KeenVerdict

Review · Finance & accounting

Lago review

Open-source usage-based billing platform for metering, credits and invoicing, available self-hosted or as Lago Cloud.

By the KeenVerdict research desk · Updated November 9, 2026

Features (40%)
8.4
Ease of use (30%)
7.4
Value (30%)
8.6

Lago is a billing platform built around usage metering, and its core is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license on GitHub. You can run it on Lago Cloud or self-host it in your own cloud or on premises. It meters tokens, compute, API calls or any product event through billable metrics, then turns usage into plans, prepaid credits, entitlements and invoices. The Premium feature list adds real-time usage and wallet alerts, plan overrides for a client, a customer portal, multiple billing entities, grace periods, an invoice preview endpoint, a built-in analytics dashboard, an AI billing assistant and an MCP server. Some items, including progressive billing, tax integrations and automatic dunning, are listed as add-ons available on demand. Lago lists Mistral AI, Groq and PayPal among its users. Premium and Cloud prices are not published, so you need a demo for a quote, and teams that self-host take on running the service themselves.

Who it is for

Engineering-led and AI companies that want to meter usage at scale and keep the option to self-host billing.

Price

See vendor pricing (USD check pending).

US price check pending. See the vendor pricing page.

Key features

  • Billable metrics and usage ingestion for tokens, compute and API calls
  • Prepaid credits, wallet alerts and real-time usage alerts
  • Entitlements, plan overrides and a customer portal
  • Invoice generation, credit notes and grace periods
  • MCP server and Lago CLI for managing billing from agents or a terminal

Strengths and weaknesses

  • Strength: Core code is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Strength: Choose Lago Cloud or self-host in your own cloud
  • Strength: SOC 2 Type II certified
  • Weakness: Premium and Cloud pricing is not published
  • Weakness: Automatic dunning and tax integrations are add-ons
  • Weakness: Self-hosting needs engineering time to run and update

Key facts

  • License: AGPL-3.0 open source
  • Deployment: Lago Cloud or self-hosted
  • Security: SOC 2 Type II

Where it ranks

Lago is No. 6 in our Best Subscription Billing Software verdict.

Alternatives we scored

Visit getlago.com · Questions or corrections: editorial@keenverdict.com