Lago review
A programmable billing platform for teams building usage-based, subscription, or hybrid pricing.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Lago is an open-source billing platform for companies with usage-based, subscription, prepaid, or hybrid pricing. It captures product usage, applies pricing rules, generates invoices, supports payment-provider integrations, and provides billing analytics and revenue reporting. Its REST API, SDKs, webhooks, and self-hosted deployment options make it primarily suited to engineering and finance teams building programmable billing workflows rather than businesses seeking a simple everyday invoicing tool.
The Open source plan costs 0 USD for self-hosted deployment and is AGPLv3-licensed. It includes the core billing infrastructure for metering, subscription and hybrid pricing plans, automated invoice generation, prepaid credits, wallet top-ups, customer self-service, analytics, APIs, tax integrations, and payment-provider connections. Lago Premium is available for cloud or self-hosted deployment, with pricing provided after contacting Lago. Automatic dunning is a Premium capability, making the plan distinction relevant for teams that need that workflow.
Lago connects with Stripe Payments, GoCardless, Adyen, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Anrok, and Salesforce, while its web, API, and self-hosted options support different deployment models. It does not process payments directly; instead, it connects to payment processors. That architecture suits developers building billing systems around external payment infrastructure, including products that need usage metering, programmable invoices, portals, tax integrations, or AI billing and finance assistants. Teams wanting straightforward invoicing without engineering-led billing infrastructure should consider a narrower invoicing product instead.
Lago pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Self-hosted open-source option with AGPLv3 licensing
- Supports metering, hybrid pricing, invoices, credits, and analytics
- REST API, SDKs, webhooks, tax integrations, and payment providers
- Where it doesn't
- Payment processing is handled through connected providers
- Premium pricing is provided only after contacting Lago
- Automatic dunning is available with Lago Premium
Lago fact sheet, pricing and score →
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