CheapStack vs Create T3 App
Create T3 App is the right choice if you want a free, community-standard starter with tRPC, NextAuth, Prisma, and Tailwind — and you want to build everything yourself. CheapStack is the right choice if you want a pre-built product with payments, admin dashboard, and support rather than a blank starter.
Feature comparison
| Feature | CheapStack | Create T3 App |
|---|
| Price | $49–$79 | Free |
| Payments | Polar.sh | Not included — build yourself |
| Admin dashboard | Included | Not included |
| Type safety | TypeScript strict | tRPC — full-stack type safety |
| What you get | Working product with payments | Starter template — you build the rest |
| Support | Email support | Community only |
Choose CheapStack if
- + Pre-built payments and billing
- + Admin dashboard included
- + Support included
- + More opinionated — ship faster
Choose Create T3 App if
- → Free and open source
- → tRPC for end-to-end typesafety
- → Industry standard starter
- → Large community
- → Choice of DB (Prisma, Drizzle)