Cred vs Chargebee
Chargebee runs subscription revenue. Cred runs the credits users spend.
Chargebee is a subscription billing and revenue platform that works across many payment gateways, with CPQ, revenue recognition, entitlements, and hosted checkout. Its prepaid credits feature, with up to five custom credit units, recurring grants, rollover, and expiry, is in early access. Chargebee does not block usage when credits run out.[4][1][5]
B2B SaaS teams that want one gateway-agnostic system for subscriptions, quotes, invoicing, and revenue recognition.
Cred is a credit ledger with payments attached. Your server issues and deducts credits per user and credit type over a REST API; a deduct that would overdraw is rejected in the same call. Users buy packs through hosted Stripe checkout, subscribe for monthly credits, save a card for auto top-up, or pay with x402 stablecoins as an AI agent.
Developer teams selling prepaid credits, tokens, or points inside an app, who want balances, checkout, and spend enforcement without running a billing system.
Last reviewed November 2026 against Chargebee's public docs. Sources
Where each one
is the better pick.
Cred and Chargebee overlap, but they start from different places.
Where Cred is better
- Credit balances are generally available, not early access
- Balances per user, not per subscription
- A deduct that would overdraw is rejected in the same call
- Auto top-up on a saved card, built in
- x402 agent payments
Side by side.
Capabilities of Cred and Chargebee, as documented in November 2026.
| Capability | Cred | Chargebee |
|---|---|---|
| Prepaid credit balance per user Prepaid credits are early access and tracked per subscription; promotional credits are money only.[1][3] | ||
| Custom, non-monetary credit types Up to five custom credit units per site.[1] | ||
| Balance enforced at spend time Usage is processed asynchronously; you check balances yourself.[1] | ||
| Hosted checkout for buying credit packs Chargebee-hosted top-up checkout.[2] | ||
| Auto top-up when a balance runs low Not found in Chargebee's docs as of review. | unverified | |
| Subscriptions that grant recurring credits Grants on plans and add-ons, with rollover.[1] | ||
| Credit expiry rules | ||
| Invoicing and revenue recognition RevRec is a separately priced product.[5] | ||
| Open source / self-host Hosted service; the pricing page lists hosted plans only.[5] | ||
| AI agents pay with x402 | ||
| Pricing model | 1 CRD per API call. Packs from $10 for 1,000 calls, no monthly fee, no share of your revenue; Stripe's processing fees apply to your sales. | Flow plan shown as “$99 + 0.65%” of monthly invoicing volume. Enterprise and RevRec: by quote.[5] |
Cred vs Chargebee, answered
Does Chargebee support prepaid credits?
Yes, through an early-access Prepaid Credits feature with custom credit units, recurring grants, rollover, and expiry, tracked per subscription. Cred's credit balances are generally available and tracked per end user.[1]
Does Chargebee stop usage when credits run out?
Chargebee's docs say it does not block usage when credits are exhausted; overage can be billed or the balance can go negative to an overdraft limit. Cred rejects a deduct that would overdraw.[1]
Can AI agents pay through Chargebee?
Chargebee's agentic page covers billing for AI agent products; we found no support for agents paying with x402 or stablecoins. Cred accepts x402 v2 payments from agents.[4]
Related comparisons
Cred vs Stripe Billing
Stripe invoices subscriptions. Cred runs the credit wallet in between.
Cred vs Stigg
Stigg governs entitlements at enterprise scale. Cred is a lean credit ledger.
Cred vs Orb
Orb meters and invoices usage. Cred enforces the balance on every spend.
Cred vs usage-based billing platforms
They invoice usage. We run credit economies.
Cred pricing
1 CRD per API call, no monthly fee.
Getting started
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Sources · last reviewed November 2026
- 1.Chargebee Docs: Prepaid credits
- 2.Chargebee: Prepaid credits with rollovers recipe
- 3.Chargebee API: Promotional credits
- 4.Chargebee: Agentic billing
- 5.Chargebee pricing
- 6.Chargebee Docs: One-time hosted checkout
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