Lago vs Orb
open-source · hosted-paid · enterprise-custom
·usage-based · enterprise-custom
Lago wins · 21–13 (15 drawn)
Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness
How well agents can access and operate the product
Agent access
ai-native userPoint an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docs
weight 2 · round drawnLago has a confirmed live llms.txt at the root domain (HTTP 200) plus a docs-specific llms.txt index and .md-formatted doc pages, explicitly designed for agent consumption, alongside an OpenAPI schema and MCP server for programmatic access. This directly satisfies pointing an agent at agent-oriented docs, with only independent third-party confirmation of agent usage missing for a perfect score. Missing for 10: independent/hands-on verification that an agent successfully consumes these files end-to-end.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/llms.txt # Lago > Lago is the open-source billing platform for usage-based, subscription-ba…”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/docs/api-reference/intro.md > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index…”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
A live probe confirms Orb serves a proper llms.txt at docs.withorb.com/llms.txt returning HTTP 200 with structured links to docs, directly satisfying the agent-oriented docs discovery story. Missing for 10: no independent third-party corroboration of agent usage/adoption beyond the probe itself.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 200 at https://docs.withorb.com/llms.txt # Orb - [Overview](https://docs.withorb.com/overview.md) - [What is Orb?](htt…”
ai-native userRun the product headlessly / in CI for automation
weight 2 · round to LagoLago is self-hostable via Docker (docs-11), fully API/CLI-driven with a generated command for every endpoint (docs-1) and an OpenAPI 3.1 schema for scripting/client generation (docs-16), and the GitHub repo contains a script that spins up a disposable local Lago instance and runs automated pricing scenarios (gh-1), all consistent with headless/CI automation. However there is no explicit CI/headless-mode documentation, example CI pipeline config, or independent report of running Lago fully headless in a pipeline. Missing for 10: dedicated CI/headless-mode docs, a documented CI pipeline example, and independent confirmation of headless automated runs.
- [claimed-docs] “Docker is the easiest way to get started with the self-hosted version of Lago.”
- [claimed-docs] “Every endpoint in this reference has a generated command.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [github] “It starts the Lago version that matches this checkout, creates a disposable local organization, and prices three illustrative AI requests.”
Orb is API-first for core actions (e.g., subscription creation, event ingestion, webhooks) which implies operations can be automated without the UI, but there is no evidence of a CLI, SDK, or explicit CI/pipeline integration story — the evidence never discusses running Orb 'headlessly' in an automation/CI context. missing for 10: CLI or SDK for automation, explicit CI/pipeline integration examples, documentation framing API use as headless/agentic automation.
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides per-event idempotency through the API to guarantee that duplicates are never processed within the account grace period.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides a powerful, real-time webhooks system that can issue calls to an endpoint of your choosing when certain events take place.”
ai-native userConnect an agent via an official MCP server
weight 3 · round to LagoLago is not itself an AI agent but a billing platform, so publishing an official MCP server is a fair axis; docs explicitly confirm a dedicated MCP server giving AI assistants like Claude direct access to Lago's billing data, plus a probe confirming the page exists. Missing for 10: independent/hands-on third-party verification of the MCP server working in practice.
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
ai-native userUse an official CLI
weight 2 · round to LagoDocs mention that 'every endpoint in this reference has a generated command,' implying an official CLI exists, but there is no dedicated CLI documentation, install instructions, or AI-native framing (e.g., LLM-friendly usage, agent integration) beyond this single line. Missing for 10: explicit CLI install/setup docs, AI-native use-case description, independent confirmation of CLI usage.
- [claimed-docs] “Every endpoint in this reference has a generated command.”
ai-native userDrive the product through a documented public API
weight 3 · round to LagoLago publishes a full public API reference with generated commands per endpoint, an OpenAPI 3.1 schema (verified live at /openapi.json), explicit versioning/stability guarantees, and docs/llms.txt aimed at AI-native consumption; it even documents an MCP server exposing billing data to AI agents. This is strong first-party and probe-verified evidence of a documented, machine-consumable public API. Missing for 10: independent third-party developer testimonials specifically about API usage/integration experience (community evidence is mostly about billing product value, not API DX).
- [claimed-docs] “Every endpoint in this reference has a generated command.”
- [claimed-docs] “Clients should tolerate additive changes within v1, including new response fields, enum values, endpoints, optional request fields, and webh…”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/llms.txt # Lago > Lago is the open-source billing platform for usage-based, subscription-ba…”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/docs/api-reference/intro.md > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index…”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
Orb's docs explicitly reference creating subscriptions via API, an api-reference error-responses page, per-event idempotency through the API, and a real-time webhooks system, indicating a documented public API spanning core billing operations. Missing for 10: a discoverable machine-readable OpenAPI/swagger spec (probe returned 404 on all candidates) and independent third-party corroboration of API usage.
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
- [claimed-docs] “If you are processing an error programmatically, consider using the type URI along with the status code.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides per-event idempotency through the API to guarantee that duplicates are never processed within the account grace period.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides a powerful, real-time webhooks system that can issue calls to an endpoint of your choosing when certain events take place.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.withorb.com/openapi.json, https://docs.withorb.com/swagger.json, https://docs.withorb.c…”
ai-native userIssue scoped/least-privilege API credentials for an agent
weight 2 · round drawnLagonone0/10Lago's docs describe an MCP server and API access for AI agents but provide no evidence of scoped or least-privilege API key/credential issuance (e.g., role-based keys, permission scopes) for agents; existing docs only mention general API keys and OpenAPI schema access without granular scoping controls.
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
ai-native userBuild against official SDKs
weight 2 · round to LagoLago publishes an OpenAPI 3.1 spec and API reference with per-endpoint generated commands, explicitly positioned for generating clients or exposing actions to AI agents, but the evidence never names concrete official first-party SDKs (e.g., language libraries) beyond spec-generated clients. missing for 10: named official SDK packages/libraries, independent developer confirmation of SDK usage, versioning/maintenance details for SDKs.
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [claimed-docs] “Every endpoint in this reference has a generated command.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
- [claimed-docs] “Clients should tolerate additive changes within v1, including new response fields, enum values, endpoints, optional request fields, and webh…”
Orbnone0/10The evidence pack shows Orb has a REST API (endpoints, error responses, webhooks) but contains no mention of official language SDKs (e.g., Python, Node, Java client libraries), and the OpenAPI probe returned 404s, suggesting no public spec/SDK generation surface. Missing for 10: any documentation of official SDKs, client libraries, or language-specific packages for building AI-native integrations.
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
- [claimed-docs] “If you are processing an error programmatically, consider using the type URI along with the status code.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.withorb.com/openapi.json, https://docs.withorb.com/swagger.json, https://docs.withorb.c…”
ai-native userSubscribe to events via webhooks
weight 2 · round drawnLago documents a webhook system with HMAC signing options (lago-docs-7) and explicit API versioning guarantees for webhook event types (lago-docs-8), meaning any consumer—including an AI agent—can subscribe to billing events via webhooks. missing for 10: a full catalog/list of supported webhook event types, and independent/hands-on confirmation of webhook reliability in production use.
- [claimed-docs] “The second is `HMAC`, which features a shorter payload header and no size restrictions.”
- [claimed-docs] “Clients should tolerate additive changes within v1, including new response fields, enum values, endpoints, optional request fields, and webh…”
Orb documents a real-time webhooks system that issues calls to an endpoint for account events, directly enabling event subscription. Missing for 10: details on event payload schema, list of supported event types, signature verification/security, and independent/hands-on confirmation beyond docs.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides a powerful, real-time webhooks system that can issue calls to an endpoint of your choosing when certain events take place.”
Agentic features
ai-native userGet AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the product
weight 2 · round to LagoLago documents specific AI-agent features—an MCP server that gives assistants like Claude direct access to billing data, and a 'Dunning Agent' that reads 12 months of invoices/payments/disputes to inform actions—showing some in-product AI analysis of data. However, this is narrow (payment collection) rather than a general AI-insights/suggestions layer across revenue analytics, plans, or usage data. missing for 10: evidence of AI-generated insights/suggestions surfaced in the main product UI (e.g., revenue analytics, plan optimization), independent/hands-on confirmation the Dunning Agent's outputs are used, and broader scope beyond dunning/collections.
