The Best SaaS Startup Boilerplate in 2026 (Ranked & Reviewed)
I've rebuilt the same SaaS foundation six times across six different projects. Auth, Stripe webhooks, transactional email, database schema, deployment config — every single time, from scratch. After the fifth one I started keeping notes on every boilerplate I tried or seriously evaluated, because there had to be a better way.
There is. But "best SaaS boilerplate" depends entirely on who you are, what stack you're on, and whether you're building a quick experiment or a serious product. This post is my honest, opinionated breakdown of the top options in 2026 — scored on the things that actually matter.
Spoiler: there's no single "best." But there is a best for you, and I'll help you find it.
How I Scored Each Boilerplate
Every boilerplate in this list was evaluated on five dimensions, each scored 1–5:
| Dimension | What it means |
|---|---|
| Stack Modernity | Are the core libraries current? Is the architecture forward-looking? |
| Features Out of Box | Auth, payments, email, DB, multi-tenancy, admin — what ships ready to use? |
| Developer Experience | Type safety, local setup time, documentation quality, code organization |
| Pricing | One-time vs. subscription, value per dollar, license restrictions |
| Community & Support | Discord, GitHub activity, changelog frequency, real users in the wild |
I'm a solo founder and indie hacker. My priorities lean toward one-time pricing, TypeScript end-to-end, and not paying monthly fees before I've made a single dollar. Factor that into how you read these scores.
1. BetterStarter — Best for Indie Hackers on TanStack Start
Score: 4.7 / 5
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Stack Modernity | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Features Out of Box | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Developer Experience | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Pricing | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Community & Support | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
Full transparency: I built BetterStarter. So take my score here with appropriate skepticism. But I'll tell you exactly why I built it and what trade-offs I made.
I got tired of seeing every other boilerplate default to Next.js App Router — a framework that, as I've written about before, has real limitations for full-stack SaaS apps. TanStack Start gives you proper full-stack type safety, first-class server functions, and a routing model that doesn't make you fight the framework every time you add a new feature.
What you get:
- TanStack Start + TanStack Router (not Next.js)
- Better Auth — the most modern auth library for TypeScript apps — pre-configured with social login, magic links, and session management
- Stripe payments with checkout, webhooks, and subscription management wired up
- Drizzle ORM with SQLite/PostgreSQL — type-safe queries, migrations included
- Resend for transactional email
- shadcn/ui component library + Tailwind CSS
- Full TypeScript, Bun runtime
The honest trade-off: BetterStarter is newer than ShipFast or SaaS Pegasus, so the community is smaller. If you need a massive Discord with 5,000 members and 3 years of archived answers, it's not there yet. What it does have is a clean, modern codebase that won't feel dated in 18 months.
Pricing: $99 one-time. No monthly fees. Unlimited projects.
Best for: Solo founders and indie hackers who want the most modern TypeScript stack, hate paying recurring fees, and are building 1–3 serious products.
// Example: Type-safe server function in TanStack Start
// This is the kind of DX you get out of the box
import { createServerFn } from '@tanstack/start'
import { db } from '~/db'
import { users } from '~/db/schema'
export const getCurrentUser = createServerFn({ method: 'GET' })
.handler(async ({ context }) => {
const session = context.session
if (!session?.userId) return null
const user = await db.query.users.findFirst({
where: eq(users.id, session.userId)
})
return user
})
Full-stack type inference. No any. No casting. That's the difference.
2. ShipFast — Best All-Around for Next.js Developers
Score: 4.3 / 5
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Stack Modernity | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Features Out of Box | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Developer Experience | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Pricing | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Community & Support | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
ShipFast is the 800-pound gorilla of SaaS boilerplates. Marc Lou built it, marketed it relentlessly, and it now has thousands of customers and a genuinely active community. If you want social proof and a large support network, nothing beats ShipFast.
What you get:
- Next.js App Router
- NextAuth (now Auth.js)
- Stripe or Lemon Squeezy for payments
- MongoDB or Supabase
- Mailgun or Postmark for email
- Crisp for live chat
- Google Analytics
The honest trade-off: ShipFast is solidly built, but it reflects Marc's personal stack choices from 2022–2023. Next.js App Router has real DX friction for complex SaaS routing, and NextAuth requires more configuration than newer auth options. The codebase is also on the "opinionated toward simplicity" end — which is great for quick MVPs but limiting if you're building something complex.
Also: ShipFast licenses are per-project if you're not on the higher tier. That adds up fast if you're a serial launcher.
Pricing: $169 one-time (one project) or $207 one-time (unlimited projects). Not cheap for what's essentially a Next.js starter — but the community justifies it for many people.
Best for: Developers already invested in Next.js who want battle-tested code and a large community to lean on.
3. Supastarter — Best for Teams Using Supabase
Score: 4.1 / 5
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Stack Modernity | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Features Out of Box | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Developer Experience | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Pricing | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Community & Support | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
Supastarter is the most feature-complete boilerplate on this list. If your checklist includes multi-tenancy, team workspaces, admin dashboard, internationalization, and a blog — Supastarter has all of it, pre-built.
