Lago — Open Source Metering & Usage-Based Billing
Lago gives teams full transparency, control, and flexibility to manage and scale any pricing model. It helps engineering and business teams collaborate on complex billing through API and a visual interface.
Notable Customers
| Company | Type | Best For | Key Strength | Key Weakness | Pricing | Open Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lago | Open Source | Full control & flexibility | Open-source, self-hostable, payment-agnostic | Smaller ecosystem than Stripe | Free + Premium tiers | ✅ |
| Stripe Billing | Proprietary SaaS | Stripe-native startups | Tight payment integration, huge ecosystem | Locked to Stripe payments | 0.5%-0.8% of volume | ❌ |
| Chargebee | Proprietary SaaS | Mid-market B2B SaaS | Rich subscription mgmt, 400+ integrations | Complex usage-based setup | Revenue % (~$249/mo+) | ❌ |
| Orb | Proprietary SaaS | Usage-first AI companies | Best-in-class usage metering | Higher price point, newer | Custom enterprise | ❌ |
| Zuora | Enterprise SaaS | Large enterprises | Mature features, revenue recognition | Expensive, complex, legacy | Enterprise ($100K+/yr) | ❌ |
| Metronome | Proprietary SaaS | Cloud infra & AI | Real-time high-volume metering | Narrow focus, newer | Custom pricing | ❌ |
| Recurly | Proprietary SaaS | Fast implementation | Quick setup, churn management | Limited usage-based billing | Revenue % model | ❌ |
| Feature | Lago | Stripe Billing | Chargebee | Orb | Zuora | Metronome | Recurly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usage Metering | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ |
| Subscription Billing | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ |
| Hybrid Plans | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ |
| Self-Hostable | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Open Source | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Payment Agnostic | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ |
| Real-time Events | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Revenue Recognition | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
✅ Full Support ⚠️ Partial/Limited ❌ Not Supported
Open Source
Lago
Full transparency, self-hostable, no vendor lock-in
Usage-First Modern
Orb, Metronome
Purpose-built for usage-based and AI billing
Mid-Market SaaS
Chargebee, Recurly
Broad subscription management for growing SaaS
Payment-Integrated
Stripe Billing
Best when already in the Stripe ecosystem
Enterprise Legacy
Zuora
Complex enterprise billing at massive scale
Only Open-Source Option
Lago is the only competitor offering full open-source transparency. No black-box billing — audit, customize, and extend freely.
Self-Hostable
Deploy on your own infrastructure for complete data sovereignty. No other competitor in this landscape offers this.
Payment Agnostic
Unlike Stripe Billing, Lago works with any payment provider. No vendor lock-in on the payment processing side.
AI-Native Architecture
Purpose-built for modern AI & usage-based pricing. Trusted by Mistral AI, Groq, CoreWeave, and other AI leaders.
No Revenue Tax
Unlike Chargebee and Recurly that charge a % of revenue, Lago's pricing isn't tied to your billing volume — you pay for infrastructure.
Trusted at Scale
Enterprise customers like PayPal, Epicor, and CoreWeave validate Lago's ability to handle massive billing complexity.