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
Orbnone0/10Orb is a billing/usage-metering platform; evidence covers forecasting, revenue recognition, invoicing, and pricing analytics, but none describes AI-generated insights or suggestions surfaced within the product itself. No mention of AI/ML features, copilots, or generative recommendations anywhere in the docs pack.
ai-native userSet up automations that run autonomously in the background
weight 2 · round to LagoLago documents a Dunning Agent that autonomously reads account/invoice/payment history and presumably acts on overdue accounts, plus an MCP server exposing billing data to AI agents like Claude, showing some autonomous background automation capability. However, evidence doesn't show a general-purpose automation/agent-builder framework, scheduling, or independent confirmation of the Dunning Agent running unattended in production. missing for 10: broader autonomous automation framework beyond dunning agent, independent/hands-on verification of autonomous background operation, details on triggering/scheduling/monitoring these agents.
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
Orb has several autonomous background processes (auto dunning retries, automatic invoice issuance after grace periods, usage-threshold alerts, and real-time webhooks) that run without manual intervention, which partially satisfies 'automations that run in the background.' However there is no evidence of an AI-native automation builder, agent-configurable workflows, or general-purpose autonomous task orchestration beyond these fixed billing behaviors. Missing for 10: user-configurable automation/workflow engine, AI-agent-triggered automation setup, evidence of arbitrary background task scheduling beyond billing-specific triggers.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will automatically retry the charge after 1, 4, and 9 days from the initial payment attempt.”
- [claimed-docs] “Automatic Issuance ... Invoices auto-issue after grace periods and buffers ... Manual Issuance ... All invoices require manual approval befo…”
- [claimed-docs] “Trigger alerts at usage thresholds to power product-led growth.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides a powerful, real-time webhooks system that can issue calls to an endpoint of your choosing when certain events take place.”
ai-native userDelegate tasks to a built-in AI assistant inside the product
weight 3 · round to LagoLago ships an 'AI agents' documentation section describing a built-in Dunning Agent that autonomously reads invoices, disputes, and payment provider status to act on overdue accounts, and an MCP server that gives external AI assistants (e.g., Claude) direct access to billing data. This shows some built-in agentic delegation for a specific task (dunning/collections), but there's no evidence of a general-purpose in-product AI assistant users can converse with or delegate arbitrary tasks to. missing for 10: evidence of a general conversational assistant UI, breadth of tasks beyond dunning, independent/hands-on confirmation of the Dunning Agent actually operating in production.
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
ai-native userOperate the product with natural-language commands
weight 2 · round to LagoLago documents an official MCP server that gives AI assistants like Claude direct access to billing data, plus specialized AI agents (e.g., Dunning Agent) that read account data and OpenAPI schema exposure for AI agents to invoke billing actions — enabling natural-language operation via connected AI assistants. However, this is mediated through external assistants/MCP rather than a built-in NL command interface, and there's no independent/hands-on evidence of actual NL command execution or the breadth of supported commands. Missing for 10: hands-on/independent verification of NL command execution, a native in-product chat/command interface, and documentation of the full range of commands executable via natural language.
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
Orbnone0/10No evidence anywhere in the pack of a natural-language interface, chat/AI assistant, or NL-driven command execution for Orb; all documented interactions are via UI or REST/SQL APIs.
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
- [claimed-docs] “Build complex billing metrics with full SQL control.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.withorb.com/openapi.json, https://docs.withorb.com/swagger.json, https://docs.withorb.c…”
Api quality
ai-native userExplore an interactive API reference with runnable examples
weight 2 · round to LagoDocs confirm a generated command for every endpoint and an OpenAPI 3.1 schema (lago-docs-1, lago-docs-16, lago-probe-3), suggesting a structured, code-snippet-rich API reference, but there is no evidence of an in-browser 'try it out' or runnable execution feature. Missing for 10: explicit interactive 'run this request' UI, hands-on confirmation of executability, and independent corroboration of the reference's interactivity.
- [claimed-docs] “Every endpoint in this reference has a generated command.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/docs/api-reference/intro.md > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index…”
Orbnone0/10Evidence only shows standard API reference docs (e.g., error-responses.md) but no mention of an interactive explorer or runnable code examples; the openapi spec probe returned 404s, suggesting no discoverable machine-readable spec to power such interactivity.
- [claimed-docs] “If you are processing an error programmatically, consider using the type URI along with the status code.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.withorb.com/openapi.json, https://docs.withorb.com/swagger.json, https://docs.withorb.c…”
ai-native userDownload a machine-readable API spec (OpenAPI or equivalent)
weight 2 · round to LagoLago publishes an OpenAPI 3.1 schema (openapi.json returns 200 with an 'openapi' key) and docs explicitly state it can be used to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose actions to an AI agent. missing for 10: no independent third-party corroboration of the spec's completeness or usage beyond vendor docs/probe.
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
Orbnone0/10The evidence pack shows explicit probes for a machine-readable OpenAPI spec (openapi.json, swagger.json, etc.) all returning 404, and no docs page offers a downloadable API spec — only an llms.txt index and general API reference mentions. Missing for 10: any working OpenAPI/Swagger endpoint, a documented spec download link, or third-party confirmation of spec availability.
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.withorb.com/openapi.json, https://docs.withorb.com/swagger.json, https://docs.withorb.c…”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 200 at https://docs.withorb.com/llms.txt # Orb - [Overview](https://docs.withorb.com/overview.md) - [What is Orb?](htt…”
- [claimed-docs] “If you are processing an error programmatically, consider using the type URI along with the status code.”
ai-native userTest against a sandbox environment without touching production data
weight 1 · round to LagoLago's self-hosted Docker setup and the GitHub quick-start script that spins up a 'disposable local organization' for testing suggest a way to try Lago without touching production data, but there is no documented dedicated sandbox/test-mode with separate test API keys as many billing platforms provide. Missing for 10: explicit sandbox/test-mode documentation, test vs. live API key separation, and hands-on confirmation that test data is fully isolated from production billing.
- [github] “It starts the Lago version that matches this checkout, creates a disposable local organization, and prices three illustrative AI requests.”
- [claimed-docs] “Docker is the easiest way to get started with the self-hosted version of Lago.”
Orbnone0/10The axis applies since billing/API platforms commonly offer sandbox/test environments, but the evidence pack never mentions a distinct sandbox or test-mode environment isolated from production data — only 'testing pricing changes against historical usage' (orb-docs-1), which is backtesting, not a sandbox. missing for 10: explicit sandbox/test-mode environment, API keys or docs distinguishing test vs live data, confirmation that test data never touches production.
- [claimed-docs] “Test pricing changes against historical usage before deploying.”
ai-native userRely on versioned APIs with a documented deprecation policy
weight 2 · round to LagoLago documents an explicit API versioning policy (v1) specifying that clients should tolerate additive changes like new fields, enums, endpoints, and webhook event types, indicating a stable versioned API contract with deprecation-safe evolution rules, and backs this with a published OpenAPI 3.1 schema. Missing for 10: an explicit deprecation/sunset timeline policy (e.g., how long old versions are supported) and independent/community confirmation of version stability in practice.
- [claimed-docs] “Clients should tolerate additive changes within v1, including new response fields, enum values, endpoints, optional request fields, and webh…”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
Orbnone0/10No evidence pack item documents API versioning scheme or a deprecation policy; only error-response handling and general docs are covered. Missing for 10: versioning scheme (e.g., date-based API versions), deprecation/sunset policy, changelog or migration guides for breaking changes.
Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth
How much of the product can run unattended
ai-native userPerform bulk operations across many items at once
weight 2 · round to OrbLagonone0/10No evidence describes bulk/batch endpoints or batch operations (e.g., bulk invoice creation, bulk customer updates) in Lago's API or UI; documentation only mentions per-endpoint commands and general API access. Missing for 10: any mention of batch/bulk API endpoints, batch job status, or UI batch-select actions.
