Lago

What Lago does

Lago converts product activity and pricing rules into invoices for customers. Its billing models include consumption, recurring subscriptions, prepaid credits, usage allowances and combinations of these, with recurring invoices, reminders, receipts, credit notes and invoice previews.

Separate metering is available for AI input, output and cached tokens, with those measurements attributed to individual customers. Lago says its audience includes engineering, product, finance and operations groups, along with AI companies and global enterprises.

Fees and plans

The Open Source offering has no charge and remains free. Included capabilities cover usage metering, price plans, coupons, add-ons, invoicing, prepaid credits and billing integrations. A separate self-hosted open-source option is also free and uses the AGPLv3 licence for deployment on your infrastructure.

Lago Premium is quoted on request. It is offered as cloud or self-hosted deployment with custom plans, a customer portal, progressive billing, analytics, AI assistants, MCP, role-based access controls and support. Another Premium listing is billed on demand. Lago notes that certain features or services may be add-ons or subject to caps, including billing entities and data-pipeline volume.

There is no free trial listed.

Where it runs

Users can work with Lago through its web interface or REST API. Official JavaScript, Python, Ruby and Go SDKs, signed webhooks, a public OpenAPI specification and the Lago CLI provide additional integration and management methods.

Lago supports deployment on premises, in a VPC or in another customer-controlled environment. Its Docker instructions call for Docker, Docker Compose and Git.

Protection, as Lago describes it

Lago says it holds SOC 2 Type II certification and undergoes recurring third-party penetration testing. Premium security features include single sign-on, role-based access controls, security logs and API or activity audit logs.

The available description does not specify a financial licence, deposit protection, two-factor sign-in or a dispute process. Premium support covers platform assistance, business-hours incident handling and implementation guidance; 24x7 incident management and a designated solution engineer are offered as on-demand add-ons.

Strengths

One Lago platform handles usage-based, subscription, prepaid and hybrid charging. It generates itemized invoices, handles credits and quotas, and provides revenue, MRR, usage, credit and invoice reporting by month, plan or customer.

Connections listed by Lago include payment providers such as Stripe, Adyen, GoCardless and MoneyHash; accounting and tax systems including NetSuite, Xero, Anrok and Avalara; and CRM or data services such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Airbyte and Segment.

Catches and limits

Premium rates are supplied only after contacting Lago. The company also notes that some features and services can be add-ons or capped, including billing entities and data-pipeline volume, so the proposed configuration should be confirmed.

Running Lago yourself shifts deployment responsibilities to the customer and requires Docker, Docker Compose and Git.

Who should skip Lago

Lago may be a poor match for someone seeking a fixed-price hosted billing product or a simple setup without technical deployment work.

Organizations that do not want to operate Docker-based infrastructure may prefer a managed alternative. Subscription billing software provides another comparison point.

Verdict

Lago is aimed at technical and finance teams requiring usage, subscription, prepaid or hybrid billing with open-source code, API connectivity and self-hosting options. Its free offerings cover the core open-source and self-hosted products, while Premium adds controls, support and broader services for a quoted fee.

It may be less suitable for buyers who require a publicly posted Premium rate or a straightforward hosted-only arrangement. Deployment work, feature caps and possible add-ons should be reviewed before selecting a plan.

Questions