Implementing plans, trials, and metered billing with Stripe
Stripe gives you the primitives — Products, Prices, Subscriptions, the Customer Portal, Checkout — but wiring them into a product that behaves correctly is its own discipline. We model your pricing as data in Stripe so you can add or change plans without a code deploy.
Whether you charge flat monthly, per seat, or by metered usage (API calls, minutes, records processed), we set up the meters and reporting so invoices reflect real consumption.
- Products and Prices structured for monthly, annual, per-seat, and usage-based plans
- Stripe Checkout or Elements for a hosted or embedded signup flow
- Free trials configured with or without an upfront payment method
- Metered billing with usage reporting for consumption-based products
- The Stripe Customer Portal so users update cards, invoices, and cancellations themselves
- Test-mode and live-mode setups kept separate and clearly documented
Webhooks as the source of truth
The most common Stripe mistake is trusting the browser redirect after checkout instead of Stripe's webhooks. Network hiccups, closed tabs, and retries make that unreliable. We treat verified webhook events as the authoritative record of what happened.
Every relevant event — subscription created, payment succeeded, payment failed, subscription updated or canceled — updates your database and your access control, processed idempotently so retries are safe.
- Signature verification on every incoming webhook
- Idempotent handlers so duplicate events never double-provision or double-charge
- Subscription lifecycle mapped to your app's access and entitlements
- Failed-payment and dunning events wired to grace periods and notifications
- Reconciliation between Stripe's records and your own database
- Clear logging so support can trace any customer's billing history
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Frequently asked questions
We already have a Stripe account with some products set up. Can you work with that?
Yes. We can build on your existing Stripe configuration or restructure it if the current Products and Prices won't support where you're headed. We'll review what you have, keep test and live modes clean, and integrate it with your app's access control.
Can Stripe handle usage-based or per-seat pricing?
Yes. Stripe Billing supports per-seat quantities and metered usage. For usage-based plans we report consumption to Stripe so invoices reflect actual usage. We'll help you pick a model that's simple for customers to understand and accurate to bill.
Do you handle sales tax with Stripe?
Stripe Tax can calculate and collect sales tax and VAT based on the customer's location, and we can wire it into your checkout and invoices. Tax registration and remittance are decisions you make with your accountant; we set up the technical collection to match.