Compare / Lago vs Kill Bill
Lago vs Kill Bill
Pick Lago if you want the published Chargebee/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy path (AGPL core). Pick Kill Bill if you want that Apache-2.0 billing lineage.
Facts checked 22 Oct 2026. License, language, and GitHub activity come from the catalog or the project's own repo. "Not in the catalog row" means the public catalog dump does not store that number.
Lago in the catalog Kill Bill in the catalog Start on Railway
How they compare
| Lago | Kill Bill | |
|---|---|---|
| License | AGPL-3.0 (catalog) source | Apache License 2.0 (catalog) source |
| Language | Go (catalog) | Java (catalog) |
| GitHub activity | 10,692 stars in the catalog source | 5,794 stars in the catalog source |
| Self-host | Published as /stacks/lago-billing. API plus workers plus Postgres. | Same stack as the Apache sibling. Official docs at killbill.io. |
| Best for | The published usage-billing replacement. | That Java billing API if you already know it. |
Self-hosting and resource needs
Both are on /stacks/lago-billing. Lago is getlago/lago. Kill Bill is killbill/killbill. FOSSBilling is the hosting-billing sibling — /compare/lago-vs-fossbilling. Lago does not become the merchant of record.
FAQ
- Lemon Squeezy or Paddle?
- Same engine. Neither Lago nor Kill Bill files VAT as a merchant of record — /replace/lemon-squeezy.
- Why not Invoice Ninja?
- Books, not recurring usage — /stacks/invoice-ninja-books.
- Are these free?
- Lago core is AGPL-3.0. Kill Bill is Apache License 2.0. You pay hosting.
- How do I deploy Kill Bill?
- Follow killbill.io self-host docs. The published path remains /stacks/lago-billing.
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