What tech stack should you use for your app?

Start with what you are building

A tech stack is the set of technologies that run your product: its interface, server behavior, database, authentication, deployment, and monitoring. A language is only one part. TypeScript is a language, React is a UI library, and Next.js is a framework that supplies application structure around React.

Write one sentence describing the main user journey before selecting tools. A public documentation site mostly needs readable pages and a publishing workflow. A subscription app needs accounts, protected data, and entitlement checks. An AI assistant adds model requests, usage budgets, and a way to evaluate answers. These are different requirements, even when their homepages look similar.

• Who is the first user, and what can they accomplish?
• Which data must be private, shared, searchable, or retained?
• Does the product need background jobs, real-time updates, or offline use?
• Who will respond when a provider or deployment fails?

Choose one tool for each job

Separate your choices into application framework, data storage, authentication, styling, deployment, and observability. This prevents comparing unrelated tools: Clerk and Better Auth address identity, while shadcn/ui and Mantine address interface components. Neither choice replaces the application framework.

Our TypeScript SaaS starting point uses Next.js, PostgreSQL, Better Auth, and Tailwind CSS. It is an editorial default for a small TypeScript team, not a universal winner. A content-heavy site may benefit more from a content-oriented framework; a team with an established backend should usually evaluate keeping it before introducing another language or service.

Compare ownership and the cost of operating it

Open-source software and a free hosted plan describe different things. An application-owned auth library leaves database, email delivery, upgrades, and incident response with your team. Managed identity moves some operations to a provider but introduces its pricing, availability, and migration boundaries.

Create a rough monthly budget for compute, database, storage, email, monitoring, and any model usage. Record what happens when a free tier is exceeded, and include the engineering time required to operate self-hosted components. Do not choose a stack on a pricing headline alone.

Validate the stack with one complete slice

Before expanding the architecture, build a small end-to-end workflow: sign in, create a record, enforce ownership on the server, and recover gracefully from a failed request. Deploy to a controlled preview only when you are ready to configure the required services. Record setup steps and recovery commands.

Use a stack page to inspect alternatives and customize its starter prompt. Tell your coding assistant what the product does and which constraints are non-negotiable. A copied prompt is a starting brief, not proof that the resulting application is secure or production-ready.

• Can the team explain each component and remove unnecessary ones?
• Are protected operations checked on the server?
• Are migration, backup, and rollback responsibilities documented?
• Can the same setup be reproduced without secrets in source control?

Choose a stack and copy the starter prompt

• Modern TypeScript SaaS stack
• Open-source SaaS stack
• AI SaaS stack

Official sources

These are decision guides, not benchmark studies. The recommendations synthesize the linked documentation; verify current setup instructions and pricing before implementation.

• React: creating an app and choosing a framework
• Next.js: authentication and authorization boundaries

Continue planning your build

• How to build a SaaS app: choose the stack and first workflow
• React stack choices: Better Auth or Clerk, shadcn/ui or Mantine?

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