![Tier open source BaaS Image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dojdzamvk/image/upload/v1761680844/68747470733a2f2f75706c6f6164732d73736c2e776562666c6f772e636f6d2f3631653039303664666232306162326231633739663661662f3633386531373561653335366335346665353761373537395f494d475f383538382e706e67_y4xdwd.png "Deploying Tier on Railway platform”)

Deploy and Host Managed Tier Service with one click on Railway

Tier is a powerful, open-source billing and pricing management platform that helps developers and startups handle subscription billing, usage-based pricing, and payment integrations seamlessly. Available on GitHub, Tier provides a developer-friendly alternative to complex enterprise billing systems like Stripe Billing or Chargebee.

About Hosting Tier on Railway (Self Hosting Tier on Railway)

Why Deploy Managed Tier Service on Railway

Deploying a managed Tier service on Railway provides an effortless experience for developers who want to run advanced billing and pricing systems without worrying about infrastructure management. With Railway’s one-click deployment, you can set up a production-ready Tier instance instantly. It combines the control and customization of Tier with Railway’s automated scaling, updates, and monitoring.

Railway vs Linode:

While Linode demands extensive setup and ongoing maintenance for running Tier, Railway automates everything from database management to SSL setup. You simply define environment variables, and Railway spins up a fully functional Tier environment, saving you time and reducing operational complexity.

Railway vs Vultr:

Vultr gives users infrastructure-level access but requires manual optimization for performance and security. Railway automates deployment and scaling for Tier, ensuring optimal performance with no manual server management.

Railway vs AWS Lightsail:

AWS Lightsail provides powerful features but involves configuring networks, instances, and storage manually. Railway abstracts this complexity, offering one-click Tier deployment and managed databases, making it ideal for developers who want simplicity and reliability.

Railway vs Hetzner:

Hetzner is known for cost-effective servers but requires complete self-management of infrastructure. Railway’s managed platform eliminates this burden, automatically handling deployment, monitoring, and scaling for your Tier billing system.

Common Use Cases

Here are five popular use cases for Tier:

1. SaaS Subscription Management:

Manage recurring subscriptions for your SaaS application effortlessly with Tier’s APIs. Set flexible billing cycles, discounts, and automatic renewals.

2. Usage-Based Pricing:

Enable metered billing for APIs, storage, compute, or any other usage metric. Tier tracks and bills customers based on real consumption.

3. Revenue Analytics and Invoicing:

Automatically generate invoices, collect payments, and analyze your revenue performance using integrated dashboards and reports.

4. Customer Portal Integration:

Allow users to manage their plans, usage, and payment history through an embedded customer portal powered by Tier.

5. Developer Sandbox for Payment Testing:

Run a sandbox environment for testing different pricing models and billing workflows before production deployment.

Dependencies for Tier Hosted on Railway

To host Tier on Railway, you’ll need a PostgreSQL database (for billing data), Node.js runtime (for backend services), and an HTTP server such as Express or Fastify.

Deployment Dependencies for Managed Tier Service

A managed Tier instance automatically provisions these dependencies within Railway’s ecosystem. You only need to set up your environment variables and connect your preferred payment provider (Stripe, Paddle, etc.).

Implementation Details for Tier (Billing Automation)

To deploy Tier on Railway, you’ll need to define environment variables such as:

DATABASE_URL – The PostgreSQL connection string
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY – The Stripe secret API key for payment processing
TIER_SECRET_KEY – Secret key used for authentication and internal API access

Once configured, Railway handles provisioning the runtime environment, networking, and persistent storage automatically.

How Does Tier Compare to Other Billing Systems?

Tier vs Stripe Billing

Tier focuses on open-source flexibility and self-hosted control, while Stripe Billing is a cloud-based SaaS product. Stripe Billing offers a polished interface and advanced automation, but all your data resides on Stripe’s servers. Tier gives you complete control and zero vendor lock-in.

