# Rating engine with no implementation fee: how it works

> How a rating engine with no implementation fee works: who pays for the build, what is included, how the provider earns its fee, and the honest trade-offs compared with a licence and a separate implementation project.

By Ptally Pricing Team, 4 November 2026. Category: Distribution.
Source: https://ptally.ai/blog/rating-engine-with-no-implementation-fee

A rating engine with no implementation fee works by moving the cost of building your model from the start of the project to the period when the model is writing business. You pay nothing to have the rating guide, spreadsheet or filing built into a working, tested model. The provider earns its fee later, either as a share of the gross written premium the model writes or as a flat fee per live model. The build is not free in the sense of costing nothing to deliver. It is free in the sense that you do not pay for it upfront, and the provider only earns when your product is live.

This article explains the commercial model, what is included on Ptally, and the trade-offs. For a broader breakdown of rating engine costs, see [how much a rating engine costs](https://ptally.ai/blog/how-much-does-an-insurance-rating-engine-cost).

## Why implementation fees exist

On many pricing platforms the licence buys the software, but not your model. Before a product can quote, someone has to load the rate tables, encode the rules, set the calculation order and test the result against the actuary's worked examples. That work is often sold as a separate project, scoped and priced before it starts.

For the buyer, this means a cost that lands before any premium is written. It also means the scope is fixed early, and changes found during the build become change requests.

## How the no implementation fee model works

The provider takes on the build because it has a reason to want the model live quickly: its revenue starts when yours does. On Ptally the process looks like this:

1. **You send your source material.** A rating guide, an Excel rater or a US rate filing, plus any worked examples.
2. **The model is built on the platform.** AI extracts the rate tables and drafts the calculation as a JSON file of ordered steps. Pricing experts can build and check it for you as part of the no implementation fee offer.
3. **Tests are written from your examples.** The model must match each worked example before it goes further.
4. **You review and approve.** The model is human readable, so your team and your capacity provider can read the rules and see the tests pass.
5. **It goes live.** The published version serves quotes through the API, embedded forms and chat and voice agents.
6. **The fee starts.** Only now does the commercial plan apply.

## What is included

Implementation, launch and ongoing management are included in every Ptally plan. In practice that covers:

- building the model from your documentation;
- a regression test suite that runs on every change;
- draft, approval and publishing for every version, with full version history;
- managed rate changes after launch;
- real time pricing through the [API](https://ptally.ai/developer/api), embedded forms, and chat and voice;
- access for AI clients over MCP, so tools like Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor can read, validate and test models.

## How the provider is paid

There are three plans, set out on our [pricing section](https://ptally.ai/#pricing):

- **Performance.** Up to 1% of gross written premium, with zero upfront. The fee scales with the premium your models write.
- **Per model.** A flat fee per live model, regardless of volume, with unlimited quotes per model and a fixed annual budget.
- **Enterprise.** Custom terms for carriers and multi product MGAs, with a self host option, SSO, audit and approvals, and custom SLAs.

You choose based on your book. A percentage suits a new product with uncertain volume. A flat fee suits a large or high volume book where a percentage would add up.

## The honest trade-offs

No commercial model is right for everyone. Here are the points worth weighing.

**You pay for longer.** With an upfront implementation fee, the build cost is paid once. With a share of premium, you keep paying while the model writes. Over many years on a large book, the total can be higher than a one-off project. The Per model plan exists for this case, and it is worth running your expected premium through the calculator on the pricing section.

**The cost tracks success.** If your book grows quickly, a percentage fee grows with it. That is the point of the model, but it is a variable cost, not a fixed one. Check how your plan behaves at the volumes you hope to reach.

**The provider's incentives are aligned with launch.** Because nothing is earned until the model is live, slow builds cost the provider money too. That pushes towards getting to a first quote quickly.

**You still own the review.** No implementation fee does not mean no work for your side. Your pricing and underwriting teams still need to supply worked examples, answer questions about the rating guide and approve the result. Plan their time.

**Check what counts as ongoing management.** On Ptally rate changes are managed and included. When comparing providers, ask the same question of each so you are comparing like with like.

## Who it suits

The model suits new MGAs and new products, where cash is tight before premium arrives and volume is hard to predict. It also suits insurers moving a product off a spreadsheet, who want the move done without approving a project budget first. Carriers with a large existing book may prefer the Per model or Enterprise plans for a predictable cost.

## Questions to ask

1. What exactly do we pay before the first live quote?
2. Is the full build included, or only a starter version?
3. Are rate changes after launch included?
4. How does the fee behave if our volume doubles?
5. Can our team read and test the model ourselves?

## Getting started

Ptally is an AI enabled insurance pricing platform that has served over 50 million quotes, across any line in the UK, Europe and the US. It is free to build, with no implementation fee. See the plans on our [pricing section](https://ptally.ai/#pricing), look at a working model on the [developer page](https://ptally.ai/developer), or read about [choosing a rating engine for a new MGA](https://ptally.ai/blog/rating-engine-for-a-new-mga).