Product updates
New updates and improvements to Lago.
Sync billing data to HubSpot
With Lago’s new integration, you can now seamlessly sync billing data in real time to HubSpot. By connecting your Lago account to HubSpot, you’ll enable the following:
- Customer Creation: Automatically create Contacts or Companies in HubSpot based on your Lago customer data.
- Invoice Syncing: Real-time invoice sync to a HubSpot custom object named
LagoInvoices
. - Subscription Syncing: Real-time subscription sync to a HubSpot custom object named
LagoSubscriptions
.
Quote in Salesforce CPQ, bill in Lago!
Our enhanced Salesforce package now enables you to use Salesforce CPQ for quoting leads and customers. Once a quote is approved and signed, it automatically triggers a real-time subscription in Lago. No need for separate processes—your sales team can directly create subscriptions from validated quotes within Salesforce.
Dynamic pricing
Do your prices change dynamically based on a provider or complex in-house calculations? Here are some real-life use cases:
- 🤖 AI companies: prices fluctuating based on real-time models cost
- 🏦 Fintech: matching prices to live market data
- 📱 Telco/CPaaS: adjusting costs to fluctuating carrier rates
We’ve heard you, and we’re excited to introduce Dynamic Pricing for this! You can now set a charge model as Dynamic and send the event amount directly through each event. No more headaches trying to manage interchange fees or fluctuating custom prices.
Credit note on prepaid credit invoices
Refund your customers who purchased prepaid credit in no time! You can now process refunds for prepaid credit bought within Lago directly, without needing to engage your payment provider. Lago takes care of the refund through its credit note module, enabling you to initiate the refund to the payment provider and automatically void the prepaid credit in the active wallet according to the wallet’s refund status.
Customer Portal complete rework
We’ve completely reworked the Customer Portal. You can now embed the portal URL to display in real-time plans and usage information, wallet data, customer info, and invoice lists.
Additionally, your end customers can take actions directly within the portal, such as adding prepaid credits and updating their customer info—all automatically synced with your Lago back office.
Cherry on top? We’re offering the new Customer Portal for free to all users, including those on our open-source plan.
Usage ingestion sources
Premium ingestion sources for metering and usage consumption are now generally available. Instead of using the basic API, you can leverage dedicated connectors to ingest data directly from sources like AWS S3, AWS Kinesis, Kafka, MongoDB, and Azure. Most connectors support ingestion rates of over 15,000 events per second (compared to 1,000 via the basic REST API).
For custom ingestion connectors, please contact the Lago team.
Customer type
Users can specify whether the customer is a company or an individual by setting the customer type.
By default, if no customer type is specified, customers are created without a defined type and you will need to assign one manually.
Send tax invoices
Lago invoices are now fully compliant with local legislation in Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.
In those countries, it is mandatory to emit “Tax Invoices” accord to specific rules. This can now be handled with Lago.
Retrieve all events using the API
Users can now retrieve and filters all events using the API. The endpoint also allows for filtering by:
code
external_subscription_id
timestamp_from
timestamp_to
Anrok integration ✨
We have developed an integration with Anrok to make tax management easier. This native integration allows you to automatically update your invoices with tax amounts sourced directly from Anrok.
- Lago sends the customer’s address, tax identifier (if applicable), and the relevant product ID to calculate the appropriate tax for each line item
- Anrok calculates the tax for the invoice and returns the data to Lago, which is used to update the invoice with accurate tax information
- Lago synchronizes updates for voided and disputed invoices, as well as any credit notes created, ensuring that your records remain up to date
This integration ensures compliance with international tax regulations by calculating taxes for US & non-US obligations, like VAT.
Precise amount for fees
Lago now allows you to retrieve the precise (ie. non rounded) amount on the fee object. Before only the rounded amount_cents
was available.
To use the precise fee amount, you can use the precise_amount
field.
Progressive billing ✨
Progressive billing, also known as threshold billing, automatically triggers an invoice when a customer’s cumulative usage reaches predefined thresholds.
This method ensures that customers cannot exceed certain usage limits without ensuring payment is received, reducing the risk of unpaid services or fraud.
You can setup 2 types of threshold:
- Step-based threshold: invoices are generated when the lifetime usage of a subscription reaches a defined threshold. You can set an unlimited number of thresholds, each with a specific amount and a unique name
- Recurring threshold: this threshold determines what happens after the final step-based threshold is reached. (For example, after the last threshold, Lago will automatically bill $100 each time the lifetime usage increments by that amount)
Skip empty invoices generation
Users can now decide whether or not to issue $0 invoices (ie. empty invoices). By default, empty invoices are generated. You can change this setting at the organisation level.
When creating a customer, it takes by default the configuration of the organization for this specific field.
However, you can decide to override this information for a specific customer. Why? You might have customers who need to receive an invoice each month, even if the total amount is 0.
Filter and export invoices
Users can now filter the list of invoices (e.g. by currency, customer, issuing date, etc.) and the filtered list can then be exported from the user interface.
Two export options are available:
- Standard, including the list of invoices and invoice amounts (i.e. one row per invoice)
- Advanced, including the list of fees (i.e. one row per fee, so multiple rows per invoice if the invoice includes multiple fees)
The list is automatically emailed to the requester in a CSV file.
Wallet transaction metadata
When creating a wallet transaction via API, you can add metadata to store additional information (e.g. source of the transaction).
This information is not displayed in the user interface.
