Forge Stack vs create-t3-app

create-t3-app (the T3 stack: Next.js + tRPC + Prisma + Tailwind) gives you a minimal scaffold and trusts you to pick the rest. Forge Stack is the opposite bet: opinionated, batteries-included, extracted from a real paying product. Both are right. Different moments.

30-second verdict

PICK FORGE STACK IF

You want auth + billing + admin + Stripe + RLS all done. You're not exploring the stack — you've already decided. Ship a SaaS with Supabase + Lemon Squeezy this weekend.

PICK CREATE-T3-APP IF

You want to choose your own auth, your own ORM, your own billing. You're evaluating T3 as a stack philosophy. CLI scaffolds the minimum, you decide what to add.

Feature-by-feature

Feature	Forge Stack	create-t3-app
Price	$99-$499 one-time	Free (MIT)
Stack philosophy	Opinionated, batteries-included	Minimal scaffold, you choose
Type-safety layer	Supabase typed client (auto-generated)	tRPC (end-to-end typed)
Auth (default)	✅ Supabase SSR (email + OAuth)	✅ NextAuth.js (configurable providers)
Database / ORM	Supabase Postgres + RLS	Prisma (configurable)
ORM migration style	SQL migrations folder	Prisma migrate (schema-first)
Billing (hosted checkout)	✅ Lemon Squeezy, 4 tiers wired	❌ Not included (you add it)
Webhook (signature verified)	✅ HMAC verified + edge cases handled	❌ Not included
Admin endpoints	✅ Stats + feedback + email-gated	❌ Not included
OG image generation	✅ Satori edge runtime	❌ Not included
PWA install	✅ Manifest + service worker	❌ Not included
Sentry (client + server + edge)	✅ Pre-wired	❌ Bring your own
Resend transactional email	✅ Helper + templates	❌ Bring your own
SEO (sitemap, robots, canonical)	✅ App Router metadata routes	⚠️ Bring your own
JSON-LD Product schema	✅ Inline on homepage	❌ Not included
Tabbed code samples on homepage	✅ 3 snippets	❌ Not included
Demo route (live auth + admin)	✅ /demo with sample data	❌ Not included
TypeScript strict	✅ Strict mode	✅ Strict mode
Tailwind	✅	✅ (optional via CLI)
Drizzle ORM alternative	No	Yes (CLI option)
Production track record	✅ Live paying SaaS using it	CLI used by 100k+ devs for personal projects
Refund window	14 days, no questions	N/A (free)
Updates cadence	Monthly	Community PRs

When Forge Stack wins

You're building a SaaS, not a personal project. Forge Stack assumes you'll have users, billing, admin. create-t3-app assumes you'll figure that out as you go.
You want Supabase over NextAuth + Prisma. Supabase gives you auth + DB + RLS + storage in one service. Forge Stack leans into that. T3's CLI lets you choose — including Drizzle ORM over Prisma.
You want the marketing-site pieces done. OG image, JSON-LD, sitemap, testimonials, demo route — Forge Stack has these. create-t3-app gives you a homepage and trusts you to ship the rest.
You want Stripe (or Lemon Squeezy) wired up. Forge Stack has 4 pricing tiers + webhook signature verification + Supabase insert path. T3 doesn't ship billing at all.

When create-t3-app wins

You're exploring the T3 stack philosophy. tRPC + Prisma + Tailwind is a beautiful way to build apps. The CLI scaffolds the minimum and lets you decide the rest. Great for personal projects, internal tools, learning.
You want to choose your own auth. Maybe you need Clerk, or Auth0, or a custom JWT flow. T3's CLI lets you skip NextAuth entirely. Forge Stack is Supabase-locked.
You prefer Drizzle over Prisma. T3's CLI offers Drizzle as an option. Forge Stack is Supabase (which has its own typed client, not Drizzle).
You don't want to pay. create-t3-app is free, MIT-licensed, and has a 100k+ dev community. The trade-off is you write the auth + billing + admin yourself.

Where we're the same

Next.js 15 App Router + TypeScript strict + Tailwind
Postgres for the database
End-to-end type safety (different mechanisms, same goal)
You bring your own domain + deployment

Decide on Supabase + Lemon Squeezy + batteries-included?

$99-$499 once. 14-day refund. Code running in production today.

See pricing →