Top 10 Usage Billing Platforms for 2025

Executive Summary: The Explosive Growth of Usage-Based Billing

Usage-based and hybrid pricing have moved from "interesting experiment" to default strategy for modern SaaS.

Analysts at 360iResearch estimate the broader recurring and cloud billing software market at roughly USD 6–7 billion around 2024–2025, with forecasts in the USD 13–15+ billion range by the early 2030s, and CAGRs in the high single to low double digits, depending on segment and methodology. Across reports, the common signal is clear: usage-based and hybrid billing are growing fast.

Recent research highlights that:

• 77% of the largest software companies now incorporate some form of consumption-based pricing into their revenue models.
• 67% of SaaS companies now leverage usage and consumption-based pricing, up from 52% in 2022.
• Hybrid pricing (subscription + usage) delivers ~21% median revenue growth, outperforming pure subscription or pure usage models.

Put simply: subscription + usage is now the gold standard.

For B2B SaaS companies, the choice of usage billing platform will determine whether this shift drives growth—or results in revenue leakage, manual billing chaos, and unhappy customers.

Want to see how LedgerUp can help with your usage? Book a LedgerUp Demo

Why Subscription + Usage Billing Is Taking Over SaaS in 2025

Traditional flat-rate pricing struggles to keep up with:

• AI workloads and GPU usage – Variable consumption that can spike 10–100x
• API-driven consumption patterns – Usage that scales with customer success
• Spiky, customer-driven demand – Unpredictable peaks that break fixed pricing
• Modern buyer expectations – Pay for value received, not seats collecting dust

Modern customers expect to pay for what they actually use, with predictable guardrails—not opaque overages or one-size-fits-all tiers.

Research on pricing and growth repeatedly shows that hybrid pricing:

• Anchors revenue with a predictable subscription base
• Captures upside with usage-based overages and add-ons
• Lowers the barrier to entry for smaller customers
• Aligns cost to value, reducing churn and billing disputes

The challenge isn't the strategy; it's the execution. Implementing hybrid pricing across contracts, product usage data, invoices, collections, and revenue recognition is where most teams struggle.

That's where the right usage billing platform matters.

The 10 Best Usage Billing Platforms for 2025

Below are the 10 best usage and consumption-based billing platforms for 2025. If you're a B2B SaaS company running subscription + usage, the best overall choice is LedgerUp, thanks to its AI-powered contract-to-cash automation and deep support for complex contracts.

1. LedgerUp – The AI-Powered Contract-to-Cash Platform Built for Subscription + Usage

Positioning: LedgerUp is the only platform on this list built explicitly to automate contract-to-cash for hybrid (subscription + usage) SaaS, not just metering or invoicing. It's designed for finance, RevOps, and legal teams that are drowning in complex contracts and manual processes. As a Y Combinator-backed company, LedgerUp has proven its value with fast-growing startups and scale-ups.

Why LedgerUp Is Different

Most billing tools either:

• Start from developer-first metering (Metronome, Orb, m3ter), or
• Start from subscription-first billing (Chargebee, Zuora, Stripe Billing)

LedgerUp starts from where your revenue actually lives: signed contracts.

Its AI assistant, Ari, works directly inside Slack to:

• Ingest and interpret complex contracts
• Extract pricing terms, including multi-tier usage, overages, and ramp schedules
• Configure billing rules without endless spreadsheets or custom scripts
• Generate invoices that blend subscription + usage charges accurately
• Orchestrate intelligent collections and support revenue recognition workflows

Instead of forcing ops teams to manually translate contract PDFs into billing configs, LedgerUp turns contract language into executable logic.

Deep Contract Intelligence = No More Revenue Leakage

Multiple studies suggest that 3–7% of top-line revenue is commonly lost to revenue leakage from misapplied discounts, missed overages, and incorrect implementation of bespoke terms.

LedgerUp is built specifically to eliminate this by automatically extracting and honoring terms like:

• Progressive tiered usage pricing (e.g., first 1,000 API calls at $0.001, next 9,000 at $0.0008)
• Volume discounts and commit-based discounts
• Overage fees and penalties
• Base subscription fees with included usage allowances
• Mid-term changes, expansions, and true-ups
• Scheduled escalators and complex price increase schedules
• Multi-year ramps with graduated pricing
• Usage pooling across teams, entities, or products

Because billing logic is derived from the contract itself, finance doesn't have to babysit the system to prevent leakage.

