Billing Management: #5 Usage Billing

Billing Management: #5 Usage Billing

After understanding the nuances of Advance Billing and Retainers, we will explore one of the booming billing models.

​Long ago, villagers drew water from a shared well in a small village. The well was a lifeline for the entire community. Ravi, the well keeper, spent his days making sure the water stayed clean, the walls stayed strong, and the rope was firm.

At first, he allowed everyone to take water freely. But Ravi soon realized that maintaining the well required effort; if no one contributed, the well would eventually fall into disrepair.

​So he gathered the villagers and proposed something simple,
​
 "You don't have to pay me a fixed amount every month. Instead, pay me for the water you take."
​
The rule remained simple and fair. Families that took one or two pots paid less, and large households paid more. No one was overcharged, and Ravi always had enough to keep the well in good condition.
​
Ravi invented the earliest form of usage billing without even knowing it. It is a model built not on flat fees but on fairness: pay for what you consume, nothing more, nothing less.

 What is Usage Billing? 

​Usage billing is a billing model in which customers are charged based on how much of a product or service they actually use. Unlike traditional flat subscriptions, which apply the same fee regardless of consumption, usage billing creates a direct link between value received and price paid. For customers, it ensures fairness, and for businesses, it unlocks scalable revenue growth.
​
As stated above, usage billing is not new. Utilities, telecom providers, SaaS companies, IoT, and several others highly rely on it. In recent times, however, it has become a strategic move by industries that thrive on flexibility.

Why Businesses Adopt Usage Billing? 

​Usage-based pricing nowadays is considered a growth driver. Recent reports highlight,

  • 85% of SaaS companies have adopted some form of usage-based pricing, according to the State of Usage-Based Pricing 2025 Report by Metronome & Greyhound Capital.

  • 63% already practice it,, and 74% expect to expand usage billing further, notes as study by Chargebee in collaboration with OpenView.

  • Hybrid pricing models, where a flat subscription fee is combined with usage-based elements, are booming, with nearly half of the SaaS firms adopting them, according to the 2025 SaaS Pricing Trend Report from Maxio.

  • The same Maxio report adds that companies using usage-based pricing often report faster revenue growth (median 21%+) and stronger net dollar retention compared to peers.

 Simplifying the Complex 

​Conceptually, usage billing is simple. But executing it well requires precision. Two main challenges in usage-based billing are:

  • Tracking consumption with accuracy.

  • Turning usage into an invoice transparently.

Zoho Billing provides both. It enables businesses to combine flat-rate subscriptions with usage-based billing, supporting hybrid pricing models that suit modern industries.

​A subscription in Zoho Billing can be marked as a usage subscription just by a simple checkbox. Renewal invoices will include all the usage that is added and invoiced during the next billing period to ensure accurate billing. Zoho Billing supports multiple ways to record usage. Users can manually record usage individually by accessing the application. It can be uploaded in bulk using import options, and the most popular way is through APIs to push usage data automatically from your system to Zoho Billing.

Wisdom to Strategy 
​Paying only for what you use has made customers feel valued for ages. By charging based on consumption, businesses ensure sustainability and growth. From ancient water pots to today's gigabytes, transactions, and compute cycles, the principle hasn't changed, just that the scale and sophistication have changed. And with solutions like Zoho Billing, companies can turn this age-old wisdom into a modern growth strategy.

Alright, this is just a beginning. In the coming posts, we'll dive deep into how usage billing plays out across industries from SaaS to telecom to IoT, showing how businesses can apply it to stay competitive and loyal. 

    • Sticky Posts

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #5 — September 2020

      Dear customers, We're happy to bring you the September edition of our #CommunityDigest! Keep track of your subscription KPIs right from your smartphone: Last month, we enhanced our Android mobile app to help our customers get daily updates on their business health. We got to know from a lot of customers that this has made their job much more easier because they no longer have to keep a reminder to manually check on the previous day's revenue or activations. If you have not downloaded it yet, here's

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #4 - August 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. I'm happy to bring you the fourth edition of our #CommunityDigest with some brand-new updates from us. 1. Daily Business Updates (for Android users) The Zoho Subscriptions Android app has got a cool new update: You can now get a push notification to your smartphone that lets you know how many activations and cancellations have taken place, and what's the net revenue for the previous day. The best part is, you can tell the app when exactly you

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #3 - July 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. We're glad to bring you the July edition of our #CommunityDigest. New community members can view our previous newsletters here. This time, we have two major updates and three interesting topics for you: 1. Zoho Subscriptions Developer Community Since the inception of Zoho Subscriptions, our team believed that the recurring billing platform we provide should be able to offer an extensive API library that empowers businesses to automate most

    • Introducing: Community Learning Series | Digest #1 - May 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you are staying safe and healthy. Helping businesses manage their customer subscriptions more efficiently has always been, and always will be, our goal at Zoho Subscriptions. We strongly believe this is possible if we grow together as a community and share what we know with each other. To nurture this shared learning experience, here is our brand-new Community Learning Series! ​ Welcome to the first edition of our digest! Each edition of our community digest includes guides

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • Whatsapp BOT with CRM

        Hello, how do you use Whatsapp integrations in zoho CRM?

