Revel — Self-Hosted, Open-Source

Features

• Organizations: Create and manage your community's central hub. Customize its visibility (Public, Unlisted, Members-Only, Private).
• Roles & Permissions: Assign roles like Owner, Staff, and Member, with a granular permission system to control who can create events, manage members, and more.
• Membership System: Manage a roster of members, enabling members-only events and fostering a sense of belonging.
• Advanced Attendee Screening: Gate event eligibility with custom questionnaires. Automatically review submissions or use a manual/hybrid approach to ensure attendees align with your community's values.
• Full Data Ownership: When self-hosting, you control your data. No third-party trackers, no selling of event data. Keep your community's information safe.
• Tailored Invitations: Send direct invitations that can waive specific requirements (like questionnaires, membership or purchase) for trusted guests.
• In-House VAT Calculations: Ticket prices include VAT; net/gross breakdowns are computed at purchase time and persisted on each payment record.
• EU B2B Reverse Charge: Platform fees automatically apply reverse charge for cross-border B2B transactions with VIES-validated VAT IDs.
• VIES Integration: Organization VAT IDs are validated in real-time against the EU's VIES system, with monthly re-validation via Celery Beat.
• Automated Invoicing: Monthly platform fee invoices are generated automatically, rendered as PDFs (WeasyPrint), and emailed to organization owners — with race-safe sequential numbering and idempotent generation.

Installation

git clone https://github.com/letsrevel/revel-backend.git cd revel-backend

Why self-host Revel

Self-hosting gives you three things SaaS can’t: data ownership (the files live on disks you control), cost predictability (a one-time setup vs. recurring per-seat fees that grow with your household or team), and longevity (open-source means the app keeps working even if the maintainers move on, since you can pin a working version). The trade-off is that you take on the operational work of running a server, applying updates, and handling backups.

What hardware do you need

Most self-hosted apps run comfortably on modest hardware — a Raspberry Pi 4, a mini PC, a NAS with Docker support, or a small VPS is usually enough for personal or family use. CPU and RAM requirements scale with how many simultaneous users or how much data you push through Revel. Storage requirements depend on the kind of data you keep; check the README for guidance on data retention.

Where to go from here

• Browse the full self-hosted app directory
• Compare self-hosted alternatives side-by-side
• DevOps roadmap — learn the skills to run your own server