Invoicing options for wallet top-ups
When creating a new wallet for a customer, users can choose to generate invoices for credit purchases either:
- As soon as the wallet transaction is created
- Only when payment is successful, which avoids generating invoices for transactions that have not been finalized
These options are also available for automatic and manual top-ups (see wallet_transaction.invoice_requires_successful_payment
).
API changes (v1.7.0)
As announced a few months ago, we have updated the event ingestion process and removed deprecated API fields. Changes include:
1. Replacing groups with filters
The new dimension system based on filters allows users to create billable metrics with more than two dimensions, and makes it easier to create charges based on custom event properties. The old dimension system based on groups has been permanently removed from the Lago API (see all changes).
2. Marking external_subscription_id
as mandatory for events
Events that only include external_customer_id
are no longer taken into account when aggregating usage (learn more). This change will streamline the event validation process and enable real-time billing capabilities.
3. Removing deprecated API fields
For the sake of clarity and to preserve the quality of the API, we’ve deprecated several legacy fields (see full list).
Invoicing options for instant charges ✨
For charges paid in advances, Lago offers three invoicing options:
- An invoice can be issued for each event
- An invoice that only includes paid fees can be issued at the end of the billing period
- No invoices (users only rely on the
fee.created
webhook)
Xero integration ✨
We have developed a Xero integration to make accounting easier. Available features include:
- Connecting a Lago account to a Xero account via OAuth
- Mapping Lago objects such as billable metrics, plans, coupons, wallet credits and taxes to Xero items
- Real-time synchronization of customer accounts
- Real-time synchronization of invoices
- Real-time synchronization of credit notes
- Real-time synchronization of payments
Link checkout
For card payments processed through integration with Stripe, users can enable the Link option. Link automatically fills the customer’s payment information for faster checkout.
Overview of customer billing
The customer view features a new billing section, including:
- Gross revenue (i.e. total amount billed to the customer)
- Total overdue (i.e. total amount of invoices that are past their due date)
This improvement is the first step toward dunning management (coming soon).
NetSuite integration ✨
We have developed a NetSuite integration to make accounting easier. Available features include:
- Connecting a Lago account to a NetSuite account via OAuth
- Mapping Lago objects such as billable metrics, plans, coupons, wallet credits and taxes to NetSuite items and tax items
- Real-time synchronization of customer accounts
- Real-time synchronization of invoices (and sales orders)
- Real-time synchronization of credit notes
- Real-time synchronization of payments
Shipping address
In addition to the customer’s billing address, users can add a shipping address. This information can be useful when the applicable tax rates are determined through integration with a tax management provider (e.g. Anrok).
Overdue invoices
If an invoice is not marked as paid once its due date has passed, it is considered to be overdue. The billing system will then send a webhook message to notify the organization that issued the invoice (see invoice.payment_overdue
).
Custom pricing ✨
For companies whose aggregation and pricing models cannot be reproduced using standard functions, our team can inject a custom code snippet into the billing application.
This feature allows users to implement advanced billing rules based on custom logic, which can be very useful when migrating from an in-house billing system.
Okta SSO ✨
Users can sign up and log in to their Lago account through Okta single sign-on (SSO), which enables a better experience and ensures that the identity provider remains the system of record for authenticating users.
Hiding subscription fees at zero
We have modified the invoice template and introduced new rules for subscription fees:
- If
amount_cents
is zero for the subscription fee and there are no other fees (e.g. usage-based charges or commitment) in the invoice, the subscription fee will appear on the PDF invoice - If
amount_cents
is zero for the subscription fee and there are other fees in the invoice, the subscription fee will not be displayed on the PDF invoice
Role-based access control (RBAC) ✨
With the RBAC feature, organizations can ensure that each member only has access to the information and actions required to perform their job duties.
There are three roles available on the Lago platform:
- Admin: full access to all views and actions (usually assigned to billing engineers and managers)
- Account Manager: can manage customer accounts and subscriptions (suitable for sales and success teams)
- Finance & Analyst: mostly view-only, with the ability to manage invoices and credit notes
Recurring wallet top-ups ✨
Users can define rules to automatically trigger wallet top-ups, based on two methods:
- Fixed: a predefined number of credits is added to the customer’s wallet
- Target: credits are added to the customer’s wallet to reach a predefined balance
There are also two trigger options:
- Interval: weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly top-ups, with a custom start date
- Threshold: the top-up is triggered when the ongoing balance of the wallet reaches a predefined minimum threshold
Webhook messages for wallets
Lago now sends webhook messages when:
- A wallet transaction is created (see
wallet_transaction.created
) - The status of a wallet transaction is updated (e.g. when a pending transaction is settled - see
wallet_transaction.updated
) - When the ongoing balance of the wallet is zero or less than zero (see
wallet.depleted_ongoing_balance
)
Void wallet credits
The endpoint POST /wallet_transactions
includes a new function to void credits, which are immediately deducted from the balance of the customer’s wallet.
This action can also be triggered via the user interface.
Filters for billable metrics
We have made changes to our dimension system and replaced metric groups with filters. This new feature offers greater flexibility as:
- Users can create as many filters as needed (they are no longer limited to two dimensions)
- Users can define specific rates based on very granular filter combinations (e.g. online card payments with Visa cards, offline card payments with Amex cards, etc.)
Google SSO
Users can sign up and log in to their Lago account through Google single sign-on (SSO), which enables a better experience and ensures that the identity provider remains the system of record for authenticating users.
