For shops, salons, clinics, trades and offices
A staff portal, shop and bookings that you own
BackendGen.dev builds the system behind your business: a portal your team signs in to and the records you keep. With Advanced you also get an online shop and online bookings for your website. It runs on your own server, and you pay once, not every month.
- No monthly feesOne licence, unlimited projects.
- Payments go to youYour own Stripe and PayPal accounts.
- Your data stays yoursOn your server, with automatic backups.
- Building for clients?One licence covers client work too.
What you get
Everything below is in the download, as full source code. Turn on only the parts your business needs.
👥 Staff portal
Base
- Owner, manager and staff roles, each person with their own sign-in
- Staff do the day-to-day work; deleting, refunds, prices and exports stay with managers
- An activity log of who changed what
🗂️ Your own records
Base
- Customers, jobs, stock, suppliers: name the lists and the fields you need
- Text, money, dates, phone numbers, drop-down choices and more
- Export to CSV whenever you like
🛡️ Looked after
Base
- Automatic backups every few hours
- A self-test that checks everything works
- Update packages that back up, update and roll back by themselves if anything goes wrong
🛒 Online shop Advanced
For your website
- Products with stock levels, held while a customer pays
- Cards through your Stripe account, and PayPal through yours
- Orders marked sent or collected (the customer gets an email), and refunds in full or in part
- Optional customer accounts to see past orders
📅 Online bookings Advanced
For your website
- Opening hours, and working hours for each person
- Services with their length and a gap after for clearing up
- Confirmation emails with a cancel link, and reminders before the visit
- A calendar for phone bookings, moves, no-shows and time off
🌐 Works with your website Advanced
For the shop and bookings
- Example shop and booking pages to start from
- A JavaScript client and a full list of endpoints for your web developer
- Your website can be built with anything
How it works
The first two steps take minutes. Putting it online takes longer, and the included guide goes through it step by step.
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Pick a starting point
Staff portal, online shop, appointments, shop plus appointments, or start empty. Then fill in your business details and the records you keep.
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Try it on your computer
Download the zip, double-click
start-localand open the portal in your browser. Sign in as the owner and add your team. -
Put it online
Run it on a small server with HTTPS, then connect Stripe, PayPal and your email. Do it yourself with the guide, or hand the folder to your web developer.
Your customers' data stays on your server
Your system runs on a server you choose, in the country you choose. Nothing in it reports back to us.
No telemetry, no licence checks
The backend never connects to BackendGen.dev. It only talks to the services you switch on: Stripe, PayPal and your email provider. If we closed tomorrow, your system would keep running.
Card details never touch it
Customers pay on Stripe's and PayPal's own pages, and the money goes straight to your accounts. Your server only hears that an order was paid.
Locked down by default
Passwords are stored scrambled (scrypt), sign-ins are throttled, and each role sees only what it needs. The activity log records who changed what, never the contents.
Help with GDPR, not a replacement for it
No one else processes the data for you, and exports and the activity log help you answer people's requests. You're still the data controller: you need a privacy policy and a secure server.
Running a clinic? It works well for bookings and the business side. It isn't certified for HIPAA or other health-data schemes, so keep clinical notes out of it unless your hosting and procedures meet the rules where you work.
For developers and agencies
Plain, commented Node.js you can read, change and host anywhere. Building for clients? One licence covers it.
- Node.js 22+ and Express, with SQLite (one database file) and automatic backups
- Roles checked on the server: owner, manager and staff, with an activity log
- Sessions in HttpOnly cookies, scrypt passwords, throttled sign-ins, rate limits and security headers
- An OpenAPI description of every endpoint at
/api/openapi.json, and a JavaScript client for your website - Settings in one file: record types, fields, opening hours and shop options in
business-config.json, no code needed - Update packages that back up, update and roll back by themselves, and a self-test you can run on the live server
# what you download (Advanced, shop + bookings) server.js app.js # starts the Express app lib/ routes/ # auth, roles, shop, bookings portal/ # the staff portal business-config.json # your settings .env # secrets: Stripe, PayPal, SMTP openapi.js clients/ # API docs + JS client examples/ # shop and booking pages self-test.js update.js # checks and safe updates backups/ # automatic copies
Is it right for your business?
