Everyone would agree:
Building a SaaS from scratch is incredibly time-consuming and complex.
But what if you could dramatically accelerate your development workflow using NextJS open source starters tailored for SaaS?
These pre-configured bundles promise to help you launch faster while optimizing performance.
In this post, you'll dive into real-world examples of NextJS starters for SaaS, learning how to:
- Quickly get up and running with Supabase authentication in NextJS
- Boost productivity with NextJS SaaS templates
- Enhance performance with image optimization and code splitting
So if you're looking to streamline your next SaaS build, this guide has you covered.
Streamlining Your SaaS Project: An Introduction to NextJS Starters
With the rise in popularity of NextJS, developers now have access to an abundance of open source starters and templates to accelerate building SaaS applications. Rather than configuring complex toolchains from scratch, leveraging these pre-made NextJS starters can optimize your workflow and allow you to focus efforts on core product development.
In this post, we'll provide an overview of top NextJS open source SaaS starters available on GitHub and how to effectively integrate them into your stack.
Why Use a NextJS Starter?
NextJS starters provide an existing codebase and project structure to build atop of rather than starting completely from scratch. The benefits include:
- Faster onboarding for new developers joining the project
- Optimized build configuration with NextJS best practices implemented
- Integrations with databases, authentication, analytics, and more
- Responsive UI templates/themes to customize
This saves significant initial setup time and means you can start writing important business logic on day one!
Notable Open Source NextJS Starters
There are a wide variety of NextJS open source starters on GitHub targeted for SaaS projects. Some popular options include:
- NextJS Supabase Starter - Supabase backend integration with authentication flows
- NextJS SaaS Landing Page - Styled SaaS templates for marketing sites
- NextJS SaaS Starter Kit - Dashboard, billing, and more backend features
The starters have detailed READMEs on how to get setup and customize the codebase to fit your needs.
Integrating Into Your Stack
The main steps to leverage a NextJS starter template in your project are:
- Choose a starter that matches your tech stack needs
- Fork or clone the repo from GitHub
- Install dependencies with
npm install - Run locally with
npm run dev - Customize components and features!
With this foundation in place from a starter, you can then expand upon functionality rather than handle the initial project setup.
Key Takeaways
NextJS open source starters help accelerate launching SaaS applications by providing a configured codebase to build from. This allows focusing engineering efforts on core product features rather than repetitive setup work each time.
By integrating starters like NextJS Supabase, SaaS Landing Page templates, and SaaS Starter Kit into your web development stack, you can optimize workflow and ship products faster!
A Real-World Look at NextJS SaaS Starter Examples
NextJS offers a robust framework for building modern web applications, providing server-side rendering and easy page routing out of the box. When combined with a backend-as-a-service (BaaS) like Supabase, developers can rapidly prototype and launch SaaS solutions.
In this hands-on tutorial, we'll walk through configuring an open source NextJS + Supabase starter kit, reviewing code examples to add authentication, access the database, and deploy the app to production.
Diving into the NextJS Supabase Starter
The NextJS Supabase starter integrates Supabase's Postgres database and user management APIs with NextJS's React framework. Supabase handles the complexity of building secure databases and authentication so developers can focus on creating amazing user experiences.
Some key elements of the Supabase + NextJS tech stack include:
- NextJS - React framework with server-side rendering for building web apps
- Supabase - Open source Firebase alternative to manage users and data
- PostgreSQL - Relational open source database
- Row Level Security - Database access rules on a per-user basis
- JWT Auth - Secure user authentication with JSON Web Tokens
By combining these technologies, we get an integrated full-stack solution to jumpstart SaaS prototyping and take products to market faster.
Getting Started: NextJS + Supabase Starter Configuration
Let's walk through setting up a fresh NextJS project using the Supabase starter template.
First install the required dependencies:
npx create-next-app -e https://github.com/supabase/supabase-js-nextjs-starter supabase-starter
Next, copy the .env.local.example file to .env.local and add your Supabase project details:
SUPABASE_URL=YOUR_SUPABASE_URL
SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=YOUR_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY
Run the development server:
npm run dev
The starter comes pre-configured with Supabase user management APIs for password auth flows. Users can sign up, log in, log out, and access protected profile pages.
Authenticating Users with Supabase in NextJS
The useUser() React hook manages state for the currently signed-in user. We can use it to conditionally show UI elements for logged in vs anonymous visitors:
import { useUser } from '../lib/user'
function MyComponent() {
const { user } = useUser()
return (
<>
{user ? (
<ProfilePage />
) : (
<LandingPage />
)}
</>
)
}
To implement sign in/sign up forms, the supabase-js library exposes handy auth methods like signInWithPassword():
async function signIn({ email, password }) {
const { error, user } = await supabase.auth.signInWithPassword({
email,
password
});
if (!error && !user) router.push('/profile');
}
Refer to Supabase's auth documentation for additional examples of implementing flows like social logins, magic links, and password reset.
