Side-by-side roundup
Best MakerKit alternatives, compared
Where MakerKit buyers go when a licence per stack stops making sense: five kits, priced and compared.
- Teams tired of buying a licence per stack and per client$249 one-time
GenerateSaaSTop pickThat is us - Agencies whose clients should not need their own licence$299 one-time
supastarter - Teams billed per stack who also want mobile$249 one-time
TurboStarter - Solo builders who want credits shipped, not documented$79 one-time
IndieKit - Solo builders who never used the team layer$199, from $299
ShipFast - Agencies and builders who want no licence at all$0
Open SaaS
Why teams look beyond MakerKit
- Not available: A separate licence for each stack, at full price every time
- Not available: Their FAQ asks a freelancer to licence each client project
- Not available: Credit billing is a guide to follow, not code that ships
- Not available: The audit log is Supamode, sold as its own product
- Not available: Refunds are not offered anywhere in their licence
At a glance
Every option, side by side
Tap a name to hide or show its column
| Feature |  MakerKit |  GenerateSaaS | supastarter | TurboStarter | IndieKit | ShipFast | Open SaaS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing & licence | |||||||
| Pricing model | Included: One-time, updates included | Included: One-time, updates included | Included: One-time, updates included | Included: One-time, lifetime updates | Included: One-time, updates included | Included: One-time; updates from All-in | Included: Free, MIT |
| Projects per licence | Included: Unlimited, per kit | Included: Unlimited, per seat | Included: Unlimited, per framework | Included: Unlimited, one seat each | Not available | Included: Unlimited | Included: Unlimited, MIT |
| Client work | Partial: Team tier; client buys a licence | Partial: Agency tier to deliver source | Included: Allowed, no client licence | Included: Unlimited clients, no source | Not available | Not available | Included: Allowed, MIT |
| White-label | Not available | Partial: Agency tier | Partial: Agency tier | Not available: Notices must stay in code | Not available | Not available: Notices must stay | Included: Allowed, keep the notice |
| Refund policy | Not available: No refunds, stated | Not available: All sales final | Not available | Not available: None once access redeemed | Partial: 3 days, before access shared | Not available: No refunds, stated | Not available |
| Tech stack | |||||||
| Frameworks | Included: Next.js 16.3, React Router 8, TanStack | Included: Next.js 16.3 | Included: Next.js 16.3, Nuxt, TanStack | Included: Next.js 16.3, Expo, WXT | Included: Next.js 16, React 19 | Included: Next.js, either router | Included: Wasp 0.25, React 19, Node |
| Database | Included: Supabase, Drizzle, Prisma 7 | Included: Postgres, Neon, Supabase | Included: Postgres, MySQL, SQLite | Included: Postgres, MySQL, SQLite | Included: Neon, Supabase, PlanetScale | Included: MongoDB, Supabase Postgres | Included: Prisma 5.19, Postgres |
| Authentication | Included: Supabase Auth, Better Auth | Included: Better Auth, passkeys, 2FA | Included: Better Auth, passkeys, 2FA | Included: Better Auth, passkeys, OTP, 2FA | Included: Better Auth, Google, magic links | Partial: Google login, magic links | Included: Wasp auth, email, OAuth |
| Billing features | |||||||
| Payments | Included: Three on Supabase kits, two elsewhere | Included: Stripe, Polar | Included: Five providers, one API | Included: Four web, two store providers | Included: Six providers documented | Included: Stripe, Lemon Squeezy | Included: Stripe, Polar, Lemon Squeezy |
| Subscriptions | Included: Flat, per-seat, metered, one-off | Included: Month, year, lifetime | Included: Plans, seat-based pricing | Included: Plans, trials, per-seat, metered | Included: Plans, one-time, LTD campaigns | Included: Stripe subscriptions | Included: Plans, customer portal |
| Usage credits | Partial: Build-it guide | Included: Balances, grants, optional top-up | Partial: Metered usage, no balance | Partial: Core guide, AI Kit example | Included: Balances, grants, expiry, top-up | Not available | Partial: Counter, one-off top-up |
| Finance dashboard | Not available | Included: Revenue, vendor cost, margin | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Core features | |||||||
| Organizations | Included: Organizations, roles, invites | Included: Organizations, roles, invites | Included: Organizations, roles, invites | Included: Organizations, RBAC, invites | Partial: Separate B2B kit and licence | Not available | Not available |
| Admin panel | Included: Users, organizations, RBAC, metrics | Included: Eight admin tabs | Included: Users, organizations, bans | Included: Users, organizations, customers | Included: Super admin dashboard | Not available | Included: Users, analytics, messages |
