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Use Cases

Tributary's three payment types support diverse business models. Each type is optimized for specific scenarios.

Payment Type Overview

Type Best For Predictability Flexibility
Subscriptions Regular services High Low
Milestones Project work Medium Medium
Pay-as-you-go Variable usage Low High

Subscriptions

Fixed recurring payments at regular intervals.

SaaS & Software

  • Monthly software licenses - $29/month for productivity tools
  • Annual enterprise plans - $999/year with discounts
  • Developer tools - API access with tiered pricing
  • Cloud services - Compute, storage, bandwidth

Content & Media

  • Newsletters - Premium content for $10/month
  • Streaming platforms - Video, audio, podcasts
  • Research reports - Weekly/monthly analysis
  • Course access - Continuous learning subscriptions

Memberships & Communities

  • Professional associations - Annual dues
  • Creator communities - Discord server access
  • DAO participation - Voting rights, exclusive channels
  • Club memberships - Gym, co-working, social clubs

Donations & Support

  • Open source funding - Monthly GitHub sponsors
  • Creator support - Patreon-style recurring donations
  • Nonprofit donations - Charitable giving automation

Milestone Payments

Project-based compensation with up to 4 configurable deliverables.

Freelance & Consulting

Website Development - $1,500 total
├── Milestone 1: Design mockups - $300 (Week 1)
├── Milestone 2: Core development - $700 (Week 3)
├── Milestone 3: Testing & launch - $500 (Week 5)

Software Development

  • Feature development - Payment per feature delivered
  • Bug fixes - Bounties with milestone verification
  • Code reviews - Payment upon completion
  • Documentation - Writing projects with chapter milestones

Content Creation

  • Video series - Payment per episode
  • Article packages - Payment per article delivered
  • Design work - Concept, draft, final milestones
  • Translation - Milestone per document section

Construction & Physical Work

  • Home renovations - Foundation, framing, finishing
  • Event planning - Booking, preparation, execution
  • Manufacturing - Design, prototype, production

Release Conditions

Condition Description
Time-based Automatic release at timestamp
Manual Requires recipient approval
Automatic Instant on milestone completion

Pay-as-you-go

Usage-based billing with period limits and chunk controls.

AI & LLM Services

// AI API billing
PayAsYouGo {
  maxAmountPerPeriod: 100_000_000, // $100/month
  maxChunkAmount: 10_000_000,      // $10 max per call
  periodLengthSeconds: 2_592_000,   // 30 days
}
  • LLM token usage - Per-token billing
  • Image generation - Pay per image
  • Embedding services - Per-request billing
  • Model inference - Compute time billing

API Services

  • REST APIs - Per-request billing
  • GraphQL - Query complexity billing
  • Webhooks - Event delivery charges
  • Rate limiting - Premium tier access

Cloud Resources

  • Compute - Per-hour billing
  • Storage - Per-GB billing
  • Bandwidth - Per-TB billing
  • Database - Query-based pricing

Data Services

  • Data feeds - Real-time market data
  • Analytics - Query-based billing
  • Search - Per-search billing
  • Monitoring - Metric ingestion

Integration Patterns

AI Agent Monetization (Lando)

Service agents generate subscription URLs for customer agents:

// Service agent generates payment URL
const session = await payments.checkout.sessions.create({
  mode: "subscription",
  line_items: [{ description: "AI Service Pro", unitPrice: 29, quantity: 1 }],
  paymentFrequency: "monthly",
  tributaryConfig: {
    gateway: "CwNybLVQ3sVmcZ3Q1veS6x99gUZcAF2duNDe3qbcEMGr",
    recipient: "SERVICE_AGENT_WALLET",
    trackingId: "ai-service-pro",
  },
});

// Customer agent visits URL, subscribes
// Payments execute automatically

API Monetization (x402)

HTTP 402 middleware for API access:

import { createX402Middleware } from "@tributary-so/x402";

app.use(
  "/api/premium",
  createX402Middleware({
    scheme: "x402://payg",
    amount: 0.01, // $0.01 per request
    maxAmountPerPeriod: 100,
    periodLengthSeconds: 86400,
  })
);

Zero-code payment collection:

// Generate link
const session = await payments.checkout.sessions.create({
  mode: "subscription",
  line_items: [{ description: "Newsletter Pro", unitPrice: 10, quantity: 1 }],
  paymentFrequency: "monthly",
  tributaryConfig: { gateway, recipient, trackingId },
});

// Share via email, SMS, chat
sendEmail(email, `Subscribe: ${session.url}`);

Hybrid Models

Combine payment types for complex scenarios:

Freemium + Subscription

  • Free tier with basic access
  • $10/month for premium features
  • $50/month for enterprise

Project + Maintenance

  • Milestone payments for initial build
  • Monthly subscription for ongoing support

Usage + Minimum

  • $50/month minimum (subscription)
  • Pay-as-you-go for usage above threshold

Industry Applications

Creator Economy

Creator Type Payment Type Model
Newsletter writer Subscription $10/month premium
YouTuber Subscription $5/month membership
Consultant Milestone $500 per project phase
AI bot builder Pay-as-you-go $0.01 per API call

DeFi & Web3

Protocol Type Payment Type Model
Staking service Subscription Monthly management fee
Bridge protocol Pay-as-you-go Per-transaction fee
DAO tooling Milestone Feature bounties
Analytics Subscription $99/month premium

Professional Services

Service Type Payment Type Model
Legal retainer Subscription $2000/month
Development Milestone $500/feature
Consulting Pay-as-you-go $150/hour
Accounting Subscription $300/month

Next Steps