Not a billing platform.
Not a loyalty system.
Cred is credit infrastructure: users prepay, spend instantly, and the ledger keeps the record. Here is where that distinction matters.
"We invoice for usage."
Billing platforms are invoice-first. They meter usage and send invoices later. Great for enterprise contracts, but not for instant credit consumption.
"We run your application economy."
Cred is wallet-first. Users buy credits upfront and spend them instantly. Built for AI credits, API billing, and internal currencies.
Side by side.
Capabilities across the categories you'd otherwise consider.
| Capability | Cred | Billing platforms | Loyalty systems | Ledger infra | DIY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit wallet / balance ledger | varies | ||||
| Atomic issue/deduct operations | varies | ||||
| Custom credit types per project | |||||
| User prepay & instant spend | varies | ||||
| Invoice/contract workflows | varies | ||||
| Enterprise finance tooling | |||||
| Stripe Connect built-in | varies | ||||
| Token deployment (ERC-20 + Solana SPL) | varies | ||||
| REST API for credit operations | |||||
| Multi-project dashboard | varies | ||||
| Webhooks with signatures | varies |
Where Cred wins,
and where it doesn't.
An honest read on each alternative, including the cases where you should pick them.
Usage-Based Billing Platforms
Orb, Metronome, Chargebee, Lago
Invoice-first platforms optimized for usage metering, billing workflows, and enterprise finance.
- Usage event ingestion at scale
- Pricing and packaging iteration
- Invoicing, contracts, finance workflows
- Revenue reporting and accounting
- Enterprise sales complexity
- Wallet-first UX — users prepay and spend instantly
- Credits as a product, not just a billing metric
- Optional ERC-20 token deployment (Ethereum, Polygon)
- Simple REST API with issue/deduct/balance operations
- No invoice complexity for prepaid models
- Enterprise invoicing & accounting workflows
- Revenue recognition tooling
- Complex contracts / quotes / invoice systems
- High-scale usage metering (100K+ events/sec)
You need deep metering + finance workflows + revenue reporting.
You need prepaid wallets, tokens, or points with instant spend decrement.
They invoice usage. We run credit economies.
Loyalty / Rewards Systems
Enterprise loyalty platforms, points systems, gaming currencies
Marketing-first platforms built for retail loyalty, campaigns, and consumer rewards.
- Consumer segmentation
- Campaigns & promotions
- Retail-grade reward workflows
- Enterprise commerce integration
- Built for developer apps, not retail marketing
- REST API with issue/deduct/balance endpoints
- Stripe-native payments with hosted checkout
- Multi-project dashboard with analytics
- Webhooks with HMAC-SHA256 signatures
- Consumer marketing campaigns
- Retail loyalty ecosystems
- Points-for-purchases workflows
- Large enterprise loyalty programs
You're running retail loyalty or consumer rewards campaigns.
You're building developer apps with internal currencies or credits.
They're marketing tools. We're infrastructure primitives.
Ledger / Wallet Infrastructure
Fintech ledger products, stored value systems, internal wallet solutions
Financial-grade ledger systems for stored value, settlement, and accounting.
- Robust ledger integrity
- Fraud controls & compliance
- Financial-grade accounting
- KYC/AML integration
- Developer onboarding in minutes, not months
- REST API with atomic credit operations
- Stripe Connect + hosted checkout built-in
- Optional ERC-20 token deployment
- No enterprise sales cycle required
- Hardcore financial-grade accounting
- KYC/AML systems integration
- Large enterprise fintech ecosystems
- Complex settlement flows
You need financial-grade compliance and settlement systems.
You want productized ledger complexity with fast developer onboarding.
They're financial infrastructure. We're credit infrastructure.
Build It Yourself (DIY)
Custom code + database + Stripe integration
The eternal 'we'll just build it ourselves' approach.
- Total control over implementation
- No vendor dependency
- No per-call fees
- Can be tailored precisely
- Saves weeks of development time
- Atomic issue/deduct operations with balance tracking
- Stripe Connect + hosted checkout built-in
- Webhooks with HMAC-SHA256 signatures
- Rate limiting (100 req/min) included
- Multi-project dashboard with transaction logs
- You have unique requirements we can't support
- You have unlimited engineering resources
- You enjoy debugging concurrency edge cases
You have truly unique requirements and unlimited dev resources.
You want to ship in days, not months, without a broken ledger.
You'll build it, it will break, and it will cost 5x what you thought.
Your first credit is
one request away.
No card needed to start.