| Admin login as user | Included: Admin acts as user | Included: Admin acts as user | Included: Admin acts as user | Included: Impersonate from admin | Included: Admin acts as user | Not available | Not available |
| Onboarding | Partial: Recipe, build yourself | Included: Profile, first org, welcome drip | Included: Multi-step, org, avatar | Partial: Empty slots, build-it recipe | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Notifications | Partial: Realtime, Supabase kits | Included: In-app bell, email | Included: Notification centre, preferences | Partial: Expo push, no web centre | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| File storage | Included: S3, filesystem, Supabase Storage | Included: S3-compatible, local disk | Included: S3, R2, Supabase, UploadThing | Included: S3-compatible, presigned uploads | Included: S3 | Not available | Included: AWS S3, presigned URLs |
| Multiple languages | Included: Locales, language switcher | Included: Locales, language switcher | Included: Locales, language switcher | Included: i18next, switcher, three apps | Partial: Recipe: marketing, auth, email | Not available | Not available |
| Legal pages | Included: Terms, privacy, cookies | Included: Terms, privacy pages | Included: Terms, privacy, i18n | Partial: Three pages, shipped empty | Included: Terms, privacy pages | Partial: ChatGPT prompts | Not available |
| Marketing & growth | |||||||
| Included: Resend, SMTP | Included: SMTP, SES, Resend | Included: Resend, Postmark, Nodemailer | Included: Resend, Postmark, Plunk, Mailgun | Included: Resend, SES, Mailgun, more | Included: Resend, Mailgun | Included: SendGrid, Mailgun, SMTP | |
| Newsletter | Partial: Signup form, no provider | Included: Listmonk, Resend sync | Partial: Signup section, no provider | Partial: Homepage section, waitlist page | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Blog | Included: Blog in every kit | Included: Categories, tags, RSS | Included: MDX blog | Included: MDX per locale, tags | Included: Blog posts, SEO | Included: Authors, categories, schema | Included: Astro Starlight, Markdown |
| SEO tools | Partial: Sitemap, robots, metadata | Included: OG images, JSON-LD, sitemap | Included: Meta tags, sitemap | Included: Meta helper, sitemap, robots | Included: Sitemap, metadata, Search Console | Included: Tags, sitemap, schema | Included: Meta tags, JSON-LD, llms.txt |
| Analytics | Included: GA, PostHog, Umami, Meshes | Included: Eight providers | Included: Eight providers | Included: Eight providers, consent-gated | Partial: PostHog built in, three by recipe | Partial: DataFast script, pasted | Included: Plausible, Google |
| Support chat | Not available | Included: Crisp, Chatwoot | Not available | Not available | Included: Crisp | Included: Crisp, one config key | Not available |
| Affiliate tracking | Not available | Included: Refgrow, Affonso, PromoteKit | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Cookie consent | Included: Banner, consent hook | Included: GDPR banner, four legal policies | Included: Consent banner | Included: c15t banner, regional packs | Included: Consent gate before PostHog | Not available | Included: Consent modal |
| Operations | |||||||
| Audit log | Not available: Supamode, sold separately | Included: With an admin viewer | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| User API keys | Not available | Included: Per-key rate limits | Not available | Partial: Recipe, not shipped | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| SMS | Not available | Included: Broadcast SMS, Twilio, SNS | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Error reporting | Included: Sentry, SigNoz, PostHog, Honeybadger | Included: Sentry, PostHog | Included: Sentry | Included: Sentry, PostHog | Included: Sentry | Partial: Error and 404 pages | Not available |
| Rate limiting | Included: Drizzle, Prisma kits | Included: Per-route, per-key | Not available | Partial: AI Kit middleware only | Not available | Partial: Upstash tutorial, self-installed | Not available |
| Background jobs | Not available | Included: Inngest | Included: trigger.dev, QStash, Queuebase | Included: Trigger.dev, QStash, Inngest, Workflows | Included: Inngest, n8n | Not available | Included: Wasp Jobs, cron |
| Deploy targets | Included: Vercel, Cloudflare, Docker, VPS | Included: Docker, Vercel, Fly, Railway, more | Included: Vercel, Docker, Fly, Railway, VPS | Included: Vercel, Cloudflare, Docker, Fly | Included: Vercel, Netlify, Render, Sherpa | Included: Vercel, Netlify, Render | Included: Fly.io, Railway, manual |
| AI | |||||||
| AI assistant | Partial: Teams tier, separate templates | Included: Chat, files, web search | Included: Chatbot, history, streaming | Partial: Core chat, AI Kit templates | Not available: Build-it guide, Inngest or n8n | Not available | Partial: OpenAI demo app |
