Design Your Catalog: Use Metering with Components

Connect a meter to a metered component to charge customers based on usage. Metered components define pricing, segmented rates, and how measured usage appears during billing. After the meter is connected, Maxio applies the meter's usage values to component pricing at billing time.

Before connecting a meter to a component, create the stream and meter. See Get Started with Maxio Metering or Configure Metering.

Key rules:

• A component can be attached to only one meter.
• Meter selection cannot be changed once a subscription has activated event-based billing on that component.
• Component names appear on invoices exactly as entered.

How metered components work

A metered component is the billing object that holds pricing and appears on customer invoices. The meter supplies the usage value.

The relationship is:

Meter → Metered Component → Subscription → Invoice

For a full explanation of Metering objects, see Streams, Meters, and Segments Explained.

Create a metered component

To create a component and attach a meter:

1. Go to Products > Components.
2. Click New Component.

3. Select Metered Component as the component type.

   

4. In Name, enter the component name. This name appears on customer invoices.

5. Under Component Details, select the meter to attach.

   

6. Select a pricing scheme.

   Pricing scheme	Use when
   Per Unit	You charge a flat rate per usage unit.
   Tiered	The rate changes at usage thresholds, and each tier rate applies only to usage within that tier.
   Volume	A single rate applies to all usage based on which tier the total falls into.
   Stairstep	You charge a flat fee per tier, based on total usage.

   

7. Click Create Component.

To handle segment values without explicit pricing, configure a catch-all segment using the wildcard value. Maxio matches incoming events to the most specific segment first. If no explicit segment matches, Maxio falls back to the catch-all. After setting the catch-all price, define prices for each segment value that needs separate pricing.

How segmented pricing works

If the meter uses a segment, Maxio calculates usage separately for each segment value. Define pricing for each segment value on the component.

Example: A meter segments usage by region with values us-east, eu-west, and ap-southeast. Set a different per-unit price for each region on the component.

Segment values without explicit pricing use the catch-all price.

Segment value matching is case-sensitive. Confirm that event values exactly match the segment values defined on the component.

Add the component to a subscription

After creating the metered component, add it to the subscriptions that should use usage-based billing.

1. Open the subscription.
2. Go to the subscription's Components tab.
3. Add the metered component.
4. Confirm the component pricing and segment pricing.
5. Save your changes.

Review billing results

After usage is sent and the subscription renews, review the generated invoice charge.

For billing behavior and timing, see Understand Meter Results in Billing.

Before going live

Confirm the following before using the component in production:

• The meter is receiving events and calculating usage as expected.
• The component uses the correct pricing scheme — this is difficult to change once subscriptions are active.
• The component belongs to the correct product family and has been added to the appropriate products or subscriptions.
• If using segmented pricing: segment values match incoming event field values exactly, and catch-all pricing is configured for any unmatched values.
• A test invoice reflects the expected charges.

Changes that are hard or impossible to make after subscriptions are active:

• The meter attached to the component
• The component name (appears on invoices exactly as entered)