.
Business Impact Analysis: The Opportunity Cost of Delayed Hiring
The most insidious effect of per-user pricing isn’t the direct cost—it’s the opportunity cost of delayed growth.
The $28,200 Decision
Consider this common scenario:
Situation: A provider needs 3 additional support workers to handle a waiting list of 15 participants. However, they’re hesitant because of rising software costs.
Per-User Software Cost:
- Current: 5 staff at $12/user = $60/month
- With new hires: 8 staff at $12/user = $96/month
- Monthly increase: $36
- Annual increase: $432
Potential Revenue from 15 New Participants:
- Average NDIS participant funding utilized: $40,000/year
- Provider revenue (at 5% management): $2,000/year per participant
- Revenue per support worker (serving 5 participants): $10,000/year
- Total revenue from 3 workers: $30,000/year
The Calculation:
- Potential revenue: $30,000/year
- Software cost increase: $432/year
- Net opportunity cost of NOT hiring: $29,568
By delaying hiring to avoid $432 in annual software costs, the provider loses $30,000 in potential revenue—a net loss of $29,568.
Ready to see how participant-based pricing transforms your growth strategy? Book a personalized demo where we’ll calculate your exact savings and show you how Vertex360 eliminates growth barriers.
The Growth Mindset Shift
This scenario highlights a fundamental problem with per-user pricing: it creates decision-making based on the wrong metrics.
Providers should ask:
- “Do we have participant demand?”
- “Can we provide quality services with current staffing?”
- “Will additional staff improve participant outcomes?”
Instead, per-user pricing forces providers to ask:
- “Can we afford the software cost increase?”
- “Should we delay hiring to control expenses?”
- “Can we manage with current staff to avoid cost increases?”
This inverted decision-making process ultimately hurts participants, limits business growth, and reduces provider profitability.
Breaking Free from the Growth Tax
Per-user pricing for NDIS software creates substantial financial barriers for providers looking to expand their services. These rising costs discourage hiring, slow business growth, and ultimately limit the number of participants who can access quality disability services.
The mathematical reality is clear:
- Per-user pricing creates costs that increase by 500%+ as you scale from 3 to 20 staff
- These costs add up to $7,600-47,700 over five years depending on your software provider
- The opportunity cost of delayed hiring can exceed $25,000+ per year in lost revenue
The Vertex360 Difference
Vertex360’s participant-based pricing model eliminates the growth tax entirely:
✅ Unlimited staff accounts at every pricing tier
✅ Costs scale with revenue (participants), not expenses (staff)
✅ Predictable budgeting based on participant numbers
✅ Hiring freedom based on business needs, not software costs
✅ Transparent pricing published online—no hidden fees
Your Next Steps
If you’re an NDIS provider looking to scale your business, it’s time to reconsider the impact of per-user pricing on your growth strategy.
Calculate Your Scaling Costs: Use our interactive calculator to compare what you’d pay over 1, 3, and 5 years with per-user pricing versus Vertex360’s participant-based model.
Review Your Growth Plans: How many staff members do you need to hire in the next 12 months? What would that cost with your current software? With Vertex360?
Talk to Our Team: Book a demo to see how Vertex360 eliminates growth penalties and enables confident expansion. We’ll walk you through the platform and create a custom pricing projection for your specific growth scenario.
See How Vertex360 Grows With You →
Want to experience Vertex360 risk-free? Start your 7-day free trial today and test unlimited staff accounts with your actual workflows—no credit card required.
Key Takeaways
✓ Per-user pricing creates a “growth tax” that increases software costs with each new hire, adding $1,000-10,000+ annually as teams grow.
✓ ShiftCare costs escalate from $432/year (3 staff) to $2,880/year (20 staff) over typical growth trajectory—a 567% increase.
✓ SupportAbility’s estimated $50-150/user pricing can cost $6,000-27,000/year for 10-15 staff, making it unsustainable for growing small-to-medium providers.
✓ Opportunity costs of delayed hiring exceed direct software costs by 60x—losing $30,000 in revenue to save $432 in software fees makes no business sense.
✓ Vertex360’s participant-based pricing ($31.50-$450/month) includes unlimited staff, enabling providers to hire based on participant demand, not software constraints.
✓ Costs should scale with revenue (participants), not expenses (staff)—Vertex360 aligns pricing with how NDIS providers actually generate income.
✓ Growth should be celebrated, not penalized—choose software that enables expansion rather than creating barriers to serving more participants.
