Billing Management: #2 Fair way of Billing- Prorated Billing
Hello,
From speaking about the traditional ways of billing in the previous post, we are moving into the deep sea of billing. We are now in a zone to break out the most complex yet, I would call it the fairest way of billing, the Prorated Billing.
Prorated Billing ensures that customers pay only for the exact portion of a service they consume. Whether they join mid-cycle, switch plans, or cancel early, proration guarantees transparency and fairness.
What is Prorated Billing?
In short, prorated billing involves splitting charges according to the length of service used within a billing cycle. Instead of charging the customer for the entire month regardless of when they sign up or amend the subscription, businesses calculate charges accurately based on time or usage. This directly enhances customer trust and satisfaction and eliminates disputes over charges.
In this post, we will understand how proration works in different industries by examining the major industry types that need/must have proration in their billing strategy.
In this post, we will understand how proration works in different industries by examining the major industry types that need/must have proration in their billing strategy.
Scenario: SaaS
A SaaS customer starts the month on the Basic plan, which costs $30/month. Midway through the billing cycle, on the 15th, they realise they need additional features and decide to upgrade to the Pro plan, which costs $60/month.
Without proration, businesses might charge the full $60 or keep them on Basic until the next cycle, which is unfair. With proration, this can be solved by splitting the bill into the part that will be used and the period that has elapsed.
In this scenario, part of the month is charged at the Basic plan cost, and the remaining is charged at the Pro plan cost.
Old Plan | New Plan |
Basic Plan: $30 | Pro Plan: $60 |
Charges per day: $30/30=$1 | Charges per day: $60/30=$2 |
No.of days remaining: 15 | No.of days to be charged: 15 |
Credits Remaining: $1x15=$15 | Amount to be charged: $2x15=$30 |
Net Payable: Amount to be charged- Credits Remaining: $30-$15= $15 | |
The Final Invoice Amount must be charged on the 15th, and the customer's subscription will be moved to the Pro Plan.
Scenario: Telecom
Imagine a customer activating a mobile plan costing $60 on the 20th of the month. The company has a standard billing cycle of 30 days. Some businesses might activate the plan for the full plan amount and allow it to be charged again on the set billing cycle. However, that's not the ideal approach.
With Proration, the days before the activation date are excluded, and charges are made only for the exact number of days used.
Plan Amount: $60
Charge per day: $60/30= $2
No.of days to be billed: 10
Final Payable Amount: $20
The Final Payable Amount will be charged on the plan activation date, and the next charge will occur after 10 days, aligning with the billing cycle.
Scenario: Streaming Service
A streaming subscriber who is active in the $120/month Premium plan decides to switch to the $60/month Standard plan after 10 days of usage in the current billing cycle.
Without proration, the customer might feel overcharged for unused Premium days. So, to balance the charges between the higher-priced plan and the lower one, credits will be added to the customer account, which can either be refunded or adjusted for the next invoice cycle.
Old Plan | New Plan |
Premium Plan: $120 | Standard Plan Cost: $60 |
Charges per day: $120/30= $4 | Charges per day: $60/30= $2 |
No.of days used: 10 | No.of days remaining: 20 |
Charges for used days: $4x10= $40 | Amount to be charged: $2x20=$40 |
Remaining Credits: $80 |
|
Net Credit: Remaining Credits- Amount to be charged for 20 days: $80-$40= $40 | |
The Net Credit will stay with the customer account and will be applied to the next invoice, or it can be refunded.
Proration Across Industries
While SaaS, Telecom and Streaming services are the most common businesses where prorated billing happens quite often, other industries need this,
Logistics Companies operate with standard shipment charges. They might need proration when the volume of the consignment changes in the middle of the cycle.
Internet Service Providers use this when there is a change in plan within the billing cycle.
Fintech and Payment Apps prorate service fees when accounts are opened or closed in the middle of the billing cycle.
Zoho Billing has the finesse to handle these contract amendments effortlessly across industry types. Whether it's a mid-cycle upgrade, a partial cancellation, or a new customer subscribing during the middle of the billing cycle, Zoho Billing ensures invoices are adjusted seamlessly. Proration can be enabled in Zoho Billing with a simple toggle, and the application automatically takes care of all the math in the backend.
Proration Billing is not a burden but a gift wrapped in a hard cover.
Offering fair charges based on usage during billing increases confidence and provides businesses with a reputation for being fair and transparent. But what about usage that happens before it hits the bill? Even with proration in place, there are scenarios where usage happens before it's billed. For instance, a customer may request an add-on, consume additional resources, or make a one-time transaction in the middle of the billing period. These often fall into the category of unbilled charges.
In the next post, we will explore how businesses manage these unbilled charges and why keeping them in check is critical for accurate billing.
Stay Tuned!
