August 2026 Summaries

Lago is an open-source billing infrastructure option that offers flexibility for businesses emphasizing vendor independence, enabling them to manage where billing data resides through various deployment models like self-hosted and cloud options. However, as companies grow, the responsibility of managing a self-hosted billing stack can become burdensome, prompting many to seek alternatives that provide managed infrastructure and enterprise-grade pricing execution. This guide evaluates seven alternatives, with emphasis on usage-based billing maturity and financial operations readiness. Orb emerges as a notable contender, offering SQL-based billable metrics, pricing simulations, and a robust managed infrastructure capable of handling high event throughput. Its platform supports complex pricing models and boasts integrations with finance systems like NetSuite, accommodating diverse billing needs and demonstrating significant customer success in reducing billing setup times and enhancing revenue growth. Orb's built-in pricing simulations and enterprise-scale metering position it as a comprehensive solution for organizations seeking to transition from self-managed to managed billing systems, particularly for AI companies and API providers handling large volumes of transactions.

Usage-based billing is rapidly becoming a dominant revenue model across various industries, including telecom, utilities, finance, healthcare, and particularly SaaS, as it aligns charges with actual customer consumption, offering flexibility and expansion potential. A report projects the cross-industry usage-based billing market to grow from $9.4 billion in 2025 to $28.6 billion by 2034, with SaaS adoption surpassing 59% by 2025. The hybrid billing model, combining fixed subscriptions with usage-based components, shows the highest growth potential, with companies reporting a median growth rate of 21%. Cloud-based billing solutions are favored for their faster implementation and lower overhead, capturing 67.8% of the market revenue in 2025. Large enterprises contribute significantly to market revenue, emphasizing the need for robust billing infrastructure that can handle metering, invoicing, and reconciliation, as well as offer transparency and accuracy in billing processes. Despite the challenges of transitioning to a usage-based model, companies like Vercel and Stytch have successfully reduced billing-related engineering time and operational inefficiencies through specialized billing platforms like Orb, which supports metering accuracy and financial compliance.

Stripe Billing is a useful tool for companies reaching their initial millions in annual recurring revenue (ARR), but its limitations become evident as pricing models grow more complex. Companies often experience bottlenecks in engineering, finance, and sales due to Stripe Billing's constraints in handling advanced pricing structures. Instead of replacing Stripe Payments, many modern SaaS companies are opting to upgrade their billing systems with specialized usage-based billing engines like Orb, which offer greater flexibility in pricing models and revenue operations. This approach allows companies to retain their existing payment-processing setup while gaining the ability to manage complex pricing models, usage metering, and operational workflows. Orb's migration guidance emphasizes the retention of customer records, tax configurations, and payment methods, ensuring a seamless transition without requiring customers to re-enter payment details. Despite Stripe Billing's limitations, it remains a convenient option for companies with straightforward pricing needs, but for those experiencing operational friction, transitioning to a dedicated billing platform can streamline processes, reduce engineering dependencies, and support dynamic pricing strategies.