Volca vs Makerkit: Multi-Tenant SaaS Starters
Two Multi-Tenant Starters, Two Infrastructure Philosophies
Volca and Makerkit both ship multi-tenancy out of the box — a feature most SaaS boilerplates skip entirely. But they build on top of fundamentally different infrastructure philosophies. Volca is a serverless-first Node.js boilerplate tightly integrated with AWS — Lambda, Cognito, CDK, PostgreSQL — designed for teams that want their SaaS running on AWS from day one. Makerkit is a modular Next.js starter kit with swappable backends, a plugin architecture, and framework flexibility — designed for teams that want to choose their own infrastructure.
Both solve the same core problem: giving you multi-tenant architecture, authentication, billing, and team management so you can focus on your product's unique features. The question is whether you want your infrastructure decisions made for you (Volca and AWS) or left open (Makerkit and whatever stack you prefer).
TL;DR
Volca ($199-$399) is an AWS-native Node.js boilerplate with serverless infrastructure, AWS Cognito auth, and Stripe billing — purpose-built for B2B SaaS teams that want to deploy on AWS with minimal configuration. Makerkit ($299 lifetime) is a modular Next.js starter kit with multi-tenancy, RBAC, i18n, a plugin system, and support for multiple backend stacks — built for developers who want flexibility in their infrastructure choices. Choose Volca if your team already runs on AWS and wants a tight serverless stack. Choose Makerkit if you want more features, more framework options, and the freedom to deploy anywhere.
Key Takeaways
- Both include multi-tenancy, but Makerkit's is more developed. Volca supports projects with team invitations. Makerkit has full organization management, granular RBAC with custom roles, personal accounts alongside team accounts, and org-scoped billing.
- Volca locks you into AWS. Makerkit lets you choose. Volca deploys to Lambda, uses Cognito for auth, and manages infrastructure with CDK. Makerkit supports Supabase, Drizzle, or Prisma backends and deploys to Vercel, Cloudflare, Docker, or self-hosted infrastructure.
- Makerkit has significantly more features. Admin panel with impersonation, i18n, E2E testing, plugin system, documentation site, changelog, dark mode, and advanced billing models. Volca covers the core essentials cleanly but does not match this breadth.
- Volca's AWS infrastructure costs are transparent and low. Around $12/month per environment with the default configuration. Makerkit's hosting cost depends entirely on where you deploy.
- Different tech stacks. Volca uses React (Chakra UI) + Node.js (Koa) + PostgreSQL. Makerkit uses Next.js (Shadcn UI + Tailwind v4) + multiple ORM options + PostgreSQL. Makerkit also supports React Router 7 as an alternative framework.
- Makerkit is more actively maintained. Daily updates, 400+ pages of documentation, and a public changelog. Volca's GitHub repository shows less frequent commits and a smaller community.
- Pricing is similar at the entry level. Volca starts at $199, Makerkit at $299 lifetime. The $100 gap closes quickly when you account for the features Makerkit includes that you would need to build on top of Volca.
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Feature | Volca | Makerkit |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $199 (Standard) / $399 (Premium) | $299 lifetime (Pro) |
| Team tier | N/A | $599 lifetime (up to 5 devs) |
| Frontend | React (Chakra UI) | Next.js or React Router 7 (Shadcn UI + Tailwind v4) |
| Backend | Node.js (Koa) | Next.js API routes / Server Actions |
| Language | TypeScript | Strict TypeScript |
| Auth | AWS Cognito (social sign-in: Google, Apple, Facebook) | Supabase Auth or Better Auth (OAuth, Magic Links, MFA, Passkeys) |
| Database | PostgreSQL (Knex.js) | PostgreSQL (Supabase, Drizzle, or Prisma) |
| Payments | Stripe | Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle |
| Billing models | Basic subscriptions | Per-seat, usage-based, flat-rate, one-time |
| Multi-tenancy | Yes (projects + team invites) | Yes (orgs, invites, RBAC, personal accounts) |
| Admin panel | No | Yes (user management, impersonation, banning) |
| i18n | No | Yes |
| Blog | No | Yes (Markdoc, auto-sitemap) |
| Documentation site | No | Yes (built-in) |
| Changelog | No | Yes |
| Not specified | React.Email + Resend / Nodemailer | |
| E2E testing | No | Playwright (pre-configured) |
| Plugin system | No | Yes (testimonials, feedback, roadmap, waitlist, AI chatbot) |
| Dark mode | No | Yes |
| Deployment | AWS (Lambda + CDK, automated via GitHub Actions) | Vercel, Cloudflare, Docker, self-hosted |
| Infrastructure as Code | AWS CDK | N/A (deploy to managed platforms) |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions (pre-configured) | Not pre-configured |
| Monorepo | Yes (Yarn Workspaces) | Yes (Turborepo) |
| Community | Small GitHub community | Discord, direct creator access |
| Docs | docs.volca.io | 400+ pages |
| Updates | Infrequent | Daily |
| Monthly hosting cost | ~$12/mo per environment (AWS) | Varies by platform |
Multi-Tenancy Deep Dive
Multi-tenancy is the defining feature both boilerplates share — and the reason you would choose either over a simpler starter like ShipFast or LaunchFast. But their implementations differ in scope and flexibility.