Improved trial period
When the subscription fee of a plan is paid in advance and the plan includes a trial period, the first invoice was initially generated when the subscription started. Following feedback from the Lago Community, we have modified this logic to generate the first invoice at the end of the free trial.
Payment disputes
If a payment dispute is reported as lost by the payment provider, Lago will provide invoice.payment_dispute_lost_at
and send the webhook message invoice.payment_dispute_lost
.
This feature is available via integrations with Stripe and Adyen.
Upcoming API changes (v1.2.0)
We have released a new version of Lago with exciting new features, but also API changes likely to affect our users’ workflows.
1. Replacing groups with filters
We have developed a new dimension system that offers greater flexibility. Filters allow users to create billable metrics with more than two dimensions, and make it easier to create charges based on custom event properties.
However, this feature introduces changes to a number of objects, including billable_metric
, plan
, fee
and customer_usage
. In addition, the endpoint to retrieve billable metric groups will be deprecated (see all changes).
2. The external subscription ID becomes mandatory for events
In order to develop real-time billing capabilities, we need to streamline our validation process. We have therefore decided to make external_subscription_id
mandatory when sending events via the Lago API.
Events that only include external_customer_id
will no longer be taken into account when aggregating usage (learn more).
3. Deprecation of API fields
For the sake of clarity and to preserve the quality of the API, we are going to deprecate several legacy fields (see full list).
Timeline
We will maintain the current API logic until July 9, 2024. After this date, previous versions will no longer be supported. We kindly ask our users to update their integration before that day to avoid any potential breaking change.
Minimum plan commitment ✨
When creating a plan, defining a commitment ensures a minimum invoice amount for the billing period.
This minimum is calculated at the end of the period, taking into account the subscription fee and all usage-based charges. If the total amount invoiced is less than the minimum commitment, Lago will automatically apply a true-up fee.
The default commitment can be overridden when assigning the plan to a customer.
ACH and BACS payments
Lago’s native integration with Stripe supports two new payment methods:
- ACH Direct Debit for customers with a US bank account
- BACS Direct Debit for customers with a UK bank account
Grouping of charges
It is possible to group charges on the invoice according to a custom attribute. When creating a charge based on the standard pricing model, users can define one or several grouped_by
attributes that will then be used to provide information on the distribution of usage.
For a customer who has sent thousands of API requests, for instance, we could display the breakdown of usage based on the workspace_id
to which each request is linked.
Updated Salesforce package ✨
This new package allows users to initiate actions in Lago without leaving the Salesforce interface. It includes two customizable flows:
- Ability to automatically create Lago customers from Salesforce accounts
- Ability to automatically create Lago subscriptions from Salesforce opportunities, including the option to override existing plans
Payment link for a specific invoice
We have added a new endpoint to generate checkout URLs for specific invoices.
This feature is available via integrations with Stripe and Adyen. It allows users to collect payments in countries where payment methods cannot be saved for future use.
Wallet balance in (near) real-time ✨
In addition to the invoiced balance, which represents the credit available in the wallet after the last invoice has been finalized, wallets include an ongoing balance, which takes into account the customer’s current usage and taxes.
The ongoing balance gives an overview of the credit available in the wallet in near real-time, as it is updated every 5 minutes.
Edit draft invoices ✨
When an invoice is in draft (i.e. during the grace period), fees can be modified via the user interface. Users can either:
- Overwrite the total number of units, in which case Lago will automatically recalculate the fee based on the pricing model associated with the charge
- Overwrite the number of units and unit price, in which case Lago will automatically recalculate the fee based on this information
Multiple PSP accounts
If an organization has multiple accounts with the same PSP (e.g. US Stripe account and EU Stripe account) they can all be connected to Lago. Users can then select the most appropriate account to process payments for each customer.
Batch endpoint
Events can now be sent in batches using the new /events/batch
endpoint. Each API call may include up to 100 events.
Disabling emails for invoices without fees
To avoid sending too many notifications to customers, we have deactivated emails for invoices without fees.
Although invoices with "fees_amount_cents": 0
are no longer sent to customers by email, they are still available in the database and user interface.
Custom invoice numbering
We have made invoice numbering more flexible, with three elements:
- Prefix that can be customized
- Dynamic sequence, either based on sequential customer IDs, or based on year and month (i.e. YYYYMM)
- Sequential number of the invoice (i.e. 001, 002, 003, etc.)
EU tax management
Lago’s EU tax detection feature allows users to check customers’ tax identification numbers through integration with the European VAT Information Exchange System (VIES), and to automatically assign them a tax rate based on their country.
Unit prices
PDF invoices now include details of charges for each pricing model (e.g. for graduated pricing, we display the number of units and unit price for each tier).
This information is also available in the invoice object (see invoice.fees.amount_details
).
Automatic wallet top-ups ✨
Customer wallets can be topped up automatically according to predefined rules:
- Based on a time interval (e.g. weekly, monthly, etc.)
- Based on a threshold (e.g. when the wallet balance is less than or equal to $10)
Event validations
We have added an events.errors
webhook message to notify users when some of the events ingested in the last hour are invalid.
Possible errors include:
- Invalid billable metric code
- Missing aggregation property
- Missing group key
Regenerate checkout links
When a customer wants to update their payment method, or when a checkout link has expired, users can generate a new checkout URL on demand through the Lago API.
This action is available for all our native payment integrations.
Custom success URL
When setting up one of our native payment integrations, users can define the URL to which customers should be redirected after completing the checkout process. Custom URLs can only be added via the user interface.
