Stripe Metered Billing for Pay-As-You-Go in Seebaby

Stripe Metered Billing in Seebaby enabled Pay-As-You-Go subscriptions, real-time usage tracking, and seamless invoicing for fair, scalable pricing.

The Seebaby project needed a flexible subscription model that billed users based on actual usage instead of a fixed recurring fee. To achieve this, the team chose Stripe’s metered billing feature to implement a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) model.

Business Requirement

The system had to charge users based on the services they consumed rather than applying a standard subscription fee. The billing cycle followed a monthly schedule, with charges calculated at the end of each period. Real-time tracking ensured accurate usage measurement, allowing the system to generate precise invoices. Additionally, the new billing model needed to integrate seamlessly with Seebaby’s existing payment infrastructure.

Project Details

Seebaby operates as a mobile and web-based application. The development team built the frontend with Angular, the backend with Python and FastAPI, and stored data in PostgreSQL. Stripe served as the payment gateway, and they used the Stripe Python SDK for API interactions. The project ran from October 2024 to November 2024, with a budget designed to support SMEs while allowing scalability for future growth.

Implementation Steps

1. Setting Up Stripe Metered Billing

Configured a metered pricing plan in Stripe through our platform.

2. Creating a Subscription

When a user subscribes, a metered billing subscription is initiated.

3.Recording Usage

Usage is dynamically tracked and reported to Stripe during each image processing event.

4.Invoice Generation & Billing

• Stripe automatically generates invoices at the end of each billing cycle based on recorded usage.
• Alternatively, users can make a mid-cycle payment using the “Pay Now” option.

Challenges and Solutions

One of the biggest challenges involved real-time usage tracking. The team solved this by implementing periodic updates to Stripe, ensuring billing accuracy. They also addressed failed payments by configuring automated retries and sending customer notifications. To improve transparency, they developed a real-time dashboard that displayed usage details and estimated costs, helping users manage their expenses more effectively.

Results and Benefits

The team successfully integrated metered billing while keeping operational overhead low. Users appreciated the flexible billing model, which allowed them to pay only for what they used instead of committing to a fixed subscription. This approach significantly reduced subscription churn, making the service more attractive to cost-conscious users.

Future Enhancements

The team plans to introduce subscription upgrades that let users switch between a standard subscription and a metered PAYG plan based on their needs. This improvement will ensure a seamless transition without service interruptions, giving users greater flexibility.

Conclusion

By implementing Stripe’s metered billing, the Seebaby team created a transparent, scalable, and cost-effective PAYG subscription model. This approach improved user satisfaction, enhanced billing accuracy, and positioned Seebaby for future growth.

Looking to implement a flexible, usage-based billing system? Our team can help you integrate Stripe’s metered billing for seamless subscriptions and improved customer satisfaction. Contact us today to get started!