TL;DR Short answer: Lago is an open-source billing platform for usage-based and hybrid pricing, and Lago ETL tools move its customers, subscriptions, invoices, fees, usage and wallets into a warehouse for revenue and usage analytics. Airbyte's getLago connector is the integration Lago itself documents, self-hosted Lago lets you replicate its PostgreSQL database directly, and webhooks, the API and native accounting and CRM integrations cover the rest. Seven Lago ETL tools compared:
Airbyte Lago API and SDKs Lago webhooks Self-hosted database replication Native accounting and CRM integrations Lago's built-in analytics dlt The Lago constraint: Airbyte's getLago connector runs full refresh syncs, so each run re-reads every object; for very large invoice and fee histories, schedule syncs sensibly or replicate the database of a self-hosted deployment instead. Lago ETL tools extract billing data from Lago, an open-source platform for usage-based, subscription and hybrid billing, and load it into a warehouse. There, finance and product teams combine invoices and fees with product usage, CRM and payment data to track revenue, margins per customer and how usage turns into billing. For payments data that often sits alongside Lago, see our guide to Stripe ETL tools .
What is usage-based billing, and why does it change your data pipeline? Usage-based billing, also called metered billing, charges customers for what they consume, such as API calls, compute hours, seats or messages, instead of, or on top of, a fixed subscription. That changes what a billing data pipeline has to handle:
Event volume: usage events can number in the millions per day, far more than subscription changes.Late adjustments: usage can be corrected or arrive late, so invoices and fees for recent periods can change before they are finalised.Draft and final invoices: invoices move through draft, finalised and paid states, and reports must use the right state.Revenue definitions: recurring and usage revenue need separate treatment for MRR, forecasts and revenue recognition.Joining usage to product data: the most valuable analysis connects billed usage with product behaviour, which means both must land in one warehouse.Every Lago ETL tool reads the same billing objects:
Customers and subscriptions: who is billed, on which plan, with start and end dates and status.Plans, billable metrics and add-ons: the pricing catalogue, including how each usage metric is aggregated.Invoices and fees: invoice headers and the fee lines behind them, by charge, metric and period.Customer usage: current-period usage per customer and metric, before invoicing.Wallets and credits: prepaid credit balances and transactions.Coupons: discounts applied to customers and invoices.How do the Lago ETL tools compare? Tool Approach Data covered Best for Cost Airbyte getLago connector, full refresh Customers, subscriptions, plans, invoices, fees, usage, wallets, coupons Lago data next to product and CRM data Free self-hosted Core; paid Cloud plans Lago API and SDKs Custom code Every API object Full control and incremental logic Free, engineering time Webhooks Real-time push Invoice, payment, subscription and alert events Event-driven workflows Included with Lago Database replication CDC on self-hosted PostgreSQL Every table, including history Large self-hosted deployments Depends on CDC tool Native integrations Built-in syncs Invoices, payments and customers Accounting and CRM teams Included with eligible plans Built-in analytics Dashboards in Lago Revenue, MRR and usage Quick reporting without a warehouse Included with Lago dlt Python REST API source Any API endpoint Python teams loading a warehouse Free, open source
Which Lago ETL tools should you consider? Seven Lago ETL tools, from connectors to Lago's own features:
1. Airbyte Airbyte is the open-source data connectivity platform for AI and analytics, and among Lago ETL tools it is the integration Lago documents for loading billing data into warehouses. The getLago connector syncs billable metrics, plans, coupons, add-ons, invoices, customers, subscriptions, customer usage, wallets and fees, using your API key and API URL, so it works with Lago Cloud and self-hosted Lago alike. For more ELT options, see our guide to ELT tools .
It runs full refresh syncs, so schedule them to match your data volume. Billing data then lands next to product usage, CRM and payments data from 700+ connectors, which is where usage-based revenue analysis happens. Airbyte runs in Airbyte Cloud, in your own environment with Airbyte Flex, or self-hosted with Airbyte Core.
Key features Broad coverage: customers, subscriptions, plans, invoices, fees, usage, wallets, coupons and add-ons.Self-hosted support: point the API URL at your own Lago deployment.Low-code connector: editable in the Connector Builder.Any destination: Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Redshift, Postgres and more.Best for: teams that want Lago billing data next to product and CRM data in their own warehouse.