Default currency
The organization’s currency can be defined in the settings of the account or via API. It is used as the default currency when creating new objects, such as plans and add-ons, and to display information on dashboards.
Helm chart updates
We have released a new version of the Lago Helm Charts to facilitate on-premise deployment.
Integration with Salesforce CRM ✨
With the new Salesforce CRM integration, Lago data is automatically synced with Salesforce.
Users can access their customers’ subscriptions, invoices and credit notes directly in their CRM application.
Removal of event validations
We are currently upgrading our infrastructure and setting up a new event ingestion system. As part of this project, we have decided to remove the validations that were automatically performed when ingesting events through the Lago API.
This means that the API no longer returns error messages when events include incorrect parameters (e.g. wrong billable metric code, subscription not found, transaction_id
already exists, etc.).
Retrieve a subscription
We have added a new endpoint to allow users to retrieve a specific subscription via the Lago API, using the external_id
of the subscription.
Webhooks for subscription upgrades/downgrades
When the plan associated with a subscription changes, Lago automatically notifies the user with two webhook messages:
subscription.terminated
to confirm the termination of the initial plan (includesnext_plan_code
)subscription.started
to confirm the start of the new plan (includesprevious_plan_code
)
Plan details
In the Plans section of the app, users can now click one of their plans to see its details (i.e. name, code, interval, currency, subscription fee, usage-based charges, etc.) and also retrieve the list of subscriptions linked to the plan.
In addition, in the customer view of the app, users can click one of the subscriptions assigned to their customer to see its details (i.e. status, start date, interval, currency, fees, charges, etc.).
Override plans ✨
When assigning a plan to a customer, you can modify some attributes to create a custom plan. Editable fields include (but are not limited to):
- Currency
- Subscription fee
- Charge prices
- Minimum spending requirements
- Tax rates
- Invoice display names
Details of the new plan will be available in the customer view.
Spanish locale
¡Hola a todos! The Spanish locale is now available on Lago.
Users can select it as their organization’s default language or as a customer’s preferred language.
Swedish locale
Hej alla! The Swedish locale is now available on Lago.
Users can select it as their organization’s default language or as a customer’s preferred language.
Display names on invoices
When creating or updating a plan, users can define custom display names for subscription and usage-based charges, which will be printed on the PDF files generated by Lago.
Display names can be defined via the user interface or the API (see plan.invoice_display_name
and charges.invoice_display_name
).
Retrieve past usage
We have added a new endpoint to retrieve past usage. When a billing period has ended, users can still retrieve usage data through GET /customers/{external_customer_id}/past_usage
.
Users must specify external_subscription_id
and can filter results by billable_metric_code
. They can also select the number of past periods for which they wish to retrieve usage data.
LATEST aggregation
latest_agg
allows users to compute usage based on the last value received during the period for a billable metric.
Consider the following example for the storage
metric, where usage is aggregated based on the property gb
:
- The first event includes 5 GB
- The second event includes 7 GB
- The third event includes 6 GB
With latest_agg
, at the end of the billing period, the total number of units used to calculate the fee will be 6, as it’s the last value received.
WEIGHTED SUM aggregation
weighted_sum_agg
allows users to compute usage based on a custom property and the time elapsed between two events (e.g. memory consumption measured in GB-seconds).
Billable metrics based on this aggregation type can be metered or recurring, and are always billed at the end of the billing period.
Subscription end date
When a subscription end date is set, the subscription is automatically terminated by Lago.
A notification is sent to the user 45 days and 15 days before the subscription is terminated (see subscription.termination_alert
webhook).
If no end date is set for a subscription, it will renew automatically.
Duplicate plans
Users can duplicate an existing plan from the user interface to create a new plan with the same structure. They can then choose a name and a code for their new plan, and modify the parameters that differ from the original plan (e.g. interval, currency, charges, etc.).
Edit dimensions
When dimensions are defined for a billable metric, users can add/remove groups by modifying the corresponding code snippet via the user interface, or by updating the billable metric object via API.
Changes to dimensions may affect all plans where the billable metric is listed as a charge.
Default price for groups
For billable metrics that include several groups, when configuring their plans, users can set a default price that applies to all groups.
The default price can be overwritten by setting a different price for a specific group.
If the default price is not defined, it is automatically set to zero.
Italian locale
Ciao a tutti! The Italian locale is now available on Lago.
Users can select it as their organization’s default language or as a customer’s preferred language.
Minimum / Maximum per transaction ✨
The percentage pricing model includes a new option for defining minimum and maximum prices per transaction.
When applied, Lago adjusts the fees based on the per_transaction_min_amount
and per_transaction_max_amount
parameters.
Webhook for subscriptions started
We have added a new webhook message for subscriptions.
When the status of a subscription switches to active
, Lago automatically sends a subscription.started
message.
Graduated percentage pricing
We have added a new graduated pricing model, which allows users to define prices based on a percentage of the number of units, and to add a flat fee for each tier (optional).
Quarterly billing interval
In addition to the weekly, monthly and yearly intervals, Lago v0.44.1-beta
includes the new quarterly interval.
When selected, all fees (i.e. subscription fee and charges) are billed every three months.
Webhook signatures
When creating a webhook endpoint through the user interface or the API, you can choose between:
- The original
JWT
signature - The new
HMAC
signature, which includes a shorter header
Please refer to the guide to find out how to verify the webhook signatures.
Taxes applied to add-ons
Tax objects can now be used to define the default tax rate(s) associated with an add-on.
When creating a one-off invoice, if there is no tax rate associated with the add-on, Lago will automatically select the tax rate defined at customer or organization level.
