5 Best Stripe Alternatives for Usage-Based Billing (2026)

The best Stripe alternatives for usage-based billing include Credyt for real-time AI billing with per-usage authorization, Stigg for real-time entitlement and credit orchestration over an existing billing system, Orb for high-volume enterprise invoice-based usage billing, Lago for open-source self-hosted invoice-based billing, and Flexprice for hybrid usage-and-credit billing in early-stage SaaS. These five tools split on one architectural axis: whether usage is authorized and billed as it happens, or billed after it through invoice-based reconciliation at cycle end. Stripe Billing is subscription-first and bills after the action, which is why teams running variable per-request, per-token, or per-inference AI costs look elsewhere.

At a glance: ranking

Rank	Tool	Best for
1	Credyt	Real-time billing for AI products with variable, per-request infrastructure costs
2	Stigg	Real-time entitlements and credit orchestration on top of Stripe, Zuora, or Chargebee
3	Orb	High-volume enterprise invoice-based usage billing with custom SQL metrics
4	Lago	Open-source, self-hostable invoice-based billing for engineering-led teams
5	Flexprice	Hybrid billing for early-stage SaaS adopting usage-based pricing for the first time

Feature comparison

The table below compares eight capabilities across the five tools. The two axes that matter most for usage-based billing: whether authorization happens before or after usage, and whether wallet infrastructure is a first-class primitive or an add-on.

Feature	Credyt	Stigg	Orb	Lago	Flexprice
Architecture	Real-time, end-to-end	Real-time orchestration over downstream billing	Invoice-based	Invoice-based	Hybrid (invoice-based primary)
Usage authorization	Pre-usage	Pre-usage entitlement; billing post-usage downstream	Post-usage	Post-usage	Post-usage
Wallet architecture	First-class primitive	First-class (orchestration over downstream)	Add-on (credits-on-invoice)	Add-on (up to 5 wallets per customer)	First-class primitive
Multi-asset support	Native (USD, tokens, GPU hours, custom)	USD-with-labels	USD-with-labels	USD-with-labels	USD-with-labels
Open source	No	No	No	Yes (AGPLv3 core)	Yes (AGPLv3 core)
Customer portal	Drop-in, branded, self-service top-up	Embeddable React, JavaScript, and Vue widgets	Pre-authenticated, no self-service top-up	Premium-tier feature; pre-authenticated	Drop-in, read-only
Auto top-up	Customer-controlled or platform-triggered	Platform-configured	Platform-configured	Platform-configured	Platform-configured
Pricing transparency	Public ($1 per Monthly Active Wallet)	Public ($448/mo Growth floor)	Sales-led, not public	Sales-led on cloud tiers	Public ($500/$1,000 per month)

Why look for an alternative to Stripe Billing

Stripe Billing covers the subscription stack well. Subscriptions, hosted invoices, quotes, customer portals, ASC 606 revenue recognition, 135+ currencies, and a deep ecosystem of integrations all live on one platform. For SaaS where the cost of serving a customer is roughly stable per seat, that bundle is hard to beat.

The architectural mismatch shows up when revenue moves to a real-time cost base. Stripe Billing accumulates usage during a cycle and produces an invoice at cycle end. There is no real-time wallet debit primitive, no first-class custom asset for tokens or GPU hours, and the hosted Customer Portal is invoice-centric, with no self-service balance display or top-up flow.

For a team running AI inference where every API call has direct infrastructure cost, the lag between the request and the invoice is itself the risk. If a customer burns $500 of GPU inference over a weekend and the team finds out Monday morning, the invoice is already underwater. The architectural fork determines whether the team fronts customer costs for the cycle or bills as usage occurs.

Stripe acknowledged the gap. The acquisition of Metronome closed January 14, 2026 (Stripe newsroom), bringing Metronome's metering and enterprise-contract platform under Stripe Billing. The integration is still in flight as of April 2026, with shared contracts, hierarchical accounts, and seat-based credits on the public roadmap but no dated GA milestones. The gap exists today.