Pricing: self-hosted Airbyte Core is free; Airbyte Cloud is billed on volume, and Pro and Airbyte Flex on capacity.
Pros Cons Ten billing streams, including fees and usage Full refresh only Works with Lago Cloud and self-hosted Lago No delete replication Documented by Lago as its data integration Large histories take longer to sync
2. Lago API and SDKs When packaged Lago ETL tools fall short, Lago's REST API covers every billing object, and Lago maintains client libraries for several server languages plus an OpenAPI contract for the rest. It suits teams that need objects, filters or incremental logic that connectors do not offer. For other API pipelines, see our guide to REST API ETL tools .
Key features REST API: customers, subscriptions, invoices, fees, usage, wallets and more.Client libraries: maintained SDKs for several server languages.OpenAPI contract: generate clients for other languages.Filters: list endpoints support filtering by customer, status and date.Best for: engineering teams with specific extraction needs.
Pricing: free with your Lago account; you pay for engineering and infrastructure.
Pros Cons Every billing object You own scheduling, state and retries Official SDKs and an OpenAPI contract API changes need review on upgrade No licence cost Ongoing maintenance
3. Lago webhooks Webhooks are the real-time option among Lago ETL tools: Lago sends them when invoices are created or finalised, payments succeed or fail, subscriptions change and usage alerts fire. Lago signs webhook payloads, and its own guidance is to verify signatures, process events idempotently and queue downstream work, which also makes them reliable feeds for a warehouse.
Key features Invoice events: created, finalised, voided and paid invoices.Payment events: successful and failed payments.Subscription events: started, terminated and changed subscriptions.Alerts: usage thresholds and wallet balances.Best for: event-driven workflows such as dunning, provisioning and live revenue alerts.
Pricing: included with your Lago plan.
Pros Cons Real time Requires your own endpoint Signed payloads No historical backfill Covers invoice and payment lifecycle Events need storing and modelling
4. Self-hosted database replication Self-hosted Lago runs on PostgreSQL, so among Lago ETL tools the most complete is database replication: teams that operate it can replicate the database directly with a CDC tool, including Airbyte's PostgreSQL source. That captures every table and change, including history that APIs may not expose, without API rate limits. For CDC options, see our guide to CDC tools .
Key features Logical replication: capture inserts, updates and deletes from PostgreSQL.Every table: including internal tables the API does not expose.No rate limits: read directly from the database.Any destination: replicate into any warehouse.Best for: teams running self-hosted Lago at large scale.
Pricing: depends on the CDC tool; self-hosted Airbyte Core is free.
Pros Cons Complete data, including every table Self-hosted Lago only Change data capture without API limits Internal schema can change between versions Efficient for large histories Raw tables need modelling
5. Native accounting and CRM integrations Not every team needs Lago ETL tools for finance systems: Lago's built-in integrations sync invoices, payments and customers to accounting systems such as NetSuite and Xero, and to CRMs such as HubSpot and Salesforce, alongside payment providers such as Stripe, Adyen and GoCardless. They keep finance and sales tools current, though they are not a replacement for a warehouse. For accounting data, see our guide to NetSuite ETL tools .
Key features Accounting: invoices and payments synced to NetSuite and Xero.CRM: billing data on HubSpot and Salesforce records.Payments: Stripe, Adyen and GoCardless for collection.Tax: integrations with tax providers for calculation.Best for: finance and sales teams that need billing data in their existing tools.
Pricing: included with eligible Lago plans.
Pros Cons No pipeline to build Limited to supported systems Keeps finance and sales tools current Not an analytics warehouse Payment providers included Mapping needs care
6. Lago's built-in analytics Lago includes dashboards for revenue, MRR, invoiced and usage amounts, so teams can answer common billing questions without a warehouse. For analysis that joins billing with product or CRM data, export the data with one of the other tools.
Key features Revenue dashboards: gross revenue, invoiced amounts and MRR.Usage views: usage by metric and customer.Filters: slice by plan, customer and period.Exports: download data for further analysis.Best for: teams that need standard billing metrics quickly.
Pricing: included with your Lago subscription, with no separate analytics charge.
Pros Cons No setup Limited to billing data Usage-aware revenue metrics Hard to join with other sources Included with Lago Less flexible than SQL in a warehouse
7. dlt dlt is one of the code-first Lago ETL tools: an open-source Python library whose REST API source can page through Lago endpoints with your API key and load the results into DuckDB, BigQuery, Snowflake or Postgres, with incremental loading where filters allow it. For more code-first options, see our guide to Python ETL tools .