- [claimed-docs] “Every endpoint in this reference has a generated command.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
Orb documents high-throughput event ingestion (1M+ events/sec) and backfilling historical usage events, which are forms of bulk data operations, but there is no explicit documentation of a bulk/batch API for operations like mass-editing subscriptions, invoices, or other resources. missing for 10: explicit bulk/batch API endpoints for subscriptions, invoices, or other catalog items; UI or API support for multi-item batch edits.
- [claimed-docs] “Handle 1M+ billing events per second in production deployments.”
- [claimed-docs] “If you want Orb to generate accurate invoices or analytics based on prior usage data, you can backfill events.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides per-event idempotency through the API to guarantee that duplicates are never processed within the account grace period.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports managed, daily exports of resource types to your data destination of your choice.”
ai-native userDefine rules that trigger actions automatically on events
weight 3 · round drawnLago documents webhooks that fire on billing events (lago-docs-7) and a dedicated 'Dunning Agent' that reads account state (invoices, payments, disputes) and presumably acts on overdue-payment events (lago-docs-10), which together resemble event-triggered automation. However, there is no documented general-purpose rule/condition engine letting users define arbitrary 'if event X then action Y' logic beyond these specific built-in agents/webhooks. Missing for 10: a configurable rules/conditions UI or API for arbitrary triggers, and evidence of multiple event types beyond dunning/webhooks.
- [claimed-docs] “The second is `HMAC`, which features a shorter payload header and no size restrictions.”
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
Orb offers usage-threshold alerts and a real-time webhooks system that fires on defined events, which functions as event-triggered automation, and dunning/invoice issuance include automatic rule-based actions (auto-retry, auto-issue). However, these are fixed, product-specific automations rather than a general user-defined rules/actions engine (no evidence of custom conditional logic, multi-step workflows, or arbitrary action definitions). Missing for 10: a general-purpose rule builder, evidence of custom conditional logic beyond thresholds, and support for arbitrary automated actions beyond alerts/webhooks/dunning.
- [claimed-docs] “Trigger alerts at usage thresholds to power product-led growth.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides a powerful, real-time webhooks system that can issue calls to an endpoint of your choosing when certain events take place.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will automatically retry the charge after 1, 4, and 9 days from the initial payment attempt.”
- [claimed-docs] “Automatic Issuance ... Invoices auto-issue after grace periods and buffers ... Manual Issuance ... All invoices require manual approval befo…”
ai-native userSchedule recurring jobs or workflows
weight 2 · round drawnLago's core billing engine inherently runs recurring cycles (monthly/yearly subscription billing) and the Dunning Agent appears to run periodic checks over invoices/payments, which is a recurring automated workflow, but there is no documented feature letting an AI-native user define or schedule arbitrary recurring jobs/workflows via API or agent. missing for 10: explicit job/workflow scheduler, cron-like API, user-configurable recurrence for AI agent tasks beyond built-in billing cycles.
- [claimed-docs] “Yearly: subscription fees are billed on a yearly basis and charges can be billed monthly or annually.”
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
Orb offers some built-in recurring automated processes—daily scheduled data exports, automatic dunning retries on fixed day intervals, and automatic invoice issuance after grace periods—which are recurring, schedule-driven jobs, but these are fixed billing-domain behaviors rather than a general-purpose scheduler or workflow engine that an AI-native user could configure for arbitrary recurring tasks. Missing for 10: a documented job/workflow scheduling API or UI, support for custom recurrence rules or triggers beyond billing events, and any evidence of user-defined automation workflows.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports managed, daily exports of resource types to your data destination of your choice.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will automatically retry the charge after 1, 4, and 9 days from the initial payment attempt.”
- [claimed-docs] “Automatic Issuance ... Invoices auto-issue after grace periods and buffers ... Manual Issuance ... All invoices require manual approval befo…”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides a powerful, real-time webhooks system that can issue calls to an endpoint of your choosing when certain events take place.”
Billing agent access — stories about billing agent access in this arenaBilling agent access
Stories about billing agent access in this arena
Agent operations
ai-native userAn agent can operate my billing — create a subscription, apply a credit, change a plan — through a programmatic surface with scoped permissions
weight 3 · round to LagoLago exposes a full REST API (every endpoint has a generated command) plus an OpenAPI 3.1 schema explicitly positioned for exposing billing actions to AI agents, and ships a documented MCP server giving AI assistants direct access to billing data, with a working example (Dunning Agent) reading account/invoice data. Subscription assignment and plan upgrade/downgrade are documented API-driven flows, supporting the 'create a subscription, change a plan' part of the story. Missing for 10: no explicit documentation of scoped/permissioned API keys or credit-application endpoints for agents, and no independent hands-on report of an agent actually performing these billing operations end-to-end.
- [claimed-docs] “Every endpoint in this reference has a generated command.”
- [claimed-docs] “Customers have the flexibility to easily upgrade or downgrade their plan at any given moment.”
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
Orb documents a full programmatic surface for the core actions an agent would need: creating subscriptions via API (orb-docs-8), editing subscription pricing/config (orb-docs-10, orb-docs-11), and plan changes with automatic proration credit (orb-docs-16). However, there is no evidence of a scoped-permission or API-key-role model that would let an agent operate with restricted access rather than full account credentials — the error-handling doc (orb-docs-15) only covers error codes, not auth scopes, and the OpenAPI spec probe returned 404s (orb-probe-2), leaving the permission-scoping mechanism unverified. missing for 10: documented scoped API keys/OAuth roles for agent-level permissions, an official agent/MCP-style integration, independent confirmation that these endpoints support least-privilege access.
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
- [claimed-docs] “Subscription Edits let you change a single subscription's pricing configuration ... without changing the plan itself.”
- [claimed-docs] “Preview the billing and invoice impact before you save, so you can confirm how charges and invoices will look.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will credit the customer an amount corresponding to the portion of the time period that was left unused using day-based proration.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.withorb.com/openapi.json, https://docs.withorb.com/swagger.json, https://docs.withorb.c…”
Agent queries
ai-native userAn agent can answer questions about my billing state — MRR, delinquent accounts, upcoming renewals, a customer's invoices — by querying the platform directly
weight 2 · round to LagoLago ships an official MCP server explicitly described as giving AI assistants 'direct access to Lago's billing data' (lago-docs-9, lago-probe-4), plus a documented OpenAPI schema explicitly positioned for 'exposing billing actions to an AI agent' (lago-docs-16), and a Dunning Agent example that reads a customer's invoices, payments and disputes (lago-docs-10) — directly matching the story of an agent querying billing state like delinquency and invoices. Missing for 10: explicit worked examples/queries for MRR aggregation and upcoming-renewal lookups via the MCP server, and independent (non-vendor) confirmation that these agent queries work in practice.
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
Orbnone0/10Evidence covers billing mechanics (dunning, revenue recognition, invoice issuance, exports) but nothing shows an agent-facing query interface for aggregate billing state like MRR, delinquent-account lists, or renewal schedules — no MCP server, natural-language API, or reporting endpoint is documented, and the openapi probe returned 404s, undermining even basic API discoverability for an autonomous agent.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will automatically retry the charge after 1, 4, and 9 days from the initial payment attempt.”
- [claimed-docs] “Automatic Issuance ... Invoices auto-issue after grace periods and buffers ... Manual Issuance ... All invoices require manual approval befo…”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb automatically calculates recognized revenue in a way that accords with ASC606 guidelines.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.withorb.com/openapi.json, https://docs.withorb.com/swagger.json, https://docs.withorb.c…”
Billing math — stories about billing math in this arenaBilling math
Stories about billing math in this arena
Billing cycles
ops userControl billing anchors and cycles — calendar vs anniversary billing, alignment across a customer's subscriptions, custom invoice dates
weight 2 · round to OrbLagonone0/10The evidence pack shows general plan/subscription docs (yearly billing, upgrades/downgrades) but never addresses calendar vs anniversary billing anchors, cross-subscription date alignment, or custom invoice date overrides — the specific billing-math controls this story asks about.
- [claimed-docs] “Yearly: subscription fees are billed on a yearly basis and charges can be billed monthly or annually.”
- [claimed-docs] “In the “Overview” tab, click “Add a plan” on the right”
- [claimed-docs] “Customers have the flexibility to easily upgrade or downgrade their plan at any given moment.”
