How to accept UPI payments for your online community

Why UPI matters for Indian members

UPI is how most people in India pay online. Many members don't have an international card, and some cards decline recurring foreign charges. If your checkout only takes cards, you lose people at the last step.

Razorpay supports UPI, Indian debit and credit cards, netbanking and wallets in one checkout, and handles subscriptions in INR.

Your options

• Telegram or WhatsApp group tools that take UPI. Fine for a chat group, but there's no classroom, calendar or leaderboard.
• A hosted community platform plus a separate payment tool. Works, but you glue two systems together and pay both.
• A self-hosted community with Razorpay built in. OpenEscool sends INR plans to Razorpay and everything else to Stripe, and grants access automatically.

How it works in OpenEscool

1. Create a Razorpay account and finish its KYC so you can accept live payments.
2. Add your Razorpay key ID and secret to the server's .env file and run php artisan optimize. (Keys stay on your server; they're never sent to the browser.)
3. Add a webhook in the Razorpay dashboard pointing to https://yourdomain.com/webhooks/razorpay, with the subscription and payment events listed in the payments guide.
4. Create an INR plan in your community's Revenue page: monthly, yearly or one-time.
5. Switch the community to Paid. Members who already joined keep their access.

INR and international plans side by side

You can offer both in the same community. A ₹999 a month plan goes through Razorpay, and a $49 a month plan goes through Stripe. Members pick the plan that suits them. If Razorpay keys aren't set, INR plans go through Stripe instead.

Renewals and failed payments

Access is granted as soon as a payment succeeds and removed when a subscription ends. If a renewal fails, the member keeps access for a 3-day grace period while the payment is retried. An hourly job also ends any subscription whose paid period is over, in case a webhook is missed. Members get an email receipt for each payment.

Fees

Razorpay charges its standard fee per transaction; see Razorpay pricing for current rates. OpenEscool adds no fee on top.

Checklist

• Razorpay account activated (KYC done)
• Keys in .env, then php artisan optimize
• Webhook added with the listed events
• INR plan created; test it with Razorpay test keys first
• Community switched to Paid

New to self-hosting? Start with the install guide, or read why OpenEscool is a Skool alternative for Indian creators.