saas-boilerplate vs next-forge
Two of the top projects in SaaS boilerplates, side by side: who leads on each score part and who each one suits, then setup, license, activity and what each review found.
saas-boilerplate
Next.js SaaS starter with Clerk auth, teams, roles and Drizzle ORM
next-forge
Turborepo monorepo template for SaaS apps built on Next.js
Verdict
saas-boilerplate ranks higher, 73 to 70. Of the 4 score parts we measure for both, saas-boilerplate leads on 1, next-forge on 1 and 2 are even.
- Adoptionnext-forge leads by 5 points, 40 to 35.
- Freshnesssaas-boilerplate leads by 15 points, 100 to 85: a wide gap.
- Easy to runEven at 100.
- Agent-readyEven at 0.
Pick saas-boilerplate if you are
Developers launching a multi-tenant Next.js SaaS, adding AI themselves
- Multi-tenancy, team invites and RBAC included in the free MIT version
- Local dev runs on PGlite, so no external database is needed to start
Pick next-forge if you are
Teams starting a Next.js SaaS who want an integrated monorepo stack
- Auth, payments, email, analytics, observability and security packages are pre-wired in one monorepo
- Each app is independently deployable; packages are shared across apps
| What we compare | saas-boilerplate | next-forge |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 35, known | 40, known |
| Freshness | 100, active | 85, active |
| Maintenance | Not scored for this kind | Not scored for this kind |
| Easy to run | 100, very easy | 100, very easy |
| Agent-ready | 0, none | 0, none |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 7.4k | 7.7k |
| License | MIT (permissive) | MIT (permissive) |
| Last commit | Aug 2026 | May 2026 |
| Last release | Jul 2026 | Mar 2026 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Docker | No | No |
| GPU | Not needed | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Not stated | Not stated |
saas-boilerplate
Next.js 16 and React 19 template with Tailwind CSS 4 and Shadcn UI. It includes a landing page, user dashboard, Clerk authentication with multi-tenancy, team invites and role-based access, and Drizzle ORM on PostgreSQL (PGlite locally, Neon suggested for production). Also ships next-intl i18n, Sentry, Vitest and Playwright tests. The README lists no built-in AI features.
Who it is for: Developers launching a multi-tenant Next.js SaaS, adding AI themselves
Strengths
- Multi-tenancy, team invites and RBAC included in the free MIT version
- Local dev runs on PGlite, so no external database is needed to start
- Testing setup covers Vitest, Playwright, Storybook and visual regression, with GitHub Actions CI
- Includes a saas-builder skill for Codex and Claude Code to scaffold from the repo
Weaknesses
- Authentication depends on Clerk, a hosted third-party service with its own keys
- Stripe billing, dark mode and oRPC are only in paid Plus/Pro/Max versions
- No AI features built in; the README documents none
- Requires Node.js 24+, which may be newer than some environments
- TypeScript
- Needs Clerk, PostgreSQL (Neon suggested; PGlite for local dev), Sentry, Crowdin
- GitHub template
next-forge
next-forge is a Turborepo monorepo scaffolded with `npx next-forge@latest init`. It includes a marketing site, main app, API, docs, email templates and Storybook, with shared packages for Clerk auth, a typed database ORM, Stripe payments, Resend email, analytics, Sentry and Arcjet security. An AI utilities package is included, but it is one package among many.
Who it is for: Teams starting a Next.js SaaS who want an integrated monorepo stack
Strengths
- Auth, payments, email, analytics, observability and security packages are pre-wired in one monorepo
- Each app is independently deployable; packages are shared across apps
- Live demos for web, app, Storybook and API health check
- Docs include migration guides for swapping providers
Weaknesses
- Default stack needs many third-party accounts: Clerk, Stripe, Resend, Sentry, Arcjet, PostHog
- AI package is described only as 'AI integration utilities'; specifics not in README
- Opinionated stack; replacing providers means following migration guides
- Requires Node.js 20+ and Stripe CLI for local webhook testing
- TypeScript
- Needs Node.js 20+, Bun, Stripe CLI, Clerk, Stripe, Resend, Sentry, BetterStack, Arcjet, PostHog, Google Analytics
- GitHub template
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