Docs confirm subscriptions can be aligned to the creation date (anniversary billing) and that billing cycle alignment is configurable, but there's no explicit evidence of calendar-vs-anniversary toggle, cross-subscription cycle alignment for a single customer, or custom invoice date overrides. Missing for 10: explicit calendar billing option, multi-subscription alignment mechanics, custom invoice date configuration.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb also allows you to align the billing cycles with the date that the subscription was created.”
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
- [claimed-docs] “Subscription Edits let you change a single subscription's pricing configuration ... without changing the plan itself.”
Proration
finance leadMid-cycle upgrades and downgrades are prorated with documented, auditable math — credits, partial periods, and invoice line items that reconcile to the penny
weight 3 · round to OrbLago documents that customers can upgrade/downgrade plans at any time (lago-docs-4) and has dedicated subscription/plan docs, implying some proration handling, but no evidence shows documented proration formulas, credit line-item detail, or penny-level invoice reconciliation. A community question about upgrade/downgrade tracking (lago-comm-3) goes unanswered in the evidence pack. Missing for 10: explicit proration algorithm documentation, sample invoice line items showing credits/partial periods, and any audit or reconciliation guarantee.
- [claimed-docs] “Customers have the flexibility to easily upgrade or downgrade their plan at any given moment.”
- [claimed-docs] “In the “Overview” tab, click “Add a plan” on the right”
- [community] “User describes building an internal billing tool after bad experiences with Recurly and ChargeBee for B2B/B2E usage-based billing, discounts…”
Orb documents day-based proration on plan changes, credits for unused time, a preview of billing/invoice impact before saving edits, and minimum/maximum charge handling — supporting the core proration and invoice line-item math. However, there is no explicit documentation of penny-level reconciliation guarantees, detailed audit trails, or worked examples showing exact credit/debit math across partial periods. missing for 10: worked/auditable proration examples, explicit 'reconciles to the penny' guarantee, audit-log/traceability documentation for finance review.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will credit the customer an amount corresponding to the portion of the time period that was left unused using day-based proration.”
- [claimed-docs] “Subscription Edits let you change a single subscription's pricing configuration ... without changing the plan itself.”
- [claimed-docs] “Preview the billing and invoice impact before you save, so you can confirm how charges and invoices will look.”
- [claimed-docs] “Minimums: Ensures a minimum charge is applied. Maximums: Caps the charge at a certain amount.”
Dunning recovery — stories about dunning recovery in this arenaDunning recovery
Stories about dunning recovery in this arena
Card recovery
ops userExpiring or replaced cards update themselves — network account updater, backup payment methods, and hosted update-payment pages
weight 2 · round drawnLagonone0/10No evidence in the pack mentions network account updater, backup payment methods, or hosted update-payment pages; Lago's dunning docs focus on invoice/dispute tracking and an AI dunning agent, not card-updating mechanics.
Orbnone0/10Evidence covers dunning retry scheduling (orb-docs-19) but there is no mention of network account updater, backup payment methods, or hosted update-payment pages anywhere in the pack, so the specific card-self-update capability is unevidenced.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will automatically retry the charge after 1, 4, and 9 days from the initial payment attempt.”
Dunning comms
ops userConfigure automated dunning sequences — branded emails, in-app banners, grace periods, and final-state rules like cancel vs unpaid
weight 2 · round drawnLago documents dunning-adjacent capabilities: a 'cash-collection' feature to spot overdue/unpaid invoices via filters (lago-docs-13) and a 'Dunning Agent' that reads invoices, payments, disputes, and provider status (lago-docs-10). However, there is no evidence of configurable branded emails, in-app banners, grace periods, or explicit cancel-vs-unpaid final-state rules. Missing for 10: branded email templates, in-app banner UI, grace period configuration, explicit final-state (cancel/unpaid) rule settings, and independent confirmation of the dunning workflow in practice.
- [claimed-docs] “Spot overdue, partially paid or unpaid invoices with filters to never lose track of what you’re owed.”
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
Orb docs confirm basic dunning mechanics — automatic payment retries at 1/4/9 days (orb-docs-19) and automatic vs manual invoice issuance after grace periods (orb-docs-21) — but there is no evidence of branded/customizable dunning emails, in-app banners, or configurable final-state rules like cancel vs unpaid. missing for 10: branded email templates, in-app banner/notification configuration, customizable grace period settings beyond fixed retry schedule, and explicit cancel-vs-unpaid final state logic.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will automatically retry the charge after 1, 4, and 9 days from the initial payment attempt.”
- [claimed-docs] “Automatic Issuance ... Invoices auto-issue after grace periods and buffers ... Manual Issuance ... All invoices require manual approval befo…”
Smart retries
finance leadFailed renewal payments are retried automatically on an ML- or schedule-optimized cadence that measurably recovers involuntary churn
weight 3 · round to OrbLago documents cash-collection tooling to flag overdue/unpaid invoices and an AI 'Dunning Agent' that reads account history (invoices, payments, disputes, provider status), implying some automated dunning capability, but there is no documented ML- or schedule-optimized retry cadence, no explicit retry logic, and no metrics on churn recovery. Missing for 10: explicit description of automated retry scheduling/cadence optimization, evidence of ML-driven timing, and quantified recovery/churn-reduction outcomes.
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
- [claimed-docs] “Spot overdue, partially paid or unpaid invoices with filters to never lose track of what you’re owed.”
Orb documents automatic dunning retries on a fixed schedule (1, 4, and 9 days after failed payment) via its 'essential-dunning' feature, which addresses the schedule-optimized retry cadence for involuntary churn recovery. However, there is no evidence of ML-based optimization of retry timing, nor any documented metrics or case studies showing measurable churn recovery impact. Missing for 10: ML-driven retry optimization, evidence of measured recovery rates/churn reduction, configurability of retry cadence per customer segment.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will automatically retry the charge after 1, 4, and 9 days from the initial payment attempt.”
- [claimed-docs] “Automatic Issuance ... Invoices auto-issue after grace periods and buffers ... Manual Issuance ... All invoices require manual approval befo…”
Entitlements — stories about entitlements in this arenaEntitlements
Stories about entitlements in this arena
Entitlement checks
developerFeatures and limits are modeled as entitlements attached to plans, and my application can check a customer's entitlements at runtime via API or SDK
weight 3 · round to LagoLago has a dedicated entitlements platform page combining billing and feature flags, confirming the concept exists, but the evidence pack contains no detail on how entitlements are attached to plans nor concrete API/SDK examples for runtime entitlement checks. missing for 10: API reference for entitlement endpoints, SDK code samples for checking a customer's entitlements at runtime, plan-to-entitlement modeling details.
- [claimed-docs] “Combine billing and feature flags to avoid bugs and dependencies, reduce complexity and lower and engineering overhead.”
Orbnone0/10The evidence pack covers subscriptions, plans, usage metrics, invoicing, and revenue recognition, but nowhere mentions entitlements, feature-level access modeling, or an API/SDK for checking a customer's entitlements at runtime. Since billing platforms plausibly could offer such a feature, the axis applies, but there is no supporting evidence.
Plan versioning
ops userChange pricing without breaking existing subscribers — versioned plans, grandfathering, and bulk migration tools for moving cohorts to new prices
weight 2 · round to OrbDocs show basic plan/subscription management (assign plan, upgrade/downgrade) but no explicit mention of plan versioning, grandfathering existing subscribers, or bulk cohort migration tools. missing for 10: explicit versioned-plan mechanism, grandfathering documentation, bulk/cohort migration tooling or API endpoints.
- [claimed-docs] “In the “Overview” tab, click “Add a plan” on the right”
- [claimed-docs] “Customers have the flexibility to easily upgrade or downgrade their plan at any given moment.”
- [claimed-docs] “Yearly: subscription fees are billed on a yearly basis and charges can be billed monthly or annually.”
Orb documents subscription-level pricing edits with pre-save impact previews, proration on plan changes, and a Stripe migration path with usage backfill — enabling controlled repricing without breaking existing invoices. But there is no explicit documentation of plan versioning, formal grandfathering mechanisms, or a bulk cohort-migration tool for moving many subscribers to new prices at once. missing for 10: explicit plan-versioning/grandfathering feature, bulk cohort migration tooling beyond one-off Stripe import, evidence of moving existing subscriber cohorts to a new plan version at scale.
