specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: Orb
providerId: orb-billing
created: '2026-06-20'
modified: '2026-06-20'
reconciled: false
tags:
- Billing
- Usage-Based Billing
- Metering
- Subscriptions
- FinOps
- Cost Management
- FOCUS
description: >-
  FinOps view of the Orb usage-based billing platform. Two cost lenses apply.
  First, Orb's own platform cost is sales-led: a platform subscription fee plus
  usage-based components tied to billed revenue and/or ingested event volume,
  invoiced by Orb. Second, and more operationally relevant, Orb is itself the
  metering and billing engine teams use to meter, price, and invoice THEIR own
  customers - so the Orb API (events, metrics, prices, subscriptions, invoices,
  credits, costs endpoints) is a primary source of FOCUS-aligned usage and cost
  data for the businesses that run on it. Orb exposes per-customer and
  per-subscription cost breakdowns and a credit ledger that map cleanly onto
  FinOps visibility and allocation practices.
notes: >-
  Reconciled is false: Orb's platform pricing is not published, so the spend
  side is approximate. The meters below describe the billable dimensions Orb
  tracks and exposes via its API; verify exact platform-fee terms with Orb.
sources:
- https://www.withorb.com/pricing
- https://docs.withorb.com
- https://docs.withorb.com/api-reference/customer/fetch-customer-costs
- https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
alignedWith:
  framework: FinOps Foundation Framework
  frameworkUrl: https://www.finops.org/framework/
  dataSpec: FOCUS
  dataSpecVersion: '1.3'
  dataSpecUrl: https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
publisherName: Orb
serviceCategory: Billing and Revenue Operations
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Usage-Based
  billingFrequency: Monthly
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories:
  - Usage
  - Purchase
  - Credit
  - Adjustment
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: Orb
  ServiceCategory: Billing and Revenue Operations
  ProviderName: Orb
  PublisherName: Orb
  InvoiceIssuerName: Orb
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Usage
  PricingCategory: Usage-Based
meters:
- name: ingested_events
  description: Raw usage events ingested via POST /ingest, the metering pipeline's input volume.
  unit: events
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - customer
  - event_name
- name: billable_metric_quantity
  description: Quantities aggregated from events by billable metrics that prices charge against.
  unit: units
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - customer
  - metric
- name: subscription_charges
  description: Charges accrued against active subscriptions into draft invoices per billing period.
  unit: currency
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - customer
  - subscription
  - plan
- name: invoiced_amount
  description: Amounts issued on invoices, including usage, fixed fees, and one-off line items.
  unit: currency
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - customer
  - invoice
- name: credits_granted
  description: Prepaid credits added to customer ledgers via ledger entries and top-ups.
  unit: credits
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - customer
  - credit_block
- name: credits_consumed
  description: Credits decremented from customer ledgers as usage is billed.
  unit: credits
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - customer
  - credit_block
- name: customer_cost
  description: Per-customer and per-subscription cost breakdown surfaced by the costs endpoints.
  unit: currency
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - customer
  - subscription
principles:
- name: Visibility
  description: Use /customers/{id}/costs, /subscriptions/{id}/costs, and the credit ledger to see real-time accrued spend per customer and subscription.
- name: Allocation
  description: Tag customers and subscriptions with metadata and external IDs to map billed usage to teams, plans, and cost centers.
- name: Optimization
  description: Model prepaid credits, minimums, and tiered/package prices to align customer billing with consumption; alert on usage and cost thresholds.
- name: Accountability
  description: Configure usage, cost, and credit-balance alerts plus webhooks so owners react to spend events; reconcile invoices against ingested events.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com