Recurring vs metered - Lago

Recurring billable metrics

Only the sum_agg, unique_count_agg and weighted_sum_agg aggregation types can be recurring. A count_agg, max_agg or latest_agg billable metric is always metered.

Dashboard
API

When you set recurring: true or choose the “recurring” option in the user interface, the billing aggregation for your billable metric will persist across billing periods. This means that the accumulated result will carry over and be used to charge the customer in subsequent periods.

LAGO_URL="https://api.getlago.com"
API_KEY="__YOUR_API_KEY__"

curl --location --request POST "$LAGO_URL/api/v1/billable_metrics" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-raw '{
    "billable_metric": {
      "name": "Seats",
      "code": "seats",
      "description": "Active seats added",
      "aggregation_type": "unique_count_agg",
      "field_name": "seat_id",
      "recurring": true
    }
  }'

Metered billable metrics

Dashboard
API

Conversely, if you set recurring: false or select the “metered” option in the user interface, the billing aggregation for your billable metric will reset to zero at the end of each billing period. This ensures that the customer’s charges reflect only the usage within that specific period.

LAGO_URL="https://api.getlago.com"
API_KEY="__YOUR_API_KEY__"

curl --location --request POST "$LAGO_URL/api/v1/billable_metrics" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-raw '{
    "billable_metric": {
      "name": "Storage",
      "code": "storage",
      "description": "Number of GB used",
      "aggregation_type": "sum_agg",
      "field_name": "gb",
      "recurring": false
    }
  }'