MakerKit vs supastarter
MakerKit and supastarter, compared line by line on Pricing & licence, Tech stack, Billing features, Core features, Marketing & growth, Operations, AI, Tooling & updates.
supastarter wins for most teams: three frameworks for $299, where MakerKit is $349 per stack.
- Choose MakerKit if
- Included: You want Supabase Auth and RLS-native code
- Included: You want the Expo mobile plugin
- Included: You want rate limiting shipped with the kit
- Choose supastarter if
- Included: Your app is Nuxt or TanStack Start
- Included: You want MySQL or SQLite rather than Postgres
- Included: You want background jobs shipped with the kit
GenerateSaaS is the alternative to bothThat is us$249 one-time- Included: GenerateSaaS is $249, under supastarter at $299 and MakerKit at $349, and one licence covers unlimited projects per seat.
- Included: Neither ships an audit log: MakerKit sells Supamode separately and supastarter documents none. GenerateSaaS ships one with an admin viewer.
- Included: Credits here are real balances with grants and top-ups, where supastarter meters usage without a balance and MakerKit's credits are a build-it guide.
Side by side
Every feature, compared
Tap a name to hide or show its column
| Feature | MakerKit | supastarter | GenerateSaaS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $349 one-time | $299 one-time | $249 one-time |
| Pricing & licence | |||
| Pricing model | Included: One-time, updates included | Included: One-time, updates included | Included: One-time, updates included |
| Projects per licence | Included: Unlimited, per kit | Included: Unlimited, per framework | Included: Unlimited, per seat |
| Client work | Partial: Team tier; client buys a licence | Included: Allowed, no client licence | Partial: Agency tier to deliver source |
| White-label | Not available | Partial: Agency tier | Partial: Agency tier |
| Refund policy | Not available: No refunds, stated | Not available | Not available: All sales final |
| Verdict | supastarter is $50 cheaper to start. Both license narrowly: supastarter per framework, MakerKit per stack, so a second of either is a second purchase. | ||
| Tech stack | |||
| Frameworks | Included: Next.js 16.3, React Router 8, TanStack | Included: Next.js 16.3, Nuxt, TanStack | Included: Next.js 16.3 |
| Database | Included: Supabase, Drizzle, Prisma 7 | Included: Postgres, MySQL, SQLite | Included: Postgres, Neon, Supabase |
| Authentication | Included: Supabase Auth, Better Auth | Included: Better Auth, passkeys, 2FA | Included: Better Auth, passkeys, 2FA |
| Verdict | supastarter leaves Next.js for Nuxt and TanStack Start and adds MySQL and SQLite. MakerKit stays on React and goes deeper into Supabase. | ||
| Billing features | |||
| Payments | Included: Three on Supabase kits, two elsewhere | Included: Five providers, one API | Included: Stripe, Polar |
| Subscriptions | Included: Flat, per-seat, metered, one-off | Included: Plans, seat-based pricing | Included: Month, year, lifetime |
| Usage credits | Partial: Build-it guide | Partial: Metered usage, no balance | Included: Balances, grants, optional top-up |
| Finance dashboard | Not available | Not available | Included: Revenue, vendor cost, margin |
| Core features | |||
| Organizations | Included: Organizations, roles, invites | Included: Organizations, roles, invites | Included: Organizations, roles, invites |
| Admin panel | Included: Users, organizations, RBAC, metrics | Included: Users, organizations, bans | Included: Eight admin tabs |
| Admin login as user | Included: Admin acts as user | Included: Admin acts as user | Included: Admin acts as user |
| Onboarding | Partial: Recipe, build yourself | Included: Multi-step, org, avatar | Included: Profile, first org, welcome drip |
| Notifications | Partial: Realtime, Supabase kits | Included: Notification centre, preferences | Included: In-app bell, email |
| File storage | Included: S3, filesystem, Supabase Storage | Included: S3, R2, Supabase, UploadThing | Included: S3-compatible, local disk |
| Multiple languages | Included: Locales, language switcher | Included: Locales, language switcher | Included: Locales, language switcher |
| Legal pages | Included: Terms, privacy, cookies | Included: Terms, privacy, i18n | Included: Terms, privacy pages |
| Verdict | supastarter and MakerKit both ship organizations, roles, an admin panel and the ability to act as a user. This pair is not decided here. | ||
| Marketing & growth | |||
| Included: Resend, SMTP | Included: Resend, Postmark, Nodemailer | Included: SMTP, SES, Resend | |
| Newsletter | Partial: Signup form, no provider | Partial: Signup section, no provider | Included: Listmonk, Resend sync |
| Blog | Included: Blog in every kit | Included: MDX blog | Included: Categories, tags, RSS |
| SEO tools | Partial: Sitemap, robots, metadata | Included: Meta tags, sitemap | Included: OG images, JSON-LD, sitemap |
| Analytics | Included: GA, PostHog, Umami, Meshes | Included: Eight providers | Included: Eight providers |
| Support chat | Not available | Not available | Included: Crisp, Chatwoot |
