Build a model with included usage and overages that capture expansion revenue
Customers get a fixed allocation per term. When they exceed it, charges accrue automatically at the overage rate you agreed. Finance knows the predictable base. RevOps watches for expansion signals. Chargebee handles the math automatically. No manual reconciliation, no disputes, no revenue leaks.
Predictable base for the customer. Automatic upside capture for you.
Your customer buys a fixed pool of usage at signing and pays a flat annual fee. When the pool is exhausted, the product keeps running. Chargebee records every additional unit at the overage rate agreed in the contract and invoices the delta monthly, automatically.
There is no renegotiation, no manual reconciliation, and no ceiling that stops the customer. The commercial terms set on day one cover both the base and every unit beyond it. What lands on the invoice is exactly what was agreed.
- Your customers prioritise uninterrupted service over a hard spending cap
- The unit of consumption is clear and measurable enough to bill per unit
- Overage signals are commercially useful: they tell you which accounts have grown into a larger tier
- You want full revenue capture for heavy users without renegotiating mid-term
Here's what you need
Three objects in the Chargebee catalog. Define them once and they carry the pricing logic through every subscription and renewal.
The subscription tier the customer commits to for the year. Billed flat at contract start. The plan carries the included pool as a default, which can be overridden for specific deals if needed.
One value metric: tasks_automated. Counts every workflow execution and accumulates toward the annual pool.
A multi-frequency add-on: it runs on a monthly billing period while the parent subscription is annual. This is the Chargebee primitive that makes the model possible: an add-on that runs on a monthly billing period while the parent subscription is annual. The plan renews once a year; the overage add-on invoices independently each month, on its own schedule. One subscription. Two billing cadences. Zero manual reconciliation.
Stop quoting the overage rate manually on every deal. Price it in the catalog once and it carries through forever.
You define the plan and its included pool once in Chargebee. The overage add-on is attached at the same time, carrying the per-task rate. Every new subscription starts from those defaults. Where your sales team negotiates a larger pool for a specific account, you override the entitlement on that subscription at signing.
The quote carries both: base + overage rate. Both appear on every invoice
The commercial contract (quote or subscription) carries two line items: the annual plan at the flat fee, and the overage add-on at $0.02 per task. Both are visible to the customer at signing. When the contract is accepted, Chargebee activates the subscription and the metered add-on simultaneously. The rate the customer agreed to is the rate that will appear on every overage invoice, with no renegotiation required.
| Line item | Type | Qty | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier Team plan | Flat annual | 1 × 12 mo | $26,388.00 |
| tasks_automated overage Metered · billed monthly when usage exceeds 750,000 | Metered add-on | $0.02/task | Per usage |
Workflows keep running. The event stream keeps flowing. The invoice catches up automatically.
Every time a workflow runs, your product fires a usage event to Chargebee with four fields: subscription_id, item_price_id, quantity, and a deduplication_id unique to that execution. Chargebee accumulates the total, deduplicates retries, and makes the running count queryable at any point in the billing period.
When the included pool is exhausted, workflows keep running. Chargebee crosses the threshold and begins recording each subsequent task as an overage unit at $0.02. No configuration change. No API update. No interruption to your customer.
| Event ID | Timestamp | Metric | Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| evt_8821 | Jul 14, 2026 14:32 | tasks_automated | 1,200 |
| evt_8820 | Jul 14, 2026 11:17 | tasks_automated | 980 |
| evt_8819 | Jul 13, 2026 16:44 | tasks_automated | 2,100 |
| evt_8818 | Jul 13, 2026 09:02 | tasks_automated | 750 |
// Fire on every workflow run { "subscription_id": "SUB-2026-NWL-001", "item_price_id": "tasks_auto-USD-monthly", "usage_date": 1752494400, "quantity": "1200", "deduplication_id": "evt_8821" } // Past 750K? No API change needed. // Overage accrues automatically.
Stop finding out about overages from an invoice dispute. Now you know before the customer does.
Two thresholds are configured per subscription: 75% of the pool (562,500 tasks) and 100% (750,000 tasks). When either is crossed, Chargebee fires alert_status_changed with type: usage_exceeded. The payload carries subscription ID, metric, threshold percentage, and current usage count.
The 75% alert is the commercially valuable one. It gives your account team time to reach out before overages appear on an invoice. When the 100% alert fires, overages have already started accruing. The customer has been warned, the conversation is warm, and the upsell case is already visible in the data.
Give customers a live view of what they've run and what they'll owe. No surprises at invoice time.
Chargebee's usage API returns the accumulated quantity for any metered component. Pull it into your customer portal and surface exactly what the customer needs to see: tasks used this period, tasks remaining in the pool, and an estimated overage charge at the agreed rate.
Customers who can see where they stand don't get surprised by invoices. Give them visibility before the billing period closes and you remove the most common source of disputes in usage-based models: the gap between what the customer expected and what arrived in their inbox.
Finance closes the month without touching a spreadsheet. You decide when the invoice sends.
Two invoices. One subscription. The annual plan invoice issues at contract start. Monthly overage invoices generate independently whenever usage crosses the pool. This works because Chargebee's multi-frequency add-on lets an add-on carry its own billing period independently of the parent plan.
- Automatic or manual closing. Choose whether invoices close and send automatically (with a configurable delay) or queue for your team to review first.
- No more end-of-month reconciliation. Most teams calculate overages manually: pulling usage from one system, rates from a spreadsheet, and hoping the numbers match what was signed. Here, the rate lives in the catalog, the usage count comes from the metering engine, and the billing workflow connects both. Chargebee computes the overage invoice. Finance reviews a number, not a formula.
- One renewal, predictable. The annual plan invoice repeats at the same amount every year. No surprises for finance.
| Description | Units | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| tasks_automated: tasks above 750,000 pool (Jul 2026) | 90,000 tasks | $0.02 | $1,800.00 |
Spot your fastest-growing accounts. Close the upsell before they ask for it.
Your account team sees which customers are approaching the pool, which have crossed it, and how fast overage revenue is accruing. The data surfaces upgrade conversations before the next invoice cycle. Every number shown here is available via Chargebee's subscription usage and alert APIs. Query by metric, by account, or by period.
| Account | Usage | % pool | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwind Labs | 840K | 112% | Overage |
| Cloudrise | 720K | 96% | In alarm |
| StackForge | 690K | 92% | In alarm |
| BrightPath | 580K | 77% | Within pool |
| Acme Corp | 420K | 56% | Within pool |
| Month | Tasks above pool | Rate | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2026 | 90,000 | $0.02 | $1,800.00 |
| Aug 2026 | 112,400 | $0.02 | $2,248.00 |
| Sep 2026 | 134,820 | $0.02 | $2,696.40 |
Capture expansion revenue without lifting a finger.
Included usage with overages lets customers start at a comfortable price, then pays you as they grow. Chargebee captures the base automatically, records every overage in real time, and invoices without manual reconciliation. Finance gets predictable revenue. RevOps sees expansion signals immediately.