Autumn

Product Introduction

1. Autumn is a billing and usage management platform designed specifically for AI startups, built on top of Stripe to simplify payment infrastructure integration. It enables developers to implement subscription models, usage-based pricing, and access control through three API calls without requiring backend logic or webhooks. The platform centralizes billing operations, including metering, paywalls, and subscription upgrades, while supporting AI-specific pricing structures like credits, prepaid plans, and seat-based billing. It is optimized for early-stage teams building LLM, image generation, or other AI-driven applications.
2. The core value of Autumn lies in reducing the complexity of implementing and maintaining Stripe-based billing systems for dynamic AI pricing models. It abstracts Stripe’s API complexity into a streamlined interface, allowing developers to deploy production-ready billing in under 30 minutes. By eliminating the need for custom webhook handling or backend state management, Autumn ensures startups can focus on core product development while scaling monetization strategies.

Main Features

1. Autumn provides a unified API to manage subscriptions, usage tracking, and paywalls with three functions: checkout creation, subscription upgrades/downgrades, and one-time payments. Developers can define pricing plans programmatically using a configuration file (e.g., autumn.config.ts) to specify features, included usage, and overage rates.
2. The platform offers real-time usage metering and automatic enforcement of limits, such as monthly message quotas or per-tool usage caps, with built-in analytics for user-facing dashboards. It supports hybrid pricing models, including fixed fees, prepaid credits, seat-based billing, and rollover allowances, all configurable without code changes.
3. Prebuilt UI components for React (e.g., upgrade buttons, billing portals) and customizable shadcn/ui templates enable rapid frontend integration. These components interact directly with Autumn’s API to handle checkout sessions, subscription changes, and usage displays, reducing frontend development time.

Problems Solved

1. Autumn addresses the excessive engineering effort required to implement and maintain Stripe for AI-specific billing models, such as usage-based overages, tiered feature access, and dynamic pricing. Traditional Stripe integrations demand extensive backend logic for webhooks, proration calculations, and usage reconciliation, which Autumn automates.
2. The product targets AI startups and developer teams building LLM applications, image generation tools, or other usage-heavy services requiring flexible monetization. It is particularly suited for early-stage companies lacking dedicated payments engineering resources.
3. Typical use cases include enforcing per-user message limits for LLM APIs, charging per-image generation credit, managing team-based seat licenses, and offering prepaid usage packages with automatic top-ups. For example, a startup can define a "Pro" plan with 10 free monthly messages and $0.01 per additional tool use via a configuration file.

Unique Advantages

1. Unlike generic billing platforms, Autumn is purpose-built for AI applications, with native support for usage-based features like credits, overage tracking, and real-time access control. Competitors often require manual webhook setups or lack AI-optimized pricing templates.
2. The platform introduces versioning and grandfathering capabilities, allowing teams to update pricing plans while preserving existing customer terms. This eliminates the need for complex migration scripts when iterating on monetization strategies.
3. Autumn’s competitive edge stems from its Stripe abstraction layer, which reduces integration time from weeks to hours. By handling webhooks, prorations, and usage analytics internally, it minimizes technical debt and ensures compliance with Stripe’s billing logic.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How does Autumn’s pricing compare to Stripe’s fees? Autumn charges no additional transaction fees beyond Stripe’s standard processing costs (~0.7%). Pricing tiers are based on monthly processed revenue, with a free tier for startups under $8K MRR and custom plans for enterprises exceeding $50K MRR.
2. Can I migrate existing Stripe customers to Autumn? Yes, Autumn integrates directly with your Stripe account, allowing seamless migration of customers, subscriptions, and historical data. The platform automatically syncs with Stripe to maintain consistency.
3. How long does it take to integrate Autumn into a production app? Most teams deploy Autumn in under 30 minutes using prebuilt UI components and the configuration API. The autumn.config.ts file defines products and pricing, while frontend integration requires adding checkout handlers and usage displays.
4. Does Autumn support custom pricing for enterprise clients? Yes, developers can override default pricing plans for specific customers via the API, enabling custom contracts, bulk discounts, or negotiated rates without altering the base configuration.
5. What happens if usage exceeds a user’s plan limits? Autumn automatically blocks API access when limits are reached, unless overages are enabled. For overage-enabled plans, usage is tracked in real time and billed at the next cycle, with notifications sent via email or in-app alerts.