A seat minimum is the lowest quantity of user licenses a software provider will sell for a particular plan or contract. An organization with fewer employees than that minimum may still have to pay for the full number.
Suppose a team needs three CRM accounts but a pricing tier requires five. Even if only three employees sign in, the vendor could bill for five seats. Some providers also require a minimum contract value or minimum annual commitment.
Different license types can matter: a full user, a read-only user and a service account may not be priced the same way. A low advertised per-seat rate can be misleading when mandatory minimums or annual commitments are omitted.
Calculate total price from the actual minimum, not the headcount you hope to license. Check whether seats can be reduced at renewal, whether unused licenses can be reassigned and whether a cheaper tier has more flexible minimums.