Best Laravel Livewire + Inertia.js Boilerplates in 2026

TL;DR

The PHP and JavaScript camps have mostly settled their debates in 2026. Laravel with Livewire or Inertia.js is a genuinely excellent choice for SaaS applications — particularly for solo developers and small teams where server-side simplicity beats JavaScript ecosystem complexity. Laravel Breeze and Laravel Jetstream are the official starting points, Laravel Spark is the paid SaaS-ready starter, and the community has produced mature starters for every combination. The Livewire vs Inertia choice isn't about philosophy — it's about interactivity requirements. Livewire works with blade templates for most CRUD UIs; Inertia.js gives you a React/Vue frontend while keeping Laravel's backend routing.

Key Takeaways

Laravel Livewire lets you write reactive UIs in PHP — component updates via AJAX without leaving PHP; ideal for CRUD, forms, and data tables with minimal JavaScript
Inertia.js is the "modern monolith" approach — React or Vue components on the frontend, Laravel routing and ORM on the backend, no API layer needed
Laravel Breeze is the free official starter (simple auth scaffolding); Jetstream adds teams, billing, 2FA; Spark (~$99) is the full-featured SaaS starter
Laravel Reverb (2024) is Laravel's native WebSocket server — real-time features without third-party services
Filament is the premier admin panel for Laravel — used by thousands of production apps as the admin interface in boilerplates
Sail provides Docker-based local development out of the box

Livewire vs Inertia: Choosing the Right Approach

Both Livewire and Inertia.js keep Laravel as the backbone while improving frontend capabilities. They solve different problems.

Laravel Livewire: Reactive PHP

Livewire runs PHP components that sync with the DOM via AJAX. No separate API layer, no JavaScript build step for your PHP components:

// app/Livewire/ProductTable.php
class ProductTable extends Component
{
    public string $search = '';
    public string $sortBy = 'name';
    public string $sortDir = 'asc';
    public int $perPage = 25;

    #[Url] // Syncs with URL query params
    public string $category = '';

    public function sort(string $column): void
    {
        if ($this->sortBy === $column) {
            $this->sortDir = $this->sortDir === 'asc' ? 'desc' : 'asc';
        } else {
            $this->sortBy = $column;
            $this->sortDir = 'asc';
        }
    }

    public function render(): View
    {
        $products = Product::query()
            ->when($this->search, fn($q) => $q->where('name', 'like', "%{$this->search}%"))
            ->when($this->category, fn($q) => $q->where('category', $this->category))
            ->orderBy($this->sortBy, $this->sortDir)
            ->paginate($this->perPage);

        return view('livewire.product-table', ['products' => $products]);
    }
}

<!-- resources/views/livewire/product-table.blade.php -->
<div>
    <input wire:model.live.debounce.300ms="search" placeholder="Search..." />

    <table>
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th wire:click="sort('name')" class="cursor-pointer">Name</th>
                <th wire:click="sort('price')" class="cursor-pointer">Price</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
            @foreach($products as $product)
            <tr>
                <td>{{ $product->name }}</td>
                <td>{{ $product->price }}</td>
            </tr>
            @endforeach
        </tbody>
    </table>

    {{ $products->links() }}
</div>

wire:model.live.debounce.300ms syncs the input with the PHP $search property in real-time with 300ms debounce. The table re-renders server-side. No JavaScript written.

Livewire wins for: Admin panels, CRUD apps, forms, data tables, anything where server-side rendering is a good fit.

Inertia.js: The Modern Monolith

Inertia.js uses Laravel's routing and controllers but renders components with React or Vue. No REST API, no GraphQL — your controller returns Inertia response objects:

// routes/web.php
Route::get('/products', [ProductController::class, 'index'])->middleware('auth');

// app/Http/Controllers/ProductController.php
class ProductController extends Controller
{
    public function index(Request $request): Response
    {
        $products = Product::query()
            ->when($request->search, fn($q) => $q->where('name', 'like', "%{$request->search}%"))
            ->orderBy($request->sortBy ?? 'name')
            ->paginate(25);

        return Inertia::render('Products/Index', [
            'products' => $products,
            'filters' => $request->only('search', 'sortBy'),
        ]);
    }
}

// resources/js/Pages/Products/Index.tsx
import { Head, Link, router } from '@inertiajs/react'
import { useState } from 'react'

interface Props {
  products: Paginated<Product>
  filters: { search: string; sortBy: string }
}

export default function ProductsIndex({ products, filters }: Props) {
  const [search, setSearch] = useState(filters.search)

  function handleSearch(value: string) {
    setSearch(value)
    router.get('/products', { search: value }, { preserveState: true })
  }

  return (
    <>
      <Head title="Products" />
      <input value={search} onChange={e => handleSearch(e.target.value)} />
      {products.data.map(product => (
        <div key={product.id}>{product.name}</div>
      ))}
    </>
  )
}

Inertia.js wins for: Complex frontends needing React ecosystem (charts, complex drag-and-drop, advanced state), teams with React experience, apps that may need a public API later.

