Usage Metering Quick Start

Bill customers based on what they actually use—API calls, storage, compute hours, or any measurable unit. This guide walks you through setting up usage-based billing in the dashboard.

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How Usage Billing Works

1. Usage occurs - Customer uses your product (API calls, storage, etc.)
2. Events recorded - Usage events are sent to Alguna
3. Usage aggregated - Alguna totals usage for the billing period
4. Invoice generated - Charges calculated based on your pricing
5. Payment collected - Customer pays for their usage

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Step 1: Create a Billable Metric

Define what you want to measure:

1. Navigate to Settings → Billable Metrics
2. Click Create Metric
3. Fill in the details:
   • Name: What you’re measuring (e.g., “API Calls”)
   • Code: Unique identifier (e.g., api_calls)
   • Aggregation Type: How to count usage

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Aggregation Types

4. Click Create

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Step 2: Create a Usage-Based Product

1. Navigate to Products
2. Click New Product
3. Configure:
   • Name: Product name (e.g., “API Usage”)
   • Fee Type: Select Metered
   • Metric: Select the metric you created
   • Pricing Model: Choose how to price usage

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Pricing Models for Usage

4. Click Save

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Step 3: Add to a Plan

1. Navigate to Plans
2. Select or create a plan
3. Click Add Product
4. Select your usage-based product
5. Click Save

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Step 4: Send Usage Events

Work with your development team to send usage events. They’ll need:

• Metric Code: The code you defined (e.g., api_calls)
• Account ID: The customer’s Alguna account ID
• Timestamp: When the usage occurred

See the Events API Reference for technical details.

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Viewing Customer Usage

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Current Period Usage

1. Navigate to Customers → [Customer Name]
2. Click the Usage tab
3. View:
   • Usage by metric
   • Estimated charges
   • Usage trends

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Historical Usage

1. Navigate to Reports → Usage
2. Filter by customer, metric, or date range
3. Export data if needed

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Common Use Cases

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API Billing

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Storage Billing

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Compute Billing

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Active User Billing

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Troubleshooting

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No Usage Showing

1. Verify usage events are being sent (check with your dev team)
2. Confirm the metric code matches exactly
3. Check timestamps are within the billing period

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Incorrect Charges

1. Review the metric aggregation type
2. Check pricing model configuration
3. Verify billing period dates

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Best Practices

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Next Steps