OpenSaaS v2 Review 2026: Wasp-Powered Open Source Boilerplate
The Free Boilerplate That Beats Most Paid Ones
Most free SaaS boilerplates come with a catch. They cover auth and maybe a database connection, leaving payments, email, background jobs, admin dashboards, and deployment as exercises for the reader.
OpenSaaS has no such catch. Built and maintained by the Wasp team, it ships with everything: complete auth (email + 4 social providers), Stripe billing with webhook handling, admin dashboard, blog, background jobs, S3 file uploads, email sending, Playwright E2E tests, and one-command deployment. All free. All open source.
OpenSaaS v2.0 shipped in July 2025 with a complete UI redesign using Shadcn UI, Wasp 0.16.0, Playwright integration, Polar.sh payment support, and AI-ready documentation. It represents the most polished version of an already impressive free starter.
TL;DR
OpenSaaS v2 is a 100% free, open-source SaaS boilerplate built on the Wasp framework (React + Node.js + Prisma). It includes auth, Stripe + Polar billing, admin dashboard, blog, background jobs, S3 uploads, email, and E2E tests. The v2 release added Shadcn UI, AI-friendly docs, and Playwright testing. Best for developers willing to learn Wasp's conventions in exchange for the most complete free SaaS starter available.
Key Takeaways
- Completely free and open source — MIT license, no paid tiers, no restrictions.
- The most feature-complete free boilerplate. Paid competitors like ShipFast ($199) do not include background jobs, E2E tests, or an admin dashboard at equivalent price points.
- v2.0 shipped July 2025 with Shadcn UI redesign, Wasp 0.16.0 upgrade, Playwright E2E tests, Polar.sh payments, and AI-ready docs.
- Built on Wasp — the framework handles auth, jobs, and deployment. This is a dependency worth understanding before committing.
- Requires learning Wasp's conventions. The
.waspconfiguration file and Wasp's Actions/Queries system are not standard Next.js patterns. - Strong AI tooling integration. Includes AGENTS.md, Claude Code plugin, and LLM-friendly documentation — designed to work well with AI coding assistants.
- Active maintenance by the Wasp team with a funded company behind it.
What OpenSaaS v2 Includes
This is the full feature list — it is long because OpenSaaS ships more than most paid boilerplates:
Authentication
- Email/password with email verification
- Google OAuth
- GitHub OAuth
- Slack OAuth
- Microsoft OAuth (5 providers total)
- Pre-built login, signup, and password reset UI
Payments and Billing
- Stripe subscription billing with webhook handling
- Polar.sh as a Stripe alternative (added in v2)
- Lemon Squeezy support
- Pricing page with plan comparison
- Customer portal integration
Admin Dashboard
- User management (view, search, edit users)
- Analytics overview with key metrics
- Revenue and subscription analytics
- Role-based access (admin vs. regular user)
Blog
- Astro-powered blog (separate from the main app)
- MDX support for rich content
- SEO-optimized with sitemap
- Newsletter integration
Background Jobs
- Persistent job queue via Wasp's built-in job system (PgBoss)
- Scheduled jobs (cron)
- Retryable jobs for reliability
- Email queue for async email sending
File Uploads
- S3 file upload integration
- Progress bars
- File validation
- CORS configuration
- SendGrid integration
- Mailgun integration
- Pre-built email templates (verification, password reset, welcome)
- React Email for template authoring
Testing and Quality
- Playwright E2E test suite (added in v2)
- Tests cover signup, login, subscription flows
- Cookie consent banner
- GDPR-friendly analytics with Plausible
Developer Experience
- AI-ready: AGENTS.md file, Claude Code plugin, LLM-friendly docs
- Shadcn UI component library (redesigned in v2)
- Tailwind CSS
- TypeScript end-to-end
- ESLint + Prettier
- One-command deployment to Fly.io or Railway
The v2 Upgrade: What Changed
OpenSaaS v2.0, released July 2025, was a significant release:
| Change | Details |
|---|---|
| UI redesign | Complete rebuild with Shadcn UI — more modern, more customizable |
| Wasp 0.13 → 0.16 | Framework upgrade with performance improvements and new features |
| Playwright E2E | Full test suite added covering critical user flows |
| Polar.sh payments | Second payment processor added alongside Stripe |
| AI tooling | AGENTS.md, Claude Code plugin, LLM-friendly docs added |
| S3 improvements | Upload progress, validation, tightened CORS |
| Cookie consent | GDPR-compliant cookie banner added |
Tech Stack
| Layer | Choice |
|---|---|
| Framework | Wasp 0.16.x |
| Frontend | React |
| Backend | Node.js (Express) |
| Database ORM | Prisma |
| Database | PostgreSQL |
| Auth | Built-in Wasp auth (email + 4 social providers) |
| Payments | Stripe, Polar.sh, Lemon Squeezy |
| SendGrid / Mailgun | |
| Jobs | Wasp jobs (PgBoss) |
| File storage | AWS S3 |
| Blog | Astro + MDX |
| UI | Shadcn UI + Tailwind CSS |