- [claimed-docs] “Subscription Edits let you change a single subscription's pricing configuration ... without changing the plan itself.”
- [claimed-docs] “Preview the billing and invoice impact before you save, so you can confirm how charges and invoices will look.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will credit the customer an amount corresponding to the portion of the time period that was left unused using day-based proration.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports a seamless migration from Stripe Billing, whether you're using flat-rate subscriptions, usage-based pricing, pricing on seats, …”
- [claimed-docs] “If you want Orb to generate accurate invoices or analytics based on prior usage data, you can backfill events.”
- [claimed-docs] “Test pricing changes against historical usage before deploying.”
Invoicing tax — stories about invoicing tax in this arenaInvoicing tax
Stories about invoicing tax in this arena
Invoices
ops userThe platform generates compliant invoices, credit notes, and receipts — sequential numbering, custom fields, memos — delivered to customers automatically
weight 2 · round to OrbLago's docs confirm core invoicing functionality (downloadable invoices, customizable invoice templates) and cash-collection tracking of overdue invoices, showing invoicing is a first-class feature, but the evidence pack contains no mention of credit notes, receipts, sequential numbering, custom fields, or memos, nor confirmation of fully automated delivery to customers. missing for 10: credit note support, receipt generation, sequential invoice numbering, custom fields/memos on invoices, automatic delivery mechanism confirmation.
- [claimed-docs] “You can download invoices or use the invoice object to create your own invoice template.”
- [claimed-docs] “Spot overdue, partially paid or unpaid invoices with filters to never lose track of what you’re owed.”
Orb documents automatic invoice issuance, proration/minimums/maximums calculations, and revenue recognition, indicating invoices are generated and delivered automatically, but there is no explicit evidence of sequential invoice numbering, credit note generation, receipts, or custom fields/memos on invoices. missing for 10: sequential numbering guarantees, credit note issuance, receipt generation, custom fields/memo support on invoices, and independent confirmation of compliance formatting.
- [claimed-docs] “Minimums: Ensures a minimum charge is applied. Maximums: Caps the charge at a certain amount.”
- [claimed-docs] “Automatic Issuance ... Invoices auto-issue after grace periods and buffers ... Manual Issuance ... All invoices require manual approval befo…”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb automatically calculates recognized revenue in a way that accords with ASC606 guidelines.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will credit the customer an amount corresponding to the portion of the time period that was left unused using day-based proration.”
Multi currency
finance leadBill customers in their local currency with per-currency price points and consolidated reporting in my home currency
weight 2 · round drawnLagonone0/10No evidence in the pack addresses multi-currency billing, per-currency price points, or consolidated home-currency reporting; docs cover plans, invoicing, dunning, and revenue analytics but never mention currency handling or FX consolidation. Missing for 10: any documentation of multi-currency price points, currency conversion/consolidation logic, and reporting rollups in a base currency.
Tax
finance leadSales tax, VAT, and GST are calculated on every invoice — natively or through a first-class tax integration — with the right registrations and rates
weight 2 · round drawnLagonone0/10No evidence pack item mentions tax calculation, VAT/GST/sales tax handling, tax registrations, tax rates, or integrations with tax engines (e.g., Avalara, Stripe Tax, TaxJar). The docs cover invoicing, plans, subscriptions, and dunning but never address tax compliance. Missing for 10: any mention of native tax calculation, tax rate/registration management, or a first-class tax-engine integration.
Orbnone0/10The evidence pack covers billing, metering, revenue recognition, dunning, and invoicing calculations but contains no mention of sales tax, VAT, GST calculation, tax registrations, or a first-class tax integration (e.g., Avalara, Stripe Tax). This is a fair axis for a billing/invoicing platform, so absent evidence yields 'none' rather than 'na'.
Migration portability — stories about migration portability in this arenaMigration portability
Stories about migration portability in this arena
Export
finance leadExport every subscription, invoice, and usage record — and port stored payment methods out to another provider — if I choose to leave
weight 2 · round drawnLago's API/OpenAPI schema and CSV export for analytics (lago-docs-15, lago-docs-16, lago-docs-1) mean a finance lead could theoretically pull subscription, invoice, and usage data out via API, and self-hosting (lago-docs-11) avoids lock-in of infrastructure. However, there is no documented bulk-export or migration tool, no explicit invoice/subscription/usage-record export workflow, and payment methods are held by external providers (Stripe etc.) rather than Lago itself, so 'porting stored payment methods' isn't addressed at all. Missing for 10: dedicated data-export/migration documentation, explicit payment-method portability mechanism, and any hands-on evidence of a successful migration off Lago.
- [claimed-docs] “Build custom dashboards per customer, filter any way you want and export to CSV.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [claimed-docs] “Every endpoint in this reference has a generated command.”
- [claimed-docs] “You can download invoices or use the invoice object to create your own invoice template.”
- [claimed-docs] “Docker is the easiest way to get started with the self-hosted version of Lago.”
Orb documents managed daily data exports of resource types to any destination (orb-docs-12) and revenue/financial exports (orb-docs-7), which could cover subscriptions/invoices/usage, but there is no evidence describing exporting stored payment methods or any outbound migration path — the only migration content covers importing customers *into* Orb from Stripe (orb-docs-13, orb-docs-14), not leaving Orb for another provider. Missing for 10: explicit payment-method export/portability, confirmation that exports cover all three record types comprehensively, and documentation of an outbound/offboarding migration process.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports managed, daily exports of resource types to your data destination of your choice.”
- [claimed-docs] “Track recognized and deferred revenue with exports for financial systems.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports a seamless migration from Stripe Billing, whether you're using flat-rate subscriptions, usage-based pricing, pricing on seats, …”
- [claimed-docs] “If you want Orb to generate accurate invoices or analytics based on prior usage data, you can backfill events.”
Import
ops userMigrate live subscriptions in from a spreadsheet or a competing platform — including PCI-compliant card data transfer — without customers noticing
weight 3 · round to OrbLagonone0/10No evidence in the pack describes any migration tooling, bulk-import from spreadsheets, or PCI-compliant card-data transfer capability; the API/docs cover plan assignment and event ingestion but nothing about importing live subscriptions from another platform. Community comments even suggest Lago does not itself handle payment/PCI processing (lago-comm-8), reinforcing the absence of this capability.
- [community] “"If I still have to pay the processing fees, what's the advantage here? Having to maintain my own payments stack (and PCI compliance) sounds…”
Orb documents migration from Stripe Billing (including flat-rate, usage-based, seat pricing) and backfilling historical usage events for accurate invoicing, which supports competing-platform migration. However there is no evidence of spreadsheet-based import tooling, PCI-compliant card/payment-method data transfer, or explicit assurances that migration is seamless enough that customers won't notice. Missing for 10: spreadsheet import support, PCI-compliant card data transfer mechanism, and documentation/testimony of zero customer disruption during migration.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports a seamless migration from Stripe Billing, whether you're using flat-rate subscriptions, usage-based pricing, pricing on seats, …”
- [claimed-docs] “If you want Orb to generate accurate invoices or analytics based on prior usage data, you can backfill events.”
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness
Open source, data portability, and self-hosting stories
ai-native userDo everything through the API that I can do in the UI
weight 2 · round to LagoLago's docs show an API-first design: every endpoint has a generated CLI/code sample (lago-docs-1), a full OpenAPI 3.1 schema is available (lago-docs-16, lago-probe-3), and specific UI actions like usage-charge updates are explicitly available via both API and no-code UI (lago-docs-14). This implies strong API/UI parity but there is no explicit vendor claim or independent audit confirming 100% parity across every UI workflow (e.g., dunning, revenue analytics dashboards). missing for 10: an explicit 'everything in the UI is available via API' statement, and independent/community confirmation of full parity across all UI features.
- [claimed-docs] “Every endpoint in this reference has a generated command.”
