Overview
Lago is an open-source billing infrastructure for usage-based and hybrid pricing models. It provides metering, aggregation, subscription management, and invoice generation via a REST API and webhooks. Companies embed it to replace Stripe Billing or Chargebee for complex, event-driven pricing. The stack is Ruby on Rails + PostgreSQL + Redis, deployed via Docker Compose, with a managed cloud option available.
Where it falls short of QuickBooks
- Developer-oriented billing API, not a personal finance or budgeting tool for end-users
- No AR/AP or general-ledger accounting; revenue recognition requires integration with an ERP
- Tax calculation engine is basic; real-world tax compliance needs third-party integration (e.g. Avalara)
- Dunning workflows and payment retries are less mature than Chargebee or Stripe Billing
We list the gaps honestly so you can decide if the trade-off is worth owning your data.
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