Seamless Integration with Your Existing Stack

LedgerUp connects in minutes, not months, to the tools you already use:

• CRM Systems: Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive (bi-directional sync for contract and customer data)
• Payment Processors: Stripe, Braintree, Adyen (maintains your existing payment relationships)
• Accounting/ERP: QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct (automated journal entries and reconciliation)
• Data Infrastructure: Snowflake, BigQuery, Postgres (direct usage data ingestion)
• Communication: Slack (where Ari operates natively), Microsoft Teams

This means you keep your systems of record intact while gaining complete automation—no rip-and-replace required.

Purpose-Built for Subscription + Usage Automation

LedgerUp directly addresses the hardest parts of hybrid billing:

• Unified invoicing: Subscription fees and usage-based charges appear on one clear invoice, with line-item transparency.
• Real-time usage capture: Integrates with your product to meter events in real time, so no billable activity goes missing.
• Tier and discount logic: Handles volume and graduated tiers, pooling, and resets automatically—even across multiple products or entities.
• Proactive alerts: Notifies customers as they approach usage thresholds to prevent bill shock and reduce disputes.
• Multi-entity and multi-currency: Built for companies with subsidiaries, regions, or multiple product lines that still want consolidated reporting.
• Predictive analytics: Uses AI to forecast usage patterns and cash flow based on historical behavior and current trends, giving finance a much clearer view of what's coming.

End-to-End Leakage Prevention

Research on involuntary churn and failed payments shows that subscription businesses can lose around 9% of MRR to payment failures and involuntary churn if they don't manage it actively.

LedgerUp plugs every major leak in a modern SaaS revenue engine:

• Missed usage: Real-time metering and deduplication ensure all billable events are captured.
• Contract vs billing drift: AI continuously validates that what customers are billed matches what they signed.
• Failed payments & involuntary churn: Smart dunning scenarios and multi-attempt payment flows help recover revenue that traditional "send one reminder email" approaches leave on the table.
• Escalators and ramps: Scheduled price increases, ramps, and pre-negotiated allowances are applied automatically—no calendar reminders or manual updates required.

Implementation Speed: Weeks, Not Quarters

Enterprise billing projects often drag on for multiple quarters, especially with heavyweight platforms that require extensive consulting projects.

LedgerUp is designed for mid-market and modern enterprise teams that can't afford a year-long rollout.

A typical deployment pattern:

• Week 1: Connect CRM, product usage data, and accounting/ERP.
• Week 2: Configure pricing models, usage metrics, and billing rules based on your actual contracts.
• Week 3: Run parallel billing for validation, train teams on Ari in Slack, then cut over to production.

The result: a fully automated contract-to-cash workflow—not just a demo integration—delivered in weeks, not quarters.

Built for Real-World SaaS Complexity

LedgerUp natively handles messy, real-world scenarios that break many legacy tools:

• Base fee + multiple usage metrics per contract
• Mid-cycle upgrades and downgrades with accurate proration
• Usage pooling across teams, business units, or SKUs
• Multi-year ramps and expansion motions
• Custom value metrics tied to your product
• Multi-currency, multi-entity invoicing and reporting
• Hybrid contracts with seat minimums plus consumption overages
• Complex enterprise agreements with periodic true-ups and reconciliation

Proven Results: The HappyRobot Case Study

HappyRobot, a YC-backed AI company, deployed LedgerUp and within 30 days:

• Eliminated 100% of invoice errors (previously a constant source of customer disputes)
• Recovered $72.5k in previously unbilled overages (revenue that was simply being missed)
• Avoided the $150k+ annual cost of hiring a full-time billing engineer
• Reduced billing operations from 15 hours/week to <15 minutes/week

As their team puts it: "Ari is our new best friend."

Business Impact (What Customers Typically See)

While exact results vary by business, LedgerUp users commonly report:

• Recovery of 3–7%+ in previously leaked revenue
• Meaningful reduction in DSO from smarter invoicing and collections
• Drastic reduction in manual billing tasks (often 90%+), freeing finance and RevOps headcount
• Significant improvements in invoice accuracy, which reduces disputes and speeds collections
• Multiple FTEs worth of work freed up for strategic projects instead of billing operations
• Fast payback periods, sometimes within the first few billing cycles through leakage recovery alone

Pricing: Transparent, usage-based pricing that scales with your volume. No opaque implementation retainers or "you must hire our consultants" tax.

