Overview
Usage-based billing allows you to charge customers based on their actual consumption of your product or service, rather than a fixed subscription fee. This flexible pricing model is ideal for SaaS platforms, APIs, cloud services, and any business where customer value correlates directly with usage.Key Capabilities
With Dodo Payments’ usage-based billing, you can:Track Any Metric
Monitor API calls, storage usage, compute time, or custom events with flexible data collection.
Flexible Aggregation
Count events, sum values, find maximums, or track unique occurrences using configurable meters.
Real-time Metering
Capture usage data instantly as events occur for accurate, up-to-the-minute billing calculations.
Advanced Filtering
Apply conditions to determine which events should be metered based on your business logic.
Accurate Billing
Generate invoices based on actual consumption with transparent usage reports and detailed breakdowns.
Automated Processing
Automatically process usage events and apply pricing rules without manual intervention.
Core Components
The usage-based billing system consists of several interconnected components:Events
Real-time data points that capture when usage occurs in your application. Each event contains metadata about the usage activity.
Meters
Configuration rules that define how events are aggregated, filtered, and measured for billing purposes.
Products
Billing entities that link meters to pricing rules, determining how usage translates to charges.
Data Flow
The billing process follows this sequence:- Event Generation: Your application sends usage events to Dodo Payments
- Event Processing: Events are validated and routed to appropriate meters
- Aggregation: Meters calculate usage totals based on configured rules
- Billing: Usage totals are converted to charges using product pricing
- Invoicing: Charges are included in customer invoices for the billing period
Integration guide
Complete Integration Guide
Learn how to implement usage-based billing with step-by-step instructions for creating meters, linking products, and sending usage events.