Ask HN: Built my own license key system, now facing the pricing dilemma
9 comments
I feel like license management tools are following a similar trajectory to Project Management tools from 10 years ago, where every half decent developer figured they could just roll it up themselves after taking a look on the market and decided they could do better / faster / cheaper (I'm speaking from experience as the founder of LicenseSpring.com).
Just ahead-up, new offers seem to appear in this space every 4-5 months, such as https://batchkeys.com, https://keyforge.dev/, schematic. Then there's the older players in this space, including keygen.sh, license4j, Labs64, Softwaredna, keyzy, etc. etc. Some grind it out for a while, others pivot.
And even at $20 / month, it doesn't seem to discourage new entrants in the market. Vibe coding seems to be making it easier than even to launch these sorts of services.
Anyway, I'm not going to suggest not to reinvent the wheel like so many others have (including myself), but be aware that it is a crowded space at every price point (even free / open source).
And even at $20 / month, it doesn't seem to discourage new entrants in the market. Vibe coding seems to be making it easier than even to launch these sorts of services.
Anyway, I'm not going to suggest not to reinvent the wheel like so many others have (including myself), but be aware that it is a crowded space at every price point (even free / open source).
The DIY temptation is definitely strong . I’m planning to grind it out for a bit and hopefully find a meaningful edge.
From what I’ve seen traditional license management feels a bit dated, especially since so many desktop and gated apps seem to have pivoted toward subscriptions or usage-based models.
Curious how things are evolving in that area from your experience, is the market still strong for classic license keys, or has it shifted more heavily toward SaaS style licensing?
From what I’ve seen traditional license management feels a bit dated, especially since so many desktop and gated apps seem to have pivoted toward subscriptions or usage-based models.
Curious how things are evolving in that area from your experience, is the market still strong for classic license keys, or has it shifted more heavily toward SaaS style licensing?
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I was in the same situation, and considered https://keygen.sh, but realized implementing one myself is probably faster than trying to integrate a third-party platform.
So, I ended up creating my own system, quite simple, in Node.js + MongoDB, and then I can add whatever integrations I need (currently I only needed Paddle).
So, I ended up creating my own system, quite simple, in Node.js + MongoDB, and then I can add whatever integrations I need (currently I only needed Paddle).
Yup, I was in the same situation but ended up adding a lot of features over time and thought, hey, maybe this could turn into something bigger. If you don’t mind, would you be open to taking a quick look and sharing your thoughts or feedback?
I don't have much to say, because I didn't like the keygen model either, and I usually prefer having all my customer data in one platform that I control.
In my experience, I had more issues with third-party licensing systems, than a self-hosted one where I have control over. If I need to store some extra data, or add some extra checks for the license, I can simply edit the code and it works.
In my experience, I had more issues with third-party licensing systems, than a self-hosted one where I have control over. If I need to store some extra data, or add some extra checks for the license, I can simply edit the code and it works.
Hey heads-up, your landing page defaults to a serif browser font, not sure if intended!
Not intended, thanks for the heads up. And regarding my post, if this is something you would use, feedback would be appreciated.
Driven by that frustration (and maybe a bit of NIH syndrome), I decided to roll my own: https://keymint.dev
It handles key generation, validation, and some basic management. It scratched my own itch, and frankly, building it was a fun challenge, touching on aspects seen in many HN discussions over the years – crypto security (Generating Cryptographically Secure License Keys), management (Ask HN: How do you manage license keys?), and the general complexities involved.
Now comes the ironic part. After sinking significant time into making it robust, I'm considering putting a price tag on it to support ongoing development and hosting. And suddenly, I feel like I'm becoming the very thing I initially reacted against.
Looking through past HN threads about license keys confirms this isn't a simple problem:
So, before I go down the path of potentially becoming "another expensive licensing service," I wanted to put keymint.dev out to the HN community.
I'd genuinely appreciate it if some of you would be willing to kick the tires:
You can sign up and try it out at: https://keymint.dev
I'm here to answer questions and looking forward to any feedback – harsh or kind! I want to see if this thing I built actually provides value before figuring out how to sustain it without repeating the cycle I disliked.
Thanks!