Best For: B2B SaaS with subscription + usage, complex contracts, and serious intent to stop revenue leakage and scale without adding a finance army. Trusted by YC-backed startups and growth-stage SaaS companies.

2. Metronome – Infrastructure for Modern Monetization

Metronome is a usage-based billing platform that powers some of the most recognizable AI and infrastructure companies, including OpenAI, Databricks, and NVIDIA. It focuses on giving product-led and sales-led organizations flexible infrastructure to launch and iterate complex pricing models.

Key strengths:

• Handles multi-dimensional, high-volume usage billing across complex enterprise deals
• Decouples metering from pricing so you can iterate pricing without rewriting pipelines
• Strong enterprise credibility with large AI and infra customers
• Designed for both self-serve and contract-heavy motions

Limitations:Metronome is developer- and infra-centric. You still need surrounding finance/RevOps workflows, contract ingestion, and collections processes. Expect a serious implementation effort and engineering involvement.

Best For: High-growth infrastructure and AI companies that need flexible, high-scale usage billing infrastructure and have engineering and RevOps resources to implement it.

3. Orb – Developer-First Usage Billing Platform

Orb brands itself as a platform for "revenue design in the AI era", with a strong focus on developer ergonomics, real-time metering, and flexible pricing models. The team has deep billing infrastructure experience from companies like Stripe and Asana.

Key strengths:

• Real-time usage ingestion with robust event handling
• Flexible support for tiered, volume, and package pricing
• SQL-like and API-driven configuration that appeals to engineering teams
• Good documentation and educational content for teams new to usage-based billing
• SDKs for popular languages like Python, TypeScript, Go, and Ruby

Limitations:Orb is primarily about metering + rating. It doesn't attempt full contract-to-cash or deep contract parsing, so finance and legal teams still carry more manual overhead than with LedgerUp.

Best For: Engineering-led SaaS and GenAI companies that want to own metering and pricing logic and integrate it tightly into their stack.

4. m3ter – Pricing Operations and Usage Metering Infrastructure

m3ter positions itself as a pricing operations platform that sits between CRM and ERP, providing data infrastructure for usage-based billing and hybrid pricing.

Key strengths:

• Strong metering and rating capabilities for complex B2B SaaS
• Integration layer that syncs contract, usage, and billing data across your stack
• Built to shorten billing cycles and reduce revenue loss from manual processes
• Well-suited to companies running multiple complex pricing experiments

Limitations:Like Orb and Metronome, m3ter focuses on infrastructure. You still need another layer to handle contracts, collections, and end-to-end RevOps, which is where LedgerUp differentiates.

Best For: Mid-size to large B2B SaaS that want a powerful usage data and pricing engine underpinning their monetization strategy.

5. Stripe Billing – Payment-Native Billing With Usage Support

Stripe Billing extends Stripe's payment rails with subscriptions and usage-based pricing. It's widely adopted and very familiar to developer teams.

Key strengths:

• Deep integration with Stripe Payments and global payment methods
• Supports per-unit and tiered usage pricing
• Strong developer tooling and documentation
• Ideal for early-stage products or straightforward usage billing

Limitations:

• Complex hybrid and B2B enterprise scenarios often require extensive custom webhooks and glue code, with many different event types to manage.
• Limited native support for contract intelligence, advanced revenue recognition, and multi-entity complexity.

Best For: Startups and simpler SaaS products already on Stripe that need straightforward usage billing without full-blown contract-to-cash.

6. Chargebee – Subscription Management With Usage Add-Ons

Chargebee started as a subscription billing leader and has added usage-based capabilities over time. It's a mature option for companies with strong subscription foundations.

Key strengths:

• Established subscription lifecycle and invoicing features
• Solid dunning, tax handling, and multi-currency support
• Customer self-service portal and entitlements
• Integrations across many common SaaS finance stacks

Limitations:

• Usage features feel like extensions rather than core DNA; complex metering often lives outside Chargebee.
• Implementation can be non-trivial for heavily customized pricing.
• Pricing tiers include a platform fee plus a percentage of billing volume, which can become expensive at scale.

Best For: SaaS businesses with subscription-heavy revenue that are layering on modest usage components.

