Early-stage SaaS
Fast shipping, minimal ops, and clear pricing for small teams.
Decision checklist
- •Ship auth and billing in days, not weeks
- •Keep vendor count low until product-market fit
- •Favor predictable pricing over deep customization
- •Avoid heavy compliance workflows early
- •Choose tools with great docs and copy-paste examples
Authentication
User authentication and identity management solutions for developers
Drop-in authentication for modern apps
Clerk is the best choice for React/Next.js developers who want beautiful auth out of the box. The DX is unmatched, but costs can add up.
Payment Processing
Accept payments, manage subscriptions, and handle billing
Merchant of record for SaaS
Paddle is perfect if you want to sell globally without worrying about VAT, sales tax, or entity setup. Worth the higher fees for the peace of mind.
Hosting & Deployment
Deploy and host your web applications with ease
The frontend cloud
Vercel is the obvious choice for Next.js projects. The DX is unmatched. Consider alternatives if you need containers or have cost concerns.
Databases
Managed database solutions for modern applications
Serverless Postgres
Neon is the best serverless Postgres for Vercel/Next.js projects. Scale-to-zero billing is perfect for side projects.
Email APIs
Transactional and marketing email services for developers
Email for developers
Resend is the best email API for React developers. The DX is unmatched and React Email makes templating a joy.
Monitoring & Logging
Error tracking, performance monitoring, and application logging
Uptime, logs, and incident management
Better Stack is the modern alternative to legacy monitoring tools. Great value for uptime, logs, and incident management.
Analytics
Privacy-friendly analytics and user behavior tracking
Privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative
Plausible is the best privacy-friendly analytics. Perfect for sites that don't need complex user tracking.
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