      • Ability to translate Zoho CRM Kiosks

        Hi team, Is support for translating kiosk text and screen names in the Zoho CRM translation tool planned on the roadmap? Thanks,

      • Whatsapp Limitation Questions

        Good day, I would like to find out about the functionality or possibility of all the below points within the Zoho/WhatsApp integration. Will WhatsApp buttons ever be possible in the future? Will WhatsApp Re-directs to different users be possible based

      • Editing the list of Categories in the Categorize Manually section of Banking in Zoho Books

        Hi, I need to create two new Categories called Withdrawals and Deposits to categorize payments in a bank account. How do I edit the Categories list?

      • Can I write a check in Zoho Books with no associated bill?

        This currently does not seem possible, and I have a client that desperately needs this function if I am able to convert them with Quickbooks. Thank you in advance for your reply. 

      • [Free Webinar] Intelligent document processing with Zoho RPA

        Hello everyone! Greetings from the Zoho RPA team! We're excited to invite you to our upcoming webinar on intelligent document processing with Zoho RPA, where we'll introduce powerful new capabilities designed to make your automation journey smarter, faster,

      • When I schedule calendar appointments in zoho and invite external emails, they do not receive invites

        Hello, We have recently transitioned to zoho and are having a problem with the calendar feature. When we schedule new calendar appointments in zoho the invite emails aren't being sent to the external users that we list in participants. However, this works

      • Zoho People > Performance Management > Appraisal cycle

        Hello All I am using this 2 users to test out how it work on Performance Management User 1 - Reportee User 2 - Reporting Manager : Li Ting Haley User 1 : Self Appraisal Error How do i fix this error?

      • Send emails directly via Cases module

        Greetings all, The ability to send emails from the Cases module, which users have been eagerly anticipating, is now available, just like in the other modules. In Zoho CRM, Cases is a module specifically designed for managing support tickets. If your organization

      • Webinar Alert: Supercharge landing pages with data insights | Zoho LandingPage

        Every visitor to your landing page leaves behind valuable data, but are you leveraging it to improve conversions? Join our expert-led Landing Page Analytics webinar to learn how to track, analyze, and optimize landing page performance with Zoho LandingPage’s

      • Bulk Deletion of Zoho Projects Using Node.js and Zoho Projects API

        Zoho Projects currently does not provide a built-in option to delete multiple projects in bulk from the UI. When working with testing environments or large numbers of temporary projects, deleting them one by one becomes time-consuming. To address this,

      • Show unsubscribed contacts ?

        Hello, I would like to display the unsubscribed contacts. Unfortunately, I do not have this subscription type as described in the documentation (https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/marketing-automation-2-0/user-guide/contacts/contact-management/articles/subscription-type-24-1-2024#Subscription_Type_field.)

      • Track Marketing Automation Campaigns in Zoho CRM

        Hello, I've been searching but haven't found the exact answer to this question. I am looking to track Marketing Automation email campaigns and activities inside of Zoho CRM. Use Case: Action: Prospect Submits A Lead Form Outcomes: Prospect created in

      • Validation rule for Date field

        The condition settings for a Date field are are absolutlly usless. Conditions can only be set for a specific date, which is logically ineffective in most cases. When setting a condition for a Date field, users usually need to compare the value relative

      • Easily map shift data fields during user imports

        Greetings all, You can now include all your shift-related data for your users without any hassle during user imports. With this enhancement, the Map Import Fields to Zoho CRM option includes all shift-related fields: Current Shift, Next Shift, and Shift

      • Unable to send

        Hello, I am unble to send any single email during the whole time due to the Zoho IP 136.143.188.16 being bloked by SpamCop.net Please help can somebody help me?

      • Adding new data to the sheet with most recent data being added to top row.

        I am using a form that I built from within sheets.  When the form is submitted, is it possible to have the data entered in (for example) row 2 (since row 1 is the heading) instead of being added into the next available row which should be hundreds of

      • How do you arrange order in which the speakers are listed in a session once they have been selected?

        Probably another simple thing I've missed but I can't find how to arrange the order in which the speakers are listed in a session once they have been selected. We usually want the speakers listed alphabetically by last name, but sometimes not. Once the

      • Product Updates in Zoho Workplace applications | February 2026

        Hello Workplace Community, Let’s take a look at the new features and enhancements that went live across all Workplace applications for the month of February. Zoho Mail Organize Personal Notes with Collections You can now create collections under My Personal

      • Bank Feed shows redacted description numbers (xxxx)

        Hi All, Is there any way to change this behaviour? Either Zoho or Yodlee is redacting important numbers from the transaction description, preventing us from being able to easily recognise and reconcile transactions. For example, a transaction with a description

