6 Hosted Solutions for SaaS User Management & Subscription
I did a list of boilerplates and frameworks that can help you jump start your SaaS development, if you are using language specific programming language. If you have coding in PHP, Python, Javascript, etc, do check out that list.
But I found a few cool hosted solutions, that are not language-specific, that you can consider in building your next SaaS. These are not application development platform to build the functionalities of your SaaS, but rather they handle a crucial part of any SaaS, subscription and user management. I think those are tricky to handle, especially when you consider about churn and dunning management.
When you get that out of the way, you can focus more on developing the functionalities of your SaaS.
Some would argue to have these function developed in-house. Well, of course it's debatable and I don't really care what people use for their stack. It's more interesting to see what they've built and what they've accomplished.
Anyway, here they are:
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Outseta. Provides a ton of other tools like helpdesk, email marketing, and livechat too. Charges by the number of contacts. They have a free-tier when your users are less than 25. Good enough to get you started. But I think Outseta comes built-in with all the crucial components of any online software business. https://www.outseta.com/
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MemberStack. Marketed to protect web pages on hosted CMS like Webflow, Wix, etc. But is also capable of supporting custom web apps as user management and payment integration. Charges a monthly fee plus transaction fee. https://www.memberstack.io/
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Pabbly. You can subscribe to the Pabbly Subscription individually or the whole suite of products under Pabbly with includes Form Builder, and Email Marketing. They charge a fixed price for the number of users you have. Price starts at $9 per month. https://www.pabbly.com/subscriptions/
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Userbase. It started as a user database solution but now with Add-On option for integrated Stripe payment, you can start to bill your customers. So that puts it on this list. What I like about Userbase is that you get a database for your web app, especially if you are going for JAMstack development. https://userbase.com/
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FastSpring. This is slightly different from the rest because they are a payment gateway themselves. So I believe you can't uses your own Stripe or PayPal with this. But they are well experienced in the financial market, and has been supporting the software industry for ages. https://fastspring.com/solutions/selling-saas/
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SaaSBox. SaaSBox will get you started quickly by handling subscriptions, payments, user management, and others. All that you need to do is build your SaaS with any technology that you prefer. SaaSBox is also flexible to allow design customization to match you marketing pages. Also, it doesn't seems like SaaSBox charges by users but by features and server limitations. You can get started for free without custom domain feature.
https://saasbox.net/
There you go. Do give your feedback and opinion. I believe founders of Outseta and Userbase are also members of IndieHackers.
What kind of people are these guys targeting? For me, as I build my SaaS I’ve been fine spending the time to use the stripe API + zendesk + cobbling together whatever other tool. Just for people who want to get things done faster and are okay with less flexibility?
@Austinpena I'd say this is a very common sentiment. You're technical. You have the skills to cobble together some tools. So why not do that? That's very much the status quo, but does that mean it's the best use of your time? I think these tools all help improve speed to market which gives you more time to focus on building your core product. Developers tend to way over-architect their tech stack and prepare for scale at a very early stage rather than focusing on the tools that will help them build a relevant business most quickly.
Great list and thanks for including Outseta (www.outseta.com) @kidino. I think you hit the nail on the head that the primary and initial benefit of these tools is that they give you more time back to focus on building your core product. Anything that improves speed to market gives you more runway and time to focus on what truly matters as an early stage.