Cheddar vs Lago
Cheddar
getcheddar.com
Lago
getlago.comSide by side
| Figure | Cheddar | Lago |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $99/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 5 |
| Spec score · Usage-Based Billing Software | 7.8 (#10) | 8.5 (#4) |
| Product | Cheddar describes itself as a monetization platform for product-led growth and usage-based subscription billing. | Lago is an open-source billing platform for usage-based, subscription, prepaid, and hybrid pricing that connects product usage and commercial terms to customer invoices. |
| Security | Cheddar’s privacy policy, last modified May 24, 2018, says data is stored on secured servers behind a firewall with access controls and that SSL encrypts passwords and personal credit information in transit. | Lago states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified and undergoes regular third-party penetration tests. |
| Support | Cheddar lists email, support discussions, chat, a knowledge base, and API documentation; its support page says chat is available from 9am to 5pm EST. | Lago Premium includes platform support, business-hours incident management, and implementation guidance; 24x7 incident management and an assigned solution engineer are listed as on-demand add-ons. |
Plans
Lago
- Open sourceFree
- Open SourceFree
- Open-source self-hostedFree
- Lago PremiumPriced on request
- PremiumPriced on request
In their own words
Cheddar
Cheddar is a monetization platform for product-led growth and usage-based subscription billing, available through web and API. Its API records customer activity as counters called tracked items, and billing rules are applied afterward; the maker says pricing can therefore change without changes to billing code. Cheddar uses plan rules to generate invoices, then processes them with built-in credit-card processing or an external system. Payment options include CheddarPay, compatible processors, PayPal, ACH, and checks. All plans include customer communications, SaaS reporting, revenue optimization, invoice generation, subscription billing, and usage tracking. Monthly plans include up to 500,000 API interactions, with additional interactions costing 25 cents per 1,000. Customizable hosted pages cover subscription signup, payment updates, subscription changes, and cancellations; tracked items and one-time invoices require API use. The REST-like API can be used with any programming language, and the service integrates with Zapier. The Builder Plan is $99 a month plus 30¢ per transaction; the Growth Plan is $599 a month plus 0.5% of revenue.
Lago
Lago is an open-source billing platform that connects product usage and commercial terms with customer invoices. It supports usage-based, subscription, prepaid, and hybrid pricing, plus quotes, order forms, prepaid credits, entitlements, quotas, subscription and usage charges, and itemized invoices. For AI products, Lago can meter input, output, and cached tokens separately and assign usage to customers for billing. Applications can connect through a REST API, official JavaScript, Python, Ruby, and Go SDKs, or signed webhooks. Listed AI integrations include OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google Gemini, and Mistral; payment and finance integrations include Adyen, Stripe, NetSuite, and Xero. The Open source plan is free, licensed under AGPLv3 and self-hosted. Lago Premium is available as cloud or self-hosted deployment, including on-premises or in a VPC, but pricing is provided after contacting Lago. Lago states it is SOC 2 Type II certified and describes single sign-on, role-based access controls, and audit logs. Premium includes platform support, business-hours incident management, and implementation guidance.