Use the starter or build from scratch?
Compare the included account services, customization work and maintenance responsibilities before choosing how to build.
On this page
Start with the template when its account, subscription and credit workflows fit your product. Build from scratch when you need a different customer journey or service model.
How it works
Compare your real requirements
List the authentication, billing, data, and operational workflows you need. Match them to the supplied examples rather than to a feature count.
Run one complete journey
Try account creation, subscription management and referral rewards. Read the source for the business rules you expect to change.
Choose what you can maintain
Consider the maintenance work, custom integrations, upgrades and test coverage. There is no universal time or cost saving for every team.
Authentication and billing
With the starter, adapt connected email login, account pages, Stripe billing, and credit examples. From scratch, you select and implement those flows yourself. In either case, configure your service accounts and verify their behavior.
Product model and design
The starter provides a public site, customer account center, and administrator console. You replace its content and add the core feature. From scratch, you control those boundaries from the first design decision and build their foundations too.
Ongoing costs and responsibility
The repository does not include hosting, a managed database, email delivery, payment fees, or an operations team. Both approaches leave service operation, dependency updates, customer support, and product rules with you.
Limitations
- This comparison describes this repository and the choice to build your own foundations. It is not a benchmark of other starter kits.
- If you require enterprise identity or a different billing model, assess the adaptation work before choosing the starter.
Questions
Does the starter include hosting?
No. You obtain the source and deploy your own frontend, API, and database with providers you choose.
Can I replace the example business?
Yes. Notes and exports demonstrate how to connect a user action to ownership and charging. Your own business feature belongs in the product template.