Gateway Gus saysMonetize APIs with plans, quotas, and usage-based billing — metered by the gateway.
APIs can be products. Common models: tiered plans (free/pro/enterprise with different limits), quotas (N calls/month), and usage-based billing (pay per call/compute). The gateway meters usage per key and enforces limits; billing reconciles it. Clear pricing, generous free tiers, and transparent rate-limit headers make a paid API developers actually adopt.
Power-ups you unlock
Tiered plans, quotas, usage-based billing
Gateway meters usage per key
Enforce limits; reconcile for billing
Clear pricing + transparent limits drive adoption
Timeout Titan attacks — common mistakes
Opaque limits that surprise paying users
No free tier to let developers evaluate
Metering that doesn’t match the bill
Boss battleSketch three pricing tiers for a public API with different quotas.
Example code
<!doctype html><html><head><meta charset="utf-8"></head>
<body style="background:#06040d;color:#e6e0ff;font-family:monospace;padding:20px"><pre>free: 1k calls/mo
pro: 100k calls/mo
ent: usage-based, custom limits
(gateway meters per API key)</pre></body></html>