---
title: Usage-Based Pricing
description: Bill customers based on actual usage at the end of each billing period
---

Pay-per-use (usage-based) pricing charges customers based on how much of a feature they actually consume, billed at the end of each billing period. This is ideal for products where usage varies significantly between customers.

> **Example** <br />
> A notification service charges \$1 per 1,000 notifications sent. A customer who sends 5,000 notifications in a month pays \$5 at the end of that month.

## Setting up

<Tabs>
<Tab title="CLI">

Create a consumable feature with a `usage_based` price:

```ts autumn.config.ts
import { feature, item, plan } from 'atmn';

export const notifications = feature({
  id: 'notifications',
  name: 'Notifications',
  type: 'metered',
  consumable: true,
});

export const payAsYouGo = plan({
  id: 'pay_as_you_go',
  name: 'Pay As You Go',
  group: 'main',
  items: [
    item({
      featureId: notifications.id,
      included: 1000,
      reset: { interval: 'month' },
      price: {
        amount: 1,
        interval: 'month',
        billingUnits: 1000,
        billingMethod: 'usage_based',
      },
    }),
  ],
});
```

Push changes with `atmn push`.

</Tab>
<Tab title="Dashboard">

1. Navigate to **Plans** and create a plan
2. Add a **consumable** feature (e.g., notifications)
3. Set an optional **included** amount (free usage before charges begin)
4. Add a **price** with:
   - **Billing method**: Usage-based
   - **Amount**: price per billing unit (e.g., $1)
   - **Billing units**: the package size (e.g., 1,000 notifications)
   - **Interval**: billing frequency (e.g., monthly)
5. Save the plan

</Tab>
</Tabs>

## How it works

1. A customer's usage is tracked via the [track](/documentation/customers/tracking-usage) endpoint throughout the billing period
2. Usage first draws down from the **included** amount (if any) at no charge
3. Usage beyond the included amount is **overage** — billed at the configured rate
4. At the end of the billing period, Autumn generates a Stripe invoice for the total overage

<Note>
Usage-based features allow overage by default. The `check` endpoint will return `allowed: true` even if the customer has exceeded their included balance, as long as a usage-based price is configured.
</Note>

## Tracking usage

Track usage as it occurs — Autumn accumulates it over the billing period:

<CodeGroup>

```typescript TypeScript
import { Autumn } from "autumn-js";

const autumn = new Autumn({ secretKey: "am_sk_..." });

await autumn.track({
  customer_id: "user_123",
  feature_id: "notifications",
  value: 500,
});
```

```python Python
from autumn_sdk import Autumn

autumn = Autumn("am_sk_...")

await autumn.track(
    customer_id="user_123",
    feature_id="notifications",
    value=500,
)
```

```bash cURL
curl -X POST "https://api.useautumn.com/v1/track" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer am_sk_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "customer_id": "user_123",
    "feature_id": "notifications",
    "value": 500
  }'
```

</CodeGroup>

## Checking access

Check if the customer can use the feature. For usage-based features with overage, `allowed` is `true` as long as the feature exists on the customer's plan:

<CodeGroup>

```typescript TypeScript
const { data } = await autumn.check({
  customer_id: "user_123",
  feature_id: "notifications",
});

console.log(data.allowed); // true (overage allowed)
console.log(data.balance);
```

```python Python
response = await autumn.check(
    customer_id="user_123",
    feature_id="notifications",
)

print(response.allowed)  # True (overage allowed)
print(response.balance)
```

```bash cURL
curl -X POST "https://api.useautumn.com/v1/check" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer am_sk_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "customer_id": "user_123",
    "feature_id": "notifications"
  }'
```

</CodeGroup>

<Expandable title="check response">
```json
{
  "allowed": true,
  "customerId": "user_123",
  "balance": {
    "featureId": "notifications",
    "granted": 1000,
    "remaining": -500,
    "usage": 1500,
    "unlimited": false,
    "overageAllowed": true,
    "nextResetAt": 1757192635393
  }
}
```
</Expandable>

## Combining with free tiers

A common pattern is pairing usage-based pricing with a [free plan](/documentation/modelling-pricing/free-plans). Free users are blocked when they exceed their limit, while paying users are billed for overages.

| Plan | Over limit | Result |
|------|------------|--------|
| Free | Yes | Blocked (`allowed: false`) |
| Pay-as-you-go | Yes | Allowed, billed at end of period |