UniBee is an open-source billing platform for SaaS businesses, covering subscriptions, one-time purchases, and usage-based metering with automated invoicing and Stripe and PayPal gateways. Its documentation positions it as a cost-effective alternative to closed-source options such as Recurly, Chargebee, and Paddle, and teams can run the managed UniBee Cloud or self-host the AGPL-3.0 codebase with Docker or Kubernetes.[1][2][3][4]
Quick verdict
UniBee fits SaaS teams that want subscription billing, real-time usage metering, and invoicing with full data control. The self-hosted open-source plan is free but requires manual setup, while the managed cloud starts at $99 per month as observed in October 2026. SSO scope, data regions, and team-size guidance were not documented in the sources reviewed.[1][2][3]
What UniBee covers
Subscription management handles plans, trials, upgrades, pauses, and subscriber accounts from one central platform.[1]
Real-time usage metering tracks API calls, storage, compute time, or custom metrics for usage-based charges.[1][2]
Flexible pricing supports flat-rate, tiered, volume-based, and hybrid plans with free trials, setup fees, coupons, and discounts.[1]
Automated invoicing generates customizable invoices with tax handling, email delivery, and PDF download.[1]
Lifecycle automation covers trial-to-paid conversion, dunning workflows with smart retries, and renewal reminders.[1]
Gateway integrations include Stripe and PayPal with intelligent routing and fallback options.[1][2]
Integration and deployment
A documented REST API with webhooks supports checkout, payments, subscriptions, and invoicing integrations.[1][2]
Admin and customer portals plus hosted checkout pages are part of the documented workflow.[1]
Self-hosting ships via docker-compose and Kubernetes manifests in the standalone deploy repository.[1]
The backend codebase is written in Go and released under AGPL-3.0, with releases through v1.9.0 in January 2026.[1]
Teams evaluating alternatives may compare Lago, a published open-source billing platform with the same substitutable workflow of usage metering, invoicing, credits, entitlements, and self-hosted deployment.[1]
A good fit when
Your SaaS needs subscriptions, usage-based metering, and invoicing in one billing system with data control.[1][2]
You want the option to self-host billing infrastructure instead of depending only on a vendor cloud.[1][2]
Teams choosing UniBee over a closed-source biller gain open-source self-hosting and a $0 entry plan, which lowers the cost of leaving an expensive or complex incumbent such as Recurly, Chargebee, or Paddle.[1][2]
Limitations and unknowns
Self-hosting the open-source plan requires manual setup and community-only support, per the pricing page.[1]
SSO scope, supported client platforms, data residency regions, and team-size guidance were not documented in the sources reviewed.[1][2][3]
The AGPL-3.0 license carries copyleft obligations that teams distributing or network-serving modified versions should review with counsel.[1]
Teams without operations capacity may prefer a fully managed incumbent over a self-hosted deployment that needs manual setup, and deeply embedded vendor-specific workflows can cost more to migrate than the pricing advantage repays.[1][2]
Questions worth asking
Is UniBee really open source?
How much does UniBee cost?
As observed in October 2026, self-hosting is $0 per month, UniBee Cloud Starter is $99 per month, Business is $399 per month, and Advanced on-premise is custom pricing.[1]
Which payment gateways does UniBee support?
Sources and editorial review
Source research. Reviewed on October 13, 2026. Written by Sanjib Sah. AI assisted; reviewed by a human editor.
We have not run or tested this product.
- UniBee - Subscription Billing and Recurring Payments Software
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Official homepage: positioning, feature list, gateway names, and cloud-or-self-hosted deployment statement.
- Introduction - UniBee Documentation
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Official docs: open-source SaaS billing definition, alternative-to-Recurly/Chargebee/Paddle positioning, and capability/migration coverage.
- Pricing - UniBee
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Official pricing: $0 self-hosted open-source plan, $99 Starter, $399 Business, custom Advanced; manual setup and support tiers.
- UniBee-Billing/unibee-api backend repository
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Backend repo metadata via GitHub API: Go language, AGPL-3.0 license, active releases through v1.9.0 in January 2026.
- UniBee-Billing/unibee standalone deploy repository
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Deploy repo contents: docker-compose.yaml and kubernetes manifests for self-hosting, AGPL-3.0.
- UniBee API Reference
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Official API reference linked from homepage and docs navigation.
- Lago - billing for usage-based pricing
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Competitor homepage evidencing the shared substitutable workflow: metering, invoicing, credits, entitlements, self-hosting.
Compared with these products
No explicit proprietary baseline is recorded.