SaaS architecture decisions that support the next 18 months.
SaaS architecture is the set of foundational decisions that become constraints: the data model, the auth system, the multi-tenancy approach, the billing integration. Getting these right from the start prevents expensive rebuilds as the product grows.
Need SaaS architecture guidance — data model design, multi-tenancy approach, billing architecture, or infrastructure planning
SaaS architecture decisions at the start determine the complexity of everything built afterward.
The five foundational SaaS decisions:
1. Auth system: Clerk vs Auth.js vs roll your own. Decision factors: team size, compliance requirements, multi-tenancy needs. Clerk for most cases.
2. Multi-tenancy model: Row-level isolation (recommended), schema-per-tenant (compliance), database-per-tenant (highest isolation, highest cost). Each affects: query complexity, migration strategy, data isolation guarantees.
3. Billing model: Per-seat, usage-based, flat-rate, or hybrid. The data model implications differ. Per-seat maps easily to Stripe subscriptions. Usage-based requires metering infrastructure.
4. Data model: The core entities and their relationships. Changes to the data model after launch are expensive (migrations, application code changes, API changes). Getting it right early is high-leverage.
5. Infrastructure: Vercel for Next.js (recommended), Railway/Fly.io for custom Node.js services, Neon for Postgres, Upstash for Redis. Standard choices, predictable costs.
SaaS architecture documented and implemented — data model, auth, multi-tenancy, and billing designed for the product's growth stage
Architecture document
covering all five foundational decisions
Data model
in Drizzle/Prisma schema
Auth setup
with multi-tenancy configuration
Billing architecture
with Stripe product and price setup
Infrastructure configuration
for the application
One honest number to start.
Fixed-scope, fixed-price. The number below is the starting point — final scope is built from your brief.
SaaS architecture documented and implemented — data model, auth, multi-tenancy, and billing designed for the product's growth stage
Three steps, every time.
The same repeatable engagement on every project. No surprises, no mystery, no billable ambiguity.
Brief & discovery.
We send you questions, then get on a call. Output: a written scope with every step, feature, and integration listed.
Build & ship.
Fixed schedule, weekly reviews. No scope creep unless you change the scope — and if you do, we reprice it transparently.
Warranty & retainer.
30-day warranty on every launch. Most clients stay on a monthly retainer for ongoing features and maintenance.
Why Fixed-Price Matters Here
Architecture work has a clear deliverable: the document and the initial implementation. Fixed-price.
Questions, answered.
No. Design for the next 18 months, not for 10x scale. The cost of over-engineering is real; the benefit is hypothetical. Standard SaaS architecture (Postgres, Vercel, Clerk) scales to millions of users without special treatment.
Tell Ryel about your project.
Describe what you’re building and what outcome you need. You’ll have a written, fixed-price scope within the week.