Clone Notion pricing

Set up a per-user (or ‘per-seat) pricing like Notion, the collaboration software for innovative teams, including plans based on the number of users and prepaid credits.

In this article, you will learn how to build a ‘fair’ billing system, with charges calculated according to the number of days of use.

This template is suitable for companies whose pricing depends on persistent metrics, such as productivity software (e.g. number of days users are active), fintechs (e.g. number of days payment cards are active) and data platforms (e.g. number of days integrations are active).

​

Summary

​

Pricing structure

Notion offers a Personal Pro plan for individuals who want to collaborate with friends or clients, and a Team plan through which members can set up a collaborative workspace. While the Personal Pro plan is limited to one member, the Team plan allows companies to invite as many members as they need.

In its FAQ section, Notion explains how adding and removing members work:

“If you added members, your account will be charged a prorated amount based on the percentage of the billing cycle left at the time each member was added. If you removed members, your account will be credited in the same way.”

Notion’s per-seat pricing is what we call a ‘fair’ pricing model, where fees are calculated based on the number of days each user is active.

In addition to this, users can complete tasks to earn credits with which they can pay their Notion bill:

“You can earn credit by using Notion across your devices and trying out new features. Go to the Earn Credit tab in Settings & Members to learn more.”

Here’s how you can replicate this pricing and billing system with Lago.

​

Step 1- Create recurring metrics

Lago monitors usage by converting events into billable metrics. Notion’s pricing is based on users, so we need to create a billable metric to keep track of the users associated with each customer account.

There are two types of metrics:

• Metered metrics that are reset to zero at the end of each billing period; and
• Recurring metrics that can be carried over several billing periods.

When a new member is added to a Notion account, they are likely to remain active for some time (probably more than just a month). Therefore, we should create a recurring metric for our users.

# Create a recurring billable metric
LAGO_URL="https://api.getlago.com"
API_KEY="__YOUR_API_KEY__"

curl --location --request POST "$LAGO_URL/api/v1/billable_metrics" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
  "billable_metric": {
    "name": "Users",
    "code": "users",
    "description": "Team members with access to the collaborative space",
    "aggregation_type": "unique_count_agg",
    "weighted_interval": null,
    "recurring": true,
    "field_name": "user_id",
    "filters": []
  }
}

​

Step 2- Set up a ‘fair’ pricing model

When creating a new plan, the first step is to define the plan model, including billing frequency and subscription fee. Notion’s Team plan is ‘pay-as-you-go’, which means that there’s no subscription fee (i.e. customers only pay for what they use).

# Create a plan with prorata
LAGO_URL="https://api.getlago.com"
API_KEY="__YOUR_API_KEY__"
curl --location --request POST "$LAGO_URL/api/v1/plans" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
  "plan": {
    "name": "Notion Team plan",
    "code": "notion_team_plan",
    "interval": "monthly",
    "amount_cents": 0,
    "amount_currency": "USD",
    "trial_period": 0.0,
    "pay_in_advance": false,
    "bill_charges_monthly": null,
    "charges": [
      {
        "billable_metric_id": "d4f8056c-6321-4a82-9cd7-1e08313764f4",
        "billable_metric_code": "users",
        "charge_model": "standard",
        "invoiceable": true,
        "pay_in_advance": false,
        "prorated": true,
        "min_amount_cents": 0,
        "properties": {
          "amount": "10"
        },
        "filters": [],
        "taxes": []
      }
    ],
  }
}

If the same user is removed before the end of the month, Lago will automatically recalculate the number of billable days (i.e. the number of billing units).

​

Step 3- Offer credits to your customers

Now that our pricing is ready, we can set up our credit system. Notion customers earn credits when they use the app across different devices and try out new features.

# Create a wallet
LAGO_URL="https://api.getlago.com"
API_KEY="__YOUR_API_KEY__"
curl --location --request POST "$LAGO_URL/api/v1/wallets" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
  "wallet": {
    "name": "Notion Credits",
    "rate_amount": "1.0",
    "paid_credits": "0.0",
    "granted_credits": "10.0",
    "currency": "USD",
    "expiration_at": null,
    "expiration_date": null,
    "recurring_transaction_rules": []
  }
}

​

Wrap-up

For software companies like Notion, implementing a ‘fair’ per-user pricing model is a good way to increase transparency and customer satisfaction. With Lago, you can create your own persistent metrics to adapt this template to your products and services.

Give it a try, click here to get started!