Interfacing the Supabase Database with NextJS
The starter kit listens to Supabase realtime database events to populate UI with dynamic data.
Let's look at an example using useSupabaseClient() to fetch rows from a "public_content" table:
function PublicContent() {
const supabase = useSupabaseClient()
const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true)
const [posts, setPosts] = useState([])
useEffect(() => {
getPublicContent()
const channel = supabase
.channel('*')
.on(
'postgres_changes',
{ event: 'INSERT', schema: 'public', table: 'content' },
() => getPublicContent()
)
.subscribe()
return () => {
supabase.removeChannel(channel)
}
}, [])
async function getPublicContent() {
try {
setLoading(true)
let { data: posts, error } = await supabase
.from('content')
.select('*')
.order('id', { ascending: true })
if (!error) {
setPosts(posts)
}
} catch (error) {
alert('Error loading posts!')
console.log(error)
} finally {
setLoading(false)
}
}
//...
}
This listens for new inserts then reruns the query to update the posts array. Other CRUD methods like .insert(), .update(), and .delete() work similarly.
Refer to the Supabase docs for additional examples querying data.
Launching Your NextJS + Supabase SaaS Solution
Once your SaaS prototype on Supabase + NextJS is ready for primetime, follow these steps to launch in production:
- Add environment variables to Vercel
- Run database migrations
- Enable OAuth for social login
- Add monitoring and error tracking
- Configure caching, CDN and optimizations
Refer to Supabase's deployment guide for specifics on each step to launch your app.
By leveraging the pre-built Supabase and NextJS starter, developers can cut out boilerplate code and focus efforts on crafting amazing user experiences. Combining these two frameworks provides the essential ingredients for launching robust SaaS solutions faster.
Accelerating Frontend Development with NextJS SaaS Templates
NextJS has become a popular framework for building modern web applications thanks to its excellent developer experience, production optimizations, and React component-based architecture. When embarking on creating the frontend to a new SaaS product, leveraging existing starter templates and boilerplates built with NextJS is an efficient way to kickstart development.
Rather than configuring complex build processes and reinventing basic site functionality from scratch, developers can utilize these open source NextJS templates as a foundation. They provide pre-built user interface components, data fetching methods, state management, and more tailored for SaaS web apps specifically.
SaaS templates available range from marketing site templates focused on lead generation to headless backends for Jamstack apps to admin dashboards for internal company portals. Let's explore some of the top options to accelerate your next SaaS build.
Crafting the Perfect SaaS Landing Page with a NextJS Template
To gain initial traction for a SaaS product, an effective landing page is crucial for capturing visitor attention and converting signups. Developers can shortcut the design process by leveraging NextJS templates purpose-built for SaaS lead generation.
For instance, NextJS Landing Pages offers multiple templates with pre-optimized page loading, responsive layouts, lead capture forms, and UI components like testimonials, feature sections, and calls-to-action. Developers can quickly customize brand styling, content, and integrations.
By handling the initial layout and coding, these landing page focused NextJS starters enable you to dedicate more time towards fine-tuning messaging and positioning for your unique SaaS offering.
Embracing Jamstack: NextJS Templates for SaaS
Jamstack, the modern web development architecture based on client-side JavaScript, reusable APIs and prebuilt Markup, is ideal for scalable, high-performance SaaS applications. NextJS offers built-in Jamstack capabilities, and leveraging a starter template provides pre-configuration to build a headless SaaS frontend.
For example, NextJS Jamstack Starter integrates a backend CMS, user authentication, and UI toolkit. With data sourced from reusable APIs, the NextJS app handles presentation while the CMS manages content.
Similarly, starters like NextJS Supabase Starter connects a NextJS frontend to the Supabase open source backend. This enables building the SaaS UI with NextJS while using Supabase's Postgres database and user management APIs.
These Jamstack focused NextJS templates demonstrate how you can rapidly develop the SaaS frontend while offloading backend complexity.
Admin Dashboards: Open Source NextJS Templates for SaaS
Once the external customer facing SaaS application is built, developers need to create internal tools for managing the product and interacting with the backend. NextJS starter kits are available containing reusable user interface patterns for developing admin consoles and dashboards.
For example, NextJS Admin Template is an open source boilerplate with data grids, charts, user management screens and other interface elements commonly used in SaaS admin panels. Developers can use this to radically accelerate building internal tools for a custom SaaS platform.
By mixing and matching from various open source NextJS admin dashboard layouts, developers can craft a unique back office experience fine-tuned to their SaaS product requirements.
Ecommerce Integration: NextJS Templates for Selling SaaS
Once traction is gained, many SaaS companies explore offering paid plans, add-ons or premium features to better monetize their user base. Integrating ecommerce functionality with a NextJS codebase is simplified by leveraging starter kits focused on payments.
