Stripe has reportedly acquired Metronome, a leading usage-based billing startup, in a landmark $1 billion transaction that underscores Stripe’s growing focus on SaaS and API-driven monetization infrastructure.
The move strengthens Stripe’s capabilities in managing complex, consumption-based pricing models increasingly used by AI, cloud, and developer-first companies.
Commenting on the acquisition, co-founder and CEO of Metronome Scott Woody said,
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“I’m excited to announce that Metronome has signed a definitive agreement to join Stripe. Today’s best companies treat monetization as a competitive advantage, and they rely on Metronome to make that true. For our customers, we have always been more than software. We are an extension of their team and a core system of truth that powers their business. Just as Stripe powers the world’s payments layer, Metronome powers its monetization logic. This partnership connects those two foundations seamlessly. As part of Stripe, our mission accelerates dramatically. Customers will continue getting world-class software, and now many more people will have access to Metronome.”
Metronome is a usage-based billing platform built for the speed of today’s best software companies. The platform is designed to make billing fast, flexible, and frictionless, enabling customers to launch and iterate products faster, connect billing to the product experience, and act on real-time insights to drive strategic decisions.
By bringing Metronome in-house, Stripe is positioning itself as a core financial operating system for high-growth businesses. Under Stripe, Metronome’s mission is set to accelerate significantly. Customers will continue to enjoy world-class software while even more users gain access to Metronome’s capabilities.
Metronome will be integrated as a core component of Stripe’s product suite, yet customers will retain the flexibility to adopt best-in-class tools across the quote-to-cash and monetization stack. Both companies plan to serve a broad user base, from simple self-serve businesses to enterprises with highly complex workflows.
The combined roadmap includes enhanced innovations such as seat-based credits, real-time spend alerts, hierarchical accounts, and more. The goal is to anticipate and solve customer challenges long before they become bottlenecks.
Metronome’s users will also benefit from Stripe’s renowned five-nines (99.999%) uptime and global financial infrastructure, resulting in greater reliability and improved service for their businesses and customers. As the product roadmap accelerates, more users worldwide will be able to tap into the full potential of Stripe’s ecosystem.
Notably, the acquisition of Metronome comes after Stripe earlier this month launched new features to help SaaS platforms manage risk and stay compliant. Platforms like FreshBooks, Shopify, and Jobber already rely on Radar for platforms to prevent, detect, and mitigate fraud and insolvency risk. Powered by AI-driven risk scores trained on over $1.4 trillion in payments volume, Radar for platforms provides a custom rules engine and robust actions to block suspicious businesses and transactions. Now, Stripe is expanding these capabilities.
Radar for platforms now allows platforms to protect themselves from potential losses by setting temporary reserves on user funds. These reserves can be created programmatically or through the Stripe Dashboard, and platforms can choose between fixed or rolling reserves based on their risk mitigation needs. For instance, platforms can create rules to identify businesses with high risk scores and automatically apply ongoing reserves to guard against sudden spikes in disputes. They can also place holds on large transactions involving long delivery times and release the funds once return windows close.
While automated fraud prevention is powerful, Stripe also recognizes that platforms often have deeper insight into their users. To support more personalized risk approaches, the company has introduced Stripe Verified for platforms. This program offers trusted platforms enhanced controls to tailor risk and compliance settings. Verified platforms can extend deadlines for eligible compliance tasks directly from the Dashboard, helping users complete important requirements without interruption.
Stripe recent deal with Metronome, highlights how billing has evolved from a back-office function into a strategic fintech differentiator. For fintech and SaaS leaders, this is a clear signal of where platform control and data monetization are heading.