Kong Inc., a leading developer of cloud API and AI technologies, today said it has acquired OpenMeter, the developer of an open-source platform for usage-based metering and billing.

Terms weren’t disclosed. The acquisition of OpenMeter, the business name of Tailfin Cloud Inc., will add native monetization capabilities to Kong Konnect, Kong’s unified API platform, enabling organizations to measure, price and monetize APIs, AI tokens and data streams at scale.

The move addresses the emergence of APIs as the primary interface for AI models and services, which often operate at machine speed and high volume. That challenges billing systems designed for human-paced interactions. With APIs increasingly used to sell AI-generated tokens and services, Kong said a new kind of platform is needed that blends API management with real-time usage tracking and billing.

OpenMeter’s technology will be integrated into Kong Konnect as an integral feature for API, AI and data stream monetization. The combination will allow product managers to implement consumption-based pricing models with customized triggers, thresholds and pricing. Customers will be able to define usage limits and control feature access based on entitlements from within Kong’s API Gateway.

“We’re seeing greenfield use cases across startups and large enterprises where new business units are being launched around AI and [large language models],” said Ross Kukulinski, vice president of product at Kong. “OpenMeter provides the metering engine they need.”

The integration is expected to be completed by early 2026. Until then, OpenMeter Cloud will continue operating with no changes to pricing or licensing. A full customer migration to Kong Konnect is planned for mid-2026, offering enhanced security, compliance and multiregion deployment.

No obligation

The addition of OpenMeter technology will carry an additional charge but customers can opt out, Kukulinski said. “We’ve designed Kong Konnect to be modular,” he said. “We want to give our customers the choice to choose the Lego blocks that work for them to build whatever they’re creating.”

OpenMeter’s architecture allows developers to send diverse event types to a central platform, while business teams manage pricing and packaging. That separation of priorities, along with OpenMeter’s open-source foundation, made the firm a natural fit for Kong, Kukulinski said.

“We looked for a system with a great developer experience, built for scale, and designed to support AI-native applications,” he said. “OpenMeter’s team and technology ticked all the boxes.”

Kong had previously relied on third parties to deliver metering and billing as a plug-in. Those relationships will continue despite the functionality now being embedded into the principal platform.

For OpenMeter, the deal is an opportunity for customers, said co-founder and Chief Executive Peter Marton. “Lots of existing OpenMeter customers will be very interested in having tighter integration with Kong API products,” he said.

The acquisition includes the full seven-member OpenMeter team, including co-founders Peter Marton and Andras Toth.

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