FAQs: General Questions

Question: What does usage-based pricing (UBP) mean?

Usage-Based Pricing (UBP) is a pricing model where customers are charged based on their consumption of services or products, rather than a flat rate. This approach can complement or substitute the traditional recurring subscription models commonly seen in SaaS businesses. Typically, vendors offer a base subscription package and incorporate additional usage elements, like overages or usage-based add-ons, to provide more flexibility and alignment with customer usage patterns.

However, billing operations and management for UBP are often done manually, introducing risk of errors with consequent revenue leakage. Manual billing process also place heavy and tedious operational demands each billing cycle for teams across Billing Operations & Finance, Product, and Sales. This is where m3ter can help.

Question: What is m3ter and how does it help with usage-based pricing?

m3ter helps B2B software scale-ups implement and manage complex usage-based pricing models by automating bill calculation and sending the results to downstream systems so you can shorten billing cycle operations, eliminate revenue loss and unblock product innovation. m3ter not only supports UBP but also accommodates complex pricing structures, such as hybrid pricing, which blends subscription fees with usage-based charges.

m3ter plugs directly into your existing quote-to-cash stack including your CRM, CPQ, finance systems, payment providers and your product. Data flows will be automated and the data used for bill calculations always synchronized and up to date.

m3ter seamlessly aggregates, prices, and bills your product usage data within a single environment, saving your finance team hours of challenging and tedious manual work.

You can then distribute bill line items and customer spend data across your organization, enabling Sales to have informed customer conversations, Finance to analyze reports on profit margins, and Product teams to quickly develop and iterate new features.

Question: Is UBP right for my business?

UBP isn't suitable for every SaaS company, but when it's a good match, it can reduce adoption friction, enable effortless upselling, and help manage gross margins. Customers appreciate it too, because it aligns the costs they incur with the value they receive from your product. Discover if UBP is the right choice for your business here.

Various pricing models might suit your business depending on your product and business model. Explore the full spectrum of pricing options here.

Question: Why should I use m3ter instead of building my own system?

m3ter, a flexible usage-based billing platform, offers distinct advantages over building your own system, ensuring your business is equipped with a robust, scalable solution:

Cost-Effective Solution: Developing and maintaining an in-house system is costly, with an average initial build cost of $500K and an annual maintenance fee of $300K. These figures, sourced from a survey of over 150 top SaaS companies, underscore the cost benefits of choosing m3ter.
Reduced Risk and Complexity: m3ter's proven track record mitigates the execution risks and complexities associated with in-house development. m3ter's seamless integrations with essential quote-to-cash tools like Stripe, Netsuite, Paddle, and Chargebee, combined with the flexibility of the open-API framework for custom integrations, streamlines your billing processes.
Expert Support and Scalability: m3ter provides unparalleled customer support and a platform that scales with your business growth, handling increasing volumes and complexities without the constant need for internal development.
Compliance and Security: m3ter adheres to strict industry compliance standards and prioritizes data security, so you have peace of mind and no internal burden of maintaining these critical aspects.
Continuous Innovation: With m3ter, you benefit from continuous updates to the product, so your business stays at the forefront without any additional development from your team.
Rapid Time to Market: Implementing m3ter is much faster than the lengthy process of building, testing, and launching an in-house solution. Plus, you might build something that meets your pricing and billing needs today, without being able to fully anticipate what those needs will be in the future.
Proven Success: Dive into our customer success stories to see how SaaS businesses like yours have successfully leveraged m3ter to transform their billing.

Discover the strategic benefits of choosing m3ter for your billing needs and learn why our customers prefer our solution over building their own.

Hear from one of our customers why they decided to buy rather than build.

Question: How soon can I start using your platform?

With m3ter, you can implement simple configurations in just hours. Easily integrate with your quote-to-cash systems, automate processes, and tailor m3ter to your business's evolving complexities.

Reach out to us here for an initial discussion about your needs and how we can assist. Our expert team is ready to guide you through a demo, assist with sandbox setup, and support you throughout your evaluation journey.

Next: FAQs: Configuration, Rating and Billing