# Flexprice Vs. Orb

Orb is a solid billing engine for usage-based pricing. But it's closed source, locked to Stripe, and is expensive. Flexprice gives you the same depth, open source, multi-gateway, and built for teams from self-serve to enterprise.

Powering monetization for

If billing doesn't work, we don't make money. Flexprice lets us focus on the core business instead of building billing as a second product.

### Shubhendu Shishir
Head of Engg | Simplismart

### In this section

**Introduction**  
SaaS billing started with subscriptions, and the first wave of usage-based billing tools like Orb were built to solve that shift. Orb does this well. It has a clean API, solid credit infrastructure, and strong enterprise contract features.

Orb works best for high-volume API companies already on Stripe that need flexible usage-based billing with enterprise hierarchy support.

### And you should stick with Orb if:
- You're already using Stripe as your only payment gateway and don't plan to serve customers outside Stripe-supported regions.  
- You have dedicated engineering resources to handle implementation and don't need to self-host or inspect the billing engine.  
- You're comfortable with an expensive starting cost and don't need a free or open-source tier to iterate on pricing early.  
- You don't need your billing system to integrate natively with multiple CRMs like HubSpot, Zoho, or Pipedrive.

### Category
#### ORB

**Open Source & Self-Hosting**  
- ✅ Fully open source (GitHub, 3.5K+ stars). Self-host on your own infra for full transparency and control. Inspect the code, extend functionality, and own your billing logic. No vendor lock-in.
- ❌ Closed-source, managed SaaS only. No self-hosting option on Core or Advanced tiers. You can't inspect or audit the billing engine.

**Cost to Get Started**  
- ✅ Free to self-host with all features included.  
- ❌ Starts at ~$720/month on the Core plan. No free tier or self-hosted option for Core/Advanced.

**Payment Gateway Support**  
- ✅ Native integrations with Stripe, Razorpay, Moyasar (MENA), Nomod, and Chargebee bridge.
- ❌ Stripe is the primary documented payment gateway.

**Product-Led Self-Serve**  
- ✅ Built for PLG from day one.  
- ❌ Orb supports self-serve workflows but starts at $720/mo.

**Enterprise & Sales-Led**  
- ✅ Full enterprise coverage.
- ✅ Strong enterprise billing.

**Basic Usage-Based Pricing**  
- ✅ Supports usage-based, hybrid, tiered, volume, and graduated pricing.
- ✅ Solid usage-based billing.

**Credits & Wallets**  
- ✅ Full credit system.
- ✅ Supports prepaid and postpaid credits.

**MCP Server / Agent-Native Billing**  
- ✅ First billing platform with an MCP server.
- ❌ No MCP server or agent-native billing interface.

**Outcome-Based Billing**  
- ✅ Natively define recurring credits.
- ❌ Supports only one-time/promo credits.

**Custom Credit Values by Feature**  
- ✅ You can assign dynamic credit values.
- ❌ Can’t assign different credit values to actions.

**Contract Amendments**  
- ✅ Full contract history with versioning.
- ❌ Stripe doesn’t store historical contract versions.

### Why Teams Choose Flexprice Over Orb  
1. **Open source means you own your billing logic**
   - Flexprice is open source on GitHub with 3,500+ stars.
   - You can read the code and debug edge cases.

2. **Serve customers globally with multi-gateway billing**
   - Flexprice integrates with various payment gateways.

3. **Start free, scale to enterprise, without changing platforms**
   - Flexprice is free to self-host.

4. **Native CRM sync across HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, and Pipedrive**
   - Flexprice syncs bi-directionally with major CRMs.

5. **Agent-native billing with the MCP server**
   - Every billing operation is an MCP tool.

6. **Outcome-based billing for the next wave of AI pricing**
   - Supports charging for outcomes like resolved tickets, successful phone calls.

## Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between Flexprice and Orb?
- Is Flexprice open source?
- Can Flexprice replace Orb for usage-based billing?