Step 3: Define billable metrics

A billable metric tells Zenskar how to aggregate raw usage data into a single chargeable number for a billing period. For example, summing all cpu_hours_consumed events for a customer over a month produces the quantity that gets priced on their invoice. In this step you will create two metrics:

Total CPU Hours — sums CPU hours consumed per customer per month
Total Storage GB-Months — sums storage consumed per customer per month

Prerequisites

Billable metrics

A billable metric aggregates usage event data over a billing period using functions like SUM, COUNT, or MAX. These metrics are the foundation for product pricing.

Define billable metrics

Navigate to Usage > Billable Metrics and click Add New Billable Metric. Choose your preferred method:

Visual Builder
SQL Builder

The Visual Builder is a 4-step wizard. Complete it once for each metric.

Metric 1: Total CPU Hours

Select tables & filters

Under Table Name, select compute_events — the usage event defined in step 2.1.Optionally, click + ADD FILTER to narrow events before aggregation (e.g., region = us-east-1).

Map customer

Your customer column: customer_id — the field in compute_events that identifies the customer.
Zenskar customer column: external_id — links your system’s customer ID to the Zenskar customer record.

Set date field

Under Column, select timestamp. This scopes the aggregation to the billing period.

Set Billable Metric over

Select calculation type: SUM
Select column to calculate over: data.cpu_hours_consumed

Click create Billable Metric, name it Total CPU Hours, and confirm.

Metric 2: Total Storage GB-Months

Click Add New Billable Metric, select Visual Builder, and follow the same 4 steps with these values:

Step	Field	Value
Select tables & filters	Table Name	`storage_events`
Map customer	Your customer column	`customer_id`
Map customer	Zenskar customer column	`external_id`
Set date field	Column	`timestamp`
Set Billable Metric over	Calculation type	`SUM`
Set Billable Metric over	Column to calculate over	`data.storage_gb_month`

Name the metric Total Storage GB-Months and confirm.

The SQL Builder gives you full control over the aggregation query. Use it if your metric logic is too complex for the Visual Builder, or if you prefer writing SQL directly.

Switching from the Visual Builder to the SQL Builder is a one-way action. Once you edit the SQL directly, the Visual Builder is disabled for that metric.

Reference these Zenskar variables in your queries to filter by customer and billing period:

Variable	Syntax
Customer external ID	`{{customer.external_id}}`
Customer email	`{{customer.email}}`
Customer name	`{{customer.customer_name}}`
Billing period start	`{{start_date}}`
Billing period end	`{{end_date}}`

Total CPU Hours

SELECT SUM(data.cpu_hours_consumed)
FROM compute_events
WHERE customer_id = '{{customer.external_id}}'
  AND timestamp >= '{{start_date}}'
  AND timestamp < '{{end_date}}'

Total Storage GB-Months

SELECT SUM(data.storage_gb_month)
FROM storage_events
WHERE customer_id = '{{customer.external_id}}'
  AND timestamp >= '{{start_date}}'
  AND timestamp < '{{end_date}}'

Use Run query (or Cmd/Ctrl + Enter) to preview results against real data before saving. Click create Billable Metric, name it accordingly, and confirm.

Getting Started

Product Modules

Integrations

Settings & Admin

Prerequisites

Billable metrics

Define billable metrics

Metric 1: Total CPU Hours

Metric 2: Total Storage GB-Months

Getting Started

Product Modules

Integrations

Settings & Admin

Documentation Index

​Prerequisites

Billable metrics

​Define billable metrics

​Metric 1: Total CPU Hours

​Metric 2: Total Storage GB-Months

Prerequisites

Define billable metrics

Metric 1: Total CPU Hours

Metric 2: Total Storage GB-Months