Subscription billing for Developer tools

Subscription billing for developer tools that start on a card and end on a contract

How developer tool and API companies run self-serve signup, plan upgrades, entitlements and provisioning in Bunny, then convert accounts to invoiced enterprise contracts without re-creating them.

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What makes subscription billing different for developer tools and API companies

API-first and developer-focused products that start self-serve on a card and end up negotiating enterprise contracts with committed usage.

  • PLG first, SLG soon after

    Developer products get adopted bottom-up and bought top-down. The billing stack chosen for the card-on-file phase rarely survives the first invoiced enterprise contract.

  • Entitlements drive the product

    Which features, rate limits and environments a customer gets depends on their plan. If entitlements live in application config rather than billing, upgrades and downgrades drift out of sync.

  • Provisioning is part of signup

    A new subscription usually has to create a tenant, workspace or API key. Billing needs to trigger provisioning and know when it succeeded.

  • Self-service must survive custom pricing

    Once an enterprise customer has negotiated pricing, most portals stop working for them, and every seat change goes through a rep.

How Bunny handles subscription billing for developer tools and API companies

  1. 01

    Self-service signup and plan changes

    Customers sign up, upgrade, downgrade and manage payment methods through Bunny's hosted portal or the React components embedded in your product.

    Self-service in Bunny
  2. 02

    Feature entitlements from the plan

    Features and limits are defined on plans in the catalog; the product reads a customer's entitlements through the API so an upgrade takes effect without a config change.

    Entitlements
  3. 03

    Tenant provisioning through webhooks and the API

    Bunny fires platform webhooks on subscription events so your product can provision tenants and keys, and the GraphQL API and SDKs expose the subscription state.

    Tenant provisioning
  4. 04

    One account from PLG to SLG

    An enterprise quote changes the pricing, term and payment method on an existing account. History, usage and the subscription stay; the customer is not re-created.

    PLG to SLG
  5. 05

    Self-service on custom-priced plans

    Because Bunny handles PLG and SLG together, an enterprise customer on negotiated pricing can still add seats in the portal, priced at their contracted rate.

  6. 06

    Card, bank and invoiced payment

    Stripe and Plaid for card and bank collection on self-serve plans; invoiced terms with dunning for contracts; both on the same subscription model.

    Dunning

Why the PLG-to-SLG transition is the billing decision

Most developer tool companies do not choose a billing platform at the point they need one. They choose it at signup-flow time, when the requirement is a card form, and they discover the requirement has changed when a customer’s procurement team asks for an annual invoice with net-30 terms and a negotiated rate.

The principle of not bifurcating PLG and SLG exists because running them on separate stacks means the customer who moves between them is the one who gets the worst experience. Bunny’s catalog, portal and quoting are the same objects, so the transition is a quote against an existing account rather than a migration.

Subscription billing for other industries

The same workflow, written up for other kinds of B2B SaaS. Browse all industries.

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can Bunny handle self-serve signup for a developer product?
Yes. Signup, plan selection, card payment and subsequent plan changes run through Bunny's hosted portal or the embeddable React components, backed by the same catalog used for sales-led deals.
How do entitlements work with Bunny?
Features and limits are defined on plans. Your product reads a customer's entitlements through Bunny's API, so an upgrade or downgrade changes what they can do without a separate config change.
What happens when a self-serve developer team becomes an enterprise customer?
A rep quotes the enterprise terms against the existing account. On acceptance the subscription moves to the contracted pricing, term and invoiced payment; the account, usage history and tenant remain.
Does Bunny trigger provisioning when a subscription starts?
Yes. Platform webhooks fire on subscription lifecycle events so your service can create tenants, keys or workspaces, and the API exposes the subscription state for the product to check.