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SaaS Starter

Upgrade to PRO

When Starter Free reaches its limits, here’s how and why to upgrade safely.

Starter Free helps you validate and ship fast. PRO helps you wire and scale safely.

You can stay on Starter Free as long as you want. Upgrade when the product becomes real.


You’ll learn

  • When upgrading makes sense
  • What PRO adds on top of Starter Free
  • How migration works
  • Answers to common concerns

When should you upgrade?

Upgrade when you start needing real infrastructure.

Use this checklist.

You likely need PRO if you need:

  • Real user authentication
  • Email verification & password reset
  • Stripe Checkout & Customer Portal
  • Multi-organization support
  • Role-based access control
  • Production data layer
  • API contracts and backend patterns

Starter Free is the surface. PRO is the wiring.


Free vs PRO comparison

CapabilityStarter FreePRO
AuthenticationScreens + states (mocked)Provider wiring (Auth.js / Clerk / Supabase)
BillingBilling UI surfaceStripe Checkout + Portal integration
OrganizationsSingle-org UIMulti-org + org switcher
Roles & permissionsBasic roles UIRBAC + permission patterns
Data layerMock dataProduction data + API contracts
Backend patternsNoneServer routes + architecture guidance
PackagingDemo-readyProduction-ready foundation
Coming soon: final PRO feature list.

What you gain by upgrading

Time saved

Auth and billing wiring can take weeks. PRO removes the uncertainty and gives a proven baseline.


Reduced risk

Security and billing mistakes are expensive. PRO provides safe integration patterns.


Production readiness

Starter Free proves the product. PRO prepares it for real users and revenue.


Migration path

Upgrading is designed to be incremental.

You keep:

  • Routes
  • Pages
  • Components
  • UI structure

You replace:

  • Mock data → real data
  • Mock auth → real sessions
  • Mock billing → Stripe

No rewrite required.


Typical upgrade flow

  1. Add auth provider
  2. Add session protection
  3. Add database
  4. Add Stripe billing
  5. Replace mock sources progressively

You migrate feature by feature.


Common objections

“Will I lose my changes?”

No.

Starter Free and PRO share the same architecture. Your pages and components remain compatible.


“Can I upgrade later?”

Yes.

Starter Free has no lock-in. Upgrade whenever your product requires real wiring.


“Do I need to migrate everything at once?”

No.

You can wire:

  • Auth first
  • Billing later
  • Data progressively

Migration is incremental.


“Why not wire everything myself?”

You can.

PRO exists to:

  • reduce risk
  • remove uncertainty
  • save engineering time

It’s a leverage decision, not a requirement.


Mental model to keep

Starter Free → validate the product PRO → productionize the product

Both are part of the same path.


Next steps

You now have the full Starter Free documentation.

Start building your product, and upgrade when you’re ready to wire the production foundation.