Orb now lets you create item-scoped credit blocks, giving you fine-grained control over how prepaid credits are applied across products and SKUs.

What’s new

• Item-level filters: Scope a credit block to specific items or SKUs directly from the UI or API to manage where credits apply.
• Hierarchical credit logic: Product-specific (filtered) credits are used first; when depleted, usage automatically draws from global (unfiltered) credits.
  
  

Why it matters

Item-scoped credits make it easier to allocate and track credit usage across products, while keeping configuration simple and invoices consistent. 

Availability

Item-scoped credit blocks are available in Early Access as Opt-in. If you are interested, please contact Orb support. 

Documentation

Learn more about configuration options, and behavior in our docs.

You can now analyze your revenue and billings data in Orb by prepaid credit block, credit note, and subscription plan.

• Pre-paid credit block: track credit consumption and expiration to understand revenue impact.
• Credit note: understand contra revenue lost to things like refunds, concessions, subscription changes.
• Subscription plan: compare revenue attributed to the plan a customer is subscribed to, inclusive of any subscription modifications like add-ons and overrides.

To try it out, head to the Recognized Revenue or Billings reports to filter and pivot your data. Learn more about reporting in our docs.

We’ve introduced a new invoice deferral option that lets you consolidate usage-based price changes on the next scheduled invoice, avoiding multiple invoices within the same billing period.

What’s new

• Deferred billing for usage-based prices: Mid-cycle price updates no longer trigger immediate invoices; you can now defer them to align with your customer’s normal billing cadence.
  
  
• Flexible configuration: Control deferral at the account level, during plan version migrations, or via the API using the can_defer_billing flag.
  
  
• Accurate service breakdowns: Deferred invoices clearly show separate line items for old and new prices (and discounts, when applicable).
  
  

Why it matters

This change keeps invoices predictable and consolidated for customers while maintaining full accuracy and visibility into rate changes.

Availability

Invoice deferral is available in early access for usage-based fees only.

Documentation

Learn more about configuration options and behavior examples in our docs.

We've added a dedicated Balance History page that gives you full visibility into how customer balances change over time.

What's new

• Transaction timeline: See all balance changes in chronological order with running balance calculations
• Rich details at a glance: View transaction amounts, types, creation dates, and associated invoices or credit blocks

Access the Balance History from any customer's detail page by clicking the new "View balance history" link in the Account Balance section.

We have introduced a new mark_as_paid field on the apply subscription changes API. This new field marks all payable invoices as finalized and paid, and works in tandem with the is_payable_now field that exists on changed resources (see: https://changelog.withorb.com/api-update-is_payable_now-field-added-to-changed_resources.created_invoices-3pIhZC).

The previously_collected_amount field is optional. If not provided, we assume the amount was correctly collected and simply mark invoices as paid without touching the customer balance.

When both mark_as_paid and previously_collected_amount are provided, we mark all payable invoices as paid and decrement customer balance by (previously_collected_amount - total amount due). This should only be used when the amount collected outside the system differs from the total amount due. Note that the total amount due includes tax calculations, while the amount shown for pending changes does not include taxes (see: https://docs.withorb.com/essentials/pending-changes for more info).

Any negative customer balance will be automatically reflected on the next invoice.

We’ve introduced a new field, is_payable_now, on changed_resources.created_invoices. The created_invoices field represents the list of invoices that will be generated as part of a pending subscription change or when previewing changes with the Include-Changed-Resources header. The new is_payable_now field on invoices represent ready-to-pay invoices containing only in-advance fixed fees. You can use this field to determine which invoices should be paid to enable access to a subscription change (eg. plan upgrade).

When it applies:

changed_resources (and thus created_invoices) are only returned

• When the explicit Include-Changed-Resources header is passed in a Subscription API request
• When calling the Pending Subscription Changes APIs

We've added a created_at  timestamp field to all data export resources to provide better insight into when resources were originally created in Orb.

What is the created_at timestamp?

The created_at field captures the exact moment when a resource (customer, subscription, invoice, etc.) was first created in Orb's system, regardless of when it was last modified or when other business events occurred.

How is it different from other timestamps?

• created_at: When the resource was originally created in Orb
• updated_at: When the resource was last modified
• start_date/end_date: Business-specific dates (e.g., when a subscription starts/ends)

How to use it

The created_at timestamp is particularly valuable for:

• Historical analysis: Re-create analyses representative of a specific point in time
• Backdated actions: Distinguish between when something was created vs. when it was backdated to take effect
• Data auditing: Track the chronological order of resource creation
• Cohort analysis: Group customers or subscriptions by their actual creation date, not their business effective date

For example, if you backdate a subscription to start January 1st but create it on February 15th:

• start_date = January 1st (business effective date)
• created_at = February 15th (when it was actually created in Orb)

  This enables you to analyze "all subscriptions created in February" vs. "all subscriptions starting in January."

Availability

The created_at field is available immediately for new data export records. Historical data will be backfilled over the next 8+ weeks, so you may see null values for older resources during this period.

Documentation:

For additional details, check out our docs.

We're excited to announce enhanced invoice issuance controls that give you granular control over how invoices are issued for individual customers.

Customer-Level Auto-Issuance Overrides

You can now configure invoice issuance behavior at the customer level, allowing for mixed billing workflows within a single account. Each customer can be set to:

• Inherit from account (Default): Use your account-level setting
• Automatic issuance: Always auto-issue invoices for this customer
• Manual issuance: Always require manual approval for this customer

Retroactive Setting Application

When changing your auto-issuance settings (at both account and customer levels), you now have the option to:

• Apply going forward only: New setting applies only to invoices with an invoice date after the change
• Apply retroactively: Automatically issue all historical invoices that would have been eligible under the new setting

Use Cases

This enhancement enables flexible billing workflows such as:

Enterprise + Self-Serve Mix

• Set account default to manual issuance
• Override self-serve customers to automatic issuance
• Keep enterprise customers on manual review

High-Touch Account Management

• Set account default to automatic issuance
• Override VIP customers to manual issuance for additional review
• Let standard customers inherit automatic behavior

Orb now automatically generates receipt PDFs when an invoice is paid. This includes payments made via auto-collection, through the invoice or customer portal, or when an issued invoice reflects a $0 balance.

Receipt PDFs are:

• Included as attachments in the payment success email.
• Downloadable from the invoice portal, customer portal, and the invoice page in the Orb dashboard.
• Accessible via the API on the invoice resource, with a download link available for each successful payment attempt.

We've added additional columns to the Invoice CSV and Invoice line item CSV downloads from Orb, including:

• Credit note details
• Prepaid credit application amounts
• Pricing currency
• Gross and net line item amounts
• Net invoice amounts

Simplify invoice reporting — reconcile AR and credit notes, track adjustments and prepaid credits all in one place.

⚠️ Action required: If you rely on these CSV downloads for any downstream reporting or integrations, please review and update any dependent queries, scripts, or analyses. The new fields and formatting may affect existing workflows.

Look for it in your Invoices tab, or learn more in our docs.