---
id: usage-metering
title: Usage & Consumption Metering Engine
sidebar_label: Usage & Consumption Metering
description: Ingest high-volume consumption event streams, calculate complex tiered/volume overage rates, and recognize usage-based revenue in real time with GAAPx.
keywords:
  - usage based billing SaaS
  - consumption metering rev rec
  - overage rate calculation
  - credit drawdown ledger
  - high volume usage ingestion
author: GAAPx Engineering Team
last_updated: 2026-10-02
---

# Usage & Consumption Metering Engine

> **Quick Summary:** The GAAPx Usage & Consumption Metering Engine ingests millions of raw product telemetry events per second, matches consumption against contract rate cards, applies complex rating models (tiered, volume-based, graduated, overage thresholds), and calculates both billing invoices and ASC 606 usage revenue schedules in real time with zero latency.

---

## High-Volume Ingestion Architecture

```mermaid
flowchart LR
    Telemetry["Product Events\n(API Calls, Tokens, GBs, Seats)"] --> Kafka["Event Ingestion Stream\n(Kafka / Webhook / S3)"]
    Kafka --> Meter["GAAPx Metering Engine\n(Deduplication & Windowing)"]
    Meter --> Rating["Rating & Rule Matrix\n(Contract Entitlements & Tiers)"]
    Rating --> Invoice["Billing Invoice & Overage"]
    Rating --> RevRec["ASC 606 Usage Revenue"]
```

---

## Supported Usage Pricing Models

| Pricing Model | Calculation Formula | Example Scenario |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Pure Overage** | Base fee includes $X$ units; excess billed at $\$Y$ per unit. | 100,000 API calls included; $0.002 per additional call. |
| **Graduated Tiers** | Units 1–1k at $\$1.00$; 1k–5k at $\$0.80$; 5k+ at $\$0.50$. | Progressive cloud storage consumption. |
| **Volume Tiers** | Reaching a total threshold discounts all units consumed. | Reaching 10,000 MAUs reduces the price of all units to $\$0.40$. |
| **Prepaid Credit Drawdowns** | Customer prepays $\$50,000$; services draw down against balance. | AI token consumption or computing hours. |
| **Minimum Spend Commitments** | Higher of actual consumption or committed monthly floor. | \$5,000 monthly minimum platform spend. |

---

## Developer Usage Ingestion API

To send raw consumption events directly into GAAPx:

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.gaapx.ai/v1/usage/events" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "events": [
      {
        "transaction_id": "evt_998124_abc",
        "customer_id": "cust_acme_corp",
        "contract_id": "gx_ctr_98412",
        "metric_name": "ai_inference_tokens",
        "quantity": 450000,
        "timestamp": "2026-10-02T09:30:00Z"
      }
    ]
  }'
```

---

## Unbilled Revenue & Practical Expedient (ASC 606-10-55-18)

For usage-based contracts where the invoice amount corresponds directly with the value of the vendor's performance completed to date, GAAPx can apply the **Right-to-Invoice practical expedient**:
- Revenue recognized equals the invoiced amount for that usage period.
- Avoids complex multi-year usage estimation and variable consideration constraints.