Our default 2026 SaaS stack is Next.js and TypeScript on the front end, Node/NestJS or Python/FastAPI on the back end, PostgreSQL (often via Supabase) for data, Stripe for billing, and AWS or Vercel for hosting. We choose it for speed to ship, end-to-end type safety, and headroom to scale — then adapt per project.
The stack, layer by layer
- Frontend: Next.js + TypeScript + Tailwind — fast, SEO-ready, and type-safe.
- Backend: Node.js/NestJS or Python/FastAPI — typed, structured, and well-supported.
- Data: PostgreSQL (Supabase) with row-level security; Redis for caching and queues.
- Billing: Stripe, wired to the tenant lifecycle.
- Hosting: Vercel for the Next.js front end, AWS for backend and data; Docker for portability.
- AI (when needed): a model-agnostic layer over OpenAI/Anthropic with RAG and evaluation.
Why these choices
The theme is boring, proven technology with types from database to UI — fewer runtime surprises, easier onboarding, and a large hiring pool. Each piece scales, and none of it locks you in without an exit.
What we avoid
- Bleeding-edge tools for core infrastructure that must be reliable.
- Vendor lock-in without a clear migration path.
- Premature microservices — a well-structured monolith ships faster and scales further than most teams expect.