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UseDeploy vs create-t3-app

create-t3-app is the free typesafe scaffold everyone starts with; UseDeploy is what you reach for when you do not want to hand-build auth, billing, and tenancy on top of it.

Last updated: July 2026

create-t3-app is the default free starting point — and deliberately just a scaffold. UseDeploy is a full SaaS foundation. The real question is not "which is better" but "how much of the boring-hard 70% do you want to build yourself." Here is the honest breakdown as of July 2026.

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UseDeploy vs create-t3-app, dimension by dimension

DimensionUseDeploycreate-t3-app
Architecture & testsDDD with ESLint-enforced layering; multi-layer tests + Playwright E2E gated in CITypesafe scaffold (Next.js + tRPC + Tailwind + Prisma/Drizzle); a few tests — scaffolding, not a SaaS kit
AuthBetterAuth — 2FA, magic link, OAuth, password reset (cookie sessions)NextAuth (wired scaffold, no flows)
Billing (incl. MercadoPago)Stripe + MercadoPago + Polar, native (async webhooks handled by a durable outbox)None — you build it
Multi-tenancyOrg-scoped repositories + a Prisma tenant-isolation guard that fails closed across orgsNone
AI-readinessCLAUDE.md + ESLint walls the agent physically cannot cross (domain cannot import Express/Prisma)End-to-end type safety; no auth/billing/architecture guardrails
Docs & i18nTrilingual EN / ES / PT product docs; LATAM-first go-to-marketCommunity docs; English
Price (as of July 2026)$99 one-time (Founder) / $199 one-time (Lifetime, free updates)Free, open source (~28k+ GitHub stars)

When create-t3-app is the better call

create-t3-app is free, open source, and the default typesafe starting point for good reason. If you are building a side project for fun, want to learn the stack, or genuinely want to write the auth flows, billing webhooks, and tenancy yourself, t3 gives you a clean typesafe skeleton and gets out of the way. UseDeploy exists for the opposite moment: when you do not want to re-derive 2FA, magic link, OAuth, RBAC, billing webhooks, an outbox, and tenant isolation from scratch.

  • You want a free, minimal, typesafe scaffold and nothing more
  • You intend to build auth flows, billing, and multi-tenancy yourself
  • This is a side project or learning exercise, not a product with real user data

What create-t3-app is (and isn't)

create-t3-app is a great free scaffold — the point below is scope, not quality: it deliberately stops before the parts a SaaS actually needs.

“create-t3-app deliberately ships no auth flows, billing, multi-tenancy, or admin panel — it wires Next.js + tRPC + Tailwind + Prisma/Drizzle and stops.”
Summarized from the create-t3-app project, as of July 2026
Source
“Its own community reports friction — Drizzle + ESLint type errors and pg package issues — when wiring the scaffold into a real app.”
create-t3-app community reports, as of July 2026
Source

UseDeploy vs create-t3-app — FAQ

Is create-t3-app enough to build a SaaS?+
It is a typesafe scaffold, not a SaaS boilerplate. create-t3-app wires Next.js, tRPC, Tailwind, and Prisma/Drizzle and deliberately stops — no auth flows, billing, multi-tenancy, or admin panel (as of July 2026). For a real product you still have to build the boring-hard 70% yourself.
Why pay for UseDeploy when t3 is free?+
Because t3 gives you the skeleton and none of the parts that take about a month each to get right: 2FA, magic link, OAuth, password reset, RBAC, billing webhooks, a durable outbox, and tenant isolation. UseDeploy ships those wired and tested for $99–$199 one-time. If your time is worth more than that, the math is simple.
Can I use my AI agent with UseDeploy the way I do with t3?+
Yes — and with guardrails t3 does not have. UseDeploy ships a CLAUDE.md plus ESLint-enforced DDD layering, so the agent builds inside walls it cannot cross. t3 is typesafe end-to-end but has no architectural boundaries to stop an agent from turning it into spaghetti.
Does UseDeploy use the T3 stack?+
It overlaps (Next.js, Prisma, TypeScript) but differs on purpose: UseDeploy runs a separate Bun + Express backend in a DDD layout instead of Next.js API routes with tRPC, and adds BetterAuth, billing (Stripe + MercadoPago + Polar), and multi-tenancy on top.

Skip the boring 70%. Build the 30% inside the walls.

UseDeploy ships auth, billing, RBAC, multi-tenancy, and tests wired and guarded — so your agent builds your product, not your plumbing.

Get UseDeployRead the docs