Best open-source Next.js SaaS + AI starters (2026 scorecard)

We build the shelf so the shelf can carry us. A good starter is not the one with the most stars; it is the one that gets out of your way on a Tuesday night when you have three hours and a deploy to make. Between June 19 and July 1, 2026 we tested ten open-source and source-available Next.js starters hands-on for the ShipGarden gallery. This scorecard puts all ten side by side.

Quick Answer (July 2026): We reviewed ten open-source and source-available Next.js SaaS and AI starters on the ShipGarden shelf between June 19 and July 1, 2026, and scored each across six axes that actually decide whether a starter earns a spot in your stack: time-to-first-deploy, AI-agent backend support, styling surface, vendor lock-in, license, and cost. The short version: Mastra is our pick for an agent backend, CopilotKit for in-app copilot UI, Open SaaS for a free full-stack SaaS boilerplate, Twenty for a self-hosted CRM, Medusa for headless commerce, Refine for React admin panels, and Trigger.dev or Inngest for durable background jobs. Convex is the pick for a reactive backend if you can live with query-layer lock-in. Skip LlamaIndex.TS for new builds: its repository was archived on March 11, 2026.

How we scored

ShipGarden curates open-source and source-available SaaS and AI-app boilerplates. We have no commercial relationship with any project on this page, and we score them the same way whether they have 3,000 stars or 52,000. Every star count and license below was pulled directly from each project's GitHub repository on July 2, 2026, so the numbers age the day after we publish. Treat them as a snapshot.

The six axes:

1. Time-to-first-deploy. How long from git clone to a URL you can share. Fast means minutes, Slow means you are provisioning Postgres, Redis, and a worker before you see a screen.
2. AI-agent backend. Core means the project exists to run agents or AI backends. Adjacent means it is not an agent tool but pairs well with one (durable jobs, event workflows). None means it is orthogonal to AI.
3. Styling surface. What UI you get out of the box: a full app, component adapters, or nothing because it is a backend.
4. Vendor lock-in. How hard it is to walk away. Low means standard TypeScript you can port. High means your data model is expressed in one vendor's query layer.
5. License. The exact SPDX identifier, because "open source" hides a lot (more on that below).
6. Cost. Self-hosting cost is $0 plus your own infrastructure for all ten. Where a managed cloud exists, we note it.

The numbers (July 2, 2026)

The license column is the one most roundups skip

"Open source" is doing a lot of work in most 2026 listicles. Six of these ten are genuinely OSI-approved permissive or copyleft licenses. Four are not what a lawyer would call open source, and the difference matters if you plan to build a commercial product on top.

• MIT and Apache-2.0 (Open SaaS, CopilotKit, LlamaIndex.TS, Medusa, Refine, Trigger.dev, and Mastra's core) are the safe, permissive choices. Build what you want, commercial or not.
• AGPL-3.0 (Twenty's core) is real open source but strongly copyleft. If you modify Twenty and offer it over a network, the AGPL wants your changes published. Twenty also marks some files @license Enterprise that sit under a separate commercial license, verified in its LICENSE file on July 2, 2026.
• SSPL-1.0 (Inngest's server) is source-available, not OSI-approved. Its own LICENSE file labels it "Server Side Public License, Version 1.0" with an "Apache 2.0 Future License," meaning each release converts to Apache-2.0 after a delay.
• FSL-1.1-Apache-2.0 (Convex) is the Functional Source License: source-available today, converting to Apache-2.0 two years after each release. Fine for most builders, a hard stop if your procurement team requires an OSI license.

None of this makes the source-available projects bad. It makes them projects you should read the license on before you commit a business to them. That is the axis the star count cannot tell you.

The fit

The category picks

Best AI-agent backend: Mastra. If the thing you are building is agents, Mastra is the tightest fit on the shelf. It is a TypeScript agent framework with an Apache-2.0 core, and it deploys to Node or serverless without ceremony. Pair it with CopilotKit when you need the agent to show up in the UI.

Best in-app copilot UI: CopilotKit. When the agent needs a chat surface, sidebar, or in-context copilot inside your React app, CopilotKit ships the components and the runtime. MIT licensed, fast to add, and it plays with external agent runtimes rather than trapping you in one.

Best free full-stack SaaS boilerplate: Open SaaS. Open SaaS by the Wasp team gives you auth, payments, and an admin dashboard in one MIT-licensed repo. The tax is the Wasp DSL: you are learning a framework, not just wiring Next.js. Worth it if you want batteries included and free.

