How to budget for immersive tech: from freemium to enterprise

Why there is no price list, and what there is instead

We do not publish prices, and it is not coyness. A hologram box in a lobby, a network of 32 signage players across a retail chain and a VR training course for a refinery have almost nothing in common as purchases except that they came from the same company. Publishing one number for any of them would mislead more buyers than it helped.

What we publish instead is the structure. Our pricing strategy has a stated aim — “affordable entry for new customers, scalable solutions as clients expand their use of immersive technologies, sustainable revenue growth through recurring income models” — and four families of model that follow from it. If you know which family your project falls into, you can build a budget line before you ever ask us for a figure, and you can compare our quotation with anyone else's on like terms.

The first thing to accept is that immersive technology is four costs, not one: software (a platform, usually subscribed), hardware (a display, a player, a headset, a badge), content (3D models, films, avatars, knowledge bases) and service (installation, training, support). Most budgeting mistakes come from funding the hardware as capital expenditure and forgetting that the other three recur.

With that in mind, here are the models, from the lowest commitment to the highest.

Freemium, pay-as-you-grow and usage-based

The entry-level family exists so that a team can try before it commits capital.

Freemium. Free, limited access to core features — in our strategy the examples are a basic 3D showroom on Nplay Vista and limited hologram usage on the Halo Box platform. The purpose is to let a marketing or training team prove a use case internally with real content before anyone signs a purchase order. Budget line: nothing, plus the staff time to build a first piece of content.

Pay-as-you-grow. The free or basic tier plus paid additions as they are needed: extra features, AI enhancements, extended usage. This suits a team that knows the technology works and wants to expand it one step at a time — a second screen, an avatar, an analytics module. Budget line: a small recurring amount that steps up with each addition, which finance teams tend to prefer to a lump sum.

Usage-based. Charging on transactions, AI requests or audience engagement rather than on seats or devices. A hologram avatar that answers questions, a virtual store that takes orders or a signage network that sells ad plays can all be metered. Budget line: variable, tied to activity — which means the cost rises only when the thing is being used, and an unused installation costs little.

Entry-level models are how most of our relationships begin, and the point at which a client moves to a subscription is usually the point at which they stop calling it a pilot.

Basic, Professional, Enterprise

Subscription plans are the backbone of our software products — Nplay Beam for cloud signage, the Halo Box platform, and the products in development such as Nplay Orator and Nplay Scholar. They are billed monthly or annually, with a discount for annual payment, and they come in three tiers.

Basic covers the fundamental features with limited customisation: enough to run a screen, a box or a course with our standard templates. Professional adds more integrations and AI-powered recommendations — connecting to your systems, letting the platform suggest content or courses, deeper scheduling. Enterprise is full customisation, advanced analytics and priority support, for organisations where the platform is operationally important and downtime is a cost.

How to choose: count what you will connect to and who will be watching. A single café screen is Basic. A chain that wants signage tied to its promotions calendar is Professional. A hospital or a national site where a failed screen matters is Enterprise. Move up only when the feature you need is in the next tier; we would rather a client grew into Enterprise than started there and resented it.

For digital signage pricing specifically, the per-device subscription usually comes with a media storage allowance per device, and the hardware player is a separate one-off line. That combination — one device, one subscription — is the same whether you run one screen or one hundred.

Revenue share, commission and per-unit — paying the way the industry pays

Some sectors have their own economics, and forcing a subscription on them is a mistake. Our strategy defines four industry-specific arrangements.

Media and advertising: revenue share. On the Halo Ads network and on Beam screens that carry advertising overlays, the host location or partner takes a share of the revenue from ads and content placements rather than paying for the screen. Advertisers, in turn, buy time by the spot. Nobody in advertising wants to buy a display; everyone understands a share of the inventory.

Events and ticketing: per-booking commission or venue licence. For Nplay FrontRow, our 3D booking platform in development, a venue can either pay nothing upfront and share revenue per event, or pay a development fee plus an annual licence and keep everything it earns. The choice is between testing demand and owning the channel.

Retail and corporate: per-unit hardware plus cloud. Nplay Slate badges and Beam players are priced per display unit with cloud access on top, with volume pricing as unit counts rise. The same logic applies to the Halo Box: a hardware unit plus the software subscription, with content, 3D scanning, studio kits and maintenance plans as options.

Real estate: subscription plus per-project fees. Vista is subscribed for 3D visualisation, with a fee per project modelled.

In every case the question to ask is: how does this industry already pay for the thing we are replacing? Match that and the budget conversation gets short.

Custom builds, white label and what actually drives the number

The top of the range is enterprise customisation and white-label. A client wants our platform under their brand, integrated with their systems, with features built for them. The model is a one-time setup fee plus a subscription: the setup covers customisation, integration and initial cloud storage; the subscription covers ongoing cloud, software updates and support.

Whatever the model, five things drive the figure in any quotation, and a buyer who knows them can predict most of the answer. Hardware size and count: an 86-inch box costs more than a 21.5-inch one, and 32 players cost more than four. Content: a filmed presenter, a 3D reconstruction and an AI knowledge base are three different production efforts; content is the line that varies most. Installation: a box that ships complete and plugs in, versus projection that needs survey, cabling, structures and calibration. Integration: connecting to booking, payment, HR or building systems. Support level: first-year support is included in our proposals; what happens in year two is a choice.

Two things reduce the number. Early-adoption terms — discounted first-year pricing and referral programmes — and bundling, where a client takes two products together, such as a Vista showroom with a Halo Box for a developer's sales centre, or Beam with Slate for an events venue. Long-term contracts carry loyalty terms.

Our advice on VR training cost, hologram cost in MENA or digital signage pricing is always the same: scope one site, agree the model, run it for a season, and let the result set the budget for the roll-out. The cost guide explains the drivers for holograms in more depth.