The Official Starters

Laravel Breeze

The lightest official starter — auth scaffolding only:

laravel new my-app
cd my-app
composer require laravel/breeze --dev
php artisan breeze:install   # Choose: Blade, Livewire, React (Inertia), Vue (Inertia), or API
npm install && npm run dev
php artisan migrate

Breeze provides:

Login, registration, password reset, email verification
Tailwind CSS
Your choice of frontend stack

Best for: Starting from minimal, building up your own SaaS layer on top.

Laravel Jetstream

Jetstream is Breeze with teams and billing-ready architecture:

laravel new my-app
composer require laravel/jetstream
php artisan jetstream:install livewire  # or inertia

Adds on top of Breeze:

Team management (invite members, roles)
Two-factor authentication (TOTP)
Session management (see/revoke active sessions)
Profile photo upload
API token management (for building APIs)
Filament admin (optional)

Jetstream uses either Livewire + Blade or Inertia.js + Vue — choose at install time.

Laravel Spark (Paid ~$99/year)

Laravel Spark is Taylor Otwell's official SaaS starter:

Adds on top of Jetstream:

Stripe subscriptions (plans, trials, cancellation, upgrade/downgrade)
Paddle subscriptions (European billing, VAT handling)
Billing portal and invoice history
Per-seat pricing support
Team billing (team owners pay for all members)

For a Laravel-first SaaS, Spark is the equivalent of ShipFast — it handles the subscription billing that would otherwise take days to implement correctly.

Filament: The Admin Panel Layer

Filament is not itself a boilerplate, but it's the component that makes Laravel SaaS admin panels exceptional:

composer require filament/filament
php artisan filament:install --panels
php artisan filament:make-resource Product --generate

Filament generates full CRUD admin panels with complex filters, bulk actions, relationship management, and custom actions. It's used by thousands of production SaaS apps as the admin interface. Most Laravel SaaS boilerplates now include Filament for the admin panel.

Laravel Reverb: Real-Time Without Third Parties

Laravel Reverb (launched 2024) is Laravel's native WebSocket server — no more Pusher dependency:

php artisan install:broadcasting  # Installs Reverb
php artisan reverb:start           # Start WebSocket server

// Broadcasting an event
class OrderUpdated implements ShouldBroadcast
{
    public function broadcastOn(): array
    {
        return [new PrivateChannel('orders.' . $this->order->id)];
    }
}

// In your controller
broadcast(new OrderUpdated($order))->toOthers();

// Frontend (Echo + Pusher JS compatible)
window.Echo.private(`orders.${orderId}`)
  .listen('OrderUpdated', (event) => {
    updateOrderStatus(event.order)
  })

Reverb runs as a standalone process alongside your Laravel app. For small to medium apps, it runs on the same server; for larger apps, you can run Reverb on separate workers.

Community SaaS Boilerplates

Beyond the official starters, the Laravel community has built comprehensive SaaS templates:

Saas-web (GitHub): Jetstream + Filament + Stripe + Reverb — covers auth, teams, billing, admin, real-time. MIT licensed.

Laravolt Foundation: Enterprise-grade Livewire + Filament + multi-tenancy with tenant database isolation.

Larafast (paid): Laravel equivalent of ShipFast — Jetstream, Stripe, Filament, blog, SEO, email. ~$149.

Multi-Tenancy in Laravel: Tenant DB vs Shared DB

Laravel has two dominant multi-tenancy approaches, both with mature packages:

Shared Database with Tenant Scoping (Tenancy for Laravel — Stancl)

composer require stancl/tenancy
php artisan tenancy:install

All tenants share one database; a global scope adds WHERE tenant_id = ? to every query:

// Automatic tenant scoping via Eloquent global scope
class Order extends Model
{
    use BelongsToTenant;  // Auto-adds tenant_id to all queries
}

// In middleware — identifies current tenant from subdomain/domain
class InitializeTenancyByDomain implements Middleware
{
    public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next): Response
    {
        $domain = $request->getHost()
        $tenant = Tenant::whereHas('domains', fn($q) => $q->where('domain', $domain))->first()
        tenancy()->initialize($tenant)
        return $next($request)
    }
}

