Introduction to Laravel Cashier

Laravel Cashier is a powerful library for handling subscription billing and one-time payments in Laravel applications. It provides an elegant, easy-to-use interface for managing billing services like Stripe and Paddle. With Laravel Cashier, developers can quickly integrate payment processing into their applications, allowing them to focus on creating engaging user experiences.

Benefits of Using Laravel Cashier

Laravel Cashier offers several advantages for developers looking to incorporate billing functionality into their applications:

Easy Billing Integration

Laravel Cashier simplifies the process of integrating billing services with your application. With just a few lines of code, you can set up recurring payments, one-time charges, and more.

Subscription Management

Managing subscriptions is a breeze with Laravel Cashier. It offers an intuitive API for creating, updating, and canceling subscriptions. This makes it easy to handle various subscription plans and manage customer subscriptions.

Invoices and Receipts

Laravel Cashier generates invoices and receipts for your customers, helping you maintain accurate records and provide excellent customer service.

Multiple Payment Gateways

Laravel Cashier supports multiple payment gateways, including Stripe and Paddle, giving you flexibility when choosing a billing provider.

Laravel Cashier Installation and Setup

To get started with Laravel Cashier, follow these steps:

Installing Laravel Cashier

Install the Laravel Cashier package using Composer:

composer require laravel/cashier

Configuring Your Environment

Next, configure your environment by adding your payment gateway API keys and webhook secrets to your .env file:

STRIPE_KEY=your_stripe_key
STRIPE_SECRET=your_stripe_secret
PADDLE_VENDOR_ID=your_paddle_vendor_id
PADDLE_VENDOR_AUTH_CODE=your_paddle_vendor_auth_code

Migrations and Models

Run the migrations to create the necessary database tables:

php artisan migrate

Finally, add the Billable trait to your User model:

use Laravel\Cashier\Billable;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use Billable;
}

Creating Subscriptions with Laravel Cashier

Laravel Cashier makes it easy to manage subscriptions for your application:

Subscription Plans

To create subscription plans, you’ll need to configure them in your payment gateway (Stripe or Paddle). Once you’ve set up your plans, Laravel Cashier can interact with them seamlessly.

Creating New Subscriptions

To create a new subscription for a user, use the newSubscription method:

$user->newSubscription('main', 'plan_id')->create($paymentMethod);

Here, 'main' is the subscription name, 'plan_id' is the plan identifier from your payment gateway, and $paymentMethod is the customer’s payment method.

Managing Subscription Status

Laravel Cashier provides various methods to manage and check the status of subscriptions:

• $user->subscribed('main'): Check if the user is subscribed to a plan.
• $user->subscription('main')->cancel(): Cancel a subscription.
• $user->subscription('main')->resume(): Resume a canceled subscription.

Handling One-Time Payments with Laravel Cashier

Laravel Cashier can also handle one-time payments:

Single Charges

To charge a customer for a one-time payment, use the charge method:

$user->charge($amount, $paymentMethod);

Here, $amount is the charge amount, and $paymentMethod is the customer’s payment method.

Storing Payment Methods

Laravel Cashier allows you to store customer payment methods for later use:

$user->addPaymentMethod($paymentMethod);

You can then retrieve the stored payment methods:

$paymentMethods = $user->paymentMethods();

Working with Invoices in Laravel Cashier

Managing invoices is simple with Laravel Cashier:

Generating Invoices

To generate an invoice, use the invoice method:

$user->invoice();

You can also generate an invoice for a specific subscription:

$user->subscription('main')->invoice();

Customizing Invoice Appearance

Laravel Cashier allows you to customize the appearance of your invoices using custom views. Simply publish the Cashier views and modify the templates as needed:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="cashier-views"

Handling Webhooks for Laravel Cashier

Laravel Cashier supports handling webhook events from your payment gateway. To set up webhooks, first define a route for the webhook endpoint:

Route::post(
    'webhook/{gateway}',
    '\Laravel\Cashier\Http\Controllers\WebhookController@handleWebhook'
);

Then, configure your payment gateway to send webhook events to this endpoint.

Testing Laravel Cashier Applications

Laravel Cashier includes a built-in testing mode, making it easy to test your billing integration. To enable testing, update your .env file with your gateway’s test API keys.

Laravel Cashier Alternatives

While Laravel Cashier is an excellent choice for managing billing in Laravel applications, there are alternatives available, such as Chargebee and Recurly. These services offer additional features and integrations that may better suit your needs.

Conclusion

Laravel Cashier is a powerful and flexible library for managing subscription billing and one-time payments in Laravel applications. With its simple API and support for multiple payment gateways, it makes it easy for developers to create robust and feature-rich billing systems.

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