ShipQuick vs ShipFast: The Modern TanStack Start Alternative to the Most Popular Next.js Boilerplate
Touseef Ibn Khaleel
Indie Hacker
ShipQuick vs ShipFast: Which SaaS Boilerplate Is Right for You?
If you've spent any time in the indie hacker space, you've heard of ShipFast. Marc Lou built it into one of the most recognized SaaS starter kits available, and for good reason—it solves a real problem and ships fast. But it was designed for a specific era of Next.js development, and if you're evaluating boilerplates today in 2026, the technology choices matter more than the marketing.
This comparison is for developers who want to make an informed choice, not just buy the most popular option.
The Core Difference: Stack Philosophy
ShipFast was built on Next.js 14 with the App Router and NextAuth v4. That was a reasonable choice in 2023. In 2026, both of those choices carry meaningful trade-offs.
ShipQuick is built on TanStack Start—a modern full-stack React framework from the creators of TanStack Query and TanStack Router. It uses Better Auth for authentication, which is actively maintained, type-safe by default, and designed from the ground up for modern React.
The question isn't which is more popular. The question is: which gets you to production faster with fewer architectural regrets?
Quick Comparison
| Feature | ShipQuick | ShipFast |
|---|---|---|
| Framework | TanStack Start | Next.js 14 |
| Auth | Better Auth | NextAuth v4 |
| Database | MongoDB | MongoDB (Mongoose) |
| Payments | Polar (one-time & subscriptions) | Stripe / Lemon Squeezy |
| Pricing model | One-time payment | One-time payment |
| Blog | ✅ Markdown-based | ✅ Included |
| Docs | ✅ Full docs system | ❌ Not included |
| Landing page | ✅ Full sections | ✅ Included |
| TypeScript | ✅ Full | ✅ Full |
| Active maintenance | ✅ 2026 | Primarily 2023–2024 era |
The Authentication Gap
NextAuth v4 was the dominant auth solution for years—but it's not where the ecosystem is headed. NextAuth v5 (now called Auth.js) is a near-complete rewrite, meaning upgrading from NextAuth v4 is not a minor patch. If you build on ShipFast today, you're taking on that migration debt from day one.
Better Auth, which ShipQuick uses, is a newer authentication library that was designed for the current React ecosystem. It's fully type-safe, integrates cleanly with modern frameworks, and handles sessions, social providers, and email/password flows without the configuration overhead that NextAuth v4 requires.
If authentication problems are the #1 reason SaaS projects get derailed early, the choice of auth library is not a detail—it's a foundation decision.
TanStack Start vs Next.js 14
Next.js is excellent software. But Next.js 14 specifically introduced the App Router as "stable" when many of its patterns were still evolving. Server Actions, the cache behavior, and the use client / use server boundary rules were all in flux when ShipFast was built.
TanStack Start gives you:
- File-based routing with full TypeScript inference—no guessing what params are available
- Server functions that work like typed RPC calls—no separate API route files to maintain
- TanStack Query integration built in—the best server state management in React, natively supported
- No vendor lock-in—TanStack Start is framework-agnostic at its core and can be deployed anywhere Vite runs
For founders building their first SaaS, the mental model of TanStack Start is simpler. You're not learning App Router conventions, parallel routes, intercepting routes, and cache directives simultaneously. You write server functions, call them from client components, and TanStack Query handles caching and revalidation.
What ShipQuick Includes That ShipFast Doesn't
One concrete difference: ShipQuick ships with a full documentation system. If you're building a developer tool, an API product, or anything with user-facing configuration, having a ready-made docs system (with Markdown support, sidebar navigation, and search) saves you a week of work.
ShipFast focuses on getting your marketing site and auth flow live quickly, which it does well. ShipQuick ships the same core plus the docs layer, because most real products need one eventually.
Both include:
- A landing page with multiple sections (hero, features, pricing, FAQ, testimonials)
- A working blog with Markdown support
- Authentication (email/password + social providers)
- Payment integration
- Email transactional flows
Payments: Polar vs Stripe/Lemon Squeezy
ShipFast integrates with Stripe and optionally Lemon Squeezy. Both are excellent and widely used.
ShipQuick integrates with Polar—a developer-first billing platform that handles VAT/GST compliance automatically, issues refunds simply, and has a clean API. For indie hackers selling to global customers, not thinking about tax compliance is worth something.
Pricing Model
Both ShipFast and ShipQuick use a one-time payment model—you pay once and own the code. This is the correct model for a boilerplate: you should own your foundation without paying a recurring license fee forever.
ShipFast's pricing has varied over time as it has grown in popularity. ShipQuick is priced for indie hackers and early-stage founders who want the maximum leverage per dollar spent.
Who Should Choose ShipFast
- You are already deep in the Next.js ecosystem and your team knows it well
- Your deployment target is Vercel and you want the tightest possible integration
- You want the largest community and the most Stack Overflow answers for your boilerplate's stack
Who Should Choose ShipQuick
- You want a modern stack that isn't carrying 2023-era architectural decisions
- You want Better Auth over NextAuth v4's configuration complexity
- You want TanStack Start's type-safe routing and server functions
- You want a docs system included out of the box
- You want Polar's clean billing with automatic tax compliance
The Bottom Line
ShipFast is a proven, battle-tested boilerplate with a large audience. If you are already comfortable with Next.js 14 and want the path of least resistance to a community of fellow builders, it's a reasonable choice.
ShipQuick is the better technical choice if you're starting fresh in 2026. TanStack Start, Better Auth, and Polar represent where the React full-stack ecosystem is actually heading. You get a more maintainable foundation without taking on migration debt before you've written a single line of product code.
Start shipping with ShipQuick → shipquick.app
Also comparing: ShipQuick vs MakerKit, ShipQuick vs Supastarter, ShipQuick vs LaunchKit, ShipQuick vs Gravity
→ See all comparisons in the SaaS Boilerplate Comparison Hub
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