Building Multi-Tenant SaaS Applications with Laravel

Multi-tenant architecture is essential for modern SaaS applications. In this guide, I'll walk you through the different approaches and best practices.

Database Strategies

There are three main approaches to multi-tenancy:

1. Single Database, Shared Schema - All tenants share tables with a tenant_id column
2. Single Database, Separate Schemas - Each tenant has their own schema
3. Separate Databases - Complete isolation with a database per tenant

Implementation with Laravel

Laravel makes it easy to implement multi-tenancy with packages like Tenancy for Laravel or building your own solution.

// Example tenant scope
class TenantScope implements Scope
{
    public function apply(Builder $builder, Model $model)
    {
        $builder->where('tenant_id', auth()->user()->tenant_id);
    }
}

Best Practices

• Always validate tenant context in middleware
• Use database transactions for tenant operations
• Implement proper caching strategies per tenant
• Monitor resource usage per tenant