What you get:
- Next.js or Nuxt.js (your choice)
- Supabase for auth + database
- Stripe subscriptions
- Multi-tenant support with team/organization management
- i18n (internationalization)
- Admin dashboard
- Blog with MDX
The honest trade-off: Supastarter is impressive but heavy. If you're an indie hacker shipping an MVP, you don't need 80% of what it offers — and the added complexity will slow you down. It's genuinely designed for small-to-medium product teams, not solo hackers. Also, it's a subscription product (or high one-time), which means you're paying before revenue.
Pricing: Starts at ~$199 one-time for the basic tier, ~$299+ for full features.
Best for: Small teams building a "real company" product where features like multi-tenancy and i18n are actual requirements from day one.
4. SaaS Pegasus — Best for Django/Python Developers
Score: 3.9 / 5
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Stack Modernity | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Features Out of Box | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Developer Experience | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Pricing | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Community & Support | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
SaaS Pegasus occupies a unique niche: it's the best SaaS boilerplate in the Python/Django ecosystem, and it's been around long enough to be genuinely mature. If you're a Python developer who doesn't want to fight against their language, Pegasus is the answer.
What you get:
- Django (Python)
- Stripe subscriptions
- Multi-tenant teams
- React or HTMX frontend (your choice)
- Celery for background tasks
- Complete deployment scripts
The honest trade-off: If you're building with JavaScript/TypeScript, there's no reason to look here. For Python devs, the Django ORM and ecosystem trade-offs are familiar territory. The DX is "Django DX," which is workmanlike but not what modern JS developers would call delightful.
Pricing: $249–$449 one-time depending on tier.
Best for: Python/Django developers who want a production-ready SaaS foundation without switching stacks.
5. Makerkit — Best for Next.js + Firebase Teams
Score: 3.8 / 5
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Stack Modernity | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Features Out of Box | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Developer Experience | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Pricing | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Community & Support | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
Makerkit is well-engineered and the code quality is noticeably high. It has a clean architecture, good TypeScript coverage, and supports both Firebase and Supabase as backends. The developer who built it clearly knows what they're doing.
What you get:
- Next.js App Router
- Firebase or Supabase
- Stripe subscriptions
- Multi-tenant organizations
- shadcn/ui
- Good documentation
The honest trade-off: Makerkit is a subscription product. You pay $299/year or $449/year. That's fine if you're building a stable, long-term product. It's brutal if you're in "throw things at the wall" indie hacker mode and one of your ideas doesn't pan out. You're still paying $25–37/month for a boilerplate you no longer use.
Pricing: ~$299/year (Starter) to ~$449/year (Pro).
Best for: Teams that want a high-quality codebase and are committed enough to justify a yearly subscription.
6. BoilerCode — Best Free/Open Source Option
Score: 3.4 / 5
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Stack Modernity | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Features Out of Box | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Developer Experience | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Pricing | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Community & Support | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
BoilerCode is a free/open-source SaaS starter that covers the basics. It won't wow you, but it costs nothing — which matters when you're pre-revenue. The stack is modern enough (Next.js, Prisma, NextAuth) and the setup is reasonably straightforward.
The honest trade-off: You get what you pay for. BoilerCode requires significantly more assembly than paid alternatives. Features that are one-click in ShipFast or BetterStarter require real configuration time. You also give up the implicit "someone is maintaining this and will fix bugs" guarantee that comes with paid products.
Pricing: Free (open source).
Best for: Developers on zero budget who are willing to invest extra time in setup and accept some rough edges.
7. create-t3-app — Not a Boilerplate, But Worth Mentioning
Score: 3.2 / 5 (for SaaS purposes)
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Stack Modernity | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Features Out of Box | ⭐⭐ 2/5 |
| Developer Experience | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Pricing | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Community & Support | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
Create-t3-app is technically a project scaffolder, not a SaaS boilerplate. It gives you a clean Next.js + tRPC + Prisma + NextAuth starting point with excellent type safety. But it doesn't include Stripe, email, admin, or anything else you need for a real SaaS product.
I'm including it because a lot of developers default to it and then spend 3 weeks adding everything else. If that sounds like you — that's exactly the problem a proper SaaS boilerplate solves. The SaaS starter kit with Stripe and Drizzle built into BetterStarter took that exact T3 pattern and extended it to something production-ready.
Best for: Developers who want a solid TypeScript foundation and are happy to build their own SaaS infrastructure on top.
