Best Usage-Based Billing APIs
Billing platforms built for metered and consumption pricing, with real-time usage metering for AI and infrastructure products.
Our pick: Chargebee
Chargebee is a subscription and usage-based billing platform built for SaaS and AI companies, handling the full subscription lifecycle from creation and metering through dunning, revenue recognition (ASC 606/IFRS 15), and CPQ. It offers a free Starter tier up to $250K cumulative billing, with paid plans from $599/month and an enterprise tier priced on request. The REST API ships with SDKs for seven languages, supports webhooks and idempotency, and holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR certifications.
Best for: Prototypes and side projects - free to start, no sales call; Regulated or enterprise workloads - compliance attestations and an enterprise plan; AI agents and automation - an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt).
Best for…
Ranked (13)
#1 Chargebee
82 / 100- Best overall
- Best free pick
- Best for enterprise
- Best for agents
Chargebee is a subscription and usage-based billing platform built for SaaS and AI companies, handling the full subscription lifecycle from creation and metering through dunning, revenue recognition (ASC 606/IFRS 15), and CPQ. It offers a free Starter tier up to $250K cumulative billing, with paid plans from $599/month and an enterprise tier priced on request. The REST API ships with SDKs for seven languages, supports webhooks and idempotency, and holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR certifications.
PricingHybrid · from $599 month · free tier ✓TrustSOC 2 Type II · HIPAA · GDPR · ISO 27001 · PCI DSSDoesUsed byZapier, Typeform, Pret A Manger, Condé Nast#2 Maxio
81 / 100Maxio is a subscription billing and revenue management API built for SaaS companies, handling usage-based metering, tiered and hybrid pricing, invoicing, dunning, and GAAP/IFRS revenue recognition. Pricing starts at $599/month (Grow plan, capped at $100k/month in billings), with a free developer sandbox for testing; production tiers above that threshold require a custom sales quote. The REST API ships with official SDKs in seven languages including Python, TypeScript, Java, and Ruby, and supports webhooks and a self-service billing portal. Compliance certifications include SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and GDPR, with a 10,000 requests/hour rate limit per site subdomain.
PricingSubscription · from $599 month · free tier ✓TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPR · ISO 27001 · PCI DSSDoesUsed byRetool, SolarWinds, Boomi, Extensiv#3 Recurly
68 / 100Recurly is a subscription management and recurring billing platform targeting SaaS, media, and e-commerce businesses that need to automate billing, handle dunning, support usage-based pricing, and manage revenue recognition under ASC-606/IFRS-15. It operates in 195+ countries and offers official SDKs for seven languages alongside a REST API with webhook and idempotency support. Pricing starts at $249 per month plus 0.9% of billing volume on the Starter plan, with a 90-day free trial available; an All-Access plan requires a $1M annual billing minimum. The platform holds SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR certifications.
PricingHybrid · from $249 month · free tier ✗TrustSOC 2 Type II · HIPAA · GDPR · PCI DSSDoesUsed bySling, Twitch, BarkBox, FabFitFunAvoid ifYou want to try it free before paying#4 Stigg
73 / 100Stigg is a monetization control layer for SaaS and AI products, providing usage-based billing, subscription management, entitlements, and feature access control via a REST API with SDKs for TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, Ruby, C#, and React. Paid plans start at $448 per month with self-serve signup, a free sandbox tier for non-production use, and an enterprise tier from $60,000 per month. The platform holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 certifications, is GDPR compliant, and deploys across a global multi-region AWS infrastructure with 300-plus CDN edge points. Customers include Webflow, Miro, PagerDuty, and Cloudinary.
PricingHybrid · from $448 month · free tier ✓TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPR · ISO 27001DoesUsed byWebflow, Miro, PagerDuty, AI21#5 Lago
76 / 100- Broadest surface
Lago is an open-source, MIT-licensed metering and billing platform built for companies with complex usage-based, subscription, or hybrid billing logic. It handles event ingestion, invoicing, prepaid credits, entitlements, and revenue analytics, with noted adoption by AI infrastructure companies such as Mistral AI and Groq. Lago can be self-hosted at no cost or run on a managed cloud with US and EU endpoints; published pricing exists alongside an enterprise plan. SDKs cover six languages, webhooks are supported, and an MCP server is available.
PricingSales-led · free tier ✓TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPRDoesUsed byPayPal, Mistral AI, Groq, Synthesia#6 Paddle
59 / 100Paddle is a Merchant of Record platform built for SaaS and digital product companies, handling subscription billing, global tax calculation and remittance, failed payment recovery, and B2B invoicing across 300+ markets. Pricing is usage-based, charged as a percentage of billing volume, with published rates and self-serve signup available. The REST API supports webhooks and official SDKs for Node.js, Python, Go, PHP, and JavaScript, and an MCP server is available. Paddle holds SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI DSS certifications and is GDPR compliant.
