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I appreciate the efforts being done in this space, but I don't think this is launch ready yet. It doesn't include some of the things that make a SaaS a SaaS, an

I appreciate the efforts being done in this space, but I don't think this is launch ready yet. It doesn't include some of the things that make a SaaS a SaaS, and not a typical user sign up web app with admin panel. For a SaaS framework you usually need at least: integration with a billing provider (almost always Stripe nowadays), web hook handling for a bunch of services (or a generic way of handling webhooks easily), some kind of social auth integration framework or ready built integrations for a bunch of services, bulk email support, a modular dashboard (seems you have the start of this?), a landing page generator with pricing tiers that integrate with the backend somehow, a team management option for users. Have a look at Laravel Spark, or some of the other premium SaaS frameworks available right now for what people a now expecting of these frameworks. Also, I'm a little dubious about your license (seems to be fixed now?). You need to be crystal clear about whether or not this is open source, or if you are trying to sell a product. "SaaS as a Service" (or SaaSaaS as I like to call it) seems to have blown up recently, but I'm usually wary of things like this. When making a SaaS, I like to keep margins and fuss as low as possible, and including a piece of software that might cause me legal trouble down the track is a big no-no.

KRains 7y ago
Thanks a lot for the great comment. I totally agree about the functionality. Stripe integration will be the next feature I will add. And even so, I still believe this boilerplate can save you at least a week of work. I already used it for my other projects and I can confirm it. Dashboard UI is already done and I'm going to add more modules/components to make it easier to use. Do you have any suggestions what it would be? Laravel Spark is one of the resources for inspiration :))) I just didn't implement everything I would like to - yet. I fixed the license, the boilerplate can be used for any purposes (except ones against the law) - this version. Because I'm working on the commercial extension of it - and it will be a completely separate story. But even with using of commercial modules (or version) you will be totally free to use it and it will be completely white-labeled. Another situation when you are trying to modify and resell a product but it has nothing to do with making a SaaS, right?
- dickeytk 7y ago
  You should really consider picking a standard open source license if you want people to try your work out. I personally wouldn’t consider building a business off of a license like that.
  - KRains 7y ago
    Yeah, I'm thinking the same. I just didn't really have the time to put some standard one - was busy with all these comments!
  - KRains 7y ago
    Okay, I put MIT license. I found this type of license is most appropriate for this product.
gremlinsinc 7y ago
I agree, i'm working on my own SaaS boilerplate in laravel debating oss vs paid, might be a cheaper Nova/Spark combo alternative. $99 per project is pricy, esp when a lot of projects are just testing ideas and things. SaaS needs to have teams, projects, payments, auth, invites, and possibly be configurable for different 'types' of scenarios... projects could be optional for instance if they don't group actions by project, invites could be optional if anyone can join any team, heck even teams can be optional if you can't add multiple orgs but it's nice to have, say you run multiple brands or something....and want separate invoices with separate logos... etc... I'm getting close to launch, thinking I might do it as a paid $9.99/month gets unlimited access to everything I do in the scope of the project. Might raise prices eventually but grandfather people in for a time. Or might do FOSS with addons that are pricier, but I don't like apps that do that -- I'd rather pay small fee monthly and use what I need depending on client.
- KRains 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience! Honestly, I don't know if teams and projects should be a part of SaaS. If so, in which context? I wonder, how are you going to charge? Is your product is app or it's SaaS itself? And I think $9.99/month is very low price. Any link to share? ;-) Good luck!
  - gremlinsinc 7y ago
    Look at some apps like Clockify, Slack, Trello, Jira, Asana, all have teams, -- I really like the way clockify does workspaces, and then you clients, and projects per client. All organized nicely. This sort of model of teams/projects would probably be quite common in SaaS...think anything tagetting SMB's that need to give access to parts of the app for their employees or contractors, or use it to organize, etc...
    - KRains 7y ago
      Ok, thanks! I will consider adding teams.
jamesbiv 7y ago
Although there are literally dozens of tools out there that aim to facilitate SaaS, if you look at the definition of SaaS and what makes SaaS, SaaS. Things like “on demand” activation, licensing models, and resource management are the key definition points, not so much the nuts and bolts libraries needed behind the scenes. I wrote a funcional specification for a SaaS provider platform about a month ago (see https://abstractionlayer.jamesbiv.tech/Abstraction%20Layer%20-%20Functional%20Specification.pdf https://abstractionlayer.jamesbiv.tech/Abstraction%20Layer%2...) its initial chapters deal with the definition of SaaS.
- KRains 7y ago
  WOW! You put a lot of work into it, and I'm going to research it. Just wondering, what made you create this phenomenal work?
  - jamesbiv 7y ago
    Hi KRains Thanks for the kind words. To answer your question, I can say I had a many reasons to create this document. First and foremost I’d like to create an open source project around these specifications and see if I could generate interest and invite contributors to jump on board. Second, is to provide a working document for the community scrutinize and critique as it’s still very much work in progress, and before committing to building the solution I wanted to ensure what is built is done so in a way that gains acceptance and use. Also, I see that Cloud and more particularly SaaS has a lot of bias surrounding it’s use both from a commercial and personal perspective. This largely has to do with how SaaS providers store and use peoples’ data. My aim with PAL is to create a flexible solution that takes all perspectives into consideration based on the type of offering and what is acceptable by the customer or user of the SaaS offering. I could go on further to say that since SaaS has become such a large segment of the Cloud market I also feel it’s important to keep as much of it as open and free as possible as to allow smaller players the chance to offer SaaS solutions. Since the market is largely dominated by Big Tech this is becoming increasingly more difficult and that has a lot to do with the lack of resources available to smaller companies. It may not seem apparent to most people especially those in countries where internet services are easily available but currently where I’m located, a country where the economy suffers greatly, the low cost of establishing SaaS solutions for businesses vs offering custom built in-house solutions is a far more feasible option. Anyway, I hope the you find the contents of the document useful and helps you in some way with your project :) Regards James