| User-supplied AI keys | Not available | Included: Users add provider keys | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| MCP server | Included: Kit, CLI servers | Included: For your app's users | Not available: Agent Skills, no MCP | Included: Docs MCP for coding agents | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Tooling & updates | |||||||
| Project setup CLI | Included: @makerkit/cli new | Included: generatesaas init | Included: npx supastarter new | Included: turbostarter new | Included: npx indiekit@latest | Not available | Included: wasp new -t saas |
| Version updates | Included: CLI update, git merge | Included: CLI update, AI merges | Partial: Updates included, manual merge | Included: CLI runs git merge | Partial: Git remote, manual merge | Partial: Updates included, All-in only | Not available: Docs advise against updating |
| End-to-end tests | Included: Playwright, pre-configured | Included: Playwright, pre-configured | Included: Playwright, pre-configured | Included: Playwright on three platforms | Not available | Not available | Partial: Playwright, no unit tests |
| Desktop app | Not available | Partial: Electron app, Pro tier | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Mobile app | Partial: Expo plugin, Supabase only | Partial: Expo, iOS and Android, Pro tier | Not available: Listed as work in progress | Included: Expo, iOS and Android | Not available | Not available | Not available |
- Included
- Partial
- Not available
The ranking
Every alternative, reviewed
GenerateSaaS
That is us$249 one-timeTeams tired of buying a licence per stack and per client
One Next.js licence at $249, carrying organizations, credits billing and an audit log. Pick it up when a licence per stack and a licence per client is what you outgrew.
Why people pick it
- Included: Client work on every tier, with no licence per client
- Included: Balances, plan grants and top-up purchases as code
- Included: An audit log inside the kit, viewer included
- Included: Per-key rate limits on the API keys users create
- Included: A CLI that folds each new version into your edits
The trade-off vs MakerKit
- Not available: Next.js only: no React Router or TanStack kit
- Not available: Better Auth rather than Supabase Auth, and no RLS code
- Not available: No Expo plugin sitting on Supabase
- Not available: Postgres only, with no Drizzle or Prisma variant
- Not available: Every sale is final
- Compare with supastarter
- Compare with TurboStarter
- Compare with MakerKit
- Compare with IndieKit
- Compare with ShipFast
- Compare with Open SaaS
- See the best GenerateSaaS alternatives
Bottom line: For client work and credits without a second licence, GenerateSaaS is the MakerKit alternative.
supastarter
$299 one-timeAgencies whose clients should not need their own licence
One codebase published for three frameworks, licensed at $299 for the one you choose. Pick it up when client work is the part MakerKit made expensive.
Why people pick it
- Included: Client projects allowed, with no licence for the client
- Included: Frameworks beyond React: Nuxt and TanStack Start
- Included: A database choice of Postgres, MySQL or SQLite
- Included: One API in front of five payment providers
- Included: Organizations with roles and invitations
The trade-off vs MakerKit
- Not available: Still one framework to a licence
- Not available: Ten seats is the ceiling, Agency tier included
- Not available: It meters usage and grants no balances
- Not available: Nothing in its docs about audit logs or API keys
- Not available: No refund policy is published at all
- Compare with GenerateSaaS
- Compare with TurboStarter
- Compare with MakerKit
- Compare with IndieKit
- Compare with ShipFast
- See the best supastarter alternatives
Bottom line: supastarter is the MakerKit alternative for an agency delivering client work without a licence per client.
TurboStarter
$249 one-timeTeams billed per stack who also want mobile
One $249 kit builds a Next.js site, mobile through Expo and an extension through WXT, all on Better Auth and Drizzle. Pick it up when mobile and an extension should cost one licence, not three.
Why people pick it
- Included: $100 under MakerKit, with three app targets included
- Included: Client projects allowed, provided the source stays with you
- Included: i18next and a switcher across all three apps
- Included: Nine deploy guides, from the docs alone
- Included: A hosted MCP server feeding its docs to agents
The trade-off vs MakerKit
- Not available: Every developer on the team buys a licence
- Not available: Credits are a guide here too, not a ledger
- Not available: No audit log, just as MakerKit has none
- Not available: The rate limiter sits in the $399 bundle
- Not available: Legal pages arrive empty, and onboarding is a recipe
- Compare with GenerateSaaS
- Compare with supastarter
- Compare with MakerKit
- Compare with IndieKit
- Compare with ShipFast
Bottom line: Buy TurboStarter instead of a MakerKit stack when the roadmap has an app store and a Chrome listing on it.
