Membership plan pricing is a balancing act. Price too low and you lose money on every member, or worse, you attract patients who use every benefit and then cancel. Price too high and patients don't enroll, and you've built a plan that doesn't solve the problem it was designed to solve.
The good news: getting pricing right isn't complicated. It requires knowing your fee schedule, understanding your costs, and applying a straightforward formula. This guide walks through all of it.
The Pricing Formula
Start with the retail value of the services included in the plan, what a patient would pay for those services individually at your fee schedule. For a standard adult plan (2 cleanings, 2 exams, 1 set of bitewing X-rays), this is typically $400-$600 depending on your market and fee schedule.
Price the plan at a 10-20% discount to that retail value. This makes the plan a clear value for patients while keeping it profitable for your practice. At a 15% discount on a $500 retail value, the plan price is $425/year, or about $35/month.
Then add your costs: payment processing (typically 2.5-3% of revenue), software fees, and an estimate of the administrative time your team spends on membership management. These should be factored into your plan price, not treated as margin erosion after the fact.
The formula
Pricing Benchmarks by Plan Type
Note
These are illustrative ranges based on typical fee schedules. Your actual pricing should be based on your specific fee schedule and market.
Adult Plan
Includes: 2 cleanings, 2 exams, 1 set of bitewing X-rays, 15-20% discount on other services
The most common plan type. Price based on your actual fee schedule for the included services.
Child Plan
Includes: 2 cleanings, 2 exams, 1 set of bitewing X-rays, fluoride, 15-20% discount on other services
Typically priced lower than adult plans due to lower fee schedule values for pediatric services.
Senior / Perio Plan
Includes: 3-4 cleanings (perio maintenance), 2 exams, X-rays as needed, 15-20% discount on other services
Priced higher to reflect the additional cleaning visits. Important to price this correctly, perio patients are high-utilization.
Family Plan
Includes: Coverage for 2 adults + 2 children (or custom configuration)
Bundle pricing should offer a meaningful discount vs. individual plans, typically 10-15% off the sum of individual plan prices.
Common Pricing Mistakes
Pricing based on what competitors charge
Your plan price should be based on your fee schedule, not what another practice charges. A plan priced at $299/year might be profitable for a practice with a low fee schedule and unprofitable for a practice with a high one.
Not accounting for payment processing fees
Credit card processing fees of 2.5-3% add up quickly on recurring membership revenue. A plan priced at $35/month generates $1.05/month in processing fees, $12.60/year per member. At 200 members, that's $2,520/year in fees that need to be in your pricing model.
Pricing the perio plan too low
Perio patients need 3-4 cleanings per year instead of 2. Practices that price their perio plan the same as their adult plan often find it unprofitable. Price the perio plan based on the actual cost of 3-4 perio maintenance visits at your fee schedule.
Offering too many plan tiers
More than 3-4 plan options creates decision paralysis for patients and administrative complexity for your team. Start with 2-3 plans and add tiers only when you have a clear patient need.
Never updating prices
Your fee schedule changes over time. Your membership plan prices should too. Review and update plan pricing annually to ensure plans remain profitable as your costs change.
Monthly vs. Annual Billing
Most practices offer both monthly and annual billing. Annual billing is typically priced at a 5-10% discount to the monthly equivalent, enough to incentivize upfront payment without giving away too much margin.
Example: if your monthly plan price is $35/month ($420/year), your annual price might be $399/year, a $21 discount (5%) for paying upfront.
Annual billing reduces churn and eliminates monthly payment failures. Monthly billing lowers the enrollment barrier. Offering both gives patients a choice and maximizes enrollment.
Pro tip
Offer both billing options. Annual billing reduces churn; monthly billing lowers the enrollment barrier. Giving patients a choice maximizes total enrollment.
Pricing checklist