Lago vs Stripe Billing
Lago is an open-source billing platform (AGPLv3 core, managed cloud tiers) for usage-based and subscription pricing. It is self-hostable on Docker Compose, on-prem, or in a VPC, with Stripe, Adyen, and GoCardless as integrated PSPs. Stripe Billing is invoice-based subscription and usage billing tightly coupled to Stripe Payments, with global payment methods, tax compliance, and ASC 606 revenue recognition on one account. Both platforms use a post-usage invoice model with real-time metering and periodic invoicing.
The core differences are deployment model, payment processing coupling, and licensing: Lago is partially open-source and PSP-agnostic; Stripe Billing is proprietary, cloud-only, and requires Stripe Payments. At the canonical scenario (100 customers, $2K MRR, 100K events, 5 seats), Lago's cloud pricing is not publicly listed and Stripe Billing costs approximately $72/month including processing.
Choose if...
- →Engineering-led teams that need billing code transparency, auditability, and the option to self-host without vendor lock-in
- →Companies with compliance or data residency requirements that rule out SaaS-only billing platforms
- →Teams adopting open-source billing infrastructure who want a managed upgrade path to a commercial cloud tier when they scale
- →Platforms that want to offer white-label billing to their own customers via Lago Embedded
- →Teams already on Stripe Payments that want subscription and invoiced usage billing without switching infrastructure
- →Products with global payment needs requiring 50+ payment methods and 135+ currencies
- →Enterprise SaaS requiring contracts, commits, CPQ, and ASC 606 revenue recognition
- →Businesses that want a single vendor for payments, tax, billing, and revenue recognition
Feature comparison
| Dimension | Lago | Stripe Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | Partial The AGPLv3 core covers metering, subscriptions, usage-based billing, coupons, entitlements, and core wallet mechanics. The customer portal, credit notes and refunds, automatic dunning, tax integrations, CRM/accounting integrations, Lago AI agents, and Lago Embedded are commercial features unavailable in the free self-hosted tier. | No |
| License | Open core | Proprietary |
| Deployment | Both | Cloud only |
| PSP agnostic | Partial | No |
| Payment processing | Integrated Lago provides native connectors for Stripe, Adyen, and GoCardless. Payment collection is handled by the connected PSP at pass-through rates; Lago orchestrates invoicing and routing. | Built-in |
| Multi-asset support | USD-with-labels | USD only Credits are stored in the customer's billing currency; no native custom asset types (tokens, GPU hours, etc.). |
| Auto top-up | Platform-configured | None |
Pricing comparison
- Model
- AGPLv3 self-hosted core (free); Business and Enterprise cloud tiers require sales
- Free tier
- Yes
- Starting price
- Free (AGPLv3 self-hosted core); cloud tiers require sales
- Model
- Revenue percentage on recurring payments + Stripe Payments processing
- Free tier
- No
- Starting price
- 0.5% of recurring payments (Starter plan)
Canonical scenario — 100 customers, $2K MRR, 100K events, 5 seats
| Line item | Lago | Stripe Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | Not publicly available (cloud Business/Enterprise tiers); $0 for AGPLv3 self-hosted | $0 |
| Per customer | $0 | $0 |
| Seat fees | Not publicly available | $0 |
| Event fees | $0 | $0 |
| Revenue % | $0 | $10 (0.5% × $2,000 on Starter plan) |
| Payment processing | Pass-through | Blended |
| Total / month | Not publicly available for cloud tiers. Self-hosted: $0 license cost plus infrastructure (a few hundred dollars/month on a major cloud at this scale) plus engineering time for deployment and maintenance. | ~$72 ($10 Starter billing fee + ~$62 Stripe Payments processing at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction on US cards; card mix dependent) |
Lago: Lago's cloud Business and Enterprise tiers both require a sales conversation; prices are not published. Historical community discussions reference a starting cloud price of ~$3,000/month. The AGPLv3 self-hosted core is free to run but does not include the customer portal, credit notes and refunds, automatic dunning, tax integrations, CRM/accounting integrations, Lago AI agents, or Lago Embedded. Self-hosting at this event volume requires Postgres, Redis, and compute for 5+ services plus engineering for setup and ongoing maintenance. Payment processing fees are charged by the connected PSP at pass-through rates.
Stripe Billing: Starter plan at 0.5% is the lowest published tier; Scale plan would cost $16 (0.8% × $2,000) in billing fees before processing. Stripe Payments processing (2.9% + $0.30 per US card transaction) is an additional cost that varies by card mix; the ~$62 estimate assumes 100 transactions at average $20. Stripe Billing inherits Metronome's metering and contract tooling post-acquisition (completed January 14, 2026); integration timelines for combined features are not publicly dated.
