The Monetization Glossary

ACH is the US bank-to-bank payment network for direct deposit, recurring bill payments, and B2B invoice settlement. Here's how it works, what it costs, and where it fits in a billing platform.

Advance billing invoices customers before the service is delivered. How it differs from arrears billing, its cash flow and revenue recognition consequences, and how hybrid pricing uses both.

Agentic billing is the infrastructure that meters, charges, and invoices autonomous AI agents. Here's what it has to handle that SaaS billing doesn't, and why.

Four AI agent pricing models explained in 2026: per-agent, per-action, per-workflow, per-outcome. Decision framework, real examples, and how to future-proof your model.

An AI factory is a data center purpose-built for AI compute: 100+ kW per rack instead of 15-20, designed from the GPU backwards. What makes it different, and what its economics mean for billing.

AI token pricing is a usage-based model where customers pay for AI services based on the number of tokens (chunks of text) a model processes, with input and output priced separately.

AI-led growth is when AI agents discover, evaluate and adopt software on a human's behalf. How ALG differs from PLG and SLG, what it demands from pricing and docs, and how to bill for it.

An AISP (Account Information Service Provider) accesses bank data in read-only mode under PSD2. How AISPs work, AISP vs. PISP, and common use cases.

ASC 606 is the US GAAP revenue recognition standard. Here's the 5-step model, how it differs from IFRS 15 and legacy US GAAP, and what it means for SaaS and AI companies.

A recurring period of time during which a company calculates and issues a bill or invoice to a customer. Learn more these terms and others from our glossary.

What is a billing engine? How billing engines work, 11 platforms compared (Stripe, Zuora, Chargebee, Solvimon, Kill Bill, more), and how to choose the right one.

A captive product is a secondary item designed to complement a primary product and drive sales.

Conjoint analysis forces buyers to trade features against price, producing part-worth utilities you can use to design packaging, tiers, and price levels.

Consolidated billing combines charges from multiple accounts or subsidiaries into a single invoice. When it helps, what it complicates, and how it interacts with tax and multi-entity structures.

Contribution margin pricing sets prices to maximise the contribution each sale makes toward fixed costs. How to calculate it, and why it is the right frame for AI unit economics.

Cost plus pricing is a simple strategy where a business sets a product's price by adding a markup to its production cost, ensuring all costs are covered and providing a consistent profit margin.

CPQ turns a product catalog and a pricing policy into an approved quote. How the three steps work, why usage-based and AI pricing break traditional CPQ, and what to do about it.

Credit-based pricing explained: how AI credits work, three architecture patterns, who uses them (Snowflake, Clay, HubSpot), and common traps to avoid.

Customer profitability measures the profit a specific customer generates after all costs to serve. How to calculate it, why AI products need it, and what to do about unprofitable accounts.

Deal management is how a company controls what gets sold and at what price. Approval thresholds, the deal desk, and why consumption deals need governance a discount matrix cannot provide.

Decoy pricing adds a third option that makes a target option look better by comparison. How the decoy effect works, where it appears in SaaS tiers, and when it damages trust.

Deferred revenue, or unearned revenue, is a liability representing advance payments for goods or services not yet delivered.

Discount management is how a company applies, tracks and ends price reductions. Discount types, why unexpired discounts are the biggest source of margin erosion, and how to govern them.

Dual pricing charges different prices for the same product in different contexts. The legitimate forms, the regulated ones, and how it differs from price discrimination.

Dunning is a process of sending escalating payment reminders to recover overdue debts while maintaining customer relationships.

Dynamic pricing, or surge pricing, adjusts prices based on market demand, competitor pricing, and other factors.

Dynamic pricing optimization adjusts prices continuously based on demand and conditions. Where it works, why B2B software mostly cannot use it, and what to do instead.

E-invoicing is the structured electronic exchange of invoice data between businesses, increasingly mandated by governments for tax compliance and real-time reporting.

Embedded finance explained: payments, billing, lending, and banking inside SaaS products. How embedded billing works, why it matters, and build vs. buy.

ERP integrates finance, procurement, inventory and HR on one data model. What ERP does well, why it is a poor fit for usage-based billing, and how billing platforms and ERP work together.

Entitlements control which features a customer can access based on their plan, geography, and billing state, and why keeping them separate from billing matters.

Feature-based pricing sets product prices based on included features, offering multiple tiers to cater to different customer needs and budgets.