Best self-hosted CRM: Twenty. The most-starred project here at 52,079 stars. Twenty is a real Salesforce alternative you can run yourself, but it is a full application to operate, not a light starter, and the AGPL-3.0 core means read the license before you fork it commercially.

Best headless commerce: Medusa. Medusa 2.0 is the MIT-licensed headless commerce engine with a Next.js storefront starter. It is heavy to self-host (Postgres and Redis and a worker), so budget the setup, but nothing else here matches it for owning your store's backend.

Best React admin and internal tools: Refine. Refine is a headless React framework for admin panels and internal tools, and its adapter model lets you bring Ant Design, MUI, Chakra, or shadcn. MIT, fast to scaffold, low lock-in.

Best durable background jobs: Trigger.dev or Inngest. Both solve long-running and retryable work that a serverless request cannot. Trigger.dev is Apache-2.0 and reads like a jobs platform; Inngest is event-driven step functions under the source-available SSPL. Pick Trigger.dev if a permissive license matters; pick Inngest if the event-and-step mental model fits your workflows better.

Best reactive backend, with a caveat: Convex. Convex gives you a reactive database where your React components subscribe to server functions and update live. It is a joy to build on. The caveat is real: your data model lives in Convex's query layer, so lock-in is the highest on this list, and the FSL is source-available rather than OSI open source. Its managed Convex Cloud starts free and moves to $25 per developer per month for Pro (Convex pricing, July 2026).

Where each one loses

No starter wins on every axis, and pretending otherwise is how you end up rewriting your backend at month six.

• LlamaIndex.TS: skip it for new builds. Its GitHub repository was archived on March 11, 2026, and has not been pushed to since. It still works, and the Python LlamaIndex line is alive, but a TypeScript RAG project you start today should not stand on an archived dependency.
• Convex and Inngest are source-available, not OSI open source. If your buyers or your compliance team require an OSI license, that rules them out today regardless of how good the developer experience is.
• Twenty and Medusa are applications, not light starters. Both are excellent and both are a weekend of infrastructure before you see value. Do not reach for them when you need a screen tonight.
• Mastra, CopilotKit, and Convex ship no styling. They are backends and runtimes. You still owe the app its UI.
• Star counts lie about maintenance. Twenty has 52,079 stars and LlamaIndex.TS has 3,078, but the archived one is the risk, not the small one. Refine at 35,090 stars last pushed on June 5, 2026, healthy but slower than the daily-commit projects. Always check the last commit date, not the star badge.

FAQ

What is the best open-source Next.js starter in 2026?

There is no single best; it depends on what you are shipping. For an AI-agent backend, Mastra. For a free full-stack SaaS boilerplate, Open SaaS. For a self-hosted CRM, Twenty. For headless commerce, Medusa. For React admin panels, Refine. For durable background jobs, Trigger.dev or Inngest. This scorecard, updated July 2, 2026, scores all ten across six axes.

Are all of these actually open source?

No. Six are OSI-approved (MIT or Apache-2.0, plus Twenty's AGPL-3.0 core). Convex uses the Functional Source License (FSL-1.1-Apache-2.0) and Inngest's server uses SSPL-1.0. Both are source-available and convert to a permissive license over time, but neither is OSI open source today. Read the license before building a commercial product on them.

Which starter has the least vendor lock-in?

Mastra and CopilotKit score lowest: both are standard TypeScript you can port elsewhere. Convex scores highest, because your data model lives in its reactive query layer. Refine and the job runners sit in the middle with SDK-level coupling.

Which is fastest to deploy?

Mastra, CopilotKit, and Refine are the fastest to a running screen because they scaffold with a single create command and do not require provisioning a database and worker first. Twenty and Medusa are the slowest because they are full applications with Postgres, Redis, and background workers.

Should I still use LlamaIndex.TS?

For an existing project, it still works. For a new build in 2026, we recommend against it: the repository was archived on March 11, 2026. Prefer an actively maintained RAG or agent framework such as Mastra, or the maintained Python LlamaIndex if Python fits your stack.

How current are these star counts?

Every star count and license identifier on this page was pulled from the projects' GitHub repositories on July 2, 2026. Star counts change daily; use them as a rough popularity signal, not a maintenance signal. Check each repository's last commit date before you commit a project to your stack.

Your move: pick the one axis that would hurt most to get wrong (license, lock-in, or the weekend you would spend self-hosting), sort this table by that column in your head, and clone the top row tonight.