Is Lago or Qonto better?

Neither clearly leads. Lago starts at Free and Qonto at €9/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Lago or Qonto?

Lago has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Lago and €9/month for Qonto.

Does Lago or Qonto run on more platforms?

Lago runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC. Qonto runs on Web.

Can I use Lago for free?

Yes. Lago has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Qonto starts at €9/month.

What is Lago best used for?

Lago is most often used for building usage-based billing for high-volume apis and infrastructure, implementing metered billing for ai and tokenized services, creating subscription and hybrid pricing models, managing multi-currency billing for global companies. Of those, building usage-based billing for high-volume apis and infrastructure and implementing metered billing for ai and tokenized services are not what Qonto is typically brought in for.

What can Lago do that Qonto cannot?

Lago covers Real-time usage metering, Multiple pricing models, Automated invoicing, Prepaid credits.

Accounting · head to head

Lago vs Qonto

Lago

Accounting

Open-source billing infrastructure for usage-based models

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Qonto

Accounting

French neobank and finance management platform for freelancers, SMEs and businesses

From: €9/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Lago has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Lago free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap; Qonto pricing in EUR only, not USD

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lago and Qonto actually diverge.

Attributes where Lago and Qonto differ
Attribute	Lago	Qonto
Starting price	Free	€9/month
Pricing model	Freemium with optional paid tiers	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC	Web

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 Lago

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

Only in Qonto

Nothing recorded that Lago does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Lago

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

Qonto

Business bankingnot Lago
Team paymentsnot Lago
Cash flow managementnot Lago
Multi-currency transfersnot Lago
Freelancer paymentsnot Lago

Where each one falls short

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

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

Qonto

Pricing in EUR only, not USD
Basic tier limited to 30 transfers per month
Add-ons for invoice automation and project tracking cost EUR 12-39/month extra
Business tier minimum commitment for small team accounts
Business plan minimum pricing EUR 49/month vs self-employed EUR 9/month

Pricing, plan by plan

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)

Qonto

€9/month

Basic (Self-Employed)$9/month
- 30 transfers
- 1 physical + 2 virtual cards
- Account remuneration 5% for 2 months
Smart (Self-Employed)$19/month
- 100 transfers
- 2 physical + 50 virtual cards
- Account remuneration
Premium (Self-Employed)$39/month
- 200 transfers
- 2 physical + 50 virtual + 50 Instant cards
Essential (Business)$49/month
- 250 transfers
- 5 physical + 50 virtual cards
- Multiple sub-accounts

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Qonto if

Nothing in the data separates Qonto from Lago on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Qonto review

Questions people ask

Is Lago or Qonto better?: Neither clearly leads. Lago starts at Free and Qonto at €9/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lago or Qonto?: Lago has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Lago and €9/month for Qonto.
Does Lago or Qonto run on more platforms?: Lago runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC. Qonto runs on Web.
Can I use Lago for free?: Yes. Lago has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Qonto starts at €9/month.
What is Lago best used for?: Lago is most often used for building usage-based billing for high-volume apis and infrastructure, implementing metered billing for ai and tokenized services, creating subscription and hybrid pricing models, managing multi-currency billing for global companies. Of those, building usage-based billing for high-volume apis and infrastructure and implementing metered billing for ai and tokenized services are not what Qonto is typically brought in for.
What can Lago do that Qonto cannot?: Lago covers Real-time usage metering, Multiple pricing models, Automated invoicing, Prepaid credits.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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

Qonto: How much does Qonto cost?

Qonto's self-employed plans range from EUR 9/month (Basic) to EUR 39/month (Premium). Business plans range from EUR 49/month (Essential) to EUR 199/month (Enterprise).

Source

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

Qonto: What is included in Qonto's Basic plan?

The Basic plan costs EUR 9/month and includes 30 monthly transfers, 1 physical card and 2 virtual cards, plus account remuneration at 5% for the first 2 months.

Source

Lago: Does Lago support multiple currencies?

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

Source

Qonto: What is the difference between self-employed and business plans?

Self-employed plans (Basic to Premium) are for individuals and cost EUR 9-39/month. Business plans (Essential to Enterprise) offer more transfers and cards for teams, ranging from EUR 49-199/month.

Source

Lago vs Qonto

Lago

Qonto

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Lago

Only in Qonto

What people use each for

Lago

Qonto

Where each one falls short

Lago

Qonto

Pricing, plan by plan

Lago

Qonto

Which should you pick?

Choose Lago if

Choose Qonto if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Lago

More on Qonto

Keep looking

Other head to heads