Next.js SaaS Boilerplate Comparison 2026

Building a new SaaS in 2026 means choosing from more starting points than ever. The choice matters far more than it appears: the boilerplate’s architecture shapes your codebase for years. Pick one that’s too opinionated and you’ll spend weeks working around its assumptions. Pick one that’s too bare-bones and you’ll rebuild auth and billing from scratch — again.

This comparison covers the major options available today, both open source and paid, and explains honestly who each one is for. We’ve used or reviewed each of these in real projects.

What to evaluate in a Next.js SaaS boilerplate

Before the list, the criteria that actually matter:

• Authentication — working auth out of the box, or configuration required? Session-based or JWT? Multiple OAuth providers?
• Billing — Stripe subscriptions, webhooks, customer portal?
• Database — which ORM? Is the migration story sensible?
• Email — transactional email wired up, or left as an exercise?
• Developer experience — TypeScript throughout, clean folder structure, ESLint/Prettier configured?
• Code ownership— do you own the source outright, or is there a runtime dependency on the vendor’s infrastructure?
• Maintenance — actively maintained? Last commit date?

Open source options

create-t3-app

The most popular starting point in the Next.js ecosystem. T3 bundles Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind, tRPC, Prisma, and NextAuth into a CLI that scaffolds a blank project in under a minute. It’s opinionated about the stack but not about what you build — no product scaffolding, no billing, just architecture.

Best for: developers who know the T3 stack and want a clean blank canvas.

Gaps:no billing, no email, no UI components beyond what Tailwind provides. You’re starting from the architecture, not a product. That’s fine if you want full control, but plan for several days of setup before you’re writing product code.

shadcn/ui Taxonomy

A reference implementation from the creator of shadcn/ui. Uses Next.js App Router, and the UI component quality is exceptional. Technically it’s a showcase rather than a boilerplate, but many teams fork it as a starting point for the component library alone.

Best for: teams who want shadcn/ui patterns and design system baked in from day one.

Gaps: authentication is minimal, no billing wired up. More of a design reference than a production starter — plan to add significant infrastructure yourself.

Paid options

Shipfast

One of the most popular paid boilerplates. Ships with NextAuth, Stripe, Mailgun, and support for both MongoDB and Supabase. Extensive documentation and an active Discord community mean you’re rarely debugging alone.

Best for:solo founders who want something battle-tested that just works and don’t mind adapting to its conventions.

Trade-offs: ships a lot of things you may not need, which adds surface area to understand before making your first change. The MongoDB-first assumption can be awkward if you think in Postgres.

Makerkit

A more structured option with multi-tenancy designed in from day one. Teams, roles, invitations — the B2B data model is already there. Uses Supabase, Stripe, and Next.js.

Best for:B2B SaaS with multi-tenancy requirements. If your product has organisations, seats, and role-based access, Makerkit’s architecture is worth the onboarding cost.

Trade-offs:heavier than most solo projects need. The multi-tenancy abstractions add learning curve. If you don’t need them, you’re carrying complexity you’ll never use.

Supastarter

Focused on the Supabase + Next.js combination. Clean TypeScript, good documentation, auth and billing included. Actively maintained with regular updates.

Best for: teams already committed to the Supabase ecosystem.

Trade-offs:tightly coupled to Supabase. Swapping the backend layer later is non-trivial, so only choose this if you’re confident in the Supabase commitment.

Decidr

Decidr takes a different approach: individual component packs and starter kits sold separately, so you buy only what you need. No monolithic repository to understand before you write your first line.

• The SaaS Starter ships with Next.js, Clerk auth, Stripe billing, Resend email, and Neon Postgres — chosen for developer experience over raw configurability.
• The UI component packs cover onboarding flows, billing pages, auth screens and dashboards as self-contained files you copy into your codebase.

Best for: teams who want production-ready pieces without a monolithic starter they need to reverse-engineer. Particularly strong if you need polished UI fast — the component packs are purpose-built rather than adapted from a generic design system.

Trade-offs:you assemble your stack from pieces rather than starting from a pre-assembled whole. That’s a feature if you have a clear opinion on your architecture; it’s a friction point if you want all decisions made for you.

Side-by-side comparison

How to pick

You want total control and know exactly what you’re building → create-t3-app. Start blank, wire up only what you need.

You’re a solo founder who needs to ship fast → Shipfast. Battle-tested, fast setup, active community.

You’re building multi-tenant B2B with organisations and roles → Makerkit. The tenancy model alone is worth the price.

You’re all-in on Supabase → Supastarter.

You want production-grade auth and billing without a monolith, plus polished UI components → Decidr.

The worst outcome is picking a boilerplate that doesn’t match your architecture and spending weeks working around its assumptions. Before committing, spend an hour reading each option’s source code — it tells you more than any marketing page.