---
title: "Stripe Alternative for Usage-Based Billing"
description: "The usage-based billing alternative to Stripe — credits, metering, reservations, entitlements. Keep Stripe for payments. Free until you're billing real money."
---

# The usage-based billing alternative to Stripe

Stripe is great at payments — keep it. QuotaStack replaces the part Stripe Billing is weak at: **real-time metering, credits, reservations, and entitlements** — **free until you're billing real money**.

## Straight talk

Most people searching for a "Stripe alternative" want to replace Stripe *payments*. If that's you: stay on Stripe, or use a merchant of record like Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, or Dodo Payments for tax. QuotaStack doesn't move money. What QuotaStack replaces is the **usage-based billing layer** — metering, credits, reservations, entitlements — that **Stripe Billing** handles poorly for credit- and usage-based products. QuotaStack sits *on top of* your payment provider.

## Where Stripe Billing falls short for usage-based products

Figures as of June 2026, from Stripe's published billing pricing (https://stripe.com/billing/pricing). Full breakdown: [QuotaStack vs Stripe Billing](/compare/quotastack-vs-stripe-billing.md).

- **You pay a cut of every dollar** — 0.7% of billing volume pay-as-you-go, or flat plans from $620/mo on an annual contract. No free tier; it charges from the first dollar your customers are billed.
- **No credit-native primitives** — credit grants are still in public preview (mid-2026), prepaid/promotional drawdown only; no native wallets, reservations, or priority-burn.
- **Real-time metering is a separate, sales-led product** — basic aggregation via the Billing Meters API; true real-time ingestion and dimensional pricing live in Metronome (separate, sales-gated).
- **Pricing hidden behind sales** — the 0.7% rate is public, but monthly plan details require a sales call and an annual commitment.

## What QuotaStack does instead

- **Per-event pricing + a real free tier** — pay per metered event, not a % of your revenue. $2 usage credit/mo (~100k events), then $2 / 100k. No card, no plan to pick.
- **Credit-native by design** — wallets, prepaid credits with priority/expiry, top-ups, reservations out of the box.
- **Real-time metering, one API** — record usage and burn down credits as they happen; no separate product, no annual contract.
- **Sub-ms entitlement checks** — "can this customer do this?" on the hot path, cached, safe on every request.
- **Transparent, self-serve pricing** — $2 usage credit/mo (~100k events), then $2 / 100k. No plan to pick; sign up and ship today.
- **Agent-native docs** — .md twin + llms.txt so Cursor and Claude Code wire it for you.

## Keep Stripe for payments

QuotaStack is **not a payment processor and not a merchant of record**. Keep Stripe (or Paddle / Lemon Squeezy) for the charge and for tax. QuotaStack is the usage-based billing logic on top — credits, metering, reservations, entitlements. Use them together.

Building the ledger yourself? [How to build a credit system for an AI SaaS](/how-to-build-a-credit-system.md).

## Stripe alternative FAQ

- **Is QuotaStack a full Stripe replacement?** No. Stripe is excellent at payments; keep it. QuotaStack replaces the usage-based billing layer Stripe Billing handles weakly, and sits on top of your payment provider for the charge.
- **Can I use QuotaStack together with Stripe?** Yes — recommended. QuotaStack runs the billing logic; Stripe (or Paddle / Lemon Squeezy) moves the money.
- **How is pricing different?** Stripe Billing takes a % of billing volume (0.7%) with no free tier; QuotaStack charges $2 / 100k after a $2 monthly usage credit (~100k events), with no plan to pick.
- **Do you handle tax / act as a merchant of record?** No — pair with an MoR like Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, or Dodo for global tax.
- **Is there a free tier?** Yes — $2 usage credit/mo (~100k events), all core primitives, no card. After that it's $2 / 100k. No plan to pick.

Start free — $2 usage credit/mo (~100k events), credits, reservations, no card: https://platform.quotastack.io/signup