Tier vs Chargebee

Chargebee offers enterprise-grade billing management but comes with higher costs and limited customization. Tier, being open-source, allows total flexibility and is perfect for startups or developers who prefer building custom workflows.

Tier vs Recurly

Recurly provides a powerful subscription management platform but is entirely cloud-hosted. Tier is lightweight, open-source, and self-hosted, making it ideal for developers who want simplicity and independence.

Tier vs Paddle

Paddle simplifies SaaS billing for global payments but offers limited customization for unique pricing models. Tier is API-first and designed for flexible usage-based pricing, making it better suited for technical teams.

How to Use Tier

Deploy Tier on Railway: Click the Deploy Now button and connect your GitHub repository.
Configure Environment Variables: Set up your database and payment provider credentials.
Access the Tier Dashboard: Once deployed, open the Railway-generated URL to access the Tier interface.
Integrate the API: Connect Tier’s REST API to your application backend for billing operations.
Go Live: Start collecting payments, tracking usage, and managing billing with full control.

How to Self Host Tier on Other VPS

Clone the Repository

Clone Tier from GitHub using https://github.com/tierrun/tier.git.

Install Dependencies

Make sure your VPS has Node.js, PostgreSQL, and an HTTP server like Nginx installed.

Configure Environment Variables

Set environment variables such as DATABASE_URL, STRIPE_SECRET_KEY, and PORT for your application.

Start the Tier Application

Run the server with npm start or yarn start. Then, configure Nginx to route incoming requests to your Tier instance.

Access the Tier Dashboard

Open your VPS’s public IP in a browser, complete the setup wizard, and start managing your billing logic.

With Railway, this entire process is automated — you can self-host Tier in one click.

Features of Tier

Open Source and Developer Friendly: Full control and transparency with a modern API-based design.
Customizable Pricing Models: Supports flat-rate, tiered, and usage-based billing structures.
Real-Time Usage Tracking: Tracks and bills based on API usage, storage, or any metric you define.
Automated Invoicing and Payments: Generates invoices and integrates with payment gateways.
Scalable and Secure: Deployed in managed containers on Railway with automatic scaling.

Official Pricing of Tier Cloud Service

Tier is free to self-host. However, if you use Tier Cloud, pricing plans depend on API usage and the number of managed customers. As of October 2025, the Tier Cloud starter plan begins at around $15/month, scaling with your usage volume. All plans support API access, integrations, analytics, and real-time monitoring..

Monthly Cost of Self Hosting Tier on Railway

Self-hosting Tier on Railway generally costs $5–$10 USD per month for the main app instance, plus additional fees for a managed PostgreSQL database. This makes it extremely affordable compared to traditional SaaS billing platforms.

System Requirements for Hosting Tier

Node.js (v18+)
PostgreSQL Database
512 MB+ RAM
1 vCPU minimum

FAQs

What is Tier?

Tier is an open-source billing and pricing management platform that enables developers to automate billing workflows and manage subscriptions with full data control.

How do I self host Tier?

You can self-host Tier by deploying it on Railway or your VPS. Simply configure environment variables and connect your preferred payment gateway.

What are the key features of Tier?

Tier supports recurring billing, usage-based pricing, invoicing, and revenue analytics, with a modern API and privacy-first architecture.

How do I deploy Tier on Railway?

Click the Deploy Now button, connect your GitHub repo, and Railway will automatically provision and deploy your Tier instance.

What are the dependencies for Tier hosting?

Tier requires Node.js, PostgreSQL, and a web server (like Express or Nginx) to run successfully.

What are the common use cases for Tier?

Tier is used for subscription management, API monetization, SaaS billing automation, and payment analytics.

How does Tier deployment on Railway compare to other VPS providers?

Railway automates setup, scaling, and updates for Tier, unlike other VPS services that require manual configuration and maintenance.

What is the difference between self-hosting Tier and using Tier Cloud?

Self-hosting Tier is free and private, while Tier Cloud offers managed hosting, updates, and technical support for a subscription fee.

Where can I find the official Tier source code?

You can access Tier’s source code on GitHub to explore or contribute.