- [claimed-docs] “Both non-engineers and engineers can update usage charges via API or Lago’s no-code UI.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
Docs show many UI actions—creating subscriptions, editing subscriptions, configuring billing metrics, exports, webhooks—are explicitly available via API endpoints (orb-docs-8, orb-docs-10, orb-docs-12, orb-doces-18, orb-docs-23), suggesting strong UI/API parity for core billing workflows. However there is no explicit blanket claim that 'everything in the UI is possible via API,' and a probe for a public OpenAPI/swagger spec returned 404s, weakening confidence in full documented API surface coverage. missing for 10: an explicit parity statement, a discoverable full API reference/OpenAPI spec, and confirmation that dashboard-only features (e.g., invoice approval UI, analytics dashboards) have full API equivalents.
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
- [claimed-docs] “Subscription Edits let you change a single subscription's pricing configuration ... without changing the plan itself.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports managed, daily exports of resource types to your data destination of your choice.”
- [claimed-docs] “A billable metric consists of event filters as well as an aggregation clause.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides a powerful, real-time webhooks system that can issue calls to an endpoint of your choosing when certain events take place.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.withorb.com/openapi.json, https://docs.withorb.com/swagger.json, https://docs.withorb.c…”
ai-native userExport all of my data in open formats and leave
weight 3 · round to LagoLago's open-source/self-hosted nature (Docker deployment), open API (OpenAPI 3.1 schema, full REST reference), and CSV export of analytics/invoices give users real data-portability levers, and self-hosting means the underlying database is always in the user's own control. However there is no documented single 'export all account data' or account-closure/migration feature — only piecemeal exports (invoices, revenue analytics CSV, API access to individual objects). Missing for 10: a dedicated full-account data export/backup tool, explicit data-portability/migration documentation, and independent confirmation of a clean 'leave' workflow.
- [claimed-docs] “Docker is the easiest way to get started with the self-hosted version of Lago.”
- [claimed-docs] “You can download invoices or use the invoice object to create your own invoice template.”
- [claimed-docs] “Build custom dashboards per customer, filter any way you want and export to CSV.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
Orb supports managed daily exports of resource types to a destination of choice and revenue/financial exports, which gives data portability, but this is billing-data export for downstream systems rather than a full account-level open-format export-and-leave capability aimed at an AI-native user. missing for 10: explicit full account/data export (all entities, configs, historical events) in open formats, documented data portability/deletion workflow for leaving the platform, and independent confirmation of export completeness.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports managed, daily exports of resource types to your data destination of your choice.”
- [claimed-docs] “Track recognized and deferred revenue with exports for financial systems.”
ai-native userRead the product's source under an open license
weight 2 · round to LagoLago's docs and GitHub explicitly describe it as an open-source billing platform with a public source repository (getlago/lago), and the llms.txt probe confirms this framing, satisfying the 'read source under open license' story. Missing for 10: explicit citation of the specific license name/file (e.g., AGPL) and independent verification of license terms beyond the 'open-source' label.
ai-native userSelf-host the core product
weight 3 · round to LagoDocs explicitly cover self-hosting via Docker with a dedicated guide, and community comments confirm self-hosting is a real, used option ('self-hosting is not an issue', 'a self-hosted option fits our culture'). Missing for 10: independent hands-on report of running the full self-hosted stack in production, and more detail on self-hosted feature parity/limitations vs cloud.
- [claimed-docs] “Docker is the easiest way to get started with the self-hosted version of Lago.”
- [community] “"This looks great... Stripe is awesome but a self-hosted option fits our culture and philosophy a lot better. Will give it a blast when i ge…”
- [community] “"Looks very interesting. We are small shop and self-hosting is not an issue. This neatly fits a requirement we've had for quite some time."”
Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture
Data-handling and privacy stories
ai-native userChoose where my data is stored (region/residency)
weight 2 · round to LagoLago's self-hosted Docker deployment (lago-docs-11) implicitly lets a user control where their data resides by choosing their own infrastructure/region, but there is no explicit documentation of a region-selection feature, data-residency guarantees, or compliance certifications for the managed/cloud offering. missing for 10: explicit data-residency/region-selection feature docs, compliance certifications (e.g., GDPR/SOC2 region controls), managed-cloud region options.
- [claimed-docs] “Docker is the easiest way to get started with the self-hosted version of Lago.”
ai-native userControl data retention and deletion
weight 2 · round drawnLagonone0/10No evidence in the pack addresses data retention policies, deletion of customer/billing data, or GDPR-style controls; Lago's docs focus on billing, invoicing, and AI agent features but never mention data retention/deletion controls. Missing for 10: documentation on data retention windows, customer data deletion/export mechanisms, and any privacy/GDPR compliance controls.
Orbnone0/10The evidence pack covers billing, invoicing, revenue recognition, and data exports, but contains no mention of customer data retention policies, deletion APIs, or privacy controls for AI-native users. This is an applicable axis for any SaaS handling customer data, but there is no evidence Orb provides retention/deletion controls.
Revenue recognition — stories about revenue recognition in this arenaRevenue recognition
Stories about revenue recognition in this arena
Analytics
founderI get MRR, churn, cohort retention, and LTV analytics computed from the billing source of truth, not a bolted-on BI export
weight 2 · round to OrbLagonone0/10Lago's docs mention a generic 'revenue-analytics' page with custom dashboards, filters, and CSV export (lago-docs-15), which is closer to the bolted-on BI export the story explicitly wants to avoid, not native MRR/churn/cohort-retention/LTV computation. No evidence pack item shows Lago computing these specific metrics natively from billing data, and a community question in lago-comm-3 explicitly asks whether Lago handles revenue recognition, left unanswered.
- [claimed-docs] “Build custom dashboards per customer, filter any way you want and export to CSV.”
- [community] “User describes building an internal billing tool after bad experiences with Recurly and ChargeBee for B2B/B2E usage-based billing, discounts…”
Orb documents revenue-related metrics computed from billing data itself (accrued revenue, recognized/deferred revenue per ASC606, expansion forecasting) rather than a bolted-on BI export, and supports data exports/SQL for custom analytics. However, there is no explicit mention of MRR, churn, cohort retention, or LTV dashboards as native analytics features — these appear to require building via SQL/export rather than being out-of-the-box computed metrics. missing for 10: explicit MRR/churn/cohort retention/LTV dashboards or reports, evidence these are native computed analytics rather than DIY SQL queries, independent confirmation of accuracy/usability.
- [claimed-docs] “Track accrued revenue before invoices. Forecast and spot expansion.”
- [claimed-docs] “Build complex billing metrics with full SQL control.”
- [claimed-docs] “Track recognized and deferred revenue with exports for financial systems.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb automatically calculates recognized revenue in a way that accords with ASC606 guidelines.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports managed, daily exports of resource types to your data destination of your choice.”
Gl sync
finance leadInvoices, payments, and recognition entries sync to my general ledger or ERP — QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite — so the close doesn't need CSV surgery
weight 2 · round to OrbLagonone0/10The evidence pack shows Lago's API, webhooks, invoicing, and OpenAPI schema, but there is no mention of any native or partner integration with QuickBooks, Xero, or NetSuite, nor any revenue-recognition export/sync to a GL/ERP system. Finance-lead close automation is a fair axis for a billing platform, but nothing in the pack demonstrates it.
Orb documents ASC606-compliant revenue recognition tracking and generic data exports 'for financial systems' to 'a data destination of your choice,' which could feed a GL, but no evidence names a native QuickBooks, Xero, or NetSuite connector or a no-CSV sync path — buyers would need to build the export pipeline themselves. Missing for 10: named ERP/accounting-system integrations, automated invoice/payment sync (not just data exports), and confirmation that no manual CSV mapping is required.
- [claimed-docs] “Track recognized and deferred revenue with exports for financial systems.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports managed, daily exports of resource types to your data destination of your choice.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb automatically calculates recognized revenue in a way that accords with ASC606 guidelines.”
Revrec reports
finance leadRevenue is recognized on an ASC 606 / IFRS 15 basis — deferred revenue schedules and audit-ready recognition reports straight from billing data
weight 3 · round to OrbLagonone0/10No evidence describes ASC 606/IFRS 15 deferred revenue schedules or audit-ready recognition reports; the closest material (revenue-analytics dashboards/CSV export) is generic reporting, not recognition accounting. A community comment even explicitly asks whether Lago handles revenue recognition, with no documented answer.
