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Subscription Billing & RevRec · Rank #9 of 10

Lago

Open-source subscription billing for engineering-led teams.

By Getlago, Inc. · Founded 2021 · San Francisco, CA + Paris, France · private

Lago is the open-source subscription billing platform, founded 2021 (Y Combinator W22). The product is open-source (AGPLv3) and offered as both self-hosted (free) and Lago Cloud (managed). The architecture is engineered for usage-based and metered billing, Lago has become the reference choice for AI/ML companies and infrastructure SaaS that need first-class consumption-based pricing. Strengths: open-source AGPLv3 license (self-host option for engineering-led teams), strongest usage-based metering primitives in mid-market category, modern API and developer experience, founder-led with strong YC pedigree, and aggressive feature velocity. Best fit for engineering-led teams wanting code-level control over billing logic, AI/ML companies with consumption pricing, and infrastructure SaaS. Trade-offs: Thinner footprint than Chargebee/Stripe Billing, RevRec module less mature, customer support quality on the free tier minimal (paid tier reasonable), and ecosystem integration depth below Chargebee.

Visit Lago Vendor pricing Compare to Paddle
Best for

Engineering-led teams (AI/ML companies, infrastructure SaaS, API products) wanting code-level control over billing logic with strongest usage-based metering primitives in mid-market category.

Worst for

Non-technical finance teams wanting turnkey UX (Chargebee/Stripe Billing better), enterprises needing deepest RevRec (Maxio/Zuora better), or buyers wanting largest installed base.

Vendor Trust Score

Is Lago a trustworthy vendor?

8.4/10
High trust
Pricing transparency
Published rates; no hidden fees
9.0
Contract fairness
Reasonable terms; no auto-renew traps
8.5
Incident response
How they handle outages and breaches
7.5
Post-acquisition behavior
Customer treatment after M&A or PE
8.5
Executive stability
Leadership churn over 24 months
8.5
Roadmap honesty
Public commitments held
8.5
Trust signal log
  • 2022-03-22
    Y Combinator W22 batch; open-source positioning
    Open-source-first positioning maintained through subsequent funding rounds.
  • 2024-09-22
    Series A raised $22M led by FirstMark
    Open-source positioning maintained; AGPLv3 license preserved.
Vendor Trust is scored independently of product quality. A great product from an unfair vendor still earns a low trust score.
Review Intelligence

What 180 reviews actually say

Synthesized from G2, Capterra, Reddit, Trustpilot. Patterns >15% prevalence shown.

Last synthesized
2026-04-29

Praise patterns

  • Open-source AGPLv3 (self-host option)
    87% ↑
  • Strongest usage-based metering primitives
    78% ↑
  • Modern API and developer experience
    71% →

Complaint patterns

  • Narrower customer base than Chargebee/Stripe Billing
    41% →
  • RevRec module less mature
    38% →
  • Self-host adds operational burden
    31% →
Sentiment trend (6 months)
86/100 +2 pts
12
01
02
03
04
05
Patterns are extracted from review corpus and human-verified. We surface trends, not anecdotes.
Verified Pricing

What buyers actually pay

78 anonymized deal disclosures · last updated 2026-05-01

Contribute your deal price
Company size Median annual
$1M-$10M ARR (Cloud Pro) $12,000
$10M-$50M ARR (Cloud Enterprise) $48,000
Self-hosted (any size) $0
Verified pricing is crowdsourced from buyers under anonymity guarantees. Vendor-listed prices are validated against actual deals quarterly.
Compliance & Security

Auto-verified certifications

Verified 2026-05-01
SOC 2 Type II
ISO 27001
HIPAA
GDPR
CCPA
PCI DSS
FedRAMP

Editorial: Strengths

  • Open-source AGPLv3 (self-host or managed)
  • Strongest usage-based metering in mid-market
  • Modern API and developer experience
  • Founder-led with YC W22 pedigree
  • Aggressive feature velocity
  • Made for AI/ML and infrastructure SaaS

Editorial: Weaknesses

  • Lighter market share than Chargebee/Stripe Billing
  • RevRec module less mature than Chargebee/Maxio
  • Customer support minimal on free tier
  • Smaller integration ecosystem (~40)
  • Self-host adds operational burden

Key features & integrations

  • +Open-source AGPLv3 billing engine
  • +First-class usage-based metering
  • +Recurring billing + dunning
  • +Webhooks-driven architecture
  • +Multi-currency
  • +Modern API + GraphQL
  • +40+ integrations
40+ integrations
StripeAdyenGoCardlessSalesforceHubSpotSegmentSlack
Geography supported
Global; strongest in US, EU, UK
Best fit
10–500 employees · Engineering-led + AI/ML SaaS
Editorial deep-dive

Read our full ranking of Subscription Billing & RevRec

Lago ranks #9 in our editorial review of 10 subscription billing & revrec platforms. The deep-dive covers methodology, comparison tables, decision matrix, migration scoring, and FAQs.

Read the full ranking

Closest alternatives in Subscription Billing & RevRec

#8
Paddle
Merchant of Record for SaaS, handles tax, VAT, and global payments.
★ 4.5 public
#10
Billwerk
European subscription billing with GDPR-native architecture.
★ 4.4 partial
#7
RevenueCat
Mobile-app subscription billing leader for iOS and Android.
★ 4.7 public
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