Volca: Projects and Team Invitations
Volca implements multi-tenancy through a "projects" model. Users create a project — which represents a tenant — and invite collaborators to join. Each project operates as an isolated workspace with its own data. The invitation flow is built in: create a project, send invite links, and teammates join with their own accounts.
This model is clean and functional for straightforward B2B use cases. A project management tool, an analytics dashboard, a team collaboration app — any product where the mental model is "create a workspace, invite your team" fits Volca's approach naturally.
The limitation is granularity. Volca does not include role-based access control beyond the basic owner/member distinction. If you need granular permissions — admin, editor, viewer, billing-only — you are building that layer yourself. There is also no concept of personal accounts alongside team accounts, which means every user interaction happens within a project context.
Makerkit: Organizations, RBAC, and Personal Accounts
Makerkit's multi-tenancy is more fully developed. The unit of tenancy is an "organization" with a complete management layer: create an org, invite members by email with role assignment, manage membership, and switch between organizations. Users can belong to multiple organizations and switch between them freely.
Role-based access control is built into the data model and middleware. You define custom roles and permissions that match your product's needs — not just owner and member, but admin, editor, viewer, or any hierarchy your product requires. Permissions are enforced at the API level, not just the UI level.
Makerkit also supports personal accounts alongside organization accounts. Users can use the product individually before being invited to a team, or maintain both a personal workspace and organizational memberships. This is a meaningful UX advantage for products with a freemium or bottom-up adoption model.
Organization-scoped billing ties subscriptions to the organization rather than the individual, enabling per-org pricing tiers and per-seat billing models. This is how most B2B SaaS products bill their customers, and having it built in saves significant integration work.
The Practical Difference
If your product has a simple workspace model — one workspace per customer, invite teammates, everyone has the same permissions — Volca's approach is sufficient and straightforward. If your product needs granular permissions, personal plus team accounts, or organization-scoped billing, Makerkit handles it natively while Volca requires custom development.
Feature Comparison
Authentication
Volca uses AWS Cognito, which provides email/password authentication and social sign-in through Google, Apple, and Facebook. Cognito is a battle-tested auth service with enterprise-grade security, and running it on AWS means your auth layer lives in the same cloud as the rest of your infrastructure. The trade-off is that Cognito's developer experience is notoriously rough compared to modern auth solutions, and you are locked into the AWS ecosystem.
Makerkit offers two auth paths. The Supabase stack uses Supabase Auth natively. The Drizzle and Prisma stacks use Better Auth. Both paths include email/password, magic links, social OAuth (Google, GitHub, Facebook, X, Discord, and more), TOTP-based multi-factor authentication, and passkey support with Better Auth. RBAC is layered on top, tying permissions to organization membership.
Makerkit's auth is more feature-rich and more flexible. Volca's auth is simpler to set up if you are already on AWS but harder to extend.
Billing
Volca integrates Stripe for subscription billing with checkout flows and webhook handling. It covers the standard use case — create a customer, manage a subscription, process payment events — cleanly. The implementation works for products with simple pricing tiers billed monthly or annually.
Makerkit supports Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, and Paddle, with billing models that include per-seat pricing, usage-based metering, flat-rate subscriptions, one-time purchases, and multi-line item checkout. Organization-scoped billing ties subscriptions to the team rather than the individual.
If your pricing model is more complex than "three tiers billed monthly," Makerkit saves you from building a custom billing integration. If flat-rate Stripe billing is all you need, both handle it.
Deployment and Infrastructure
Volca is AWS-native. Lambda, API Gateway, Cognito, CDK, GitHub Actions — push to your repo and the CI/CD pipeline deploys automatically. Production-ready infrastructure at about $12/month per environment. The trade-off: you are committed to AWS, and migrating off Lambda and Cognito later is a significant effort.
Makerkit is infrastructure-agnostic. Deploy to Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, Docker, or self-host. You choose your platform, but you also handle the setup. No pre-configured CI/CD, but no vendor lock-in either.
Developer Experience
Volca has documentation at docs.volca.io covering setup, deployment, and feature usage. The codebase is conventional and readable — a developer familiar with Node.js and React can navigate it quickly.
Makerkit has over 400 pages of documentation covering every feature and deployment option. Strict TypeScript, ESLint, and Playwright E2E testing enforce code quality. It also includes AI-optimized features — custom rules for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex, plus an MCP Server — making the codebase particularly effective with AI pair programming tools.
