BTCPay Server

What is BTCPay Server?

BTCPay Server is an open source, self-hosted Bitcoin payment processor that lets merchants accept Bitcoin — on-chain and over the Lightning Network — directly into their own wallet. It is non-custodial, so payments settle straight to you with no intermediary taking a cut and no third party holding your keys.

What is BTCPay Server best for?

Merchants, freelancers, and nonprofits who want to accept Bitcoin without paying a processor’s per-transaction fee or trusting a company to custody their funds. It suits people who value sovereignty and privacy and are comfortable running (or paying someone to run) their own server or using a shared community instance.

What can BTCPay Server do?

• Accept on-chain Bitcoin and Lightning Network payments (LND, Core Lightning, Eclair)
• Settle non-custodially into your own wallet — you hold the private keys
• Run built-in apps: point of sale, payment buttons, payment links, and crowdfunding
• Generate, track, and export invoices for accounting
• Plug into 20+ e-commerce platforms including WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, PrestaShop, and OpenCart
• Automate stores through the headless Greenfield API, plus a BitPay-compatible legacy API
• Connect hardware wallets and use multi-signature and SegWit
• Host multiple stores and users on one multi-tenant instance, optionally over Tor

Where does BTCPay Server fall short?

• It is Bitcoin-first. The standard build focuses on Bitcoin and Lightning, so broad altcoin support is limited compared with processors that accept dozens of coins.
• Crypto settles as crypto by default — there is no built-in fiat conversion or payout, so you carry the price-volatility risk unless you add your own off-ramp.
• Upgrades are manual and can trip up non-technical operators, and the interface is less polished than a hosted checkout like Coinbase Commerce.

Is BTCPay Server free?

Yes — BTCPay Server is completely free and charges 0% in processing fees; the code is MIT-licensed. Your only costs are running the server (or using a free shared community instance) and Bitcoin network mining fees, which go to miners, not to BTCPay.

What does BTCPay Server replace?

BTCPay Server is a self-hosted alternative to hosted crypto processors like BitPay and Coinbase Commerce, which typically charge around 1% and settle through their own systems. It also stands in for the crypto-checkout side of Stripe for merchants who specifically want Bitcoin. The trade: you drop the fee and gain custody and censorship-resistance, but you run the infrastructure yourself.

FAQ

Is BTCPay Server open source? Yes. BTCPay Server is released under the MIT License, and the full source is on GitHub. It is genuinely open source with no paid edition or feature gate.

Can I self-host BTCPay Server for free? Yes. The software is free and takes 0% of your payments — you only pay for the server it runs on. You can also join a free shared community instance if you’d rather not host it yourself.

Is BTCPay Server a good BitPay alternative? For Bitcoin-focused merchants, yes — you keep custody of funds and pay no processing fee. BitPay is easier to set up and offers fiat settlement out of the box, so choose it if you want a managed service and don’t want to run infrastructure.

What do I need to run BTCPay Server? A server (self-hosted or cloud) with Docker, enough storage for a Bitcoin full node, and optionally a Lightning node for instant low-value payments. A shared instance removes the hosting requirement entirely.