43. Tenant billing and invoicing
This chapter is the practical “how do I pay Daalu and how do invoices work” reference. It’s the boring chapter; you should read it once.
Payment methods
Two options:
- Credit card (default). Stripe-hosted. Configure in Settings → Tenant → Billing. Default for Starter/Team plans.
- Invoice (ACH/wire). Available on Business plan and up. Requires a 30-day NET agreement; talk to sales to set up.
Card on file is charged automatically on the 1st of each month for the previous month’s usage. Invoice customers receive a PDF on the 1st and pay according to NET terms.
What’s on the invoice
A typical Daalu invoice has:
- Plan charge — the monthly subscription for your tier.
- Seat overages — if your active seat count exceeded the plan’s seat allowance.
- Source overages — same for connected sources.
- Cloud LLM passthrough — token-metered, with the provider’s listed rate.
- Daalu’s handling fee — a small flat fee on top of cloud passthrough.
- Add-ons — extended retention, custom dashboards, etc.
Each line shows the unit, rate, quantity, and total. The backing data is on Billing → Daalu subscription → Show line items anytime during the month.
Tax
Stripe handles VAT/GST collection for jurisdictions where required. Your business address determines whether tax is charged.
For US customers, sales tax applies in states where Daalu has nexus; check the most recent invoice for specifics.
If you have an exemption certificate, upload via Settings → Tenant → Billing → Tax certificate. Validated by our finance team within 5 business days.
Changing plan
Settings → Tenant → Plan.
- Upgrade — effective immediately. Pro-rated charge for the remainder of the current month.
- Downgrade — effective on the 1st of the next month. You keep the higher-tier features through the end of the current month.
Downgrades have a sanity check: if your current seat count exceeds the lower tier’s allowance, you’ll be warned.
Cancellation
To cancel:
- Settings → Tenant → Plan → Cancel subscription.
- Pick effective date: end of current month, or specific future date.
- Tell us why (optional, helpful to us).
- Confirm.
Your tenant continues to function until the effective date. After that, your data is retained for 30 days (read-only access on a separate URL), then deleted.
Refunds
For specific incidents — service downtime within SLA, billing
error, unintentional charge — refunds are issued within 5
business days of an approved request. Email
[email protected] with details.
Routine “I didn’t use it as much as I expected” is generally not refundable; downgrading is the right tool.
Multiple tenants per company
If your company has multiple tenants for organizational reasons (separate teams, separate environments), each tenant has its own billing. Talk to sales about an Enterprise arrangement that consolidates invoicing across tenants.
Auditing past invoices
Settings → Tenant → Billing → Invoices. List of all historical invoices with download links.
Each invoice PDF includes the line items, payment date, payment method (last 4 of card or wire reference), and your billing address.
For accounting integrations:
- QuickBooks Online — invoice export format compatible.
- Xero — same.
- NetSuite — Enterprise add-on.
Billing notifications
Three things you’ll be emailed about:
- Invoice issued. On the 1st of each month.
- Payment success / failure. When the card charge runs.
- Card expiring. 30 days before expiration; reminder at 7 days.
These go to your tenant’s billing contact (set in Settings → Tenant → Billing → Contact). Default is the admin who created the tenant.
Disputes
If you spot something on an invoice you don’t recognize:
- Find the line item in Settings → Tenant → Billing → Invoices → [invoice] → Line items.
- Click “Question this line.” Daalu support gets the line item plus the underlying usage data.
- We respond within 2 business days with the usage breakdown.
We err on the side of customer trust. If a line item is genuinely ambiguous, we’ll credit it back.
What’s next
Part VIII covers support — troubleshooting, FAQ, and the glossary. Chapter 44 is the troubleshooting reference.