Architecture Comparison
Volca: Serverless Monorepo on AWS
Volca is a Yarn Workspaces monorepo with a decoupled frontend/backend architecture. The React frontend (Chakra UI) communicates with a Node.js REST API (Koa + Knex.js) running on Lambda behind API Gateway. Infrastructure definitions live in an infrastructure/ package using AWS CDK.
This decoupled approach means the REST API can serve mobile clients or third-party integrations without modification, and costs scale with usage rather than provisioned capacity.
Makerkit: Modular Next.js with Swappable Backends
Makerkit is a Turborepo monorepo built around Next.js (or React Router 7) with a modular architecture. Authentication, billing, multi-tenancy, and content management are distinct modules with defined interfaces.
The key architectural decision is the swappable backend layer. Choose between Supabase (with RLS), Drizzle ORM (bring your own database), or Prisma 7 — the rest of the application adapts. Start with Supabase for fast prototyping and migrate to self-hosted PostgreSQL with Prisma as you scale, without rewriting business logic. The plugin system extends this further, allowing you to add features like testimonials or roadmaps without modifying core code.
When to Choose Volca
- Your team runs on AWS and you want your SaaS infrastructure in the same cloud as your other services.
- You prefer a traditional REST API architecture over Next.js server actions and API routes.
- Serverless deployment matters. You want Lambda's auto-scaling and pay-per-invocation pricing without configuring it yourself.
- Infrastructure as code is a priority. AWS CDK definitions and GitHub Actions CI/CD are pre-configured and ready to deploy.
- Your multi-tenancy needs are straightforward. Projects with team invitations, no complex role hierarchies.
- You want low, predictable hosting costs. $12/month per environment on AWS default configuration.
- Budget is tight. $199 is $100 less than Makerkit for a functional multi-tenant boilerplate.
Best for: AWS-native teams, B2B SaaS with simple team structures, developers who want serverless without the setup work. Estimated time to launch: 1-2 weeks.
When to Choose Makerkit
- You are building B2B SaaS with complex team hierarchies, granular permissions, or organization-scoped billing.
- You want framework flexibility. Next.js or React Router 7 today, with the option to switch backends without rewriting features.
- Multi-tenancy needs are advanced. RBAC with custom roles, personal accounts alongside team accounts, multi-org membership.
- Your billing model is complex. Per-seat pricing, usage-based metering, hybrid models, or support for Paddle and Lemon Squeezy alongside Stripe.
- Your product serves international users and needs i18n from day one.
- You want a plugin ecosystem. Testimonials, feedback, roadmap, waitlist, and AI chatbot plugins ready to install.
- Code quality and maintainability matter. Strict TypeScript, E2E testing, modular architecture, daily updates, and 400+ pages of documentation.
- You want deployment freedom. Vercel, Cloudflare, Docker, or self-hosted — not locked into any cloud provider.
Best for: B2B SaaS with complex team management, products with advanced billing, international products, teams that value code quality and long-term maintainability. Estimated time to launch: 1-2 weeks.
The Core Question
Volca and Makerkit both solve the multi-tenancy problem that most SaaS boilerplates ignore. The difference is scope and flexibility.
Volca answers: "How do I get a multi-tenant SaaS running on AWS with serverless infrastructure and minimal configuration?" It makes your infrastructure decisions for you so you can focus on building features. At $199, it is the most affordable path to a production-ready AWS deployment with multi-tenancy included.
Makerkit answers: "How do I build a multi-tenant SaaS with the flexibility to choose my own infrastructure, scale my permissions model, and extend functionality through plugins?" It gives you more features, more backend options, and more deployment freedom. At $299, the premium buys significantly more functionality and long-term flexibility.
If your team already operates on AWS and your multi-tenancy needs are straightforward, Volca gets you there faster and cheaper. If you need granular RBAC, organization-scoped billing, i18n, a plugin system, or the freedom to deploy anywhere, Makerkit is the stronger choice. The feature gap is wide, and building what Makerkit includes on top of Volca would cost far more than the $100 price difference.
Methodology
This comparison is based on publicly available information from both products' official websites, documentation, GitHub repositories, pricing pages, and feature lists as of March 2026. We evaluated both products across multi-tenancy implementation, pricing, tech stack, authentication, billing, deployment architecture, documentation, community, and total cost of ownership.
Feature claims were verified against official documentation, product pages, and GitHub repositories. Pricing reflects the standard publicly listed prices at the time of writing and may change. We note that Volca's GitHub repository appears to have lower commit activity compared to Makerkit's daily update cadence, which may affect long-term maintenance considerations.
We have no affiliate relationship with either product that would influence our recommendations.
Looking for more boilerplate comparisons? StarterPick has side-by-side feature breakdowns, community reviews, and stack analysis for dozens of SaaS boilerplates — so you can find the right one without the research rabbit hole.