PricingUsage · free tier ✗TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPR · PCI DSSDoesUsed byFortinet, MacPaw, Laravel, AdaptavistAvoid ifYou want to try it free before paying#7 Metronome
65 / 100Metronome is a usage-based and subscription billing infrastructure API built for software companies that need to handle complex pricing models, including hybrid, seat-based, and enterprise contract billing with prepaid commits and cloud marketplace support. It offers a free Starter plan with core features and self-serve signup, with published pricing and an enterprise tier available. The REST API supports Python, Node.js, Ruby, and Go SDKs, includes webhooks and idempotency, and carries SOC 2 Type 2 certification with GDPR compliance. Acquired by Stripe in December 2025, it counts OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, and NVIDIA among its customers.
PricingHybrid · free tier ✓TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPRDoesUsed byOpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, Confluent#8 Togai
66 / 100Togai is a usage-based billing platform for SaaS and API businesses, supporting metering, rating, and invoicing across flat, tiered, per-unit, hybrid, prepaid, and entitlement pricing models. It offers a free pay-as-you-go starter tier with no credit card required, while enterprise plans are available through sales. The REST API supports TypeScript, Python, Java, and Ruby SDKs, includes webhook delivery and idempotent event ingestion, and is GDPR and PCI DSS compliant. Togai was acquired by Zuora in May 2024 and continues as a standalone product.
PricingSales-led · free tier ✓TrustGDPR · PCI DSSDoesUsed byAppsmith, Yellow.ai, OTPless, DigibeeAvoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements#9 FastSpring
45 / 100FastSpring is a merchant-of-record billing platform for software companies, handling SaaS subscriptions, one-time digital product sales, and usage-based billing across 200+ countries, with FastSpring acting as the seller of record for tax compliance rather than the merchant. Pricing is volume-based but not published, requiring a sales conversation, and there is no minimum transaction requirement. The REST API supports webhooks, a sandbox environment, and SDKs for JavaScript, Ruby, Java, and native desktop stores, with a rate limit of 250 calls per IP per minute. Customers include Adobe, Rovio, and Steinberg, and the platform holds SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS, and GDPR certifications.
PricingUsage · free tier ✗TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPR · PCI DSSDoesUsed byAdobe, Avid, Capture One, RovioAvoid ifYou need transparent pricing up front#10 Kill Bill
66 / 100- Cheapest to start
Kill Bill is an open-source billing and payments infrastructure platform, available free under Apache 2.0 for self-hosted deployments, with managed tiers starting at $40 per month and enterprise plans available via sales. It covers subscription billing with trials and dunning, usage-based metering, invoicing, proration, entitlements, and revenue recognition, making it suited for SaaS, AI token billing, and marketplace platforms. SDKs exist for Java, Ruby, Python, PHP, and Node.js, the REST API supports idempotency and webhooks, and a sandbox is available. Customers including Groupon, CARFAX, and Rakuten reflect a track record with larger organizations, though compliance certifications such as PCI DSS and SOC 2 remain the deploying organization's own responsibility.
PricingSubscription · from $40 month · free tier ✓DoesUsed byGroupon, CARFAX, Rocket Lawyer, HPAvoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements#11 Zuora Billing
39 / 100Zuora Billing is an enterprise subscription and usage-based billing platform supporting SaaS, hybrid, and metered pricing models including multi-attribute and dynamic pricing, with built-in revenue recognition for ASC 606 and IFRS 15. It targets mid-market and enterprise companies and requires a sales engagement to purchase, with no published pricing or instant self-serve signup. The REST API supports OAuth2, webhooks, and idempotency, with SDKs for Java, Node.js, Python, and C#, and holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR certifications.
PricingSales-led · free tier ✗TrustSOC 2 Type II · HIPAA · GDPR · ISO 27001 · PCI DSSDoesUsed byBox, Zoom, DocuSign, SiemensAvoid ifYou need to start building today without contacting sales#12 Orb
24 / 100Orb is a usage-based billing platform built for SaaS and AI companies that need to meter events, manage subscriptions, and automate invoicing, dunning, and revenue recognition (ASC 606-aligned). It supports tiered, seat-based, hybrid, and token-based pricing models, making it a fit for AI-native products billing on compute or tokens. Pricing is custom across all tiers and requires a sales conversation, with costs tied to billings volume and events ingested. The REST API ships with SDKs for six languages, idempotent writes, webhook support, and a sandbox, and the platform holds SOC 2 Type 2 certification with GDPR coverage.
PricingSales-led · free tier ✗TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPRDoesUsed byVercel, Replit, Supabase, PineconeAvoid ifYou need to start building today without contacting sales#13 m3ter
26 / 100m3ter is a usage-based billing infrastructure platform for software companies that need to meter consumption, configure complex pricing models (tiered, segmented, prepayments, credits), and automate bill calculation without replacing their existing CRM or ERP. It targets B2B SaaS and infrastructure vendors, with customers including Snyk, ClickHouse, and Speechmatics. Pricing is sales-led with no published rates and requires a sales call; a sandbox is available for evaluation. The REST API uses OAuth2, supports webhooks, and offers SDKs in Python, Go, Java, and TypeScript, with SOC 2 Type 2 and GDPR compliance documented.
PricingSales-led · free tier ✗TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPRDoesUsed bySift, ClickHouse, Onfido, SnykAvoid ifYou need to start building today without contacting sales