On Monday, Stripe released a preview of a new feature designed to help AI startups and other companies solve the problem of passing through the underlying costs of AI model usage to their customers. Stripe’s feature goes further than just passing through token costs. It also allows startups to charge a markup percentage on that usage. This means a company can, for instance, automatically charge customers 30% above the cost of the tokens it pays to the model provider.
As Stripe described, if you are building an AI app and want a consistent 30% margin over raw large language model token costs across providers, this billing feature automates the process. It lets a startup select the AI models it uses, track their API prices, record customer token usage, and automatically apply the chosen profit margin.
There are a variety of ways AI startups currently charge for their services. Many use tiered monthly subscriptions with usage-rate caps. Once a customer hits that cap, they may be charged more for exceeding the limit. For example, Cursor last year changed pricing on some tiers from unlimited use to rate-limited usage, adding fees for extra consumption.
Without such a usage cap, users could run up large bills for a startup with model makers, potentially forcing the startup to operate at a loss. This is especially acute for agentic startups. The more their customers use their agents, the more tokens they consume from underlying providers like OpenAI, Google Gemini, or Anthropic, making pricing and business model decisions critically important.
Stripe has also introduced its own AI gateway, a tool that gives users access to multiple models. However, the new billing tool also works with popular third-party gateways, such as those offered by Vercel and OpenRouter.
Other startups offer AI model cost management features with their own gateways. OpenRouter, for instance, grants access to over 300 models and charges a flat 5.5% markup over token fees on its first-tier plan, while also offering budget controls.
Stripe is not currently charging its own markup on its gateway. The new billing feature is still in waitlist mode. If Stripe can help startups easily turn the tracking and billing of this expense into a source of profit, it could be a game-changer. Stripe did not immediately respond to a request for comment on when the feature may become generally available.