The tax rate applied to the add-on can be modified at any time through the user interface or the API.
Net payment term
The net payment term determines the number of days given to the customer to pay their invoice. It is calculated based on the date the invoice is finalized and displayed on the PDF file.
When the net payment term is defined at the organization level, it applies to all customers by default. However, it can be overridden by the net payment term defined at the customer level.
Taxes defined at plan and charge level
In addition to the taxes defined at organization and customer level, users can select tax objects at plan and charge level.
For subscription invoices, the tax hierarchy is as follows:
- Taxes defined at organization level will apply to all fees (i.e. subscription and charges)
- Taxes defined at customer level will take precedence over taxes defined at organization level and will apply to all fees (i.e. subscription and charges)
- Taxes defined at plan level will take precedence over taxes defined at customer level and will apply to all fees (i.e. subscription and charges)
- Taxes defined at charge level will take precedence over taxes defined at plan level but will only apply to the fee associated with the corresponding charge
Filter subscriptions by status
We have added a new query parameter to the endpoint that allows users to retrieve subscriptions.
By default, GET /api/v1/subscriptions/
returns all active subscriptions. However, you can also retrieve pending, canceled and terminated subscriptions by using the status
parameter.
SEPA Direct Debit with Stripe
Our native integration with Stripe now supports SEPA Direct Debit payments.
When Stripe is defined as the default payment provider for a customer, you can select the authorised payment method(s): card, direct debit or both.
Before initiating a payment intent, Lago will automatically check the customer’s default payment method registered in Stripe.
Kindly note, SEPA Direct Debit is only available for invoices denominated in euros (EUR).
Recurring and prorated charges
When a billable metric is defined as recurring, the number of billing units at the end of the billing period is carried over to the next period. It is not reset to zero, as with metered metrics.
Users can create recurring metrics based on sum_agg
and count_unique_agg
. They can also define whether the corresponding charges should be prorated (this option is only available for the standard and volume pricing models).
recurring_count_agg
have been automatically converted into count_unique_agg
metrics with the attribute "recurring": true
.Cancel pending subscriptions
When a subscription is created with a subscription date in the future, its status is automatically set to pending
.
You can now cancel a pending subscription through the Lago API, using the following endpoint:
DELETE /api/v1/subscriptions/{external_id}?status=pending
Multiple webhook endpoints
Webhook messages can be used to collect billing information and set up custom workflows. They are related to subscriptions, events, fees, invoices, payment providers and credit notes.
You can now create up to five webhook endpoints to listen to Lago events.
Custom tax objects
In the settings of their account, users can define the default tax rate that applies by default to all customers of their organization. This tax rate can then be overwritten at the customer level.
Whether set at the organization level or the customer level, so far the tax rate used to calculate fees was simply indicated as “Tax” on invoices.
To give users more flexibility, we’ve added the option to create several tax objects, which can then be assigned to the organization or specific customers (e.g. state sales tax, VAT, reverse charge, GST, etc.).
Stripe checkout URL
When a new customer is successfully created through Lago’s native integration with Stripe, the billing system sends a customer.checkout_url_generated
webhook message.
You can redirect your customer to the corresponding page to register their payment method, which will then be used to collect payment when a new invoice is issued.
Tax identification number
The customer object and organization object include a new tax_identification_number
attribute. When a value is available for this attribute, it is automatically displayed on the PDF version of the next invoices.
Integration with GoCardless
Lago now offers native integration with GoCardless, including (but not limited to):
- Ability to define GoCardless as the default payment provider for a customer
- Ability to automatically create Lago customers in GoCardless and retrieve their customer ID
- Ability to automatically collect payments via direct debit
- Ability to automatically update the status of an invoice depending on the payment status
- Ability to automatically resubmit failed payments with GoCardless Success+
To learn more about this integration, please consult our guide
Minimum spend on charges ✨
You can now define minimum spending requirements for usage-based charges.
The minimum spend is defined as an amount excluding tax. If at the end of the billing period, your customer has spent less than the minimum, then Lago will automatically generate a true-up fee to compensate for the difference.
Minimum spending requirements are defined when creating or editing plans, either through the user interface or the API.
Coupons limited to specific metrics
We have added a new option to the coupon settings: it is now possible to limit the application scope of a coupon to specific billable metrics.
By default, coupons apply to all charges but when creating a new coupon, you can define the list of billable metrics to which the coupon applies.
This feature is related to the billable_metric_codes
attribute of the coupon
object (see API documentation).
Please refer to the guide for more information on coupons.
Reset password
You can now reset your password via the user interface.
On the login page, click “Forgotten password” to access the dedicated page where you can request a link to reset your password.
Automatic emails ✨
We are introducing a new built-in invoicing feature, which allows you to automatically send invoices and credit notes from Lago to your customers.
The email template can be customized with the name, email address and logo of your organization, and will be sent in the customer’s preferred language (or the default language defined in the settings of your account).
For cloud users, Lago takes care of the SMTP setup. For users on the self-hosted version, the setup is described in the public documentation.
Customer billing portal ✨
We have released the first version of our billing portal, which allows your customers to access their invoices.
You can generate access links through the user interface or embed the customer portal into your application using our API and an iframe.
Invoice metadata
After an invoice has been generated, you can add metadata to store additional information (e.g. custom ID, payment reference, etc.). This information will be included in the invoice
object but will not be displayed on the PDF invoice.
Invoice metadata can be managed via the user interface or the API.
