# Solo developer shipping a SaaS

Source: https://vibetoolrank.com/stacks/solo-dev-saas/

An agent-assisted editor or CLI agent, a Postgres backend, auth, billing, hosting, errors and product analytics — only tools with VibeToolRank test scores.

Audience: Indie hackers and solo engineers who write code and want a free-friendly stack from idea to first paying user.

## 1. Write and change code

Goal: Day-to-day coding with an AI editor or terminal agent.

Editors: Cursor and Kiro. Terminal agents: Claude Code (Anthropic Sonnet 5.5 API edition; OpenRouter free edition also on that page), Aider, OpenCode and Cline. Prefer the edition label on each tool page.

- [Cursor](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/cursor/) — **8.4/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Cursor 3.25.6 for Linux, Free Hobby plan, Agent with default model Cursor Grok 4.6 Medium
- [Kiro](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/kiro/) — **9.7/10** (tested 2026-11-02). Edition: kiro-cli 2.37.1, Kiro Free (AWS Builder ID), model auto, agent v3 Default/vibe (not Spec)
- [Claude Code](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/claude-code/) — **9.3/10** (tested 2026-11-01). Edition: Claude Code CLI 2.1.314 with Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5.5 (claude-sonnet-5-5) via API key; OpenRouter free edition also tested the same day (also 9.3 — see FAQ)
- [Aider](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/aider/) — **9.3/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Aider 0.86.2 CLI with OpenRouter free model cohere/north-mini-code:free
- [OpenCode](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/opencode/) — **9.2/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: OpenCode CLI 1.19.2, free Zen model opencode/big-pickle, no account
- [Cline](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/cline/) — **9.2/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Cline CLI 3.0.72 with OpenRouter free model cohere/north-mini-code:free
- [OpenAI Codex](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/codex/) — **7.4/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Codex CLI 0.163.0 with OpenRouter free model cohere/north-mini-code:free (no ChatGPT login; not OpenAI's models)

## 2. Catch bad PRs

Goal: Review AI-written diffs before merge.

Scored on our seeded R1 review PR. Sourcery led; Semgrep is stronger as SAST than as a general review bot.

- [Sourcery](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/sourcery/) — **8.8/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Sourcery GitHub app, Team trial then Open Source plan, benchmark R1
- [CodeRabbit](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/coderabbit/) — **8.1/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: CodeRabbit GitHub app, 14-day Advanced trial (no card), benchmark R1
- [Greptile](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/greptile/) — **7.8/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Greptile GitHub app, 14-day Pro trial, benchmark R1
- [Semgrep](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/semgrep/) — **8.1/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Semgrep Community Edition (open-source CLI, registry rules), not Semgrep AppSec Platform

## 3. Database

Goal: Managed Postgres or reactive backend on a free tier.

Same tested set as the non-coder path.

- [Neon](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/neon/) — **9.5/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Neon Free plan, API v2 + serverless HTTP driver, Postgres 18.6
- [Supabase](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/supabase/) — **9.2/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Supabase Cloud, Free plan (ap-southeast-2); self-hosted Docker edition also tested: 8.6
- [Convex](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/convex/) — **8.7/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Open-source local backend (anonymous local deployment via Convex CLI), not Convex Cloud

## 4. Auth + payments

Goal: Accounts and checkout.

Clerk or Better Auth for identity; Stripe or Polar for billing.

- [Clerk](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/clerk/) — **8.1/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Clerk Cloud, Hobby free plan (development instance)
- [Better Auth](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/better-auth/) — **8.2/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Open-source library (self-hosted), not Better Auth Infrastructure
- [Stripe](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/stripe/) — **9.2/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Stripe test mode (free, no card)
- [Polar](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/polar/) — **8.8/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Polar sandbox, REST API v1, organization access token

## 5. Host + observe

Goal: Ship, watch errors, learn from usage.

Sentry (Developer) and PostHog free tiers cleared our checks for errors and product analytics.

- [Vercel](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/vercel/) — **9.4/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Vercel Hobby free plan (no card), CLI 64.3.1
- [Railway](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/railway/) — **9/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Railway trial (no card), CLI 5.69.0
- [Netlify](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/netlify/) — **8.7/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Netlify Free plan (CLI 27.12.1)
- [Sentry](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/sentry/) — **9.3/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: Sentry Developer (free) plan, US region, @sentry/node 11.8.0
- [PostHog](https://vibetoolrank.com/tools/posthog/) — **9/10** (tested 2026-10-16). Edition: PostHog Cloud US free tier, capture API + HogQL query API

## Gaps

- No tested email/transactional provider yet (Resend, Loops, etc.).
- No tested full CRM or support desk.
- Claude Code Anthropic Sonnet 5.5 API edition is live (9.3); OpenRouter free edition also 9.3 on the same page. Opus not run.