Lightning Paywall

The Bitcoin Lightning paywall
for your own website.

Lock any content behind AES-256 encryption. Unlock it with a Lightning payment. One script tag — no platform, no processor, no buyer accounts, no chargebacks.

Payments settle to your own wallet in seconds. You keep ~99%.

A paywall with no middleman in it

A traditional paywall is a promise: a platform holds your content, takes the payment, keeps a cut, and pays you later — if its rules still allow it. A Lightning paywall is a mechanism: your content is encrypted on your page, and the buyer's payment is the key.

Encrypted in the page

Your content ships AES-256-GCM encrypted, embedded right in your HTML. Scrapers, bots, and view-source see ciphertext. How encrypted delivery works.

Paid with a QR code

The buyer scans a Lightning invoice with any wallet and pays in seconds. No signup, no email, no card form — nothing to abandon at checkout.

Decrypted in the browser

On payment confirmation, the content decrypts client-side and renders in place. The payment is the key. No servers deliver your files; nobody can revoke access to your revenue.

Why creators choose Lightning over credit cards

Credit card rails were built for department stores in the 1970s. Lightning was built for the internet — and for exactly the kind of small, frequent, private purchases content creators live on.

Keep ~99% of every sale

Platforms take 20%. Adult-friendly processors take 10–15%. PrivaPaid charges a flat subscription and zero transaction fees. See the fee math.

Zero chargebacks

Lightning payments are final on settlement. No issuing bank can claw back money you already earned — in categories where chargebacks run 5–7x average.

Micropayments that work

Card minimums make a $0.50 sale impossible. Lightning makes it profitable. Sell a single photo, one article, one song — price by the piece, the channel, or the hour.

Real buyer privacy

No name on a statement, no purchase history in a database waiting to leak. Privacy isn't a premium feature here — it's the default. Why that matters.

Built for creators who sell direct

If you make digital content and want to sell it from your own site — instead of renting an audience from a platform — a Lightning paywall fits.

Video & adult creators

Sell per clip or per channel without giving 20% to a platform — or your account's fate to a card network. Recently deplatformed? Start here.

Writers & journalists

Charge per article instead of demanding a subscription nobody finishes. Readers pay cents, you keep nearly all of it, and nobody tracks who read what.

Musicians, educators & podcasters

Sell tracks, courses, bonus episodes, or timed access to a feed — from your own page, with instant settlement and no platform between you and your fans.

Lightning paywall FAQ

A Lightning paywall locks content on your website until a visitor pays with Bitcoin over the Lightning Network. With PrivaPaid, the content is AES-256 encrypted in the page itself; when a buyer scans a Lightning QR code and pays, it decrypts right in their browser. No account, no checkout form, no card details.

Three steps: set up a self-custodial Lightning wallet like Alby Hub, register on SatsRail, and drop a single script tag on your page. It works on any site where you can edit the HTML — no backend, no plugin, no platform migration. Follow the setup guide.

Credit card processors charge 3–10% plus chargeback risk; adult-content processors charge 10–15%; platforms like OnlyFans take 20%. PrivaPaid charges a flat subscription with zero transaction fees — you keep roughly 99% of every sale, and there is a free tier to start.

Buyers need a Lightning wallet with some Bitcoin in it, but that's easier than it sounds: most major exchanges support Lightning withdrawals, and mobile wallets take minutes to set up. Hundreds of millions of people already hold Bitcoin on Lightning-enabled platforms.

Yes. A Lightning payment is final the moment it settles — there is no issuing bank to reverse it. For creators in categories where chargeback rates run 5–7x the e-commerce average, this alone often pays for the switch.

Anything digital and legal: videos, photo sets, articles, music, podcasts, courses, downloads, even live links. You can sell per piece, per channel, or by timed access. Adult content is allowed — see the creators page for selling models.

One script tag away from selling direct.

Your content, encrypted on your page. Your money, in your wallet, in seconds.