Self-hosted license server: signed keys, seat limits, secure downloads — no platform cut.
Developers rent API docs, monitoring, secrets and webhook plumbing by the month for side projects that earn nothing yet. Self-hosted pay-once utilities cost less than one month of the SaaS they replace.
The tool this job usually means renting is Keygen, at from $99/mo — roughly $1,188 a year, every year. Keymaster does the job for a one-time $129 — running on infrastructure you control.
KM1.
For developers, ed25519-signed keys pays off while you're shipping, not managing vendor accounts — and it's covered by the same one-time $129, not metered per month.
Activation API with machine fingerprints, idempotent re-activation, deactivate to free a seat, signed activation receipts for offline runs. Stable, versioned /api/v1.
For developers, seat limits & fingerprints pays off while you're shipping, not managing vendor accounts — and it's covered by the same one-time $129, not metered per month.
Zero-dependency Node and browser/WebCrypto verifiers ship in the repo, and the key format is documented byte-for-byte so you can port it to any language.
For developers, offline validation snippets pays off while you're shipping, not managing vendor accounts — and it's covered by the same one-time $129, not metered per month.
One-time $129 for the packaged, ready-to-run version with a Windows installer and priority support.
docker compose up on a $5 VPS, then drop the 20-line verification snippet into your app with your public key embedded at build time.
Issue or bulk-issue licenses from the dashboard, wire the webhook into Stripe or Whop, and let customers download through expiring signed URLs.
Keymaster is $129, once. Keygen at from $99/mo — roughly $1,188 a year, every year. Against Keygen's $99/mo entry tier, Keymaster pays for itself in about 6 weeks. Against Gumroad's 10% cut, it pays for itself on your first ~$1,300 of sales.
Against Keygen's $99/mo entry tier, Keymaster pays for itself in about 6 weeks. Against Gumroad's 10% cut, it pays for itself on your first ~$1,300 of sales. Keymaster costs $129 once; Keygen charges from $99/mo — about $1188 a year. For developers, that fixed cost is the whole point: the tool is a one-time line item, not a monthly one.
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/keymaster-mvp, always. $129 buys the packaged installer, updates and priority support. We dogfood it: the onetime-suite's own premium tiers run on Keymaster.
No — and the docs say so upfront. An offline check proves a key is authentic and unexpired; it can't see revocations or seat counts. The shipped snippets show the recommended hybrid: verify offline instantly, check in online periodically, apply a grace period.