Lago: strengths and limitations
- +AGPLv3 core is fully auditable, forkable, and self-hostable at no license cost — code transparency matters for compliance-oriented buyers
- +Flexible deployment: self-hosted Docker Compose, managed cloud, on-premise, VPC, or custom infrastructure — suits data residency requirements
- +Extensive native integration ecosystem — Stripe, Adyen, GoCardless, Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite, Xero, and cloud marketplaces
- +Lago AI agents perform operational billing actions (discounts, invoice voids, payment retries) with an MCP server for machine-driven operations
- +Lago Embedded enables platforms to offer white-label billing features to their own customers without building billing from scratch
- +Active open-source community — 9,500+ GitHub stars, 183 total releases, latest v1.45.1 released April 7, 2026; SOC 2 Type II certified
- −Invoice-based architecture — wallet balance updates when an invoice is finalized, not on event ingestion; no real-time per-event debit
- −Material feature set gated behind paid tiers — the free AGPLv3 core excludes the customer portal, credit notes and refunds, automatic dunning, tax integrations, and CRM/accounting connectors
- −Cloud pricing is not publicly listed — Business and Enterprise tiers both require sales; historical community references cite a ~$3,000/month starting point
- −Self-hosting a production deployment still requires engineering for infrastructure, webhook wiring, payment provider setup, and release upgrades
- −No pre-usage authorization primitive — the platform can react to consumption after the fact but cannot gate individual events before they run
- −No native independent asset types — custom units like tokens or GPU hours are labels over USD-backed credit balances, not separate monetary primitives
Stripe Billing: strengths and limitations
- +Comprehensive payments infrastructure — processing, fraud, tax, compliance, and revenue recognition on one account
- +Global payment methods — 50+ payment methods and 135+ currencies with local acquiring
- +Mature developer ecosystem with extensive SDKs, documentation, and third-party integrations
- +Enterprise integrations including NetSuite, Salesforce, Stripe Data Pipeline, and ASC 606 revenue recognition
- +Metronome acquisition (January 2026) adds high-throughput SQL-based metering and enterprise contract management
- +AI-assisted Smart Retries use machine learning to recover ~9% more failed card charge revenue
- −Invoice-based architecture accumulates charges through billing cycles with no real-time wallet debit primitive
- −Tight coupling to Stripe Payments — replacing or mixing PSPs requires rebuilding billing
- −No native multi-asset wallet — no first-class tokens, GPU hours, or custom unit primitives
- −Customer portal is invoice-centric and does not expose a real-time prepaid balance or wallet top-up
- −Metronome integration is still in progress as of April 2026; combined feature GA dates are not public
- −Full revenue reporting and advanced recovery require the Scale plan (0.8%), not the Starter plan (0.5%)
Which one should you pick?
Choose Lago if code transparency, self-hosting, or PSP independence are requirements. The AGPLv3 core lets teams audit and run billing infrastructure on their own servers at no license cost, a genuine differentiator for compliance-sensitive organizations or teams with data residency rules that preclude a SaaS-only billing vendor. Lago's native connectors for Stripe, Adyen, and GoCardless, alongside integrations for Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite, and Xero, provide a broad integration ecosystem without Stripe lock-in. Lago Embedded additionally allows platforms to offer white-label billing to their own customers.
Choose Stripe Billing if you are already on Stripe Payments and want subscription and usage billing with 50+ payment methods, 135+ currencies, tax compliance, Smart Retries, and ASC 606 revenue recognition on a single account. The Starter plan's 0.5% billing fee is publicly listed; CPQ integrations (Salesforce, NetSuite) and enterprise contract management are available on Scale and Custom tiers. The Metronome acquisition (January 2026) is adding SQL-based metering and enterprise contract management to the Stripe ecosystem; GA dates for the combined feature set are not yet public.
The cost models diverge across scale. Stripe Billing charges 0.5% of recurring revenue (Starter) plus Stripe Payments processing fees; at $2,000 monthly revenue the combined cost is approximately $72/month at standard US card rates. Lago's AGPLv3 core is free to license but a production deployment requires infrastructure, engineering time, and a paid cloud tier for the customer portal, dunning, and tax integrations. Lago's managed cloud tiers require a sales conversation, with historical community references citing a starting point around $3,000/month. Teams with strong DevOps capability and data residency requirements typically prefer Lago; teams that want one vendor for payments, billing, and tax typically prefer Stripe.