Polar vs Lemon Squeezy vs Paddle: Merchant of Record for Next.js (2026)
Polar, Lemon Squeezy, and Paddle for merchant-of-record billing on a Next.js SaaS in 2026: real fees, the open-source pick, the Stripe angle, and honest where-each-loses.
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Polar, Lemon Squeezy, and Paddle for merchant-of-record billing on a Next.js SaaS in 2026: real fees, the open-source pick, the Stripe angle, and honest where-each-loses.
Qdrant, Weaviate, and Chroma are the three open-source vector databases you can actually self-host. We compare embedded versus server, self-host cost, license, managed pricing, and when pgvector wins.
Clerk, Auth0, and WorkOS for a Next.js SaaS in 2026: real free tiers, per-user versus per-connection pricing, enterprise SSO cost, and when open-source auth wins.
Medusa, Saleor, and Vendure for open-source headless commerce on Next.js in 2026: language, license, real managed pricing, honest 'where it loses', and how to pick.
Mastra, LangChain.js, and LlamaIndex.TS for building AI agents in TypeScript, 2026: stars, license, which is still maintained, and how to choose.
Inngest, Trigger.dev, and BullMQ for Next.js background jobs in 2026: where each runs, real pricing, honest 'where it loses', and how to pick.
Convex, Supabase, and Firebase are three different bets on your data model and how much you own. A sourced 2026 comparison of free tiers, real costs, lock-in, and which backend fits your Next.js build.
Payload, Sanity, and Contentful all run a Next.js SaaS, but they own very different amounts of your content backend. A 2026 decision guide on license, cost, and lock-in.
Vercel, Railway, and Render all deploy Next.js, but they own different amounts of your backend. A 2026 decision guide with real costs, free-tier traps, and a self-host escape hatch.
ShipGarden's hands-on June 2026 review of Trigger.dev v4 (v4.4.6 stable, v4.5.0-rc.7 in flight) as the open-source background-jobs platform for Next.js apps. Five deploy paths, real cost-per-10k-runs math, an honest read against Inngest and Convex, and where v4 still bites.
ShipGarden's hands-on June 2026 review of Medusa.js v2 (v2.17.1) as the open-source headless commerce backend for Next.js. Five deploy paths, real cost-per-100-orders numbers, payments via Stripe Paddle and Polar.sh, and the v1-to-v2 migration story you don't want to volunteer for.