I Built a $500 SaaS Boilerplate in 5 Days (And Made It Free)

·
SaaS NextJS Boilerplate Web

I was browsing the internet, looking at SaaS boilerplates. You know, those starter templates that promise to save you months of work.

Then I saw the prices. $200. $500. $800. Some even hit $1,000+.

For what? A Next.js app with authentication and a few components?

I was genuinely shocked.

The 5-Day Challenge

So I thought - how hard can this be? Let me build one myself.

5 days later, I had something I’m actually proud of. Here’s what I built:

Authentication (7 ways to log in)

  • Email & password
  • Google, GitHub, Microsoft OAuth
  • Magic links
  • Passkeys (the fingerprint/face ID thing)
  • One-time passwords
  • Two-factor authentication
  • Enterprise SSO

A Real Permission System

  • 30+ granular permissions
  • 4 default roles (Owner, Admin, Member, Viewer)
  • Create custom roles
  • Control who can do what, down to individual actions

Multi-Tenant Workspaces

  • Each team gets isolated data
  • Invite members via email or shareable links
  • Workspace templates for quick setup

Admin Dashboard

  • User management
  • System stats
  • Audit logs (who did what, when)
  • User impersonation for support
  • Maintenance mode

Email System

  • 6 ready-to-use templates
  • Welcome emails, password resets, invitations
  • Works with Resend (swap it for SendGrid if you want)

The Tech Stack

  • Next.js 16 (App Router)
  • React 19
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS 4
  • tRPC (type-safe APIs)
  • Prisma + PostgreSQL
  • Better Auth

Why Free?

Two reasons:

  1. I learned a ton building this. Making it public holds me accountable to write decent code and documentation.
  2. Paywalls shouldn’t block people from building. If you have a great idea but can’t afford a $500 starter kit, that’s a problem.

What’s Actually in There

This isn’t a toy project. It has:

  • Proper security (rate limiting, input validation, permission checks)
  • Audit logging for compliance
  • Real documentation (12 guides covering everything)
  • Production-ready patterns

I use it as my own starting point for projects.

The Catch

There isn’t one, really.

If you want to improve it, PRs are welcome. If you just want to use it, go ahead.

GitHub: https://github.com/Kondasamy/nextjs-saas-template

Final Thoughts

I’m not saying those paid boilerplates are scams. Some of them are genuinely good and come with support.

But the barrier to entry shouldn’t be hundreds of dollars just to start building your idea.

Clone it. Break it. Build something cool with it.

Built in 5 days. Free forever.