Key features Declarative REST source: endpoints, authentication and paging are configuration.Incremental: load only records changed since the last run.Merge on ID: update invoices whose status changed.Many destinations: DuckDB locally, warehouses in production.Best for: Python teams that want Lago pipelines in code.
Pricing: free and open source under the Apache 2.0 licence; you pay for where it runs.
Pros Cons Pipelines as code You write and schedule the pipeline Incremental loading where filters allow Requires Python skills Free and open source Rate limits are yours to handle
What is Lago, and how does it compare with other billing platforms? Lago is an open-source billing platform, available as Lago Cloud or self-hosted, built for usage-based and hybrid pricing. Compared with alternatives:
Stripe Billing: billing tied to Stripe Payments, with broad connector support; Lago can also use Stripe to collect payments.Orb: a managed usage-based billing platform focused on high-volume event pricing.Chargebee: subscription billing with strong revenue operations features.Zuora: enterprise subscription management for complex pricing and revenue recognition.Lago's difference: open-source code and self-hosting give full control over billing data, which matters for data residency and direct database access.For a managed usage-based alternative, see our guide to Orb ETL tools .
What should you check before syncing Lago data? Whichever Lago ETL tools you choose, check these first:
Invoice states: separate draft, finalised, voided and paid invoices, and report revenue on the right state.Recent periods: usage corrections can change recent fees and draft invoices, so re-read recent periods.Cloud or self-hosted: set the right API URL, and for self-hosted Lago consider replicating the database.Currencies: customers and plans can use different currencies, so convert before summing.Revenue definitions: decide how recurring, usage and one-off charges feed MRR and forecasts.Key security: use a dedicated API key stored in a secrets manager.How do you start pulling Lago data with Airbyte? If you decide to test Airbyte, setting up a Lago pipeline takes three steps.
Step 1: Get your API key and URL In Lago, copy your private API key from the developer settings, and note your API URL, the Lago Cloud API or your self-hosted deployment.
Step 2: Set up getLago as a source In Airbyte, open Sources, choose New source, select getLago and enter the API key and API URL.
Step 3: Set up a destination and connection Pick a destination, such as Snowflake, BigQuery or Postgres, select streams and schedule syncs. The process is the same whether you start with Airbyte Cloud or run self-hosted Airbyte Core .
Which Lago ETL tool should you choose? Choosing between Lago ETL tools depends on how you run Lago and how much you want to build. For billing data in a warehouse next to product and CRM data, start with Airbyte's getLago connector. If you self-host Lago at scale, replicate its PostgreSQL database with CDC. Use webhooks for real-time workflows, the API or dlt for custom pipelines, native integrations for accounting and CRM, and Lago's own analytics for quick reporting. For subscription analytics, see our guide to ChartMogul ETL tools .
Load Lago billing data with Airbyte Sync Lago customers, subscriptions, invoices, fees and usage into the same warehouse as your product and CRM data with Airbyte, in Airbyte Cloud, in your own environment with Airbyte Flex, or self-hosted with Airbyte Core.
Try Airbyte Cloud free for 14 days or talk to our team .
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 1. What are the best Lago ETL tools? Airbyte's getLago connector is the integration Lago documents for warehouses. Self-hosted Lago can also be replicated from its PostgreSQL database, while webhooks, the Lago API, dlt, native accounting and CRM integrations and Lago's built-in analytics cover other needs.
2. Does Airbyte support Lago? Yes. Airbyte's getLago source syncs customers, subscriptions, plans, invoices, fees, customer usage, wallets, coupons, add-ons and billable metrics, with full refresh syncs, for Lago Cloud or self-hosted Lago.
3. Is Lago open source? Yes. Lago's code is open source and can be self-hosted, and Lago also offers a managed cloud service.
4. What is usage-based billing? Usage-based billing charges customers for what they consume, such as API calls or compute, instead of or alongside a fixed subscription. It is also called metered billing.
5. How do I analyse usage-based revenue? Load invoices, fees and customer usage into a warehouse, separate recurring from usage charges, and join billed usage with product data to see which features drive revenue.
Suggested reads Stripe ETL Tools
Orb ETL Tools
Chargebee ETL Tools
Chargify (Maxio) ETL Tools
