Case study · Finance

On-Demand AI Processing With Usage-Based Plans

How we built a processing model where meeting audio waits until it is needed, credits are only used when a transcript succeeds, and subscriptions run through Stripe.

2026-09-29 · 3 min read

The challenge

Transcribing and cleaning up a meeting has a real cost in AI services, and not every recorded meeting needs a report. Processing everything the moment it arrived would spend money on calls nobody used. A free plan had to be generous enough to try properly while still having a clear limit. And charging a credit for a job that failed halfway would be a quick way to lose an adviser's trust.

What we built

A two-step processing model in FinPlan, tied to usage tracking and Stripe:

Park the audio first: when a recording finishes, we store a reference to it and nothing else. No AI service runs and nothing is charged. The audio stays available for seven days, and advisers are warned when a recording is about to expire.
Process on demand: on the free plan, the adviser starts transcription when they want a report. Paid plans transcribe automatically as soon as the recording arrives.
Credits on success only: a credit is recorded after a new transcript is saved. A failed job costs nothing, and asking again for a meeting that already has a transcript uses no credit.
Clear limits: the free plan covers five meetings a week with unlimited reports. When the limit is reached, a banner explains why and points to the billing page.
Stripe subscriptions: monthly or yearly Pro plans through Stripe Checkout with promotion codes, a self-service customer portal, and signed webhooks that keep each account's plan in step with Stripe.
Weekly usage history: each account's usage is snapshotted week by week, including whether the limit was reached, and shown as a chart on the billing page.

The results

AI calls

when a recording arrives on the free plan, until the adviser asks for a transcript

credit

per meeting, recorded only after the transcript succeeds

meetings a week

on the free plan, with unlimited reports

days

to process a recording before the audio expires

Technology

Recall.ai webhooks signal finished recordings, and the transcription pipeline runs only when it is called. Usage tracking and weekly snapshots live in MongoDB, with a unique index per account and week so a week is never counted twice. Stripe Checkout, the Stripe customer portal and webhook signature verification handle billing. We run billing and metering in production as part of An AI Platform That Turns Client Meetings Into Finished Reports.

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The challenge

What we built

A two-step processing model in FinPlan, tied to usage tracking and Stripe:

Park the audio first: when a recording finishes, we store a reference to it and nothing else. No AI service runs and nothing is charged. The audio stays available for seven days, and advisers are warned when a recording is about to expire.

Process on demand: on the free plan, the adviser starts transcription when they want a report. Paid plans transcribe automatically as soon as the recording arrives.

Credits on success only: a credit is recorded after a new transcript is saved. A failed job costs nothing, and asking again for a meeting that already has a transcript uses no credit.

Clear limits: the free plan covers five meetings a week with unlimited reports. When the limit is reached, a banner explains why and points to the billing page.

Stripe subscriptions: monthly or yearly Pro plans through Stripe Checkout with promotion codes, a self-service customer portal, and signed webhooks that keep each account's plan in step with Stripe.

Weekly usage history: each account's usage is snapshotted week by week, including whether the limit was reached, and shown as a chart on the billing page.

Technology