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Billing & invoicing

Overview

Waldur tracks the consumption of every marketplace resource and turns it into invoice items, which roll up into monthly invoices per organization. Operators decide pricing in the offering's plan; consumers see what they will be charged before they order. Credits, compensations, and prepaid charges are first-class — they are extra invoice items, not a separate billing pipeline.

How a charge flows

Plan(price per unit)Component(metered unit)Component usage(reported by plugin)Invoice item(price × usage × period)Credit(prepaid balance)Compensation(adjustment)Monthly invoiceOrganization ratemetersquantityappendedoffsetoffsetbilled
Plan(price per unit)Component(metered unit)Component usage(reported by plugin)Invoice item(price × usage × period)Credit(prepaid balance)Compensation(adjustment)Monthly invoiceOrganization ratemetersquantityappendedoffsetoffsetbilled

Key concepts

Concept One-liner Reference
Invoice item A single line on an invoice — one resource, one component, one period. Glossary
Invoice A monthly statement aggregating all invoice items for one organization. Admin guide
Billing model How an offering charges: monthly (limit-based) or prepaid (one-time + recurring). Admin guide
Period The window an invoice item covers — month, quarter, year, or total. Glossary
Credit A prepaid balance attached to an organization or project that offsets future invoice items. User guide
Compensation An ad-hoc adjustment (refund, discount) applied to an invoice. —

Billing models

Two models cover almost every offering and can be mixed within a single offering:

  • Monthly (limit-based) — billed each month based on reserved limits; limits can change anytime and the current invoice is adjusted accordingly. Default for OpenStack tenants.
  • Prepaid (one-time + recurring) — billed upfront for the full subscription period (price × limit × months). An end date is required; mid-period limit changes create supplementary charges for the remaining time.

A "Maximum total" limit period exists for flat one-time charges (consultancy hours, setup fees).

Lifecycle

  1. Provider creates an offering with components and a plan.
  2. Consumer orders a resource — see Lifecycle.
  3. Plugin reports component usage on a schedule.
  4. Waldur creates or updates invoice items for the current period.
  5. At month end the invoice is closed; credits and compensations are applied.
  6. Operator exports the invoice (PDF/CSV/XLSX) or integrates with a payment provider via the API.
  • Marketplace — where pricing is defined.
  • Lifecycle — what state changes trigger billing events.
  • Policies — cap spend before the invoice is closed.
  • Platform — who gets billed.