> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dodopayments.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Billing Deconstructions > Study how six AI companies charge their users, then rebuild each billing model with Dodo Payments credits, meters, and subscriptions. ## Overview Each deconstruction breaks down the billing model of a real AI company and shows you how to rebuild it with Dodo Payments. The table below compares the six models by the metric each one charges for. | App | Primary Metric | Unique Innovation | Dodo Feature | | :- | :- | :- | :- | | OpenAI | Tokens (fiat-denominated) | Prepaid fiat credits with a long-lived balance | Credit-Based Billing (Fiat Credits) | | Cursor | Premium Requests | Model-weighted credit depletion (different costs per model) | Credit-Based Billing (Custom Unit) | | ElevenLabs | Characters | Character quotas with rollover + tiered overage pricing | Credit-Based Billing (Rollover + Overage) | | Midjourney | GPU Time | "Relax Mode" unlimited fallback after quota | Subscription + Usage Meters | | Replicate | Execution Seconds | Per-second hardware-specific pure metering | Pure Usage-Based Billing | | Lovable | Messages (credits) | Daily bonus drip + team-wide shared credit pool | Credit-Based Billing (Custom Unit) + Subscription | Third-party prices change often. Each page describes the company's model at the time of writing, so check the company's pricing page before you copy a number. Pick the app closest to what you are building: Replicate the token-based prepaid credit model. Build model-weighted usage limits. Implement character quotas with rollover and overages. Combine subscriptions with usage-based fallback. Set up pure per-second consumption metering. Replicate message-credit subscriptions with daily bonus drip. ## Dodo Features Every deconstruction combines some of these Dodo Payments features: Manage prepaid credits and virtual units. Meter consumption with usage events. Handle recurring billing and plan management. Combine subscriptions, usage, and credits in one product. ## Ingestion Blueprints Each deconstruction also shows an [Ingestion Blueprint](/features/usage-based-billing/ingestion-blueprints): a helper from the `@dodopayments/ingestion-blueprints` package that builds and sends usage events for a common pattern. Use a blueprint instead of constructing each usage event by hand. Automatic token tracking for OpenAI, Anthropic, Groq, and more. Track audio and video streaming bandwidth. Bill by compute duration in milliseconds, seconds, or minutes. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.