| Affiliate tracking | Not available | Not available | Included: Refgrow, Affonso, PromoteKit |
| Cookie consent | Included: Banner, consent hook | Included: Consent banner | Included: GDPR banner, four legal policies |
| Operations | |||
| Audit log | Not available: Supamode, sold separately | Not available | Included: With an admin viewer |
| User API keys | Not available | Not available | Included: Per-key rate limits |
| SMS | Not available | Not available | Included: Broadcast SMS, Twilio, SNS |
| Error reporting | Included: Sentry, SigNoz, PostHog, Honeybadger | Included: Sentry | Included: Sentry, PostHog |
| Rate limiting | Included: Drizzle, Prisma kits | Not available | Included: Per-route, per-key |
| Background jobs | Not available | Included: trigger.dev, QStash, Queuebase | Included: Inngest |
| Deploy targets | Included: Vercel, Cloudflare, Docker, VPS | Included: Vercel, Docker, Fly, Railway, VPS | Included: Docker, Vercel, Fly, Railway, more |
| AI | |||
| AI assistant | Partial: Teams tier, separate templates | Included: Chatbot, history, streaming | Included: Chat, files, web search |
| User-supplied AI keys | Not available | Not available | Included: Users add provider keys |
| MCP server | Included: Kit, CLI servers | Not available: Agent Skills, no MCP | Included: For your app's users |
| Tooling & updates | |||
| Project setup CLI | Included: @makerkit/cli new | Included: npx supastarter new | Included: generatesaas init |
| Version updates | Included: CLI update, git merge | Partial: Updates included, manual merge | Included: CLI update, AI merges |
| End-to-end tests | Included: Playwright, pre-configured | Included: Playwright, pre-configured | Included: Playwright, pre-configured |
| Desktop app | Not available | Not available | Included: Electron app |
| Mobile app | Partial: Expo plugin, Supabase only | Not available: Listed as work in progress | Not available |
- Included
- Partial
- Not available
Read from each vendor's site and docs in 2026. A cross means their docs and site do not show it.
The trade-offs
What each one gets right
MakerKit
Three kits built around Supabase, with Drizzle and Prisma variants and a plugin catalogue.
Drizzle and Prisma variants sit beside the Supabase kit, each a separate product at the same price. Thirteen plugins install by one command, and four error providers are wired, SigNoz and Honeybadger among them.
Client work needs the Teams tier, and every client who receives the source code must hold their own licence. Their licence states plainly that refunds are not offered.
- Pro $349
- Teams $649
Strengths
- Included: Supabase Auth with RLS-native code
- Included: Expo mobile plugin, Supabase kit
- Included: Fourteen plugins installed by one command
- Included: Four error providers, SigNoz included
- Included: Two MCP servers for coding agents
Trade-offs
- Not available: Each stack is a separate licence
- Not available: A licence per client project
- Not available: Credits are a guide, not code
- Not available: No audit log or user API keys
- Not available: No broadcast SMS or announcements
supastarter
One SaaS kit published for Next.js, Nuxt and TanStack Start, licensed per framework.
Five payment providers sit behind a single API, background jobs run on trigger.dev, QStash or Queuebase, and the database may be Postgres, MySQL or SQLite.
A licence is bought per framework, so a second framework is a second purchase. Client work is allowed on every tier and needs no client licence. Seats run 1, 5 and 10 by tier. Their terms publish no refund policy at all.
- Solo $299
- Startup $799
- Agency $1,499
Strengths
- Included: Nuxt and TanStack Start kits too
- Included: MySQL and SQLite, plus Postgres
- Included: Five payment providers behind one API
- Included: Background jobs: trigger.dev, QStash, Queuebase
- Included: 22 Agent Skills for coding agents
Trade-offs
- Not available: One licence covers one framework
- Not available: Seats cap at ten, even on the Agency tier
- Not available: Metered usage, but no credit balances
- Not available: No audit log or user API keys
- Not available: No broadcast SMS or announcements
FAQ
MakerKit vs supastarter, answered
Short answers to the questions people actually ask.
Does one MakerKit licence cover every kit?
No. Each stack is licensed separately at the same price, and their FAQ says a freelancer needs a licence for each client project.
Does MakerKit ship credit-based billing?
Not as code. Its documentation shows how to build credits on top of the billing it ships, so the schema and the deduction logic are yours to write.
Which frameworks does supastarter support?
Next.js, Nuxt and TanStack Start, each as its own kit. A licence covers one of them, so a second framework is a second purchase.
Does supastarter have credit-based billing?
Not as balances. Its docs cover metered usage billing, which charges for what was consumed rather than drawing down a credit balance you granted.
Ready to decide?
Pick the plan that fits and start today.
Lifetime updates
Unlimited projects