IndieKit
$79 one-timeSolo builders who want credits shipped, not documented
Next.js at $79 one-time, with balances, grants and expiry already written. Pick it up when the credits chapter was the one you needed shipped as code.
Why people pick it
- Included: Grants, expiry and top-ups over a real balance
- Included: Six payment providers, all documented
- Included: $79 is the lowest paid entry here
- Included: A three-day refund window, which MakerKit has none of
- Included: A super admin dashboard, impersonation included
The trade-off vs MakerKit
- Not available: Organizations ship only in the $119 B2B edition
- Not available: Audit logging and user API keys go undocumented
- Not available: New versions come through a remote you merge
- Not available: No rate limits, no SMS, no notification centre
- Not available: No Expo plugin, and no Supabase kit
- Compare with GenerateSaaS
- Compare with supastarter
- Compare with TurboStarter
- Compare with MakerKit
- Compare with ShipFast
- See the best IndieKit alternatives
Bottom line: IndieKit is the MakerKit alternative that ships credits as code at the lowest price.
ShipFast
$199, from $299Solo builders who never used the team layer
$199 one-time buys a lean Next.js starter with unlimited projects on the one licence. Pick it up when a team layer was never the part you needed.
Why people pick it
- Included: Every project you ship on a single licence
- Included: TypeScript or JavaScript, App Router or Pages
- Included: Supabase Postgres, or MongoDB for documents
- Included: A blog, plus 27 components for marketing pages
- Included: Support chat from Crisp, one key away
The trade-off vs MakerKit
- Not available: No organizations, no roles, no invitations
- Not available: No admin panel documented, and no audit log
- Not available: A single language, and no switcher for it
- Not available: No credits, no SMS broadcasts, no announcements
- Not available: Refunds stop the moment access is granted
- Compare with GenerateSaaS
- Compare with supastarter
- Compare with TurboStarter
- Compare with MakerKit
- Compare with IndieKit
- See the best ShipFast alternatives
Bottom line: A solo builder shipping one single-tenant app cheaply lands on ShipFast among MakerKit alternatives.
Open SaaS
$0Agencies and builders who want no licence at all
An MIT template that costs nothing, built on Wasp rather than Next.js. Pick it up when licences per stack and per client both have to go.
Why people pick it
- Included: Free, MIT, and there is nothing to upgrade to
- Included: Unlimited projects and client work, white-label included
- Included: Stripe, Polar and Lemon Squeezy for payments
- Included: Users, analytics and messages, all in the admin dashboard
- Included: S3 uploads with presigned URLs, and cron jobs
The trade-off vs MakerKit
- Not available: You take on Wasp, its DSL and its CLI
- Not available: Organizations go undocumented, and so do teams
- Not available: Updating is what their guide advises against
- Not available: Nothing for 2FA, locales or rate limiting
- Not available: No Supabase Auth, no RLS code, no Expo plugin
Bottom line: Open SaaS answers MakerKit's stack of licences with no licence at all, if Wasp suits you.
FAQ
MakerKit alternatives, answered
Short answers to the questions people actually ask.
What is the best MakerKit alternative?
It turns on which limit you hit. GenerateSaaS covers client work and ships credits, supastarter adds frameworks, IndieKit ships credits at $79, and Open SaaS charges nothing.
Do the three MakerKit kits share one licence?
They do not. Each stack is bought on its own at the same $349, and their FAQ puts a further licence on every client project a freelancer delivers.
Which MakerKit alternative is cheapest?
Free, if you will take Open SaaS and its MIT licence. Otherwise IndieKit leads at $79, then ShipFast at $199, ours at $249 and supastarter at $299.
Can MakerKit bill in credits out of the box?
Not without writing it. Their docs walk through adding credits over the billing that ships, which leaves the schema and the deduction rules to you.
Does MakerKit have an audit log?
Not in the kits. Audit logging lives in Supamode, their separate Supabase admin product, at a price of its own. GenerateSaaS keeps the log in the kit, with a viewer over it.
Ready to decide?
Pick the plan that fits and start today.
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