Buiding a modern Software as a Service (SaaS) application involves putting together a lot of components. From payment processing and email handling to crafting landing pages and managing user authentication, the list is extensive.
Given that these elements are foundational to virtually every SaaS, it doesn't make sense to continuously reinvent the wheel with each new project. Your time and resources are better allocated towards refining the core functionalities of your SaaS offering.
Enter SaaS boilerplates...
SaaS boilerplates function as comprehensive frameworks, bundling together all the essential features required to kickstart a SaaS application.
By leveraging these pre-built frameworks, you not only speed up the development process but also maintain your focus on enhancing the unique aspects of your SaaS product.
Instead of wasting time building functionalities that have been iterated upon countless times, you can direct your efforts towards innovation and differentiation of your product.
Within the Laravel ecosystem, there exist several notable options for SaaS boilerplates, today we are going to compare two of the top picks: Laravel Spark and SaaSykit.
In this article, we will show down the differences between Laravel Spark & SaaSykit so you can make a well-informed decision, in case you want a good starting point for your next project.
Let's dive in!
1. Payment Provider Support
Both SaaSykit & Laravel Spart support Stripe & Paddle as payment providers. However SaaSykit supports Lemon Squeezy as well on top of that.
SaaSykit also supports the option to implement your own custom payment provider if you prefer, while on Laravel Spark's website it's stated that:
"At this time, it is not possible to implement your own custom payment provider when using Spark."
Saasykit also allows users to enable multiple payment providers the same time.
For example, imagine if you use Paddle as your main payment provider and you woke up one day to find that your Paddle account has been suspended for whatever reason.
With SaaSykit, you can seamlessly transition to alternative options like Stripe or Lemon Squeezy without requiring any code deployments. All what you need to do is to configure your new payment provider, enable it, and then disable Paddle and continue your operating normally until you reach out to Paddle and solve the problem they have with you. (not you personally, but your business I mean :D )
Winner: SaaSykit
2. Subscription & One-Time Payment Support
Both Laravel Spark & SaaSykit offer subscription and one time payment support.
Winner: draw
3. Multi-Tenancy
SaaSykit offers a multi-tenant starter kit (SaaSykit Tenancy) which makes building multi-tenant SaaS applications a breeze. It comes with multi-tenant dashboards, ability to invite users, assign roles & permissions to users within the tenant, manage team members, and more.
SaaSykit Tenancy also offers seat-based (per user) subscriptions, which allows you to charge your customers per seat. It makes sure that number of seats is synced with all payment providers autmatically as users are being added or removed from tenants.
Laravel Spark doesn't offer multi-tenant features.
Winner: SaaSykit
4. Configuration Style
Laravel Spark uses configuration files to set product ids and prices. If you need to change a price or any of the payment provider configurations, you will need to change that in config files then do a code deployment.
On the other hand, SaaSykit comes with a beautiful Admin panel (based on FilamentPHP), which offers you an interface to edit products, plans, prices and even define discount codes to reward you customers, all from your admin panel.
SaaSykit uses the APIs of payment providers to create the products and define the prices on their side behind the scenes, which saves your time and efforts.
Winner: SaaSykit
5. Discounts
When it comes to rewarding your customers with discounts, the process differs between Spark and SaaSykit.
In Spark, creating discounts requires generating them directly on the payment provider's platform.
On the other hand, SaaSykit simplifies this process by allowing you to effortlessly create discounts through the admin panel. These discounts seamlessly integrate with all payment providers, ensuring functionality remains intact even if you opt to switch providers, as discussed earlier.
Ultimately, the choice between Spark and SaaSykit in this regard boils down to personal preference.
Winner: draw, although SaaSykit comes in more handy.
6. Admin Panel & User Dashboard
Spark doesn't have an admin panel or a user dashboard. However, SaaSykit steps in with a sleek admin panel that lets you handle everything from payment methods to blog posts. You can manage products, plans, prices, discounts, email settings, permissions, roles, and even your product's public roadmap. It's a one-stop-shop for SaaS management.
Plus, SaaSykit spoils your users with a user-friendly dashboard. Here, they can check their billing history, upgrade or cancel subscriptions, and more.
These panels are powered by FilamentPhp, making them easily expandable. So, you can add in extra functionalities tailored to your SaaS product on top of them.
