How to build a subscription based SAAS webservice?
What are the tools that you use to build a subscription based web app? For example,
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How to deal with credit card payment (any recommended third party solutions?)
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How to manage membership status?
Or if it possible to use Square Space or WIX to do it?
I have limited web development experience. Every time I think I need to deal with the above problems, I get headaches... I would like to learn more from you.
Thank you.
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I don't think the SaaS (and its payment part) can be done with Wix. Stripe and PayPal already have tools to help developers with integrating their services. Literally speaking, it requires just several lines of code... please check up their documentation.
As for CC: Stripe and PayPal have it, PayPal also has PayPal payments :-) there are other providers like Chargebee, Paddle, and others but I'm not familiar with them.
do you need to build your own membership management system? I am worried about writing it myself will cause a lot of security holes
You don't if you use providers like Stripe, PayPal, Chargebee and others. They do everything for you. All you need to do is just to add several lines to your code that makes using them pretty secure.
For example, in PayPal, to make a call to their API, you first obtain a secure token from them. If something is compromised, you will not get it, therefore, you will not be able to make this insecure call.
thanks, I am reading strip's subscriptions API doc. Do you mean that will store all the customer data for me? like customers'
name, address, subscription status, payment method, ... etc?
so every time when I need to see if this customer is subscribed, I can query the info from the Stripe DB?
Yes, you are right. They store all the sensitive information. You store the subscription id linked to the users. All you need to do is to make a call to their API by this id - you always know the current user because he/she is logged in, you obtain the subscription id and check their status.
this clears it up! btw, do you build your user logging system from scratch? I am thinking to build it via Django and not sure if it's a good idea.
We use the open-source boilerplate https://github.com/saasforge/open-source-saas-boilerpate
thanks!
You are welcome!
I find many of the answers here too "dev-based". I'm not a nocode proponent, but in your case, it may be a good idea to go that route. Start with something like Bubble which will teach you programming PRINCIPLES, and you can later switch to code.
As you start learning, you'll quickly learn about credit card payments, managing memberships and so on.
I mean, I can answer your questions directly (point you to ways to deal with payments, etc.) but at the end of the day building a SaaS involves many parts (logic, integrations) and it seems like taking a general tutorial on a nocode tool like Bubble would be the best idea for you.
Good luck!
will check Bubble out. And I am reading some SAAS building tutorials
First I recommend you create an MVP that validates your ideas, market, clients, etc... for that, try Outseta or Memberstack.
Then, with a number of X clients, dedicate yourself to the deep development of your SaaS.
I just checked Outseta. It's very interesting and probably what I exactly need
Stripe has a pretty solid customer portal for subscription-based offerings. All the backend integration is done with webhooks (notifications for invoices paid and etc.) and some API calls (to get the exact product ordered).
it looks like they have a very good Django integration as well.
So, this question is actually exactly why I created Nodewood (https://nodewood.com/). It's a SaaS starter kit/boilerplate that sets you up with a basic app with user management, subscription management, team management, and an admin dashboard. It's specifically targeted at developers who are comfortable with Node.js and Vue (though Vue is pretty simple to get familiar with, if you're not already), but if you are, you can basically start writing your business code immediately.
Let me know if you have any questions about it, or if you're not clear on how to proceed once the "basics" are figured out, etc, and I'm happy to help any way I can!
this is great! I was also thinking this could be a startup massive opportunity as many people want to start a SaaS company but don't know how
For recurring billing and subscriptions try using Chargebee. They also have free plan where you can use their platform till you process 100k transaction value. Stripe is good for collecting payments during the initial phase but you need a specialised tool to handle all your subscriptions
Interesting they give such a big transaction cap for free.
Checked out Chargebee for once, and for the most part it seems like it offers a lot less than Stripe, unless you pay for one of the monthly plans? On the free plan you'd get the secure checkout, but it looks like it's missing other stuff like multiple payment options or a customer portal (for users to view invoices and manage subscriptions).
Hey @0x_abrar
They provide a few add-ons as a free in the launch plan. You can reach out to their sales reps
As others have mentioned, Stripe is a great way to handle this and you can get setup with the Checkout portal with a couple lines of code or build a more robust, custom solution should you want.
Another option I figured I'd throw in is Paddle, I've used it on a couple products and it's a pretty powerful revenue delivery platform that has a couple additional features over Stripe.
Yes, Stripe looks like has so many magic tricks!
SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software. with software as a service (SaaS) products, you can deploy software hosted on AWS infrastructure and grant buyers access to the software in your AWS environment. You can be responsible for managing customer access, account creation, resource provisioning, and account management in your software
I built a few side projects before but I've never touched payment. that's why i am a bit nervous
Hi (sorry can't see your name),
I have a product that's aiming to address this specific issue. It is helping people approaching starting a saas from the right path. Help them validate the idea first and not get lost with the technical difficulties first.
You can see it here: plygrnd.xyz
If you like I am happy to discuss further and help you launch your idea.
that's cool. I think this is really in demand now!
This comment was deleted 2 years ago.