What BTCPay Server does

BTCPay Server is a self-hosted, open-source cryptocurrency payment processor that enables merchants to accept Bitcoin and Lightning Network payments with 0% processing fees and no third-party custody. The core software ties together Bitcoin Core, NBXplorer (a lightweight block explorer), PostgreSQL, and Lightning Network implementations (Core Lightning, LND, or Eclair) into a unified payment processor accessible via web UI, Greenfield REST API, or built-in applications. Native apps include a Point-of-Sale interface (with NFC Bolt Card support), an invoice management system with multi-format export, and a built-in wallet with hardware wallet and multi-signature support. The platform is extensible via a Plugin Builder and 40+ community plugins covering regions (DePix for Brazil), Lightning services (Breez, Blink, Boltz), privacy (Payjoin, Wabisabi Coinjoin), and automation (VendorPay, Subscriptions, Pull Payments), with direct integrations to 25+ e-commerce platforms including WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, OpenCart, and PrestaShop.

The project is not a company but a community-maintained open-source project distributed under the MIT license, supported by the BTCPay Server Foundation, which receives grants and donations from organizations including Tether, Spiral (formerly Square Crypto), OpenSats, HRF, and LunaNode. Go-to-market is community-led and product-led: there is no traditional sales force, and adoption spreads through GitHub, Mattermost, Telegram, documentation, case studies (Namecheap $73M+ BTC revenue, BTC Inc Guinness World Record, Bitcoin Atlantis €115,100 in 3 days), and a global third-party hosting directory. The only commercial monetization primitive is the recently introduced Server Monetization feature, which lets third-party hosts charge users for hosted BTCPay instances — the foundation itself does not capture transaction revenue.

Customers span e-commerce merchants integrating via platform plugins, physical retailers and conference organizers running PoS deployments, freelancers and Bitcoin-native companies, and local Bitcoin circular-economy communities (Bitcoin People in Europe, Bitcoin Jungle in Costa Rica). The platform operates globally with no geographic restrictions, though adoption is strongest within the Bitcoin ecosystem and in regions underserved by traditional payment rails.

Name

BTCPay Server

Legal name

BTCPay Server

Website

https://btcpayserver.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

BTCPay Server is a self-hosted, open-source cryptocurrency payment processor enabling merchants to accept Bitcoin and Lightning Network payments with 0% fees. Maintained by a global volunteer community and the BTCPay Server Foundation, it serves e-commerce merchants, physical retailers, event organizers, and Bitcoin-native businesses.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cryptocurrency Payment Processing

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Crypto Payment Gateways & Checkout APIs (FSADAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Crypto Payments & Stablecoin Settlement Platforms (BPAMAFAL), Invoice, Billing & Subscription Payments (Crypto) (FSADAIAG), B2B Crypto Payouts, Mass Payments & Treasury Disbursements (FSADAIAF)

Keywords

• Cryptocurrency payment processing
• Self-hosted bitcoin payments
• Lightning network payments
• Open-source payment processor
• Bitcoin payment infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: BTCPay Server is an open-source project, not a company. It operates as a community project sustained by donations and grants from supporting organizations and individuals. The software itself is free to use with 0% fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

BTCPay Server is a free, open-source, self-hosted cryptocurrency payment processor that enables merchants to accept Bitcoin and Lightning Network payments directly without third-party custody or processing fees. It provides a full-stack payment infrastructure including invoicing, point-of-sale, wallet management, and a developer API (Greenfield), distributed as community-maintained software rather than a hosted SaaS.

Product overview

BTCPay Server is a self-hosted, open-source cryptocurrency payment processor built as a unified platform around a core payment engine, supplemented by native apps and modular plugins. The core BTCPay Server ties together Bitcoin Core, NBXplorer (a lightweight block explorer), PostgreSQL, and Lightning Network (CLN/LND/Eclair) into a coherent payment processor accessible via web UI, Greenfield REST API, or built-in applications. The platform's native apps include a Point-of-Sale (PoS) app for physical merchants, an Invoice Management system with export and notification capabilities, and a Native Wallet supporting hardware multisig. Plugins extend functionality in areas such as Euro offramps (Bringin), Lightning Network automation (Blink), NFC payments (Bolt Cards), privacy (Wabisabi Coinjoin, Payjoin), payment routing (Boltz atomic swaps), regional payments (DePix for Brazil's Pix), automated payroll (VendorPay), recurring billing (Subscriptions), and e-commerce integrations spanning over 25 platforms including WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, OpenCart, PrestaShop, and others. Server Monetization and the Plugin Builder (introduced in v2.3.0) enable commercial hosting and third-party plugin distribution.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• BTCPay Server Free, self-hosted, open-source cryptocurrency payment processor that lets merchants accept Bitcoin and Lightning payments directly with full custody and 0% fees; distributed as software rather than a hosted service.
• BTCPay Server Point-of-Sale App Built-in Point-of-Sale application for accepting Bitcoin and Lightning payments in physical retail, cafes, and events, with customizable item lists and Lightning support.
• BTCPay Server Plugin Builder Web-based platform and tooling that lets developers visually build, package, and distribute plugins extending BTCPay Server functionality.
• BTCPay Server v2.1.0 Major version release of the BTCPay Server payment processor platform.
• BTCPay Server v2.2.0 Major version release of the BTCPay Server payment processor platform.
• BTCPay Server v2.3.0 Major version release of the BTCPay Server payment processor platform.
• BTCPay Server v2.4.0 Major version release of the BTCPay Server payment processor platform.
• DePix Plugin A BTCPay Server plugin that enables merchants in Brazilian circular economies to accept Bitcoin and Lightning payments, including DePix stablecoin support.