- [claimed-docs] “Build custom dashboards per customer, filter any way you want and export to CSV.”
- [community] “User describes building an internal billing tool after bad experiences with Recurly and ChargeBee for B2B/B2E usage-based billing, discounts…”
Orb explicitly automates ASC606-compliant recognized/deferred revenue calculation (orb-docs-22), tracks accrued revenue before invoicing (orb-docs-4), and supports exporting recognized/deferred revenue data for financial systems (orb-docs-7), plus general data exports to downstream destinations (orb-docs-12). This covers the core finance-lead need of ASC606 deferred revenue schedules and exportable recognition data. missing for 10: no explicit mention of IFRS 15 compliance, no detail on audit-ready report formatting/controls, and no independent/hands-on corroboration beyond vendor docs.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb automatically calculates recognized revenue in a way that accords with ASC606 guidelines.”
- [claimed-docs] “Track accrued revenue before invoices. Forecast and spot expansion.”
- [claimed-docs] “Track recognized and deferred revenue with exports for financial systems.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb supports managed, daily exports of resource types to your data destination of your choice.”
Subscription lifecycle — stories about subscription lifecycle in this arenaSubscription lifecycle
Stories about subscription lifecycle in this arena
Lifecycle api
developerCreate, update, pause, and cancel subscriptions through a documented API — the full lifecycle without touching a dashboard
weight 3 · round drawnLago's docs cover API-driven subscription creation (assign-plan), upgrades/downgrades, and a full OpenAPI 3.1 schema with generated commands per endpoint, supporting a documented API lifecycle. However, the evidence pack never explicitly documents pause or cancel subscription endpoints, and most subscription guides (e.g., assign-plan) describe dashboard clicks rather than pure API-only flows. Missing for 10: explicit pause/cancel endpoint documentation, and hands-on/independent confirmation that the entire lifecycle can be done via API without the dashboard.
- [claimed-docs] “Every endpoint in this reference has a generated command.”
- [claimed-docs] “In the “Overview” tab, click “Add a plan” on the right”
- [claimed-docs] “Customers have the flexibility to easily upgrade or downgrade their plan at any given moment.”
- [claimed-docs] “Use Lago's OpenAPI 3.1 schema to generate clients, inspect typed operations, or expose billing actions to an AI agent.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/openapi.json — contains "openapi" key”
Docs confirm subscription creation via API (orb-docs-8), billing cycle alignment (orb-docs-9), and editing subscription pricing with preview of impact (orb-docs-10, orb-docs-11), plus plan-change proration logic (orb-docs-16) — covering create/update well. However, no explicit documentation of 'pause' or 'cancel' subscription API endpoints appears in the evidence pack, and no OpenAPI/spec confirmation was found (orb-probe-2 shows 404s for spec files), so full lifecycle coverage is unverified via API alone. Missing for 10: explicit pause/cancel endpoint documentation, confirmed OpenAPI spec listing all lifecycle operations, independent/hands-on verification of API-only workflow.
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb also allows you to align the billing cycles with the date that the subscription was created.”
- [claimed-docs] “Subscription Edits let you change a single subscription's pricing configuration ... without changing the plan itself.”
- [claimed-docs] “Preview the billing and invoice impact before you save, so you can confirm how charges and invoices will look.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will credit the customer an amount corresponding to the portion of the time period that was left unused using day-based proration.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.withorb.com/openapi.json, https://docs.withorb.com/swagger.json, https://docs.withorb.c…”
Lifecycle events
developerEvery subscription state change — renewal, upgrade, payment failure, cancellation — emits a webhook or event my systems can act on reliably
weight 2 · round drawnLago documents a webhook system with signing (HMAC) and explicitly treats 'webhook event types' as a versioned API surface, implying granular event types exist, but the evidence never enumerates specific subscription lifecycle events (renewal, upgrade, payment failure, cancellation) or demonstrates delivery reliability guarantees like retries/idempotency for webhooks specifically. missing for 10: explicit list/documentation of subscription lifecycle event types, evidence of webhook delivery reliability (retries, dead-letter, idempotency) beyond event-ingestion dedup which is a different feature.
- [claimed-docs] “The second is `HMAC`, which features a shorter payload header and no size restrictions.”
- [claimed-docs] “Clients should tolerate additive changes within v1, including new response fields, enum values, endpoints, optional request fields, and webh…”
Orb documents a real-time webhooks system for triggering calls on event occurrence, and related lifecycle mechanics (dunning retries, proration on plan change, invoice issuance) exist, implying underlying state changes are trackable. However, the evidence never enumerates which specific lifecycle events (renewal, upgrade, cancellation, payment failure) fire webhooks, nor details delivery guarantees like retries/signing for reliability. Missing for 10: explicit list of webhook event types covering renewal/upgrade/cancellation/payment failure, documentation of delivery reliability guarantees (retries, at-least-once delivery, signature verification), and independent/hands-on confirmation of webhook reliability.
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides a powerful, real-time webhooks system that can issue calls to an endpoint of your choosing when certain events take place.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will automatically retry the charge after 1, 4, and 9 days from the initial payment attempt.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will credit the customer an amount corresponding to the portion of the time period that was left unused using day-based proration.”
- [claimed-docs] “Automatic Issuance ... Invoices auto-issue after grace periods and buffers ... Manual Issuance ... All invoices require manual approval befo…”
Self serve
founderMy customers can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel themselves through a hosted portal or embeddable components, without a support ticket
weight 2 · round drawnLagonone0/10Evidence confirms upgrade/downgrade functionality exists (lago-docs-4, lago-docs-3) but only via API or Lago's internal admin UI — there is no mention anywhere in the pack of a customer-facing hosted portal or embeddable self-serve components that end customers could use directly. Community comments even question whether Lago handles full self-serve lifecycle (lago-comm-3), and nothing confirms a portal exists.
- [claimed-docs] “Customers have the flexibility to easily upgrade or downgrade their plan at any given moment.”
- [claimed-docs] “In the “Overview” tab, click “Add a plan” on the right”
- [community] “User describes building an internal billing tool after bad experiences with Recurly and ChargeBee for B2B/B2E usage-based billing, discounts…”
Orbnone0/10The evidence pack details subscription creation, edits, plan changes, and proration via the Orb UI or API, but nowhere mentions a hosted customer-facing portal or embeddable self-serve components that end customers could use to upgrade/downgrade/cancel without a support ticket. Missing for 10: any mention of a hosted billing portal, embeddable UI components, or self-serve customer-facing flows.
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb also allows you to align the billing cycles with the date that the subscription was created.”
- [claimed-docs] “Subscription Edits let you change a single subscription's pricing configuration ... without changing the plan itself.”
- [claimed-docs] “Preview the billing and invoice impact before you save, so you can confirm how charges and invoices will look.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will credit the customer an amount corresponding to the portion of the time period that was left unused using day-based proration.”
Trials promos
ops userRun free trials, coupons, and promotion codes with automatic conversion to paid — including trial-end notifications required by card-network rules
weight 2 · round drawnLagonone0/10No evidence pack items mention free trials, coupons, promotion codes, automatic trial-to-paid conversion, or trial-end notifications required by card-network rules; evidence covers plans, subscriptions, invoicing, webhooks, and AI agents but not this trial/coupon lifecycle. missing for 10: docs on free trials, coupons/promo codes, automatic conversion to paid, and trial-end notification compliance.
Orbnone0/10The evidence pack covers subscriptions, proration, dunning, invoicing, and revenue recognition, but contains no mention of free trials, coupon/promotion codes, automatic trial-to-paid conversion, or trial-end notifications required by card-network rules. Since Orb is a subscription billing platform, this axis is a fair question, but there is no supporting evidence for these specific capabilities.