Winner: SaaSykit
7. Stats Dashboard
When you log into your SaaSykit's admin panel, you'll be greeted with a stats page that gives you a quick snapshot of how your business is doing. It's packed with numbers and charts that tell you all you need to know at a glance. You'll find stats like MRR (monthly recurring revenue), subscription churn rate, total revenue, active subscriptions, average revenue per user (ARPU), and plenty more.
As for Spark? Well, it doesn't offer any of these features.
Winner: SaaSykit
8. Ready made components
When it comes to building landing pages, having a set of proven reusable components can be a real time-saver. Laravel Spark prides itself on being completely frontend agnostic, meaning it doesn't come with any prebuilt components for your landing pages.
On the flip side, SaaSykit has your back with a big list of components that'll help you put together pages very quickly. Need to showcase your plans and prices? Just drop in this one-liner:
<x-plans.all calculate-saving-rates="true" preselected-interval="year"></x-plans.all>
Voilà!
SaaSykit doesn't stop there though. It packs in other components like Hero sections, FAQs, Pill, Tab slider, Outro (call to action), and much more.
Plus, it uses DaisyUI, which comes with even more ready-made components (all based on TailwindCSS) that you can plug and play wherever you need them.
Winner: SaaSykit
9. Blog
These days, the internet's is crowded like never before, and if you want your SaaS website to stand out, you gotta serve up some helpful content in your niche. That's how you get on Google and start pulling in traffic from folks who actually care.
Luckily, SaaSykit comes with a slick blog feature. You can create content using a beautiful rich text editor and add in images or videos to show your point. All the frontend pages to list and view your blog posts are also there so you don't need to touch that. Just write your content and you're good to go.
One the other side, Spark doesn't offer such functionality.
Winner: SaaSykit
10. Transactional Emails
SaaSykit builds on top of Laravel's built-in email integrations with Postmark, Mailgun, and Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), but it doesn't stop there—SaaSykit takes things up a notch by offering easily customizable email templates that match your branding colors. You'll find all the essentials covered, from those "welcome aboard" messages when a user signs up, to notifications for subscribing, purchasing, canceling subscriptions, and more.
Now, if you're checking out Spark, you won't find these bells and whistles.
Winner: SaaSykit
11. Login / Registration & Social Login
SaaSykit builds on top of Laravel Socialite package to offer social login options. Alongside the usual username and password login setup, you can also let users sign in with their social media accounts. And the best part? It's all wrapped up in a sleek form that seamlessly blends into your website. Plus, you can toggle social login on or off right from the admin panel.
As for Spark? Nope, it's missing out on this feature.
Winner: SaaSykit.
12. Public Product Roadmap
Every modern SaaS deserves a public roadmap, where users can suggest features or report bugs.
SaaSykit comes with just that. It offers a roadmap where your users can pitch in their ideas or flag bugs. What's nice is that other users can give those suggestions a thumbs up (upvote), helping you find the most crucial features or issues your customers are facing to work on. This way, you know exactly what to tackle next.
All that is also manageable from the admin panel, and you can also disable the roadmap completely from there if you don't want it.
Spark has no such function.
Winner: SaaSykit
13. Developer Friendliness & Documentation
Both SaaSykit and Spark offer helpful developer functions that can make their lives easier when it comes to checking if the user is subscribed, is trialing, etc.
Both also come with automated tests covering the most critical components.
Also
SaaSykit as well as
Laravel Spark come with extensive documentation that goes through how to setup and configure the kit to get the most out of it.
Winner: draw
14. Customizability
Laravel Spark is a package that developers integrate into their projects via Composer. This integration limits customization options, as modifying Spark directly would prevent receiving future updates.
In contrast, SaaSykit is a complete Laravel project provided to users upon purchasing a license. This allows users to fork and customize the project to their specific needs. They can still receive future updates by fetching and merging changes from the original repository into their own, maintaining both customizability and up-to-date functionality.
Winner: SaaSykit
In this showdown between SaaSykit and Laravel Spark, it's clear that SaaSykit comes out as the champion.
Laravel Spark is a nice starting point for your project, but if you want to save even more time and take your project to the next level, then SaaSykit is the way to go.
