At Excelorithm, we build custom software solutions for startups, SMEs, and enterprise clients alike. And as the technical head here, I’ve seen a recurring pain point — many teams, including our own, spend way too much time setting up the basics of a SaaS product: authentication, subscriptions, dashboards, role management, notifications...
Sure, there are tons of SaaS starter kits out there, both free and premium. They promise speed — and often deliver — but usually at a hidden cost: vendor lock-in.
Many popular boilerplates rely on proprietary services, paid APIs, or tightly coupled ecosystems. That might be fine early on, but over time it limits your freedom, raises your costs, and ties you to someone else’s roadmap.
That’s why we built SaaSLaunchpad — a free, open-source Next.js SaaS starter kit with zero paid tool dependencies and no vendor lock-in.
🧠 Why SaaSLaunchpad?
Our goal was simple: give developers everything they need to launch and scale a SaaS product, without forcing them into a paid ecosystem they can’t outgrow.
Built with:
✅ Next.js for frontend & routing
✅ Drizzle ORM + PostgreSQL for database management
✅ NextAuth.js for social authentication
✅ Stripe Checkout for billing
✅ Firebase & OneSignal for optional notifications
✅ shadcn/ui for clean, reusable UI components
🔍 How It Compares
Here’s a quick comparison with other popular SaaS starters:
| Feature | SaaSLaunchpad | Vercel SaaS Starter | SupaStarter | ShipFast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source | ✅ Yes (MIT) | ✅ Yes (MIT) | ❌ Paid License | ✅ Partially |
| Authentication | ✅ NextAuth.js | ✅ Auth.js | ✅ Supabase Auth | ✅ Clerk/Auth0 (Paid) |
| Payments (Stripe) | ✅ Full + Portal | ✅ Basic Checkout | ✅ Limited | ✅ With 3rd-party lock-in |
| Role-based Access (RBAC) | ✅ Built-in | ❌ No | ✅ With Supabase | ✅ Custom |
| Vendor Lock-In | ❌ None | ✅ Vercel/Upstash | ✅ Supabase | ✅ Clerk/Auth0/Vercel |
| Email Templates | ✅ Nodemailer | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ With restrictions |
| Notifications | ✅ Firebase/OneSignal | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| UI Framework | ✅ shadcn/ui | ✅ Tailwind UI | ✅ Tailwind | ✅ Custom |
| Free to Use End-to-End | ✅ 100% | ✅ Mostly | ❌ No (Premium only) | ❌ Some paid features |
👥 Built by Developers, for Developers
SaaSLaunchpad is made for developers, indie hackers, and product teams who want to ship fast — without compromising ownership. You get a clean codebase, complete feature set, and the freedom to swap, scale, or customize anything as you grow.
🧑💻 Check it out on GitHub:
👉 github.com/Excelorithm/SaaSLaunchpad
🌐 Learn more about us:
👉 excelorithm.com
💬 Let’s Talk
This is a developer-first project, and we’re constantly improving it based on real-world needs. We’d love your feedback, contributions, or just a quick hello.
💡 Got a feature idea or found a bug? Open an issue or discussion.
Let’s build SaaS the open way — no lock-ins, no nonsense.