Monetize Analytics with Subscription Tiers

Introduction

Turn your embedded analytics into a revenue driver by offering different capabilities at each subscription tier. Basic users get view-only dashboards, Pro users can explore and customize, and Enterprise users get AI-powered insights.

Plan	Capabilities
Basic	View dashboards
Pro	View + Explore data
Enterprise	View + Explore + Ask AI

This approach lets you:

• Create upsell opportunities — Users see the value of higher tiers through feature limits
• Match pricing to value — Charge more for self-service exploration and AI
• Reduce support load — Higher-tier users answer their own questions

How it works

You control capabilities through two mechanisms:

1. Portal contents — Including datasets enables exploration; omitting them creates a view-only experience
2. Embed payload settings — The settings.ai.enabled flag controls Ask AI access

Basic:      Portal (dashboards only)           → View only
Pro:        Portal (dashboards + datasets)     → View + Explore
Enterprise: Portal (dashboards + datasets) + AI enabled → View + Explore + Ask AI

Step-by-step implementation

Step 1: Create a portal for each tier

Each tier gets its own portal. The key difference is whether you include datasets.

basic_portal.embed.aml

EmbedPortal basic_portal {
  objects: [
    overview_dashboard,
    // No datasets = view-only experience
  ]
}

pro_portal.embed.aml

EmbedPortal pro_portal {
  objects: [
    overview_dashboard,
    sales_analytics,
    customer_insights,
    sales_data,          // Dataset enables exploration
  ]
}

enterprise_portal.embed.aml

EmbedPortal enterprise_portal {
  objects: [
    overview_dashboard,
    sales_analytics,
    customer_insights,
    executive_summary,
    sales_data,          // Dataset enables exploration
    operations_data,     // Dataset enables exploration
  ]
}

Why datasets matter:

• Without datasets, users can only view pre-built dashboards
• With datasets, users can click into charts, change groupings, add filters, and save custom views
• Ask AI also requires datasets to answer questions

Step 2: Select portal and features in your backend

Map each subscription plan to its portal, and enable AI for Enterprise users.

const PLAN_PORTAL_MAP = {
  basic:      'basic_portal',
  pro:        'pro_portal',
  enterprise: 'enterprise_portal',
};

function generateEmbedUrl(user) {
  const embed_payload = {
    object_name: PLAN_PORTAL_MAP[user.plan],
    object_type: 'EmbedPortal',
    embed_user_id: user.id,
    embed_org_id: user.orgId,
    settings: {
      ai: {
        enabled: user.plan === 'enterprise',  // Only Enterprise gets Ask AI
      }
    },
    exp: Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) + 3600,
  };

  const token = jwt.sign(embed_payload, EMBED_SECRET, { algorithm: 'HS256' });
  return `https://holistics.io/embed/${EMBED_KEY_ID}?_token=${token}`;
}

Step 3: Embed in your frontend

The frontend code is the same regardless of tier — all the logic is in your backend.

<iframe
  src="<%= generateEmbedUrl(currentUser) %>"
  width="100%"
  height="600"
  frameborder="0"
></iframe>

Multi-tenant data isolation

In a SaaS application, you'll also want each customer to see only their own data. Combine portal selection with row-level permissions using user_attributes.

function generateEmbedUrl(user) {
  const embed_payload = {
    object_name: PLAN_PORTAL_MAP[user.plan],
    object_type: 'EmbedPortal',
    embed_user_id: user.id,
    embed_org_id: user.orgId,
    user_attributes: {
      client_id: [user.clientId],  // Each client sees only their data
    },
    settings: {
      ai: {
        enabled: user.plan === 'enterprise',
      }
    },
    exp: Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) + 3600,
  };

  const token = jwt.sign(embed_payload, EMBED_SECRET, { algorithm: 'HS256' });
  return `https://holistics.io/embed/${EMBED_KEY_ID}?_token=${token}`;
}

This ensures:

• Portal selection controls which dashboards and features they get (based on subscription)
• Row-level permissions controls which data they see (based on their client/tenant ID)

For setup details, see the Row-level Permission guide.

Additional features by tier

Beyond the core view/explore/AI progression, you can gate other features:

Feature	How to enable	Typical tier
Personal workspace	permissions.enable_personal_workspace: true	Pro+
Shared workspace	permissions.org_workspace_role: 'editor'	Enterprise
Email subscriptions	settings.allow_data_subscribe: true	Pro+
Data export	permissions.allow_dashboard_export: true	Pro+

function generateEmbedUrl(user) {
  const embed_payload = {
    object_name: PLAN_PORTAL_MAP[user.plan],
    object_type: 'EmbedPortal',
    embed_user_id: user.id,
    embed_org_id: user.orgId,
    permissions: {
      enable_personal_workspace: user.plan !== 'basic',
      org_workspace_role: user.plan === 'enterprise' ? 'editor' : null,
      allow_dashboard_export: user.plan !== 'basic',
    },
    settings: {
      ai: { enabled: user.plan === 'enterprise' },
      allow_data_subscribe: user.plan !== 'basic',
    },
    exp: Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) + 3600,
  };

  const token = jwt.sign(embed_payload, EMBED_SECRET, { algorithm: 'HS256' });
  return `https://holistics.io/embed/${EMBED_KEY_ID}?_token=${token}`;
}

Related guides

• Role-based portal access — Show different dashboards to different user roles
• Interactive embedding — Enable data exploration features
• Ask AI — Set up AI-powered analytics
• Parameters reference — Full list of embed payload options