How Billing works in the Next.js Supabase SaaS kit

The billing package is used to manage subscriptions, one-off payments, and more.

The billing package is abstracted from the billing gateway package, which is used to manage the payment gateway (e.g., Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, etc.).

To set up the billing package, you need to set the following environment variables:

NEXT_PUBLIC_BILLING_PROVIDER=stripe # or lemon-squeezy

Billing in Makerkit

Makerkit implements two packages for managing billing:

1. core: this package is responsible for exporting the billing service and the schema getFontDefinitionFromNetwork
2. gateway: the gateway is a router that handles the billing service and the billing provider (e.g., Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, etc.)

Then, we define a package for each provider:

1. stripe: this package is responsible for handling the Stripe API
2. lemon-squeezy: this package is responsible for handling the Lemon Squeezy API
3. paddle: this package is responsible for handling the Paddle API (Coming soon)

To summarize:

1. core defines the service and the schema
2. the provider's packages define the API calls based on the provider's API
3. the gateway package is responsible for routing the requests to the correct provider

Whatever provider you choose, you need to set the environment variable NEXT_PUBLIC_BILLING_PROVIDER to the provider you want to use. The Gateway Service will then route the requests to the correct provider.

This means you can switch between providers without changing the code. The schema is the same for all providers - but the details of the API calls are different - so some details apply.

Depending on the service you use, you will need to set the environment variables accordingly. By default - the billing package uses Stripe. Alternatively, you can use Lemon Squeezy. In the future, we will also add Paddle.