Head-to-Head Comparison Table
| Boilerplate | Stack | Auth | Payments | Pricing | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BetterStarter | TanStack Start, Drizzle, Bun | Better Auth | Stripe | $99 one-time | Indie hackers, modern stack |
| ShipFast | Next.js, MongoDB/Supabase | NextAuth | Stripe/LemonSqueezy | $169–$207 one-time | Next.js devs, large community |
| Supastarter | Next.js/Nuxt, Supabase | Supabase Auth | Stripe | $199–$299 one-time | Teams, multi-tenant products |
| SaaS Pegasus | Django/Python | Django Auth | Stripe | $249–$449 one-time | Python/Django developers |
| Makerkit | Next.js, Firebase/Supabase | Various | Stripe | $299–$449/year | Teams with subscription budget |
| BoilerCode | Next.js, Prisma | NextAuth | Manual | Free | Zero-budget builders |
| create-t3-app | Next.js, tRPC, Prisma | NextAuth | None | Free | Foundation-only, DIY SaaS infra |
How to Choose: The Decision Framework
Pick BetterStarter if:
- You want the most modern TypeScript stack (TanStack Start > Next.js App Router for full-stack apps)
- You're an indie hacker launching multiple projects and hate per-project licensing
- $99 one-time is easy to justify; $25/month before revenue is painful
- You want clean, readable code you can actually understand and extend
Pick ShipFast if:
- You're committed to Next.js and want a large community and tons of examples
- You've seen it recommended everywhere and trust that social proof
- You're building one focused product, not a portfolio of experiments
Pick Supastarter if:
- Your product genuinely needs multi-tenancy and team workspaces from day one
- You're on a small team (3–8 people) and can afford the higher price
- Supabase is a hard requirement in your stack
Pick SaaS Pegasus if:
- You're a Python developer. Full stop.
Pick Makerkit if:
- You want the highest code quality and can justify a yearly subscription
- You're building something serious enough to pay for long-term maintenance access
Pick BoilerCode/create-t3-app if:
- Budget is zero
- You enjoy the setup process and see it as learning
- You don't mind spending extra weeks assembling pieces
The Real Cost of a "Free" Boilerplate
I hear this all the time: "I'll just use create-t3-app and add the pieces myself." I've done it. Repeatedly. Here's what that actually costs:
- Stripe webhooks: 1–2 days to get right. Signature verification, idempotency keys, handling failed payments, syncing subscription state to your DB — it's not trivial.
- Auth with social login: Half a day minimum, often a full day fighting provider OAuth configs.
- Transactional email: A few hours, but it breaks in production in ways it didn't break locally.
- Database migrations: Drizzle or Prisma, you still need a migration strategy. Another few hours.
Total: 4–7 days minimum to get a "free" boilerplate to feature parity with a paid one. At even modest developer rates, $99–$200 for a boilerplate is an obvious trade.
The question isn't "can I build this myself?" You absolutely can. The question is "should I spend those days on infrastructure, or on the thing that actually makes my product valuable?"
FAQ: Best SaaS Startup Boilerplate in 2026
What is the best SaaS boilerplate for indie hackers in 2026? For indie hackers, BetterStarter is the top choice in 2026. It uses TanStack Start (more modern than Next.js App Router), ships with auth, Stripe, email, and Drizzle ORM pre-configured, and costs a flat $99 with no per-project limits. ShipFast is the runner-up for developers heavily invested in the Next.js ecosystem.
Is ShipFast still worth buying in 2026? Yes, if you're building on Next.js and want the largest community and most documentation. ShipFast has thousands of users, active Discord, and Marc Lou's continued updates. The trade-off is price ($169–$207), a Next.js App Router codebase that has some DX quirks, and per-project licensing on the lower tier.
What's the difference between BetterStarter and ShipFast? The core difference is the underlying framework. BetterStarter uses TanStack Start with Better Auth and Drizzle ORM — a more modern stack with better full-stack type safety. ShipFast uses Next.js App Router with NextAuth and MongoDB/Supabase. BetterStarter is cheaper ($99 vs $169+) and has unlimited projects. ShipFast has a larger community. Full comparison here.
Which SaaS boilerplate has the best developer experience? BetterStarter and Makerkit score highest on DX. BetterStarter's TanStack Start architecture gives you end-to-end type inference from server to client without the workarounds required in Next.js. Makerkit has very clean, well-documented code. Both assume you're a TypeScript developer who cares about code quality.
Are there free SaaS boilerplates worth using? Create-t3-app is a solid free foundation but it's a project scaffolder, not a full SaaS boilerplate — you'll need to add payments, email, and more yourself. BoilerCode is free and more complete but requires significant assembly time. For most indie hackers, the time cost of a free boilerplate exceeds the price of a paid one within the first week.
What's the best SaaS boilerplate if I'm using Supabase? Supastarter is purpose-built for Supabase and the most feature-complete option if Supabase is a hard requirement. ShipFast also supports Supabase as a backend option. Makerkit supports both Firebase and Supabase.
The Bottom Line
Stop spending three weekends wiring up auth and Stripe. The math is simple: if your time is worth anything, a $99–$200 boilerplate pays for itself in hours, not days.
The best SaaS startup boilerplate in 2026 depends on your stack and priorities. For the modern TypeScript developer who wants to ship fast without paying monthly fees, BetterStarter is the right call. For Next.js loyalists who want maximum community support, ShipFast is the safest bet. For teams with real multi-tenancy requirements, Supastarter is the most complete option.
Whatever you choose — choose something and start shipping. The founders who win aren't the ones with the best boilerplate. They're the ones who stopped bikeshedding their tech stack and started talking to customers.
If you want the fastest path from zero to a live SaaS product with auth, Stripe, email, and database all pre-configured, BetterStarter is $99 one-time and you can be running locally in under 10 minutes. That's the pitch. The rest is up to you.