Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Happay vs Lago

Happay logo

Happay

Accounting

Indian travel, expense and corporate card platform, now owned by MakeMyTrip

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lago logo

Lago

Accounting

Open-source billing infrastructure for usage-based models

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Lago has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Happay the platform has changed owner twice since 2021, from founders to CRED to MakeMyTrip, and each transition has meant leadership churn and roadmap reprioritisation.; Lago free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap
  • They diverge on capability: Happay covers GST-aware capture, Lago covers Real-time usage metering.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Happay and Lago actually diverge.

Attributes where Happay and Lago differ
AttributeHappayLago
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteFreemium with optional paid tiers
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Happay

  • GST-aware capture
  • Corporate cards
  • Self-booking travel
  • Cash advances
  • Approval matrix
  • Analytics

Only in Lago

  • Real-time usage metering
  • Multiple pricing models
  • Automated invoicing
  • Prepaid credits
  • Entitlements
  • Multi-currency support
  • Payment orchestration
  • Revenue analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Happay

  • An Indian enterprise needing GST input credit fields captured at the point of expense submissionnot Lago
  • A company with field sales staff needing rupee prepaid cards with merchant category limitsnot Lago
  • A finance team replacing a spreadsheet-and-email cash advance process with a tracked workflownot Lago
  • An Indian group wanting travel booking and expense from one supplier with domestic content depthnot Lago

Lago

  • Building usage-based billing for high-volume APIs and infrastructurenot Happay
  • Implementing metered billing for AI and tokenized servicesnot Happay
  • Creating subscription and hybrid pricing modelsnot Happay
  • Managing multi-currency billing for global companiesnot Happay
  • Maintaining billing infrastructure without vendor lock-innot Happay

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Happay

  • The platform has changed owner twice since 2021, from founders to CRED to MakeMyTrip, and each transition has meant leadership churn and roadmap reprioritisation.
  • It is now owned by an online travel agency, so the incentive is to grow travel bookings, and expense-only customers are not the strategic centre of the product.
  • Card issuance depends on partner bank relationships, so limits, approval times and product features are constrained by a bank the customer does not choose.
  • Coverage is overwhelmingly India-specific, which makes it unsuitable as a group-wide platform for companies with foreign subsidiaries.
  • Integration depth outside common Indian ERP and accounting systems is thin, and connecting a global SAP instance usually needs bespoke work.

Lago

  • Free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap
  • No specific pricing published for Pro annual plan or Scale plan
  • Self-hosted and on-premise deployments require engineering resources
  • Community support only on free tier
  • Scale plan requires annual contracts and sales engagement

Pricing, plan by plan

Happay

On request
  • Happay$undefined/year
    • Quoted per-user or per-transaction subscription
    • Card programme terms set with the partner bank
    • Travel booking fees separate from expense subscription

Lago

Free
  • Build (Free)Free
    • 10,000 managed entities per month
    • 5M usage events per month
    • 1K events per second rate limit
  • Pro$399/month
    • 10,000 entities included (graduated pricing to 100K)
    • 25M usage events included (to 500M with graduated rates)
    • 10K events per second (upgradeable to 100K)
  • Scale$null/custom
    • Custom entity and event volumes
    • 50K events per second (upgradeable to 100K)
    • RBAC and SSO (SAML)

Which should you pick?

Choose Happay if

  • You need gst-aware capture.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want corporate cards.
Happay review

Choose Lago if

  • You need real-time usage metering.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC.
  • You also want multiple pricing models.
Lago review

Questions people ask

Is Happay or Lago better?
Neither clearly leads. Happay starts at On request and Lago at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Happay or Lago?
Lago has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Happay and Free for Lago.
Does Happay or Lago run on more platforms?
Happay runs on Web, iOS, Android. Lago runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC.
Can I use Lago for free?
Yes. Lago has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Happay starts at On request.
What is Happay best used for?
Happay is most often used for an indian enterprise needing gst input credit fields captured at the point of expense submission, a company with field sales staff needing rupee prepaid cards with merchant category limits, a finance team replacing a spreadsheet-and-email cash advance process with a tracked workflow, an indian group wanting travel booking and expense from one supplier with domestic content depth. Of those, an indian enterprise needing gst input credit fields captured at the point of expense submission and a company with field sales staff needing rupee prepaid cards with merchant category limits are not what Lago is typically brought in for.
What can Happay do that Lago cannot?
Happay covers GST-aware capture, Corporate cards, Self-booking travel, Cash advances. Lago covers Real-time usage metering, Multiple pricing models, Automated invoicing, Prepaid credits.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Happay: Who owns Happay now?

MakeMyTrip. It agreed in November 2024 to acquire the expense management platform, brand and team from CRED, which had bought Happay in 2021.

Lago: Can I use Lago open-source for free?

Yes, Lago is open-source under the AGPLv3 license and can be self-hosted. The cloud-based Build plan is also free with limits of 10,000 entities and 5M events per month.

Source
Happay: Can it be used outside India?

It books international travel for Indian entities, but the expense and card sides are built for Indian tax and banking and do not serve foreign entities well.

Lago: What payment providers does Lago integrate with?

Lago integrates with Stripe and Adyen for payment processing. It is not a payment processor itself but orchestrates payments through these providers.

Source
Happay: Does Happay issue its own cards?

It issues cards through partner banks rather than under its own banking licence, so card terms follow the partner.

Lago: Does Lago support multiple currencies?

Yes, Lago supports multi-currency billing with automatic currency conversion for global businesses.

Source
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