7. Zuora – Enterprise Quote-to-Cash Platform

Zuora pioneered the "subscription economy" and remains a heavyweight for large enterprises. It now supports more sophisticated usage and hybrid models and has bolstered usage capabilities through acquisitions and integrations.

Key strengths:

• Comprehensive quote-to-cash capabilities for global enterprises
• Strong revenue recognition and compliance tooling
• Broad ecosystem and SI partner network
• Designed to support complex, multi-entity, multi-currency operations

Limitations:

• Implementations can take several quarters and often require certified consultants.
• Overkill for many mid-market B2B SaaS businesses that just need hybrid billing, not a full enterprise transformation.
• Enterprise pricing typically starts at a high annual commitment.

Best For: Large enterprises with complex global operations and big implementation budgets.

8. Maxio – SaaS Metrics Plus Billing

Maxio (Chargify + SaaSOptics) blends billing with deep SaaS metrics, forecasting, and revenue recognition. Its research is frequently cited in the context of pricing and usage-based billing.

Key strengths:

• Strong financial analytics and SaaS metrics (cohorts, retention, forecasts)
• ASC 606-compliant revenue recognition
• Integrated subscription billing and reporting
• Educational content around hybrid pricing and usage-based strategies

Limitations:

• Usage features are solid but not as specialized as pure-play usage billing platforms like Metronome or Orb.
• May be more complex than necessary for simpler pricing setups.

Best For: Finance-forward SaaS teams that want billing and analytics in one platform, with moderate usage complexity.

9. Lago – Open-Source Usage Billing

Lago is a modern open-source alternative to tools like Stripe Billing and Chargebee, with strong adoption among dev-first teams that want full control and no vendor lock-in.

Key strengths:

• Open-source, with the option to self-host and own the entire stack
• Modern architecture and flexible API
• Supports hybrid pricing, prepaid usage, and multi-tenant setups
• Attractive for teams wary of pure percentage-of-revenue SaaS pricing

Limitations:

• Advanced workflows often require DIY engineering and ongoing maintenance.
• You still need to build out reporting, collections flows, and some finance automation around it.

Best For: Engineering-first companies that want open, self-hostable billing infrastructure and have in-house resources to support it.

10. Paddle – Merchant of Record With Usage Support

Paddle operates as a Merchant of Record (MoR), handling global tax, compliance, and payment collection on your behalf, including usage-based models.

Key strengths:

• Offloads sales tax, VAT/GST compliance, and much of the payment risk
• Handles fraud, chargebacks, and some regulatory complexity
• Supports subscriptions with usage add-ons
• Attractive for smaller teams expanding globally

Limitations:

• MoR model trades flexibility for convenience; you get less fine-grained control than owning your own billing + payment stack.
• Effective transaction costs (percentage + per-transaction fees) can be higher than direct processors + a billing layer.

Best For: SaaS companies that prioritize outsourcing payment and tax complexity and have simpler hybrid pricing models.

Quick Comparison: Who's Best For What?

Critical Features for Subscription + Usage Success

Regardless of platform, you'll want to ensure support for:

Real-Time Usage Tracking

• Event-level metering with deduplication
• Support for multiple metrics per customer (seats, API calls, storage, compute, etc.)
• Reliable ingestion at scale (up to billions of events for high-volume products)

Flexible Pricing Configuration

• Progressive and graduated tiers
• Commit-based and volume discounts
• Included usage allowances with overage logic
• Support for multiple usage pools and sharing across entities

Automated Billing Operations

• Combined subscription + usage invoicing
• Accurate proration for mid-cycle changes
• Multi-currency billing and tax compliance
• Automated, auditable revenue recognition (ASC 606-friendly)

Customer Experience Features

• Self-service usage and billing dashboards
• Real-time alerts near usage thresholds
• Transparent invoice breakdowns
• Usage forecasts and budget controls

The Hidden Costs of Manual Usage Billing

Teams that try to run hybrid pricing in spreadsheets or generic tools typically experience:

• Revenue leakage: 3–7% of revenue lost to unbilled usage, incorrect discounts, and misconfigured contract terms
• Operational drag: 60+ hours per month of finance and RevOps time spent on billing-related tasks
• Customer dissatisfaction: Confusing invoices and bill shock, leading to higher churn and slower expansions
• Scaling limitations: Growth demands adding people just to keep billing functional
• Compliance risk: Manual revenue recognition and fragile audit trails

This is precisely the gap where LedgerUp's contract-to-cash automation delivers outsized ROI compared to pure metering or subscription tools.

