Stripe Billing meters aggregate events and put a line on the invoice. That is accounting. If a user on a 10,000-call plan fires 50,000 calls, the meter bills all 50,000. Stripe did not stop them. That check is yours — or UsageGate's.
| Stripe meters | UsageGate | |
|---|---|---|
| Charges the card | Yes | No |
| Invoices usage | Yes | No |
| Blocks a request over the plan | No | Yes |
| Atomic credit burn | No | Yes — Redis |
| Works if you leave Stripe | No | Yes — reportSubscription |
| Replace the other | No | No |
When to use both
Most UsageGate workspaces stay on Stripe. Paste the Price id on the paid plan column. Stripe assigns the plan. UsageGate enforces canAccess / consume. See Connect Stripe.
When meters are the wrong tool
You want a hard cap (20 AI credits, 3 seats) and a 402 when empty. That is entitlements, not an invoice line. Stripe Entitlements cover boolean flags, not numeric quotas on the hot path.
Next: vs a Redis ledger, the default stack.