Author
Aaron Brick curates the ShipGarden gallery, where we test open-source building blocks so we can own the stack that funds the life.
Sentry vs GlitchTip vs Highlight for error monitoring in a Next.js SaaS in 2026: the license fork, what each costs to self-host, and honest where-each-loses.
Payload, Strapi, and Directus for a Next.js SaaS content layer in 2026: Next.js-native vs standalone, schema-first vs database-first, and the license ceiling that decides the tie.
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.
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.
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.
The three best open-source Google Analytics alternatives in 2026, compared by license, self-host cost, and deploy path.
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.
Stripe acquired Lemon Squeezy and now sells its own merchant of record, so the real 2026 question is whether you rent that role to Paddle, Polar, or Stripe, or stay a raw Stripe processor. Real fees, honest tradeoffs, and which your Next.js SaaS should pick.
Better Auth vs Clerk vs Auth.js vs Supabase Auth for a Next.js SaaS in 2026: verified pricing, self-hosted versus managed, AI-agent auth, and when each one wins.
A hands-on July 2026 scorecard of ten open-source and source-available Next.js SaaS and AI starters, ranked across six axes with real GitHub stars and exact licenses.
ShipGarden's hands-on June 2026 review of Inngest v1.34 (v1.34.0 stable shipped June 29, JavaScript SDK v4.11.0 on npm) as the open-source durable-execution platform for Next.js apps. Five deploy paths, real cost-per-10k-executions math, an honest compare-side against Trigger.dev v4, the SSPL license question, and where v1.34 still bites.
ShipGarden's hands-on June 2026 review of Medusa.js v2 (v2.17.1) as the open-source headless commerce backend for Next.js. Five deploy paths, real cost-per-100-orders numbers, payments via Stripe Paddle and Polar.sh, and the v1-to-v2 migration story you don't want to volunteer for.
