ShipKitComparison
ShipKit vs supastarter
This page is written by the makers of ShipKit, one of the two products compared. Every supastarter fact comes from supastarter's own website and links to its source; where their page didn't say, we wrote “Not confirmed” instead of guessing.
Competitor details checked on 2026-10-19; prices change, check their site.
Pick supastarter if you are a team or an agency building B2B on Vercel, serverless or Docker: it has organizations, the wider sign-in options (passwords, passkeys, 2FA), five payment providers and seat-based licenses. Pick ShipKit if you build alone, want Cloudflare Workers, will let an AI coding agent write most of the code, and want to spend less: $99 against $349 for supastarter's Solo license.
Side by side
| Feature | ShipKit | supastarter |
|---|---|---|
| Framework | TanStack Start | TanStack Start edition; the same pricing section also offers Next.js and Nuxt ("Choose your framework").[1] |
| Hosting | Cloudflare Workers only | "Deploy anywhere": Vercel & serverless, Docker support.[1] |
| Runs on Cloudflare Workers | Yes, it is the only target. | Not confirmedThe page lists Vercel, serverless and Docker and does not mention Cloudflare.[1] |
| Database | D1 (SQLite) with Drizzle; R2 for files. Database docs | Drizzle schemas and a Hono API ("Choose your database and ORM"); offline development runs a local PostgreSQL database in Docker Compose.[1] |
| Sign-in | Passwordless through Better Auth: Google, GitHub and emailed codes. No passwords, 2FA or passkeys. Auth docs | Password, passkeys, magic link, OAuth and 2FA, a forgot/reset password flow, roles & permissions, super admin & impersonation.[1] |
| Payments | Stripe and Creem, even at the same time, through one provider-neutral payment layer; subscriptions and one-time credit packs. Payments docs | Lemon Squeezy, Stripe, Polar, Creem and Dodo Payments; subscription or one-time, usage-based and seat-based billing.[1] |
| Organizations / teams | None yet: every account is a single user. | Yes: organizations, invites, member roles and seat-based billing; organizations can be required, hidden or disabled.[1] |
| Languages (i18n) | English and Chinese (Paraglide), routed by URL. | Ready-to-use translations, a language switcher and translatable mail templates.[1] |
| AI coding agents | CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md rules that tests enforce, skills for setup flows (first run, Stripe, Creem, Google OAuth, deploy and more), and a deletion recipe for every optional feature that CI runs. AI agent docs | Built on the AGENTS.md and Agent Skills specifications ("AI agent skills, just launched"); works with Cursor, Claude Code, Codex and more.[1] |
| Admin | Admin console with role-based permissions, revenue, users, an audit log, an email log and a read-only admin API; API keys and credits for your customers. Admin docs | SaaS admin UI: superadmin role, manage organizations, manage users.[1] |
| Price | $99 one-time (launch price; $199 after launch): the full source in a private GitHub repository, every future update, unlimited projects of your own. All sales are final. Pricing | One-time: Solo $349 (1 developer seat, unlimited personal projects, lifetime updates), Startup $799 (up to 5 seats), Agency $1,499 (up to 10 seats, client projects). A 60-minute consulting call is $149.[1] |
| Free version | ShipKit Lite, free and MIT-licensed: GitHub | Not confirmedThe page shows no free edition.[1] |
| Track record | New: no buyer reviews yet. | "trusted by 1506 developers", by its own count.[1] |
Where it runs: Workers and D1, or Vercel and Postgres
This is the decision underneath every other row. ShipKit runs only on Cloudflare Workers, with D1 and R2 attached as bindings: no connection strings, no connection pool, and a free tier that covers an early product. supastarter says "Deploy anywhere" and names Vercel, serverless platforms and Docker; its offline setup is a local PostgreSQL database. Whether it runs on Cloudflare Workers is not confirmed: its page does not say either way.
D1 is SQLite, and it has no interactive transactions, so money-like updates have to be written as single conditional statements or batches. ShipKit is built around that (how it spends a balance safely), but if you already know you want Postgres features or heavy relational reporting, a Postgres kit is the easier road. Our reasoning for choosing Cloudflare is in Cloudflare Workers + D1 vs Vercel + Postgres.
