Best SaaS Starter Kits 2026: 12 Next.js Boilerplates Compared
Best SaaS Starter Kits 2026: 12 Next.js Boilerplates Compared
Last updated: September 22, 2026. Re-checked every kit: GitHub activity, licence, Next.js and Tailwind versions, auth and billing providers, and pricing on each vendor's own page.
A SaaS starter kit (or boilerplate, people use both words) gives you the parts every SaaS needs before you write a line of your actual product: auth, billing, teams, a dashboard shell, settings and emails. The right one saves 6 to 10 weeks. The wrong one saves 2 and costs you a migration later.
We compared 12 kits: 6 free and 6 paid, including our own (marked). If you're still deciding whether you need one at all, start with what a SaaS starter kit is.
TL;DR: Quick Picks for 2026
| Need | Top pick | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Best free full-stack kit | next-forge | Free |
| Free with i18n and teams | ixartz/SaaS-Boilerplate | Free |
| Enterprise SSO (SAML, SCIM) | BoxyHQ SaaS Starter Kit | Free |
| Solo maker shipping fast | ShipFast | $199 one-time |
| Most complete paid kit | MakerKit | $349 one-time |
| Production UI layer with WCAG AA | thefrontkit SaaS Starter Kit (ours) | $79 |
Or get every kit for $749
If you're shipping more than one product, All UI Kits unlocks every Next.js kit on thefrontkit: the SaaS Starter Kit, plus CRM Dashboard, HR Dashboard, Kanban PM, E-commerce, AI UX, Blog CMS, Inventory Management, and 10 more. One-time payment, no subscription.
What to Look for in a SaaS Starter Kit
- Current stack. Next.js App Router on 15 or 16, Tailwind v4, TypeScript. Some popular kits are still on the Pages Router or pinned to old versions.
- Auth that fits your buyers. Clerk and Better Auth are the common picks now. If you sell to enterprises, you'll want SAML SSO and SCIM.
- Billing. Stripe is standard. Lemon Squeezy, Polar and Paddle handle sales tax for you as a merchant of record.
- Teams and roles. Almost every B2B SaaS needs organisations, invites and role-based access. Retrofitting multi-tenancy is painful.
- Maintenance. Check the last commit. A kit untouched for a year will fight you on every upgrade.
- UI quality. Most kits focus on the backend plumbing and ship thin UI. Check the settings, tables and forms, and test them with a keyboard.
Comparison Table
| Kit | Price | Next.js | Auth | Billing | Teams | Licence / stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| next-forge | Free | 16 | Clerk | Stripe | Via Clerk | MIT, ~7.7k |
| ixartz/SaaS-Boilerplate | Free (Pro available) | 16 | Clerk | Not in free repo | Yes | MIT, ~7.4k |
| nextjs/saas-starter | Free | 15 (canary) | Custom JWT | Stripe | Yes | MIT, ~16k |
| BoxyHQ SaaS Starter Kit | Free | 15, Pages Router | NextAuth + SAML SSO | Stripe | Yes | Apache-2.0, ~4.9k |
| Open SaaS | Free | Not Next.js (Wasp) | Wasp auth | Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Polar | Not stated | MIT, ~16k |
| next-shadcn-dashboard-starter | Free | 16 | Clerk | Clerk Billing | Yes | MIT, ~7k |
| ShipFast | $199 one-time | App Router | OAuth, magic links | Stripe or Lemon Squeezy | No | Commercial |
| MakerKit | $349 one-time | 16 | Supabase or Better Auth | Stripe | Yes | Commercial |
| Supastarter | From $149.50 one-time | Yes | Better Auth | Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, more | Yes | Commercial |
| Achromatic | $180 one-time | Yes | Better Auth | Stripe (incl. per-seat) | Yes | Commercial |
| Bedrock | $396 per product | Yes | Magic link | Stripe | Yes | Commercial |
| thefrontkit SaaS Starter Kit | $79 | App Router | UI only (bring your own) | UI only | Team management UI | Commercial |
Prices are one-time and several were on sale when we checked (list prices are higher), so confirm on each vendor's page.
Free SaaS Starter Kits
1. next-forge
Best free full-stack SaaS kit.
next-forge (about 7.7k stars) is a Turborepo monorepo maintained under Vercel's GitHub org. It's on Next.js 16 and Tailwind v4 with Clerk auth, Stripe, Prisma and Neon, plus packages for analytics, email, CMS, feature flags, observability, rate limiting, security, SEO, storage and webhooks. It's the most complete free foundation, and also the most to learn.
