Best Open Source SaaS Boilerplates in 2026
The Free SaaS Boilerplate Landscape in 2026
The best SaaS boilerplates in 2026 are free. This is a non-obvious conclusion — paid boilerplates like ShipFast ($299) and Supastarter ($299) dominate Twitter, but the open source alternatives often match or exceed their feature sets.
Here's the honest comparison.
Quick Comparison
| Starter | Stars | Auth | Billing | Teams | License | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T3 Stack | 25k+ | NextAuth | ❌ | ❌ | MIT | Type-safe foundation |
| Epic Stack | 11k+ | Custom | ❌ | ❌ | MIT | Remix best practices |
| Open SaaS | 8k+ | Wasp Auth | Stripe | ❌ | MIT | Complete SaaS w/billing |
| Next SaaS Starter | 5k+ | NextAuth | Stripe | ✅ | MIT | Next.js SaaS |
| Nextacular | 2k+ | NextAuth | Stripe | ✅ | MIT | Netlify-backed SaaS |
The Starters
T3 Stack — Best Foundation
Price: Free (MIT) | Creator: Theo Browne / T3 OSS
The most-used TypeScript full-stack boilerplate. Type safety from DB to UI via Prisma + tRPC. No billing or teams built-in — but everything you need to add them quickly. 25k+ stars, massive community.
What you get free: Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind, tRPC, Prisma, NextAuth What you add yourself: Stripe billing, teams, email, admin
Choose if: Type-safety is the priority and you're comfortable adding SaaS features.
Epic Stack — Best Remix Foundation
Price: Free (MIT) | Creator: Kent C. Dodds
The authoritative Remix SaaS foundation. Authentication (custom session-based), database (SQLite → Prisma → PostgreSQL path), comprehensive testing (Playwright E2E, Vitest unit, MSW mocking), monitoring (Sentry), and excellent documentation.
Choose if: You're using Remix and want a production-grade, testing-first foundation.
Open SaaS — Best Complete Free SaaS
Price: Free (MIT) | Creator: Wasp team
The most feature-complete free SaaS boilerplate. Wasp (a React + Node.js meta-framework) with Stripe billing, OpenAI integration, blog (Astro), admin dashboard, email, and deploy configs. Billing works from day one.
Choose if: You want a complete free SaaS with billing without writing infrastructure.
Next SaaS Starter — Best Next.js Free SaaS
Price: Free (MIT) | Creator: ixartz
Next.js + TypeScript + Stripe + NextAuth + team management + admin + Resend email. Actively maintained with regular Next.js version updates. Comprehensive feature set matching paid alternatives.
Choose if: You want a feature-rich Next.js SaaS starter at zero cost.
Open Source vs Paid: Honest Assessment
| Factor | Open Source (T3, Epic, Open SaaS) | Paid (ShipFast, Supastarter) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $0 | $149-$599 |
| Maintenance | Community | Dedicated creator |
| Documentation | Good-excellent | Excellent |
| Support | GitHub Issues / Discord | Creator email/Discord |
| Features | Varies widely | Pre-integrated |
| Update frequency | Community-driven | Regular paid updates |
The honest truth: For billing + teams + auth + email all working from day one, paid starters save 20-40 hours of integration work. For developers who want to understand every piece of their stack, open source is better.
The Free Stack That Competes with ShipFast
Combining free starters to match ShipFast's features:
- Next SaaS Starter — Next.js + NextAuth + Stripe + teams (free)
- shadcn/ui — Component library (free)
- Resend — Transactional email (free tier covers early stage)
- PlanetScale/Neon — PostgreSQL (free tier)
- Vercel — Hosting (free tier)
Total: $0 upfront, $0/month until scale.
The trade-off: 10-20 hours more setup vs ShipFast's out-of-box experience.
Compare free and paid SaaS boilerplates on StarterPick — find the right starting point for your budget.
Check out this boilerplate
View T3 Stack on StarterPick →