An honest answer, before you buy.
A good fit if…
- You want your system and your customer data on your own server, not someone else's
- You'd rather pay once than pay a subscription every month
- You, or someone who helps with your website, are happy to set up a small server
- You want to change how it works later, or have a developer change it
Maybe not if…
- You want everything hosted and run for you, with nothing to set up: a hosted shop or booking service will suit you better
- You need bookings paid for online: bookings show the price and are paid on the day
Pricing
The same licence as the game generator. Unlimited projects and free updates for all of 1.x.
Base
$249
one-time payment
- Staff portal with roles and an activity log
- Your own record types, with CSV export
- Automatic backups, self-test and update packages
Advanced
$449
one-time payment · already own Base? Add the add-on for $249
- Everything in Base, plus:
- Online shop: cards (Stripe) and PayPal, stock, orders and refunds
- Online bookings with emails and reminders
- Customer accounts
Prices are shown in your local currency, exactly as the checkout will charge them. Base is $249, £199 or €229; Advanced is $449, £359 or €409. Prices include VAT for buyers in the UK and EU. Elsewhere, any sales tax that applies is added at checkout, and the checkout always shows the final price before you pay. A 14-day refund applies if you haven't downloaded a backend yet (refund policy). Stripe and PayPal charge their own usual fees on payments you take.
Guides for businesses
Step by step, from the download to a system your team uses every day.
Questions
Is it a subscription?
No. You pay once and keep it, with free updates for all of 1.x and unlimited projects. Your only running cost is your own server: a small VPS from a few dollars a month is plenty for most businesses, and you can try it on your own computer for free.
Does it send any data to BackendGen.dev?
No. The backend you download never connects to BackendGen.dev: there's no telemetry, no licence check and no phone-home in the code. It only talks to the services you switch on yourself: Stripe, PayPal and your email provider. If BackendGen.dev closed tomorrow, your system would keep running.
Where is my customers' data kept?
In one database file on the server you choose, in the country you choose, with automatic backups next to it. Card and PayPal details never touch your server: Stripe and PayPal handle them. Customer passwords are stored scrambled (scrypt), and the activity log records who changed what, never the contents.
Does it make me GDPR compliant?
It helps, but no software makes you compliant by itself. Because the data stays on your server, nobody else is processing it for you, and staff roles, the activity log and CSV exports help you answer people's requests. You are still the data controller: you need a privacy policy, a lawful reason for what you keep, and a secure server.
Can a medical or therapy clinic use it?
For bookings and running the business, yes, and keeping the data on a server you control is often what clinics want. It isn't certified for HIPAA or other health-data schemes, so don't keep clinical notes in it unless your own hosting, contracts and procedures meet the rules where you work. Check with your regulator if you're unsure.
How does it compare with Firebase or Retool?
Firebase is a hosted backend you build an app on, billed by use; Retool is a tool for building internal apps, billed per user per month. BackendGen.dev gives you a finished staff portal, shop and bookings as source code that runs on your own server, for one payment. Our guide compares what each really costs a small business.
Can I build a SaaS with it?
Each download is one business's system (single-tenant): its own server, database and staff. That suits agencies, who can set one up per client under the same licence. It isn't a multi-tenant SaaS starter kit with sign-ups and subscriptions for many businesses at once.
What does it run on?
Node.js 22 or newer, on Windows, macOS or Linux. It's an Express app with a SQLite database, a staff portal served from the same server, an OpenAPI description of every endpoint and a JavaScript client for your website.
Ready to try it?
Try the business generator free with an account: fill in your details and see exactly what you'd get. Buy a licence when you want to download.
Making a game or an app? See BackendGen.dev for games →