Quantifiable outcome

• Namecheap: $73M+ in BTC revenue processed with 1.1M+ transactions
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration45 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Ark LabscoreTechnology or Integration · 21 October 2025Ark Labs partnered with BTCPay Server to integrate Arkade, Bitcoin's native Layer 2 scaling solution, into BTCPay's platform. This enables advanced financial applications on Bitcoin including stablecoins, lending protocols, and trading platforms within the BTCPay ecosystem.
• BreezcoreTechnology or Integration · 7 October 2025Breez ran the Time2Build 2025 developer challenge focused on integrating self-custodial Lightning Network payments into open-source applications using the Breez SDK. BTCPay Server won a top prize of $3,500 in Bitcoin for their plugin submission.
• BreezcoreTechnology or IntegrationBreez partnered with Ark Labs as a launch partner for Arkade. Breez is also a Lightning Network service provider compatible with BTCPay Server for instant Bitcoin payments.
• Blink.svcoreTechnology or IntegrationBlink (formerly Blink of Malta) provides Lightning Network services integrated with BTCPay Server. The Blink plugin enables merchants to accept Lightning payments with automated currency conversion and settlement.
• LunaNodecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLunaNode provides one-click BTCPay Server deployment as a web hosting provider and is listed as a key supporter of the BTCPay Server Foundation.
• CoincardsminorOthersCoinCards is a supporter of the BTCPay Server Foundation, providing Bitcoin gift cards integration support.
• IVPNminorOthersIVPN is a supporter of the BTCPay Server Foundation, supporting privacy-focused Bitcoin infrastructure.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Breez Technology: Lightning Network infrastructure provider with the Breez SDK and Breez plugin for BTCPay. Partial overlap — Breez supplies Lightning node infrastructure that BTCPay integrates, rather than being a direct payment processor competitor.
• Blink (formerly Blink.sv): Custodial Lightning wallet and merchant services provider with a BTCPay plugin. Comparable as Lightning payment infrastructure but positioned as a hosted wallet rather than a full self-hosted payment processor.

Direct peers

• NOWPayments: Non-custodial crypto payment processor offering APIs, plugins, and invoicing across 200+ cryptocurrencies. Directly comparable in the crypto payment gateway category, though with broader altcoin support and a hosted model.
• CoinGate: Crypto payment gateway supporting Bitcoin, Lightning, and multiple altcoins with fiat settlement and POS solutions. Overlaps with BTCPay in merchant onboarding, e-commerce plugins, and point-of-sale use cases.
• BitPay: One of the largest crypto payment processors, offering hosted merchant tools, fiat settlement, and invoicing. Competes with BTCPay for merchants wanting to accept Bitcoin, but relies on a centralized custody and compliance model.
• Coinbase Commerce: Coinbase's merchant-facing crypto payment processor offering hosted checkout APIs, invoicing, and multi-asset support. Directly comparable as a crypto payment gateway, but operates as a custodial SaaS versus BTCPay's self-hosted model.
• OpenNode: Bitcoin and Lightning-focused payment processor providing hosted checkout, subscriptions, and developer APIs. Closely comparable to BTCPay in Lightning-first orientation but differentiated by being a managed SaaS rather than self-hosted.

Broad incumbents

• Strike: Bitcoin-native payments app and API offering merchant tools, Lightning rails, and global money transfers. Overlaps with BTCPay in enabling Bitcoin payments but operates as a custodial consumer/merchant platform at scale.

Others

• Lightning Labs (LND): Developer of the LND Lightning Network implementation, which BTCPay integrates as one of its supported Lightning node backends. Adjacent infrastructure provider rather than a direct competitor in payment processing.
• BTCPay Server Foundation (the supporting entity itself): The foundation itself is included here as the organizing entity for the project's grants and donations — included as a structural reference rather than a competitive peer.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/btcpayserver
• GitHubgithub.com/btcpayserver
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCpG9WL6TJuoNfFVkaDMp9ug
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/btcpay-server

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BTCPay Server