Deploy and Host self hosted UniBee (Open-Source Subscription Billing Platform) on Railway

UniBee is an open-source, gateway-agnostic subscription billing platform built for SaaS businesses. It handles recurring payments, subscription lifecycle management, automated invoicing, dunning recovery, usage-based billing, and global tax automation — all without locking you into a single payment provider. UniBee is a self-hosted alternative to Recurly, Chargebee, and Paddle.

About Hosting UniBee open-source software on Railway (self hosted UniBee template)

Self hosting UniBee means your billing data, subscription records, invoices, and payment configurations stay entirely on infrastructure you control. There is no dependency on third-party SaaS billing providers that may impose transaction fees or data residency restrictions. With Railway, all infrastructure complexity is handled automatically — service provisioning, private networking, persistent volumes, and database initialization run on each deploy.

Why Deploy UniBee, the Chargebee alternative on Railway (Railway Free Trial)

Instead of paying monthly platform fees on services like Chargebee or Recurly, you can run your own billing instance with full control. On Railway, the UniBee self hosting cost stays transparent, you only pay for what you use, and the base software is always free. Plus, Railway gives every new user a $5 free trial when signing up with GitHub, making it easy to test the full billing stack before committing.

Railway vs Other Hosting Providers and VPS for UniBee self hosting

Common Use Cases for hosted UniBee

Here are common use cases for the open-source billing platform:

• Managing recurring subscriptions with flat-rate, tiered, volume-based, per-seat, and usage-based pricing models for SaaS products.
• Automating invoice generation with professional templates, PDF delivery, and email notifications to customers.
• Connecting multiple payment gateways simultaneously — Stripe, PayPal, and local payment methods — without vendor lock-in.
• Recovering failed payments through intelligent dunning with automated retry logic and customer lifecycle management.
• Tracking revenue analytics including MRR, ARR, churn rate, LTV, and cohort analysis through built-in dashboards.

Dependencies for UniBee Docker hosted on Railway

When hosting UniBee on Railway, you need MySQL for billing data and subscription records, and Redis for caching and session management.

Deployment Dependencies for Managed UniBee Service (OSS Billing Platform)

A managed UniBee service on Railway requires MySQL 8, Redis, and four application services: API server, Admin Portal, User Portal, and License API.

Implementation Details for UniBee (Using UniBee official docker images)

This template runs official UniBee Docker images (v1.9.0) with Railway's managed infrastructure. The API service runs on port 8088 with a custom entrypoint that generates config.yaml for MySQL and Redis connections. The Admin Portal runs on port 8081, User Portal on port 8082, and License API on port 8083. Key envs include DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_DATABASE, REDIS_HOST, REDIS_PORT, and REDIS_PASSWORD for infrastructure connections. Schema initialization runs automatically on first deploy.

How does UniBee compare against other Subscription Billing platforms

UniBee vs Chargebee (Chargebee Alternative)

• Gateway Freedom: Chargebee limits gateway choices and charges revenue-based fees. UniBee is gateway-agnostic, connecting any payment provider with zero platform fees.
• Self Hosting: UniBee can be fully self hosted for complete data ownership, while Chargebee is SaaS-only with no self-hosting option.

UniBee vs Recurly (Recurly Alternative)

• Cost Model: Recurly charges based on revenue volume with platform fees. UniBee is open source and free to self host, you only pay for infrastructure.
• Flexibility: UniBee supports any payment gateway combination, while Recurly ties you to supported processors.

UniBee vs Stripe Billing (Stripe Billing Alternative)

• Multi-Gateway: Stripe Billing only works within the Stripe ecosystem. UniBee connects Stripe, PayPal, and local payment methods simultaneously.
• Data Ownership: With UniBee, billing data stays on your servers. Stripe controls your data within their platform.

UniBee vs Paddle (Paddle Alternative)

• Merchant of Record: Paddle acts as the merchant of record, taking a revenue cut. UniBee gives you direct merchant relationships with zero platform commission.
• Open Source: UniBee is fully open source under AGPLv3 with 25+ integrations including Mixpanel, HubSpot, and Zapier, while Paddle is closed-source SaaS.

How to use UniBee (the OSS Subscription Billing platform)?

You can start configuring subscription plans, connecting payment gateways, and managing customers immediately after deploying, with full flexibility through the UniBee admin portal and REST API.

How to self host UniBee on other VPS Services (UniBee self hosting guide)

Clone the Repository

Download UniBee from GitHub.

Install Dependencies

Ensure your VPS has Docker and Docker Compose installed. UniBee requires MySQL and Redis as backing services.

Configure Environment Variables

Set up database credentials and environment variables such as:

• DB_HOST
• DB_USER
• DB_PASSWORD
• DB_DATABASE
• REDIS_HOST
• REDIS_PASSWORD for your infrastructure services.

Start the UniBee Application

Run docker-compose up -d to start all services and expose ports 8088 (API), 8081 (Admin), and 8082 (User Portal) through your firewall or reverse proxy.

Official Pricing of UniBee (UniBee pricing)

The open-source UniBee edition is free to self host under the AGPLv3 license. There are no platform fees, revenue cuts, or per-transaction charges. Cloud plans start at $99/month (Starter) and $399/month (Business) for managed hosting with premium support. Self hosting on Railway is significantly cheaper than cloud plans.

UniBee cloud vs self hosted comparison (Pricing, features, costs, and more)

UniBee cloud offers convenience with managed hosting and premium support, while self hosted UniBee gives full control, lower cost, and flexibility to customize billing logic. Self hosting on Railway is significantly cheaper than cloud plans.

Monthly cost of self hosting UniBee on Railway

The UniBee self hosting cost on Railway is typically $5-$15/month depending on usage volume. This covers MySQL, Redis, and all four application services — with no platform fees or revenue cuts on top.

System Requirements for Hosting UniBee on a VPS

UniBee requires a server with at least 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, and sufficient storage for MySQL data, with Docker and Docker Compose installed for deployment.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is UniBee self hosted?

UniBee self hosted means running the open-source version of UniBee on your own server (like Railway, VPS, or Docker) instead of using UniBee Cloud. This gives you full data ownership, no platform fees, and complete control over your billing logic.

How much does UniBee self hosting cost on Railway?

The UniBee self hosting cost on Railway is typically $5-$15/month depending on usage, covering all infrastructure with no platform fees or revenue-based charges.

Is UniBee free to use?

Yes, UniBee is open source and free to self host under the AGPLv3 license. You only pay for infrastructure (like Railway or VPS).

What pricing models does UniBee support?

UniBee supports flat-rate, tiered, volume-based, usage-based, per-seat, add-on, and free trial pricing models. You can combine multiple models for hybrid billing setups and configure discounts, coupons, and promotional pricing.

What payment gateways does UniBee support?

UniBee is gateway-agnostic and supports Stripe, PayPal, Changelly, Payssion, and local payment methods simultaneously. You can connect multiple gateways without vendor lock-in, plus 3,000+ integrations via Zapier.

Where can I download UniBee?

You can get UniBee from the official UniBee GitHub repository or deploy it on Railway with one click using our template.