Metered Plans
The Ultimate Multisite: Metered Plans addon transforms how you bill your customers by introducing flexible metered billing capabilities. Instead of rigid hard limits that block users when exceeded, enable overage charges that automatically bill customers for additional usage.
Key Features
- Metered Billing: Charge customers based on actual usage rather than fixed tiers
- Overage Management: Automatically bill for usage exceeding plan limits
- Usage Tracking: Monitor customer resource consumption in real-time
- Flexible Pricing: Set custom rates for different resources (storage, bandwidth, sites, etc.)
- AI Token Billing: Track and bill input and output tokens for AI usage across customer subsites
- Automatic Invoicing: Generate invoices automatically when usage thresholds are exceeded
- Usage Reports: Detailed usage analytics and reporting for customers and administrators
Perfect For
- Hosting Providers: Offer scalable plans that grow with customer needs
- SaaS Platforms: Bill based on actual resource consumption
- Agency Networks: Flexible pricing models for client projects
- Reseller Hosting: Enable partners to offer usage-based pricing
How It Works
- Configure metered resources (disk space, bandwidth, number of sites, etc.)
- Set base plan limits and overage rates
- The system automatically tracks usage across your network
- When customers exceed limits, overage charges are calculated
- Invoices are generated automatically based on billing cycle
- Customers can view their usage and upcoming charges in real-time
AI Token Billing
Version 1.1.0 adds AI token billing for networks that offer AI features through the WordPress AI Client SDK. Metered Plans listens for completed AI generation requests, records input and output token counts for the current subsite, and converts those tokens into billable AI spend for the customer's current billing period.
Use AI token billing when you want to offer AI tools on customer sites without absorbing unpredictable model costs. Each request is attributed to the subsite, customer, membership, provider, and model so administrators can audit usage while customers can see how their AI consumption affects their account.
Configure Per-Token Rates
AI rates are configured per model as separate input and output rates. Rates are calculated per 1 million tokens, which matches common AI provider pricing pages.
- In the network admin, open Multisite Ultimate → Settings → Metered Plans.
- Enable AI spend metering for the product or membership that should bill AI usage.
- Add model rate entries using the model IDs returned by your connector, such as
gpt-4o,gpt-4o-mini, or another OpenAI-compatible model identifier. - Enter separate Input Rate and Output Rate values in your site currency per 1 million tokens.
- Set the customer's included AI spend allowance and overage behaviour for the plan.
When an exact model ID is not configured, Metered Plans can match by model prefix. For example, a rate configured for claude-sonnet-4 can apply to timestamped model IDs that start with that prefix. Developers can also adjust the final rate table with the wu_ai_token_rates filter.
Supported AI Connectors
AI token billing works with connectors that emit WordPress AI Client SDK generation events and include token usage in the response metadata. This includes the Ultimate Multisite AI connector family documented here:
- Ultimate AI Connector for Compatible Endpoints for OpenAI-compatible APIs, including OpenAI, Mistral, Ollama-compatible gateways, and other providers that expose compatible token usage metadata
- Ultimate AI Connector for WebLLM for browser-native WebLLM usage when requests are routed through the AI Client SDK event flow
- AI provider connectors used by Gratis AI Agent when the selected provider reports prompt and completion token counts through the SDK
Custom connectors can participate by firing the standard wp_ai_client_before_generate_result and wp_ai_client_after_generate_result events with model, provider, and token usage metadata. Connector settings are enforced from the main site to subsites so customer sites use the network-approved providers and limits.
Customer Account Usage
Customers see AI usage alongside their other metered resources in their account area. The AI spend row shows the current billing-period total derived from recorded prompt and completion tokens, the configured model rates, and any included allowance on the plan.
If a customer has a payment method on file, usage above the included allowance is treated as billable overage. If the plan is configured for a hard cutoff and the customer has no payment method available, AI requests can be blocked once the allowance is reached and the customer is prompted to add payment details before continuing.
Supported Resources
- Disk storage
- Bandwidth/Data transfer
- Number of sites
- Number of users
- AI token usage and AI spend
- Custom resource types
Requirements
- Multisite Ultimate 2.0.0 or higher
- WordPress Multisite installation
- PHP 7.4 or higher
Installation
- Upload the plugin files to
/wp-content/plugins/ultimate-multisite-metered-plans - Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' screen in WordPress
- Navigate to Multisite Ultimate → Settings → Metered Plans
- Configure your metered resources and pricing
- Enable metered billing for products in the product editor
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens when a customer exceeds their limit?
Instead of blocking access, the system tracks the overage and adds it to their next invoice based on the rates you've configured.
Can I set different overage rates for different products?
Yes, each product can have unique metered resources and overage pricing.
How are customers notified about usage?
Customers can view their current usage in their dashboard and receive optional notifications when approaching or exceeding limits.
How is AI token usage priced?
AI token usage is priced from the model's configured input and output rates per 1 million tokens. Metered Plans multiplies each request's prompt and completion token counts by those rates, adds the result to the customer's current billing-period AI spend, and applies the plan's allowance or overage rules.
Can I still use hard limits?
Yes, metered billing is optional per product. You can mix traditional hard-limit products with metered products.