KRains 7y ago

Thanks a lot for the great comment. I totally agree about the functionality. Stripe integration will be the next feature I will add. And even so, I still believe this boilerplate can save you at least a week of work. I already used it for my other projects and I can confirm it. Dashboard UI is already done and I'm going to add more modules/components to make it easier to use. Do you have any suggestions what it would be? Laravel Spark is one of the resources for inspiration :))) I just didn't implement everything I would like to - yet. I fixed the license, the boilerplate can be used for any purposes (except ones against the law) - this version. Because I'm working on the commercial extension of it - and it will be a completely separate story. But even with using of commercial modules (or version) you will be totally free to use it and it will be completely white-labeled. Another situation when you are trying to modify and resell a product but it has nothing to do with making a SaaS, right?

dickeytk 7y ago
You should really consider picking a standard open source license if you want people to try your work out. I personally wouldn’t consider building a business off of a license like that.
- KRains 7y ago
  Yeah, I'm thinking the same. I just didn't really have the time to put some standard one - was busy with all these comments!
- KRains 7y ago
  Okay, I put MIT license. I found this type of license is most appropriate for this product.

gremlinsinc 7y ago

I agree, i'm working on my own SaaS boilerplate in laravel debating oss vs paid, might be a cheaper Nova/Spark combo alternative. $99 per project is pricy, esp when a lot of projects are just testing ideas and things. SaaS needs to have teams, projects, payments, auth, invites, and possibly be configurable for different 'types' of scenarios... projects could be optional for instance if they don't group actions by project, invites could be optional if anyone can join any team, heck even teams can be optional if you can't add multiple orgs but it's nice to have, say you run multiple brands or something....and want separate invoices with separate logos... etc... I'm getting close to launch, thinking I might do it as a paid $9.99/month gets unlimited access to everything I do in the scope of the project. Might raise prices eventually but grandfather people in for a time. Or might do FOSS with addons that are pricier, but I don't like apps that do that -- I'd rather pay small fee monthly and use what I need depending on client.

KRains 7y ago
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience! Honestly, I don't know if teams and projects should be a part of SaaS. If so, in which context? I wonder, how are you going to charge? Is your product is app or it's SaaS itself? And I think $9.99/month is very low price. Any link to share? ;-) Good luck!
- gremlinsinc 7y ago
  Look at some apps like Clockify, Slack, Trello, Jira, Asana, all have teams, -- I really like the way clockify does workspaces, and then you clients, and projects per client. All organized nicely. This sort of model of teams/projects would probably be quite common in SaaS...think anything tagetting SMB's that need to give access to parts of the app for their employees or contractors, or use it to organize, etc...
  - KRains 7y ago
    Ok, thanks! I will consider adding teams.

jamesbiv 7y ago

Although there are literally dozens of tools out there that aim to facilitate SaaS, if you look at the definition of SaaS and what makes SaaS, SaaS. Things like “on demand” activation, licensing models, and resource management are the key definition points, not so much the nuts and bolts libraries needed behind the scenes. I wrote a funcional specification for a SaaS provider platform about a month ago (see https://abstractionlayer.jamesbiv.tech/Abstraction%20Layer%20-%20Functional%20Specification.pdf https://abstractionlayer.jamesbiv.tech/Abstraction%20Layer%2...) its initial chapters deal with the definition of SaaS.

KRains 7y ago
WOW! You put a lot of work into it, and I'm going to research it. Just wondering, what made you create this phenomenal work?
- jamesbiv 7y ago
  Hi KRains Thanks for the kind words. To answer your question, I can say I had a many reasons to create this document. First and foremost I’d like to create an open source project around these specifications and see if I could generate interest and invite contributors to jump on board. Second, is to provide a working document for the community scrutinize and critique as it’s still very much work in progress, and before committing to building the solution I wanted to ensure what is built is done so in a way that gains acceptance and use. Also, I see that Cloud and more particularly SaaS has a lot of bias surrounding it’s use both from a commercial and personal perspective. This largely has to do with how SaaS providers store and use peoples’ data. My aim with PAL is to create a flexible solution that takes all perspectives into consideration based on the type of offering and what is acceptable by the customer or user of the SaaS offering. I could go on further to say that since SaaS has become such a large segment of the Cloud market I also feel it’s important to keep as much of it as open and free as possible as to allow smaller players the chance to offer SaaS solutions. Since the market is largely dominated by Big Tech this is becoming increasingly more difficult and that has a lot to do with the lack of resources available to smaller companies. It may not seem apparent to most people especially those in countries where internet services are easily available but currently where I’m located, a country where the economy suffers greatly, the low cost of establishing SaaS solutions for businesses vs offering custom built in-house solutions is a far more feasible option. Anyway, I hope the you find the contents of the document useful and helps you in some way with your project :) Regards James