At a Glance:
Lago is an open-source billing platform for usage-based, subscription-based, and hybrid pricing models that provides metering, invoicing, entitlements, and multi-gateway payment orchestration through a self-hostable, API-first architecture.
Overview:
Lago is an AI-native billing platform designed for product-led companies that need to manage metering, billing, and revenue infrastructure. It supports usage-based, subscription-based, and hybrid pricing models through a self-hostable open-source deployment or via Lago Cloud. The platform is payment-agnostic, integrating with Stripe, Adyen, GoCardless, or any payment gateway, and exposes every feature through a REST API. Lago is SOC 2 Type II certified and includes capabilities for automated invoicing, feature entitlements tied to billing plans, cash collection workflows, and white-label embedded billing for platforms and marketplaces.
Key Decision Points:
Self-hosted or cloud deployment: Lago can be self-hosted for direct data control or used through Lago Cloud to eliminate infrastructure management.
Payment gateway flexibility: The platform is payment-agnostic and works with Stripe, Adyen, GoCardless, or any payment gateway, avoiding vendor lock-in at the payment layer.
API-first design: All features are accessible through a REST API, with official client libraries available for Node.js, Python, Ruby, and Go, plus a full OpenAPI specification.
SOC 2 Type II certified: The platform has completed SOC 2 Type II certification, relevant for teams with compliance requirements.
Analytics tracking note: Self-hosted instances track basic actions by default without collecting customer PII or financial data, with an available opt-out.
Core Features:
Usage Metering: Real-time event ingestion and aggregation across any pricing dimension to support usage-based billing.
Billing & Invoicing: Automated invoice generation covering subscriptions, usage-based charges, and hybrid pricing plans.
Entitlements: Feature access management linked directly to billing plans, controlling what customers can access based on their subscription.
Cash Collection: Payment orchestration with built-in dunning, retry logic, and support for multiple payment gateways.
Lago Embedded: White-label billing capabilities for platforms and marketplaces that need to offer billing to their own customers.
Lago AI: AI-powered billing intelligence and an MCP server designed for integration with AI agents.
Use Cases:
Product-led companies implementing usage-based or hybrid pricing models that need to meter customer events in real time and automate billing.
Platforms and marketplaces that require white-label embedded billing to offer native invoicing and payment experiences.
Developers building or migrating billing systems who need an API-first, payment-agnostic infrastructure they can self-host or consume as a cloud service.
Open-Source Alternative Value:
Lago provides a self-hostable billing platform where the source code is transparent and the architecture is built API-first and payment-agnostic. Self-hosters maintain control over their billing data and deployment, while users who prefer managed infrastructure can use Lago Cloud. The platform's SOC 2 Type II certification and official client libraries across multiple languages lower the barrier for teams evaluating open-source billing infrastructure that must integrate with existing payment gateways and ERP systems like NetSuite and Xero without being locked into a single provider.