The five tools

The five alternatives below split on architecture: Credyt and Stigg authorize usage in real time before costs are incurred, while Orb, Lago, and Flexprice capture usage events and reconcile them into an invoice at billing cycle end.

1. Credyt

Real-time monetization infrastructure for AI products with variable per-inference, per-token, or per-request costs. Credyt runs as the billing system end-to-end, or sits alongside an existing subscription tool like Stripe Billing as the real-time control layer for usage. The platform checks the customer's balance before each AI action runs, then the usage is submitted, priced and debited from the balance in one atomic operation.

Best for: Real-time billing for AI products with variable, per-request infrastructure costs.

Pricing: $0 to start (10 free wallets). $1 per Monthly Active Wallet in production. First 1M events per month free. No revenue percentage. No markup on Stripe fees.

Strengths:

• Per-usage authorization. The platform queries the customer's balance before the AI action runs, giving it the real-time balance state to enforce spend limits before costs are incurred.
• Multi-asset balances. USD, tokens, GPU hours, and custom units held in a single customer wallet.
• Drop-in branded customer portal with customer-controlled or platform-triggered auto top-up.

Trade-offs:

• Designed for prepaid wallet and real-time billing models. Not the right fit for post-pay enterprise billing with quarterly contract reconciliation.
• Smaller partner ecosystem and brand recognition than Stripe Billing.

2. Stigg

Monetization control layer that sits between a product and an existing billing system (Stripe, Zuora, Chargebee). Stigg orchestrates real-time entitlements and credit consumption while invoicing settles downstream at cycle end.

Best for: Real-time entitlements and credit orchestration on top of Stripe, Zuora, or Chargebee.

Pricing: Sandbox $0 (non-production only). Growth from $448/month billed annually, with $0.32 per self-service or $0.47 per enterprise subscription and $32 per platform seat. Scale custom.

Strengths:

• Entitlement Check API gates feature access in real time with documented sub-100ms P95 latency.
• No-code pricing console for non-engineers. Draft and publish plan versioning lets pricing changes ship without code deploys.
• Billing-system agnostic. Orchestrates Stripe, Zuora, Chargebee, AWS Marketplace, and Apple App Store.

Trade-offs:

• Real-time for entitlements but cycle-end for billing. Payment collection and invoicing run downstream through the connected billing system.
• Growth plan has a $448/month contract minimum, even when per-unit costs come in lower.

3. Orb

Revenue platform for software companies with high-volume usage events and complex pricing models, including AI products with token-based or per-action pricing. Customers include Vercel, Replit, Supabase, Redis, and LaunchDarkly.

Best for: High-volume enterprise invoice-based usage billing with custom SQL metrics.

Pricing: Not publicly listed. Third-party analysis estimates around $720/month at small scale; Orb requires a sales conversation to confirm.

Strengths:

• Custom SQL metrics for complex aggregation logic, no bespoke engineering required.
• Pricing simulation against historical usage before deploying changes.
• Hosted rollups designed to process millions of events per second; deep finance integrations with NetSuite, Salesforce, and data warehouses.

Trade-offs:

• Post-usage invoicing model. Usage accumulates and is invoiced at cycle end.
• Pricing requires a sales conversation. No public price list as of April 2026.

4. Lago

Open-source billing platform under AGPLv3, with named AI infrastructure customers including Mistral AI, Groq, Synthesia, and Arcee AI. Covers subscriptions, usage-based billing, prepaid credits, coupons, and entitlements; self-hostable core.

Best for: Open-source, self-hostable invoice-based billing for engineering-led teams.

Pricing: Self-hosted AGPLv3 core is free (no license cost). Cloud Business and Enterprise tiers both require sales contact.

Strengths:

• AGPLv3 core. Forkable, self-hostable, auditable. 9,500+ GitHub stars.
• Supports subscriptions, usage-based, prepaid credits, coupons, and entitlements out of the box.
• SOC 2 Type II certified. Native connectors for Stripe, Adyen, GoCardless, Salesforce, NetSuite, and Xero.