Pros: Simpler deployment, lower infrastructure cost, easier cross-tenant reporting Cons: One noisy tenant can affect others; compliance requirements may prohibit shared DB

Separate Database Per Tenant

// Each tenant gets their own database
class Tenant extends Model implements TenantWithDatabase
{
    use HasDatabase, HasDomains;
}

// Migrations run per-tenant
php artisan tenants:migrate  // Runs migrations on all tenant databases
php artisan tenants:migrate --tenants=tenant1  // Single tenant

Pros: True data isolation, better for SOC 2 / HIPAA compliance, noisy neighbors contained Cons: More complex deployment, higher DB costs, harder cross-tenant queries

Stancl's Tenancy for Laravel supports both approaches and integrates with Jetstream's team model. Most Laravel SaaS boilerplates default to single-database multi-tenancy for simplicity.

Testing in Laravel SaaS

Laravel's built-in test support is exceptional — PHPUnit is pre-configured, and Pest (the newer testing framework) is increasingly standard in boilerplates:

// Feature test with Pest
test('users can view their own orders', function () {
    $user = User::factory()->create()
    $order = Order::factory()->for($user)->create()
    $otherOrder = Order::factory()->create()  // Another user's order

    $response = $this->actingAs($user)->get('/orders')

    $response->assertOk()
    $response->assertSee($order->reference)
    $response->assertDontSee($otherOrder->reference)  // Tenant scoping works
})

test('stripe webhook creates subscription', function () {
    $user = User::factory()->create()
    $event = stripe()->webhooks()->construct(
        file_get_contents(base_path('tests/fixtures/subscription.created.json'))
    )

    $this->post('/stripe/webhook', $event->toArray())
         ->assertOk()

    expect($user->fresh()->subscribed('default'))->toBeTrue()
})

Laravel Feature Test advantages:

actingAs($user) sets up auth in one line
Database transactions wrap each test — database is rolled back automatically
Laravel's HTTP client fake (Http::fake()) mocks external APIs
Queue::fake(), Mail::fake(), Event::fake() isolate side effects

When Laravel Beats JavaScript Frameworks

Laravel + Livewire or Inertia is often the better choice when:

Solo developer or small team — one developer can maintain a Laravel monolith that would require a frontend team + backend team in a React/Node.js split
Complex database relationships — Eloquent ORM and Laravel's query builder are genuinely excellent; Prisma and Drizzle are catching up but Laravel's 10+ year head start shows
Queue/jobs are critical — Laravel Queues + Horizon is the most mature job queue for web apps
Mail-heavy apps — Laravel Mailables + Mail are significantly simpler than equivalent Node.js solutions
Admin heavy — Filament is unmatched for rapid admin panel development
The team knows PHP — retraining cost is real; Laravel's DX is excellent

Deployment Options for Laravel SaaS

Platform	Best For	Notes
Laravel Forge ($19/mo)	VPS management	Spins up servers on DO/AWS/Vultr, handles nginx, PHP, SSL, queues
Laravel Vapor	Serverless AWS	Lambda + RDS/Aurora, scales to zero, managed by Laravel team
Ploi ($8/mo)	Forge alternative	Same VPS management concept, cheaper
DigitalOcean App Platform	Simple deploys	Docker-based, less control than Forge
Railway / Render	Docker + Postgres	Good for smaller apps, simple CI/CD

Laravel Forge is the standard for production Laravel apps — it provisions a VPS (DigitalOcean, AWS, Vultr, Linode), configures nginx + PHP-FPM, SSL via Let's Encrypt, Redis, MySQL/PostgreSQL, and Laravel Queue workers. $19/month for unlimited servers.

Laravel Vapor is serverless Laravel on AWS — cold start times are acceptable (< 500ms for PHP), and it scales automatically. Best for apps with unpredictable traffic spikes. More expensive than Forge for steady traffic.

Methodology

Sources: Laravel official documentation (laravel.com), Filament documentation, Laravel Spark documentation, Inertia.js documentation (inertiajs.com)
Versions: Laravel 11.x, Livewire 3.x, Inertia.js 2.x, Filament 3.x, Laravel Reverb 1.x
npm/Packagist download data from packagist.org and npmjs.com, March 2026

Find Laravel boilerplates and compare with Next.js alternatives on StarterPick — see which PHP-based starters have the most community adoption.

Best Laravel Livewire + Inertia.js Boilerplates 2026