SaaS Architecture of a Paywalled Database
Hi there,
I am looking to no-code build a small saas (closed membership) in which I have a paywalled database (with airtable). The considered workflow ist this: User visits landing page / signs up / has access to search page / can search database. Concept like this site: https://presshunt.co/
I'd like to build it in this way: https://medium.com/@LjNaumov/the-business-models-of-no-code-carrd-airtable-mvps-6e6ed22b9256
- frontend and hosting provider: Webflow, Bubble etc.
- database and backend: Memberstack (or smth similar); Airtable for database
- payment processor: Stripe
But I saw that webflow has problems with airtable (but has good integration with memberstack); Bubble cant integrate with memberstack but airtable would work perfectly. Do you have any other approach / idea / way for solving this problem?
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I don't believe you need to use a membership plugin with Bubble. It has sufficient code blocks to be a self contained build. There are several starter sites on the shop that provide membership functionality. It also saves you the extra cost of Memberstack. Why do you not want to use Bubble's whole database and structure. It will do everything you need without addons or api integrations. ( Stripe excluded )
Hi @EricD, thanks a lot for your response :) I'd like to have monthly subscription plans and I don't know if that's possible within bubble. If that's not tooo complicated I am open for bubble.
The easiest way would be to setup your membership control on the Bubble side ( there are free full courses how to set up a membership site in Bubble - Google search ) and use Stripe to control the collections through its api. Stripe has really powerful subscription configuration options. You may have less control over dunning ( failed payments and retries etc ) than with a membership plugin but even that may be possible in Bubble now and Stripe might even have upgraded its features since I last looked.
A cheeky way to estimate the capabilities of Bubble would be to ask a freelancer whats possible in regard to your project and to give you a quote. You dont have to accept but at least they should give you some indepth info on what its capable of. Take a look at the courses as well and you can make a relatively well informed decision from there.
There are a couple of good Bubble freelancers on Fiverr, one in the UK is very good.
Thank you very much!! This helps me a lot!!
You need to make changes to the stack, but maybe this tool could work. https://paytable.io/
Hi @hellokfk; what do you mean with "You need to make changes to the stack". What would you suggest? Why :)?
Yes, Paytable is not bad but I don't want to show airtable list as a whole but only make queries on it. A user makes a subscription (monthly subscription for a few dollars) and gets the possibility to make search queries. So the user never sees the whole database, but only the search results.
So basically it's a very simple app. I think I will have a landing page (onepager; domain.com) and an app page (app.domain.com) where he does the searches. Besides that, I think there will be a page for the user's account, where he can see how long his subscription will run, when he will pay, cancellation options etc.
You can do all that with Wix as one-stop-shop.
They have built-in memberships, paid-plans that you can offer to members, backend code and database using Velo (aka wix-code) and of course the website itself using drag-and-drop editor.
The business plan that allows you to charge your customers is ~$18/month iirc.
Personally I find it the best and quickest solution for projects like this.
I even started form-data.com on Wix and only recently migrated away after 2 years on it, and this is much more complicated service.
Disclaimer: I work at Wix. But I wouldn't recommend it if it weren't the right tool in my opinion.
Feel free to rich out directly if you need any help or have questions.
Hi @Danbars, thanks for your message but I want to do monthly subscriptions.
Wix Pricing-Plans is a product that allows you to do exactly that - charge from your members monthly subscription, and in return provide to the access to content or other benefits.
You can create one or multiple plans, like silver, gold and platinum.
I'll be glad to answer any questions.
Watch the Airtable limits. Their API is limited to 5 calls per second per base returning 100 records. If you exceed that you're put into a 30 second time out!
I'm not familiar with this product but this blog post mentions this limit and has some great Airtable development info:
https://blog.syncinc.so/the-complete-developers-guide-to-airtable
Hi @msavage Thanks a lot for this great (and detailed) article. Yes, I also saw this restrictions. For instance I have row with more 100 tags (about 500) is that a problem? I thought about syncing the database every week from airtable to the built-in database of bubble or webflow to maybe bypass such "per seconds" restrictions? What do you think :)?
We have done something similar with typeform and have a working demo exactly with Airtable. Currently it’s not yet merged into main but I am making the pr soon.
We give authentication and payments basing on stripe. Drop me a line (or join our discord server to get support or ask for features.
Hey @1codingwhale; to be honest I watched your demo video and it was too complicated for me. I am not that technical and I think your product is focused on dev's. Thanks anyway :))
I understand it’s not the easiest introduction. However we are happy to work with possibile partners and add the tech part to not technical teams. We are releasing a saas based on typeform exactly these days, so if you still are searching do not hesitate to drop me a line
What is this database all about ?
Hi
I am working on project to create formatted tables from airtable or gsheet, might be an useful plugin on your stack -> table.listws.com
BTW, remove the last ":" on the medium link, it is affecting the link