Which SaaS boilerplate should a founder start with in 2026?

A SaaS boilerplate is a bet. You're betting that the infrastructure choices someone else made — auth provider, payment processor, database, email service — align with what your product needs. When the bet pays off, you save weeks. When it doesn't, you spend weeks undoing it. Here's what the current options actually include.

Quick answer: Shipfast ($199 one-time) is the most widely used paid SaaS boilerplate in 2026 with 30,000+ makers and strong community support. For free, create-t3-app gives you a type-safe Next.js stack with auth and database — you build the SaaS layer yourself.

Shipfast — The most battle-tested paid boilerplate

Shipfast (by Marc Lou) is the most widely used paid SaaS boilerplate in 2026. It includes Next.js, Supabase or MongoDB for auth and database, Stripe or Lemon Squeezy for payments, Resend for email, SEO components, and a landing page template. The one-time price ($199) buys you a GitHub repository and lifetime updates. The community is large (30,000+ makers) which means you can find answers when something doesn't work. The opinionation is a tradeoff — if you want different payment or auth providers, you'll be reworking significant portions. Best for: founders who want the most widely-used boilerplate with strong community support and are comfortable with its stack choices.

Supastarter — Supabase-native, comprehensive

Supastarter is specifically built around Supabase. You get Next.js, Supabase for auth/database/storage, Stripe or Lemon Squeezy, Resend, multi-tenancy support (organizations/teams), internationalization, an admin panel, and thorough documentation. It's more complete than Shipfast out of the box — particularly the multi-tenancy and i18n support, which most boilerplates treat as afterthoughts. Price: $249 one-time. Best for: founders building B2B SaaS with multi-tenant requirements who want Supabase as the primary backend.

Makerkit — SaaS toolkit with team features

Makerkit is another comprehensive Next.js + Supabase boilerplate with strong team/organization features baked in from the start. It also has a Vue + Firebase version if you prefer that stack. The documentation is thorough and the codebase is structured in a way that's easier to modify than some alternatives. Subscription pricing ($99/month or $299/year) rather than one-time, which is worth factoring in. Best for: founders who want a maintained, subscription-supported boilerplate with good documentation and team feature support.

create-t3-app — The free, community-standard alternative

T3 App (from the @theo community) is the most popular free boilerplate for Next.js. It wires together TypeScript, tRPC, Prisma, Tailwind CSS, and NextAuth — giving you end-to-end type safety from database to frontend. It's opinionated about types and developer experience, not about SaaS features. It doesn't include a landing page, pricing tables, or pre-built auth UI — you build those. But the underlying stack choices are excellent and widely supported. Free, open-source. Best for: developer-founders who want the type-safe Next.js stack with maximum flexibility and are comfortable building the SaaS layer themselves.

Blitz.js — Full-stack with a different paradigm

Blitz.js is a full-stack React framework built on Next.js that adds "zero-API" data layer — you write server functions and call them directly from the frontend without REST or GraphQL boilerplate. The conventions reduce the kind of plumbing code you write repeatedly in every SaaS. Less popular than T3 App but the productivity model is genuinely different and faster for certain project types. Free, open-source. Best for: developer-founders who find the REST/GraphQL layer overhead frustrating and want a more Rails-like server/client integration.

nextjs-boilerplate (Ixartz) — Free and regularly updated

The nextjs-boilerplate by Ixartz is a well-maintained free boilerplate that includes Next.js 14+, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Clerk or NextAuth, Drizzle ORM, Stripe, and testing setup. It's regularly updated as the ecosystem evolves, which is more than can be said for many free boilerplates that go stale. A good choice if you want a free starting point that includes the auth and payments wiring without paying for Shipfast. Free, open-source. Best for: founders who want a free, maintained starting point with auth and payments included and are happy with the Clerk/Drizzle stack.

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The honest framing: a boilerplate is not a shortcut to an idea — it's a shortcut to infrastructure setup. If your idea is wrong, a boilerplate doesn't help. If your idea is right but you're spending three weeks on auth and payment plumbing, a boilerplate does help. Pay for one only if the specific stack it includes aligns with what you'd build yourself.

One caution: avoid choosing a boilerplate because it includes every feature. More features in a starting point means more code to understand, more opinions to fight against, and more surface area for bugs. The best boilerplate is the minimal one that covers your core infrastructure needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it worth paying $199 for a SaaS boilerplate like Shipfast when free options exist?

It depends on the stack alignment. If Shipfast's choices — Next.js, Supabase, Stripe, Resend — match what you'd build yourself, the $199 buys you days of integration work at a price that pays off within the first week. If you'd fight against its opinions (different auth provider, different payments setup), the free alternatives like the nextjs-boilerplate by Ixartz or create-t3-app are better starting points. Pay for a boilerplate only when its stack is the stack you'd build from scratch.

What is the best SaaS boilerplate for a B2B product that needs multi-tenant support?

Supastarter is the strongest option for multi-tenant B2B SaaS. It's built specifically around Supabase and includes multi-tenancy (organizations/teams), internationalization, an admin panel, and thorough documentation as first-class features — not as afterthoughts you bolt on later. Makerkit is a solid alternative with strong organization features at subscription pricing instead of a one-time fee.

What does create-t3-app include and what do you have to build yourself?

T3 App wires together TypeScript, tRPC, Prisma, Tailwind CSS, and NextAuth — giving you end-to-end type safety from database to frontend. What it doesn't include: landing pages, pricing tables, pre-built auth UI, email templates, or any SaaS-specific UI. You get the infrastructure foundation and build the product layer yourself. It's the right choice for developers who want maximum flexibility and are comfortable constructing the SaaS layer from first principles.

What is the main risk of choosing a boilerplate with too many features?

More included features means more code to understand, more opinions to work around, and more surface area for bugs before you've written a single line of your own product code. The best boilerplate is the minimal one that covers your core infrastructure needs — auth, payments, database, email — and leaves the rest to you. Founders who choose maximalist boilerplates often spend more time understanding and undoing the boilerplate code than they saved by starting with it.

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