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Compare · Billing platforms

Limitr vs Lago.

Lago is open-source billing: it meters what happened and invoices it. Limitr is an open-source engine that decides each call in your app before it happens, then bills it.

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The short answer
Lago

Open-source metering and usage-based billing (AGPLv3).

Limitr

Decides every call in your app, with prices, costs, limits, and contract terms, then bills it.

Side by side

What happens when…

The moments that decide it, answered from each product's own docs and pricing.

When…LagoLimitr
An agent loop runs away at 2 a.m.Metered for billing, with budget alerts. We found no way to stop the call in your app.The call that would break the budget never runs. Task, customer, and org budgets are checked in your app first.
A customer costs more than they payLLM cost plus markup in its Agent SDK. We found no margin reporting.Margin per account is live, and a cap on what an account can cost you stops it before it turns unprofitable.
Sales signs a custom dealMinimum commitments (Premium) and wallets, applied on the invoice.Write it as a contract in Limitr Cloud. Its prices, limits, and terms are enforced in the product on the next call.
You change a pricePlans in the UI or API, with revenue forecasting (beta).Replay the change on real usage, with revenue and cost, then publish. Live on the next call.
Open sourceAGPLv3 core. Self-hosting is free; Premium is by quote.The engine and policy format, Apache 2.0.

Checked November 10, 2026. Sources: Lago on GitHub · Lago pricing · Lago commitments. Something out of date? Tell us.

Architecture

Where the decision happens.

The difference most comparisons skip: where a call is allowed, priced, and capped, and when.

Lago
After the call

Usage is recorded and billed after it happens. Your app acts on alerts and webhooks, once the calls have already run.

Your app
no check first
Model or APIthe cost
afterward
Billing servicerecords it
Limitr
Inside your app, before the call

The engine runs natively in your process and decides every call in about a millisecond: allowed, priced at your cost and your price, and held to the contract. Usage goes to Limitr Cloud in the background.

Your appLimitr engine inside
decided first
Model or APIthe cost
in the background
Limitr Cloudledger and invoices

Proof

Don't take our word for it.

Bring last month's usage. We'll replay it through Limitr Analyst and show your margin per account, and what Limitr would have stopped.

100,000+users metered for The Regis Company's Fortune 500 contract971 of 1,000attack calls stopped inside the app in our abuse demo, on a real policy0network calls to decide a request. It keeps deciding when the network doesn't.Apache 2.0Read exactly what decides your calls.
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The gap

What you'd still build on Lago.

Teams pair Lago with code of their own. With Limitr, that part is the product.

With Lago, you still build
With Limitr, you get
Limits that stop a call in your app
Budgets and limits checked in your app before the call
Margin reporting per account
Your cost and your price on every call, so margin per account is live
Contract terms enforced beyond the invoice
Contracts enforced in the product on the next call

Choose Lago if you want an open-source billing system to run yourself, and stopping usage isn't the problem.

Switching

From Lago to Limitr.

No migration day. Limitr runs next to what you have until the numbers match.

Book a replayMap your pricing
Map your Lago plans and prices to a Limitr policy, line by line.
Run Limitr in observe mode next to Lago and compare the numbers on real traffic.
Switch enforcement on. Customers come over as they appear, with no migration day.

Common questions

Limitr vs Lago, answered.

Lago is a billing system you run. Limitr is an engine inside your app that decides each call (limits, prices, costs, contract terms) and then bills it. Limitr is Apache 2.0; Lago is AGPLv3.

Lago is open-source billing: it meters what happened and invoices it. Limitr is an open-source engine that decides each call in your app before it happens, then bills it. Choose Lago if you want an open-source billing system to run yourself, and stopping usage isn't the problem.

Lago: after the call. Usage is recorded and billed after it happens. Your app acts on alerts and webhooks, once the calls have already run. Limitr: inside your app, before the call. The engine runs natively in your process and decides every call in about a millisecond: allowed, priced at your cost and your price, and held to the contract. Usage goes to Limitr Cloud in the background.

Map your Lago plans and prices to a Limitr policy, line by line. Run Limitr in observe mode next to Lago and compare the numbers on real traffic. Switch enforcement on. Customers come over as they appear, with no migration day.

Limitr is built for them. An agent is a customer like any other, with its own plan, limits, and budget, linked to the workspace it works for. Budgets per task, customer, and org are checked in your app before each step runs, and the agent can see what it has left as a Claude tool.

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npm i @formata/limitr
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