Topic Participants
Hari | Zoho Billing
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'sCommunity 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 youCommunity 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 mostIntroducing: 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
Recent Topics
Involved account types are not applicable when create journals
{ "journal_date": "2016-01-31", "reference_number": "20160131", "notes": "SimplePay Payroll", "line_items": [{ "account_id": "538624000000035003", "description": "Net Pay", "amount": 26690.09, "debit_or_credit": "credit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000403", "description": "Gross", "amount": 32000, "debit_or_credit": "debit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000427", "description": "CPP", "amount": 1295.64, "debit_or_credit": "debit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000376", "description":Zoho Books - Include Payment Terms as a Custom View filter
It would be great if you could created a custom view based on Payment Terms. This would be really handy for seeing a list of customers who have credit terms. A workaround is not required. I could do something with a creditor checkbox, but it would beHow to update changed purchase account of item in invoice
I have selected the wrong purchase account for various articles and created invoices. I had to adjust the purchase account in the article afterwards, but the old purchase account is still posted in the transaction-journal of the invoice. To adjust theHelp - Zoho CRM notification on mobile (IOS/Android)
Hello Community! Can I get the IOS/Andoid CRM app to notify me of events, calls, etc. due as I can with MANY other apps? I am running the free Zoho I would like this to be native to the Zoho CRM app. I do not want to write a sep. mobile appZoho Books Idea - Include another field in Bank Details for Address
Hi Books team, Currently use the Description field in the Bank Details to store the bank's address. This works fine but it would be great if you could add another field for Bank Address, so that other notes about the bank account could be stored in thea question about the COQL API v8
When I specify eight or more values in a WHERE IN clause and execute it, an error occurs. Is there a limit to the number of values that can be specified in a WHERE IN clause? ↓Error select * FROM Vendors WHERE (id in (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)) ↓SuccessZoho Books Idea - Bank Details Button on Banking
Hi Books team, Sometimes I'm asked to share bank details with a customer or a colleague. So I go to the Banking Module, find the correct bank account, click Setting > Edit, then copy and paste the bank details. Wouldn't it be great if there was a buttonJS SDK 8.0 – TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'getCacheStore') with sample code
Hello Zoho Support Team, I’m integrating the Zoho CRM JavaScript SDK v8.0 and I’m getting the error below when running your official sample. I tested directly from: https://github.com/zoho/zohocrm-javascript-sdk-8.0/blob/main/samples/create_records_sample/create_records.jsFunction #55: Convert multiple quotes to single SO using Custom Button
Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! In Zoho Books, after a quote is accepted by your customer, it can be converted into a sales order or an invoice. Often, a customer might have multiple quotes, and for easier billing or upon the customer'sZoho One - Syncing Merchants and Vendors Between Zoho Expense and Zoho Books
Hi, I'm exploring the features of Zoho One under the trial subscription and have encountered an issue with syncing Merchant information between Zoho Expense and Zoho Books. While utilizing Zoho Expense to capture receipts, I noticed that when I submitTime based workflow without edit/action
Hello I need help solving this problem if possible. We have Deals come into the CRM via Live Transfer which have the field properties: Stage = New Channel = Inbound Some of them don't get answered so we want these to automatically go into our OutboundWhat's New - August 2025 | Zoho Backstage
Every month, Zoho Backstage grows with you. These updates aren't just features and fixes, they're about making your workday smoother, your events more impactful, and your attendees happier. We’ve listened, learned, and shaped this release to keep thingsprevent selling expired items
Hello. I need to make a constraint on expired batch items not to be sold. Is it possible in Zoho Inventory? if so, then how? Thanks for further help.Product details removed during update from other system
We maintain our product details in an other system. These details are synchronized with Zoho at the end of each day, through an API. This has worked perfectly sofar. But last Monday, all product codes and some other product data have been wiped duringClient Customer
I purchased a customer user license, but we cannot see the project I added in the customer account. I would like to ask for support on what we should do.Add Ability to Use Zoho Finance Tags
For Zoho Finance (Books and Inventory), the current actions do not allow us to affect the tags associated with the entities in question (customers, vendors, items, etc.). Please consider adding this functionality into the actions.Embeded Signing doesn't work on Safari Browser
We have implemented Zoho Sign in our website by using embeded signing, It works perfectly on Chrome. But it fails on Safari, We get stuck on Zoho Sign Page during redirection from Zoho Sign to our website after signing the document, Please let us knowDataprep Webhook Limits and Cannot update column with Dataprep
I have two problems : 1 - I am using Airflow to trigger my pipeline, and when I tested it, it worked fine a couple of times. However, after that, I received an error: {"code":429,"message":"Request rate limited"}. I didn’t send too many requests — maybeNew in Zoho Forms: Google reCAPTCHA v3 for smarter spam protection
Hello form builders, Spam submissions are one of the biggest challenges when you share your forms online. They not only clutter your data but can also waste valuable time. To help you combat this without making life harder for genuine respondents, we’reProject Management Bulletin: August, 2025
We’ve touched a grand 19 years since we started pioneering project management solutions with Zoho Projects. What started as a simple one-page interface is now a suite of products with Zoho BugTracker, Zoho Sprints, and our new debut Zoho Projects Plus,Zoho Sign and Zoho Workdrive Integration
Hello, there. I want to know if it's possible to save a signed document from Zoho Sign in an specific folder for each signer in Zoho Workdrive. For example: If John Doe signs the document in Zoho Sign I want to save it automatically in a folder namedEmpowered Custom Views: Cross-Module Criteria Now Supported in Zoho CRM
Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce cross-module criteria support in custom views! Custom views provide personalized perspectives on your data and that you can save for future use. You can share these views with all users or specific individualsHow do you list multiple contacts for a lead?