- Stack: Next.js 16, Tailwind v4, Clerk, Stripe, Prisma
- Licence: MIT
- Price: Free
2. ixartz/SaaS-Boilerplate
Best free kit for multilingual B2B apps.
SaaS-Boilerplate (about 7.4k stars) is on Next.js 16 and Tailwind v4 with Clerk auth (organisations and roles), Drizzle with Postgres, next-intl for i18n, Sentry, user impersonation and a full test setup. The free repo doesn't include a Stripe dependency, so plan to add billing yourself (a paid Pro version is available).
- Stack: Next.js 16, Tailwind v4, Clerk, Drizzle
- Licence: MIT
- Price: Free
3. nextjs/saas-starter
Best minimal official starter.
The Next.js SaaS Starter (about 16k stars) is deliberately small: custom JWT auth, Stripe subscriptions, teams, an activity log and a basic dashboard, on Drizzle and Postgres. It's great to learn from. Note it was last updated in December 2025 and pins a Next.js 15 canary build.
- Stack: Next.js 15, Tailwind v4, Stripe, Drizzle
- Licence: MIT
- Price: Free
4. BoxyHQ SaaS Starter Kit
Best free kit for enterprise SSO.
The BoxyHQ kit (about 4.9k stars) is the one to look at if your buyers ask for SAML SSO and SCIM directory sync. It also includes audit logs, webhooks and i18n. BoxyHQ has since been acquired by Ory. The kit was still being updated in July 2026, but it's on the older Pages Router and Tailwind v3. We compare it with ours in thefrontkit vs BoxyHQ.
- Stack: Next.js 15 (Pages Router), Tailwind v3, NextAuth + SAML Jackson, Stripe, Prisma
- Licence: Apache-2.0
- Price: Free
5. Open SaaS
Best free kit if you don't need Next.js.
Open SaaS (about 16k stars) is a popular free SaaS kit with auth, Stripe, Lemon Squeezy or Polar billing, an admin dashboard, email and an AI demo app. The catch for this list: it runs on the Wasp framework (React with Vite and a Node backend), not Next.js.
- Stack: Wasp (React + Node), Tailwind v4, Prisma
- Licence: MIT
- Price: Free
6. next-shadcn-dashboard-starter
Best free dashboard-first starter.
next-shadcn-dashboard-starter (about 7k stars) is closer to a dashboard template than a full kit, but it covers a lot of the SaaS surface: Clerk auth with organisations, role-based access and Clerk Billing, data tables, charts and forms, on Next.js 16 and Tailwind v4.
- Stack: Next.js 16, Tailwind v4, shadcn/ui, Clerk
- Licence: MIT
- Price: Free
Paid SaaS Starter Kits
7. ShipFast
Best for solo makers launching this week.
ShipFast is built for speed: Google OAuth and magic links, Stripe or Lemon Squeezy, MongoDB or Supabase, emails, a blog and SEO. Starter was $199 and All-in $249 one-time when we checked (listed at $299 and $349), with unlimited projects. It doesn't focus on teams or multi-tenancy.
- Price: From $199 one-time
8. MakerKit
Best for B2B SaaS with teams.
MakerKit offers three kits (Supabase, Drizzle with Better Auth, Prisma with Better Auth) on Next.js 16 and Tailwind v4, with organisations and roles, i18n, a super admin with impersonation, blog, docs, a changelog and email templates. Pro is $349 one-time for one developer, Teams $649 for up to five.
- Price: From $349 one-time
9. Supastarter
Best if you want framework and billing choices.
Supastarter comes in Next.js, Nuxt and TanStack Start versions with Better Auth, Prisma or Drizzle, organisations, i18n, an admin and an AI chatbot, and supports Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Polar and more. Solo was $149.50 one-time when we checked (listed at $299).
- Price: From $149.50 one-time
10. Achromatic
Best value paid kit with per-seat billing.
Achromatic includes both a Prisma and a Drizzle kit for $180 one-time, with Better Auth, Stripe including per-seat billing, tRPC, organisations, an admin panel, AI chat with credits and Fumadocs.
- Price: $180 one-time
11. Bedrock
Best for GraphQL fans.
Bedrock by Max Stoiber uses GraphQL with Prisma, magic link auth, Stripe and teams. Note the licence is per product: $396 when we checked covers one product.
- Price: $396 per product
12. thefrontkit SaaS Starter Kit (ours)
Best production UI layer, paired with any backend.
