lago vs openmeter
Usage-based billing platforms compared
lago and openmeter both turn product usage into metered billing workflows, with support for subscriptions, pricing, and customer usage limits or credits. lago presents a broad billing platform with self-hosted and managed options, while openmeter emphasizes composable monetization and real-time usage data that can connect to access decisions and billing.
lago: Meter Usage and Manage Usage-Based Billing
Lago is an API-first billing platform that turns product events into metered usage, pricing, invoices, and payments. It suits teams building usage-based or hybrid billing who need control over deployment and billing workflows.
openmeter: Meter Usage and Bill Usage-Based Products
OpenMeter turns high-volume product events into real-time usage data, access limits, and usage-based billing. It suits teams building AI, API, or other metered products that need composable monetization infrastructure they can run themselves.
| lago | openmeter | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Go | Go |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Stars | 10.7k | 2.4k |
| Forks | 765 | 223 |
| Last analyzed | Oct 3, 2026 | Oct 3, 2026 |
Key differences
- lago supports a wider set of pricing models, including prepaid, graduated, volume, and hybrid pricing; openmeter lists per-unit, tiered, and package pricing.
- lago includes invoice generation and payment-provider connections, while openmeter supports invoice workflows and external invoicing integrations but is not a payment processor.
- lago can be self-hosted or used through Lago Cloud; openmeter's quickstart stack is for evaluation, and its official Helm chart is for development deployments.
- lago is licensed under AGPL-3.0, while openmeter is licensed under Apache-2.0.
- openmeter releases are beta and may include breaking changes; lago's provided project information does not specify release maturity.
- lago lists SDKs for Node.js, Python, Ruby, and Go; openmeter lists JavaScript, Python, and Go SDKs.
Choose lago if you…
- need a broad billing platform with invoicing and payment-provider connections.
- want the option to use managed billing or deploy on your own infrastructure.
- need pricing options such as prepaid, graduated, volume, or hybrid pricing.
Choose openmeter if you…
- want real-time usage aggregation connected to customer access limits and entitlements.
- need composable monetization workflows with external invoicing integrations.
- prefer the Apache-2.0 license and can account for beta releases and deployment limitations.
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This comparison is generated with AI from the OSRepos analyses of both projects. Always check each project's repository and documentation before choosing.