Curator notes on stacks worth shipping, each one picked, tested and documented.
70 posts
Drizzle, Prisma, and Kysely for the data layer of a Next.js SaaS in 2026: why they are not the same category, real repos and costs, and honest where-each-loses.
Polar, Lemon Squeezy, and Paddle for merchant-of-record billing on a Next.js SaaS in 2026: real fees, the open-source pick, the Stripe angle, and honest where-each-loses.
Qdrant, Weaviate, and Chroma are the three open-source vector databases you can actually self-host. We compare embedded versus server, self-host cost, license, managed pricing, and when pgvector wins.
Clerk, Auth0, and WorkOS for a Next.js SaaS in 2026: real free tiers, per-user versus per-connection pricing, enterprise SSO cost, and when open-source auth wins.
A hands-on July 2026 gallery feature of ai-app-builder-open, the open-source, self-hostable Next.js AI app builder boilerplate, and how it compares to Dyad and Open Lovable.
Medusa, Saleor, and Vendure for open-source headless commerce on Next.js in 2026: language, license, real managed pricing, honest 'where it loses', and how to pick.
Twenty, EspoCRM, and Odoo are three very different open-source CRMs. We compare license, self-host cost, stack, and where each one loses in 2026.
Mastra, LangChain.js, and LlamaIndex.TS for building AI agents in TypeScript, 2026: stars, license, which is still maintained, and how to choose.
Inngest, Trigger.dev, and BullMQ for Next.js background jobs in 2026: where each runs, real pricing, honest 'where it loses', and how to pick.
Convex, Supabase, and Firebase are three different bets on your data model and how much you own. A sourced 2026 comparison of free tiers, real costs, lock-in, and which backend fits your Next.js build.
UploadThing, Amazon S3, and Cloudflare R2 compared for Next.js file uploads in 2026: the egress-driven cost math, the DX tradeoffs, and which one to pick.
Payload, Sanity, and Contentful all run a Next.js SaaS, but they own very different amounts of your content backend. A 2026 decision guide on license, cost, and lock-in.
