Stigg - SaaS Pricing and Billing API Platform

TL;DR

TL;DR: Stigg provides APIs and SDKs that let engineering teams build, manage, and roll out SaaS pricing plans faster by decoupling pricing logic from application code.

Source and Accuracy Notes

This post is based on Stigg’s official documentation and their Show HN launch (44 points). The product is live at stigg.io with comprehensive developer docs.

What Is Stigg?

Stigg is a monetization control layer for SaaS products. It solves a common pain point: pricing logic gets tightly coupled with core application code, making it difficult to change pricing models without deploying code changes.

The platform provides:

• Product catalog management - Define and manage pricing plans, packages, and entitlements without touching code
• Entitlement checks - API calls to verify if a user has access to a feature based on their plan
• Usage metering - Track feature usage and bill accordingly
• Plan management - Upgrade, downgrade, and cancel subscriptions via API
• Webhook integrations - Sync with Stripe, Paddle, and other billing providers

Why Decouple Pricing from Code?

Most SaaS applications hardcode pricing logic across multiple repositories. When product teams want to:

• Launch a new pricing tier
• Change feature entitlements
• Deprecate a legacy plan
• Run a pricing experiment

They need engineering resources to deploy code changes. Stigg moves this control to a centralized API layer.

The Problem Stigg Solves

Before Stigg:

Product team wants to launch "Pro Plus" tier
-> Engineering creates new database migration
-> Update entitlement checks in 5 microservices
-> Deploy billing logic changes
-> Test across staging and production
-> Coordinate with customer success for migration

With Stigg:

Product team wants to launch "Pro Plus" tier
-> Define new plan in Stigg dashboard
-> Set entitlements via API
-> Enable for specific customers
-> No code deployment required

Setup Workflow

Step 1: Install the SDK

Stigg provides SDKs for popular languages:

# Node.js
npm install @stigg/stigg-js

# Python
pip install stigg-python-sdk

# Go
go get github.com/stigg/stigg-go

Step 2: Initialize the Client

import { Stigg } from '@stigg/stigg-js';

const stigg = new Stigg({
  apiKey: 'your-api-key',
});

Step 3: Check Entitlements

// Check if user has access to a feature
const entitlement = await stigg.entitlements.getCustomerEntitlement({
  customerId: 'customer-123',
  resourceId: 'feature-advanced-analytics',
});

if (entitlement.hasAccess) {
  // Show advanced analytics
} else {
  // Show upgrade prompt
}

Step 4: Report Usage

// Meter usage for billing
await stigg.events.reportUsage({
  customerId: 'customer-123',
  resourceId: 'api-calls',
  value: 1,
});

Deeper Analysis

Architecture

Stigg acts as a middleware between your application and billing providers. The typical flow:

User Action -> Your App -> Stigg API -> Entitlement Check
                                         |
                                 Billing Provider (Stripe/Paddle)

Key Features

Product Catalog API

• Define plans, addons, and entitlements programmatically
• Version control for pricing changes
• Rollback capabilities

Customer Management

• Create and manage customer records
• Assign plans and entitlements
• Track usage and billing history

Webhook Integrations

• Sync with Stripe for payment processing
• Trigger actions on plan changes
• Notify external systems of entitlement updates

Analytics

• Track plan adoption
• Monitor usage patterns
• Identify upgrade opportunities

Pricing Model

Stigg itself uses a usage-based pricing model. You pay based on the number of monthly active customers and API calls. This aligns costs with your product growth.

Practical Evaluation Checklist

Before adopting Stigg, evaluate:

• [ ] Current billing complexity - If you have 3+ pricing tiers with different entitlements, Stigg provides value
• [ ] Frequency of pricing changes - If you change pricing quarterly or more often, the decoupling benefit is significant
• [ ] Team size - Small teams may find the overhead not worth it; larger teams benefit from the separation of concerns
• [ ] Billing provider - Stigg integrates with Stripe and Paddle; if you use a different provider, check compatibility
• [ ] Compliance requirements - Stigg stores customer and usage data; ensure it meets your data residency requirements

Security Notes

• API keys - Store Stigg API keys in environment variables, never in code
• Webhook verification - Always verify webhook signatures to prevent spoofing
• Data encryption - Stigg encrypts data at rest and in transit
• Access control - Use role-based access control in the Stigg dashboard
• Audit logs - Review audit logs regularly for unauthorized changes

FAQ

Q: Does Stigg replace Stripe or Paddle? A: No. Stigg integrates with billing providers like Stripe and Paddle. It handles the pricing logic and entitlement management, while the billing provider processes payments.

Q: Can I migrate existing customers to Stigg? A: Yes. Stigg provides bulk import APIs to migrate existing customers, plans, and entitlements. The migration process is documented in their migration guide.

Q: What happens if Stigg goes down? A: Stigg provides a local SDK cache that continues to serve entitlement checks even if the API is unreachable. The cache syncs periodically when the connection is restored.

Q: Does Stigg support usage-based pricing? A: Yes. Stigg provides usage metering APIs that track feature consumption and integrate with billing providers for usage-based invoicing.

Q: Can I test pricing changes before rolling them out? A: Yes. Stigg supports sandbox environments where you can test pricing changes without affecting production customers. You can also use feature flags to gradually roll out changes.

Conclusion

Stigg addresses a real pain point in SaaS development: the tight coupling between pricing logic and application code. By providing a centralized API layer for pricing management, it enables product teams to iterate on pricing models without requiring engineering resources for every change.

The platform is particularly valuable for:

• B2B SaaS products with multiple pricing tiers and complex entitlements
• Fast-growing startups that need to experiment with pricing models
• Enterprise applications that require fine-grained access control

If your team spends significant time on pricing-related code changes, Stigg is worth evaluating. The decoupling it provides can accelerate your pricing iterations and reduce engineering overhead.

For more information, check out the official documentation or their Show HN launch.