Multi-Tenant SaaS in Laravel: A Practical, Step-by-Step Implementation Guide (2026 Edition)

The Prime Question: What Level of Isolation?

Before writing any code, choose your philosophy — one that is often disguised as infrastructure decisions:

• Level 1 — Shared database + tenant_id column
• Level 2 — Shared database + separate schema per tenant
• Level 3 — Dedicated database per tenant

Laravel supports all three approaches, but the complexity increases exponentially. For ~90% of SaaS startups:

Shared database with tenant_id is the most rational and maintainable choice.

1. Core Tenant Data Model

Every multi-tenant system begins with a tenants table.

Schema::create('tenants', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('name');
    $table->string('slug')->unique();
    $table->string('domain')->nullable(); // for custom domains
    $table->json('settings')->nullable();
    $table->timestamps();
});

Then, almost every tenant-scoped table should include:

$table->foreignId('tenant_id')->index();

Yes — it’s repetitive. Yes — automation (or a package) helps a lot.

2. Tenant Resolution Middleware (The Brainstem)

Every incoming request must quickly answer: Which tenant is this?

Subdomain-based tenant detection example

class IdentifyTenant
{
    public function handle($request, Closure $next)
    {
        $host = $request->getHost(); // e.g. tenant1.app.com
        $subdomain = explode('.', $host)[0];
        $tenant = Tenant::where('slug', $subdomain)->firstOrFail();

        app()->instance('tenant', $tenant);

        return $next($request);
    }
}

Register it in Kernel.php. Now anywhere in your app:

$tenant = app('tenant');

3. Global Tenant Scope (Prevent Data Leaks)

This is non-negotiable for security.

class TenantScope implements Scope
{
    public function apply(Builder $builder, Model $model)
    {
        if ($tenant = app('tenant')) {
            $builder->where('tenant_id', $tenant->id);
        }
    }
}

Attach to models:

protected static function booted()
{
    static::addGlobalScope(new TenantScope);
}

Result: Every query is automatically tenant-scoped → you eliminate ~80% of accidental data-leak risks.

4. Tenant-Aware Authentication

Users often belong to multiple tenants (agencies, consultants, enterprise teams).

Use a pivot table:

tenant_user
- tenant_id
- user_id
- role

public function tenants()
{
    return $this->belongsToMany(Tenant::class)->withPivot('role');
}

5. Feature Flags per Tenant

Store plan & feature settings directly in settings JSON:

{
  "plan": "pro",
  "features": {
    "api": true,
    "exports": false
  }
}

Simple helper:

function tenantFeature($key) {
    return data_get(app('tenant')->settings, "features.$key", false);
}

Usage:

if (!tenantFeature('exports')) abort(403);

6. Multi-Database Tenancy (When Needed)

config(['database.connections.tenant.database' => $tenant->db_name]);
DB::purge('tenant');
DB::reconnect('tenant');

This pattern powers packages like stancl/tenancy. Use for enterprise isolation, GDPR/HIPAA compliance, etc.

7. Tenant-Specific Migrations & Seeders

For schema/DB-per-tenant:

php artisan tenants:migrate

Under the hood example:

foreach (Tenant::all() as $tenant) {
    switchTenantDB($tenant);
    Artisan::call('migrate', ['--database' => 'tenant']);
}

8. Queue, Cache, and Storage Isolation

Cache

Cache::tags(['tenant:' . $tenant->id])->put(...);
// or prefix
config(['cache.prefix' => "tenant_{$tenant->id}"]);

Queues

dispatch(new SendReport($tenant->id));

Storage

storage/app/tenants/{tenant_id}/uploads

9. SaaS Billing Architecture (Stripe-Friendly)

Track usage in a tenant_usage table:

• users_count
• api_calls
• storage_bytes

Sync nightly → Stripe metered billing. Laravel Cashier makes this surprisingly straightforward.

10. Scaling Laravel Multi-Tenant Systems

• Phase 1 (0–1k tenants): Shared DB + tenant_id + Redis
• Phase 2 (1k–50k tenants): DB sharding by tenant ranges + read replicas
• Phase 3 (Enterprise): Dedicated DB per tenant + dedicated workers/queues

Most startups begin multi-tenant and later offer dedicated instances for big customers — the opposite of Netflix’s journey.

11. Laravel Multi-Tenancy Packages (Reality Check 2026)

Recommended packages:

• stancl/tenancy — Gold standard, most modern, actively maintained, feature-rich
• spatie/laravel-multitenancy — Lightweight, excellent bare-bones philosophy
• tenancy/tenancy — Older but still powerful in some legacy setups

For most new projects in 2026: start with stancl/tenancy.

Philosophical Engineering Insight

Multi-tenancy in Laravel is not merely middleware + migrations.

It is encoding your business model into runtime topology:

• Free users → shared DB
• Pro users → priority queues
• Enterprise → private databases

Your schema literally becomes your pricing page — written in SQL and PHP.