Orb Built for Event-First Billing

The shift to usage pricing is forcing old subscription systems to bolt a metering engine onto finance software that was built for monthly seat changes, not billions of product events. Zuora bought Togai to add usage metering into its revenue stack, and Chargebee rebuilt its rating engine to process high event volumes. That keeps incumbents relevant for existing finance buyers, but it also shows why newer platforms like Orb were designed around raw event ingestion first, then invoicing and accounting sync second.

• Zuora’s move was acquisition led. It announced the Togai deal in April 2024, then folded metering into a platform already used for subscription management and revenue recognition. In practice, that appeals to enterprises that want one vendor for billing close, rev rec, and contract workflows.
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• Chargebee’s move was product led. It launched Better Billing in 2025, offering free monthly event allowances and describing throughput around 200K events per second. That is a retention play for SaaS customers adding credits, API usage, or AI consumption without ripping out their existing billing system.
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• The market is converging around the same architecture. Stripe bought Metronome and completed the deal on January 14, 2026, to own metering plus payments in one stack. That raises the bar for everyone, because usage billing is becoming core infrastructure rather than an add on module.
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Going forward, incumbents will keep winning where finance control, rev rec, and installed relationships matter most. The fastest growth in AI and API businesses will favor systems built to turn a live stream of usage data into a bill in near real time. Billing is moving from back office record keeping toward product infrastructure.