Usage metering — stories about usage metering in this arenaUsage metering
Stories about usage metering in this arena
Event ingestion
developerStream high-volume usage events — API calls, tokens, compute-seconds — into a metering pipeline with idempotent ingestion and backdating support
weight 3 · round to OrbLago's docs confirm idempotent event ingestion (dedup on repeated event IDs) and a usage-metering pipeline supporting API-driven event updates, which covers the core ingestion/idempotency claims. However, there is no explicit evidence of backdating support (e.g., specifying a past timestamp for events) or of high-volume streaming architecture/throughput guarantees for API calls, tokens, or compute-seconds use cases. missing for 10: explicit backdating/timestamp-override documentation, evidence of high-volume/streaming ingestion architecture or throughput benchmarks, independent verification of dedup behavior at scale.
- [claimed-docs] “Lago uses it for deduplication: if the same event arrives twice, it is billed once.”
- [claimed-docs] “Both non-engineers and engineers can update usage charges via API or Lago’s no-code UI.”
Orb's docs directly support high-volume streaming ingestion (1M+ events/sec), per-event idempotency guarantees, and backdating/backfill support for historical usage recalculation and invoice adjustment. missing for 10: independent/hands-on benchmarks corroborating the 1M+ events/sec claim, and more detail on the exact idempotency key mechanism/grace period edge cases.
- [claimed-docs] “Handle 1M+ billing events per second in production deployments.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides per-event idempotency through the API to guarantee that duplicates are never processed within the account grace period.”
- [claimed-docs] “Late data handled safely. Orb recalculates affected invoices automatically.”
- [claimed-docs] “If you want Orb to generate accurate invoices or analytics based on prior usage data, you can backfill events.”
- [claimed-docs] “Test pricing changes against historical usage before deploying.”
Pricing models
finance leadPrice with tiered, volume, graduated, per-unit, and hybrid subscription-plus-usage models — including credits, commitments, and overage — without custom code
weight 3 · round to OrbLago's own positioning ('usage-based, subscription-based, and hybrid pricing models') and the plan-model/usage-metering docs confirm broad subscription+usage flexibility, and community reviews praise it for handling complex billing without custom code, but the evidence pack never explicitly documents tiered, volume, graduated, or per-unit charge models, nor credits, commitments, or overage handling as distinct configurable features. missing for 10: explicit docs on tiered/volume/graduated/per-unit charge model configuration, credits and commitment mechanics, overage billing rules, and independent confirmation these work without custom code.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 200 at https://getlago.com/llms.txt # Lago > Lago is the open-source billing platform for usage-based, subscription-ba…”
- [claimed-docs] “Yearly: subscription fees are billed on a yearly basis and charges can be billed monthly or annually.”
- [claimed-docs] “Both non-engineers and engineers can update usage charges via API or Lago’s no-code UI.”
- [claimed-docs] “Spot overdue, partially paid or unpaid invoices with filters to never lose track of what you’re owed.”
- [community] “"We decided to use Lago with our SaaS. Billing is super complicated and Lago handles everything we need out of the box. Building this stuff …”
- [community] “"Lago is awesome. We'll likely use Lago at my startup (metlo) when we implement full self-serve usage-based billing."”
Orb's docs cover billable metrics with flexible aggregation/SQL (orb-docs-5, orb-docs-18), subscription edits and plan changes with proration (orb-docs-10, orb-docs-16), minimums/maximums for commitments and overage (orb-docs-20), and subscription/plan configuration via UI or API — collectively supporting tiered, volume, graduated, per-unit, and hybrid subscription+usage pricing without custom code. missing for 10: explicit named documentation pages for each pricing model (tiered/volume/graduated) and credits/prepaid commitment mechanics, plus independent (non-vendor) confirmation of these pricing structures in production use.
- [claimed-docs] “Build complex billing metrics with full SQL control.”
- [claimed-docs] “A billable metric consists of event filters as well as an aggregation clause.”
- [claimed-docs] “Subscription Edits let you change a single subscription's pricing configuration ... without changing the plan itself.”
- [claimed-docs] “Preview the billing and invoice impact before you save, so you can confirm how charges and invoices will look.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb will credit the customer an amount corresponding to the portion of the time period that was left unused using day-based proration.”
- [claimed-docs] “Minimums: Ensures a minimum charge is applied. Maximums: Caps the charge at a certain amount.”
- [claimed-docs] “You can create a subscription either from the Orb UI or via the subscription creation API endpoint.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb also allows you to align the billing cycles with the date that the subscription was created.”
Usage visibility
ops userCustomers and my team can see current-cycle usage and accrued cost in real time, with thresholds and alerts before an invoice surprises anyone
weight 2 · round to OrbLago documents usage-metering and customer-facing analytics dashboards (lago-docs-14, lago-docs-15) and webhooks for event notifications (lago-docs-7), which could support real-time usage visibility, but there is no explicit documentation of configurable usage thresholds or proactive alerting before invoice generation. missing for 10: explicit threshold/alert configuration feature, evidence of real-time cost accrual view distinct from dashboards, confirmation that customers (not just ops) see live usage/cost.
- [claimed-docs] “Both non-engineers and engineers can update usage charges via API or Lago’s no-code UI.”
- [claimed-docs] “Build custom dashboards per customer, filter any way you want and export to CSV.”
- [claimed-docs] “The second is `HMAC`, which features a shorter payload header and no size restrictions.”
Orb docs confirm accrued cost/revenue tracking before invoicing (orb-docs-4), configurable usage-threshold alerts for product-led growth (orb-docs-6), and real-time webhooks for event notifications (orb-docs-23), covering the core alerting/real-time-visibility ask. missing for 10: explicit evidence of a customer-facing self-serve usage dashboard and independent/hands-on confirmation that alerts reliably fire before invoice generation.
- [claimed-docs] “Track accrued revenue before invoices. Forecast and spot expansion.”
- [claimed-docs] “Trigger alerts at usage thresholds to power product-led growth.”
- [claimed-docs] “Orb provides a powerful, real-time webhooks system that can issue calls to an endpoint of your choosing when certain events take place.”
Not comparable on these axes
ai-native userPlug MCP servers into this product so it can use their tools
weight 3 · not comparableLagonone0/10The evidence shows Lago exposes its own MCP server so external AI assistants can access Lago's billing data (lago-docs-9, lago-probe-4) and has AI agents (Dunning Agent) that read Lago's own account data (lago-docs-10) — this is Lago acting as an MCP server/tool provider, not as a client that plugs in external MCP servers to gain new tools. No evidence shows Lago's agents or platform consuming/connecting to third-party MCP servers.
- [claimed-docs] “provides AI assistants (like Claude) with direct access to Lago’s billing data.”
- [claimed-docs] “The Dunning Agent reads the account first: twelve months of invoices and payments, the disputes, the provider status.”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://getlago.com/docs/guide/ai-agents/mcp-server”
ai-native userVersion, review, and roll back my automations
weight 1 · not comparableLagon/aLago is a billing platform, not an automation/workflow builder; there is no concept of 'automations' with versioning, review, or rollback in the evidence pack. This axis is a category error for this product.
Orbn/aOrb is a usage-based billing and revenue platform, not an automation-building tool; it has no concept of 'automations' to version, review, or roll back. The evidence pack covers billing metrics, subscriptions, invoicing, and revenue recognition, none of which relate to versioning/rollback of automations, so this axis is a category mismatch for Orb's product type.
ai-native userPrevent my data from being used to train AI models
weight 3 · not comparableLagonone0/10Lago is a billing platform; evidence covers billing, invoicing, self-hosting, and AI agent integrations (MCP server, dunning agent) but nowhere addresses data-use-for-AI-training opt-outs or privacy controls over model training. Missing for 10: any privacy policy statement, opt-out mechanism, or data-training exclusion clause.
ai-native userOpt out of telemetry and usage tracking
weight 2 · not comparableLagonone0/10No evidence in the pack addresses telemetry, usage tracking, or opt-out settings for Lago itself (self-hosted or cloud). The docs cover billing features, AI agents, and self-hosting setup, but nothing about product analytics/telemetry collection or a way to disable it. Missing for 10: any mention of telemetry collection, an opt-out flag/config, or privacy documentation addressing data sent back to Lago.
Orbn/aOrb is a billing/revenue platform, not an AI agent or tool with telemetry collected from AI-native usage; the evidence pack contains no telemetry/analytics-opt-out feature relevant to an 'AI-native user's own tool usage tracking. This axis is a category mismatch for a billing infrastructure product.