Plans and Prices
Once you have defined your Product and the Billable Metrics you want to charge for, the next step is to set the actual cost. This is done through Plans and Prices.
Plans
A Plan acts as a rate card for a specific Product. It groups together a set of Prices, where each Price defines the cost for a specific Billable Metric belonging to that Product.
- Association: A
Planis always associated with exactly oneProduct. - Purpose:
Plansare used to createSubscriptionsforCustomers. ASubscriptionessentially links aCustomerto aPlan, defining the rates they will pay for using the associatedProduct. - Flexibility: You can create multiple
Plansfor a singleProductto offer different pricing tiers or customized deals.
Tiered Plans: For a self-service product, you might create Starter, Growth, and Enterprise Plans, each with different Prices (or included quantities) for the same Billable Metrics.
Sales-Led Deals: For enterprise customers, you might create a unique Plan per customer, reflecting negotiated Prices.
Plan Properties
When creating a Plan, you define several key properties:
The ID of the Product this Plan applies to.
The internal name for the Plan (e.g., “Pro Tier”, “Customer X Custom Plan”).
The name of the Plan as it should appear on customer invoices and statements (e.g., “Professional Plan”).
A brief description of the Plan, often shown during checkout.
How often usage is aggregated and statements/invoices are generated (e.g., monthly, yearly).
Note: Payments for usage are still real-time via Wallets.
The currency for all Prices within this Plan. Currently only USD is supported.
A list of Price object IDs associated with this Plan. Each Price must correspond to a Billable Metric from the Plan’s Product. A Billable Metric cannot be listed more than once in a single Plan.
Prices
A Price object defines the cost per unit of a specific Billable Metric within the context of a Plan.
- Association: A
Pricelinks aBillable Metricto a specific pricing structure. - Context:
Pricesonly exist within aPlan.
Price Properties
The ID of the Billable Metric this Price applies to.
The pricing model used (e.g., standard, dynamic, volume). See details below.
How this pricing component should appear as a line item on invoices (e.g., “API Calls”, “Compute Time”).
An object containing the specific parameters for the chosen model. See details below.
Pricing Models
Sulu supports several pricing models to cater to different business needs.
Model: standard
A fixed price per unit of the Billable Metric.
Properties:
The fixed cost per unit of the associated Billable Metric in the Plan’s currency (e.g., “0.001” for $0.001).
Example: $0.01 per API request.
Model: standard
A fixed price per unit of the Billable Metric.
Properties:
The fixed cost per unit of the associated Billable Metric in the Plan’s currency (e.g., “0.001” for $0.001).
Example: $0.01 per API request.
Model: dynamic
The price for a usage event is determined at the time the usage is reported, rather than being fixed in the Plan.
Properties:
The maximum price that can be charged per unit in a single Usage Event.
The minimum price that can be charged per unit in a single Usage Event.
How it works: When reporting a Usage Event for a Billable Metric priced with the dynamic model, you must include the price field within the event’s properties array. This price will be charged for that specific event, provided it falls within the minPrice and maxPrice defined here. See Usage Events for details.
Example: Charging for compute time based on the spot price of an instance at the time of execution.
Model: volume
The price per unit changes based on the total quantity consumed within the current billing period.
Properties:
The default price per unit to apply if the volume function doesn’t specify one (e.g., for the first unit).
An object defining the parameters for the specific volume function family used.
Volume Function Families
The parameters object structure depends on the chosen function family.
With Products, Billable Metrics, Plans, and Prices defined, you are ready to onboard users. Learn how in Customers and Subscriptions.