Customer metadata
When creating or editing a customer, you can add metadata to store additional information (e.g. customer type, name of the account manager, etc.).
Customer metadata can be displayed on invoices, and can be managed via the user interface or the API.
Webhook logs
The new webhook management system allows you to access the list of webhook messages sent by Lago and check their status. You can re-trigger a message that has failed through the user interface.
To access the webhook logs:
- Go to the Developers section via the sidebar
- Open the Webhooks tab
- Click on the webhook endpoint to see the list of messages
Document translation
PDF files including invoices and credit notes can be generated in different languages.
The default language that is set at the organization level can be overwritten by the customer’s preferred language.
In the API, the document_locale
attribute determines the language of the documents.
You can contribute to Lago’s open-source project by helping us translate documents. The new language will then be added to the list of supported locales and available to the entire Lago Community.
Update payment status
You can now update the payment status of an invoice through the user interface.
To do so:
- Access the Invoices section
- Find the relevant invoice
- Click the ellipsis icon on the right
- Click Update payment status
- Select the new payment status
- Click Update status to confirm
This action can be performed via the API as well.
Coupons limited to specific plans
We have added a new option to the coupon settings: it is now possible to limit the application scope of a coupon to specific plans.
By default, coupons apply to all plans but when creating a new coupon, you can define the list of plans to which the coupon applies.
This feature is related to the plan_codes
attribute of the coupon
object (see API documentation).
Please refer to the guide for more information on coupons.
Coupons that apply forever
When creating a coupon, through the user interface or the API, it is now possible to select the forever
frequency.
Coupons with the forever
frequency apply to all subscription invoices, regardless of the number of subscription invoices generated in a given period.
Search bar
Tired of scrolling through an endless list to find the customer your are looking for? We understand that.
We have added a search functionality to the user interface to make it easier to find metrics, plans, customers, invoices, etc.
Payment retries
We have added the ability to resend payments for collection.
This new feature is available to all users:
- Through the user interface (learn more)
- Through the API (learn more)
Grace period ✨
If at the end of the billing period, you want to review the invoices before sending them to customers for payment, you can define a grace period.
During the grace period, invoices are in draft
status and can be modified. Available actions include:
- Adding usage records by sending events with a
timestamp
within the relevant billing period - Applying coupons to the customer’s account
- Adding credits to the customer’s wallet and credit note wallet
When the grace period expires, invoices are automatically finalized
(they can no longer be edited), which triggers the invoice.created
webhook. You can also finalize invoices manually.
The organization’s grace period applies to all customers by default, but it can be overwritten by the customer’s grace period.
Invoice list
We have added a new Invoices section, which allows you to access the list of invoices.
Invoices are filtered according to their status (i.e. draft or finalized) and according to their payment status (i.e. succeeded, pending or failed).
The same filters can be applied when retrieving invoices via the API.
Credit notes ✨
You can now use your Lago account to issue credit notes for subscription invoices and add-ons.
Depending on the payment status of the invoice, you will be able to:
- Refund the customer (only for paid invoices)
- Credit back the customer’s account
Please refer to the documentation for more information on credit notes and credit methods.
Timezones ✨
You can now set the timezone of your organization in the settings of the app. To do so:
- Access the Settings section via the side menu
- In the Organization tab, you will see the current timezone (UTC by default)
- Click Edit
- Select a new timezone from the list
- Click Save timezone to confirm
It can also be set through the API using this endpoint.
The organization’s timezone applies to all customers by default and determines when billing periods start and end (i.e. when invoices should be generated). It is also the reference timezone for most views and lists in the app.
The organization’s timezone can be overwritten by the customer’s timezone (learn more).
Lago Open API
We have developed an Open API to help you get started with Lago and make it easier to test our solution.
Please refer to the documentation to learn how to import the Lago Open API into Postman and create a new collection.
Our public repository is also available on GitHub.
Apply several coupons
You can now apply several coupons to a customer account.
When several coupons are applied to a customer, they will be deducted according to the date on which they were applied: the coupon that was applied first will be deducted first.
The remaining value / number of remaining periods for each coupon will be visible in the Overview tab of the customer view.
You can also use GET /api/v1/applied_coupons
to retrieve all coupons applied to a customer.
Invoice details
To review the invoice details through the user interface:
- Go to the Customers section
- Select a customer to open the customer view
- Open the Invoices tab
- Click the invoice to see its details
On the details page, you can download the invoice in PDF format and copy the invoice ID through the Actions dropdown in the upper right corner.
Integration with GoCardless
Lago now offers native integration with GoCardless, including (but not limited to):
- Ability to define GoCardless as the default payment provider for a customer
- Ability to automatically create Lago customers in GoCardless and retrieve their customer ID
- Ability to automatically collect payments via direct debit
- Ability to automatically update the status of an invoice depending on the payment status
- Ability to automatically resubmit failed payments with GoCardless Success+
To learn more about this integration, please consult our guide.
Subscription date
It is now possible to set a start date in the past or in the future for a new subscription.
Setting a start date in the past can be useful when migrating existing customers to Lago, while setting a start date in the future can be useful for scheduling upcoming subscriptions.
For more information about the impact of the start date on the invoicing process, please refer to the documentation.
Dimensions for grouping events
When creating a new billable metric, you can define dimensions that will be used to group events according to their properties.
For example, if you want to charge your customers for compute capacity according to the cloud provider and server region, you can create a compute
billable metric with two dimensions (learn more).
