Usage-based billing also called metered billing, or pay-as-you-go billing is a billing model that is used in SaaS, or Software as a Service. This type of billing is where the customer is paying for the software as they use it with the final bill due at the end of the billing cycle that is chosen. This allows the customer to only pay for the resource consumption and not more than that. A common example of this would be utility companies, as they charge based on usage and not a flat fee.
In the case of OpenMetal Central, you will be able to see your usage-based billing. If you need more servers, you would add them and be charged for them based on your usage.
This is frequently seen as a SaaS due to the flexibility it gives customers to pay based on how much of the service or product they are using, as well as allowing different billing cycles.
Congratulations you’re now familiar with usage-based billing. For more information please go to our OpenStack Education channel!