Trade-offs:

• Customer portal, credit notes and refunds, automatic dunning, tax integrations, and email invoices are gated behind paid tiers.
• No pre-usage authorization primitive at any tier; wallet balance updates at invoice finalization, not on event ingestion.

5. Flexprice

Open-source AGPLv3 usage-based billing platform for small SaaS and early-stage AI teams adopting metered or hybrid pricing for the first time.

Best for: Hybrid billing for early-stage SaaS adopting usage-based pricing for the first time.

Pricing: Free trial tier (3 months, 100k events). Starter $500/month for 10M events ($400/month annually). Premium $1,000/month for 25M events ($800/month annually). Enterprise custom.

Strengths:

• Open-source AGPLv3 core. Self-hostable on Docker Compose or AWS ECS/EKS.
• No-code pricing dashboard. Non-engineers change pricing without deployments.
• Wallet primitives with auto top-up, low-balance alerts, and promotional credit grants.

Trade-offs:

• Usage-based wallet debit is invoice-driven, not event-driven. Charges accumulate and debit on invoice payment, not as events arrive.
• Customer portal is read-only. Auto top-up is merchant-controlled, not customer self-service.

How to choose

If you bill per AI inference, per token, or per request and need to authorize spend before usage occurs: Credyt is the pick. The platform queries the customer's balance before usage occurs, giving it the real-time state to block the action before the cost is incurred.

If you use Zuora or Chargebee, or need product-level feature gating and entitlements alongside credit logic: go with Stigg. It orchestrates entitlements in real time and lets billing settle downstream through the connected system.

If you have an enterprise sales motion with multi-year contracts, custom SQL pricing, and millions of usage events per second: Orb fits this profile. The platform is purpose-built for high-volume invoice-based billing with deep finance integrations.

If your team needs to self-host billing infrastructure for compliance, data residency, or vendor lock-in reasons: Lago is the right call. The AGPLv3 core runs on your own infrastructure, with a sizable community and SOC 2 Type II certification on the cloud tier.

If you are an early-stage SaaS team adopting usage-based pricing for the first time and want a no-code pricing dashboard: Flexprice. It targets teams moving from flat subscriptions to metered billing without dedicated billing engineering.

Bottom line

The five tools cover the full architectural map: real-time end-to-end (Credyt), real-time orchestration over downstream billing (Stigg), invoice-based at enterprise scale (Orb), invoice-based open-source (Lago), and hybrid for early-stage teams (Flexprice). Stripe Billing and the in-flight Metronome integration handle subscription billing well; the architectural mismatch shows up when every inference, every token, or every GPU-second has direct infrastructure cost.

FAQ

What is the difference between invoice-based and real-time billing?

Invoice-based platforms capture usage events during a cycle and reconcile them into an invoice at cycle end. Real-time platforms give the platform real-time balance state to authorize usage before the cost is incurred. Once the platform allows the action, the usage is recorded and the customer's balance is debited in a single atomic operation. The difference matters most for products with variable infrastructure cost per request, where the lag between usage and billing is itself the risk.

Why is Stripe Billing not enough for AI products?

Stripe Billing is subscription-first and invoice-based. It does not authorize and bill against a customer balance in real time, has no first-class custom asset for tokens or GPU hours, and its hosted Customer Portal is invoice-centric, with no self-service top-up. Stripe acquired Metronome in January 2026 to add metering and enterprise-contract capabilities; the integration is still in flight as of April 2026.

Can Stigg replace Stripe Billing?

Stigg is not a replacement for Stripe Billing. It sits on top of an existing billing system (Stripe, Zuora, Chargebee) and orchestrates entitlements, credits, and pricing changes in real time. Payment collection and invoicing still run through the connected system at cycle end.

Is Lago really free?

The AGPLv3 self-hosted core is free to run. The customer portal, credit notes and refunds, automatic dunning, tax integrations, CRM and accounting connectors, and email invoices are all premium-tier features. A like-for-like comparison against a platform that bundles those features should account for the cost of Lago's commercial cloud tier or additional engineering.