Free SaaS Startup Tech Stack
The best free tools to launch a fully functioning SaaS MVP.
TLDR:
- Landing Page — Carrd
- Front end web app — Next.js
- Backend — Also Next.js! (/api routes)
- Database — Supabase (Many other options as well — AWS RDS, SQLite, Vercel Postgres, etc.)
- Auth — Also Supabase! (Clerk is also a good option for a quick launch)
- Server — Vercel
- Domain — Vercel for the MVP, Namecheap to buy a real domain when you’re ready.
- Payments — Stripe (If needed)
If you’re a developer, you probably get pitched startup ideas from your friends all the time. Occasionally you may cook up an idea yourself.
99% of them won’t work, but every now and then one sticks with you. When I get an idea stuck in my head, I want a quick way to bring it to life without spending any money. These are my go-to free tools to launch a SaaS MVP as quick as possible.
1. Landing Page — Carrd
Carrd has a ton of single page, pre-built templates for landing pages and they’re actually really nice. There’s lots of alternatives out there for easy website building: Squarespace, Wix, Webflow being a few. In my opinion, Carrd is superior in terms of ease of use and the quality of their templates. It’s obvious downside is that the sites are single page only. You can easily migrate to an alternative if the idea grows.
2. Front End Web App — Next.js
Probably an obvious one to a lot of developers. Next.js is one of the most popular React frameworks because of how easy it is to build with, as well as it’s seamless integration with Vercel for deployment.
3. Backend — Next.js
Another pro of Next.js — a built in backend! Their /api routes offer an instant way of standing up serverless functions for a quick backend.
4. Database — Supabase
I love Supabase for many reasons. Their docs are pretty good, their SDKs are solid, they have a generous free tier, and it’s easy to understand. Their UI is also very nice and makes quick development really easy. There are loads of database options out there, but this is always my go-to.
5. Auth — Supabase
Another reason why Supabase is great. They offer out-of-the-box user management functions and endpoints. If you want an extremely quick option, I’d recommend Clerk — you can basically just wrap your app in a <ClerkProvider> and use their account portal. However, their free tier is limited and if you reach any decent scale you’ll likely need to migrate or upgrade.
6. Server — Vercel
Vercel’s free tier is nuts. It’s wild how much value they offer for $0. You can deploy and serve your app instantly for free. To redeploy, simply git push to your production branch. To launch a preview environment, just push to any other branch.
7. Domain — Vercel
Vercel also builds your project to a public domain instantly. It will be in the format of my-project.vercel.app , which works great for an MVP. Once you need a real domain, I highly recommend Namecheap.
8. Payments — Stripe
You may not always need payments for an MVP, but if you do Stripe is the way to go. While obviously not being completely free (they take a percentage of volume), they are the best option by far. You can use their Payment Links feature for a checkout page that redirects back to your app. Supabase has some docs on a full Stripe integration with their auth, but you can easily set up simple auth flows with the Stripe SDK and/or Stripe webhooks.
If you prefer other options or know of better alternatives, please comment or shoot me a DM on LinkedIn! I’m always looking for cool new tools.
Check out some of my other work at https://joeosborne.me
