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Docs/Monetize/Billing strategies

Billing strategies

Choose subscription, usage, overage, pay-as-you-go, or credits.

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Strategy chooserFlat subscriptionIncluded usageSubscription plus overagePay as you goPrepaid creditsCustom strategiesHow billing reaches the gateway

Billing strategy controls how subscribers pay and how the gateway should enforce usage. Choose the simplest strategy that matches how customers expect to buy the API.

Strategy chooser

StrategyUse whenGateway behavior
Flat subscriptionCustomers pay a fixed monthly fee for access.Enforce feature access and any hard cap.
Included usageA monthly fee includes a quota.Track usage and deny traffic after the included amount.
Subscription plus overageCustomers commit monthly but can exceed quota.Track included usage and allow billable overage.
Pay as you goCustomers pay directly for metered usage.Track all usage as billable usage.
Prepaid creditsCustomers must fund usage before requests run.Reserve or spend credits before forwarding.
CustomYour product has its own units or mixed rules.Enforce the compiled constraints for your meters.

Flat subscription

Flat subscription is best when access matters more than exact usage. Examples:

  • internal data API access
  • low-variable-cost CRUD APIs
  • products with simple tiered access

You can still add a hard cap to prevent abuse.

Included usage

Included usage gives subscribers a predictable allowance:

Starter: $29 / month, includes 10,000 requests

When usage reaches the plan limit, the gateway denies additional traffic unless the plan allows overage.

Subscription plus overage

Subscription plus overage is useful when subscribers need predictable baseline pricing and room to grow:

Pro: $99 / month, includes 100,000 requests
Overage: $0.50 per 1,000 extra requests

The gateway allows traffic beyond included usage and usage events drive overage billing.

Pay as you go

Pay as you go works when cost maps directly to usage and customers do not need a monthly commitment. It is common for variable-cost AI, data, media, or compute APIs.

Use clear meter names and pricing units so subscribers understand every charge.

Prepaid credits

Prepaid credits require balance before the request is forwarded. This is useful when upstream cost is meaningful or you do not want to extend usage before payment.

For prepaid products, make sure product docs explain what one credit represents.

Custom strategies

Custom strategies let you combine request meters, usage meters, and custom units. Use them when standard billing labels do not describe your product cleanly.

Examples:

  • one generated image equals one image_generation
  • one document parse equals one document_page
  • AI calls meter input_tokens, output_tokens, and dollars

How billing reaches the gateway

Core compiles commercial settings into runtime constraints. The gateway receives rules such as:

  • which subscriber plan is active
  • which meters are tracked
  • which limits are hard stops
  • whether overage is allowed
  • whether credits must be reserved before forwarding

The gateway enforces behavior. Core remains the source of truth for billing and accounting.