Best Phoenix (Elixir) Boilerplates in 2026

Phoenix: Real-Time Without the Complexity

Phoenix LiveView is one of the most compelling technologies in web development. Real-time, server-rendered UI without JavaScript frameworks — write Elixir server-side components that send DOM diffs over WebSocket. Discord's web client scaled to millions of concurrent connections on Phoenix.

In 2026, Phoenix's developer community is small but extremely enthusiastic. The language (Elixir), runtime (BEAM/OTP), and framework (Phoenix) combine to produce some of the most reliable, concurrent, low-latency applications in production.

Quick Comparison

Starter	Price	Auth	Billing	LiveView	Best For
Petal Pro	$299	Full	Stripe	✅	Complete Phoenix SaaS
Petal Boilerplate	Free	Full	❌	✅	Phoenix foundation
mix phx.new	Free	❌	❌	Optional	Official scaffold
kaffy	Free	❌	❌	❌	Admin panel only

The Starters

Petal Pro — Best Complete SaaS

Price: $299 (one-time) | Creator: Petal team

The most complete Phoenix SaaS boilerplate. Tailwind CSS, Petal components (HeroIcons, Phoenix LiveView), authentication (magic links, OAuth), Stripe billing (subscriptions, one-time payments, metered), multi-tenancy, admin panel, and transactional emails.

Key features:

• Phoenix LiveView throughout — no React/Vue
• Petal UI component library (50+ components)
• Magic link authentication + Google/GitHub OAuth
• Stripe Billing with webhook handling
• Teams/organizations with member roles
• Admin dashboard with user impersonation

Choose if: You're committed to the Elixir/Phoenix ecosystem and want a complete SaaS starter.

Petal Boilerplate — Best Free Phoenix

Price: Free | Creator: Petal team

The free tier of Petal. Phoenix 1.7, Tailwind CSS, Petal UI components, user authentication (phx.gen.auth), and LiveView foundations. No billing or teams — a clean Phoenix starting point.

Choose if: You want a free, modern Phoenix boilerplate and will add SaaS features yourself.

mix phx.new — Official Scaffold

Price: Free | Creator: Phoenix team

The Phoenix project generator. Generates a Phoenix application with LiveView or traditional views, Ecto database, and your choice of assets pipeline. The baseline for all Phoenix apps.

mix phx.new myapp --live  # With LiveView
mix phx.new myapp         # Traditional views

Choose if: You want the official minimal Phoenix starting point.

Phoenix LiveView: The Killer Feature

LiveView is what makes Phoenix unique — real-time, server-rendered components:

defmodule MyAppWeb.CounterLive do
  use MyAppWeb, :live_view

  def mount(_params, _session, socket) do
    {:ok, assign(socket, count: 0)}
  end

  def render(assigns) do
    ~H"""
    <div>
      <p>Count: <%= @count %></p>
      <button phx-click="increment">+</button>
    </div>
    """
  end

  def handle_event("increment", _params, socket) do
    {:noreply, update(socket, :count, &(&1 + 1))}
  end
end

This renders server-side, sends DOM diffs over WebSocket, and requires zero JavaScript. Complex real-time UIs (collaborative editing, live dashboards, presence indicators) work out of the box.

BEAM/OTP: The Concurrency Advantage

Elixir runs on the BEAM virtual machine (Erlang's runtime), which provides:

• Lightweight processes — millions of concurrent processes per node
• Fault tolerance — Supervisor trees restart crashed processes automatically
• Distribution — nodes communicate natively across the network
• Hot code upgrades — deploy without downtime at the VM level

WhatsApp served 900 million users with 50 engineers. Discord serves millions of concurrent connections. Both run on BEAM.

When to Choose Phoenix

Phoenix is the right choice for:

• Real-time applications (chat, collaboration, live dashboards, presence)
• High-concurrency scenarios (many simultaneous WebSocket connections)
• Developers who value functional programming and correctness
• Long-running services where BEAM's fault tolerance shines

Phoenix is a harder sell when:

• Team has no Elixir experience (steep learning curve)
• Hiring is a concern (smaller talent pool)
• You need Node.js/Python library ecosystem access
• Quick prototyping speed is the priority

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