Everything on this page is about usage data specifically, and is checkable against those platforms' own documentation. We use no logos or marks, and nothing here is presented as an endorsement.
Compare · Traditional usage billingPixel Data
Pixel Data
vs CDR billing platforms
This is the closest category to what we do, and the mature platforms are genuinely capable. The differences are how long it takes to get running, whether you can find out the price without a phone call, and whether anything ever checks the invoices you receive rather than only the ones you send.
With CDR billing platforms, you
- You wait weeks for integration: a scoping call, a schema workshop, and engineering time before the first event lands.
- You cannot find out what it costs without booking a call with a salesperson.
- You get billing for what you sell, and nothing at all that checks what your suppliers charge you.
- You usually pay separately for raw event storage and analytics, if you can get them.
With Pixel Data, you
- You run one command on the box that already has your CDRs and see rated data the same afternoon.
- You read the price on the pricing page and start a trial without talking to anybody.
- You upload a supplier invoice and get a line-by-line verdict against what your switch actually recorded.
- You get event storage, analytics, statements and the tariff simulator in the same subscription.
What it means for you
You recover money from supplier invoices that nobody was checking, and you find out what a pricing change does before you deploy it.
Side by side
For usage data. Nothing else is claimed.
| For your usage data | Pixel Data | CDR billing platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Usage ingest API | Yes | Yes |
| Rating with increments, minimums and prefixes | Yes | Yes |
| Versioned price plans | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly statements | Yes | Yes |
| Time to first rated eventOne command on the machine that already has your CDRs. | Minutes | Typically weeks |
| Published pricing, self-serve signup | Yes | Usually a sales call |
| Public sandbox before signup | Yes | No |
| One-command agent for infrastructure usage | Yes | No |
| Supplier invoice reconciliation | Yes | No |
| Raw event storage and analytics included | Yes | Usually extra or absent |
| Tariff simulator on real past traffic | Yes | No |
| One-click full export | Yes | Usually a support request |
| Payment collection and dunningWe push rated amounts into your own provider; we do not move money. | No | Yes |
| Tax and VAT engineExplicitly out of scope for us. | No | Yes |
| Mediation and interconnect settlement | No | Yes |
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Pixel Data is not affiliated with or endorsed by any company mentioned.
However you get here, you get these three
The same on every comparison, because they are the same three things none of these tools does.
Be live before the kettle boils
You run one line on the machine that already has your usage on it. No schema workshop, no engineering sprint, no project plan.
Defend any figure on any invoice
You click any amount through to its events, and any event through to the arithmetic — increment, minimum, matched prefix, plan version.
Get back what your carrier over-charged
You upload a carrier invoice and get a line-by-line verdict against what your own events say actually happened.
When CDR billing platforms is the right choice
If you need tax calculation, payment collection with dunning, or deep interconnect settlement, a mature billing platform does things we deliberately do not. Those are real requirements and we will say so.
See your own usage on a dashboard today.
Install takes one command. If you would rather look first, the sandbox is open — sample data, no card, no signup.