Who Lago is for#
SaaS teams with usage pricing
Lago fits products that bill by seats, events, credits, usage tiers, or hybrid models where simple recurring plans are not enough.
Skip if:
Skip if your pricing is a single flat monthly subscription handled cleanly by your payment processor.
Platforms needing billing ownership
Use it when billing data, entitlement decisions, and payment routing need to stay inspectable and portable.
Skip if:
Skip if finance operations require a fully managed enterprise billing suite first.
The problem it solves#
Billing becomes risky when product usage, plan entitlements, invoices, payment providers, and revenue reporting all live in separate systems. Teams either build billing logic into application code or accept proprietary workflows that are hard to inspect when money, taxes, and customer access are on the line.
How it solves it#
Usage and subscription billing
Supports usage-based, subscription-based, and hybrid pricing models with real-time event ingestion and aggregation.
Payment-agnostic architecture
Works with Stripe, Adyen, GoCardless, or another gateway instead of forcing one payment processor.
Entitlements and revenue workflows
Connects feature access, invoicing, cash collection, revenue analytics, embedded billing, and integrations around one billing platform.
Strengths and trade-offs#
Strengths
- Billing logic you can inspectLago gives teams source access for billing workflows that are often trapped inside a proprietary billing vendor.
- API-first billing operationsThe README states every feature is available through the REST API, which fits product-led billing automation.
Trade-offs
- -Billing infrastructure demands careRunning billing yourself means you own uptime, data accuracy, invoice testing, and payment-provider integration behavior. A managed billing vendor may reduce operational load.
Lago vs alternatives#
What it's built on#
- Languages
- GoRuby
- Frameworks
- React
FAQ#
What is Lago used for?
Lago is used for metering, billing, invoicing, entitlements, cash collection, and revenue workflows for SaaS pricing models.
Is Lago open source?
Yes. Lago is positioned as an open source billing platform, and the repository is AGPL-3.0 licensed.
Can Lago replace Stripe Billing?
Lago can replace or sit beside Stripe Billing when you need more control over usage metering, entitlements, and multi-gateway billing. Stripe Billing may be simpler for basic subscription plans.
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