Changes to the API include:
- Ability to add a
group
parameter with one or two dimensions when creating or updating billable metrics - Ability to retrieve the groups associated with a billable metric
- Ability to add a
group_properties
parameter when creating or updating a plan - Ability to retrieve customer usage by group
- New
lago_group_id
for fees (see invoice object)
Enhanced coupon model
We have improved the coupon model to offer more flexibility.
Changes include (but are not limited to):
- Ability to define the value of a coupon as a fixed amount or percentage
- Ability to create recurring coupons that apply over several billing periods
- Ability to set an expiration date (i.e. date after which the coupon can no longer be redeemed)
Customer currency
It is now possible to define the currency at customer level.
The currency associated with each customer was previously defined by the currency of the plan assigned to the customer. This logic prevented users from assigning a coupon or an add-on to a customer before creating a subscription.
When creating a new customer via the user interface or the API, you can now select the currency associated with the customer. If the currency is not defined at customer level, it will be determined by the first object assigned to the customer (i.e. currency of the plan, add-on, coupon, or wallet).
Error management
We have refactored the error management system to give more visibility to API users.
The message
attribute for errors has been replaced with code
and error_details
, which provide more information about the errors. There are several codes associated with each error.
For example, when creating a new billable metric, the API may return "error": "Unprocessable entity"
with the code value_is_mandatory
for the name
field (i.e. the name of the billable metric is missing).
Please refer to the documentation available for each endpoint for more information on error codes.
Invite members
You can now invite your teammates to join your Lago account.
To add a new member via the user interface:
- Go to the Settings section of the app
- Open the Members tab
- Click Invite a member on the right
- Enter the email address of your teammate
- Click Generate invitation link to confirm
- Copy the invitation link to share it with your teammate
Invitation links have no expiration date. When your teammate clicks the link, they can choose their password and then access the account.
You can remove a member by clicking the bin icon on the right of the list of members.
Overwrite plans
If after a negotiation phase, you need to create a custom plan for an important customer, you can use the ‘overwrite’ feature, available through the user interface.
This feature allows you to create a new plan from an existing one, in order to adjust the plan model and charges according to your business needs.
Overwriting a plan has no impact on the original plan or existing subscriptions.
Recurring count
Companies with fair and transparent pricing models are often praised by customers. If you are considering implementing seat-based pricing for instance, the reccuring_count
aggregation is exactly what you need.
This new aggregation type allows you to push events for persistent units.
Consider the following example:
Your customer is on a monthly plan and adds a new user to their account on September 15th, so you generate an event that corresponds to one billing unit.
At the end of September, Lago will automatically create a prorated charge for this user, based on the number of days of activity (i.e. from September 15th to September 30th).
This billing unit will remain valid until you generate another event to remove it. For instance, if your customer deletes the user on October 22nd, Lago will create another prorated charge for the period October 1st to October 22nd.
Consult our guide to learn more about persistent units.
External IDs
We are introducing changes to the API that will make it easier to manage subscriptions:
- For the creation of new subscriptions,
subscription_id
andunique_id
will be removed and replaced withexternal_id
(required) - For all other endpoints,
subscription_id
will be replaced withexternal_subscription_id
This will allow you to operate via the API using your own identifiers and save you the trouble for storing our IDs.
In addition to this, for consistency purposes:
- For the creation of new customers,
customer_id
will be replaced withexternal_id
- For all other endpoints,
customer_id will be replaced with
external_customer_id`
These changes will come into effect on September 8, 2022.
Please get in touch with our team if you have any questions.
Volume charge model
The new volume charge model allows you to create a tiered pricing structure and then calculate a unit price that applies to all units depending on total volume.
It is similar to the graduated charge model, except that only one price tier applies at the end of the billing period.
Please refer to the guide and API documentation for more information.
Anniversary dates for subscriptions
When assigning a plan to a customer, you can now choose whether the subscription should be renewed at the beginning of the period or on its anniversary date.
For instance, if a monthly plan is assigned to a customer on August 10th and you choose to align the billing cycle with the anniversary date of the subscription, the customer will be billed every 10th of the month.
With the API, you can use the billing_time
attribute to choose your preferred option. If not provided, Lago will base the subscription on calendar periods.
Free units for the percentage charge model
We have released an enhanced version of the percentage charge model, including:
- Ability to define free units based on the number of events (e.g. first 3 events are free)
- Ability to define free units based on the total amount (e.g. first $500 are free)
Please refer to the documentation for more information.
Multiple plans
It is now possible to assign multiple plans to a customer (e.g. if your customer needs to create several workspaces on your platform, you can link a plan to each workspace).
To help differentiate each plan, you can add display names that will appear in the user interface and on invoices.
Kindly note that:
- All plans must be denominated in the same currency
- You must now specify the
subscription_id
for each event or create batch events
Click here to see the documentation
Tracking & Analytics
To help us better understand your needs, we have added a tracking module to the self-hosted version of Lago.
Data analytics will help us improve the quality of our product and performance of the API.
As the privacy of our users is of paramount importance, we will not collect any personal information about your customers or the amount of your invoices, and you can opt out at any time.
Go client
We have added a new API client to make it easier for Go users to set up their billing system with Lago.
App version
It is now possible to check the version of the Lago application you are using.
Click on of your organization's name
in the top-left corner of the user interface to see the app version currently in use.
Current usage
Good news for those who follow closely the consumption of their customers. You can now track the current billing usage of your customers either from the UI or from the API.