Sign-in and organizations
Here supastarter is clearly ahead. Its page lists passwords, passkeys, magic links, OAuth and 2FA, plus organizations with invites, member roles and seat-based billing. ShipKit signs people in without passwords (Google, GitHub or an emailed code, see the authentication docs) and has no teams or organizations yet. Teams, invitations and per-team billing are a lot of work to add later, so if a B2B product needs them, start on a kit that has them.
AI coding agents: what each one gives you
supastarter describes itself as "The SaaS starter kit your coding agent deserves". Its page says the codebase is built on the AGENTS.md and Agent Skills specifications, as a structured monorepo agents can navigate, and works with Cursor, Claude Code, Codex and more.
ShipKit ships CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md with its hard rules, and tests enforce the important ones: an admin server function that skips its permission check fails the test suite. Setup flows are skills the agent runs step by step, and every optional feature has a deletion recipe that CI runs, requiring the build to pass afterwards. Details are in the AI agent docs.
Price
Both are one-time purchases. supastarter sells seats: Solo $349 for one developer, Startup $799 for up to five, Agency $1,499 for up to ten and client projects, each with lifetime updates. ShipKit is one license: $99 at launch; $199 after launch, with unlimited projects of your own and every future update. See pricing for what it includes, and the payments docs for how your own product charges its customers.
When supastarter is the better pick
- You are a team or an agency: its licenses come with up to 5 or 10 developer seats, and the Agency tier covers client projects.
- Your product is B2B and needs organizations, invites, member roles and seat-based billing in the first release.
- You need password sign-in, passkeys or 2FA. ShipKit has none of them.
- You want Vercel, serverless platforms or Docker rather than Cloudflare, and a Postgres-style setup (its local development runs PostgreSQL).
- You want Lemon Squeezy, Polar or Dodo Payments; ShipKit supports Stripe and Creem only.
- You may want the same kit in Next.js or Nuxt as well.
- You want an established kit with a user base behind it; ShipKit is new and has no buyer reviews yet.
When ShipKit is the better pick
- You are building alone, and your product is used by single users, not teams.
- You want Cloudflare Workers, D1 and R2, and one platform to pay and debug.
- An AI coding agent will write most of your code, and you want its rules checked by tests and CI, not only written down (why every feature is deletable).
- You want an admin console with revenue, an audit log and an admin API, plus API keys and credits for your customers, from day one.
- Budget matters: $99 once, against $349 for supastarter's Solo license.
See ShipKit before you buy
The live demo opens the whole app, admin console included, in read-only mode and with no sign-up. The docs are public too. Open the live demo · Read the introduction
FAQ
Common questions
Does ShipKit support organizations?
Not yet. Every ShipKit account is a single user. If your product needs teams, invitations and per-team billing from the first release, supastarter already models organizations, invites and member roles.
Can supastarter run on Cloudflare Workers?
Not confirmed. Its TanStack Start page (checked 2026-10-19) lists Vercel, serverless platforms and Docker under deployment and does not mention Cloudflare. Ask supastarter before buying if Workers matters to you.
Which one has passkeys and 2FA?
supastarter. Its page lists password, passkeys, magic link, OAuth and 2FA. ShipKit is passwordless only (Google, GitHub and emailed sign-in codes), with no 2FA or passkeys.
Is there a free version?
ShipKit has ShipKit Lite, a free MIT-licensed starter on GitHub (https://github.com/rice408s/tanstack-start-cloudflare-starter): TanStack Start on Cloudflare Workers with D1 and R2, passwordless sign-in, i18n, an MDX blog and docs. A free supastarter edition is not confirmed: the page we checked shows none.
Is it a one-time payment or a subscription?
Both are one-time. supastarter: Solo $349, Startup $799 or Agency $1,499, paid once, with lifetime updates. ShipKit: $99 once at launch; $199 after launch, with every future update.
Sources
Every supastarter fact on this page comes from these pages, checked on 2026-10-19. ShipKit's own facts link to its docs and pricing on this site.
- [1]https://supastarter.dev/tanstack-start · 2026-10-19
More comparisons
Picked ShipKit?
$99 once: the full source, every future update, unlimited projects of your own.