Compare basic usage-based billing and Metronome
Understand the differences between basic usage-based billing and Metronome.
Metronome is Stripe’s primary usage-based billing platform and the recommended starting point for all new integrations. Metronome handles metering, rating, and billing, while Stripe handles payment collection, tax calculation, and revenue recognition.
Metronome supports usage-based pricing models at every level of complexity, including:
- Pay-as-you-go
- Flat fee and overages
- Credit-based pricing
- Prepaid credits and drawdown
- Enterprise contracts with commits and minimum spend requirements
- Ramp schedules
- Dimensional pricing
Metronome also provides real-time usage tracking and high-volume event ingestion.
To start a new integration, see Get started with Metronome. To evaluate Metronome first, contact your Stripe representative and create a Metronome sandbox.
Determine whether to migrate to Metronome
If you already bill customers with a basic usage-based billing integration, you don’t need to migrate. Stripe continues to fully support basic usage-based billing for existing integrations.
Migrate to Metronome if you need any of the following:
- Prepaid credits or credit burndown
- Enterprise contracts, commits, or ramp schedules
- Dimensional or composite pricing
- Real-time usage visibility
- High-volume event ingestion
When you’re ready, see Migrate to Metronome. For more detail on how the two products fit together, see How Metronome works with Stripe.
Pricing models
| Basic usage-based billing | Metronome | |
|---|---|---|
| Pay-as-you-go | ||
| Flat fee and overages | ||
| Credit based pricing | (invoice time1) | (real-time) |
| Prepaid credits and drawdown | — | |
| Enterprise contracts, commits, minimums | — | |
| Ramp schedules | — | |
| Dimensional pricing | — |
1 Credits are only reconciled at invoice time. Customers can exceed their balance during the cycle.
Metering and usage
Metering and usage capabilities determine how you record, track, and manage customer usage.
| Basic usage-based billing | Metronome | |
|---|---|---|
| Usage recording | ||
| Real-time usage visibility | — | |
| Usage alerts and thresholds | ||
| High-volume event ingestion | Limited2 | |
| Multi-dimensional metering | — |
2 For enterprise-level businesses that need to manage high-volume event ingestion, we recommend you use Metronome.
Billing and invoicing
| Basic usage-based billing | Metronome | |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice generation | ||
| Payment collection | ||
| Revenue recognition | ||
| Real-time credit burndown | — |
Stripe products compatibility
There are interoperability gaps between some Stripe products and Metronome.
| Basic usage-based billing | Metronome | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic Tax | ||
| Checkout | Limited3 | |
| Connect | — | |
| Adaptive Pricing | — | |
| Workflows | — | |
| Stripe Dashboard | — |
3 Requires custom API calls and webhook configuration.