My sales team wants to be able to add additional contacts for leads, how do we do that? Is there a different way we should be using the lead / contact functionality? Moderation update (9th September 2025): Our developers have built an extension to achieveModifying Three Dot Menu Options
Is there a way to modify the three dot menu options that display in a Report header? They currently display: Show As (List, Calendar, Timeline), Print, Import, Export. I'd like to remove the Show As and Print options, since they aren't applicable forField Not Updating in FSM Script - Service and Parts module.
Dear Team, I am reaching out regarding a script I have implemented in Zoho FSM to automate the calculation of the End of Service date based on the End of Sale date in the Service and Parts module. Overview of the script: Fetches the End_of_Sale__C andZadarma + Zoho CRM Integration – Missed Calls Saved as Contacts Instead of Leads
Hello everyone, I’m looking for input from anyone with experience using the Zadarma + Zoho CRM integration. Currently, I’m seeing that missed calls are automatically being created as Contacts instead of Leads. From a CRM perspective, this doesn’t makeZoho Books | Product updates | September 2025
Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From PayNow payment method to applying journal credits to invoices and bills in other locations, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. IntegrateHow to update Multiple Users field in Quote Module from Deal Module
Scenario : Deal Module having Multiple User Field (Presales Engineer) which having more than 1 User and through Deluge Script I need to get that Users Details and need to put into Multiple User Field (Presales Engineer) of Quote Module. Note: Both ModuleAuto-sync field of lookup value
This feature has been requested many times in the discussion Field of Lookup Announcement and this post aims to track it separately. At the moment the value of a 'field of lookup' is a snapshot but once the parent lookup field is updated the values diverge.Clone a Module??
I am giong to repurpose the Vendors module but would like to have a separate but very similar module for another group of contacts called Buyers. I have already repurposed Contacts to Sellers. Is it possible to clone (make a duplicate) module of VendorsAdvance PDF creation from CRM data
I'm trying to create a PDF export of data in the CRM. My problem is I want a pretty complicated format for the data. I'm trying to export multiple modules worth of data, with nested one-to-many relationships between the modules. Along with that, I wanthow to disable staff selection Zoho Booking integrated to SalesIQ?
currently there is only one Consultant in my Zoho Bookings like this I integrate Zoho Bookings into Zoho SalesIQ to create a chatbot. Unfortunately, even though I only have one consultant for a consultation, the user have to pick the consultant. It willHow to change the text in WhatsApp Zobot integrated to Zoho Booking?
I have integrated Zoho Bookings into Zoho SalesIQ, I want to change the text in WhatsApp when creating a booking in Zobot how to change those text?Updating Subform Record from other Form
Just wanted to ask how to properly approach this. I have 2 forms and would like to trigger an auto update on the subform once record submitted. block below only updates 1 row for each recordRow in input.AV_System { AssetRecord = Site_Asset_Services[SOR_NoZoho Books - Hide Convert to Sales Order if it can't be used.
Hi Books team, I noticed that it is not possible to convert a Quote to a Sales Order when a Quote is not yet marked as accepted. My idea is to not show the Convert to Sales Order button when it is not possible to use it, or show it in a grey inactiveHow do I bulk archive my projects in ZOHO projects
Hi, I want to archive 50 Projects in one go. Can you please help me out , How can I do this? Thanks kapilCross-Data Center Collaboration and / Or allowing users to choose DC
Dear Zoho Cliq Support Team, We are writing to request a significant enhancement to Zoho Cliq that would greatly benefit our geographically dispersed development team. Current Challenge: Currently, Zoho Cliq automatically routes users to specific dataZoho Flow - Update record in Trackvia
Hello, I have a Flow that executes correctly but I only want it to execute once when a particular field on a record is updated in TrackVia. I have the trigger filters setup correctly and I want to add an "update record" action at the end of the flow toNew Mandatory One-Click Unsubscribe Link Overshadowing Custom Unsubscribe Link
I was recently informed by Zoho CRM Support that they are now mandated by the large email service providers like Google and Yahoo to provide a one-click unsubscribe option in the header (not the body) of all mass emails. I have a custom unsubscribe linkSend / Send & Close keyboard shortcuts
Hello! My team is so close to using Zoho Desk with just the keyboard. Keyboard shortcuts really help us to be more efficient -- saving a second or two over thousands of tickets adds up quickly. It seems like the keyboard shortcuts in Desk are only forNext Page