Most kits above spend their effort on the plumbing and ship thin UI. The SaaS Starter Kit is the opposite: 135+ components for the screens every SaaS needs, built to WCAG AA on shadcn/ui with a design token system. That covers auth screens (login, signup, password reset, OTP), a responsive sidebar app shell, six settings sections (account, notifications, AI integrations, team and permissions, billing, privacy and security), and data tables with sorting, filtering and pagination.
To be clear about what it isn't: it's a frontend kit. It doesn't include an auth backend, billing or a database. You connect it to your provider (Clerk, Better Auth, Supabase) or pair it with a free backend-focused kit like next-forge. If accessibility is a requirement for your buyers, it saves you the most rework.
- Includes: 135+ components, auth screens, dashboard shell, settings, tables
- Accessibility: WCAG AA
- Price: $79 solo, $179 team, $299 agency
Often Recommended, but Check First
- next-saas-stripe-starter (mickasmt): about 3k stars, but last updated in August 2024 on Next.js 14 and an Auth.js beta.
- Shipixen: generates landing pages and blogs, with no auth or billing. It's not a SaaS kit.
- SaaS Pegasus: a well-regarded kit, but it's Django (Python), not Next.js.
Why Accessibility Matters in Your Starter Kit
Accessibility often gets treated as a "nice to have" or a compliance checkbox. In reality, it directly affects your product's reach, revenue, and risk profile.
Market access. Roughly 1 in 4 adults in the US has a disability. An inaccessible product excludes a significant portion of your potential users. Beyond that, accessible patterns benefit everyone, keyboard-first power users, people on slow connections, users with temporary injuries, and anyone using assistive technology.
Enterprise sales. If you sell to larger organizations, accessibility compliance (VPAT, Section 508, EN 301 549) is increasingly a hard requirement in procurement. Having WCAG AA built into your foundation means you can provide accessibility documentation from day one, not scramble to retrofit when a deal depends on it.
Legal risk. ADA-related digital accessibility lawsuits continue to rise. (Learn more about how accessibility prevents deal blockers.) Starting with an accessible foundation is significantly cheaper than remediating after launch.
Developer experience. When accessibility patterns are baked into your component library, developers don't have to think about ARIA attributes or focus management for every new feature. The right behavior is the default behavior.
Most SaaS starter kits treat accessibility as optional. If you're choosing a kit that will serve as the foundation of your product for the next 1–3 years, make sure it takes accessibility seriously from the start. The thefrontkit SaaS Starter Kit is built to WCAG AA across its components.
FAQ
What is the best SaaS starter kit in 2026?
For a free, full-stack Next.js kit, next-forge. For enterprise SSO, BoxyHQ's kit. For a paid kit with teams, i18n and an admin, MakerKit. For solo makers who want to launch fast, ShipFast. If your priority is production-quality, accessible UI on top of your own backend, the thefrontkit SaaS Starter Kit.
What is a SaaS kit?
A SaaS kit (SaaS starter kit or boilerplate) is a pre-built project with the parts every SaaS needs: auth, billing, teams, a dashboard shell, settings and emails. Some are full-stack; others, like ours, focus on the UI. See what is a SaaS starter kit for the longer explanation.
Are free SaaS boilerplates good enough for production?
Often, yes. next-forge and ixartz/SaaS-Boilerplate are actively maintained and on current versions. Check three things before committing: when it was last updated, whether billing and teams are included (ixartz's free repo has no Stripe dependency), and how much UI polish you'll need to add, especially settings, tables and accessibility.
How much does a SaaS starter kit cost?
Free options cost nothing. Paid Next.js kits we checked cost $149.50 to $649 one-time (Supastarter Solo to MakerKit Teams), and most include unlimited projects and lifetime updates. Bedrock is licensed per product.
Is there an AI SaaS starter kit?
Several kits now include AI pieces: Supastarter and Achromatic ship an AI chat, Open SaaS includes an OpenAI demo app, next-forge has an AI package, and next-shadcn-dashboard-starter includes the Vercel AI SDK. For AI chat interfaces specifically, see our AI chat UI kits roundup.
Should I use a SaaS boilerplate or build from scratch?
Use a boilerplate if your differentiator is your product logic, not your auth screens. Build from scratch if you have unusual architecture needs or a team that would build a better foundation. For most solo founders and small teams, the time saved is worth it. See our boilerplate vs building from scratch comparison.
