Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Lago vs Recurly

Lago logo

Lago

Accounting

Open-source billing infrastructure for usage-based models

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Recurly logo

Recurly

Accounting

The subscription management platform built for growth

From
$249/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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; Recurly starter is $249 a month plus 0.9 percent of billing volume above the first $40K, so the cost rises with revenue rather than with usage
  • They diverge on capability: Lago covers Real-time usage metering, Recurly covers Subscription billing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lago and Recurly actually diverge.

Attributes where Lago and Recurly differ
AttributeLagoRecurly
Starting priceFree$249/month
Pricing modelFreemium with optional paid tierssubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPCWeb, Api
FoundedUnknown2009

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 Recurly

  • Subscription billing
  • Revenue recovery
  • Payment gateway optimization
  • Analytics
  • API
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Braintree

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 Recurly
  • Implementing metered billing for AI and tokenized servicesnot Recurly
  • Creating subscription and hybrid pricing modelsnot Recurly
  • Managing multi-currency billing for global companiesnot Recurly
  • Maintaining billing infrastructure without vendor lock-innot Recurly

Recurly

  • Subscription billing and recurring invoicingnot Lago
  • Dunning and failed payment recoverynot Lago
  • Trials, plan changes and promotionsnot Lago
  • Revenue recognition through the RevRec add-onnot Lago
  • Shopify-native subscriptions with subscribe and savenot 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

Recurly

  • Starter is $249 a month plus 0.9 percent of billing volume above the first $40K, so the cost rises with revenue rather than with usage
  • All-Access is quoted at under 1 percent of billing volume with a $1M minimum, putting it out of reach of smaller merchants
  • Only one dunning campaign on Starter; multiple campaigns need All-Access
  • SSO, multicurrency and payments orchestration are All-Access only
  • Revenue recognition and the Engage churn tooling are separate add-ons at $850 and $1,600 a 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)

Recurly

$249/month
  • Starter$249/month
    • Automated global subscription billing
    • Flexible plans and static churn-prevention tools
    • 1 dunning campaign
  • All-Access$null/month
    • Everything in Starter plus AI-powered agents and analytics
    • Intelligent churn-prevention with multiple dunning campaigns
    • Advanced pricing and promotions
  • All-Access for Shopify$null/month
    • Intelligent churn-prevention and customized bundles
    • Subscribe and save, prepaid/gift subscriptions
    • Hybrid subscription support and cancel-save flows

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 Recurly if

  • You need subscription billing.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want revenue recovery.
Recurly review

Questions people ask

Is Lago or Recurly better?
Neither clearly leads. Lago starts at Free and Recurly at $249/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lago or Recurly?
Lago has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Lago and $249/month for Recurly.
Does Lago or Recurly run on more platforms?
Lago runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC. Recurly runs on Web, Api.
Can I use Lago for free?
Yes. Lago has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Recurly starts at $249/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 Recurly is typically brought in for.
What can Lago do that Recurly cannot?
Lago covers Real-time usage metering, Multiple pricing models, Automated invoicing, Prepaid credits. Recurly covers Subscription billing, Revenue recovery, Payment gateway optimization, Analytics.

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
Recurly: What does Recurly's Starter plan cost?

Recurly Starter plan costs 249 USD monthly plus 0.9 percent of billing volume, with the first 40000 USD monthly volume included in the base fee.

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
Recurly: What is the minimum commitment for Recurly's All-Access plan?

All-Access plans require a minimum 1 million USD annual commitment, billed annually at less than 1 percent of billing volume.

Source
Lago: Does Lago support multiple currencies?

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

Source
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