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Monetization Strategy: SaaS-First with Self-Hosted Licenses

Status: DECIDED
Model: SaaS-first with runtime feature gating (GitLab model)
License: BSL (Business Source License)
Related: Licensing Architecture, ADR-001

SaaS Subscription (Primary)

The primary deployment model for Dev Health is our managed SaaS platform. This provides the fastest path to value with zero infrastructure overhead.

SaaS Billing Flow

User signs up → org created (tier=community)
User clicks "Upgrade" → dev-health-web calls dev-health-ops billing API
dev-health-ops creates Stripe Checkout Session → redirect to Stripe
Stripe webhook → dev-health-ops processes event directly
Organization.tier updated → features gated in real-time
  • Multi-tenant: Shared infrastructure with logical isolation via org_id.
  • Managed: Automatic updates, maintenance, and backups.
  • Self-service: Upgrade/downgrade directly via the web UI.
  • Integrated Billing: Stripe integration is built into dev-health-ops — no external billing service required.

Self-Hosted Licenses (Secondary)

Most users access Dev Health through the managed SaaS platform above. Self-hosted licensing is available for organizations that require full data sovereignty or air-gapped environments.

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    dev-health-ops (BSL)                      │
│                                                              │
│  ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐  │
│  │  License     │───▶│  Entitlements│───▶│  Feature     │  │
│  │  Validator   │    │              │    │  Gates       │  │
│  │              │    │  • tier      │    │              │  │
│  │  • Ed25519   │    │  • features  │    │  @require()  │  │
│  │  • Offline   │    │  • limits    │    │  check_limit │  │
│  └──────────────┘    └──────────────┘    └──────────────┘  │
│                                                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Self-Hosted License Flow

  1. Purchase license at fullchaos.dev
  2. Receive Ed25519-signed license key
  3. Set DEV_HEALTH_LICENSE env var
  4. Features unlock on startup (offline validation)

Why Ed25519: - Fully offline validation (public key hardcoded in binary) - Smaller keys than RSA (32 bytes) - Faster verification - No padding attacks

See Licensing Architecture for full implementation details.

License Tiers

Tier Price Target Key Features
Community Free Individuals, small teams Core analytics, 3 users, 5 repos
Team $29/user/mo Growing teams SSO, API access, webhooks, unlimited repos
Enterprise Custom Large orgs SAML, audit logs, retention policies, SLA support

Feature Matrix

Feature Community Team Enterprise
Core Analytics
Basic metrics (commits, PRs, cycle time) ✅ ✅ ✅
Git sync (GitHub, GitLab, local) ✅ ✅ ✅
Work item sync (Jira, Linear, GitHub) ✅ ✅ ✅
Grafana dashboards ✅ ✅ ✅
Limits
Users 3 Unlimited Unlimited
Repositories 5 Unlimited Unlimited
Organizations 1 Multiple Multiple
Advanced Features
API access ❌ ✅ ✅
Webhooks ❌ ✅ ✅
Investment distribution view ❌ ✅ ✅
Capacity planning (Monte Carlo) ❌ ✅ ✅
Security & Compliance
Email/password auth ✅ ✅ ✅
OAuth SSO (GitHub, GitLab, Google) ❌ ✅ ✅
SAML/OIDC SSO ❌ ❌ ✅
Audit logging ❌ ❌ ✅
Data retention policies ❌ ❌ ✅
IP allowlisting ❌ ❌ ✅
Support
Community (GitHub) ✅ ✅ ✅
Email support ❌ ✅ ✅
Priority support (SLA) ❌ ❌ ✅

Why Single-Repo (GitLab Model)

Dev Health uses a single repository with all code visible, premium features gated by runtime checks.

Rationale

Factor Separate Repos Single Repo (Chosen)
Transparency Enterprise code hidden Users see what they're paying for
Community Can only contribute to "core" Can contribute to all features
Maintenance Two codebases, two CIs, sync issues One codebase, one CI
Trust "What are they hiding?" Full visibility builds trust
Security Obscurity (weak) BSL + license enforcement (strong enough)

Revenue Model

Primary Revenue

  1. SaaS subscriptions — Per-seat pricing via Stripe (primary revenue driver)
  2. Support contracts — Enterprise SLA agreements
  3. Self-hosted license keys — Team and Enterprise deployments

Secondary Revenue

  1. Professional services — Setup, migration, training
  2. Custom development — Feature requests, integrations
  3. Training — Engineering effectiveness workshops

Implementation Roadmap

Phase 1: License Validation (Complete)

  • [x] Research license patterns (GitLab, Coder, tldraw)
  • [x] Document licensing architecture
  • [x] Implement LicenseValidator service
  • [x] Implement get_entitlements() API
  • [x] Add @require_feature() decorator
  • [x] License generation CLI (admin licenses create)

Phase 2: Feature Gating (In Progress)

  • [x] Gate SSO endpoints by tier
  • [x] Gate API access by tier
  • [x] Implement user/repo limits
  • [ ] Add upgrade prompts in UI

Phase 3: Billing Integration (Complete)

  • [x] Stripe integration for SaaS built into dev-health-ops (primary billing path)
  • [x] Self-service subscription management (upgrade/downgrade/cancel)
  • [x] License key purchase flow (self-hosted)
  • [ ] Usage-based metering (optional)