| Testing | Playwright (E2E) |
| Analytics | Plausible |
| Deployment | Fly.io or Railway (single command) |
OpenSaaS vs Paid Competitors
| Feature | OpenSaaS v2 | ShipFast ($199) | Makerkit ($299) | Supastarter ($199) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $199 | $299 | $199 |
| Auth providers | 5 (email + 4 social) | 2 (Google, magic link) | Multiple | Multiple |
| Payments | Stripe, Polar, LemonSqueezy | Stripe, LemonSqueezy | Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle | Stripe, LemonSqueezy |
| Admin dashboard | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Background jobs | Yes (built-in) | No | No | No |
| E2E tests | Yes (Playwright) | No | Yes (Playwright) | No |
| Blog | Yes (Astro) | Yes (MDX) | Yes | No |
| File uploads | Yes (S3) | No | No | No |
| Multi-tenancy | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| AI tooling | Yes (AGENTS.md, Claude plugin) | No | No | No |
| Framework lock-in | Wasp | None (Next.js) | None (Next.js) | None (Next.js) |
| Community | GitHub + Discord | 5,000+ Discord | Medium | Medium |
The comparison is striking: OpenSaaS v2 includes features (background jobs, S3 uploads, Playwright tests, 5 auth providers, 3 payment processors) that most paid boilerplates do not include at any price point.
The cost: Wasp framework adoption. Every choice in OpenSaaS is shaped by Wasp's conventions.
The Wasp Dependency: Honest Assessment
OpenSaaS is inseparable from Wasp. Understanding Wasp's trade-offs is understanding OpenSaaS's trade-offs.
What Wasp gives you:
- Built-in auth without vendor fees
- Built-in background jobs without external queue setup
- Single-command deployment
- End-to-end type safety between React and Node.js
- A framework that the Wasp team actively maintains and improves
What Wasp requires:
- Learning the
.waspconfiguration file and its conventions - Using Wasp's Actions and Queries instead of standard API routes
- Accepting that your architecture is shaped by Wasp's patterns
- Understanding that migrating away from Wasp later would be a significant refactor
For developers comfortable with framework conventions (Laravel, Rails, Django), this is a familiar trade-off with established upside. For developers who prefer to own every architectural decision, it may feel constraining.
Setting Up OpenSaaS
git clone https://github.com/wasp-lang/open-saas.git
cd open-saas
wasp db start # starts PostgreSQL via Docker
wasp db migrate-dev # runs Prisma migrations
wasp start # starts development server
The setup is simpler than it looks. The main configuration involves:
- Setting up a PostgreSQL database (Docker included)
- Configuring Stripe API keys
- Configuring social OAuth credentials (optional)
- Configuring email provider (SendGrid or Mailgun)
The documentation at docs.opensaas.sh is thorough and well-organized, covering every integration step.
Who Should Use OpenSaaS v2
Use OpenSaaS v2 if:
- You want the most complete free SaaS boilerplate without paying for a premium template
- Background jobs are a requirement — Wasp's built-in jobs are compelling and unique
- You care about E2E tests from day one (Playwright is pre-configured)
- You want multi-provider auth without paying for Clerk
- You are building with AI coding tools — the AGENTS.md and Claude Code integration are genuinely useful
- You are willing to learn Wasp in exchange for a faster feature baseline
Look elsewhere if:
- You want multi-tenancy or team workspaces — OpenSaaS has no org model
- You want Next.js App Router patterns — Wasp uses a fundamentally different paradigm
- Your team is unfamiliar with Wasp and the learning curve is not acceptable given your timeline
- You need a large, proven community — ShipFast's 5,000+ Discord is more active than OpenSaaS's community
The Verdict
OpenSaaS v2 is the most impressive free SaaS boilerplate in the JavaScript ecosystem. The feature list — 5 auth providers, 3 payment processors, background jobs, S3 uploads, Playwright tests, Astro blog, admin dashboard, AI tooling — is better than most paid competitors.
The Wasp dependency is the only meaningful caveat. If you are willing to learn Wasp's conventions, you get a faster start than buying ShipFast and building all the missing features yourself.
For developers who believe in the Wasp ecosystem or are specifically drawn to its batteries-included approach, OpenSaaS v2 is the obvious starting point. The Wasp team has real funding, active development, and a clear vision. OpenSaaS is the reference implementation of that vision.
Methodology
This review is based on publicly available information from the OpenSaaS GitHub repository (wasp-lang/open-saas), official documentation at opensaas.sh, the v2.0 release blog post (July 2025), and community discussions as of March 2026.
Want to compare OpenSaaS against other open-source and paid SaaS boilerplates? StarterPick has side-by-side feature breakdowns for the full ecosystem.