Overview

Lago handles subscription, usage-based, prepaid, and hybrid pricing, making it a candidate for businesses whose bills must reflect both agreed terms and changing consumption. It also supports recurring invoices, online payments, reminders, multi-currency invoicing, and a client portal. That covers much of the billing path, though a business with only a simple fixed subscription may not need this range of controls.

Quotes and order forms connect commercial terms to charges. Prepaid credits, entitlements, and quotas help define what customers can consume, while itemized invoices can make a combination of fixed and usage charges easier to follow.

Key features

Usage metering and AI integrations

Lago meters AI input, output, and cached tokens separately and attributes that usage to customers. This gives AI teams a way to distinguish token categories in billing rather than treating all consumption as a single measure. Listed AI integrations include OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google Gemini, Mistral, Ramp Router, Snowflake Cortex, Databricks AI Gateway, and Cloudflare AI Gateway.

Developer access and operations

Applications can connect through a REST API, official JavaScript, Python, Ruby, and Go SDKs, and signed webhooks. That gives engineering teams several integration routes, but also makes Lago a better fit for organizations prepared to connect billing to their product systems than for buyers seeking a billing workflow with little implementation work.

Payments and finance integrations include Adyen, GoCardless, Stripe, NetSuite, Xero, Anrok, Avalara, HubSpot, and Salesforce. Lago states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified and undergoes regular third-party penetration tests. It also describes single sign-on, role-based access controls, and audit logs—useful controls for organizations managing access and financial operations.

Pricing

Open source

The Open source plan costs 0.00 USD per free and is AGPLv3-licensed for self-hosted deployment. Open-source self-hosted is also 0.00 USD per free, under AGPLv3, and runs on your own infrastructure. These plans are the clear starting point for teams able to operate a self-hosted billing platform; the stated plan terms do not set out a paid-service support package.

Lago Premium

Lago Premium has custom pricing and is available as cloud or self-hosted deployment. It includes platform support, business-hours incident management, and implementation guidance. 24x7 incident management and an assigned solution engineer are on-demand add-ons. Billing entities and data pipeline volume can be subject to caps, and some features are add-ons, so teams should confirm the scope they need before choosing Premium.

Platforms

Lago supports API and web access, alongside self-hosted deployment. Premium can be deployed in the cloud or self-hosted; Lago says it can also run on-premises or in a VPC. The self-hosted options suit teams that want to run the platform on their own infrastructure, while Premium offers cloud deployment as well.

Who it's for

Lago describes its audience as engineering, product, finance, and operations teams, as well as fast-growing AI companies and global enterprises. It is most compelling where billing rules need to reflect customer usage, prepaid balances, or multiple pricing models, and where developers can integrate those rules into the product. A smaller operation with uncomplicated recurring charges may find that flexibility unnecessary.

Pros and cons

Pros: Multiple pricing models, token-level AI metering, and quotas and prepaid credits support products with varied consumption and billing rules.
Pros: REST API, four official SDKs, and signed webhooks give engineering teams several ways to connect applications to billing.
Pros: A free AGPLv3 self-hosted option lets teams run Lago on their own infrastructure without a listed plan charge.
Cons: Premium uses custom pricing, making its cost harder to assess before contacting Lago.
Cons: Some Premium capabilities are add-ons or subject to caps, including billing entities and data pipeline volume.
Cons: Self-hosting puts deployment on the customer, while Premium support beyond business-hours incident management requires on-demand add-ons.

Alternatives

Aforo is worth considering for a freemium option with a stated Starter plan at 0.00 USD per month, 50K events per month, one storefront, all six pricing models, basic revenue intelligence, Stripe integration, and community support.

Credyt may suit teams who want to build and test with its free plan: the first 10 active wallets every month are free forever, with full feature access in test mode, no credit card, and no time limit.

Flexprice offers a Developer plan at 0.00 USD per free with up to 100,000 events per month, one pricing plan, a REST API and one SDK, basic invoice generation, email support, and 14-day data retention. It is a concrete alternative for teams whose needs fit those stated limits.

Solvimon has an AI Essentials plan described as free for the first $3M, then 0.4% of volume, with qualification criteria; consider it if that pricing structure and its token and API-call metering fit your needs.

Sequence CPQ is a paid alternative with a Growth plan at 799.00 USD per month for startups with less than $1m in annual revenue; its quote builder is an optional add-on.

BillingPlatform Accounts Receivable is another paid, quote-based option without published pricing tiers.

OneBill is another paid alternative with a free trial.

Zuora CPQ uses custom pricing; it may be worth considering if you prefer a quote-based alternative.

Compare more options in Usage-Based Billing Software, Subscription Billing Software, API Monetization Software, Dunning Management Software, and Invoicing software.

Verdict

Choose Lago if your team needs flexible subscription, usage, prepaid, or hybrid billing and can integrate or operate the platform, particularly for an AI product that bills distinct token categories. The free self-hosted plans give capable teams a no-cost entry point. Look elsewhere if Premium pricing and possible add-ons make budgeting uncertain, or if your billing needs are too simple to justify a configurable platform.

	Invoicebus	Lago
Free plan	No	Yes
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	$0.95/mo	Free
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Web	api, self-hosted, Web
Free plan	No	Yes
Paid from	$0.95/mo	—
Recurring invoices	Yes	Yes
Online payments	Yes	Yes
Payment reminders	Yes	Yes
Multi-currency invoicing	Yes	Yes
Client portal	—	Yes

Invoicebus vs Lago

Invoicebus

Lago