License management
you actually own.

Stop paying per-seat fees to manage your own software licenses. Keygate is an open-source license server you deploy on your infrastructure — keys, activations, usage metering, payments, all in one place.

Deploy NowStar on GitHub
$docker compose up -d
app.keygate.app
Keygate admin dashboard showing license management, usage statistics and customer overview

Built for real licensing workflows

Not a toy project. Keygate handles the edge cases that break homegrown solutions — concurrent activations, atomic quota enforcement, webhook idempotency, and payment lifecycle management.

Licensing

Every model, one API

Subscription, perpetual, trial, floating — pick what fits. Activation limits per device or user. Grace periods. SHA-256 hashed keys. HMAC-signed tokens for offline verification. Full lifecycle: create, activate, verify, suspend, revoke.

  • 4 license models
  • Device & user activation limits
  • Offline token verification
POST /api/v1/licenses/verify
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "license_key": "KG-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX",
  "fingerprint": "device-abc-123"
}

→ 200 OK
{
  "valid": true,
  "license": {
    "status": "active",
    "plan": "professional",
    "expires_at": "2027-03-24T00:00:00Z"
  },
  "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs..."
}
POST /api/v1/usage/increment
{
  "license_id": "lic_01J...",
  "metric": "api_calls",
  "delta": 1
}

→ 200 OK
{
  "current": 9847,
  "limit": 10000,
  "resets_at": "2026-04-01T00:00:00Z"
}
Metering

Atomic usage tracking

Track API calls, storage, bandwidth, or define your own metrics. Quotas are enforced atomically at the database level with SELECT FOR UPDATE — two concurrent requests will never both pass a limit check.

  • Custom metrics
  • Race-condition-proof
  • Auto-reset periods
Payments

Stripe & PayPal, end-to-end

Customer pays → license auto-provisions. Payment fails → dunning emails fire. Supports checkout, plan changes with proration, cancellations, refunds, and billing portal. You wire it once, it runs itself.

  • Auto-provisioning
  • Dunning & lifecycle
  • Upgrade / downgrade
1
checkout.session.completed

→ Create license + subscription

2
invoice.payment_failed

→ Start dunning sequence

3
customer.subscription.deleted

→ Revoke license, notify user

4
charge.refunded

→ Revoke license, credit customer

Admin

One dashboard for everything

Products, plans, customers, licenses, API keys, webhooks, analytics, audit logs, team management, email templates — managed from a single admin panel with search, filters, and CSV/JSON export.

Keygate vs. the rest

Feature comparison with commercial license management platforms.

FeatureKeygateKeygenCryptlexLicenseSpring
Open Source✓~——
Self-Hosted✓✓——
Floating Licenses✓✓✓✓
Usage Metering✓———
Built-in Payments✓———
Customer Portal✓—✓✓
Webhooks✓✓✓✓
Audit Logs✓✓——
Multi-language✓———

Open source license management for any software business

Whether you sell desktop apps, SaaS subscriptions, API access, or enterprise software — Keygate handles license keys, activations, usage limits, and recurring payments in one self-hosted platform.

Read the docsView source