Implementation Best Practices

1. Start With Clear Requirements

• Document every current and planned pricing model
• Map usage metrics to customer value and infrastructure cost
• Define billing cycles, invoice formats, and data sources
• Identify integration points with existing systems

2. Migrate Gradually

• Start with a subset of customers or a product line
• Run parallel billing for at least one cycle
• Validate contract terms vs invoices before fully cutting over
• Maintain old processes as a safety net initially

3. Over-Communicate With Customers

• Offer real-time usage visibility from day one
• Set up alerts for approaching usage thresholds
• Provide clear, line-item invoice explanations
• Create internal documentation for customer success and support teams

The Future of Usage-Based Billing

Looking beyond 2025, several trends will shape usage-based billing:

• AI-Driven Pricing: Dynamic pricing based on usage patterns, risk, and customer behavior
• Real-Time Everything: Instant usage tracking, rating, and billing cycles
• Embedded Billing: Usage billing embedded directly into product experiences
• Outcome-Based Models: Charging based on business results, not just raw consumption
• Cross-Product Usage Pools: Shared usage allowances across entire product suites

FAQ: Usage Billing Platforms in 2025

Which usage billing platform is best for B2B SaaS?

For B2B SaaS companies running subscription + usage with complex contracts, LedgerUp is uniquely positioned as a full contract-to-cash platform with AI-driven contract intelligence. If you primarily need infrastructure and are willing to build around it, Metronome, Orb, and m3ter are excellent metering and pricing engines. Stripe Billing, Chargebee, Zuora, Maxio, Lago, and Paddle each cover specific segments and use cases.

What is a usage billing platform?

A usage billing platform meters how customers use your product (events, seats, storage, compute, etc.), applies your pricing logic, and generates invoices accordingly. The best tools also handle subscriptions, discounts, revenue recognition, and collections.

What's the difference between subscription and usage-based billing?

• Subscription billing charges a fixed amount per period (e.g., per seat per month).
• Usage-based billing charges based on consumption (e.g., per API call, GB stored, minutes used).
• Hybrid pricing combines both, giving you predictable base revenue plus upside as usage grows.

How long does implementation typically take?

Implementation timeframes vary significantly by platform complexity and internal resources:

What causes revenue leakage in usage billing?

Common culprits include:

• Failed payments and lack of robust dunning
• Manual billing errors and spreadsheet-driven processes
• Unbilled usage due to metering gaps
• Disconnects across CRM, product usage data, and accounting
• Incorrect or incomplete implementation of contract terms

Conclusion: Why LedgerUp Leads in Subscription + Usage Billing

The shift to usage-based and hybrid billing models is no longer optional—it's essential for SaaS success. Companies using hybrid models (subscription + usage) are reporting some of the strongest median growth rates, outpacing pure subscription and pure usage strategies.

But executing hybrid pricing at scale requires more than a metering engine or subscription add-on. It demands:

• Contract intelligence, so every negotiated term makes it into billing
• Automation across the entire contract-to-cash lifecycle
• Revenue leakage prevention at every step—from usage capture to collections

That's exactly where LedgerUp stands apart.

Instead of bolting usage onto old subscription systems or asking engineers to build a billing platform from scratch, LedgerUp delivers a purpose-built, AI-driven contract-to-cash engine that:

• Automates complex subscription + usage deals
• Eliminates costly revenue leakage
• Frees finance and RevOps teams from manual billing work
• Scales with your product, customer base, and pricing experiments

While other platforms offer pieces of the usage billing puzzle, LedgerUp delivers the only complete contract-to-cash solution purpose-built for subscription + usage models. Its AI-powered automation, fast implementation, and comprehensive revenue leakage prevention make it the clear choice for B2B SaaS companies serious about growth.

If you're ready to implement usage billing that actually works—without drowning your team in spreadsheets and custom scripts—LedgerUp should be your starting point.

Ready to capture your full revenue potential?

Try LedgerUp Today to see how AI-powered contract-to-cash can transform your billing operations and help you capture every dollar you earn.

Note: Market data and statistics cited in this article are from industry research reports and vendor documentation as of 2025. Individual results may vary based on implementation and business model.