Makerkit alternatives

ShipFast

A Next.js starter with the parts everyone rebuilds already wired together: authentication, Stripe payments, a database, transactional email, SEO and a landing page. Sold as a one-time purchase with lifetime updates. The pitch is days saved on plumbing; the caveat is inheriting someone else's architecture along with it.

create-t3-app

Free to use, where Makerkit is paid

supastarter

SaaS scaffolding for Next.js, Nuxt or TanStack Start, covering authentication, organisations, subscriptions, internationalisation and email. The database, ORM and payment provider are choices rather than defaults, which is rather the point: it does the multi-tenant groundwork without deciding the rest of your stack. Sold once, with lifetime updates.

Gravity

A Node.js and React starter sold as source code, covering authentication, Stripe billing with seat and usage models, permissions, transactional email and a bundled admin dashboard. A React Native client and an Astro marketing site come with it. One-time payment with a year of updates, after which renewing is a separate charge, and the licence caps how many applications you may ship on it.

Warp

A terminal that treats each command and its output as a block you can navigate, copy and share, rather than an endless scroll. Input behaves like a text editor, history is searchable, and an assistant can read a failing command and suggest the fix. Workflows save parameterised commands for a team. Some of it requires an account, which is the objection people raise most.

Cursor

VS Code rebuilt around a model that can see the whole repository. Beyond autocomplete it edits across files from an instruction, answers questions about unfamiliar code, and applies a diff you review before it lands. Keybindings and extensions carry over from VS Code, so switching costs an afternoon. The multi-file edit is the feature people stay for.

Vercel

Deploys a frontend by pushing to a branch, with a preview URL for every pull request, the workflow most React teams now expect by default. Built by the maintainers of Next.js, which it supports first and best. Edge functions, analytics and image optimisation are included. Costs are predictable until traffic is not, and bandwidth is the line to watch.

Attio

A CRM that models your pipeline instead of making you adopt theirs. Objects, attributes and relationships are defined by you, and it builds from real data, email and calendar activity populate records rather than waiting for someone to log them. Aimed at startups and investment teams whose process does not fit a standard sales funnel.

Figma

Interface design in the browser with everyone in the same file, which is what displaced the previous generation of desktop tools. Components and variants keep a design system consistent, auto-layout makes frames respond like real containers, and Dev Mode gives engineers measurements and generated CSS. Prototyping, commenting and version history are built in, so review happens where the work is.

Raycast

A launcher that replaces Spotlight and then absorbs half the menu bar: window management, clipboard history, snippets, calculations, and extensions for the tools you already run. Everything is keyboard-driven and consistent, so muscle memory transfers between extensions. macOS only. The free tier covers most individual use.

Notion

Documents, databases and wikis in one workspace that bends to whatever shape a team wants, which is both the appeal and the risk. The same primitives make a meeting note, a project tracker, a CRM or a public site. Teams that agree on structure get a system of record; teams that do not get a sprawl nobody maintains.

Pipedream

Workflows where every step can just be code. Connect a trigger, then write Node, Python, Go or Bash with managed authentication for the services you call, no credential handling of your own. Pre-built components cover the common cases. Suits developers who want the plumbing solved and the logic left alone.