Stigg

Stigg is a usage runtime for engineering teams building AI products that need to manage customer access, consumption and spending. It is best suited to teams that want those controls in one system while keeping their existing billing provider; the main trade-off is a relatively modest free-tier event ceiling before paid plans begin at $399 per month on annual billing.

Overview

Stigg brings credits, entitlements, metering and budget governance into the runtime of a product. Its purpose is not to replace a billing provider: it layers on top of one, with bi-directional sync for providers such as Stripe and Zuora. That makes it a fit for teams adding usage-based or hybrid controls to an existing billing setup, rather than teams looking for billing software in isolation.

The system is built around operational decisions at the point of use. Stigg says entitlement checks have p99 latency under 10ms, and budget caps for users, teams and agents are enforced at call time. Those controls are especially relevant when an AI product needs to limit consumption as it happens, not simply report it afterward.

Key features

Credits, access and metering

The credits engine provides wallets, ledgers, burn-downs, expiry rules and priority consumption. That gives teams several ways to represent and spend credits, while entitlement rules can be changed outside the codebase without a deployment. This separation can help when product or commercial rules change more often than application code, though the central value depends on fitting Stigg into the product's usage flow.

Metering captures and aggregates tokens, inference calls and agent actions. Stigg cites throughput above 1M events per second, while plan limits set much lower included rates for Build and Pro. That distinction matters: the headline capacity is most relevant to custom BYOC deployments, not a reason to assume the standard plans include comparable throughput.

Governance, billing and deployment

Per-user, per-team and per-agent budget caps are enforced at call time, giving engineering teams a way to put spending boundaries directly around usage. Stigg supports subscription, usage-based, per-unit, credits and hybrid billing models, alongside usage metering, subscription billing, overage billing, an API plan builder and a developer portal.

Deployment options include Stigg's hosted Cloud API, deployment in a customer's cloud environment (BYOC), and bring-your-own-database (BYODB). The Trust Center lists ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, along with a penetration test report, security whitepaper, data processing agreement and business continuity and disaster recovery document. That breadth is useful for teams evaluating security and deployment requirements, while BYOC's custom pricing and 24/7 support point to a more involved enterprise choice.

Pricing

Build is free forever at no cost. It includes 10,000 managed entities, 5M usage events per month, 1K events per second, the full credits and entitlements engine, Stripe and HubSpot integrations, and community support. For a team validating a usage workflow or operating at modest event volume, this is a substantial starting tier; the 5M monthly-event cap and community-only support make it less suitable once usage or support demands grow.

Pro costs $399 a month billed annually ($399 /mo billed annually), or $499 a month billed monthly ($499 /mo). Both include 10,000 managed entities and 25M monthly usage events before graduated pricing, 10K events per second, standard support with a 2-hour Sev1 SLA and a 99.95% SLA. The annual plan is the lower-cost route for a team willing to commit annually; monthly billing costs more for the same stated core limits. Pro is the clearest fit when Build's event allowance or support level is no longer enough.

Scale has custom pricing, with committed entity blocks starting at 50K, committed event volumes, 50K events per second (upgradeable to 100K), RBAC, SSO (SAML), premium support and a 99.99% SLA. It is aimed at larger deployments that need committed capacity and enterprise access controls, rather than teams that can stay within Pro's included limits.

BYOC also has custom pricing, with unlimited entities in committed blocks, a fixed license fee and service, BYOC or BYODB deployment, 1M+ events per second and 24/7 support. It is the option for customers that need deployment in their own cloud or database and high event throughput; its custom commercial terms make it a poor starting point for teams seeking a low-cost trial.

Platforms

Stigg supports API, self-hosted and web deployments. The hosted Cloud API, customer-cloud BYOC and BYODB options give teams a choice of deployment model, but the available plan and support terms vary substantially by tier.

Who it's for

Stigg is best for engineering teams building AI products that need to meter tokens, inference calls or agent actions, change access rules without a deployment, and enforce budgets during use. It is also a logical fit for teams that already bill through Stripe, Zuora or another provider and want usage controls layered on top. Teams looking only for basic billing, or unable to justify a paid plan once they exceed Build's caps, should compare simpler or lower-cost options.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Combines credits, entitlements, metering and call-time budget enforcement, addressing multiple usage-runtime needs in one system.
• Pros: Build is free forever and includes the full credits and entitlements engine, making it possible to start without a subscription fee.
• Pros: Cloud API, BYOC and BYODB provide deployment choices, with security certifications and supporting trust documents for teams assessing operational requirements.
• Cons: Build is capped at 5M monthly events and 1K events per second; scaling up to Pro raises the annual commitment to $399 per month or monthly cost to $499.
• Cons: The 10,000-entity allowance is shared by Build and Pro, so Pro's main stated capacity increase is events rather than entities.
• Cons: Scale and BYOC use custom pricing, so teams needing their higher capacity, enterprise controls or deployment options must move beyond transparent fixed-price tiers.

Alternatives

API Monetization Software is the broader category to explore when comparing tools for this job.

• Lago is worth considering if an AGPLv3-licensed, self-hosted open-source plan is preferable; it also offers a premium option for cloud or self-hosted deployment.
• Gotransverse suits a growing enterprise seeking billing and invoicing around one pricing dimension and able to take a 36-month contract at $450,000 a year.
• Younium is an option for buyers who want customized pricing based on business size, needs and required functionality.
• Revenium may suit teams whose priority is observing transactions, with a free Observe plan covering 100,000 transactions per month, 7 days of data retention, one user and community support without an SLA.
• Moesif is another freemium API option, with a free plan applied after a 14-day trial.
• Sentinel EMS is an alternative to consider.
• Zuplo offers a free plan for up to 100K requests per month, with two account members and five environments; it may fit teams whose need centers on that request allowance.
• Orb is an alternative to consider.

Verdict

Choose Stigg if your engineering team needs to connect AI usage, access rules and real-time budgets to an existing billing provider, and Build's limits are enough to get started. Its strongest case is the combination of runtime controls and multiple deployment choices. Look elsewhere if you need more than 5M events per month but cannot take on Pro's recurring cost, or if you want high-volume BYOC capacity without custom pricing.