Billing & Invoicing
The billing and invoicing system manages all revenue streams across the MECLABS AI platform, orchestrating subscription tiers, usage-based billing, Customer Kit economics, and partner commissions through integrated Stripe payment processing.
Core Billing Architecture
Subscription Tiers
Three-tier subscription model with 15% annual discount and two-year price lock guarantee:
| Tier | Monthly | Annual (15% discount) | Pooled Credits | Org Members | Customer Kits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build | $585 | $495/mo ($5,940/yr) | 6,000 MLC | 5 | 0 |
| Sell | $1,170 | $995/mo ($11,940/yr) | 18,000 MLC | 12 | 10 |
| Scale | $3,525 | $2,995/mo ($35,940/yr) | 75,000 MLC | 30 | 45 |
Annual billing provides:
- 15% instant savings vs monthly pricing
- Two-year price lock guarantee for budget predictability
- Net-30 payment terms available for enterprise accounts
- Invoice or credit card payment options
MLC Credit System
MLC (MECLABS Credits) serve as the universal billing unit:
- Base rate: 1 MLC = $0.01 raw compute cost
- Top-up pricing: $0.0135 per MLC (35% markup over raw compute)
- Credit expiration: 90 days from purchase/allocation
- Overage handling: Draws from pooled credits at $0.0135/MLC rate
Add-On Pricing
- Organization Member Seats: $80/seat/month (draws from pooled credits)
- Customer Kits: $20/kit/month (includes 1 login + 1,000 MLC credits)
- Credit Top-ups: $0.0135 per MLC with 90-day expiration
Invoice Generation & Processing
Billing Cycles
Monthly Billing
- Anniversary date invoicing
- Credit card only
- Immediate charge upon generation
Annual Billing
- Full year invoiced upfront with 15% discount
- Net-30 payment terms available for qualified accounts
- Invoice or credit card payment accepted
- Two-year price lock guarantee from subscription date
Invoice Components
- Base subscription for selected tier (Build/Sell/Scale)
- Organization Member add-ons beyond included seats
- Customer Kit charges for external seat provisioning
- Credit overage charges when pooled credits exhausted
- Proration adjustments for mid-cycle changes
Proration Policy: Mid-cycle upgrades generate immediate prorated charges. Downgrades create account credits applied to future invoices.
Usage Tracking & Billing
Credit Consumption Tracking
Real-time MLC consumption monitoring across AI models:
| Model (per 1M tokens) | MLC Cost | Dollar Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 1.5 Flash-Lite | 38 | $0.51 |
| GPT-4o mini | 75 | $1.01 |
| GPT-4o | 1,250 | $16.88 |
| Claude 3 Opus | 9,000 | $121.50 |
Usage Aggregation
- Experts, Apps, Libraries: Direct AI interactions
- Workflow executions: Per-step credit consumption
- Customer Kit usage: Draws from individual 1,000 MLC kit allocation
- Org Member usage: Draws from pooled plan credits
Overage Management
When pooled credits exhaust:
- Dashboard and email alerts to account administrators
- Automatic top-up at $0.0135/MLC rate
- Uninterrupted service with overage tracking
- Charges appear on next billing cycle invoice
Stripe Integration
Payment Processing
Stripe integration handles:
- Subscription management: Automated recurring billing
- Payment methods: Credit cards and ACH transfers
- Dunning management: Failed payment recovery workflows
- PCI compliance: Through Stripe's certified infrastructure
Revenue Recognition
- Deferred revenue: Annual prepayments amortized monthly
- Subscription revenue: Recognized as services delivered
- Usage revenue: Recognized upon MLC consumption
- Refund processing: Automatic proration calculations
Stripe Connector: Available in Sell and Scale tiers for accepting payments directly through Agent Delivery Systems (ADS).
Customer Kit Economics
External seat economics enabling partner resale opportunities:
| Component | Value |
|---|---|
| Partner Cost | $20/kit/month |
| Included Credits | 1,000 MLC ($10 raw compute value) |
| Hard Costs | ~$1.10 (Stripe 3% + infrastructure 5%) |
| MECLABS Margin | ~$8.90 (45% gross margin) |
| Typical Resale | $49/kit/month |
| Partner Margin | ~$29 (59% gross margin on $49 resale) |
Billing Lifecycle Management
Subscription Upgrades
Upgrade triggers:
Build → Sell
- Need Stripe Connector for payment processing
- Need SuperFunnel Builder for conversion-optimized pages
- Exceeding 5 Org Members or selling first Customer Kit
- Requiring more than 6,000 MLC pooled credits
Sell → Scale
- Need MCP Connector for data integration
- Need testing suite for split testing
- Exceeding 12 Org Members or 10 Customer Kits
- Requiring more than 18,000 MLC pooled credits
Downgrade Processing
- Downgrade effective at end of current billing period
- Feature access continues through paid period
- Credits and seats adjust at renewal
- Excess usage billed before downgrade
- Data retention for 90 days post-downgrade
Account Cancellation
- New credit purchases suspended immediately
- Platform access continues through paid period
- Data export available for 30 days post-cancellation
- Final invoice generated for outstanding usage
- No refunds for unused credits (90-day expiration policy)
Invoice Customization
Invoice Branding
- Logo placement: Custom branding on invoices
- Billing details: Tax IDs, addresses, department codes
- Purchase orders: Support for enterprise PO numbers
- Project codes: Internal cost allocation tracking
Line Item Details
- Service descriptions with internal terminology mapping
- Department and project-level cost allocation
- Usage tracking by component (credits, seats, kits)
- CSV export for accounting system integration
Tax Compliance
Automated Tax Calculation
- US sales tax: Based on service address
- VAT: European Union compliance
- GST: Applicable regions support
- Tax-exempt: Status management for qualified organizations
Tax Documentation
- Monthly and annual tax summaries
- W-9 and 1099 forms for US entities
- VAT invoices for EU business customers
- Audit-compliant transaction logs
Partner Billing
Certified Partner Program
40% lifetime commission model includes:
- Partner dashboard: Customer management interface
- Commission tracking: Real-time revenue reporting
- White-label options: Custom branding for invoices
- Bulk purchasing: Volume discounts on Customer Kits
Commission Processing
Monthly commission workflow:
- 40% lifetime commission on partner-generated revenue
- Net-30 payment terms (ACH or wire transfer)
- Detailed statements with customer-level breakdowns
- Annual 1099 generation for US partners
Analytics & Reporting
Financial Dashboards
- MRR tracking: By tier (Build/Sell/Scale)
- CLV calculations: Customer lifetime value metrics
- Retention analytics: Churn by cohort and tier
- Credit forecasting: Consumption patterns and projections
Data Export
- CSV exports: Accounting system integration
- API access: Custom reporting tools
- Scheduled reports: Automated generation and delivery
- Data retention: 7-year historical archive
Integration Points
- Usage tracking: Real-time MLC consumption monitoring
- Seat management: Org Member and Customer Kit provisioning
- Credit allocation: Pooled and kit-specific credit tracking
- Partner systems: Commission calculation and white-label support
- Stripe API: Payment processing and subscription management