For instance, NextJS Ecommerce Starter integrates out of the box support for Snipcart to handle cart flows, transactions and subscriptions. Other starters incorporate Stripe billing or Shopify stores using NextJS.
Rather than building complex billing logic from scratch, these ecommerce focused NextJS SaaS templates enable developers to quickly test selling premium plans and paid products to customers.
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In Summary
NextJS starter kits and templates can drastically expedite building modern, scalable SaaS applications. From marketing sites to Jamstack backends to internal tools, reusable building blocks enable focusing efforts on business logic rather than reinventing basic plumbing.
Consider leveraging pre-built NextJS templates as a launchpad for developing performant, future-proof SaaS platforms faster. With an array of open source and commercial options to choose from, identify solutions that align to your tech stack and accelerate your path to launch.
Enhancing Productivity with NextJS SaaS Starter Kits on GitHub
NextJS provides powerful capabilities for building SaaS and web applications efficiently. Paired with comprehensive starter kits and templates hosted on GitHub, developers can optimize workflows and accelerate project delivery.
Utilizing NextJS's Incremental Static Regeneration Feature
NextJS's Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) allows pages to be statically generated on demand. This results in fast page loads while retaining dynamic content capabilities.
When building SaaS apps, leverage ISR with getStaticProps and revalidate options:
export async function getStaticProps() {
// Fetch data from API
return {
props: {
data
},
revalidate: 60 * 60 // Regenerate page hourly
}
}
Then use fallback rendering to display cached content while regenerating:
import useSWR from 'swr'
function Page({data}) {
const { data: newData } = useSWR(url, fetch)
if(!newData) {
return <PageContent data={data} />
}
return <PageContent data={newData} />
}
export default Page
This workflow optimizes build performance and provides fresh data, perfect for SaaS dashboards.
Effective Code Splitting in NextJS for SaaS Applications
Bundling all application code into one bundle causes slow load times. NextJS's dynamic code splitting allows splitting code across multiple bundles loaded on-demand.
Use dynamic import syntax for code splitting:
import('./components/Chart')
.then(module => {
// Use module.default
})
Also leverage getStaticProps for ISR code splitting:
export async function getStaticProps() {
return {
props: {
data: []
},
}
}
Monitoring bundle sizes with NextJS analytics helps optimize splitting. Only load code required for the initial route to improve TTI metrics.
Optimizing Images for Performance in NextJS SaaS Projects
Images often account for most bytes downloaded. Optimizing images improves site speed.
Configure NextJS image component with optimization plugins:
import Image from 'next/image'
import optimizely from 'next-optimized-images'
const OptimizedImage = optimizely({
handleImages: ['jpeg', 'png', 'svg', 'webp', 'gif']
})(Image)
function Header() {
return <OptimizedImage src="/logo.png" width={160} height={160} />
}
export default Header
This handles image formats, sets sizes/dimensions, lazy loads offscreen images, and more. Drastically smaller image files speeds up site loads.
Troubleshooting NextJS SaaS Applications
Debugging tools like React and Redux DevTools help diagnose issues in NextJS apps:
//next.config.js
const withTM = require('next-transpile-modules')(['react-dom'])
module.exports = withTM({
reactStrictMode: true,
})
Enabling Strict Mode and transpiling react-dom enables DevTools.
NextJS 12 added a debugger; statement to pause execution like breakpoints:
// pages/index.js
function IndexPage() {
const data = useFetch('/api/data')
debugger; // Pauses here in dev tools
return <div>{data}</div>
}
export default IndexPage
Debugger lines allow inspecting state without cluttering code with console.logs.
Hopefully these tips help enhance productivity with NextJS SaaS starter kits! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Conclusion: Mastering NextJS SaaS Starters for Enhanced Development Velocity
In summary, leveraging NextJS starters, templates and optimization best practices allows developers to ship SaaS applications more efficiently.
As we've seen, NextJS offers developer-friendly features like server-side rendering and static site generation that make it well-suited for building fast, SEO-friendly SaaS applications. Combining NextJS with pre-built starters and boilerplates designed specifically for SaaS products can further accelerate development workflows.
Some key highlights around effectively utilizing NextJS SaaS starters include:
- Choosing an option that fits your tech stack needs - whether that's one with TypeScript, React Query, Tailwind CSS or other libraries already configured
- Opting for a starter with authentication and user infrastructure ready to go out-of-the-box
- Evaluating if an admin dashboard or CRUD generator is included to save additional dev time
- Assessing how easily customizable the design and theme is to match your brand
- Considering long-term maintenance efforts required once launched
By leveraging the best NextJS SaaS starters that align to your goals, developers can drastically reduce initial setup and focus their efforts on the unique value proposition of their new SaaS business from day one. The flexibility to tweak and extend as needed also ensures longevity of these starters over the course of business growth.
With some strategic planning around the available NextJS starters and optimization tips covered today, we're confident your next SaaS build will progress faster than ever before! Reach out if we can help take those productivity gains to the next level.