      • Introducing note actions and dynamic visibility in Kiosk Studio

        Hello all, We are introducing enhancements to Kiosk Studio that will improve the product scope and meet your custom needs more precisely. What's new? Add notes as Actions: You can add notes to CRM records as kiosk Actions, as well as insert merge fields

      • Regarding the Recipient Email change

        I was not being able to change the Recipient email. Kindly resolve the problem

      • Request to Customize Module Bar Placement in New Zoho CRM UI

        Hello Support and Zoho Community, I've been exploring the new UI of Zoho CRM "For Everyone" and have noticed a potential concern for my users. We are accustomed to having the module names displayed across the top, which made navigation more intuitive

      • kanban view for client portal

        Are kanban views an option for client portals? Access to Kanban views in the client portals would solve some mobile-compliant issues I have with the UI. Kanban functions very nicely on mobile and would be a super asset for my clients and vendors as they

      • 【Zoho CRM】サンドボックスのアップデート：メール送信トレイ機能の追加

        ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 CRMのサンドボックス（テスト環境）にメールの送信トレイ機能が追加されました。 本番環境でメール配信の前に、サンドボックスで送信される全てのメールを確認・検証できます。ワークフロー、承認プロセス、一括送信など、あらゆる送信パターンに対応しています。 「メールの送信トレイ」機能を使うと、顧客へ送信する前にメールの内容を事前確認できます。項目の欠落や書式の乱れなど、あらゆる問題をサンドボックス内でチェックできるため、本番環境でのトラブルを未然に防ぐことに役立ちます。

      • Force mandatory entry on one of two fields on Contacts

        We are finding our users aren't always entering a phone number or email address of a contact. We would like to make these fields mandatory but realize they won't always have both pieces of information, but should at least have one. Is there a way to make

      • How can I prevent having recepients from being added as contacts in Zoho Desk?

        How can I prevent having recepients from being automatically added as contacts in Zoho Desk? There's no option to disable this.

      • Agent Concern

        would like to ask the difference between an agent and a light agent. can a light agent close a ticket. thank you.

      • Train Zoho Answer Bot Based on Customer

        Hi all, Is it currently possible to mark Help Centre articles to a specific customer, and restrict the answer bot to only use relevant information if it is either marked as "General", or tagged for the specific customer in question? We currently have

      • Non-depreciating fixed asset

        Hi! There are non-depreciable fixed assets (e.g. land). It would be very useful to be able to create a new type of fixed asset (within the fixed assets module) with a ‘No depreciation’ depreciation method. There is always the option of recording land

      • Errorcode 554

        Hello, I am unble to send any single email during the whole time due to the Zoho IP 136.143.188.16 being blocked by SpamCop. Please can somebody help me?

      • Spamcop

        Have been trying to email several of our clients and many of our emails keep getting bounced back with an error that states: ERROR CODE :550 - "JunkMail rejected - sender4-op-o16.zoho.com [136.143.188.16]:17694 is in an RBL: Blocked - see spamcop.net/bl.shtml?136.143.188.16"

      • Will Zoho Search work with Zoho Learn

        Currently, Zoho Search only works with Zoho Wiki which will be phased out.  Moving forward, will Zoho Search be enabled for Zoho Learn? Thanks.

      • How to use filters on all products page? Or even a category page?

        Hello, I am trying to create some filters so users can use filters to find products they are looking for. So what i am trying is to create a filter according to price lets say. So if i define it this way i am expecting to see this filter option on category

      • Zoho Projects app update: Voice notes for Tasks and Bugs module

        Hello everyone! In the latest version(v3.9.37) of the Zoho Projects Android app update, we have introduced voice notes for the Tasks and Bugs module. The voice notes can be added as an attachment or can be transcribed into text. Recording and attaching

      • Boas práticas de desenvolvimento em Deluge

        O Deluge (Data Enriched Language for the Universal Grid Environment) é a linguagem de script utilizada em diversas aplicações do ecossistema Zoho, como Zoho Creator, Zoho CRM, Zoho Books e Zoho Flow. Ela foi projetada para permitir automações rápidas

      • How do I automate my package and shipment process

        Hey, I have a very basic problem regarding automating my package and shipment. My business does not require me to have those modules and manage them currently and since I'm new to zoho I want to start with just the basics. I just need to automatically

      • How do I automate my package and shipment process

        Hey, I have a very basic problem regarding automating my package and shipment. My business does not require me to have those modules and manage them currently and since I'm new to zoho I want to start with just the basics. I just need to automatically

      • Seeking a WhatsApp Business App (not API) Zoho CRM integration

        We have a business need to integrated WhatsApp Business App (not API) into Zoho CRM to centrally manage communications between our Sales team and Leads & Contact. Is there a reputable integration available for this scenario of ours? Core features we would

      • Zoho Sign 2025–2026: What's new and what's next

        Hello! Every year at Zoho Sign, we work hard to make document signing and agreement execution easy for all users. This year we sat down with our head of product, Mr. Subramanian Thayumanasamy, to discuss what we delivered in 2025 and our goals for 2026.

      • Next Page