To access this Usage tab:
- Access your list of customers
- Select a specific customer that is already linked to a subscription
- Access the usage tab
- Get a complete view of usage-based consumption that is going to be billed on the next invoice
On top of that, you can fetch the current usage of a customer directly from the API. To do so, you can access the following endpoint GET /api/v1/customers/:customer_id/current_usage
PDF invoices
Lago will generate a PDF file for each new invoice.
You can download invoices via the user interface or the API and can also modify some of the elements included in the invoice template.
Full documentation available here.
New API endpoints
We like our users when they use our nice and clean UI, but we also love when they use our API. One of the usecase could be to use Lago as a white-labeled solution.
Here is the full list of endpoints we have just released:
Billable metrics
- Create a billable metric
POST /api/v1/billable_metrics
- Update a billable metric
PUT /api/v1/billable_metrics/:code
- Destroy a billable metric
DELETE /api/v1/billable_metrics/:code
- Fetch a specific billable metric
GET /api/v1/billable_metrics/:code
- Fetch all billable metrics
GET /api/v1/billable_metrics?per_page=2&page=1
Plans
- Create a plan
POST /api/v1/plans
- Update a plan
PUT /api/v1/plans/:code
- Destroy a plan
DELETE /api/v1/plans/:code
- Fetch a specific plan
GET /api/v1/plans/:code
- Fetch all plans
GET /api/v1/plans?per_page=2&page=1
Coupons
- Create a coupon
POST /api/v1/coupons
- Update a coupon
PUT /api/v1/coupons/:code
- Destroy a coupon
DELETE /api/v1/coupons/:code
- Fetch a specific coupon
GET /api/v1/coupons/:code
- Fetch all coupons
GET /api/v1/coupons?per_page=2&page=1
Add-ons
- Create a add_on
POST /api/v1/add_ons
- Update a add_on
PUT /api/v1/add_ons/:code
- Destroy a add_on
DELETE /api/v1/add_ons/:code
- Fetch a specific add_on
GET /api/v1/add_ons/:code
- Fetch all add_ons
GET /api/v1/add_ons?per_page=2&page=1
Current usage
- Get the current usage of a specific customer
GET /api/v1/customers/:customer_id/current_usage
Organization
- Update the information of your organization
PUT /api/v1/organizations
Integration with Stripe Payments
Lago now offers native integration with Stripe, including (but not limited to):
- Ability to create Lago customers in Stripe automatically and retrieve their customer ID
- Ability to define Stripe as the default payment provider for a customer
- Ability to generate payment intents automatically
- Ability to update the status of an invoice depending on the payment status
- Ability to receive a webhook when a payment fails
To learn more about this integration, please consult our guide.
Weekly plan interval
When setting up a plan, you can select the weekly interval to define a weekly billing period.
The plan interval applies to the subscription and charges, which means that:
- For plans that must be paid in advance, the subscription fee is invoiced at the beginning of the week
- For plans that are paid in arrears, the subscription fee is invoiced at the end of the week
- Usage is calculated at the end of each week
The week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. If the customer’s subscription starts in the middle of the week, the fees will be applied on a pro-rata basis.
Invoice monthly charges for a plan paid yearly
Before the release of this feature, usaged-based features (charges) were following the plan period. If the plan period was invoiced yearly, the charges were invoiced yearly.
It’s now possible to invoice billable metrics on a montly basis for a plan billed yearly. The base amount of the plan will be invoice yearly (in-arrears or in-advance), but your usage based features will be invoiced on a monthly basis.
To do so:
- Access a Plan
- Define a plan yearly
- Price additional charges from your billable metrics
- Turn
on
the toggle for applying charges monthly
By switching on, all the charges will be invoiced monthly even if the plan is yearly.
Events list
You are now able to view all the ingested events sent from your application to Lago. We called this feature Events list
because it makes the event ingestion easier and more understandable.
- Access the
Developer
sidebar item - Click the
Events
tab - Take a look at the latest events ingested
This events list is also helpul to warn you for 2 specific cases:
- Warning 1 - The event code is not related to an existing billable metric
- Warning 2 - The property sent does not match the aggregation property defined in your billable metric
Add-ons
Add-ons are now available on Lago. Create add-ons to apply one-time fees (e.g. setup fee, one-time purchase, etc.) and generate the corresponding invoices instantly.
Full documentation available here.
Pay-as-you-go template
We’ve added a new template to our collection: click here to learn how to replicate Algolia’s pay-as-you-go pricing.
It’s a great starting point for companies whose pricing fully depends on usage, such as cloud service providers and API companies.
With Lago, you can adapt this template to your products and services, using some of our most popular features, including the ‘sum’ aggregation type and the package charge model.
Coupons
Introducing coupons, a new feature that allows you to offer discounts to your customers.
Full documentation available here.
Subscription changes
You can now modify the subscription assigned to a customer through the user interface.
To learn how to upgrade or downgrade a subscription and how it affects billing, please refer to the documentation.
Package pricing for charges
It is now possible to apply a package pricing model to a charge. To do so:
- Select an existing plan (or create a new one)
- Add a charge
- Select the package pricing model
This new pricing model allows you to apply a flat fee to a range of units. The price will be fixed for the entire range, regardless of the number of units consumed by the customer during the billing period.
Percentage charge model
Inside the plan, when creating a charge, you can now select the percentage charge model.
This feature is useful for industries willing to take a % + fixed fee
out of a usage-based features (for banking or charity industry, for instance). These fees are applied on the units to be charged (e.g. the aggregation result of your billable metric).
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